“Sure, sure. See you round.” He walked after Summer, his bones still ringing with the warning. Careful. Yes, he needed to make careful his middle name from now on. But when he caught up to her, struggling with her board and a heavy bag, Ashton grabbed the bag from her. “Here, give me that.” They walked up the beach, away from the WSL circus that was setting up for the event in a couple days’ time.
“Maybe he’s right. I’m going to get pounded out there. I mean, look at it. And look at them.” Summer nodded at a group of the industry’s top surfers, who were all standing at the edge of the surf, not getting in the water.
“Don’t let T.J. get to you. No one is going out in that. Look at where they’re all staring. Out the back there, you can see the tide sifting. It’s going to calm down in about half an hour.” Ashton put her bag on the sand, sat, and pulled her down to sit next to him.
He watched Summer bite her lip and saw the fear washing over her in waves just as ferocious as those in the ocean. “You’re just as good as they are. Fresher, sure, but that whole deal from T.J. was to make himself look good.”
She turned to face him. “Holy crap, you’re the first person to actually get that. It’s not that T.J. is a complete bastard. He’s just completely focused on himself.”
Ashton nodded, then shrugged. “I guess it’s almost something to be admired. The best athletes are like that when it comes down to it. They have to be. It’s kill or be killed in a sport that’s so much about mental strength and concentration. Lucky you’ve got that in spades. The way you were with that reporter when T.J. was doing his thing? Awesome. No matter what happens, you’ve got a future in this competition, and you know I wouldn’t say that if I didn’t mean it.”
Summer punched him on the arm. “Right. Yes.” She paused. “I wish I could kiss you now.”
“Same.” It was so simple when he said it out loud. They looked at each other, and Ashton wished they were back in that field, far away from the whole WSL crowd, away from T.J. and his lawyers. But you’re not.
He gave himself a little shake. Today they were here for Summer. Tomorrow he’d be back in the water himself, making sure he cemented his own place in the WSL circuit—on the photographic team.
Someone limped out of the water, mad enough to try and prove his mettle while the waves were still messy. Blood ran from the cut on his leg, mixing in with the seawater and making his whole thigh look a bloody mess.
“Don’t even think it.”
“I’m not.”
“As long as you remember why you’re doing this. This is for you. Not to prove T.J. is wrong. Not to prove anything to your father. This competition is about you. Right?”
Summer straightened. “Right.”
“There’s my girl.”
“Funny, I was just going to say the same thing!” Maya bounced up to them, and Ashton tried to shift a little further away from Summer without being obvious, but Maya had already clocked their proximity. He saw it in her overly bright smile. At least Brooke wasn’t with her.
Summer jumped up and wrapped her girlfriend in a hug. “Oh man, you have the BEST timing.”
“Why, what happened?” Maya loosened her grip on Summer and checked her over.
“T.J. regurgitated his ego everywhere,” Ashton said and was rewarded with a snort of laughter from Summer.
Maya smiled. “Oh, that’s nothing. Daily occurrence.” But she pulled Summer back tighter in her hug. “You okay?”
Summer nodded.
“Good. So, let’s get you signed up. Make T.J. chow down on some old socks when he realizes you’re an amazing surf goddess and he was an idiot to let you go. That’s what you said, right?”
Summer laughed again, and the sound took Ashton back to their hotel room when she’d burst in from the ocean. Her laugh had entered the room before her, and now, with her girlfriend, he saw again the carefree, joyful woman he’d not been able to take his eyes off.
“And one more thing—play it smart. He might be an ass, but your contract doesn’t let you show it. Not yet, and possibly not ever, even when the twelve months is officially over.” Maya’s face was suddenly serious.
Shit. Is it that obvious?
Summer opened her mouth and then closed it again.
“It’s only because I know you so well, babe,” Maya said softly. “But this is not the time or the place to play relationship roulette.”
Summer glanced quickly at Ashton.
“Time to go. You can talk later.” Maya was adamant.
