He pouts. “Aww, that’s not fair.”
“I promise you’ll get a reward, if you do as I say.”
Mick smiles and nods.
Today, I teach Mick how to surf like it’s his first time on a board. It’s a hard, exhausting day, but at the end of it, Mick can stand on the board and ride a wave all the way to shore. I’m not sure if he’ll regain all of his skill—he has lost a lot of strength. Today, though, is a good day, and a great starting point.
As we drive home, we hold hands, stealing glances at each other all the way. I am truly in love with Mick. He means everything to me.
We don’t even make it through the door before he grabs me and starts kissing me passionately.
“Ahem!”
It’s Greg. I had all but forgotten he’s still here.
I blush. “Oh, hi, Greg.”
“Hi, Sam. I know I said I would stay the week, but uh… something came up.”
I smile at Greg, as does Mick. This is, in some way, him giving approval of Mick. Of course, anyone is better than John, but over the past few days, Greg and Mick have become pretty good friends.
Greg smiles. “I’ll show myself out.”
“Hey, Greg,” Mick calls after him in a playful tone. “Next time, I won’t take it so easy on you.”
“Treat her well, Mick,” Greg replies. “You know what happens if you don’t.”
Once Greg is gone, Mick envelops me in his kiss. I return the favor, giving him all that I can. I push him back on the couch and begin to strip for him. Slowly and seductively, I sway back and forth. He watches me with the same evil grin he gave me on the first day we met, when we learned our parents were getting married. His boyish smile has always turned me on. When I’m completely naked, I pull him up to his feet, turn around, and sit in the place he’s sitting. I look at him expectantly, smirking.
Mick laughs. “What? You want me to strip, too?”
“This is an equal opportunity relationship. Get on with it.”
Mick obliges me with one of the most uncoordinated stripteases I have ever seen. Not that I’ve seen any, but I’m pretty sure they’re not supposed to play out like this. We are now both completely naked. His body, in all its magnificence, is laid bare in front of me. Mick pulls me to my feet and spins me around. My back touches his rock-hard abs as he stands there, stroking my body. A kiss on my neck comes next from him as he turns and sits down on the couch, never separating from me. While on his lap, I can feel his cock getting harder under my thighs. Spreading my legs. I reach down and begin to rub it.
Mick nibbles lightly on my back. Moving up enough to maneuver his hard cock inside me, I slide onto it with ease. He feels like a part of me, especially when we make love. I slowly bounce up and down on his cock, wanting him, needing him. Leaning my head back so it rests on his shoulder, I submit to Mick as he guides me with his hands, using them to rock me up and down. My moans escape my lips at an uncontrollable volume. I can feel every ripple, every vein, every skin cell of his cock, and each one of them is lighting me on fire.
As I orgasm, Mick wraps his muscular arms around me, squeezing tightly. I come hard at the same time as he does with sweat beading along my body. Mick places gentle kisses along my spine, but does not remove his cock. I lean back on him and we sit there, enjoying the touch of each other’s skin.
We make our way into the shower together. Mick washes me, paying special attention to my breasts and pussy. He knows just the right way to touch me. I return the favor and wash him all over his muscular body. Sometimes when I touch him, I cannot believe I’m lucky enough to have him. His body is just so perfect.
Mick kisses my stomach, slowly lowering himself until he’s licking my pussy. It’s sensitive from our lovemaking, but the sensation is still incredible. I am on the verge of another orgasm when he moves up to kiss me. I am so disappointed until he shoves his hard cock inside me again. He fucks me hard, looking into my eyes, his gaze never wavering. I watch his mouth open in ecstasy as his pace increases. I come hard on Mick’s cock, shaking as I do so. Mick shoots another load deep inside me, filling me again with his seed.
He turns off the shower and we exit, still panting. I dry him off completely as he does the same to me. I take Mick to the kitchen—neither of us have eaten for quite some time. I know he’s as hungry as I am. All we have in the fridge is old Chinese food. I pull it out and bring it to the table, where he opens the conversation.
“Well, I guess the romance is done now. Time to eat.”
I roll my eyes. “Ha, ha, you’re hilarious.”
“I love you,” he says.
I smile. “I love you too.”
After we’re done eating, I start catching up on all the things I’ve been neglecting lately—like opening up my mail. The first letter is not good news. The bank is about to repossess my van and all of my equipment. I haven’t really been paying attention to my business, what with John and Mick drama. I am going to lose all that I have worked for. Shit. Love has betrayed me again. Even when it’s right, it is wrong.
Mick must see the worry in my eyes, because he asks, “What’s wrong?”
“I am about to lose my van and equipment. I haven’t really been paying my bills.”
