Page 3 of Below the Barrel

I roll my lips and close my eyes while I nod. “I’m afraid so.”

“Then can you explain why his eyes haven’t left you all night?” She juts her chin out, signalling that I look over my shoulder.

I blink at her once before turning my head and glancing behind me, my eyes instantly finding Koa’s. He sits at the bar with the rest of the guys, but instead of joining in on their conversation, he has his back to the bar as he faces me.

He’s wearing a black dress shirt and pants. Ever since we broke up, he’s purged his closet of colour, choosing to wear black as if every day were a funeral. Going for a moody bad boy vibe, I assume.

I meet his gaze for a few seconds before turning back to face the girls, my cheeks growing warmer with each second. Avoiding their questioning eyes, I shrug and take another sip of my drink. I’ve caught Koa staring at me probably as many times as he’s caught me, but I don’t let myself think anything of it. It’s hard enough living together and surfing on the same team, I don’t need to fill my head with pointless theories over his staring.

So quit the team and move out.

It’s a thought that’s bounced around my mind for nearly a year. If I hadn’t been with The Saltwater Shredders since I wasseventeen, I would’ve quit months ago, but the team has become a family to me and the thought of leaving and never seeing them again, all because of a stupid guy, has always stopped me from acting on that thought.

Sure, every time I see Koa, or breathe his cologne in, or hear his voice, I feel like somebody has thrown a handful of daggers at my chest. But seeing Kairi, Eliana, and the rest of the team has made that pain bearable.

“I really thought you two were back on speaking terms after The Cove party,” Kairi says, busying herself with the wrapper of her straw.

A few months ago, Gabriel left us for the weekend to go visit Zalea. She’s the older sister of our teammate, Zale, and also in a situationship with Gabriel. Zalea used to be part of The Saltwater Shredders but decided to leave the team and go solo a few years back.

In Gabriel’s absence, we may have thrown a beach bonfire party at our local private beach, The Cove. It was such a great party up until Griffin’s criminal ex-girlfriend showed up and sprinkled her bad luck all over the place. Eliana and one of my teammates, Colton, were thrown into the freezing ocean when the old boat dock broke apart beneath them.

Not only did they almost drown, but Colton needed CPR. The events from that whole night freaked me out too much to sleep, so I’d gone to the kitchen sometime around two in the morning to get a glass of warm milk in hopes that it would put me to sleep. I hadn’t expected to run into Koa already pouring himself a glass. One look at me and he was pulling out a second one from the cupboard, pouring the steaming milk into it and then sliding the glass towards me.

We’d sat in silence, side by side at the kitchen island, for thirty minutes while we drank from our glasses. It reminded meof when we were still together, staying up late and being each other's comfort.

When the exhaustion had started to hit, I’d stood up and walked toward the stairs only to find that Koa was right behind me, also heading up. When I stopped in front of my room door, I glanced over my shoulder to find him watching me. His eyes spoke volumes, more than words ever could, but I couldn’t handle it. I quickly hurled myself into my bedroom and slammed the door shut behind me.

“Well, you thought wrong.”

I bring the straw back to my lips and chug the rest of my drink, ignoring the blinding pain of brain freeze, before slamming it down on the table and sliding out of our booth. I turn to face Kairi and Eliana, both watching me with rounded eyes.

“Enough about that,” I say, forcing a smile, “let’s go throw darts. I finally got my hands on the mug shots of Eli’s stalkers.”

Eliana perks up in her chair, eyebrows raised. “Alex and Meghan?”

Alex is Eliana’s ex-childhood friend who was currently serving time in prison for blackmailing her. Meghan, on the other hand, is Griffin’s ex girlfriend. She kind of lost her mind and almost killed the guy, then tried to ruin Eliana’s life. She’s in a psych ward getting the treatment she desperately needs.

“Yup!”

“How did you get your hands on those?” Kairi asks, suspicion coating her features.

I look at my nails innocently. “It doesn’t matter, let’s go.”

“I can’t,” Kairi stares at her glass with a pinched expression.

“What?” I whine. “Why not?”

Eliana clears her throat and nods toward the dart board. I glance in the same direction only to find Zale and Colton in aheated game of darts. They both look about ready to rip each other’s heads off.

When Colton returned to The Saltwater Shredders a month ago, after ditching us for The Rip Raiders one town over, we didn’t exactly give him the warmest welcome. But most of us have forgiven him for leaving, except Zale. Though I feel like his hatred toward Colton is more to do with Kairi than anything. They’re both into her but too afraid to actually pursue anything.

I groan as I look back at the girls. “Okay, we’re clearly too sober for this. I’m going to get us shots.”

“Please, no tequila,” Eliana cries out when I turn my back to the table.

I snort as I walk towards the bar and do my absolute best to ignore the way my body reacts when I come to stand next to Koa, whose eyes haven’t left me this entire time. I order our vodka shots and impatiently tap my fingers on the bar top as I wait, but when Koa silently turns to face me in his stool, I feel my body tense up.

“What?” I grunt, refusing to look at him.

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