Documentary (52 page)

“I know I’ve said it, like, a million times, but I’m so glad you didn’t hit him again,” Dylan said. “I was so scared. I don’t want to lose you again, ever.”

“Uh, I actually believed you when you said I wasn’t my dad, Dyl,” Kai said as he pressed his lips to her forehead. Dylan wrapped her arms around his torso, squeezing him with all her ability as they walked. There was urgency beneath it. There was no way she was letting him go ever again.

“And I meant it,” she said emphat
ically when they stopped. Dylan dropped the camcorder bag to the ground right before Kai lifted her chin and kissed her lips as he wrapped her arms around his neck. His hands landed on her hips, and his tongue brushed hers after she drew her lips apart. She hugged him tighter against her body and felt his hands dig into her flesh. The taste of his mouth sparked a flame in her core that continued to build the longer their lips touched. People were probably taking pictures, but it was too good to be self-conscious now. There was a convergence of fire, release, passion and need between them; clothing removal was inevitable in the
very
near future.

“Oh, look who’s finally admitting what the REST OF US HAVE KNOWN SINCE FUCKING FOREVER,” Wes shouted at the two of them from behind Dylan.

Catching her breath, Dylan turned back briefly to smile at him and saw that Jamie and Erica were also standing there next to each other. She was optimistic that they were in the beginning stages of rekindling their friendship.

“Oh my God, are you guys really dating now?” Jamie asked, jumping up and down, nearly about to explode with happiness.

“Don’t get any ideas, Tanaka,” Abel stepped up and warned; though, he draped his arm over her shoulders, pulling her against him, before mashing his lips against her cheek.

Kai suddenly gripped Dyla
n by the waist and lifted her into the air. Thankfully, she was wearing a romper and not the skirt she had intended to. She laughed as he lowered her down slowly until her nose was right above his. “What do you say? Is Team Dick making it official?”

“Yeah. I guess we are…” Dylan said, smiling. She glanced at her watch. “…‘Cause I’m officially fired, and
I never want to work with you again.” He inched her down a little more, melting her smile against his lips.

For Keeps – Epilogue

Four Months Later

“Hey, babe? Could you come here a sec? Wes wants to ask you something,” Kai called to Dylan from
the living room of their suite at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in San Francisco. It was a beautiful hotel. They had an amazing view of both the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge, and being with Kai was the best way to spend her last few days before studying for finals with Kate and Winslow. They had come to join Kai and Dylan for dinner the day before.

“What’s up?” She walked out of
the bathroom to where Kai was on the couch. He was lying down with his cell phone on his bare chest, and he squeezed her butt beneath his flannel pajama top that she was wearing when she straddled him. “What do you want, Wes?”

“Hey, baby…”

“Wesley!” Kai said in a warning shout when he put the phone up to his lips.

“
Oh, come on! You never yell at Lek for calling her ‘baby girl.’ Anyway,
Brothers Elliott,
me and Abel’s fledging production company, is looking for someone to film me and some other surfers while we're in Indonesia at the end of the summer for a joint project with the wetsuit company that sponsors us. You were on my short list. You interested?” Wes said in a hopeful tone.

“Really?” Dylan said excitedly, smiling
down at Kai.

“Oh
yeah? Sounds…interesting. Great…opportunity,” Kai said without an ounce of enthusiasm as his lips jerked into a flat smile. Dylan frowned at his reluctant endorsement. “Dude, I haven’t forgotten that you sort of kissed my girl on New Year’s. You’re lucky I haven’t uglied up that face of yours some more. Now you want to whisk her away to some island paradise? Bull
shit
.”

Dylan giggled and poked Kai on his bare chest. “And you know all too well my history of falling in love on the job…”

“Sweet!” Wes yelled before he broke out into hysterical laughter. They loved joining forces to drive Kai absolutely crazy. She still couldn’t believe that he would even entertain the idea that Wes’ words had any effect on her.

“Baby…” Kai
leaned her forward suddenly before planting a slow trail of kisses on her neck. “…
Really
? Was that necessary?” He spoke into the curve of her neck.

Dylan sat up and Kai undid several of the buttons on the shirt.
“Let me think about it, Wes. I already got Dan Middleton to give me a shitload of money to work on something…” Her voice trailed off when Kai clutched one of her breasts. “…It would be too tight of a…
squeeze
, schedule-wise.” Kai chuckled silently.

He gripped her hips and
ground his pelvis against her once. “Hey, Wes, she’ll call you later, cool?”

“Cool. Let me know
, Dylan. Talk to you guys soon.” Kai hit the “END” button.

He laughed. “He really thinks I’m not gonna punch him in the face. He’s in for a very
rude and painful awakening.” He undid two more of her buttons, revealing the entirety of her black cotton bra.

“You look s
o sexy right now,” he whispered.

“What is it about
a girl in a guy’s shirt that makes you all so crazy? I look like a lumberjack.”

Kai
angled her forward slightly. “Maybe, I’m into lumberjacks. You wanna see my
wood
?” She could certainly feel it pressing up against her.

“You know we make our money
chopping
wood, right?” she teased as she lowered her face to his. “I love you, Kai.”

“I love
you too,” Kai said as he grinned. It still made her shiver when he said it, even though they had been saying it for a couple months now. He kissed her forehead, nose and lips. “And thank you for what you’re doing for Erica.”

