Worlds Apart Ch 04 1

Here we are with another chapter of Worlds Apart. I didn't really feel like I was going to do more after ch. 3, but a reader asked if I was going to head back to Hawaii. I went back and reread the first three parts and wanted to do another shot. This chapter will be in past tense unlike the first 3 and I'll see how we feel about that flow. I've also decided to post this in the romance section instead of novels and novelas, as I think this is a romance story and then a drama, in that order.

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Saturday morning light softly clawed through the thick dark curtains of Tia's room, hit my face and warmed it. The change in light and increase in temperature was just enough to stir me. I tried to sit up, but there was a very attractive, very naked woman laying on top of me.

I rubbed my eyes and carefully moved her arm from off of my ribs and slid my body out from under her head like I was trying not to set off a weight activated bomb.

My eyes scanned her room, which was never the cleanest to begin with, but I wasn't much to talk on that, either. We were both young and busy people with more on our minds than tidying up our rooms. I was, however, looking for my clothes that Tia and I weren't paying too much attention to where we tossed them when we got home from our date.

I made as little sound as I could as I collected my clothes and put them on. Tia was still sleeping soundly, completely unbothered as I snuck out of her room. I didn't know anything about Lola's status, so I stalked through the upstairs hall and then down the stairs like a bandit. It was my unspoken turn to make coffee for the house.

I had just gotten rid of yesterday's grounds and put new ones into a filtered basket when I felt a pair of arms wrap around me. I jolted a little and relaxed. I've always been jumpy, but I knew it was Tia. I felt her hands splayed across my stomach and her face pressed into my back.

"What are you doing out of bed, ipo [sweetheart]? It's still early," I asked as I hit start on the old pot and then turned around in her arms to kiss her forehead.

"You left me alone and cuddleless," she said, her voice indignant, sounding almost offended.

"I was going to bring you coffee in bed," I told her as I held her and she nuzzled into my chest.

"Mmmm, that does sound nice." I could hear the sleep still thick in her voice, like she was still more in bed than out of it. She looked adorable in a loose tank top, boy shorts and her favorite bathrobe.

"When does Lola wake up on the weekends? Do we need to think about getting her breakfast right away, or will she still be asleep for a while?"

"Lola usually does her own thing." She turned her face to the side and looked at the clock built into the stove. "She'll be asleep for another hour or two anyway."

"I kissed Tia as she looked back at me and I kept holding her, but pulled my chest away at an angle. "I don't want to overstep, but how about I make pancakes?"

"You want to make us pancakes? What's the occasion?" she asked with a small smile. I'm sure she wanted to know why I was pushing for them, but she didn't tell me no.

"When I was little my mom used to make pancakes for me and my siblings every Saturday, and then Sunday was usually eggs or grilled cheese after church."

She smiled ear to ear. "That's so fucking cute that you remember that, and that you want to make pancakes. Mahalo, Mason." She hugged me tight. "I know I would, and I bet Lola would love to have you make us pancakes."

I kissed her forehead and for the life of me, I wouldn't break the hug. She felt so good in my arms, and the warmth of her, the warmth of making breakfast for her and her little sister... just weeks ago I never would have known I needed this. I can't say I had a hole or felt like I was missing something, but now that I was here with them, I didn't want to lose it.

"Pancakes for three won't take long, so I won't start it for a while if she's going to sleep in and you don't teach your hula class till 11," I explained as I finally broke our long embrace so I could get us coffee.

"You know... Lola won't be up for another two hours or more. She doesn't wake up with the sun like you do."

"What are you suggesting?" I asked, as if her teasing smile didn't already say.

"I could give you an early thank you for breakfast," Tia cooed as she sank down to her haunches and rubbed my thighs with both hands. "Last night didn't go according to plan with Lola not being able to sleep, so we didn't get to have the dessert I wanted. I was just too tired by the time she went dkwn. This is also my way of apologizing for that, I guess," she smiled up at me as she pulled open my pants.

I put my hands on hers, stopping her movements. She looked up at me with a frown, and looked a little concerned. "Tia, you don't owe me an apology. You don't owe me anything. The only time I ever want to see you like this is because you want to be. I date you on the condition that Lola comes before anything we want because you're all she has. You're a phenomenal sister, and I'm glad to be here at all."