Later. Ashton’s fingers ached to hold Summer’s hand, but Maya was right. This wasn’t the time or the place. “I’ll see you round,” he said and managed to keep it light. Lighter than he felt, that was for damn sure.
“Okay.” Summer’s voice was tight, too. She felt this as much as he did. It gave him cold comfort.
“Can you pass me my bag?”
Ashton looked beside him where he’d put down her bag. There was nothing.
“Funny guy hiding the bag?” said Maya.
Ashton only half heard her as he searched the sand for the bag. It simply wasn’t there. “It’s gone.”
Summer frowned. “What do you mean, gone?”
“I mean, I put it down here.” He pointed to the sand. “We sat. Maya arrived. And now it’s gone.” He paused as the reality of what had just happened hit. “Someone must have stolen it.”
Summer’s face didn’t so much as fall as the skin flattened and all the color leached away, making her look like someone had dusted her over with fine, white sand.
“Summer? What was in it?” Maya said.
Summer took a deep breath. “Everything.”
“What do you mean everything? What sort of bag are we talking about here?”
Ashton held up a hand to stop Maya. “I thought it just had your swim gear.”
Summer let the breath out slowly, but none of the color had returned to her face, and it just served to make her look more deflated. “Oh shit. My lucky bikini was in there, too.”
This could not be happening.
“It had my wallet. My phone. My passport. Oh shit, my entry forms. When I said it had everything in it, I was just kinda…you know. But it did. Really. It had everything.” She sat heavily on the sand and put a hand over her eyes.
Ashton waited. His fault. This was all his fault.
“Well, it happens. Now we have to work out what to do about it.” Maya was instantly in charge.
Ashton sat again and punched the sand in front of him.
“Chill, Evans.” Maya put up a hand, already pushing buttons on her cell. “It’s not ideal timing, I’ll give you that.”
“I should have been watching it.”
Summer’s eyes widened. “Someone stole my bag. You didn’t do anything.”
“Evans!” A guy with a WSL media lanyard came up to them. “Boss is looking for you. You get the email?”
Ashton was conflicted. Summer needed him, he could see it in her face, but Maya’s eyes told him another story. His stomach contracted. Her eyes told him it was time to leave.
“Evans?”
“Go,” Summer said.
Maya gave him a small push on the shoulder. “I’ll take care of her. Go on. Hurry up.”
#
Striding up to the media tent, Ashton shut his eyes a moment, hoping that would keep his whirling thoughts at bay. Keep busy. Yes, that’s what he was going to do. Keep busy and keep away from Summer in public. Maya was right about them playing relationship roulette.
It had only been a couple of days since Maya had talked him into taking Summer’s photo. A couple of days since his dickhead move of five years ago had flared and faded as he’d allowed himself to push past the regret of pushing her away and relive how amazing Summer was.
But that meant it had been a good couple of days since he’d focused all his energy where it was supposed to be—on getting into the WSL photography pool.
Come on. Get it together. He pushed into the tent and smil
ed at the man inside.
“Ashton. My man. Heard you got a contract with Summer Roberts. I saw the shot you took of her.”
“How?”
“Maya.”
Despite his anxiety, Ashton’s smile became genuine.
The head of the WSL media team gave him a grin. “It was enough to swing the others round. You’re in after all. Sorry about giving you a hard time. You get my email?”
Ashton heaved a sigh of relief. “I didn’t. But that’s great. Put me to work. I can start today if you need me to.”
The media coordinator did a double take. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. I need distracting.” He looked for a reason to justify himself. “You know, being in Bali and everything.”
The man eyed him up, now cautious. “Everyone was worried about that. You sure you should be here?”
Damn. Too much. “Oh, no, I’m fine when I’m working. Look.” He pulled up his camera and showed off some of the shots he’d taken of Summer, in the bamboo, in the snake hut, in the water.
The head of media hissed his breath out through his teeth. “Okay. I get it. You’re fucking good. I know it’s kinda crappy, but I need social media shots like yesterday. Nothing as arty as these. You can do those in a couple of days.”
“No problem.”
