When he posed for pictures with some of the kids from Daytrippers who’d been given prime viewing spots, the joy on their faces was as great as his own, which gave him pause. Wow. They were happy for him! Damn, that felt good, knowing that he’d done something good for them and that Daytrippers would continue to benefit from his involvement. He wanted to do more.
Much as he was enjoying this, much as he’d waited his whole life for this moment, hours later he found himself wanting to get away from the crowds of people and all the noise and hype, and be alone for a few minutes. His empty hotel room didn’t appeal to him. No, where he really wanted to be was back out there on the water. Floating on the swelling ocean, surrounded by water, made small and insignificant by the immensity and power of it. That was where he wanted to be. Just him and the ocean.
Tempting as it was to ditch everything, he had a new watchdog keeping track of his every move. He was pretty sure Tim wouldn’t let him make a run for it. Neither would Brooke have, if she’d been there. But if she’d been there, he wouldn’t
want
to make a run for it.
Christ.
“Congratulations, Dylan,” Tim said with a huge smile and a slap on the shoulder. “You rocked out there.”
“Yeah, thanks man.”
Maybe now he’d won and the competition was over, the dude would leave him alone. But no. Tim was stuck like glue. Dylan started to feel pressure building up inside him, more pressure even than before the competition. Or maybe it was just different. He had to get away. He had to be alone. He needed time.
Finally, finally he’d done every interview he needed to, talked to every sports reporter and surfing blogger, every bigwig from ICON Entertainment, the ASP, Jackson Cole and his other sponsors. He thanked them all sincerely for their part in giving him a chance to achieve his dream. He expressed his desire to continue to work with them, again sincerely, hoping he hadn’t completely blown everything at the exact time he’d finally won.
He wanted to mention Brooke, to make sure she was okay, but it was hard to work that into the conversation without seeming weird.
Wondering if Tim was going to accompany him to his hotel room and spend the night, he made a break for it when the guy got sidetracked talking to the guys from ICON. He slipped out through the crowd that had gathered around the stage for the last concert. Out of his wetsuit, now dressed in board shorts and a T-shirt, sunglasses and a ball cap, he headed for his car with one of his boards.
Breaker Beach had a lot of good memories for him, and now even more so. Returning to the beach where he’d learned to surf as a kid to win the Jackson Cole Pro was like a dream come true. He drove back up into town, along Shore Drive, past Corey’s new chocolate shop that he hadn’t even checked out yet. Damn. He’d like to see it. But not now. He also passed Matt’s brew pub and all the other little businesses that lined the streets, the sidewalks still full of tourists in town for the event as people wound down their weekend.
He was supposed to be out celebrating and partying, which is what he usually did after any competition, never mind one that he’d won. He snorted as he drove to the very end of Shore Drive and pulled into the parking lot near Cave Road. This end of the beach was quieter, the water calmer here, not good for surfing at all. It was more of a family beach and there were still a few people out enjoying the late afternoon sunshine. He parked in another lot where sand spilled from the beach onto the pavement, grabbed his board and headed toward the water. He just wanted to paddle out and sit there and think for a while.
So he did.
Drifting on the gently rocking water, straddling the board, the wind in his ears, he gazed around him at the expanse of water that seemed to go on forever. He’d sat on this ocean in so many places—Tahiti was right over there. Well, a long ways over there. He imagined what would happen if he kept paddling toward it. How long would it take him to get there?
Then he laughed at himself. He’d never get there alive. He was thinking crazy thoughts.
He tipped his head up to the sky, so bright blue it was almost painful, the sun now lower in the sky lighting up the puffy clouds in stark white and palest peach. Awesome.
He let out a long, long breath. Alone. He was alone. He usually didn’t want to be alone, hadn’t wanted to be alone much since his accident last year. Any time he was alone, he started getting scared and that made him want to do crazy things like drink a lot and smoke dope and sleep with as many girls as he could.
What an idiot.
So he’d won. But at what cost? What had he lost?
Possibly his sponsorship. Possibly his work with the charities that he’d surprisingly enjoyed. His friends. And Brooke.
He didn’t know if she’d ever been his to lose.