Tia continued to look up at me, blinking, but her face softened. "I wanted to suck your ule all night, and what I said was just a fun pretext. But now, for how fucking sweet you are, I'm going to suck you off in my kitchen like I'm two months late on rent."

I leaned back against the sink and let her pull my jeans and underwear down to my knees. She smiled at my manhood and wrapped a hand around it. "If you expressly want to, help yourself," I chuckled. I loved the feeling of Tia's hands. They were still a woman's hands, but had texture from working hard and being a caretaker of a home.

"I want to, Mason," she told me, looking up at me this time with her big brown eyes and a smile gracing her full, soft lips. "I like making you feel good, and I genuinely have fun doing this," Tia said as she started pleasuring me with a second hand as I got longer and harder for her.

I put my hand in her long dark hair and felt the silkyness of it. "You're so fucking pretty, Tia," I said softly as she kissed the tip. "I was going to make pancakes with or without this. You know that, right?"

Tia giggled. "Of course I knew that. I got down here after you mentioned pancakes, lolo." She licked both of her palms and went back to work on me, and introduced her warm tongue by swirling it around the head.

"God, that's so good," I groaned. I kept sifting her locks through my hand, but didn't influence the speed or tone of the BJ at all. "I'm lucky, finding a girl who's drive might be bigger than mine," I laughed lowly.

She looked up at me but kept twisting her hands around me. "You're a red-blooded lawman just over 25, and if fate hadn't been an puʻukū [asshole] I'd still be surfing all over the West Coast and racking up medals."

I stopped her and pulled her back up. Without readjusting or fixing myself, I pulled her into a hug and she hugged me back. I didn't talk, didn't tell her it would be okay. I knew she wasn't resenting me, but she was resenting the hand she and Lola had been dealt. She had meant it as a one-off comment, but I knew better.

I kept my hold firm on her until she relaxed. "Thanks. I didn't know I needed that," she said and kissed my chest. "I'm sorry I kinda ruined the moment." Tia scrunched her nose like she smelled something rank, and I laughed. I loved how expressive this woman was. She rested her forehead on me and slowly took hold of my length again. "Still hard. Did I ruin the moment?"

"No, ipo [sweetheart], you didn't ruin the moment. We can try to have some morning delight, or we can sit down at the kitchen table and talk. Whatever you need is not going to be a ruin."

She looked up at me again, pouting adorably. "How the fuck are you so damn sweet? I keep thinking you're some kind of hardass that spits into an old milk jug or something, but you're really a big softy."

"Only with you, Tia. There's a lot of people back in Maine that wouldn't know that who I am with you is the same person without you. I don't go out of my way to be a dick, but I don't trust showing just anyone my back."

"It sounds like you might need to talk," Tia laughed. "I think we'll have to do this later," she says and pulls my pants back up and tucks me in. "I'm sorry I..."

I cut her off with a kiss and put my hand in her hair, the other on the small of her back. She sighed and broke the kiss, looking back at me.

"I said no apologies," I told her as I grabbed my coffee from the counter and handed her hers. They were starting to get cold. "Feelings and things you need to air out are more important than libido."

We sat down at the little wooden coffee table and Tia rested her chin in her hand. "I don't know why I woke up this morning thinking about how life fucked me. I was 18, fresh out of high-school. I was a good fucking surfer. I have trophies and medals. I'm a name Kauai and half of these islands know because I was a few meets from going pro. I was damn close to sponsorship, and then..." her voice hitched and she stopped, pressing the back of her hand to her mouth.

"Take all the time you need, baby. I'm here," I told her, taking her other hand and rubbing the back of it with my hand.

She took a moment and stared daggers at the table and I could see her jaw clenching and unclenching. "I was supposed to compete two days from the worst night of my life in Maui at a state-wide amateur surf meet. It was supposed to be the biggest meet that year for unsponsored surfers. I was damn sure I was about to get seriously noticed. I was so in the zone. Fucking high from the streak I had been on. I was in the newspaper, on Kauai Morning Roast, popular at school. Huge social media following because I was an 18 year old beach bunny... but then I got the news." She paused again and closed her eyes. She squeezed my hand and I squeezed it back.