“Why not?”
“Why do you think, Mick?!”
“Sam?”
“What!?” I scream at him.
“You and I are in this together, let’s work through this together. After all, its only money.”
Those were exactly the words I needed to hear. I didn’t need to have him pay for me, or tell me it would all be ok, I need a partner, now and forever. My love for Mick was growing stronger every day.
Chapter 25 Mick - Redemption
I return to my house in the morning, if only to prove to myself that it’s still mine. Also to take some time to think about how I am going to solve this whole money situation. My house is still in tatters—scaffolding everywhere, wood all over the place, boarded up windows. It’s a mess.
That wasn’t important right now. Right now I needed to call my accountant.
“Hi, Marvin? It’s Mick. I want to go over my money with you. Well, I really want to find out how much money I have left.”
“Mick? Are you serious?”
“Yeah, what’s the problem?”
“I told you months ago you were running on empty and you had to change your lifestyle if you were going to save any money. You don’t have any money left. Your sponsors have dropped you, you’re not competing anymore, from what I hear. Everything you own is financed and owned by the bank. If I were you, I would sell that house and get whatever equity we were able to put into it.”
“So, you’re saying I’m broke?”
“No, if you were broke, that would mean you just have zero. You have less than zero. You’re in debt. I told you all of this months ago. Do yourself a favor, Mick—return the cars, sell the house, and you may come out just broke.”
I hang up the phone numbly. All of this time, all of that money, I have burned through it all. I have no career, I can barely surf, and if I’ve really screwed up this badly. Financially, I have reached rock bottom.
As I sit back, ready to wallow in despair, I have an epiphany. I realize that the money doesn’t matter, but Sam and our baby sure as hell do. I need to get back to her. I loved Sam and she needs to know that. I immediately picked up the phone, she did not answer. Jumping back into my beater I made my way back to her house. Why did I even have those expensive cars? I spent most of my time in this car anyways.
As I pull into Sam’s driveway, I see her van isn’t there—she must be down at the beach. She’s always parked by the pier, and thankfully, today is not an exception. Running out of my car like a madman, I call her name.
“Sam! Sam!”
She looks in my direction threw her arms up and then continued to ignore me. Her stress regarding her financial situation is showing through.
“Sam, I need to talk to you about my financial situation.�
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“Mick, we can talk about this later. I have to give out these flyers so I don’t lose my business. Not all of us have millions of dollars.”
“Well, that’s more good news. I am broke! Well, according to my accountant, worse then broke.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I have burned through a lot of cash. Now I have to get a real job!”
“This is supposed to make me happy? I don’t need to take care of someone else. One sec. Hi, there, are you interested in surfing lessons?” Someone has approached Sam to inquire.
The man looks over at me and smiles. “Well, if Mick is teaching them, then we may just be.”
Sam looks pleased at the thought. I’m sure it doesn’t hurt her feelings that she might become my boss. I turn to the man.
“I would love to teach you how to surf. Come back tomorrow. Lessons start at eight a.m. for $150 an hour.”
“I would have paid double. Deal!”
I smile at Sam. “We may have just found a solution to our problems… partner.”
“Don’t get any ideas, Mick,” she tells me. “You are not my partner. You are my employee.”
But the important thing is she smiles back. Who knows? Maybe this will be good for us. I lean in toward her for a kiss,
“Ah, ah, ah—no fraternizing during work hours. Here are some flyers. Get to work.”
***
We spend the rest of the day booking appointments for the coming days, then weeks, then months. It appears as though I’m quite a draw. The crowd continues to build. News crews come by, asking for an interview. I refuse to give them anything; the last thing I want to do was to get into that world again. They’re pissed, obviously, so I fend them off by letting them know I’ll be competing in the next pro tour contest.
“Mick. Mick!” There’s someone yelling overtop of the crowd.
I squint to see if I can tell who it is. It’s Jaime. Good fucking Lord.
“What do you want?” I hiss at him.
He glares. “It is not what I want. It’s what you owe me.”
“We’re still under contract, so anything you make from this operation, I get a piece of.”
“Jaime, you are such a fucking crook. Why didn’t I see this before?”
He shrugs. “It’s nothing personal. It’s just business.”
Jaime has some kid beside him. I can only assume, after his run-in with Greg, it’s a bodyguard. He looks rather small to be a bodyguard, though.
I nod to the stranger. “Who the fuck is this guy?”
“Oh, that’s right, you don’t pay attention to surfing anymore. This is Blane Vandeer. He’s a surfer from Brazil. I guess you can call him your replacement.”
My blood begins to boil. I want to hate that kid, but why should I? He’s trying to make a living, just like me.
