Page 28 of Broken Hearts (Hibiscus Hearts #1)

I’m surprised at how late it is when I wake up, the sun high in the sky, streaming into the apartment as Sage sleeps beside me. Yesterday and last night had been exhausting, probably more than I expected it to be. I always knew saying goodbye to Mitch was going to be hard, even if Hawaiian tradition says we celebrate life over mourning death. But with Sage here, with everything that has happened between us, it was somehow way harder than I thought it was going to be.

I roll over, burying my face in Sage’s hair as I press a kiss to the back of her neck. She stirs a little, but doesn’t wake up, and I just lie here, holding her in my arms, wishing I could stay in this moment with her forever.

I’m glad her mom came yesterday, that she’d been here for Sage too. I can’t even imagine how hard all of this is for her, knowing now, the guilt she carries for not being a part of Mitch’s life when he was alive. But her mom being here was also a reminder of what’s to come.

I inhale, trying to remember her scent, knowing that with Mitch’s memorial now done, my time with Sage is running out. It doesn’t matter how much I want her to stay or how much I wish I could hang on to her, I know it’s not going to happen. We are from different worlds and no matter how much I wish I could change that, I can’t.

“Shit,”

I mutter, exhaling before I carefully slip out of bed. Pulling on some clothes, I grab my phone, slide my feet into flip flops and head downstairs to walk over to the coffee shop. Along the way I send a text to both Tanner and Alana.

* * *

Me: What time are you guys coming by? Sage is gonna come too.

Tanner: We’ll be there in 30 mins.

* * *

After I’ve bought our drinks, I head back up to the apartment to find Sage still asleep. Smiling, I leave the coffees on the nightstand before leaning over, brushing the hair back from her face as I kiss her cheek. “Wake up, sleepy,”

I whisper. “We gotta go soon.”

Sage mumbles something as she rolls over so she’s facing me, and I lean down and kiss her lips. “What time is it?” she asks.

Chuckling, I brush my thumb across her mouth. “Time to get up,”

I tell her. “I bought you a coffee. I’m gonna head home and take a shower.”

She groans now as she sits up, holding the sheet across her chest as she blinks her eyes open, trying to focus on me. “Hey,”

she says, giving me a sleepy smile.

“Hi,”

I whisper, leaning in to kiss her again. I want to kiss her every day. Forever. “Get dressed, I’ll be back soon, okay?”

She nods, and I stand, grabbing her coffee and handing it to her before I pick up mine and head downstairs to my house to shower and change.

Sage and I are waiting outside the front of the shop when Tanner rolls up in his van, Miles sitting in the front passenger seat, Alana and Kai in the back.

“Yo, yo, yo, lovebirds,”

Kai calls through the open window, a huge smile on his face as he smacks his hand against the side of the van. I’d sort of forgotten about how everyone saw me and Sage together yesterday and now knew something was going on with us.

“Fuck me,”

I mutter as, beside me, Sage laughs.

We climb in, taking the bench seat at the back of the van, Kai turning to face us, a huge smile on his face as he rests his arms across the back of his seat. “So,”

he starts.

I shake my head, even as Tanner calls from the driver’s seat, “Leave it, Kai.”

Kai rolls his eyes, the grin still on his face as he looks over at Alana, letting out a quick laugh before he turns back in his seat to face the front. Sage glances up at me, but I just drop my arm around her shoulders, pulling her close as I press a kiss to her temple.

The drive isn’t long, and when we pull up to the small dock where Tanner keeps his boat, Sage turns to me and says, “We’re going out on a boat?”

“Yeah,”

I say with a laugh. “Mitch would want his ashes scattered at sea,”

I tell her.

“Oh, I know,”

Sage replies quickly. “I just assumed we’d surf or paddle out or whatever.”

Tanner lets out a chuckle as we all head down the dock toward the shittiest, most beat-up, ancient, barely afloat boat here. “Nah, we’re taking the Luna Mae out,”

he says, smiling at Sage. “Your dad and I spent hours fishing on this boat, he woulda loved this for a final send-off.”