With a heavy ache in his chest, he closed his eyes and turned his face into the ocean breeze. A moment later, he opened his eyes and barked out a short laugh. Last time he’d been here in San Amaro, he hadn’t wanted to leave. He’d been afraid to get back in the water, afraid of failing mostly. And he’d made the mistake of thinking he needed a woman—Corey—to help him through that.
Now once again he didn’t want to leave San Amaro but for a completely different reason. He wasn’t going to make the mistake of asking Brooke to go with him. That was laughable. She hated his guts right now and besides, her life was there. She’d told him how much she loved her home, the city, her friends, the family she was so close to. That close family he’d envied.
He wanted those things that were so important to Brooke. He wanted a home. He wanted friends. He wanted family. He wanted Brooke.
He returned to his hotel room, alone, and for the first time in a long time, he was okay with that. He turned off his cell phone and the phone in the room and tried to sleep. It took a while, he was still so jacked up on adrenaline and excitement. His mind wandered to Brooke and having her in his bed, remembering touching her and tasting her and being inside her. And he got hard. Maybe a fast hand job would relieve some stress and help him sleep.
And maybe it did help, because he fell asleep. All night long he dreamed of Brooke, but the dreams turned frustrating. They were in the water, floating on surfboards, and he was trying to get to her, paddling, paddling, but he couldn’t get closer; she kept drifting just beyond his reach.
He awoke in the morning feeling tired, irritable and out of sorts. He dressed for his meeting with Holden and the people at Jackson Cole and went down to the hotel restaurant for some breakfast. There he ran into Brooke’s sister Fraya.
“Oh hi,” he said to her, smiling.
“Dylan. Congratulations.” She gave him a narrow-eyed, cool look.
“Uh. Thanks.”
They eyed each other.
“I was there yesterday watching you win,” she offered. “With Brooke.”
His gut clenched. “She was there?”
“Of course she was there.”
He shook his head. “She didn’t have to be. I guess she probably told you we’re not working together anymore.”
“Yeah, she told me.” She rolled her eyes. “She told me you threw her under a bus.”
“What the f—under a
bus
?”
“Not literally, for God’s sake. I meant that night you took her home and then went back to party. Didn’t you know you were putting her job on the line? Maybe her entire career? Did you even think that you might be hurting her feelings? Have you ever thought of anyone but yourself?”
He took a step back, blinking. She might as well have poked him in the chest with her finger, she was so pissed. “Whoa.” He held up his hands. “Hold on here.” He glanced around the lobby of the hotel to see who was paying attention. Yeah, only everyone in the room. “You got some kind of problem with me?”
“Yeah, I do.” She followed his retreat, like an angry mama bear defending her cub. And he remembered that Brooke was the baby of the family and as she put it, they never let her forget it. Big sister here was on the warpath. Damn. That was sweet that she had people sticking up for her like that. Nobody’d ever done that for him. He grinned.
Fraya scowled at him. “What’s so funny?”
“It’s not funny.” He looked around again. “Look, if you want to talk, let’s go have coffee or something, where we’re not putting on a big show.”
She too cast her eyes around and grimaced. “Shit. Sorry.”
“Come on. I was about to have breakfast.”
“I don’t have long. I have a breakfast meeting with a client in…” She glanced at her watch. “Ten minutes.”
“Okay. Ten minutes.” He led the way into the restaurant and they were seated at a booth.
“Okay, obviously you’re angry at me,” he said. “I know I screwed up going back to that party, but I didn’t know it was going to be such a big deal.” He rolled his eyes.
The waitress appeared and poured coffee into his mug. Fraya nodded for her to pour some into her cup too.
“Ready to order?” the girl asked cheerily.
“Cheese omelet with a side of fruit,” he said.
“Toast?”
“No, thanks.”
The girl looked at Fraya who shook her head. “Just coffee.”
“All righty.” The girl scooped up the menus and left.
“Nothing happened that night. I wasn’t even drinking, and I went home alone.”
Fraya lifted her chin and looked down her nose at him. “Uh huh.”
His shoulders tensed. “It’s the truth. You can ask Brooke, but whatever my faults are, and I know I have lots, I don’t lie.”
She nodded. “Still. It was a douchey move to drop her off and then go back to the party.”
He pursed his lips. “It wasn’t as if we were on a date. It was all business. She made that pretty damn clear.”
