LAUREN
I didn’t even realize I’d dozed off until I heard Emerson’s ear-piercing squeals. When I turned my head, I saw Lucas wrapping his arms around her as he hauled her down in the sand. Em was giggling, even while she pretended to fend him off.
“Holy crap!” I shot up diving for my cell phone to figure out how long I’d been out. It had only been about forty-five minutes, but my head felt fuzzy from the heat.
Lucas got to his feet and flung Emerson over his shoulder like she weighed less than nothing. She squealed louder and protested harder, but she wasn’t fooling anyone—she was exactly where she wanted to be.
“We’re going for a dip!” she shouted to me as Lucas started jogging toward the shore.
I waved her away while I reached for my sunscreen. The last thing I needed was a blistering sunburn.
“Need some help with that?”
I tossed my head around to see Zane on the other side of me, kneeling in the sand beside two surfboards that I assumed were his and Lucas’s. I must’ve done a shitty job hiding my surprise, because Zane’s hands went up in surrender.
“Don’t worry,” he explained. “I promise to be on my best behavior.” His brow fell and his expression turned solemn. “I’m really sorry about the other night. I don’t know what got into me.”
It wasn’t the first time I’d heard one of these apologies, and it wouldn’t be the first time I’d accepted one. I shook my head. “Seemed pretty obvious to me. You had a little too much to drink.” I flipped open the cap of my sunscreen, ignoring his offer to help.
“Look, I get it. I came on too strong. But I don’t want you to get the wrong idea; I’m not always like that.”
I rubbed the lotion over my arm, avoiding his eyes.
“Seriously, Lauren, I’m sorry. I was hoping we could be friends.”
I went still. Friends. I’d asked Will if we were friends and look where that had gotten me.
But Zane wasn’t Will, I reminded myself. Zane was here, and he was looking at me in such a puppy-dog-ish way that I allowed myself a cautious smile. “Friends, huh?”
“No strings.” Leaning forward, he held out his hand in truce. “You have my word.” I sighed, allowing myself a truce smile as I put my hand in his. He shook it, as if we were striking a business deal. “You surf?” he asked, nodding toward the boards. “I got an extra wetsuit.”
I drew my hand away. “I don’t even swim.” I’d spent the past two days eating ice cream and thinking about why I’d really come to California. Suddenly, I wasn’t sure if I was in love with the idea of swimming as much as I’d been in love with the idea of doing something my parents had been so adamantly opposed to.
Maybe a little of both.
But now, I think I realized it was one of those childish dreams I needed to let go of. I wasn’t a swimmer. Admitting it now was strange. I’d been hiding that fact my entire life, making excuses and outright lying. Saying it now was sort of . . . freeing.
Zane laughed, which wasn’t exactly the reaction I’d hoped for. “That’s not a big deal.” Also, not what I’d expected. He looked at me eagerly. “I can show you how.”
“To swim or to surf?” I laughed, because the idea of him trying to teach me either was absurd.
“Either? Both? You choose.”
I scoffed. “You’re pretty confident, but I think you mighta met your match. I think I’m unteachable.”
He jumped up and sand flew everywhere. He held his hand out to help me up. “I accept your challenge. We’ll start with swimming, and work our way up.”
I let him take my hand, still trying to decide. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
He shrugged. “Why not? What’s the worst that can happen?” He tugged and I was up then.
“Um, I could die. Like, literally . . . I could drown.”
He laughed as he started dragging me in the direction of the ocean. I did my best to push down the panic from my last encounter with the formidable waves, which also just so happened to be my first one. “No way. We’re friends now, and friends don’t let friends die.”
As a teacher, Zane wasn’t half bad.
I mean, he wasn’t half good either, so I supposed one sorta balanced out the other. As a swimmer, I wasn’t any better or worse than when we’d started, but my confidence had skyrocketed. The fear was still there, but after my lessons with Will, it was definitely beginning to fade, and I’d ended up having a blast with Zane.
Way more fun than plowing my way through a large pepperoni with extra cheese all by myself.
By the time Zane was chasing me back toward the beach, I was stumbling from exhaustion, and laughing about my lack of skills, and dripping with itchy seawater. I collapsed in the sand before we even reached our towels, where Emerson and Lucas were going at it like they thought no one could see the two of them making out in plain sight.
“Ugh,” I complained, “Seriously, I never realized there was so much sand. It’s everywhere.” I tried wiping the grains from my legs, only to have them cling to my hands.
“Yep, that’s kinda how it works here . . . you know, at the beach.” Zane enunciated the last three words as he wrapped his elbows around his knees and studied the surf. “It’s incredible, though. Nowhere else I’d rather be.”
I followed his gaze, watching the waves crest and break as the water came rushing in over the sand. “Have you lived here all your life?” I asked.
“Nah. I’m a Midwest boy. Newton, Iowa, to be exact. Tiny little town smack dab in the middle of nowhere.” All of a sudden there was a twang to his voice, and I wondered if he was exaggerating it for my benefit.
“Never heard of it.”
He gave me a sidelong glance. “No one has.
I tried to decide what to make of him. A few nights ago, I’d wanted to write him off. But today . . . I was having second thoughts. Maybe my initial impression hadn’t been the best one. Maybe he’d been right and we really could be friends.