"A car crash on a rainy night. Head on by a drunk driver. All three... fucking dead," she said and sobbed, dropping her forehead to the table. Still holding her hand, I slowly got up and walked around the table and crouched beside her.

"I was legally an adult, but still such a kid. I had dreams, and they felt like they were close to being more than that. But then I practically became my six year old sister's mother, and my own. My entire life became taking care of Lola," she told me, facing me but keeping her cheek on the table, like the coolness of the wood was keeping her upset from boiling over. "I was so close to being someone, Mason. My life was school and surfing and hula. I didn't know shit about raising a girl or myself!" she seethed.

"Hey," I said quietly but firmly. "You may not currently be on the cover of Sports Illustrated right now, but let me tell you... you are a little girl's whole world. Her world and yours stopped spinning when your parents died. The only thing that let it keep spinning at all was you." A tear pricked into her eye and I wasn't about to tell her to stop it from falling.

"I've seen situations like yours before but without a beautiful soul like yours. I've seen families that didn't have a sibling who could be a guardian, and they've been separated. I've seen families where a guardian stepped up and couldn't do it, and the system pulled them apart. It's brutal and it's ugly and I've laid awake at night wondering what's happened to the kids of bad men and women I've put away, that have called me a monster for doing it because they needed them." It was my turn to take a breath.

"Tia, you're not living your dream but I swear to you, the work you are doing, the difference you're making in Lola's life is so much more world changing and profound than any magazine cover ever will be. Chasing your dream is hard, but giving up your dream for someone you love is harder, and one of the hardest sacrifices to make. There is no greater love than that, and that you made that choice at such a young age... you are the kind of person they should be writing about, not Johnny Tsunami." By the end of my speech, Tia was crying and I was feeling like I was about to.

She pushed off the table and tackled me with a hug, crying into my neck and I could feel her tears starting to wet my skin as I let her sob, and I just kept holding her.

"Tia? Are you okay?" I heard Lola's little voice from the kitchen doorway. "What's going on?"

I craned my head back, rolling it on the floor so I could look upside down at the 10 year old. "Aloha kakahiaka [good morning], e Lola. Your sister and I were just having a talk and things got... emotional."

Tia didn't let me up, but looked at Lola with a teary smile. "I didn't hear you get up. It's still so early."

"I heard you getting angry," she said. "I left my door open last night because it got stuffy. I came down to check on you."

Tia scrambled off me but stayed on the floor and reached her arms out. "Come here," she said, tears still rolling."

"Tia, do you regret keeping me?" Lola asked, and I finally broke.

"A'ole [no], Lola. Never. I will never regret my choice," she said and kissed Lola's head rapidly until Lola giggled.

"Okay, okay, I believe you," Lola said, still laughing as she pushed away from Tia with her little arms. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I know that's rude."

I didn't say a damn thing. This was a sister moment, and I wasn't going to say a fucking thing to Tia about Lola's manners, especially when it came to a culture I didn't have a solid grasp on yet. From where I sat, she was doing great work.

"You annoy me to no end," Tia giggled, "but that's your job."

"If you're going to do your job, do it well," Lola said with a shrug, and then smiled. "Makua Kāne [Dad] used to tell us that," she told me.

I wiped my eyes quickly and stood up next to the sisters. "Now that everyone's up, should I get started on pancakes?"

"Pancakes?" Lola asked with a hopeful smile and big eyes.

Tia laughed. "Mason's been talking about wanting to make all of us pancakes since I got up this morning."

"I love pancakes." The little smile on Lola's face, and those eyes were all I needed to ask Tia to help me feel my way around the kitchen for what I needed.

Like a little adult, Lola filled a coffee cup and then sat at the seat Tia had been at. "If Marshal is going to eat with us a lot, we should get a third chair," she suggested.

Tia flashed her eyes to the table. "You're right." Then she turned to me. "We've only needed two chairs for the last four years," she said, that sadness returning to her voice.

"I miss them, too," Lola said, her little head dropping, her dark bedhead curtaining her round face.

This was the saddest I'd ever seen the sisters, and I would have thought we were nearing the anniversary of that night. In the softest, most understanding voice I had, I asked, "This morning feels heavy. Do you girls need me to go? I can give you space."

