Page 26 of Unworthy
I uncrossed my arms and took a step back. I could actually feel the colour draining out of my face. Yaz hadn’t mentioned the leaflet I’d seen in her flat again – I’d assumed it was off the boil now. “She can’t leave for Brazil.”
“Why not? Nothing tying her here.”
“Her family’s here. All her friends. People she cares about. What about her yoga classes and her alternative therapies?”
He let out another bark of laughter. “All that bullshit will have to be put on hold. Other than the yoga – we need that for strengthening and balance. Anyway, the money she makes from that is pocket change compared to the fees we’ll charge for the guiding. Most of that crap she does for free, anyway.”
“For free?”
“Do you really think Yaz charges a load of old age pensioners the full rate for a yoga class? Or even those un-yummy mummies who drag their fat arses there every week?” He snorted. “She’s all about giving back to the community. Least savvy business mind I’ve ever come across. But she’s in business with me now, so all that’s going to change.”
“You’re taking advantage of her.”
“I’m going to make us both rich, you idiot. It’s not like I’m exploiting her as an employee – she’ll be in business with me 50/50 split. And we’ll be raking it in, you mark my words. You wouldn’t believe the prices we’ll be charging in September.”
“September?”
“That’s when we leave for Brazil. Six months out there, then we’ll rethink.”
“Yaz has already agreed to Brazil?”
“Well, she hasn’t exactly agreed yet. Money doesn’t seem to be the motivator with her. Last time we spoke about it she was wondering how fulfilling it would be.” He let out another bark of laughter. “I meanfulfilling, what a joke. You’ve got the best environment for water sports in the world out there. She’ll be guiding competent windsurfers down beautiful coastline. Constant adrenaline, constantly doing what she loves on the water. Loads of cash. What’s the problem? Well, she’s warmed up a bit to the idea this week, so there is hope.”
Great. This was just fucking great. Yaz was going to leave for Brazil of all places. For six months. And it didn’t take too much intelligence to guess exactly what had prompted her recent change of heart about leaving.
“Yo! Bodhi!” a man shouted as he came jogging up to us. He was also sporting overlong hair and wearing board shorts with a rash vest. “You going out in that storm that’s coming in? It’s gonna be motherfucking insane.”
“Bloody hell,” I muttered as I followed the direction this guy was pointing in. There were some serious black clouds coming in from the sea. The wind was picking up as well.
“We’ve gotta leave now though, dude,” the rash-vest guy said. “We can launch from the beach side.”
Bodhi flicked a glance at Yaz, who was still out there with the kids. “Ah, she’ll be right,” he muttered under his breath. “Okay, Roach, let’s kill it.”
As he turned to followRoach, I caught hold of his arm to stop him. “Aren’t you supposed to be helping Yaz?”
“She’s run over time, anyway. The kids’ll come in any minute.”
“That storm is coming now. She shouldn’t have to get all the– ”
“Not my problem, bro. You’re so hot for her, you try to get the kids in.”
“Wow, nice attitude.”
“Look, I’m not the one that needs to butter her up. All I need to do is stay in business with her. I’ve tried getting in her pants and that pussy is closed for bros.”
I rolled my eyes. “She’s not a lesbian.”
“Hmm-kay, whatever. Not many heterosexual ladies turn this down.” He made a sweeping gesture from his face to his body, as if demonstrating that any straight woman would be mad to turn down such a magnificent specimen of a man. Wow, this guy was truly horrific. How had he managed to hide it from Yaz? This was the total opposite of how he came across at the pub. He slapped my shoulder. “You want to waste your time trying to butter her muffin, be my guest. I’ve got some waves to ride.”
Chapter 13
Please, just give me a chance
Heath
With Bodhi gone, I was left alone staring out at Yaz and the kids as the rain started and the wind rustled the trees behind me. It was only a few moments before everything closed in. The howling gale and sheet rain made it difficult to even make out all the children. Shielding my eyes from the rain, I saw Yaz dragging three rigs, with kids in tow, towards the shore. There were two other children following behind.
“Has he left her again?” I heard a shout next to me against the wind, and turned to see Dee jogging up to the shoreline in a wetsuit with a kite bag over her shoulder.
