Someone Else's Ocean

“Damn right, baby!”

“You tell him, honey!”

I raised a brow in an attempt to hide my smirk. “Where did you get that?”

She signed back.

An asshole I’m proud of.

One week later…

I pulled into the driveway and took a deep breath as I studied the identical houses. So much time had passed, yet the sight remained as much the same as the feeling in my chest. I’d abandoned her here months ago, and the last time I’d spoken to her, I’d given her no reason to wait for me. No reason to believe I would ever return. Exiting the cab of the truck, I glanced around the darkening sky. Koti always made it home by sunset, and I was losing my window by screwing around. All week I’d run in circles in an attempt to settle things in the States, so I didn’t have to leave her again in the near future. If by some miracle she took me back, if I had any place at all in her life, I was going to make damn sure I was able to be there. It took me a majority of the time to find someone to cover my class load, the rest I spent subletting my apartment. If Koti didn’t take me back, I would be a gypsy. That fear had me on the sand making headway toward her house before I could even begin to think about the right words. I’d phoned her, but her number no longer worked, which only had me scrambling faster to get to her. At Ease Property was on hiatus according to the answering service and the number I had for Jasmine had long since been erased from my phone from her one time calling me. I was at a dead end in reaching her and had only one option.

I breached the clearing of the alley only to be disappointed by the sight of the ocean without her standing in front of it. The loud clatter of wood on her porch had me jumping out of my reverie.

“Can I help you?”

I scoured the guy questioning me from head to toe. Tall, dark, built, and decent looking. Instantly, I hated him.

“I’m looking for Koti Vaughn.”

“She’s not here.”

Rage boiled through my veins as he gave me a subtle smirk. I wasn’t in the mood for bullshit and it seemed the opposite for him. He positioned a large piece of wood over one of her windows and began nailing it in.

“Can I ask what in the hell you are doing?”

“Uh,” he said with a furrowed brow. “I guess you could say I’m paying penance.

“Are you a friend of Koti’s?” I asked, my tone full of accusation.

“Something like that,” he said, giving me another disgusting fucking grin.

“In case it isn’t apparent, I’m not in the mood for this. Where is she and what are you to her?”

The guy smiled showing me every single one of his white teeth. “I’ve never met Koti man, chill out.”

“Then can I ask why you’re on her porch boarding up her house?”

“A favor for her friend, Jasmine,” he replied. “It’s a long story, but made short she asked me to board up this house and the one over before the storm comes.”

“Storm?”

“Big cell, hurricane headed straight for the islands. I don’t know when you got here man, but you better turn around and get out fast. It’s going to start tomorrow.”

“I’ve been busy all week, haven’t bothered to look at the news.”

“Did you miss every TV screen on the way here?”

“Shit,” I said, wiping my face.

“It’s everywhere.”

“Can you give me Jasmine’s number?”

“No,” he said. “But maybe she’ll pick up if I call her.”

“Maybe?”