Topaz and Tides

The Tienimi Club series

By Aurelia Fray ©2015

 

 

Chapter One Preview

This is a first wave beta preview of Topaz and Tides by Aurelia Fray.

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©2015 Aurelia Fray

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When the Going Gets Tough

 

“Can I help you miss?” A sleek voice with matching smooth face peered out over a lustrous, glossed-black counter. The visitor’s reception at this resort was incredible. The glistening white walls and floor shone as brightly as the white Hawaiian sand beaches it was known for, not that Harry knew anything about it before last Tuesday.

 

“Harriet Fairbanks, I’m booked as a guest of Miss Penelope Littleton,” Harry tiptoed to whisper over the counter at the handsome young man staffing the front desk. He smiled and looked down at the skinniest monitor Harry had ever seen. It appeared to be made of a thick rectangle of pure glass. Harry watched as the flickering lights of retrieved data gave it away for what it was. She assumed it must be experimental technology because she hadn't noticed anything like it for sale in the stores. Then again, Harry hadn't noticed much of anything over the past few months.

 

The man scanned the bookings list and nodded satisfied that she was who she said she was. “Miss Fairbanks,” he said with another pearly white smile.

 

Everyone here had that smile, from the cute girls in traditional Hula dancing outfits to the taxi drivers that offered her sympathy when they told her they couldn't help her, they all shared that welcome grin. The friendliness of the people was a little disconcerting. Approachability certainly wasn’t a word Harry would use to describe people from back home; the nosey, busybodies might sweeten you up with a rare smile but they usually followed it up with invasive questions and if a stranger smiled—forget it—you ran because strangers were usually nutcases with some kind of nefarious intent. She learned that first hand over the years.

 

Harry didn’t know what to make of it all, but everyone seemed so genuine and affable. She had little choice but to smile uncomfortably and nod back at them so as not to appear rude.

 

“You have a booking for Hōkū cottage, however, Miss Littleton requested you be brought to her villa before we settle you in. She will handle your orientation and induction personally. If you would like to give your bags to Pilipo, he will take you to Miss Littleton.”

 

Harry instinctively turned and found another tanned, muscular young man behind her. The resort must genetically modify their staff because each person she’d encountered so far belonged in a magazine. Bronzed bodies, chiseled features, bright eyes and bushy tails, okay maybe not the tails, but Harry really did find it all a bit cliché. She idly wondered if she would have felt the same way if she were genuinely here on vacation. Would these Adonis creatures have thrilled her then? Would they have stirred her if she wasn't still reeling from her ex? She couldn't say.

 

The staff at the resort were distinctly recognizable with each of them wearing variations of the resort's standard uniform: tan shorts, skirts, or trousers matched with teal blue polo shirts, blouses or t-shirts. At their wrist, each wore a matching blue gemstone bracelet.

 

Plus, of course, they were all beautiful.

 

She felt disgusting in comparison but then, her black eye and bruised ribs didn’t help with that.

 

“This way, Miss Fairbanks,” Pilipo directed. He led her back out the same way she'd come in and waved his hand towards the small array of parked cars. She wasn’t sure if she was impressed or dismayed that none of the staff encountered so far stared overly long at her bruised face. She hadn’t covered it up. That never worked. The subterfuge always seemed to highlight the very thing you were trying to hide. Harry gave up hiding it a long time ago, probably in the hope that someone would step-up and offer her help. No one had.

 

Harry walked slowly in the direction that Pilipo pointed and noted her taxi still idled at the far end of the parking area.

Another guest, or at least she assumed that the young man was a guest from his lack of uniform, leaned in the cab door and spoke casually to the driver. The two men laughed together with a familiar ease that suggested they already knew one another.

At least that explained the driver’s kind offer to bring me here when everyone else refused. She thought, picking up her pace when Pilipo walked around her and hustled towards the end of the parking lot.

Harry didn’t understand just how difficult it would be to get to the resort. Having taken an early flight out to the big island from the mainland, Harry realized that she foolishly forgot to arrange a car to pick her up and take her to the resort. Worse yet, she couldn’t remember the phone number to call her friend Penny.

With Penny being her only link to the resort and knowing that she hadn’t made a formal booking, things started to look grim. She berated herself for not being more careful with Penny’s contact details. Harry was initially fearful of saving the number in her phone where it might be found by her controlling boyfriend. Instead she'd kept the digits on a scrap of paper which, sadly, probably now flew somewhere over the Atlantic. That was the last time she trusted trouser pockets to hold anything of importance when using an airplane toilet.

 

By the time she noticed the scrap of paper was missing, she was already on the big island and all she held on her person were her ragged case, a few hundred dollars in a frayed purse and a business card with the name of the resort: Tienimi.

The name didn’t sound Hawaiian to Harry and, from the way each of the cab drivers reacted to her when she asked about the place, it wasn’t very well known. Many of the drivers she queried just stared at her blankly. She approached six who flat out refused to help her, whether that was because the journey required they embarked upon a ferry ride across to a smaller island or because the fare wasn’t worth the time it took, Harry didn’t know. She was beginning to think she was stranded when a young man, heavy-set with soft, kind features approached her. He confessed to overhearing her pitiful begging and offered to take her to Tienimi there and then. His kindness was even more astonishing when he refused to accept her money and assured her instead that the resort would pay.

 

It was all rather odd.

 

Two other cars were currently parked beside her taxi. One, a long, dark, shiny car that you might expect to see diplomats chauffeured around in and the other, a hot, little, yellow sports car—obviously expensive and obviously fast. Pilipo directed her to the black car, opening her door for her and then retreated toward the rear of the car to place her bags in the trunk.

