"Never been better."
"You"re smiling, and it"s weird."
I reared my head back and laughed. "I guess you would find that weird." I glanced over at him. "But get used to it." I kicked my legs back and forth. "I need to be in my best shape for the tournament next month. You gonna help me?" I raised an eyebrow and tilted my head in question.
"h.e.l.l yes." He held out his fist to pound it out. "You have this, Wade."
I laughed. "I don"t have it yet, but I will." I narrowed my eyes out at the water. "Wyatt Perry better watch out."
Wyatt was probably my biggest rival out on the water. The other guys were good, but the true compet.i.tion was between us. He was top dog, and I was the newbie trying to prove my worth. He hadn"t liked me from the moment he met me last year. I think he knew then that I was coming for him. The year before I"d still been learning and getting used to the attention and trying so f.u.c.king hard to gain some recognition. This year was different. I"d already proven my worth, and all I had to do was show I was there to stay.
Jeremiah grinned. "Wyatt"s got nothing on you. He"s good, don"t get me wrong, but you can tell he doesn"t love it like you do, and at the end of the day that"s what matters."
I smiled at my friend. "Don"t get sappy on me now."
"Nah, of course not." He chuckled. "Wyatt"s an a.s.shole, though. I"d love to see you knock him down a few pegs."
"I need to be out in the water every day training and at the gym too."
"You know the guys and I will help you with that."
I shook my head. "You guys have your own lives. You don"t need to help me."
"Shut up." Jeremiah shook his head. "You need us and you know it."
I did. I knew my friends wouldn"t go easy on me. They"d always pushed me to better myself and all of us were constantly pushing the limits of what we could do. With their help, I knew I could bring something to the tournament that the judges wouldn"t be expecting.
"Yeah," I nodded, "you"re right. I do need you guys." I raised a hand to shield my eyes from the sun.
"Huh," Jeremiah mused, "you didn"t argue with me. That"s a first."
I shook my head and ignored his comment as I paddled out to catch a wave.
The first of many.
Ari giggled and licked at her top lip, swiping away a drop of vanilla ice cream.
I shoved a spoonful of my own chocolate ice cream into my mouth, just watching her.
I didn"t know what we were to each other, but I knew it was more than roommates. The last week she"d opened up a lot. There were no moments where she cowered into herself, and I had a feeling that was because my behavior had been much more mellow. I felt bad for that-that I"d been the cause of distress to her. She also hadn"t had any of her sa.s.sy moments, and I kind of missed my Tiger, but the peace between us was worth it. I"d never intended to tell her the truth, but in the spur of the moment it had felt right that she was the first one that I told. Gut instinct told me she knew a thing or two about being hurt by the ones you love.
"You owe me a truth today." I leaned across the counter while she sat on one of the stools. She swiveled it back and forth, nibbling on her bottom lip.
"You go first," she begged.
"No," I shook my head, "you. I always go first."
She frowned and sucked another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. "Uh..." She pondered, her nose crinkling with thought. I don"t know why, but I always found the scrunching of her nose cute. "I haven"t had a birthday party in almost five years."
My spoon clanked against the gla.s.s bowl. "What?" I shook my head. I couldn"t possibly have heard her right. "Can you repeat that?"
"I haven"t had a birthday party in almost five years," she repeated softly, dropping her eyes to the counter.
I leaned forward, lifting her chin slightly with my fingers. "That"s a d.a.m.n shame. Everyone deserves a birthday party."
She shrugged and stirred her ice cream. "It"s not that big of a deal."
"It is to me," I said firmly. "Why didn"t your parents throw you a party?"
"They weren"t around," she said evasively and stared at a spot on the wall to her left.
"Where were they?" I demanded, getting heated. What kind of life did this girl have? Had she been living on her own on the streets for that long before Ollie and Talia found her? Almost as soon as I had that thought, I dismissed it. She had too much of an innocent naivety to have been living on the streets for over four years.
