Page 39 of Fast Fury

“Fine. I’ll talk to you then.” Without another word, Hani turned and walked off, leaving Kai staring after him. Stewing.

Like hell. Like fuckinghell.

Kai stormed after him, determined to have this out and get to the bottom of whatever the hell was going on here. “Hani,” he barked.

Up ahead out front of the house, Hani drew up short, his back to Kai. “I said I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” he bit out, the sound of passing traffic coming from the highway at the end of the drive.

Fuck that. “Be a man, turn around and say what you gotta say,” he taunted.

Slowly, Hani turned to face him. It was dark here, so dark Kai could barely make out the set expression on his cousin’s face. “You want it here and now?”

Kai planted his feet, folded his arms across his chest. “Yeah. So start talking.”

Hani stared at him a long moment. “Fine, you asked for it. You—”

A loud bang reverberated through the air.

Hani ducked and whirled around, his hand going to the back of his waistband to pull out the pistol he’d hidden beneath his shirt. Kai reacted instinctively at his cousin’s response, tensing and glancing around.

But there was nothing. No movement. No threat that he could see.

He glanced back at his cousin.

Hani was still half-crouched in a defensive position, scanning the darkness around them as though he expected an ambush at any moment, the fear rolling off him so strong Kai could almost smell it.

A softer bang followed a moment later, coming from somewhere down the highway.

Not a gunshot. Just a car backfiring.

Hani slowly straightened and lowered his arm, his posture tense, pistol still in his grip.

“Jesus Christ, Hani,” Kai muttered, heartsick at the irrefutable evidence in front of him. “What the fuck have you gotten yourself into now?”

Hani spun around to glare at him. “Nothing. Leave me the hell alone.” He stalked to his truck.

Kai stood there while his cousin climbed inside the cab, started it and drove off down the long driveway, an oily sensation coating the pit of his stomach. What the hell was going on?

Something was off. Way off. Hani might be a punk sometimes, but he’d never disrespected Kai or been rude to a woman before. And Abby wasn’t just some woman, she was Kai’s lady. Then there was Hani’s reaction just now, as though he’d been afraid someone was shooting at him.

Maybe Hani was even deeper into the drug scene than Kai realized. Maybe he’d made some dangerous enemies, like the ones who had killed that dealer last week and dumped his body into the ocean.

Agitated, he turned and walked back to his chair by the fire. Everyone was watching him, not saying a word. He picked up his beer, took a sip, striving for calm. “Anyone know what the hell’s with him?”

Jonah shook his head. “Nah,brah. No idea.”

Kai didn’t want to bring histutuinto this, but he might have to if he couldn’t find out what the hell was going on. If Hani was in over his head the way Kai suspected he was, then he was going to need help. Big time help, from someone with connections that could offer him protection. Kai would do that for him, but only if Hani came clean and wanted out. If he didn’t…Kai couldn’t do anything for him.

He finished his beer, using the time to calm his thoughts. He and Hani would have this out at some point before Kai left, maybe even tomorrow if Hani was serious about coming back in the morning. He refused to allow his cousin to ruin what had been an otherwise awesome day, and the night stretching out ahead with Abby. Something he’d looked forward to for a long time now.

“I’m turning in,” he announced, getting to his feet. He was anxious to see her, put the tension with Hani behind him and finally ease the relentless ache she’d created from the moment he’d held her that day in his apartment after Shelley walked out. “Night.”

His friends all wished him a good night, and it said a lot about the abrupt change of mood in the evening that none of them made a snide remark about him going to Abby. He wouldn’t have cared if they had. He didn’t care about much at that moment except Abby.

His lady was waiting for him in their tent. Kai intended to claim her, rock her world, and show her that she was his.

Chapter Eleven

Abby’s heartbeat quickened when she heard the footsteps in the sand outside the tent, hushed beneath the lap of the waves mere yards away.

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