Page 69 of Diesel
“What did he do now?” He questions.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” I sigh.
“Do you know what I do when I need to clear my head?” He asks as his blue eyes sparkle; they draw you in and make you want to smile, but I’m not in a happy enough mood.
“And what’s that?”
“I surf, let’s go,” he says, taking my hand and pulling me towards student parking.
“I don’t surf,” I argue.
“Neither did I the first time, I will teach you. I’ll send a message to the office and tell them we are taking a mental health day.”
Of course he can just text someone in the office and have a mental health day.
“What about Diesel? He won’t be happy if you run off and ditch with me.”
He stops and looks over at me. “Hmm, if I don’t answer his calls or texts he can’t bitch me out.”
I nod, I don’t want to keep talking about Diesel. Who cares what he thinks, he should have trusted me when it mattered, just like I did.
We go back to our building, and Cuyler gets changed and brings me a wetsuit. I don’t question how he has one in my size. Once we’re ready, he straps a few boards to his golf cart, and he takes us to his spot. It’s a nice stretch of beach. He runs me through a few beginner moves. I grasp the concept easily, but I’m grateful that he’s distracting me. After about half an hour of him trying and failing to get me to stand up on the board, we paddle out.
“Here, now pull yourself up,” he says, sitting up on his board as if it’s the easiest thing in the world. He laughs as I try. I must look like a drunk seal, but I finally get there.
“It’s so beautiful out here,” I say, looking around at nothing but the ocean as far as the eye can see. This side of the island I’m told is more secluded since it’s private property.
“That's why I come out here every day. There aren't many people that surf on this side of the island. Tourists generally are on the other side between Sunset Haven and Briar Bay. Diesel's family practically owns everything. They have sold some of the land on the other side of the island over the years. Did I tell you that my mother owns a shop there?”
“She does? You don’t talk about her much.”
He shrugs. “She’s great, both of my parents are, they want me to work with them. They own a high-end fashion chain, Giselle’s, but I love my clothing line, even if it’s not what they wanted for me.”
“That sucks, at least you know what your parents expect of you. I thought my father wanted me to be happy, but since finding out he plans to marry me off, I can’t figure out what he benefits from that. Zeke’s father is my father’s best friend, his mother was my mother’s best friend. So it made sense we would be married to simply keep up appearances. But something doesn’t feel right about it, I want to believe that my father wouldn’t want that for me.”
Cuyler stares at me, I know he can’t talk to me about it. Some stupid ancient rule, women are kept in the dark until marriage.
Logically it makes sense, my parents were married right after high school and had me. It would have been what was expected of Zeke and I, too, if he was still alive.
“If I had to guess, blackmail. You have been sheltered from this life. It’s how women are switched after fights. I’m not sure what they could have on your father, the Briar family strives to be better than everyone else. Knowing them as well as I do, I can almost guarantee whatever Malcolm has on you is bad, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Sax is working with him.” My mouth falls open, Cuyler knows Diesel’s father has something on me, and yet, Diesel himself is too stupid or pig-headed to realise it.
“How do you know he is blackmailing me?”
Cuyler’s head is thrown back, and a laugh bellows from him. “Because it’s just how he operates.”
Malcom originally said he wanted me here to fuck with Diesel’s head, then pretend to want him, but for what? If Diesel messes up the fights, his father would be pissed, so I can’t understand his logic. If he wanted business with my father, why bring Sax back to throw a spanner in that? Sax does like to shit stir, and if he was in his uncle's bad books, he would do whatever he asked to get in his good books. Maybe Sax is working with Malcolm, but I can’t think of a reason why, and maybe I will never know.
Cuyler zones out, and I watch as he looks off towards the shore, a girl around our age holds a surfboard and runs towards the water. Her wetsuit is zipped all the way up, unlike Cuyler, who has his wetsuit pulled down to his waist; her long blonde hair tousled perfectly with beach waves most girls would kill for.
He starts paddling in, and I follow behind at a much slower pace. I watch as the girl jumps up onto her board as she rides a wave. Cuyler cuts her off, and they both fall from their boards, both being swallowed by a wave. I paddle as hard as I can. Not that I would be able to save either of them. They both pop up from the water as I near them. My heart slowly starts to pump blood back around it again, and I exhale the breath I was holding in.
“What the fuck is your problem?” She yells.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” he counters.
“Fuck you, Cuy, you knew I was coming back. Don’t pretend you didn’t.”
She grabs her board and paddles away. I hold mine with everything I have when I see the wave before Cuyler does, and I manage to not get thrown from the board. I must have retained some of the information he taught me. He splutters as he surfaces.