"One truth, Liam," she said softly, almost forlornly. "That"s all you get."
My teeth snapped together, trying to keep from asking her a million and one questions. The last thing I wanted to do was push her away.
"Fine." I sighed, glaring down at my ice cream. I"d only eaten a few bites of it, but I didn"t want any more. I put the bowl in the sink and turned around, crossing my arms over my chest. "Truth: I fell for a girl that broke my heart, and I never thought I"d be okay again, but then I met another girl, and she needed my help so I gave it...albeit reluctantly. Then, I got to know that girl, and she began to heal the parts of me that were broken. And I thought maybe I could heal her too, but, Ari?" I stepped up to her and clasped her cheeks in my hands. "I can"t do that if you won"t let me be there for you."
I kissed her forehead and let my hands fall before walking away and leaving her to herself in the kitchen.
I pretended not to hear her cry.
But I heard it, and still I walked away. I didn"t know what else to do. The ball was in her court.
Ari.
"Training, huh? For what?" I asked Liam as I followed him out onto the beach. Ollie, Brady, and Jeremiah were a few feet behind us.
"There"s a tournament in Hawaii at the end of August. I qualified." He shrugged like it was no big deal.
"Liam. That"s awesome." I smiled up at him, a little bit in awe. I spent most of my time working so I rarely got to see Liam surf, let alone know if or when he competed in any compet.i.tions. Besides, until recently, we didn"t really talk about that kind of stuff. b.u.mping his shoulder with mine, I added, "Since you"re such a big deal, maybe you can teach me."
He grinned down at me. "Sure. I can"t promise you"ll be as good as me." He winked.
My stomach fluttered from the gesture.
I hadn"t spoken to Liam again the night before after he left me in the kitchen, and I"d gotten little sleep, fearing how he might act in the morning, but he surprised me by acting as if his confession hadn"t happened at all.
I didn"t really know what to make of what he said, so until I could I was ignoring it.
"Is anyone as good as you?" I countered, smiling up at him and squinting from the glare of the sun.
"Not for long." He smiled widely fixing the leash around his ankle.
I liked seeing that side of him. Open and carefree, and maybe a little c.o.c.ky. It was nice to see him happy instead of constantly glowering like the very air he breathed had personally offended him.
He stood up as the other guys joined us at the edge of the water. "Draw some more pictures of me." He nodded at the sketchpad and pencils I held cradled to my chest. With a wink, he took off running into the water.
"I don"t draw you," I yelled after him, even though I most certainly did.
The other guys laughed and followed him into the water.
"Face it, Liam, if she"s drawing anyone, it"s me," Ollie chortled. "I"m the best looking one out of you f.u.c.kers."
"You wish." Brady pushed Ollie"s shoulder and he stumbled, splashing water as he caught himself.
I laughed under my breath and shook my head. Those guys were hilarious. I"d overheard more than one stupid or silly comment come out of their mouths since they often forgot I was around.
I headed back up the beach aways and plopped down in the sand. I probably should"ve brought a towel or blanket or something, but I hadn"t thought about it. I crossed my legs Indian-style and sat the sketchpad in my lap.
There was a more intricate drawing I"d been working on, and I was itching to get back to it. There lately, I"d been pulling a lot of hours and in my free time I"d wanted to do nothing but vegetate. Rebecca, who"d proclaimed herself my official new best friend, had been begging me relentlessly to go to the mall with her, but I"d been dodging her attempts. I knew I"d have to suck it up soon and go with her. Not that it was a hardship or anything, but, in a way, it was. Being inside an enclosed s.p.a.ce like that with lots of people...and cameras...well, it was exactly the kind of place Blaise would use to try and track me.
I hung my head in shame.
I should"ve been long gone from this place. I already had a decent amount of money saved since I never spent much. But I couldn"t bring myself to leave. I"d done the exact thing I set out never to do: I"d grown attached.
I blew out a pent-up breath and my hair scattered with it. I lifted my head and tucked my strands of dark hair behind my ear.
