Page 16 of Under the Waves
The end of summer break meant that the Formula One would be starting soon with the Hungarian Grand Prix. Since the race was next weekend, I opted to put on the highlights fromthe Silverstone qualifying a few weeks ago. A bright red streak shot past the camera, followed by a complete purple sector one for Samuel Bridger, a British 4-time world champion who drove for Scuderia Corsonito, an Italian-based Formula One team, alongside his new teammate Rafael Collettò.
Rafa was the season’s newest rookie, who also happened to be the older brother of one of Lia’s childhood friends from ballet, Nova.
It was a mighty small world sometimes.
Jakson, Benjamin, and I all shared the same mutual interest in Formula One and tried to watch as many of the season’s races together as possible. It was how I came to teach Benjamin’s little sister, Juniper, after he mentioned that she was having a hard time picking up ice hockey due to being born hard of hearing. Being a hotshot hockey legacy kid put a whole lot of pressure and eyes on her at such a young age.
I was asked by him as a favor to consider her for a place in my Sunday classes. They were a part of this new scheme I was running to allow kids who couldn’t afford lessons, or were experiencing disadvantages that would make it difficult to take part in the regular lessons, to be able to have the same opportunities as the other kids. In the end, I took her on. I tried my hardest to create a sensory friendly environment to cater to everyone as surfingshouldbe available to everyone.
“You owe me a blowjob.” The couch dipped, followed by the annoying sound of Jakson’s laugh.
“What the fuck?” I turned to look at him.
Confusion must have been showing on my face as he said, “I sent them away to find some other guys dick to suck. You officiallykilledthe mood. Not even that, you fricken murdered it.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, blame me you asshole. You just knew that coach would kick your ass in the morning.”
“With this lovely beauty here,” he gestured to his bruised eye, “I don’t think I’m the one who coach is going to be mad at.”
Groaning, I threw my head back against the pillows and closed my eyes. I couldn’twaitto find out how many extra hours cleaning the equipment and stocking shelves I would have to do this week.
“Dude, I’m kidding,” he said, “I’ll tell him it was somegorgeous lady who mistook me for her crazy ex or something.”
“Yeah?” I said, turning to him.
“Yeah, I got your back. So long as Steele hasn’t rat you out already.”
My fists clenched. If he knew better, he wouldn’t say a word, but since his little victory over me, the guy has become so cocky and less inclined to follow my orders. As his captain and his teammate, I deserved respect from him, but I guess that went both ways. I made a mental note to talk to him before practice tomorrow.
“I know you don’t want to talk about it,” Sonny said, and I glared at him knowing what was going to follow, “but you can’t ignore her. She’s probably just back for the scholarship and sponsor opportunities, and you can’t fault her for that because you know she’s a damned good surfer, and it’s not like we aren’t doing the same, Jas.”
Okay, I admit, when he put it likethatit did make sense, and as much as I hated the woman, the sponsors and scholarship opportunities were a one in a million shot that were incredibly difficult to get your hands on. He was right, I couldn’t fault her for wanting that because it was exactly what we have both been busting our asses off for years to achieve.
“Go on,” he mused, “say I’m right.”
“You’re an ass, you know that right?”
“Damn dude, I didn’t know you paid so much attention to my ass, but I do agree, it is a fucking amazing sight.”
We stared at each other for a few seconds before bursting out into laughter.
“You’re right,” I said after a few minutes. The guy knew how to get on my nerves, but he was my best friend, and I would do anything for him.
“Now that is exactly what my bruised ego needed,” he grinned, before throwing a wink at a group of girls hanging out around the pool table.
“You were never really going to hook up with them, were you?” I asked.
Not with Lia risking everything to be here right now for you.
His lips parted slightly like he was going to say something, but instead, with a smirk, Jakson patted me on the shoulder and walked away.
Turning the TV off, I walked up the stairs to my room. I was so done with tonight. When I got to the top, Lachlan and Kai were arguing about who could ride a surfboard down the stairs for the longest time without falling off.
Kai sighed, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Come on, Lachy. Your weight distribution is all wrong, you wouldn’t even last ten seconds.”
Lachlan smirked, stepping closer to Kai until they were mere inches apart. “Oh yeah? You wanna test how long I can last, Mali?”
Xander’s lips quirked upwards by only a fraction. He was leaning against a door frame nearby watching them with those cold, whiskey-colored eyes and a drink in his hand.