19.

Life is short, and so is my patience.

Text from Lout to Amethyst

T AMA'I

I woke up when Amethyst pressed against me and sighed when I realized that she was still sleeping. I could see the first hint of morning light creeping around the edge of the blinds and made a split-second decision to start this day out right.

"Wake up, Lalelei," I whispered as I gently shook her shoulder. "Rise and shine. We need to hurry."

"Hurry where?" Amethyst grumbled. "My alarm hasn't gone off, and I don't have to be at the clinic until nine."

"Come on, sweetheart. Wake up for me. This is important."

Amethyst's eyes fluttered open, and she asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. Brush your teeth and put your boots on. Let's go."

"Go where? The sun's not even up yet," Amethyst argued.

"Please?"

"Is there coffee where we're going?"

"We'll see. Maybe later. Hup hup, baby. Let's go."

"I hope you know there's a field littered with the bodies of people who expected me to rush before I've had my first cup of coffee," Amethyst griped as she stumbled toward the bathroom. "We've been together for almost a month. How did I not see this side of you before?"

"What side of me?" I asked as I pulled on a pair of jeans.

"If you're a cheerful early riser, I'm going to have to reevaluate this entire relationship." I laughed at her declaration but then zipped my mouth shut when Amethyst walked to the bathroom door with toothpaste foam around her mouth and eyes glittering with anger as she pointed at me.

"Just this one time, Lalelei. I promise." I heard her spit and rinse and then the sink ran for a few seconds. I knew from the other times we'd woken up together that she was washing her face. When she reappeared in the doorway with a frown as she swept her silk bonnet off, I said, "After this morning, I promise I won't wake you up before dawn ever again."

"If you value your life, you'll keep that promise," Amethyst said with a pout as she dug through the bag her mom had sent over and found a pair of jeans. "It's a good thing we showered last night or this impromptu motorcycle ride wouldn't be happening."

"It was fate directing us to stay up late and shower together."

"Hmm. I thought it was because we were horny."

I burst out laughing and walked into the bathroom to brush my teeth while Amethyst got dressed. By the time I walked back into the bedroom, she was sitting on the edge of the bed, fully dressed in jeans and a T-shirt with a bandana around her hair, nodding off while she sat upright.

"Come on, Lalelei. If we hurry, we might have time to get an omelet at Gamma's diner."

"Ew." Amethyst frowned as she stood up and walked toward the bedroom door. "I only eat butt nuggets if they're inside a cake."

"Butt nuggets?"

"Eggs. I know where they come from."

"So do I, and they're delicious."

"In a cake, yes. In their natural form, all icky on the plate, no." Amethyst shuddered. "You really need to get your priorities straight, Tama'i."

"I have. That's why we're going where we're going."

AMETHYST

The cool morning breeze woke me up and had me shivering before we even got to the highway. I pressed closer to Tama'i's back and let him be my windbreak as I rested my head between his shoulder blades and thought about the events of last night and what that meant going forward.

Yesterday, he'd said that he loved me, and even though he hadn't said it directly to me, I knew that he meant it. The men in my family demonstrated their love for their wives and families in many different ways. My father was grumpy and gruff most of the time, but when he looked at Mom, his face softened and he got a light in his eyes that was unmistakable.

I saw that same light when Tama'i smiled at me and already knew that I wanted to see that light for the rest of my life.

Last night after we got back to his house, Tama'i sat on the patio with his nephews for over an hour and talked to them about what had happened all those years ago and why he went to prison. Originally, I had planned to let them have a private discussion, but Tama'i took me by the hand and led me outside as he explained, "I want you to hear this, too, so there are no secrets between us."

The revelation of what his brother-in-law had done made me so mad that I wanted to hunt him down and finish the job Tama'i started, but it also broke my heart. In my profession, I saw children from all walks of life - from happy families where they had fulfilling childhoods to stressed and tense families where the children became mired down by the ill effects of their home life.

I saw little ones covered in bumps and bruises that came from being a kid and remembered all the wild things I'd done as a child playing with the other kids in my family. But I also saw children with suspicious bruises and shadows in their eyes that told a story of abuse without them having to say a word.

Tama'i explained that he had happily gone home to Hawaii to visit his sister's family and the friends he'd left there when he was young. When Tutu arrived for the planned visit, she and Tama'i picked the boys up from their father and found them living in horrible conditions - nothing like things had been when Kiki left for her deployment. Tama'i and Tutu took the kids to the hotel with them and cleaned them up before they spent time with them. Tutu cried when they had to take them back home.

Tama'i and Tutu extended their trip until they could get in touch with Kiki, but that took some time. When they were finally able to get in contact with her, they explained that the boys weren't safe or well in their home and needed to go somewhere else. Kiki was able to take emergency leave from her unit and fly home, but again, that took a few more days.

