Page 8 of Beyond The Break

“What about Colton’s old room?” she asks.

The sound of his name causes me to twitch as I feel the fading anger course through me again, the hairs on my arms raising in response.

“I’ll get to that,” he says, clicking a key on his laptop to skip to the next slide, of a guy around our age next to a rack of surfboards. “Meet Sterling. He’s the team’s very own board shaper and he’s located in the town square. Please pay him a visit in the next few weeks to have a new board shaped to your needs. Bring him as much feedback on your current boards as you can.”

Gabriel skips to the next screen, which is of an older woman, probably in her forties.

“This is Dr. Ivanova, she’s our team’s dedicated physiotherapist. I want each of you to book in a consultation with her to come up with a session plan. I think all of us can improve on our mobility and positioning out in the water.” Gabriel turns his eyes to mine. “Feel free to book in as many appointments as you need if any of you are feeling pain.”

The hairs on the back of my neck stand as I stare into his eyes, and I wonder to myself if he knows about my physiotherapist at the hospital not recommending that I return to the team just yet. I give him a small nod before he returns his eyes to the laptop and clicks that key again.

“Lastly, meet Eliana.” I glance up at the screen and my breath freezes in my airways.

As I stare at a picture of the most beautiful woman that I’ve ever laid my eyes on, my mouth goes dry. There’s something magnetizing about her, preventing me from looking away. Her big, innocent, green eyes pull me in as her hair reflects the sunlight around her freckled face. A girl like her could only spell out trouble for me and I’m grateful that our live-in occupancy is full. Living with her would completely ruin my plan to stay focused.

“She’ll be our live-in social media manager.”

As if a record scratches, I whip my eyes back to Gabriel, a sinking feeling forming in my stomach as my blood runs cold.

“Did you just say live-in?” I ask, praying I heard him wrong.

“I did,” he nods, one corner of his mouth lifting into a knowing grin. “She’s coming from a very long way, so I’ve offered her Colton’s old room.”

“But that’s right beside my room,” I say, as I look back at her gorgeous picture.

He nods his head slowly. “It is.”

“Why do we need a social media manager?” I ask, rubbing away the panic that’s building in my chest.

I swore to myself I wouldn’t allow any distractions to get in the way of surfing again. I need complete focus to get back to my intermediate surfing skill level, to get the team to Qualifiers. But, with a girl like her walking the halls of this house, sleeping in the room right next to mine, that’ll be impossible.

What if she’s one of those girls that sleeps in booty shorts and tight crop tops? Or worse, what if she wears ankle length nightgowns? The curiosity of what she’s hiding under such atrocious sleepwear would drive me fucking insane. No, she can’t live here.

“She’s going to help fix up the team’s image and help us reach a wider fan base. The more eyes we have on us, the more likely we are to attract the right sponsors. Your accident was one thing, but now with Colton leaving us, it’s not a good look.”

“Right,” I say, my voice trailing off.

Sponsors are what keep this team running. They pay for new equipment, our accommodation, and put food on the table. Without them, we’d be relying on Gabriel’s funding again or forced to work part time jobs to support ourselves.

“I’ll need you to give her a warm welcome, Fin.” Gabriel says, pulling me out of my thoughts. “I’m taking the rest of the team to Kitso beach for the evening surf while you unpack and settle in. She’ll be arriving while we’re gone.”

I bite back a groan at the thought of being alone with her in this house. I need to get rid of her tonight then, while the rest of the team is gone.

“You’ve got it, Coach,” I say, a forced smile plastered on my face as I sit back and cross my arms over my chest.

I’ll give her the warmest welcome she’s ever experienced.

THREE

ELIANA

Strong armsgently shake me awake. “Ma’am, we’ve reached your destination,” a man’s voice sounds, his French accent thick.

My eyes snap open to find that the limo Gabriel had sent for me at the airport is currently parked in front of a white beach-side mansion. I look up to see the elderly driver smiling down at me, wrinkles forming in the corner of his eyes, as he holds my door open. I quickly wipe the drool from the corner of my mouth and jump out of the car.

He reaches into the backseat and pulls out my duffel bag, placing it on top of my purple suitcase that he must have removed from the trunk while I was still sleeping.

Despite Gabriel booking a business class seat for me again, with the bed, I barely slept a wink on the six-hour flight over. Thoughts of the team’s reaction to having me invade their home along with anxiety about the guy Zalea warned me about, Griffin, kept me wide awake. The long winding roads from the airport to this house must have been just what my body needed to finally allow for some shut eye.

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