Page 86 of Deadly Aloha
“How long?” I fucking hated hearing my voice crack. There was a piercing ringing in my ears.
“Minutes,” he answered solemnly. “I have enough morphine with me to… If you wanted me to…”
His offer was generous, but it wasn’t his place. It was mine. Wordlessly, I held out my hand. He quickly reached into his bag and pulled out a syringe and a bottle. He expertly filled it before recapping the needle and placing the clear plastic on my hand. My fingers closed around it automatically.
“We’ll give you a moment,” Tommy offered, and I nodded.
I heard voices behind me and then the shuffling of feet before the door was closed. I think it was the shock of seeing Nishi like this that kept me from noticing the smell in the room. I knew the acrid scent of death. It wasn’t new to me, but this time… It felt different. More potent.
I neared the bed. There was so much blood. I’d seen and done a lot in my years. I knew how much blood a human body could hold. And I knew how much it could lose. I did not doubt Tommy’s assessment of her condition.
Kneeling down, I pushed the useless supplies out of the way so I could be directly in front of her face.
The first time I met Nishi, I thought her an annoying idiot, Lu’s ridiculous friend. The girl who believed there was still good in this world and that she could make it better. I put up with a lot with Nishi and Lu those first few years Lu and I were together. Nishi would bring over a hurt animal, wanting Lu’s help to nurse it back to health, and then I got home to find the girls trying to wrangle a loose seal in my house.
Then there were the times they were left stranded because Nishi never remembered to fill up her gas tank. Or they were at the beach, and Nishi buried their phones and wallets in the sand, and then forgot where she buried them.
I didn’tdislikeNishi, but I’d never been fond of her either.
When Lu had come back into my life two months ago and she’d confessed that Nishi had been pushing for Lu to contact me, to go back to me, I’d wondered if I’d misjudged her. Nishi was naïve, there was no denying that, but deserving of this fate?
No, never.
This was cruel. I forced myself to look, needing to see. I memorized every lash, every protruding bone, so I could replicate it later. And it wasn’t just her back, though that was the most prominent. Her wrists were raw, clearly from chains with thick manacles. She was naked, and there was so much blood on her back and over her buttocks that I couldn’t tell if all of it came from there. But I didn’t need to ask or look to know she’d been raped. Repeatedly.
I gently smoothed her greasy and bloody hair out of her face. “Nishi,” I coaxed softly. “Ho’oponopono…” The phrase didn’t seem to mean enough in these circumstances. Asking for her forgiveness and saying I was sorry while promising to make this right seemed too infinitesimal now.
Her almond eyes blinked open slowly. Her breathing was so soft, it didn’t even look like she was. The pain on her face was evident, but what broke my heart more than the knowledge of what I was about to do to Lu’s best friend, was the relief on her face at the sight of me.
Like I’d come to save her.
“Aloiki…” By all the gods, the woman actually smiled at me. “I knew you’d come.” Her voice was raspy. She didn’t even sound like her. “She found you.”
I nodded, finding it hard to breathe. “I actually found her, and I forced my ring back on her finger.”
Nishi looked like she wanted to laugh, but instead, there was a sudden increase of pain on her face. Her chin trembled, and if she’d been hydrated enough, there was no doubt in my mind tears would have been falling down her dirt-streaked cheeks. “I want to go home…”
I took her hand. “You will. I promised Lu I’d bring you home,ku?u hoaaloha.”
“I want to see the ocean again.”
I nodded. “I swear it. I’ll take you there myself.”
Her eyes were a little clouded now, unfocused, and I wondered if the morphine was even necessary. “And Lu… You’ll take care of her?”
“I got her, and our baby.”
“A baby,” she gasped, her lips trying to form a smile. “Poor Aloiki. I always said you’d make a great father.”
I couldn’t help the light chuckle that escaped my lips. I brought my head down to kiss her cold fingertips. “Nishi, I can help you. If you’re in pain…”
She closed her eyes, though I had to wonder what it was she could even see anymore. Slowly, she nodded.
I uncapped the syringe one handed. Tommy hadn’t said where to put it, but I figured I couldn’t go wrong with her arm. I tried to be as gentle as possible. She didn’t flinch as I inserted the needle, though the way her body loosened was almost immediate.
She opened her eyes once more to meet mine. “Mahalo.”
I tossed the syringe aside and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. “A hui hou, Nishi.”Until we meet again…