I tapped the blunted end of my pencil against the paper, watching the guys sitting out in the water instead. I saw Ollie gesture wildly with his hands and then Liam threw his head back and laughed. Brady pressed a hand to his mouth to suppress his chuckle, and Jeremiah just looked horrified.
The four of them seemed to be such opposites, and you"d wonder how they ever ended up friends, but it was obvious their love of surfing had bonded them in some sort of brotherhood. I thought it was nice too, how the other guys never seemed to feel any animosity toward Liam for going pro, when I knew they all very much would"ve loved the same fate. They were genuinely proud of their best friend.
I dropped my gaze from the joking guys and returned to my drawing.
I didn"t know how much time had pa.s.sed when the guys finally emerged from the water.
I closed my sketchbook and stood up, dusting the sand off of my cotton shorts.
Liam jogged toward me, shaking the water from his hair like a dog. A few cold drops landed on my skin, and I shivered from the icy temperature of it against my sun-warmed skin.
"Hey," I scolded, "watch it."
He smiled crookedly. "What? Are you going to melt?"
I smiled back and shook my head. "No, I guess not."
The guys started to head back to the house, but we didn"t turn to follow.
"I need you to do something for me," Liam said suddenly, his brows furrowed.
"What?" I asked curiously.
"I need you to hang out in your room for about an hour... Well, until I call you down. Can you do that?"
"Um...why?" My heart began to race in fear. What is going on? Why does he want me to wait in my room?
He smiled then. "It"s nothing bad, I promise, but I need you to wait upstairs while I get everything in place."
I narrowed my eyes and forced my gaze to his. I definitely didn"t dip my eyes to look at his glistening wet chest. Nope. Not at all. Okay, so I stole one peek. Maybe two.
"What are you up to, Wade?"
"That"s for me to know and you to find out," he countered with a smug smile.
"Okay." I sighed as we started back to the house. "I"ll hang out in my room while you"re up to your mysterious deeds."
He grinned down at me, his blue eyes sparkling. I was amazed at the difference in his eyes-they shined with happiness instead of being shadowed by hate.
"And you might want to get dressed up," he hinted. "Nothing fancy, but I think you"ll want to change out of that." He winked as his eyes lingered on my cotton shorts and tank top.
I needed to hide in my room and change. Yeah, that gave me no clue whatsoever as to what he was up to.
When we reached the top of the stairs, I saw that the three guys had left their boards leaning against the side of the house, but they were nowhere to be seen.
I narrowed my eyes on Liam as he trekked across the yard to the door.
Nothing in his posture or behavior suggested anything bad, but I was nervous nonetheless. Paranoia was a b.i.t.c.h, and I couldn"t stop the fear that he might be working with or for Blaise. It was a stupid thought and one I laughed about but that didn"t erase it.
Liam ushered me inside. He kept watching me with a little smirk as we stepped inside. I started to go upstairs but he ushered me toward the kitchen first.
"Wait one second," he told me as he headed for the refrigerator.
He grabbed a bottle of water and tossed it at me. I missed it, since I was holding my sketchpad and pencils, and bent to retrieve it before turning for the stairs. He stopped me again, and I turned back.
"These too." This time he grabbed a large bag of Cheetos off the counter and threw them to me. I reached out and actually managed to catch them. "That way if you get hungry or thirsty you"re covered."
"But these are Ollie"s." I shook the bag of Cheetos.
"I know." He grinned and bit his lip to hide his laugh. His deep chuckle still escaped, though. "That"s what he gets for putting Cheetos in my bed."
"He put them in your bed?" I laughed.
"Ollie likes to mess with me," he explained with a shrug. "Drives me nuts, because I might be a tad OCD, but..."
"A tad?" I raised a brow.
"Or a lot." He raised his hands in surrender and smiled broadly. "All right, you need to get in your room. Like now." He waved a hand dismissively.
I let out a breath and clasped everything tightly so I didn"t drop anything.