Tama'i had called Leaga, his brother-in-law, over and over again to get more time with Aleki and Kai, but he'd been rebuffed with one excuse after another. Finally, he decided to take matters in his own hands and left the main island to travel to the island where Leaga had the boys. What he found horrified him. Kai was barely conscious with visible bruises and burns on his body, and Aleki was locked in the closet of the bedroom while Leaga lay unconscious on the living room floor - either high or drunk. Tama'i wasn't sure and didn't care.

Tama'i called for Tutu, and when she arrived, she took the boys with her to the hospital while Tama'i stayed and tortured Leaga for hours, making sure to do everything to him that he'd done to his son in what was probably a drunken and drug-induced rage. He left Leaga in the same closet where he'd found Aleki and joined Tutu in the hospital to sit at Kai's bedside.

Before long, the police arrived to investigate what had happened to Kai and to arrest Tama'i for what he'd done to Leaga. Tama'i had gone willingly and pled guilty to the charges against him without any remorse whatsoever. By that time, Kiki had come back to the island and joined Tutu and the boys. Before Leaga had even left the hospital to recover from his injuries, all of their things had been packed up and moved to the mainland where they would live in Tama'i's parents' home.

Tama'i was transferred to a federal penitentiary on the mainland where he served his sentence, and with Tutu's help, Kiki raised the boys while still serving in the Marines where she met the man she married who loved and raised the boys as his own children and was happy to call them his sons.

Leaga had served a sentence too short for what he'd done to Kai, but he had also lost his rights as their father, which angered him and his family still to this day. Just as Kiki had feared, their poison had seeped into Kai when he got in touch with them. That all came to a grinding halt yesterday when everything came to light and Kai's eyes were opened to reality and he was reminded of why he loved his uncle, the man who had given up years of his life in his defense.

I'd known for quite some time now that I was in love with Tama'i, but yesterday's revelations clinched it. I had never cared what Tama'i had been to prison for because I knew the man he was today, but finding out that he'd been punished for seeking vengeance to pay for what was done to an innocent child was icing on the cake, as far as I was concerned. I knew that if my family ever found out, especially my father and uncles, they'd probably throw him a party and make him an honorary member of the brotherhood they shared.

But Tama'i was already part of a brotherhood and was eager to introduce me to the other men of his MC, including the man who was on his way to Texas with a moving truck full of Tama'i's possessions. With his brother-in-law, Bart, coming back soon, Tama'i would be moving into his own place - a modest house just a few blocks from mine.

Since he'd told me that, I had been at war with myself, trying to resist asking him to just move in with me. I'd gone back and forth, listing all the reasons moving in together this quickly was a bad idea, but always came back to my parents' love story, which was just as quick, if not quicker, than our own.

I realized where he was taking me when he turned off the highway onto a two-lane road that led to the back of Uncle Bear and Aunt Autumn's property. I wondered how he found this place but didn't even think about asking him to turn around. Bear might not want strangers on his property, but I was family, and if the future turned out the way I had been dreaming, Tama'i would be too.

When Tama'i pulled his bike over and shut it off, the sun was peeking over the horizon, painting the sky with a gorgeous show of pinks and oranges. I knew he was appreciating the beauty of the moment when Tama'i sat still and tilted his head back to soak it all in. He slowly turned to look at me and smiled.

I studied his handsome face for a few seconds before I laid my lips on his for a long, slow kiss. My arms were still around him when I felt his hand grab my wrist an instant before I was yanked off of my seat and pulled around his body. His lips met mine again, but this time, the kiss wasn't slow and sweet, it was full of passion and fire. His fingers tugged at my jeans, and when he lifted me up with the arm holding me around my back, I felt the cool breeze on my ass.

I laughed and asked, "A little eager there, huh, buddy? We don't exactly have a place to get comfortable or even a place to . . ."

"Right here," Tama'i growled as he slid his hand between my hip and his crotch just before I heard the zipper of his jeans, and then he lifted me again and slowly settled me on his thick cock. Just like it had every time we'd been together before, it took a few seconds for my body to adjust to his size. I gasped when I felt the burn and stretch that told me what was to come. "Fuck, you feel so good, Amethyst."

"That's so good," I whispered as I tried to figure out how I could find a way to move against him.

He leaned forward and pressed my body against the gas tank of the motorcycle as his arm held my legs up and pushed himself even deeper inside me. With his feet on the ground on either side of the bike, he started to move, and I reached up to grip the handlebars to hold me steady as I let him guide me to what I could already tell was going to be an explosive orgasm.

The cap of the gas tank pushed painfully into my back, but I didn't care. The fire that Tama'i was stoking in my body was quickly turning into an inferno that was sure to consume me, but I welcomed the feeling. As I got closer and closer to the pinnacle, I couldn't hold back the moans that I'd had to stifle in bed last night. By the time my orgasm crashed into me, I was screaming Tama'i's name.

He grunted as he slammed into me one last time and then let out a low moan as his cock twitched deep inside me. Tama'i shuddered as my body clutched at his, trying naturally to pull him deeper along with the seed that I secretly hoped might take root and create a child for us.

