Page 75 of Beyond The Break

They both hold up their hands, thumb and pinky extended outwards as the rest of their fingers curl inward, and smile at each other as I quickly snap the photo.

“Why the random photo?” Griffin asks.

I take the newspaper out from under my arm and pass it to him. Colton leans over and they read it together, both of their smiles slipping from their face replaced with anger.

“I think posting a photo of you two is the perfect way to kill this story before it gains any traction,” I say.

“This should be illegal,” Colton smacks his palm against the sand in frustration.

“I think it is,” Griffin says.

“We should call Gabriel,” I suggest.

“Absolutely not,” Griffin stands up and dusts the sand from his pants.

“He’ll literally fly back and kill us all,” Colton says.

“I’m calling him.”

They both groan. “Fine but put him on speaker.”

I pull my phone from my back pocket and find Gabriel in my contact list. Both Griffin and Colton look worried whichonly adds to my own worry, but I push past it and hit the call button. He answers after the first ring.

“Eliana, please tell me those two idiots didn’t fight,” he says as soon as he answers.

I give them both apologetic smiles and then fill Gabriel in on what actually happened.

“So, you’re telling me that Colton drowned because he got hit in the head with a piece of driftwood and Griffin saved him by performing CPR?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“Eliana, I don’t know you well enough to know if you’re lying or not, but that sounds less believable than them fighting it out.”

“She’s telling the truth, Coach,” Colton says, finally speaking up, “I would have drowned if it wasn’t for Fin.”

Silence, followed by Gabriel clearing his throat.

“Harrison, please tell me you guys aren’t at The Shredder House right now.”

We all exchange worried glances.

“I let him stay in my room for the night since he was hurt,” Griffin says.

“You know better than to bring someone from another team into our house where all of our training and tactic notes are kept,” Gabriel raises his voice, “especially someone who knows where we keep those notes because he used to be on thegod damn team!”

We both wince when he screams the last three words into the phone.

“Coach, I want to come back.”

My jaw drops as I look up at Colton. He’s staring down at my phone, brows furrowed but from the way he chews on his lip and picks at his fingernail, I can tell he’s nervous.

“What did you just say?” Gabriel asks, tone disbelieving.

“I said I want to come back,” Colton repeats, “leaving was a mistake.”

I hold my breath, unsure if this will make things worse with Gabriel or better. After what feels like an eternity, he finally speaks.

“Eliana, do you have any content you can use to distract our followers from this story for now?”

---