“Yeah, and you know why?” She leaned across the table.
“Yeah, I know why. Because getting involved with someone like me would be stupid. I’m not worth it.”
Fraya opened her mouth then closed it. She sat back in her seat and regarded him thoughtfully.
“What?” he asked. “It’s true. I know she realized she’d screwed up by…well, never mind.”
“I know you two slept together.”
“Oh. Well. We never should have done that. For some twisted reason, I thought she actually cared about me. Like I said, she made it clear that night she didn’t.”
“Oh for God’s sake.” Fraya stared at him, shaking her head. “This is priceless.”
“What?” He frowned and took a sip of his hot coffee, hoping some caffeine would clear his head and put him in a better mood. Because this conversation sure as hell wasn’t doing it.
“Don’t you get why she was making it all business?”
“Uh…”
“She was protecting herself.” She leaned forward. “She thought you were in love with someone else. She thought you were using her. And on top of that, her asshole boss was telling her to sleep with you to keep you out of trouble.”
Dylan’s jaw went slack and he almost dropped the cup of coffee he held. “Huh?”
“I guess she never told you the things he said to her. She also never told you that her job was on the line and that if she didn’t succeed in getting you back to San Amaro and cleaning up your act, she could lose her job.”
“Uh. No. She didn’t tell me, but Tim did.” He sat there gaping at her. “
Her boss sent her to Tahiti to sleep with me?
”
“No! He sent her there to bring you home. It wasn’t until later that he suggested doing that. Which was long after it had already happened, I understand.”
Heat slid up into his face. “Well.”
“After he said that, she was determined to stay away from you. She was so angry that her boss thought she would do something like that. Angry and hurt. And she was angry and hurt when you took her home and then went back to the party without her.”
He was having a hard time making sense of all this. “I’m not in love with someone else.”
Fraya smiled.
“You were hurt when she backed off, weren’t you?”
He frowned.
“Yeah, you were.” She grinned. “I really think you two need to talk.”
His eyes widened. “Tell me about it! I’ve tried to get hold of her for days! Not that I had much time, but shit, she wouldn’t take my calls, I couldn’t find her anywhere, and nobody would help me get hold of her.”
“Really? You tried?”
“Yes! They took her away and replaced her with that dumbass Tim. Sorry.” He rubbed his forehead. “He’s not really a dumbass, but he’s not Brooke. You know? I know I screwed up and I really didn’t mean to make her lose her job. Fuck!” He stared down at his coffee. “She doesn’t have to put up with a boss who talks to her like that! Did he really expect that she would do something like that?”
She shrugged. “I guess he did. She loves her job. Not her boss, but she likes working for Jackson Cole. I told her she should sue him for sexual harassment. Or quit.”
“She doesn’t want to quit.”
“Nope.” She glanced at her watch. “I have to go.” She slid out of the booth.
“Fraya.”
“Yes?” She turned back.
“Brooke’s lucky to have a sister like you. Family like you.”
Her eyes softened. “Thanks. I thought you might want to punch me.”
He shook his head. “I’m the one who should be punched.”
She gave him a slow smile. “There might be hope for you, Dylan Schell.”
Then she walked out of the restaurant. He watched her, struck by how much the way she moved was like Brooke. From the back, if her hair was longer, it could be Brooke.
The waitress returned with his breakfast. He ate mindlessly, forking up scrambled eggs and melted cheese, stabbing the tines into pieces of melon and strawberries.
Jesus Christ. What kind of douchebag was Brooke working for? No wonder she’d been so adamant she had to get him home to San Amaro. And keep him out of trouble.
Once again, he had to wonder if she’d slept with him for the sake of keeping her job. But he didn’t have to think very hard about it. What had happened in Tahiti hadn’t been planned, he was certain of it, and she’d tried so hard to keep things businesslike between them when they got back.
The food in his stomach turned to a rock. He knew he’d gotten her in trouble, he’d known when Tim had told him he’d be working with him instead of Brooke. Now it was driven home to him even more that in that thoughtless, careless night of partying, trying to distract himself from the fact that Brooke had wised up to the fact that he was not someone worth caring about, trying to pretend he wasn’t jealous of those other guys she’d been flirting with and dancing with, he’d hurt her. He’d hurt her career. He was an asshole.