Brooke let out her breath and grinned. “Yes!” God, he was so good at that. But so was Heath and their last scores were close. She grabbed hold of Fraya’s arm and the three of them held on to each other watching him finish, doing another spin, another jump, and then as the wave flattened, a series of tiny hops across the surface of the water. As he finished and sank into the water, both arms pumped up in the air.
“God, that was good!” Brooke cried above the roar of the crowd.
“It was! So good! He has to win!”
Along with the thousands of other spectators, they anxiously awaited the score. Brooke vibrated and bobbed, nibbling her bottom lip.
Finally, after some inane chit chat that had everyone nearly bursting out of their skin with anticipation, the announcer said, “All right ladies and gentlemen! Here are the results. With a final combined score of nine point five-seven…” He paused. “Dylan Schell has won his first Jackson Cole Pro title!”
The crowd cheered again and people rushed the beach, running out to greet Dylan as he waded out of the ocean, carrying his board.
What would it be like to be one of those down there, rushing to congratulate him? Brooke’s smile turned wistful as she watched people lifting Dylan up and carrying him across the beach. Photographers crouched and snapped photos, television cameramen stumbled backward through the sand, carrying their heavy cameras, filming his triumph.
Something expanded in her chest, warm and soft, admiration and happiness for him. He’d done it. He’d won. Oh God, he’d won. She pressed a hand between her breasts, closed her eyes and tipped her head back for a moment.
Eventually he made it to the stage area to receive his trophy. It was hard to see from that far away, but on the Jumbotron Brooke caught his beaming smile and sparkling silver eyes. It was so awesome to see him that happy.
Someone opened a champagne bottle and sprayed him with it, and he laughed. The announcer with the microphone introduced him and the crowd went crazy again. “Hometown boy Dylan Schell comes out on top in the Jackson Cole Pro,” he cried into the microphone. “How’re you feeling, Dylan?”
“I feel great.” Dylan waved to the crowd, still grinning. “I want to thank Heath for a great heat, he really made me have to bring it.”
“And bring it you did! You are straight up the hometown hero right now! How did it feel out there?”
“It felt amazing. I saw that wave coming and I knew that was it, and as soon as I was up I felt like I was flying. The wind is good and I was really hoping to catch some air and show everyone here a few tricks…” Another roar erupted from the crowd at his words. “Heath had such a big dig out there. He charged so hard and I knew I had to really go for it.”
Fraya squeezed Brooke’s arm again. “You were so nervous for him, weren’t you?”
Brooke made a face. “I guess I was.” Relief made her legs wobble a little.
“Too bad you’re not down there with him,” Fraya said.
Brooke shook her head, keeping her smile firmly in place. “Nah. He doesn’t need any more people down there.”
Fraya gave her a chiding look.
“I’m not working with him anymore,” she reminded her sister.
“I know.”
They watched him get his trophy and the announcer wrapped up the event as people started to make their way out of the bleachers and event officials came in off the water.
“Let’s go,” Brooke said.
“You sure you don’t want to go find him?” They stepped down the bleachers, Fraya holding Jonathan’s hand and Brooke holding James’s.
“Why can’t we go see Dylan?” James asked. “I wanna go see him! We know him.”
“Yes, we know him,” Brooke said. “But he has lots of people down there with him right now.”
“He’s going to teach us to surf like that!” Jonathan cried.
Brooke and Fraya exchanged glances.
So her job and her relationship with Barrett were on shaky ground. Dylan had accomplished what he’d wanted to, and now everybody should be happy including Jackson Cole management and the people from Daytrippers and Oceans Alive and all Dylan’s other sponsors. Not to mention his team, his agent, Corey and Matt, and all those girls in bikinis mobbing him. But most importantly he should be happy. He’d done it.
It was bittersweet, happiness for him mingling with her own disappointment and aching heart. The competition was done and he’d be leaving for the next event, and she’d figure out what to do about her career. She wasn’t sure she could continue to work for Barrett, after he’d all but told her to sleep with Dylan to ensure he behaved the way they wanted him to.
And then that whole mess with the party that night. Brooke had been upset about that for her own reasons, but professionally, she hoped Dylan wasn’t going to lose his sponsorship because of it. That didn’t seem fair after everything he’d done the last couple of weeks. But she did understand the concern of the people at Daytrippers, since Dylan had gotten involved with some of the kids. Lingering anger at him for being so thoughtless curled inside her.
