Brooke watched T.J. drag his board up the beach and wondered if she would have
fared even worse. Her shoulder still ached from her monster ride and that had only been one wave. Even if she’d pushed through the pain she didn’t know if she would have had the strength to keep going against the enormity of what nature was throwing at the competitors here.
“I’m going to buy Kainui a box of beers when we get back. I’m so glad you’re not out
there.”
Brooke snapped her head at him. “A box of beers?”
“Okay. Maybe not a whole box. I know how much it pissed you off. But seriously.
I’m glad you’re not pushing it out there in these conditions.”
“I was going to take it easy.”
Ash laughed. “I love you little sister, but I think taking it easy is something you’re
going to have to practice.” A hooter sounded and the two of them looked back at the waves as a new round started. “So what’s going to happen with you and Kainui? You gonna forgive him for stopping you ending up like that?” he pointed at T.J.
What about Kai? She let the thought of the broad, beautiful Hawaiian rest a
moment in her mind’s eye. “He was probably right about me not doing this.”
Ash smirked. “Can I get that on camera?”
She punched his arm. “No, you can’t. And anyway, he might have been right
about me not doing it, but going behind my back to make sure I had no choice? That was a shit move.”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe? Whose brother are you?”
“Would you have listened to him if he had told you to pull out? After you’d been
smashing it in the break back on the mainland?”
“I might have. But he didn’t even give me the chance. And this isn’t even all about
me. It’s about him being scared of what we were. What we might be. He’s been caught up in being free for a long time. But I don’t know if he’s even figured out what that really means.”
“Fair enough.” Ash looked down at the sand. “Shame though. I thought you two were
good together. And it’d be nice to have him around. He’s got good energy.”
Would Kai leave? The thought of that sat in Brooke’s stomach like a well-worn stone,
solid and heavy. She didn’t like it. “I don’t want him to leave.” She said it quietly, so quietly she wasn’t sure if Ash had heard. But he turned to her and looked her dead in the eye. “Then don’t let him.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Man, Brooke is smashing it. Book me a slot on your table okay, bro?” Yet another surfer slapped Kai on the back as he sat at the bar pretending he wasn’t watching the WSL Open competition on the main beach. He’d tried not to think about Brooke over the past two weeks but it hadn’t worked. She’d haunted his thoughts, and every time he saw a tall woman with long dark hair on the beach, he’d been tempted to turn her round and check if it was Brooke. Then, when the image of her riding one of the biggest waves he’d ever seen started appearing as part of an energy drink commercial everywhere, he wasn’t sure what he felt. Angry? Frustrated? Hurt? Scared?
He took a breath and tried to focus on finding calm as his training had taught him. The sounds of the beach quietened and he looked out over the white sand. Taking another deep breath, he put the feelings out one by one in his head, trying to look at his reaction rationally. That he was having such a strong reaction clearly meant something. Of course it did. Brooke was important to him.
Kai toyed with the beer mat in front of him. She was someone special. Someone he’d come to care about. Seeing her again was bound to cause a reaction. And then, as if he’d summoned her, there she was. Out on the ocean, carving up the inside of wave like it was someone else who had injured their shoulder less than a month ago. It’s nothing to do with you anymore. No. It wasn’t. She’d made that quite clear. And it wasn’t as if he’d wanted to make it anything…permanent anyway. Better whatever had been brewing between them ended quickly, rather than dragging out till Brooke realized he wasn’t the in-it-for-the-long-term type anyway.
Holo slid onto the stool next to him. “Looks like your girl is going to make it into the
top three. That’s epic.”
“She’s not my girl.”
Holo gave him a hard look. “Really? So you’ve been walking round like a bear with a
sore head for the past week because you enjoy it?”
“She told me to go to hell.”
“I bet.” Holo laughed.
“Why is this funny?”
“Because you can’t see yourself. You’re Mr. Freedom-above-all, at the same time as
you’re telling Brooke that she has to be sensible about pushing herself.”
Kai frowned. “Doing Freak of the Reef was just a plain stupid idea with an injury like
hers. I was trying to protect her. And protect her precious career. That has nothing to do with how I live my life.”
“Dude. Listen to yourself. She’s doing exactly what you would do. Do you not
remember the fights you and Mom used to get into about your bike when you were like, twelve? You used to want to ride your bike all night and do those mad jumps. Mom was worried you’d crash in the dark but you wouldn’t listen. In the end she hid it and told you the bike had been stolen.”
The memory crept back and Kai saw his mother, hands on hips, looking at him like
she didn’t know what to do. “That’s completely different. I didn’t steal Brooke’s surfboard. I was trying to stop her hurting herself. I was trying to stop her ending her career just when it had a chance of getting going.” “Going behind Brooke’s back wasn’t just like Mom hiding your bike?”
“No.” Kai said, but fingers of doubt flexed and tugged at him.
