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“His name is Bret.”
“Okay, Bret, who is built like a linebacker, bash your skull in?” Jun’s face was contorted in worry as she clawed at his shirtfront. Kai would’ve found the concern sweet if she weren’t preventing him from going to get his due.
“I won’t let him do that. But he does get to hit me. At least once. Maybe twice.”
“Kai!” Jun protested. Kai firmly but gently pushed her out of the way. She trotted after him down the narrow stone path leading to the moonlit beach. In the distance, Bret was waiting for him, all beefy muscle as he paced furiously across the wet sand.
“You can’t do this!” Jun pleaded with Kai.
“Stop.” Kai grabbed her hands and held them. “You need to stay here. Go inside the restaurant and wait for me. I’ll be fine.”
“You’ve got an audience already.” Jun flung an arm up, and Kai saw then that all the patrons of the restaurant had shifted to the edge of the balcony to get a better look. Great. His ass-whooping would be on YouTube by midnight. Kai shook his head and glanced down at Bret, who was still stalking back and forth like an angry bull. He had to go. He had to face Bret. Bret had told him never to surf Jaws again. That there’d be consequences. He assumed these were those consequences.
“Jun. Let me go.”
“Kai. I’m not going to let you go down there.”
“You have to stay here.” Kai couldn’t make this any plainer to the woman. “You could get hurt. Bret is mad, and he has a right to be, and you have to trust me that I know what I’m doing. This is my fight. Not yours.” The words stopped her cold, just as he meant them to. Now she’d get it. Po was her fight. Bret was his. Kai marched past her and closed the gap between him and his oldest friend on earth.
It wouldn’t be the first time Bret had clobbered him. After all, they’d been just eight when they’d tried to figure out who hit the hardest. Bret had won because he’d reared back and knocked out one of Kai’s baby teeth. He’d had a deadly right hook even then. Kai wasn’t looking forward to feeling how much power he’d gained in twenty-five years.
Jun stood still, halfway up the rocky path to the beach, and Kai powered on, finally meeting his once-best friend on the damp shore. He stopped about twenty feet away. Bret had already taken off his shoes, which lay tossed haphazardly nearby. Kai kicked off his own sandals, slowly and methodically, his eyes never leaving Bret.
“I warned you, man,” Bret said as he cracked his knuckles and shook his shoulders loose. “I told you to stay off that break.”
“Competition is in two days.”
“You will not surf in that competition!” Bret spit into the sand, taking three steps forward. “You gonna keep on trying until you kill someone? Like that kid you were with? You could’ve killed him.”
“I know, but the ocean is my life. What am I supposed to do without it?”
“Find another hobby. I don’t care. You’ve got no business out there anymore, and you know it.”
Bret paced, rubbing his hands together, like a man trying to decide what to hit first. Kai understood. He knew Bret was angry about Jaws, but it was more than that. This was all about his wife and the baby and how Bret still blamed him for it. Kai blamed himself, too. Maybe they’d both feel better if Bret broke his nose.
“Listen, Bret. We need to talk. About your wife. About the—”
That pushed Bret over the edge, and with an animal grunt, he charged, swinging wildly. Instinctively, Kai ducked the first blow, but he was too slow to miss the second, a forceful punch straight to Kai’s cheek, and for an instant, he saw only stars as he wheeled backward. Bret’s right hook had only gotten more fierce with age. Damn. Kai shook off the blow and tried to orient himself because he knew another one was coming. Jun shrieked in panic somewhere behind him.
Kai had meant to just let Bret have a go at him and not fight back, but survival instincts took over, and he regained his balance, his fists up.
“Come on, hit me, you son of a bitch,” Bret spat, swinging again. Kai bobbed out of the way.
“I don’t want to fight you, Bret.”