I look back to Jaime. “I have a proposition for you.”
He raises his brows. “Oh, yeah?”
“I am going to surf in the next contest. If I beat your boy here, you rip up all the contracts you have with me and absolve any outstanding debt.”
Jaime laughs. “Why would I do that?”
“If your boy here wins, I will give you all of the money that I owe you, plus the Shelby Cobra you have been trying to get from me for all these years.”
Jaime blinks at me, hard. “Are you serious? From what I heard, you can’t even walk, never mind surf. On top of that, you are going to give me your 1.5 million dollar car?”
I smile. “Yup.”
Sam pipes up. “Mick, don’t do this. There has to be another way.”
I understand her concern. I’m not sure I can surf, and now I’m putting this all on the line. I need to do this to break away from Jaime, though. I need to be able to start out with a clean slate. I need to do this for Sam and me. Besides, I don’t even own the Cobra. As my accountant said, I’m worse than broke. The worst thing that happens here is I go bankrupt. Done deal!
Chapter 26 Mick - Training
“Mick, don’t do this. There has to be another way.”
“Deal,” Jaime says.
Jaime shakes my hand with all the greed in the world. I am amazed at just how slimy he is. I never thought he was my friend, but I also never thought it would come to this. I need to start training, and training hard.
“Mick!” Sam snaps once Jaime has walked away. “Why would you do that?”
“No time for that now, I need your help. Can you train me to win?”
“I don’t know, Mick.”
“I need you to say yes.”
She sighs. “Yes.”
“You don’t believe it now, but you will soon enough. We are going to get our lives back, and it all starts tomorrow.”
Sam and I barely talk for the rest of the day. We don’t even go home together. I’m not really sure she wants to be with me. After all, I have put everything on the line. But I truly believe I can do it. We agree to meet up at the beach the next morning to start the lessons with our new clients, after their lessons will be mine.
***
As I’m teaching people how to surf, it amazes me how much insight I’m able to gain. I never really had to think about the how of it before; it’s always just come to me naturally. Now, however, I have to think about it. I am able to understand and break down how I used to do what I did and what people need to do in order to master the skills of surfing.
I have great success that day. Every single one of my students is able to stand on the board. A few are even able to turn. As surfing goes, to turn on your first day is quite a feat. There is a great deal of satisfaction in teaching, something I never thought I would ever say. I truly and thoroughly enjoy it.
As I finish with my last student, I looked over to see Sam. She’s majestically standing on the beach, her arms across her chest. She’s trying to be mad, but a smirk falls across her face. She loves the fact that I am teaching and I think she loves the fact that I am that happy about being in the water.
My grin cannot be contained as I watch her watching me. This was the woman I love.
Once the last student is done, we begin working on my surfing. I grab my favorite board and head out to the water. Nervousness washes over me. I think about the impending competition and how embarrassed I’ll be if I can’t surf. I sit up on my board, waiting for a wave. Looking down at my leg, I can see the scars where the shark sunk his teeth into my flesh. My heart pounds just looking at it.
“What’s wrong, Mick?”
“Nothing. Just thinking about something that happened to me once.”
“Mick, if you’re scared, do it anyways.”
She knows what I’m thinking about. In fact, most times she knows what I’m thinking. My life has changed so completely in the past few months, and there is no way I’d be here today without her. She’s so beautiful, so perfect—she is my everything now.
I nod at her and make my way into the next wave. I spring up to my feet and steady myself on the board. It’s an amazing feeling. This must have been what it felt like when I surfed for the first time. It amazes me that the water is pushing me, supporting me. I am at one with the ocean, and I feel at peace.
I begin to make wide, sweeping turns along the wave. Granted, I don’t have the same strength that I did before, but I’m able to maneuver the board around. All of that strength may come back with a little bit of time.
Getting to the end of the wave and flopping back down, I look back to see Sam catching the next wave. She’s a great surfer in her own right. She has the old school moves and a real grace about her. She’s a real joy to watch. I don’t know why I never thought about dating someone who I had something in common with before. It seems so obvious now. I paddle out again, watching her, and she leaves her wave early so she can meet me.
“You’re looking good out there,” I tell her.
Sam smiles. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
We surf for about an hour after that, laughing and joking all the way. This is
what surfing is about. I regret making that bet with Jaime, but it may be the only way to get him off my back. I hate him with all that I am, and I need to be able to start a life with Sam and our new baby. I just needed to win one more time!
We continue to teach lessons that month and surf every night. I get back a lot of my surfing skills, but I am definitely not the surfer I used to be. I’m not sure I can win the competition, but I hope I can at least beat that kid and win the bet.
Surge : A Stepbrother Romance Page 12