Sage blinks, her eyes turning to the boat and then back to Tanner. “Who’s Luna Mae? Is she…I don’t know, like someone important to my dad?”

Tanner and Kai laugh at this, Miles actually cracking a smile as Tanner shakes his head and says, “Luna Mae is my wife, this is my boat.”

“You’re married?”

Sage blurts out, her cheeks instantly turning red as we all laugh now.

“Uh huh,”

Tanner says, jerking a thumb at his sons. “How do you think I ended up with these two?”

“Oh my god,”

she mutters, burying her face in her hands. “How did I not know this?”

Laughing, I pull her close, dropping a kiss to her head before we all get on the boat.

Tanner takes us out to one of their favorite spots, a small bay that doesn’t get any break and so is pretty much shit for surfing.

“This feels like a good spot,”

he says, killing the engine.

Alana walks over with the urn in her arms, holding it out to Sage. “You can keep some if you want. We just thought…well, we thought Mitch would like it out here.”

“Yeah,”

she says, nodding as she looks around. “Yep.”

There’s nothing ceremonial about what we do or how we do it. The six of us each take turns tipping some of Mitch’s ashes into the sea as the boat bobs silently beneath us. No one says anything because everything that needed to be said was said yesterday.

When we’re done, maybe half the ashes are left, still in the urn Sage now holds in her arms.

I watch as Tanner blows out a hard breath, his eyes on the horizon as he sticks a cigarette between his lips, lighting it before taking one quick inhale and then throwing the cigarette overboard as he blows out the smoke.

“Later, buddy,”

he whispers, swallowing hard before he turns back to us. Behind him, Miles steps closer, resting a hand on his dad’s shoulder. Tanner smiles, his gaze moving over all of us as he says, “What do you say we go have some fun?”

We head back to the shop, but for the second day in a row, we don’t open, instead grabbing our boards and heading over the road to the beach.

“I thought you said this beach wasn’t for newbies,”

Sage says as she walks beside me, her board tucked under her arm and almost looking like she knows what she’s doing.

Chuckling, I reach over and grip the back of her neck, squeezing gently as I say, “Not in the mornings, no, but you’ll be okay now.”

“Are you sure?”

she asks and when I turn to her, her eyes are fixed on the waves, which I guess probably look huge compared to the ones she first surfed.

I stop, pulling her around so she’s facing me, everyone else heading down to the water’s edge. “I’m not gonna let anything happen to you, Sage.”

She looks up at me, licking her bottom lip before she pulls it between her teeth. “Promise?”

I step closer, closing the distance between us as I drop my lips to hers, kissing her softly. Sage’s hand moves to my chest, her palm flat against my bare skin, right above my heart. Her touch drives me crazy, a million little shocks of fire lighting my skin beneath her fingers.

“Sage,”

I moan, my mouth against hers.

“Nate,”

she whispers.

My tongue traces her bottom lip, sliding against hers as her lips now part, our kiss deepening. The two of us forget all about the others who are probably paddling out to where the swell breaks. I don’t even care about surfing, and I know if right this second Sage asked me to turn around and walk back across the road and head upstairs, I would.

The sound of catcalls and whistling from the water is what breaks the spell, though. The two of us pull back slowly, even though I can still feel her breath on my face.

“I’ve got you,”

I breathe out, resting my forehead against hers. “I’m not gonna let anything happen to you out there, okay?”

“Okay,”

she whispers, nodding.

I give her another quick kiss before grabbing her hand. The two of us walk out to join the others.

We surf for a couple of hours, all of us offering Sage tips on her technique as she continues to try and try. She still struggles, falling more than she stands, but she’s smiling, laughing at her mistakes and listening as Tanner or Alana or even Miles offer her advice on what she should do next time.

Every now and then she manages to surf a wave into the shore, and when she does, they all call out to her, “A ‘o ia!”

Sage laughing when Alana tells her the meaning behind it.

“You look like you’re having fun out here,”

I eventually say as we all paddle out beyond the swell to take a break.