Tama'i slowly let my legs fall from where they were propped against his shoulder as he leaned over me. He gave me a lingering kiss and then whispered against my lips, "I love you, Amethyst Hamilton."

As he pulled back just far enough to look into my eyes, I smiled and answered, "I love you, too, Tama'i Fuama . . . Fua . . . Fuama . . . Goshdarnit! I was trying to be romantic!"

Tama'i laughed as he leaned back, his cock still deep inside my body. I felt his hand at my hip and then he leaned over me again and gave me a kiss as his hand trailed up my forearm to my hand. I felt something warm against my palm right before he slipped a ring on my finger.

"You're going to have to learn to pronounce our last name, Lalelei, unless you don't want to change it from Hamilton."

"You're . . . Is that a proposal?"

"It is," Tama'i said before he gave me another kiss that almost made me forget what had just happened. "Do you need the words?"

"I'd kind of like to hear the words."

"Amethyst Lalelei Hamilton, I love you more than the sun loves the sky and the earth loves the rain. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife? Will you live with me, raise children with me, watch them grow with me as we get old together, and stay by my side until I leave this world?"

"Yes," I whispered breathlessly as I stared into his eyes. "I want to do all those things."

"I love you," Tama'i said before he gave me a soft kiss.

I heard a familiar whistle. To anyone else it might sound like the call of a bird, but I knew better.

"Shit!" I whispered as I started to shimmy up the tank, trying to sit up so I could get decent. "Put your dick up, sweetheart, we've got company!" I let out an answering whistle, and Tama'i looked at me like I was crazy. "Help me, Tama'i!"

"What's going on?"

"Get up! Get up! Hurry!"

Tama'i lifted me off his now soft member and deposited me beside the motorcycle. I hurriedly bent over and pulled up my underwear and pants, wincing at the thought that I wouldn't be able to clean up. I had just heard Tama'i's zipper when the brush not far away started to shake and Bear, one of my father's good friends, appeared.

"Amy, sweet girl, I've known you since you were just a baby, and the thought of having to tell you this makes me shudder deep inside my soul, but I've got rules out here, and one of them is that nobody fucks in this canyon besides me and my wife."

I held up my left hand and said, "I'm getting married!"

Bear pursed his lips and slowly shook his head before he said, "Well, shit. Give me a minute to get out of hearing range and then get on with it."

"Thanks, Bear! Love you!"

Bear lifted his arm above his head and gave me a thumbs up as he walked back into the brush, and as was his way, he quickly blended into the scenery and disappeared.

After a few seconds of silence, Tama'i whispered, "What the fuck just happened?"

"That was Bear," I explained. "He's my . . ."

"Uncle, I'm sure," Tama'i interrupted with a grimace.

I realized exactly what that meant and called out, "Please don't tell anyone until I talk to my parents!"

All I got in answer was a whistle, but I knew that meant Bear would keep my secret. He was very good at that since he'd been keeping secrets with my dad and all of the other men for decades.

"I meant to speak to your father some time today and ask for your hand, but I got caught up in the moment."

"Do you want to keep this a secret until you do that? I think he'd appreciate getting to threaten your life before he agrees." Tama'i raised his eyebrows in question, and I shrugged before I looked down at my ring. "This is beautiful, Tama'i. I love it."

"It belonged to Tutu. My grandfather bought it for her on their anniversary before he died. I asked her for it last night, and she gave it to me when we came home from the clinic."

"Is that what you were talking about at the table when I couldn't understand you?" I asked.

"No. Sort of. No." When I stared at him in confusion, Tama'i laughed. "Tutu knows just where to hit a man to get her way."

"What did she say?"

"Before I tell you, I have to say that this was all my idea."

"Tell me," I insisted.

"She said I needed to marry you or she'd find my eighth grade science teacher and make him my new grandfather," Tama'i explained with a look of horror. He swallowed hard and then said, "And if I don't have a ring on your finger and a baby in your belly by Valentine's Day, she'll never cook for me again." I burst out laughing, and Tama'i smiled as he said, "I told you she was meaner than she looks."

I glanced down at my ring and then grinned at Tama'i before I said, "There's a very comfortable bench right up the trail, but I want to do one thing."

"What's that?" Tama'i grunted as I jumped into his arms and wrapped my legs around his waist. He held me there and then shifted to make me a little more comfortable, which was perfect because that lined my clit up with his zipper and rubbed just perfectly. "Well, okay then."

"I just wanted to see what that felt like." Tama'i tilted his head in question, and I gave him a kiss before I explained, "That's how my mom has greeted my dad since they met. She doesn't do it as often now that they're older, but it's not uncommon to come around the corner and find Mom and Dad making out with her in his arms just like this."

"That's kind of cool."

"I just wanted to see what it was like to jump and know that the man you love is going to catch you."

"This is what it feels like, and I'll always be there to catch you, Lalelei."