“Hold on Pilipo!” The guest leaning in the taxi window called out. He double tapped the roof of the taxi just before the driver sped away.

 

“Mr. Fletcher!” Pilipo greeted with an overly-friendly grin and a slight roll of his eyes.

 

Mr. Fletcher smacked the smaller man playfully on the arm, “You know I’m going to hit you every time you call me that, Pilo.”

 

“Yeah but it’s my job, Joshy-boy. If I call you anything else, it is my butt on the line.”

 

“Nah, that would give me too much paperwork. Is that Miss Fairbanks you have in the car?” he asked, giving Harry cause to lean back out of the still open door.

 

“Yeah. I’m taking her to the Littleton villa.”

 

“No, you can drop Miss Fairbanks’s luggage at the Littleton villa in your own time. I will take her to Penny.”

 

“Okay boss. Do you want to explain the change or shall I?” he asked looking toward Harry. Josh followed the direction of Pilipo’s gaze and spotted Harry looking in his direction. Harry watched as Josh surveyed her. His eyes swept up and down, lingering excessively long on the purple bruise that covered much of the left side of her face. His expression remained stoic and critical, although, whatever it was he actually thought about Harry, he wasn’t giving it away.

 

“Hi!” he called over. The seriousness vanished from his expression as Josh lifted his hand and waved in a casual welcome. “You must be Harry. Penny sent me down the hill to pick you up. I’m Josh.”

 

“Penny’s Josh?”

 

“Yeah, that's the one.” He beamed a sappy grin and blushed slightly. The expression made him look younger than his years. “So, Harry, Pilipo will deliver your things and I will take you up to Penny. Does that sound okay to you?”

 

“Uh yes, that sounds okay.”

Harry eased herself out of the car and walked with Josh over to the sports car instead. She eyed it warily, reached for the door and then withdrew her hand, afraid to touch the glossy exterior. Josh grinned at her trepidation then leaned forward and popped a small round push-button to open the door.

 

“Don’t worry, I won’t go too fast. This Venom and I have a good thing going on and I wouldn’t want to risk her on the back roads.” He laughed openly; his light and friendly demeanor encouraged a smile from Harry’s tight-lined lips. She lowered herself into the car until it felt like she was only inches off the floor.

 

She expected a plush interior but the Venom seemed sparse, basic. There was little in the way of opulent comfort here, instead it seemed geared towards the driver’s experience than that of the passenger.

Josh circled and climbed into the driver side. As soon as his door closed, the engine rumbled to life. He grinned naughtily, slammed it into gear, revved the engine a little and then released the clutch, shooting them away from the main club house and administrative buildings.

 

They drove fast and in silence, a blessing really as she had no idea what to talk about with this stranger. The peace afforded Harry the opportunity to gaze out of the window at the tropical scenery. She caught only a little of it as it whizzed by her window, but what she did manage to catch brought color and life to the picture she had previously painted in her head.

Real palm trees. Coconuts. Papaya. Bright green fronds. Hot pink, red and orange flowers. Bamboo. All these things that she never thought she would see in her lifetime zipped by her window. There were areas of dense and apparently wild undergrowth interspersed with well cultivated picture-postcard displays of planting. Every building they passed sat nestled in flora, softening the effect of the man-made structures influencing the island. It was very picturesque and slightly surreal.

 

She still couldn’t believe that she was actually here, that she managed to get away without anyone knowing she was leaving or where she was going. No one except her mother, the one person Harry couldn't leave in the dark no matter how much she wanted to keep her destination hidden.

 

“So, how did you happen across Kalani?”

 

After the silence Josh's voice sounded hard and loud in the car. Harry pulled back in her seat, turning to look at him.

 

“What? What’s a Kalani?” Harry asked in confusion. She didn’t know if he was teasing her or asking a serious question. She couldn't help feeling like she might have offended him somehow. Had she done something wrong? Already?

 

“Not a what, a who!” Josh chuckled. Harry’s nerves uncoiled as soon as she realized Josh wasn’t angry with her. It was just an honest question. These days she couldn’t tell the difference, every question instantly became an accusation, a fight starter.

 

“Who is Kalani?”

 

“The guy that brought you here.”

 

“Oh. Well yeah, he heard me asking around at the airport and offered to drive me to the resort. But you know, I Don’t actually think he was a real taxi, he drove a pick-up truck.”

 

Josh’s laughter filled the car. He shook his head.

Harry knew she must sound stupid and naive to this man, but she lacked experience of the world outside of her little town in northern England.

 

“No, you are right. He wasn’t a taxi. Kalani, luckily for you, is my cousin. He knew you would never get a cab to bring you out here. They are not permitted because the island and the resort are private. We usually have our people come out to collect you and you get the VIP treatment during your stay. You, however, were not exactly expected.”

 

“I’m sorry. I’m imposing by being here aren’t I? I can go back. I checked and there is a flight in—” Harry glanced at her watch and clucked her tongue, “three hours.”

 

“Whoa, slow down. That wasn’t what I meant. You are more than welcome, Harry. Penny has been worried sick since speaking with you last week. She told me you were going to try to visit but that you might not make it.”

 

“Yeah I had, um, family issues.”

 

“Well not to worry, you got here safely, and once Penny gives you your Tienimi phone you won’t have to worry about transportation or anything else. Everyone is here to help you relax. Everything is at your fingertips and we are all happy to look out for you, okay?”

 

“Okay. Thank you, Josh.”

The road swept around in a long arc that appeared hewn into the base of the small mountainous promontory on the island. It stood much higher than any hill but smaller than the green covered mountains Harry flew over this morning. Just as she felt sure they had circled round enough to turn back onto the original road, they pulled into a stone-paved driveway and up to the villa.

 

 

***

 

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