Sage lets out a soft laugh, a gorgeous smile on her face as she moves her hands through the water. “I am. I mean I know I suck, but I really like it. I wish I’d learned years ago.”

Smiling, I reach over and grab her ankle, pulling her close. “He’d love that you’re learning now.”

Sage leans over and kisses me. “I think he’d love that you’re all teaching me,”

she says, her lips against mine.

I slide my hand up her thigh before circling my fingers around her wrist, the cool silver bracelet she hasn’t taken off since the memorial yesterday resting against her skin. “You look like you belong here,”

I say, threading our fingers together, the words falling from my mouth, dangerous. “You look like an islander.”

“Really?”

she asks, her whole face lighting up.

Laughing, I lift our joined hands, pressing a kiss to the inside of her wrist. “I mean, sorta, yeah,”

I say with a shrug.

Sage narrows her brow at me, her smile disappearing as she asks, “Sorta? What does sorta mean?”

“Well,”

I start, my eyes dropping to her chest and the bikini she wears. “You don’t have the tan lines of a local yet,”

I tease, swallowing hard at the view of her nipples, hard beneath the fabric of her top.

Sage scoffs, pulling her hand from mine before skimming her fingers along my stomach, right above the edge of my boardshorts. “You have some serious tan lines,”

she whispers, smiling.

“Well, you would know. You have seen me naked,”

I say, grinning as her fingers dip into the top of my shorts.

She smirks now, glancing over her shoulder quickly to where everyone else sits on their boards, far enough away that they are out of earshot. “I have,”

she says, turning back to me. “Kinda want to see you naked right now.”

“Here?”

I ask, my hands moving to the drawstring of my shorts. Sage’s eyes widen, her mouth dropping open into an O shape that makes me laugh. “Nah, maybe we should head back,”

I suggest, taking her hand in mine as I lift it to my lips.

“Maybe,”

Sage whispers, a smile tugging at her lips.

I tug her closer, our boards bumping as I lower my lips to hers, kissing her deep, not giving a single shit about where we are or who’s here with us.

Of course, they do, once again whistling and being assholes about it all. Reluctantly, I pull back, chuckling at the blush on Sage’s cheeks. “We’re gonna go,”

I call out, not taking my eyes off her.

Kai lets out a loud laugh as he says, “Oh yeah, to do what exactly?”

I flip him off, ignoring all of them as I tip my head toward the shore, my eyes never leaving Sage. “You wanna?”

She nods, smiling at me before she turns to the others. “Thank you for today, for letting me be a part of it.”

Tanner smiles back at her, nodding once as he says, “Always, Sage, we’re ohana.”

She looks over at me because I know she doesn’t understand what the word means and honestly, I’m not sure if she asked me in this moment, I’d be able to tell her. It’s one word, just a single word, but it means fucking everything.

“Let’s go,”

I say, the words catching in my throat as I lie on my board and paddle in to where the waves break.

Sage follows me, her eyes on me as she watches me wait for the right wave, mirroring my actions when I start to paddle. As it starts to crest, I push up off my board, the ocean spray hiding the tears I don’t want to shed, don’t want her to see, as I turn and ride the wave, hoping to fuck Sage is behind me.

Riding it with me.

When it reaches the shore, I jump off my board, scrubbing a hand down my face as I grab my board and turn to watch Sage. She’s actually ridden the wave, surfed it all the way into the shore like she was born to do it.

Like she was born to surf.

Born to ride these waves with me.

Maybe she was.

Smiling, she grabs her board, tucking it under her arm as she walks over to where I wait at the shoreline. “I did it,”

she whispers, her words barely audible, despite the obvious excitement on her face.

Smiling, I pull her close. “You did,”

I whisper, my mouth against hers.

She kisses me, her arm curling around my neck as she holds me close and asks, “What did Tanner say? What is ohana?”

She’s got a sly smile on her face, almost like she knows the answer but just wants to hear me say it because she knows what a big deal this is.

My eyes close, my forehead against hers as I suck in a deep breath, letting it out slowly as I say, “Family.”