“Great.” The guy beamed. “You have no idea how much of my ass you just saved. Let me just hook you up.”
While he waited, Ashton looked around. This was what he was supposed to be focusing on. Getting back in the game. Getting a permanent gig with the WSL. He breathed out. He would look after himself, and then when Summer had her life back from T.J.’s control, maybe then they could see if there was anything worth working through together.
The head of media came back with a lanyard and a contract. “Last guy just bailed ’cause he got some other sponsor’s gig. This one pays shit, but it’s with the right people. Easy in, easy out. I’ll make sure everyone knows about you helping me out.”
Ashton forced himself to smile. “Great. So, what’s the deal?”
“Behind the scenes shots. The top four guys. Doesn’t really matter about the others, just these four. The Instagram account needs constant feeding, you know how it is.”
Ashton nodded and flicked through the contract. It was standard. Two days of shooting. Two days of distraction. And two days of bringing him back to where he was supposed to be. In the water. Alone. He signed.
“Great. Arlin and Holo are out in the water already; T.J. is just warming up.
Ashton’s spine stiffened as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water down his shirt. “T.J.?”
“Sure. And Arlin, Holo, and Rick. Boys are all in good form. Should be fun.”
T.J. Of all the gigs. Ashton shook his head. It didn’t matter. He didn’t need to hang out with the guy.
He signed the contract with a flourish. He was going to be in the water at every contest. Feeling the pulse of the ocean and able to pick and choose what type of shot he took. And after this social media gig, he’d be able to choose of whom.
And what about Summer? She deserved more. She deserved to be able to live her dreams, have it all, like she wanted, rather than have her world quashed by a pack of lawyers and the media. And even after the contract with T.J. ended, she deserved to be loved and adored by someone who wasn’t damaged, who could support her the way she needed. Someone that wasn’t him. And yet he wasn’t ready to let her go.
Chapter Fourteen
Thanks to Maya’s swift phone calls, a fax, and a drive to the local courthouse to sign a statutory declaration, Summer fronted up to the competition admin tent with enough documentation to get her back in the game. Then it took another bunch of calls to cancel her cards, arrange for a new passport, and get some cash.
“That was almost a big pile of mess,” Maya said when they were done.
“It’s still a big fat mess. My lucky bikini was in there. And my best board got broken yesterday. I’m screwed.”
Maya gave her a don’t-make-me-tell-you-off-like-your-momma-would look, and Summer cringed. “What? A girl’s not allowed to have a few superstitions?”
“Nope. A girl needs to make her own luck. You know that, I know that, anyone who says different is full of it.”
“But I’ve caught every wave I ever tried for when I was wearing that bikini. Honestly, it’s like it’s got super-surf powers.” She felt her confidence sinking now that the flurry of activity getting the forms for the competition sorted had settled, and her body tightened, ready to take the next hit.
“Honey. You’ve caught every wave you tried for because you’re a crack hot surfer.”
“That’s very nice of you to say so. But you’re forgetting I didn’t even make it into the women’s champs.”
Maya snorted. “No, you made it in as a wild card in the top competition. Come on, hon, open your eyes. You’re on the way up. We all are. And really, you did me a favor by not getting into the women’s competition final. ’Cause then I would have had to have you and Brooke in my ear bitching about how you had to go up against each other, yada yada.”
Summer couldn’t help the smile as Maya’s face pulled a perfect imitation of Brooke’s pissed expression. She looked out at the waves which had settled, just as Ashton had said they would. The blue of the water was perfect and so clear that Summer saw a fish, long as her arm, surfing inside the barrel of a wave. She smiled; it was impossible not to be inspired by the ocean here. Maya was right. She was on her way.
Maya cut into her contemplation. “So. What are you going to do next?”
“Go get my board.”
“That’s my girl.” Maya paused. Summer watched her choose her words carefully. “You know you have to end it with Ashton. I’m not kidding.”
“I know you think you saw something—”
“I did see something. Come on, girl, I can spot a crush at a thousand paces.”