“Crap,” I blurted out, dropping low and using Zane’s shoulder as a shield. The move wasn’t subtle, and Zane immediately twisted to see what—or who, rather—I was hiding from.
It was Will, of course, just coming out of the water. No matter where I went, I couldn’t seem to escape him. Maybe it was because I’d been halfway tuned into him already . . . partially on the lookout.
Whatever pheromones he was giving off were doing the trick.
Will balanced a surfboard under his arm; its bold green and yellow pattern was vibrant even from this distance.
Zane didn’t have a problem helping me hide out. “What’s the deal with you two, anyway?” he asked, sheltering me the best he could.
I peeked around him. Will still hadn’t spotted me yet, and I tried not to notice the way his wetsuit clung to him, revealing that perfect athletic physique of his. Even from this far away, and with his face turned away from me, he made my blood pound. He was still searching the waves, watching for something as he effortlessly held his surfboard underneath one arm.
“Nothing,” I answered, my heart picking up speed. “I thought he was my friend. But it turns out, I was wrong.”
Several other surfers bobbed in the water farther out, where the swells were calmer, just before they rolled in to crest closer to the shore. Will lifted his arm to wave at someone, and I watched as one surfer broke away from the pack to paddle in. It wasn’t until the surfboard—a long, sleek silver board—was being carried out of the water that I realized the surfer he was waiting for was a girl.
The same girl from the Sand and Slam.
I could see her better now than I could at the party. She was tall, and even in her wetsuit I could tell she was slender and athletic. She shook her soggy hair as she dragged the tail of her board through the sand. Will laughed at the girl, and I told myself the heavy twinge in my gut wasn’t jealousy even as I leaned away from Zane to get a better view of her.
I felt Zane tense beside me, and then he said. “C’mon. Let’s get outta here.”
“No. Wait.” I held my breath, everything inside me on edge. “Who is she?” I shouldn’t be asking, but I had to know.
Zane’s eyes felt heavy on me, but I couldn’t tear mine away from Will or the girl. “That’s Tess.” He sounded almost reluctant to answer, and I wondered what I heard in his voice—was he indifferent, annoyed, jealous?
I kept pressing. “Tess?”
“She’s the reason he came back,” Zane explained, still watching me.
I swiveled to face him. “Back? From where?”
He looked puzzled by my question, like the answer was obvious. “You don’t know? About Will . . . Billy?”
There was that name again, and the memory of that first night at the Dunes, when Will’s lips had been on my stomach, was fresh in my mind, haunting me.
Making me shiver.
“He said he didn’t like to be called that,” I told Zane absently.
“I’m sure he doesn’t. Probably brings back a lot of bad memories.” Zane settled back, leaning against his hands. “Your friend Billy was a big-time surfer. Traveled all over the world and was coming up through the ranks in all the major competitions. He had sponsors and was on the verge of going pro. Everything a guy dreams of.”
“So?” I asked. “What happened?”
“From what I hear, she did.”
My gaze swung back in their direction. To where Will, or Billy rather, and this Tess girl were standing near the edge of the water.
Zane went on, not even aware that his explanation was tying my stomach in knots. “He came back for her and let his whole career go to shit.”
As if he’d heard us talking about him, Will looked my way then, scanning the beach. He barely noticed me at first; almost looked right through me. But then his gaze landed directly on me.
I froze, my breath caught in my throat, and my heart stuttered.
“I’m sorry,” Zane said, because of course he’d noticed too—that flash of recognition that filled Will’s eyes, right before he glanced away, all in the blink of an instant. “I thought you already knew.”
Will turned his back then as he fell in step next to Tess, the girl he’d come back for. The girl he’d ended his surfing career for.
When he reached her, he dropped his free arm around her neck and drew her close, whispering something in her ear.
I couldn’t watch for another second. My stomach lurched, and I staggered to my feet. I might’ve said, “I gotta go,” but I couldn’t be sure because by that point my head was spinning. I couldn’t stop thinking about the way Will had kissed me, what, only three days ago? The way he’d put his mouth on my nipple and his hand between my thighs.
I thought they’d broken up, but clearly I’d been wrong.
Tess was the real reason he’d put the brakes on. The reason he’d left me that note about paying me back. He wouldn’t . . . couldn’t teach me anymore, because of her.
Will or Billy, or whatever the hell his name was, definitely wasn’t the kind of guy I’d thought he was.
Or rather, he was exactly the kind of guy I’d pegged him for . . . that first night I’d met him at The Dunes, when he’d been surrounded by slutty girls all vying for his attention. When he’d drawn out the body shot, his lips lingering too long over my skin.
He was a scumbag.
I felt sorry for myself. But worse, I felt bad for Tess. Tess, who probably had no idea that the person she was in love with had almost fucked me in the pool during my private swimming lesson.
I didn’t remember stumbling across the beach and crossing the street to my bungalow, but when I locked the door behind me, I fell on my bed, still wearing my swimsuit, all covered in sand. I made a silent pact: I’d never, ever, ever, ever fall for a guy like Will—or maybe any guy—ever again.