Page 29 of Beyond The Break

“There’s definitely more to the story that he isn’t telling anyone. I also think that accident scared him. He looks absolutely petrified out in the water, it’s sad to see.”

“I noticed that during this morning’s practice too,” I nod in agreement.

“He needs to learn how to trust himself in the water again,” she says as our ice cream arrives.

But how does he do that?

I spend the rest of our time there slowly eating my caramel ice cream while playing out different scenarios to get Griffin to become more comfortable in the water again.

It doesn’t take long for the perfect plan to form in my mind.

TEN

GRIFFIN

“You want me to what?”I stare at Eliana’s big green eyes as she looks up at me. She has her brown hair tied back in a loose ponytail and a new surfboard tucked under her arm. I notice a light flush creep across her cheeks as she stares at me with determination.

“Teach me how to surf,” she repeats.

“Why the hell would I do that?”

I’m already having a hard enough time keeping my distance from her, so teaching her how to surf would be absolute hell for my self-restraint. The thought of touching her body to reposition her on the board, and how much I want to do just that, is enough to convince me that this is a bad idea not worth entertaining.

“I want to learn, and Gabriel wants you to work on the basics. This would be knocking out two birds with one stone.”

I grind my teeth together.Gabriel wants you to work on the basics.It’s a slap in the face to be compared to a beginner, to be told that I need to work on things that I should have already mastered this far into my career. That’s the last thing I wanted to hear after being gone for all those months. Gabriel made itseem like I would be dragging the team down in competitions at this rate, not helping them the way I intend to.

It was painful to hear, but I know it’s true. If I can’t help the team, then I don’t deserve to take up this spot. Any other coach would have kicked me out by now, but not Gabriel. He knows how much I want this, and he’s been there through the endless hours of training. He’s not ready to give up on me just yet, so I need to prove to him that I’m worth fighting for, that I deserve this spot just as much as everyone else on the team, and the only way to do that is to remain focused on myself.

“No,” I say, deadpan, before walking around her to join the others for the evening surf practice.

The evening surf is usually more laid back, everyone can work on whatever they feel they need to improve on. I decide to practice riding waves, but every time I’m meant to stand on my board, an uncomfortable doubt settles in my chest, causing me to pull off, letting one of the others take the wave instead.

When I glance over to Gabriel, his face morphs into disappointment before returning his attention to Koa who is practicing aerials. I slap the water in frustration. I can’t believe after six months of obsessing about returning to the ocean, I’m scared to do the one thing I couldn’t wait to do.

Surf.

I glance towards Eliana to see if she’s recording this humiliation again, but she’s not on the beach, though the camera is still pointing at me on a tripod. I look around and spot that stupid white and pink flower board in the ocean, her small frame trying to paddle it out to the lineup.

She’s wearing a half wetsuit, her curvy ass on full display as she uses double the effort to reach us with her horrible form. I glance at the other guys and while Koa is still focused on surfing, Zale is watching Eliana with his tongue halfway to the ocean floor.

“Something on your mind, Evans?” I call over to him.

He shifts his attention to me and shoots me a half grin. “She paddles almost as bad as you, noodle arms at their finest,” he replies.

Kairi smacks the back of his head for the comment, and he frowns at her with a pouted lip while rubbing his head. His comments are meant as fun teasing, but the comparison to a new surfer bothers me more than it should. It’s too similar to what Gabriel said to me this morning.

I watch as Eliana’s board slowly glides towards me while she holds onto the edges, her breathing heavy and her body stiff. She’s exhausted. I sit up on my board and reach over, pulling her towards me.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“Teaching myself how to surf.” She closes her eyes and turns her face away from me.

I take the opportunity to admire her round and dangerously distracting ass.

“You don’t know the first thing about surfing,” I mumble, returning my eyes to hers only to realize she’s been watching me stare at her ass.

Well, fuck. Nothing like getting caught checking out the girl you’re trying to get rid of, again.

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