Summer frowned. “Okay, okay, we got together.” She bit her lip. “T.J. will destroy me if he finds out, won’t he?”
“He won’t have to. He has lawyers for that.”
Summer’s heart contracted. She’d hated Ashton a few weeks ago. But now… “What if I don’t care what T.J. does? What if I want to fight it?”
Maya tipped her head on the side. “Then you’re a braver woman than me. But you always were.” She sighed. “Trouble is, I can’t protect you from him. We talked about this. You could argue that the contract is too broad, that you’re unduly restricted. But even if we did have the money to take that sort of action, the trouble is you signed the stupid thing. You lose, and you lose big.”
“Right,” Summer said quietly. Her heart was so tight in her chest that it threatened to stop completely, but she couldn’t afford to let it. Not now. Not when she had her dreams in her sights. Finally. But Ashton…
“Sorry.” Maya pulled Summer into a hug. “But you can do this. Ashton is just a guy. And it’s not like you know where it will go with him. He doesn’t exactly have the best reputation.” She gave Summer’s arm a squeeze. “Let him go. You don’t have a choice. Anyway, it’s time for sisters to be doing it for themselves, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” But her heart wasn’t ready to let got yet. Ashton did have a terrible reputation, but she knew what they had was real. She just didn’t know what to do about it. Not yet. But she couldn’t tell Maya that. Summer took a deep breath and said more decisively, “It’ll all work out for the best.”
“Good. ’Cause now I’ve got to love and leave you. Perfect timing, too. Check out that set.”
The two of them looked out at the ocean, and Summer felt her heart kick-start. The mess of earlier had settled down with the change of tide, and now set after set of smaller but perfectly formed waves were curling into shore. Was everything coming together? Finally?
“Get your board, and get your non-lucky bikini on, because it looks like your luck is about to change. Time to get your eye in.”
Summer puffed out
the breath that had been stuck in her throat. The water was calling. And so was her surfing future. Worrying about what-ifs with Ashton Evans would have to wait.
#
Out in the water Summer discovered her other board was even better than she remembered. Her favorite might have been shorter and speedier on the turn, but this one had plenty of maneuverability, and when she dug into a spin, it responded as if it knew where she wanted it to go before she did. As the day was coming to a close, she pulled off a mean 360 that left her fist-pumping the air and a young gun giving her a high-five when she got out the back again.
“Made you the wild card for a reason, huh? Give ’em hell, girl.”
The wild card. It was real. Summer just about fell off her board there and then. She wasn’t ready. Couldn’t possibly be.
“Forecast is for some big surf, too. Hope it goes mental for you. See you on the flip side—this one’s mine.” And the guy paddled into the path of an incoming swell before disappearing into its barrel.
Big surf, too. Shit. Summer sat bobbing just a moment, feeling the spray from the breaking wave across her face before she rallied and checked what was behind her. It was the biggest thing that the day had offered. “Screw it.”
Summer lay down on her board and started paddling. As the water surged to take her up into the flow of the wave, she kicked in harder and soon felt the weightlessness that came when she had the wave under her power. Popping up, she began carving up the water. Ashton, T.J., Maya, Brooke, her lost stuff and broken board, they were all gone. The wave and her, the water and her board, that was all that mattered.
She didn’t try anything fancy, just enjoyed the weight of so much water under her and, as it was getting late, took the ride all the way into shore. Walking up the beach, she let the view sink in. The WSL tents were up, and there were already more people milling around than there had been all week. The circus was officially in town, and she was part of it.
It’s your time. The thought came to her in Ashton’s voice, and Summer paused mid step. It was her time. She was going to place in the event, get her sponsors lined up, and take on the world. She gave herself a little hug as she walked back towards their resort. Maya was right. Her bikini had nothing to do with how she did on a wave; that was her job. And her second-best board was turning out to be great in the Indonesian waves. She was going to make her own luck from here on out, and Ashton was part of that. She would find a way to fit him into her life, too. There had to be a way. That’s what love did, didn’t it? It found a way.
Another Shot with Summer (Hot Tide Book 1) Page 15