Page 13 of Under the Waves
I stared out into the ocean, the blurred figure of a little boy with a board tucked tightly under his arm formed in front of me—brown curls tousled across his forehead, grains of sand clinging tightly to each strand. Rosy cheeks peeked up at the sun, blood rushing under his skin as adrenaline pumped mercilessly inside his veins. Awe and frustration fought in his gaze as hestared out into the waves.
Then, the glint of brown hit me like an arrow to the heart. That all familiar black and white wetsuit clung to her small frame with her signature pink board beneath her feet. Determination radiated off her, reaching me on the sand like it had been carried ashore by the waves.
As the memories evaporated in front of me, it made me realize that Poppy was there, though—she hadalwaysbeen there. We went through it all together. Since pre-beginners, she had been by my side for every heat, every comp—you name it, and she was there on the beach for me. Granted, it was to make fun of me, holding her twisted fingers behind her back wishing I failed, but she was stillthere.
In an almost weird way, it felt like we had grown up with each other, with this sport, and ever since she left, I felt like surfing had been slipping through my fingers and out to sea—like it needed two of us to be in balance for the fucking ocean Gods or whatever to allow us to have clean runs and good heats.
“Fuck,” I groaned, tilting my head back. What the hell was wrong with me? I didn’t need her to compete. I didn’t need her to be at my heats. I didn’t needher. She left.
But now she was back. And frankly, I couldn’t give two shits.
Except, I definitely did.
Despite my captain title and God-like treatment by the people in this small town, my mom, Vienna, had to work two jobs just to keep us both afloat. The first was taking night shifts at Buckley’s bar, a family bar run by one of Lia’s friends’, Benjamin Buckley, who was athousandtimes more famous than I could ever dream of becoming, and the rest of her time was filled with early nursing shifts at the local hospital.
Guilt swallowed my mind every time I came home to find her completely unconscious on the couch, scrubs still plastered across her body. She had sacrificed so much for me, and I knew I would do anything in my power to show her that it wasn’t all for nothing—that I would besomeone,someday, and in the end it would all be worth it.
It had to be.
Though, it didnothelp that my mom had me when she was in her early twenties because each and every single one of my teammates toed very closely towards the line of getting myknuckles in their face for the amount of times they mentioned howsexythey thought she was.
And itcertainlydidn’t help that she always offered to help them all the time with schoolwork, mental health, life…literallyanythingandeverything. It was also partly how she earned the titleMama Vieamong my teammates. Especially Jakson. I swear, with every passing day, he finds more ways to annoy the hell out of me by acting like a golden retriever puppy that wags its tail every time someone called him a good boy.
Apart from my teammates and Lia, my mom was one of my closest friends. Since my dad passed away when she was pregnant with me, I knew she tried to juggle both parental roles as best she could to make sure I never felt like I was missing anything. The topic of his death, however, was never mentioned between us—it was like a silent rule. Part of me feared bringing it up because I didn’t know how she would react to it. She hadn’t seen or dated anyone ever since, and part of me couldn’t tell how much of that was because of the grief or fear.
All I knew was that Nicolas Ridge was one of the best surfers the international European circuit had seen, and with every passing day, the need to live up to his legacy and make him proud thundered through my veins stronger than before.
I didn’t know much about my mom’s past either, except from the fact that she ran away from home when she was eighteen and never looked back. After some surprisingly thorough FBI hacking skills from Xander, of who I now never want to get on the bad side of, I found out that she came from a filthy, old-money, wealthy family.
Vienna Ridge, actually born Vienna Giuliana Caparelli, was the princess of an Italian dynasty who ruled every corner of the Amalfi coast, and now had ties in all corners of the tech and information world. And, according to Xander, some dark, shady shit too.
Every passing day, I wanted to ask her more and more about her past, aboutourfamily, but I knew deep down there had to be a good reason why she left it all behind to come to Hawthorne Hills, of all places. Though, the thought did nothing to ease the curiosity eating away at me from the inside out.
It had always just been me and her but now I knew there could’ve beenmore—I could’ve had fun cousins and cool auntsand caring grandparents. I could’ve had the whole complete package.
Except,I never would.
I just needed to learn to be okay with that.
“You put on quite a show back there,” a quiet voice spoke.
I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. I tugged my headphones off and stuffed them back into my back pocket.
“Jas…”
As soon as her hand caressed my shoulder, I forced myself to clench my teeth together, so I didn’t fucking cry like an idiot.
“Shouldn’t you be home by now?” I asked, turning my head slightly to see her midnight blue eyes. I remembered when she was little, her mom used to call Lia herlittle oceanbecause of how blue her eyes were—a soft, light blue in the center met with a dark ring around the edge.
I couldn’t even remember the last time I heard her mom call her that.
Biting down on her lip, she slid her steel gaze across to mine, “I’m already late, Jas. You know, might as well make the most of it.” Her nervous chuckle hung low in the passing breeze.
When I frowned, she just shrugged. I knew what being late meant for her. Well, more like what was going to bewaitingfor her whenever she did walk through that door, but no matter how many times I wanted to pick her up in my arms, along with all other four of her siblings, and carry them away from that house, I knew Icouldn’t.
Not after last time, I promised I wouldn’t.
For her siblings. Most of all and always, forher.