Tia shook her head. "No, it's okay. Some mornings are just... some mornings hurt more than others, and we never know which ones they'll be until they hit."

"I really want pancakes," Lola voiced her position. It seemed like I was staying.

I nodded and went back to work. I was determined to make the best banana-macadamia nut and chocolate chip pancakes the girls ever had. I also made from-scratch whipped cream just for a little extra flair.

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"That was delicious, Mason. Mahalo nui iā ʻoe [thank you so much] for making breakfast," Tia said as she stood up from the table and cleared our plates.

"Those were very yummy," Lola concurred, making me smile. "And we have plenty of time for bellies to settle before hula class," she said and scampered away upstairs.

"She's excited. I know this morning was heavy, and I hope therapeutic, but I'm glad to see some smiles coming out now."

"I know. This morning was a lot, but... if you're going to be around, and if you want to know us... this morning was very important, Mason."

I got up from the table and went to Tia, who was doing the morning's dishes. I put my arms around her and kissed her neck. "Thank you for sharing with me, Tia. I know it was hard to talk about, but I'm glad to know that about you and Lola."

Tia stopped moving for a moment, but went back to the task. "It is hard to talk about, but the locals all know about it."

I release my hold on Tia's waist and head back to the kitchen table, to my coffee. "Tia, what if instead of hiking, the three of us did a beach day? We could swim and enjoy the sun, and you and Lola could surf."

Tia stopped and put the sponge down. She lowered her head and pinched her shoulders together. "I haven't been surfing since my parents passed," she said softly. "It's been four years... maybe... maybe I should get back on the board."

I nodded my head as I took a sip. "If you want to do that instead of our hike today, I'm okay with that. I'm still Maine kinds of pasty," I chuckled.

Tia ran her dark eyes over me and laughed. "Ae [yes], you are. Sounds like a good use of a beautiful Saturday, Lawman." She looked at the clock and sighed. "I'm gonna get ready for class."

"Should I meet you back here after?" I asked. "It'll give me time to change and grab what I need."

"You don't want to come to class and see what it's about?" Tia countered, leaning against the sink. "You could scope it out, see if you'd be interested in taking it up as a hobby."

I rolled my neck around, thinking. "I could observe. It wouldn't worry the boss or the kids, having a Marshal poking around class?"

Tia shook her head. "Doubt it. Might be a good way to introduce you to a bit more of the community, actually."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Consider my arm twisted," I said and she clapped her hands together, clearly pleased.

"As a bonus, you get to watch your sexy girlfriend dance," Tia winked and gave me a demonstrative shake of her hips, her arms over her head and her hands freely flowing.

"I'm sold," I chuckled. "Then I get to look at you in a swimsuit all day? I'm considering myself lucky."

"Smooth talker," Tia said with a smirk. "Alright, I'm going to go get dressed for class for real this time."

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Even as early as yesterday, I would not have expected to spend my Saturday morning watching my girlfriend and a bunch of elementary school kids hula dancing. And as Tia had said, it was a pretty good way for me to meet and chat casually with some locals. A lot of the parents stayed to mingle with each other and watch the class, as nobody really had somewhere to be at 11 a.m. on a weekend.

I chatted with parents or whomever had kids in the class, and it was a nice ice breaker. Everyone was super friendly and was excited to see the haole Fed take interest in a Hawaiian tradition and past time. None of them seemed disgusted at the idea that Tia and I were dating. Some of them even seemed relieved and expressly happy for Tia. From what I had been told by the water cooler was that Tia did not have a good history of boyfriends, which I had picked up on already. I was really hoping to break that change.

When class was about half over, I started to really focus on the class and watching the wavy, elegant movements Tia was really well versed in. She was beautiful and seemed weightless as she danced, the morning's grey cloud seemed lifted by the music and the healing movements.

My focus was broken when I received a phone call. I checked my phone and saw it was my boss. "Craig? What's going on?" I asked as I picked up the call. I never heard from him on my time off unless something was seriously wrong.

"Am I hearing singing? And drumming?" he asked.

"Yeah, hang on a minute," I said and headed outside. "Girlfriend things," I left it vague.

"Speaking of which, that's adjacent to why I'm calling you now."

"What the hell's that mean? Tia's not her name or something?" I joked, but was anxious for sure.