“Hey Brooke!” She looked up as she and Fraya made their way through the throng of people, and saw Cam from Daytrippers. Like everyone there, he wore a huge smile. “Awesome event, huh? So thrilled for Dylan!”
“Yeah.” She paused to speak to him. “He did great. I hope he can continue to work with your organization.”
“Oh, definitely! He’s done a great job for us!”
“I hope you won’t let that one night of partying stop him from continuing to work with you. He really enjoyed working with the kids. And believe me, even though he partied that one night, the entire rest of the time he was here in San Amaro, his behavior was perfect. He’s really serious about his sport. He works hard at it.”
Cam smiled. “That’s true. Don’t worry, Brooke, we know the big picture.”
Why was she defending him, for God’s sake? She and Cam chatted for a couple of minutes, but Fraya and Kevin and the kids were waiting for her, so she said goodbye. But as she again started making her way across the beach, she ran into Corey and Matt.
“Hey!” she said, her stomach clutching. She forced a smile. “He won!”
“Yeah, he did.” Corey gave her a worried look.
“You guys should be with him.” Brooke smiled, looking back and forth between Corey and Matt.
“I don’t think he wants us with him,” Corey said.
Brooke’s mouth fell open. “What? Of course he does. You’re his friends.” More than friends, she reminded herself with a little stab in her heart.
Corey nibbled her bottom lip and gave her another unhappy look. What? What was wrong?
“He told us you two weren’t ever really together,” Corey said.
Brooke’s mouth dropped open. “He did?”
“Yes. He did.” Corey’s eyebrows drew down. “I found that hard to believe, after seeing you together.”
“Yeah,” Matt added. “That night at the wedding…”
His voice trailed off and heat flooded down through Brooke, remembering him walking in on her and Dylan…shnippits.
Matt cleared his throat. “It really seemed like you two were into each other.”
Brooke’s mind scrambled. She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came to her. “It was business,” she finally mumbled. “Not the…I mean…”
“It’s amazing that he won,” Corey said, filling an awkward silence. “Considering how pissed off he was. At something. It almost seemed like it was at us.” She shot Matt a glance. “I was afraid he wasn’t going to be able to focus on his surfing. But he did it.”
“Pissed off?” Brooke ran her tongue over her teeth. “I haven’t talked to him for a few days. If anyone should be pissed off, it should be me.”
“And are you?” Matt asked.
Brooke hesitated. “I don’t know. I was. He…” She bent her head and looked briefly at the sand. “He took me home and went back to the party.”
Hell, that wasn’t what she’d meant to say. This wasn’t about her and her hurt feelings.
“I mean, he caused a lot of trouble by going back to that party. My job’s at risk. So’s his sponsorship. Although winning probably helped that.”
“Your job’s at risk?” Corey’s eyes widened. “And his sponsorship?”
“Yes.” Brooke bit her lip. “It was my job to keep him out of trouble while he’s here.” She made a little face at them. “He’d been in a bit of trouble in the media and Jackson Cole execs weren’t too impressed by that. They were considering cancelling his sponsorship deal.”
“He never told us that,” Matt said slowly, folding his arms across his broad chest. “He said you came with him to the wedding because it was part of your job to keep an eye on him, but I didn’t realize it was that serious.”
“Well, I don’t suppose it’s something he wanted to talk about much,” Brooke said. “And I probably shouldn’t be telling you this now either. In fact, I have no idea why we’re having this conversation.”
“Dylan’s our friend,” Corey said, slipping her hand through Matt’s arm and hugging it. “We care about him. If he’s hurting, we want to help.”
“Yeah, he told me about your
friendship
.” The words slipped out before she could stop them.
Corey lips parted and she looked up at her husband. Her cheeks went faintly pink. “Oh really.”
“It’s none of my business.” Brooke’s own face heated. She should never have brought that up.
“Well. If Dylan told you about that…that doesn’t really sound like a ‘business’ discussion.” Corey tilted her head and gave Matt another questioning look. He gave a tiny nod. Corey looked back at Brooke and met her eyes steadily. “That bothers you, doesn’t it?”
Brooke swallowed. “What? You and Dylan…being together? No.”
“Bullshit.” Corey smiled. “Brooke, I love my husband. Not Dylan. Dylan’s a friend and nothing more.”