“If you say so.” Holo chuckled. Then, perhaps seeing that Kai was struggling
with where to put his emotions, he put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Hey. Don’t beat yourself up. You gave her good advice. Your professional opinion, right?”
Kai nodded.
“Then don’t sweat it. She’s smart. She will have worked it out by now and you guys
will sort it. You know she didn’t surf that monster in the Freak of the Reef contest too, right?”
“What?”
“She and Ash went over to walk the road where he had the crash, and talk and, I dunno, Summer said they shared a whole lot. Got some good healing in as you would say. Apparently, Brooke had no idea the wave was as big as that until Ash showed her the picture afterwards. You did that bury your head in the sand thing didn’t you? Stop listening to anything to do with her?”
That was exactly what Kai had done. He’d assumed Brooke had managed to talk her
manager round and had surfed the contest he’d been worried would end her. But she hadn’t. She’d done exactly what he’d asked, and tried to find a way of letting go of the hurt with her brother. The hurt that had been pushing her harder and faster all these years. Kai rolled the words around in his mouth to taste them before he spoke again. “Do you think I was trying to push her away?” The smile on Holo’s face was gentle this time, his eyes full of sympathy. “What do you think?”
“I don’t know what I think. One moment I think I was right. That this was all about making sure she was safe. And then the next I think she was right and I was pushing her away.”
“Does it have to be one or the other?” Holo said softly.
“What do you mean?
“What if it’s both? What if you are worried about her. What if being worried about her, like you’d be worried about me, brought you face to face with what she means to you?”
Kai didn’t say anything for a moment, then he looked at his brother, the only person he had shared a life with. “She could have killed herself.”
Holo waited for Kai to continue but when he didn’t, said, carefully. “And then you would have had to face the fact
that you wanted her but didn’t know how to tell her?”
Kai felt the words land as if he’d said them himself. His brother was right. He looked out at the surf and saw the crowds on the beach, all focused on Brooke’s ride out on the ocean. “She’s amazing.”
Holo smiled. “You said that a while ago.”
“No. Really. She’s really amazing. I’ve never said that about anyone before. She gets it. She gets me.”
“Have you told her that?”
Kai turned back to his brother and shook his head. “It’s too late. I screwed it all up.”
“It’s never too late. Not for someone like her. She’d be the first to say she fucks up more than she finishes.”
“She told me it was over.”
“So tell her you don’t want it to be. That’s what you want right?”
Kai nodded, then checked. Yes. Yes, that was what he wanted. He wanted to be with her. He wanted to see where staying in one spot would take them. He wanted, he wanted her. “I need to show her.”
“Good. What are you going to do?”
But he didn’t have time to say what he was going to do because a roar erupted from the crowd. Kai and Holo looked over to where the leaderboard was hung and saw that Brooke had earned a massive 8.9 for the last ride of the day.
“Holy crap. Those girls did it,” Holo said and stood to see over the tops of the
gathering crowd. “You okay, bro? Go, tell her, or show her like you said. Before someone else tells her how amazing she is.”
Was he okay? Kai examined himself. He was fine. But he wasn’t good.
He’d screwed up with Brooke and he needed to tell her what a mistake he’d made
pushing her away before they’d even had a chance to work out where they were going. He racked his brain for an idea but kept coming up with nothing, or ideas so cheesy that she would laugh him off the beach. Glancing up at the leader board, he saw Brooke and Summer’s names together. The only women’s names up there. The idea was crisp and fresh as an early morning swim. He pulled out his phone and started dialing, fast.
#
After having come first and second in all his other events, Kai’s brother had decided to give his body a rest and leave the open series to others. But the prize giving for the WSL open series pulled one of the biggest crowds in the Indonesian competition even without pros like Holo surfing in the contest.
Kai made his way over to the prize giving platform when he spotted Brooke standing
in front of it, looking both anxious and triumphant in turns. His heart leapt, just as nervous as he was sure she was. His plan was hasty, literally thrown together, but he had to have faith that it would work. It just had to.
The music died and there was a whine as the microphone was switched on. Then the
announcer started his spiel. “This is one of the best fields we’ve seen in ages, and you know I’ve been around a long time,” the commentator said to a few laughs in the assembled crowd.
Kai kept his eyes on Brooke and felt his heart surge.
“I know you’re all going to kill me if I don’t get on with it. So, here we go. Huge
congrats to all the competitors, and especially newcomer, my boy Banyu, great seeing your home crowd come out to support you.” A group of locals cheered and an Indonesian surfer put a hand up in the air. “But this year,” the commentator went on. “It’s all about the ladies. Smashing every record in the series by coming back from what should have seen her out of the competition till next year, third place goes to Brooke Evans!”
Kai hollered and, when she’d stepped up onto the podium, Brooke looked out into the
crowd, beaming fit to burst as the medal was hung round her neck. He didn’t take his eyes off her and as if she sensed him, Brooke found his gaze and held it. She’d done it. Overcome the craziest of obstacles to get herself back on the leaderboard. His heart went from surging to feeling like it might very well leap out of his chest and gallop across the sand to lay itself at her feet. Steady, sunshine. Steady. Right. He had a plan. He needed to stick to it.