“We’re doing it together. I’m looking forward to the downtime on this therapy retreat with my family
next month because Erica and I have a lot of work to do for the documentary.” The first anniversary of Mac’s death was fast approaching, and she didn’t feel as scared as she thought she would. Getting back to some of the things she loved without feeling bad, starting a bereaved students group on campus and leaning on her friends and family, and especially Kai, had made a world of difference in terms of dealing better with the loss. No one ever judged her for living her life, and she was working really hard to not judge herself anymore. She had managed to stick to her pledge of not emailing him too.

“Tons of people become crime victims in other countries and have no clue what to do and how to further their case
s when they’re back in their home country. I hope this documentary will help U.S. citizens, at least. Erica’s still compiling a list of people we want to interview. I’m just glad Dan Middleton liked the idea. We’re going to try to enter it into some festivals next year if all goes well, but definitely a screening sometime. Professor J is super excited about it. You think Erica’s going to be ready when everything comes out and everyone knows?”

“
I hope so,” Kai said, drawing his words out in a sigh. “I really hope so.”

“
Me too.” Dylan sat up again. “Oh, I forgot to tell you, your new manager-slash-publicist called me the other day to ask what my occupational title is for some article
Why Do Celebrities Suck
wrote about us. I like him. He’s not as scary as Nina.” Dylan was still adjusting to seeing herself mentioned online on gossip websites, but at least the paparazzi left her alone at school and other times when she wasn’t with him. “Have you talked to her?”

Kai sighed. “Yeah, we’re still trying to figure out how to maintain our business relationship along with our personal one. She’ll get over me firing her, even though she’s being difficult with the web series ownership situation.
She’s still my partner in the business, and she’s making a big deal about it being company property, which means it belongs to both of us, not to mention the fact that she and I have that internal agreement about her maintaining control of digital property. But you earned it, Dyl, because you did your job. Technically, you did what she asked, and they’ve gotten over two million views total so far. Look at how badly J.Kutch’s old label wanted the clips of us. You deserve to have the rights turned over to you. Last resort, we’ll dissolve the business and fight it out in court, but I don’t want to do that.

“Anyway,
I played nice and asked her if she could book me some appearances for while I’m in Oz, her last official duties as my manager before Kutch and I release all the new music on our new indie label.”

“You in Australia is all Odette has been talking about when we Skype. Are you all set for this ‘eight ci
ties in eight days’ tour before you and Kutch hit the road? ‘Kai & Kutch: The Tour.’ I still think that’s so cute. J.Kutch is so excited. As is Ashley.”

“He is, and she is
, for sure. She has been on her best behavior ever since our relationship went public. I’m almost ready. New manager got all the travel stuff taken care of. Got my physical. All that’s left is packing and spending the next two days and nights in bed with my girlfriend.”

“Days
and
nights…” she repeated as he squeezed just above her knees. “Hmm. Not sleeping, I’m guessing—no,
hoping
.”

“Be careful what you wish for.
” He winked. Sitting up, he leaned her back and kissed between her breasts before flicking his tongue against her skin until she laughed. With some maneuvering, he re-positioned them so that his feet were on the floor and she was straddling his lap.

“I’m so glad we’re
here
. I mean, the ‘going-to-be-apart-for-a-while-and-totally-okay-with-it’ place. I know it’s been hard for you,” she said.

“We’re here, yes, but I’m going to miss you like crazy, Dylan Kimberly Carroll.” Kai
squeezed her cheeks. “Every single day, like I always do. And that still scares me sometimes.”

Placing her hands on top of his, she said, “I can’t control everything, but as long as I have the ability, I will always—”

“Find me? I know, baby.” He took one of her hands and pressed his lips to the back of it. “I love you so much for that, and well, I
have
been chasing
you
since Il Bistro.”

“Okay…you’ve got me there.” He sighed suddenly and his gaze dropped. “What?” she asked, concerned.

“Dyl, you’re the best thing that ever happened to me.” His stare sprung back up to her face.

“Kai…”

“You are. I’m sorry if that puts a lot of pressure on you, but you are. My whole life I’ve been struggling with my feelings for my dad. I loved him because I think I’m just wired that way, but I hated him, too. I feared becoming him, but I idolized him sometimes as a kid. He’s the reason I’m a singer now. I
am
him in some ways because his blood is in my veins, and I always thought no one would ever love me
really
because of that, but you did and have. Even with everything you were going through, you never once didn’t want to be with me because of
him.
I have
never
been Butch to you. So it’s through you and being with you that I’ve realized I can’t hold on to what he was anymore. I can’t let Butch own me anymore. So thank you…for loving
me
.” He flicked the tears off her cheeks as she tried to speak without bawling.

“You’re welcome, and I love you.”
Dylan scrunched her nose, laughing, as she wiped away more tears. “Ew, have we become one of those couples that does that all the time? The ‘I love you’ thing? I
do
, obviously, but we probably come across as really gross to other people.”

“Team Dick
is
gross.” Kai smiled and stood with her still clinging to him. “But, hey, you wanna show me how much you love me?”

“Hell…yes.”
Her phone, still on the dining table where she had left it, suddenly pinged an email notification as Kai carried her off to the bedroom. Her text notification followed it with a short melody. Though she wondered what the messages were, Dylan lacked any real enthusiasm to find out…until Kai’s phone buzzed on the desk in the room. She kept quiet as they both fell on the bed, but an abrupt feeling of dread bound her chest when Kai’s phone buzzed again, and then her phone emitted another beep.

Something was happening.

And she couldn’t help feeling that whatever it was, it was about to change things for everybody.