Page 62 of Unworthy
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“We’re not taking them out.” I crossed my arms over my chest and set my mouth in a firm line.
I had been prepared to sacrifice some of my pride to take these guys on the water, but I was not prepared to compromise on safety. They were either still drunk or they’d taken something. I watched out of the window as one of them fell off the training rig we had set up for the kids, another was staring off into space, two others were rolling around on the floor and there was a guy throwing up into a bush to the side. Nice.
“They’re fine,” Bodhi replied. There was a crash as the rig toppled over, flattening the guy on it and two of his mates. Bodhi glanced over his shoulder at them, then shrugged as he turned back to me. “Okay, so maybe they’re a wee bit sauced, but it’s nothing a good blast on the water won’t solve.”
“Whoareyou?” I asked. It was a genuine question. This version of Bodhi was a complete stranger to me. I shook my head. “You know we can’t take them out like this.”
“WhatIknow is that I’m not turning down that kind of money, just because you’ve gone all health and safety on me.”
I scowled at him. “Two of them couldn’t even hold the pen properly to sign the consent forms, and one actually drooled on the paper. I don’t think I’m being overly cautious when I say that they are not fit to go out on the water.”
He rolled his eyes and proceeded to shove his arms into his wetsuit. “Whatever.I’lltake them out. You can stay here and meditate or whatever other pointless shit you wanna do. I’ll go and earn some actual cash.” He spun on his heel and charged out of the office towards the group of idiots mucking about with my training sail. How they’d managed to get their wetsuits on was anyone’s guess. I slammed my hand down on the desk in frustration, then pushed up to follow him.
“Don’t do this, Bodhi,” I said through gritted teeth. My hand went to his shoulder but he shook me off, leaning down to pick up one of the boards.
“Right lads,” he shouted. “Grab a board and we’ll take them down to the water to get set up. Those of you who haven’t done this before, take the massive boards on the right there. Kiters grab those kite bags. Experienced windsurfers – the smaller boards are up there. Let’s get this show on the road!”
“Bodhi!” I hissed, following him as he made his way down to the water with two boards tucked under each arm. “Mixed ability? Kitingandwindsurfing? This is madness. Even if they were sober it would be a bad idea. You don’t know these people and the wind is gusty as shit today.” As if to highlight my point, a massive blast of wind hit us both, causing my hair to fly out to the side and pushing the board across so hard that Bodhi nearly stumbled and had to pause to readjust his grip.
“Yo, little surfer chick.” A heavy arm was slung over my shoulder, and I got a strong whiff of stale beer.
“Er… hi,” I said, ducking down to extract myself from under his weight.
“What’s with the wetsuit, babe?” he slurred, pitching to the side slightly when I ducked away and then straightening up with a lopsided grin. “Your boss here told us you’d be fullyBaywatchfor the day.”
I pasted a smile on my face. “I’m sorry you were misinformed, but this man is not my boss and I’ve no intention of going ‘fullyBaywatch’.I’m afraid you guys won’t be able to go out on the water today either.”
“What are you on about, girlie?” Another bloke stumbled across to us over the sand. Bodhi kept ploughing on to the water, with some of the guys following. “We’ve paid to go out on the goddamn water.” This guy was not in the slightly slurring, hungover, still-drunk category. He looked wired. His pupils were pinpoint, and the whites of his eyes were red. My guess would be a line of coke before he left this morning.
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered under my breath, side eyeing Wired Guy before I ran to catch up with Bodhi again. He was busy laying the boards on the shoreline now. “Seriously, Bode.” I tried to make my voice reasonable, make sure it didn’t shake with the anger I was feeling now. “This is dangerous.”
“Just fuck off then,” he spat, not bothering to lower his voice. There were a few sniggers from the pissed-up idiots who’d had the coordination needed to actually catch up with us. “I can take them out. You’re not the only one that can do this shit, you know.”
“I’m not going to let you,” I said, squaring my shoulders as I stepped between him and the sail that he was about to attach to the board. “It’smybusiness, Bodhi. My reputation. You’re not taking this lot on the water.” Another huge gust of wind blew my hair up from behind me as if to emphasise my point. I reached for the sail, but before I could grab the boom Bodhi’s heavy hand landed in the centre of my chest and shoved me back. The impact was hard enough that I was thrown a few feet away landing on my back in the sand with the breath knocked out of me. Bodhi didn’t even glance back at me. He was too busy rigging up the kit. A few of the guys shifted uncomfortably in the sand. One of them offered me his hand to get up.
“Hey,” one of the slightly more subdued men said. “Not cool, bro.”
“Maybe we should give this a miss,” another one said, biting his lip and looking unsure.
“Come on, you pussies,” Wired Guy shouted about the wind. “I’ve kited in much stronger shit than this. Let’s get this show on the road.” To my dismay, I saw he was dumping the kiting kit out of the bag. Kiting in this weather was not a good idea for anyone. The gusts could have you flying across the harbour – people had died that way. But in the hands of someone with impaired judgement and a God complex it was a recipe for disaster. Two more unsure guys backed off with their hands raised, muttering about how they’d give it a miss, and shooting me furtive, concerned glances. The vomiting guy had retreated as well to sit on the sand with his head between his knees. But there were still about five guys rigging up – two of them had beginner windsurfing boards, two of them were unravelling the kite surfing kits, and one was on a smaller windsurfing board. In other words, a complete shitshow. I watched on, feeling totally helpless, knowing I couldn’t physically stop them. After only a moment’s hesitation, I grabbed my phone from its waterproof pouch around my neck and swallowed my pride.
Chapter 31
Do you trust me?
Heath
“You working?” Max’s gruff voice demanded.
“Well, good morning to you too, arsehole,” I said. Winnie and I were sitting on my sofa feeling sorry for ourselves. She shared my love for Yaz, and I often felt like she was just humouring me by staying at my place, waiting for Yaz to walk through the door. At least she wasn’t scared of me anymore. She even slept in my bed now.
“Right, you need to get your arse down to the beach, pronto. There’s a problem with my sister.”
I sat up to attention immediately. Winnie’s ear pricked up and her head cocked to the side.
“What kind of problem?”