“And in second place,” The announcer waited a short moment before pointing down
at Brooke’s best friend. “Summer Roberts. The first woman ever to make the leader board in this contest and a step up from her wild card place last year. Ladies, you continue to impress.” The crowd roared again and the two women embraced on the podium.
Then there was an expectant pause which the announcer milked for all it was worth. “The winner is someone who has shown constant form. An impeccable eye for spotting the perfect wave, and a man, sorry ladies, who continues to rock it year after year. This year is the first that anyone has come to close to taking the title away from him. And it’s the first time I wondered if we were going to have the girls take out the top spot.” The crowd cheered again. “You better watch yourself next year. But for now, you get to celebrate.” He turned to T.J. Morris, standing on the ground in front of the podium. “The winner this year, just like last year, and the year before, is T.J. Morris. Take a bow, sir.”
As T.J. lifted his winner’s trophy, the crowd gave him a massive cheer. The flashes from photographers snapping up shots of all three place getters drew white squares in Kai’s eyes. Then the announcer lifted his hand for silence and Kai held his breath. This was the moment of truth.
“I know you’ll all want to congratulate our winners by buying them a beer so I’ll make this quick. This is a WSL first, having two women up here on the podium against an open field, but it’s a long hard journey to get here. That right ladies?” Summer looked at Brooke as if waiting for a punch line and Kai saw the nervous confusion play out on both their faces.
“But the next generation just got a helping hand. To all of you budding female surfers out there, from next year you get the chance to apply for a three-week trip to Hawaii, with coaching, accommodation, kahuna massage and more. Details will be up on the WSL website in the next month. Get amongst it and maybe we’ll have an all women podium someday soon.” The crowd oooed and clapped but Brooke’s head snapped up. She sought out Kai in the crowd and he stood there, hoping she would find him, hoping she would know what he was trying to say.
With the official announcements out the way, the podium was swamped with media.
Brooke deserved this moment and Kai didn’t want to take it away from her so he left the WSL hub and walked over to the bar. He ordered a beer and waited.
“You going to order me one of those too?”
He turned to find Brooke standing there. Her medal round her neck. Everything else
melted away. He’d been a fool and pushed her away and he hadn’t even realized what he’d been doing. He nodded to the bartender and the man brought two beers over.
“Congratulations,” he said, unsure where to start.
“Thanks.” They were being careful with each other he recognized, but he wasn’t sure
where to start.
She was the first to break away from polite platitudes. “That was you.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement. Kai checked Brooke’s eyes and didn’t see the anger in them that was there the last time they met. He opened his mouth to speak but didn’t get a chance.
“You ready to admit you were wrong now?” A young female surfer had made her
way into the bar. All of about sixteen, the grom was all wide eyes and sun-bleached hair. “If you hadn’t sidelined Brooke maybe she would have placed at Scar Reef too. It’s guys like you that make it so hard for us girls to get anywhere in this sport.” The girl was full of passion and Kai smiled, pleased to see someone so ready to speak out for what they believed in. He opened his mouth but Brooke beat him to it.
“He was just doing what he thought was best for me,” she said and patted the girl’s
arm.
Kai nodded, then realized what she’d said. “Really?” he asked.
“Man, I was pissed about it, but when I got there and surfed that one wave, it was
&
nbsp; pretty easy to see why he did what he did.” Brooke was talking to the girl, but Kai felt her words as if they were for him. “Scar Reef is a whole other beast. Honestly, if I’d known how big that wave I caught was going to get, I probably wouldn’t have taken it on. And when I was up there, all I could do was hold on.”
“But you did.” The girl’s eyes had grown even bigger and she drank in every word
Brooke spoke as if it was holy.
“I did. And I was lucky. But it took everything I had. And I don’t have enough right
now. Not after dislocating my shoulder. Not yet.”
Kai watched the two of them with growing incredulity and a steadily lightening
heart. Brooke was sticking up for him. This was good. Surely this was good. But he waited and watched, not ready to call victory until he’d said everything he needed to. “Next year,” the girl said with a nod of her head. “Then you’ll smash it. You’re
going to follow your passion and ride everything and stuff.”
“Maybe,” Brooke said with a grin. “But can I tell you something a wise person told
me?”
The girl nodded.
“He told me that following your passion was all well and good but that sometimes it
was exhausting. Throwing yourself at the waves in the hope of beating them, getting the best score and showing everyone how great you are, is exhausting.” She turned and looked at Kai and gave him a small smile then looked back at the girl. “Sometimes it’s better to follow your curiosity. Let the ocean be your mistress rather than your adversary. You can love her and take everything she throws at you and ride it hard and fast as you can, but you can also let her come up to you and see where she takes you.”
The Wrong Brother for Brooke (Hot Tide Book 3) Page 14