“Maybe we should go somewhere else to have this conversation,” Matt said.
“I’m just on my way home,” Brooke said, taking a step back. “My sister and her husband are waiting for me.” The crowd had thinned out. “There’s not really anything to talk about.”
“I think you should know what happened with Dylan last year.”
“I know what happened.”
“Do you? Do you know that he almost died in that accident he had?”
“Um.” She blinked. “Yes. It was in the news. He had a broken foot.”
“He was trapped under water and couldn’t get free. He lost consciousness before they could get him out and they had to resuscitate him on the beach.”
She remembered him talking about being slammed by the wave, his leash caught, holding him underwater. Her stomach clenched and a shiver worked over her skin.
“He was a bit messed up after that,” Corey said. “Okay, a lot. He came here to do some rehab while he was recovering. We didn’t realize at first what was wrong. He was having nightmares. Flashbacks. Panic attacks. He was afraid to go in the water. He was talking about giving up his surfing career.”
A muted buzzing noise sounded in Brooke’s ears, beneath Corey’s soft voice. She remembered the nightmare he’d had that night in Tahiti, how he’d woken up sweating. “He said he asked you to go on the tour with him. That doesn’t sound like he was thinking of giving it up.”
“Asking me to go with him just shows how confused he was,” Corey replied. “Yes, he thought he had feelings for me, but even then, he knew he really didn’t love me. Not like that. He didn’t really want me to go with him. He was just terrified. I think he was terrified of losing the one thing that’s been important in his life. His surfing. He has this idea that that’s all he can do. And if he couldn’t do that, who would he be?”
Brooke let Corey’s words sink in, her brain trying to make sense of it all. “I know he was having nightmares. Did he have PTSD?”
Corey shrugged. “I’m not a psychologist, but he definitely had some symptoms. But he was keeping it all inside him. He didn’t tell us about any of this, we found out by accident. Sort of. He needed help to get through it, and we’re so, so glad he did. But when we talked to him the other day…it was like he was back in that bad place again. I was worried for him, worried he wasn’t going to be able to do it.”
“But he did.” Brooke looked away from Corey and focused on a nearby palm tree. “Obviously he was able to focus on his surfing. That’s one thing he’s good at. Focusing on himself.”
“Well. I guess it takes a certain amount of that to become the best surfer in the world,” Matt said quietly. “But I don’t think it’s fair to say that he doesn’t care about anything but himself.”
“That’s for damn sure,” Corey added. “When he wanted me to go with him last year and I turned him down, he knew right away why that was. It was because I was in love with Matt, even though I didn’t realize it. I mean, we all know Dylan wasn’t really in love with me, but what he did was the most unselfish thing possible—he stepped aside so Matt and I could be together. That’s not a guy who only thinks about himself.”
Brooke shook her head and rubbed her forehead. “No. I know that. I didn’t mean that.”
“Brooke.” Corey spoke gently and Brooke met her eyes. The softness there made her throat tighten. “Clearly this wasn’t all business between you.”
Brooke sighed. “Fine. We did kind of get involved. But that was a mistake. Because even though I…” She swallowed. “Even though I care about him, he made his choice. I’m happy for him, I’m so happy that he won, and his dream came true. I know how hard he’s worked for this. But to me…you can’t have real happiness without thinking of others, and he only thinks about himself. He made that clear the night of the party. He knew how important it was to be a team player, to keep out of trouble, for the sake of his sponsors, the charities he worked with…” She gave a bitter laugh. “And I even had some crazy idea he cared about me. But obviously he didn’t. So I wish him well.”
Corey and Matt shared another concerned look.
“Hey, it’s okay,” she said, pasting on a tight smile. “I’m okay, Dylan’s okay. He won! He’s probably on top of the world right now!”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Dylan was the center of attention, people congratulating him, hugging him, slapping him on the back, crowding around him. It was what he’d dreamed of and imagined, everything he’d always wanted. He’d won! Hot fuck, he’d done it!
Before he could do anything else, he was dragged off to pee in a cup for the drug testing that the winners and random other surfers had to undergo. Once that was done, he moved on to hours of interviews and photographs and autograph signings. It was surreal. It was what he’d been waiting his whole life for. He’d just won a hundred grand! He smiled until his face hurt, laughed and gave the media all the sound bites they needed, but it was like he was moving through a dream.