Page 17 of Barefoot Chaos
"Take a deep breath in. And blow it out. Good. Another deep breath. Focus on filling your lungs and then exhaling all the air." Kai was speaking in a low, soothing tone. My body was following his instructions and I found myself relaxing my shoulders down, the panic leaving my body as if sucked out by the ocean breeze.
"Now just keep breathing deep and allow your mind to drift. Feel the sand on your legs, the wind in your hair, the sound of the waves crashing. Feel all that the universe has given you. Breathe in the energy of the universe, exhale the stress we've placed on ourselves." Kai's voice drifted off, leaving me to continue my breathing.
As much as I wanted to laugh at this silliness, it was working. I felt like that one time at a faculty party when I'd downed a whole glass of champagne and the room had gone pleasantly fuzzy. My limbs felt detached from my body, my head floated up in the clouds, and I'd forgotten what I was talking about earlier. The heat from the delectable man next to me kept me from completely losing touch with my surroundings.
I couldn't tell how long we sat there, just absorbing the present moment, but when Kai squeezed my knee sometime later, I wasn't ready to leave that calm cocoon. I could feel his stare on my face, but even then I didn't open my eyes. I didn't want to return to heated conversations that left me tongue-tied, a world where my private habit was publicly exposed, or a place where people were wrecking the great reputation of the Care Dare program.
I don't know how long meditation experts sat in contemplation but I was willing to run for the Guinness Book of World Records.
"Let's get you back, Ono," Kai whispered to me.
I peeped one eye open. He hopped up and held out his hand. I let out a most pathetic sigh and let him help me up. He kept ahold of my hand while walking us back in the direction of the Headquarters building.
"Got plans Wednesday?" Kai wasn't looking at me and the question seemed casual enough.
"No, I don't believe I do." I reserved my enthusiasm since conversations with Kai rarely went down a normal path.
"Meet me here again at five. We'll step things up to a slow jog and do the meditation thing again. I think you like it." He winked at me before continuing. "In the meantime, I'll call my friend Jack, a police detective, and see if he has anything else about these dares. I'll need your phone number in case anything else comes up."
Smooth. That was real smooth.
"Why, Mr. Kane. Did you just request my phone number?" I had my hand over my heart and the most innocent of shocked expressions on my face.
"Don't get excited, Ms. Woodland. I ask for all the hot English teacher's phone numbers." He smirked at me in response.
He could pretty much do anything right then and I wouldn't argue. The hottie lifeguard just calledmehot. We exchanged numbers and I left, the tranquility from the meditation and Kai's deep voice carrying me all the way home.
Kai
I watched Hessa drive away, more unsure of what I was doing than ever. I told myself I'd stay away from her, but everywhere I turned, there she was.
They sure hadn't made high school English teachers like her when I was going to school. The sexy librarian look of skirts and heels and glasses. And then tonight, the tight pants that highlighted that ass of hers. I wanted to grab it, squeeze it, and hang a sign on it claiming it as mine.
Just when I thought I had her figured out, she showed me another side to her. She used brainiac words I'd never heard of, acting superior looking down her nose at us normal people. But then she melted into the sand enjoying the meditation more than I did. She argued with me and got defensive over every little thing I said, but then she'd told me she wrote songs and was embarrassed for anyone to find out.
I realized I was trying to pigeonhole her. Trying to fit her in a nice tidy box so I could understand her, reject her, and stay in my conformable little life. I hated when people did that, having been the pigeon shoved into that hole more times than I could count in my life. People had certain stereotypes in mind when you were born and raised in Hawaii.
I sighed, rubbing my hands along my cheeks, trying to clear my head of all things Hessa. I needed to put my personal feelings, as conflicted as they were, aside and focus on what was happening in my town. Someone was daring people to do reckless things and I needed to put a stop to it.
I dialed Jack's number from inside my truck. I hoped I wasn't bothering him so late in the evening, but he said to contact him immediately if anything else happened.
"Kai. What's up, man?" Jack seemed less serious than usual. I was about to ask if I was calling at a bad time when I heard a female voice laughing in the background. Clearly, I was interrupting.
"Sorry to interrupt. I'll keep this short."
"No problem at all." I heard a door slam shut and it got significantly quieter on his end of the line. "What's happening?
"You know the teacher at Surf City High that coordinates the Care Dare program we talked about? She told me she got dared this morning. Someone hacked into her social media account and dared her publicly. It's not a dangerous dare, but it is something not too many people know about and she wishes would have remained private. She's starting to wonder if it's connected to the two saves I had last week." I had no evidence to go off of, just a gut feeling that they were connected and part of something bigger.
"Hmm. That's definitely interesting. My tech guy notified me today that he's found some chatter about dares online in the area. HBPD got called out on a train jumper the other day. He got across the tracks before the train hit him, but he must have dropped something that messed with the tracks. Crew had to come out and fix it. They haven't found who did it, but we found the dare online. My tech guy's trying to trace it, but the IPs keep leading nowhere. I'd tell your friend to sit tight and don't engage if he reaches out and contacts her further."
The giggling female was back, telling Jack to hurry up. A little less giggle this time and more sass.
"Sorry, Kai. I'll call you back tomorrow, okay?"
"Sure--"
But Jack had already hung up on me. Guess I'd hang up on me too if I had an eager woman waiting for me. Which of course, just brought me back to thinking of Hessa. I wondered what her giggle sounded like. Did she actually giggle? Or was that too juvenile for her? I'd love to hear her full out laugh. Something told me it would be quite the site to see her let go of her highbrow decorum.
