Ash and I pulled the Jeep next to Collin’s truck, and I shook my head at my best friend, who was here before us, proving to me that he was excited to see my girl try out this sport. Truth was, I wasn’t going to force her into this. We had a nice long and wide board that would serve to help her pop on it and ride the waves easily, but I could already sense her nervousness about the impulsive decision to do this.
“Collin’s already here,” I said, pulling the keys out of my open-top Jeep.
“Thank God.” She laughed, pulling her hair out of the ponytail she had it in. “Now, you have a buddy to surf with, and I can relax on the beach.”
I smirked. “It’s all up to you.”
She eyed me. “Don’t think I can handle it?” she asked with that damn sexy arch of her eyebrow.
“You can handle anything. If you managed to handle me so far, you could handle trying this out.” I looked out at the aggressive swells that I knew would die down after reading the surf reports for Trustles this morning. “You’re not taking those waves. You can watch them beat mine and Collin’s ass up this morning instead.”
I reached back and grabbed the bags and supplies we packed for food and Ash’s comfort while laying out under the warm morning sun. Once out of the Jeep, Ash took them from my hands and laughed when I went back to lock the steering wheel with the club.
“After all I’ve seen you own, I can’t believe that you have an older model Jeep Wrangler.” She chuckled. “And to see the club’s power back in action—now that’s a blast from the past.”
“No one is stealing this baby from me. They can take all my other shit, but not my first vehicle.” I smiled over at her. “I learned to drive in this thing,” I said as I started unlocking and unstrapping the boards that I had secured over my roll bar. “My dad mandated that I take my driver’s test in it, thinking I’d fail as I tried to maneuver the short wheelbase and stick shift.”
“Did you fail?”
“Nope,” I said with a smile, remembering Dad losing that bet. “And it only made him smile with pride. I miss that old man sometimes.” I cleared my thoughts and redirected them. “All right, let’s do this.”
After spending the morning trading waves with Collin, Flex, and his gang, we sat out and took a break out in the open water between the sets rolling in. “What’s up, brother?” Flex asked as we finally grouped in, his gang bringing it into shore as they always did when the waves became milder. “By the way, you’re carving through these waves and fuck,” he laughed, looking over at Collin and me, “you’re even jumping the white. I’d think you’d become Dr. Death at this point.”
Collin laughed. “Far from that, my man,” he said, steadying his board as the currents moved us inland.
“What the hell, then? Is he suddenly trading the medical field for the freedom of the ride?”
“See that chick laying out?” Collin pointed toward Ash where the waves were starting their break to my right. “That’s the reason for him showing his ass off.”
“No shit?” Flex shielded the sun reflecting off the water, glaring into his eyes. “The brunette next to that nine-foot rhino chaser?”
“Gotta start her out on a longboard. If I put her on a blade like this and she survives, she’ll kill me herself,” I said, admiring Ash’s beauty, hiding under the beach hat she wore. Her body was calling to me from out here.
“I got the kid coming out tomorrow.”
I looked over at Flex. “He’s barely learned out to walk. What the fuck?”
Flex laughed. “I was the same age. Three years old and Pop had me gearing up to ride barrels like he did.” He leaned over and smacked my arm, pulling my eyes away from the beauty on the beach. “Daydreaming out here like that will get you killed, man.”
“If not by the ocean, then by Flex and his boys,” Collin chimed in. “You think she’ll do it?”
“I have no fucking idea.” I cupped the water, pulling the board and me back. “The waves are probably perfect for her to try it out, at least.”
“Why are you sitting on your ass, then?” Flex laid on his board and started to paddle in. “Let’s go get this girl and see if she really does want to be with a crazy fuck like yourself.”
Once we were all in, Ash popped up, and I could see the nervous smile on her face, either because of the three men approaching her or knowing it was time for her to give this a try.
“Ash, is it?” Flex asked before I could even pull the top portion of my wetsuit down.
“Yes.” She pulled off her sunglasses and shook his extended hand.
“I’m Flex.” He popped me in the chest. “The reason this dipshit is still alive.”
She laughed. “I can only imagine the stories,” she smoothly played along. “Let me guess, he was out here with a board that didn’t work, and you could instantly tell he wasn’t part of the surf community?”
Flex grinned. “Pretty much. So,” he said as Collin and I stood by, “he’s got you on the perfect-sized board. Do you know how to pop up on it?”
Ash’s eyes darted toward mine. “Um, I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about. Which must mean that I’m safer on shore.”
“Fuck that, gorgeous,” Flex answered, no filter as usual. “You’re riding today, and Jakey here will work with you on some shore techniques. Collin and I will watch the water. It’s breaking nicely, and they’re long breaks.” He looked over at me as if he’d just controlled the Surf Instructor scene. “She’ll enjoy a smooth ride on those if you can get her moving quickly.”
“Thanks, surf god,” I answered.
“Surf buddha,” Flex corrected me with a cocky grin and a laugh.
“Ash, you sure you’re still comfortable with this?” I asked.
“It seems like I have a master of the skill that washed up on shore to ensure I’m not getting my ass handed to me out there.” She smiled at Flex. “Let’s see if all these years of yoga help me learn quickly.”
“You’ll definitely appreciate that, Ash,” Collin added. “We need to get you out there before the tide shifts, though, and,” he looked at me, “we don’t want her on this board with ankle snappers for waves.” He turned with Flex. “Get her comfortable with the board. Flex and I will go out and keep an eye out for surfers who might want to drop in on her.”
Ash and I worked for close to fifteen minutes, and I watched in awe at how much of a natural she was. “You sure you haven’t surfed before? You’ve got this down so well, I’m starting to wonder if I’m going to have to kick some surfer’s ass that you might have dated before me,” I teased.
“Oh, good God.” She laughed, pulling her hair out of her face. “Is he suddenly jealous of my ex-boyfriends?”
“Not until now,” I answered, picking my board up and watching her zip up her wetsuit like she was some badass surfer chick from Northshore Hawaii. “Shit, babe.” I laughed. “If some asshole had the privilege of watching you ride a board before me, I will kick his ass.”
“Oh, whatever. I’m just determined. I’ve never done this before in my life. Quit acting like some territorial surfer, Dr. Mitchell,” she said, putting me in my place. “You looked sexy out there, by the way. Maybe I should ask the jealous Jacob if it was a previous girlfriend who taught him all those moves?”
“Touché,” I acknowledged. “Flex saved mine and Collin’s lives when we were out here in his waters, acting like a couple of dumbasses. We were both fresh into med school when we went on a suicide mission, and thank God we said or did something right because he took us in and taught us how to respect the sport.”
“Got it.” She seemed nervous now as we stood in the ankle-deep water, holding our boards.
I pointed to where the waves were breaking to the left. “That spot out there, the waves seem large from here, but it’s an illusion.” I smiled at her. “You’ll see when we’re out there. They’re not as large as they appear. As I said last night, this board is perfect for you when the water begins to break, and you paddle into the wave. There’s more board for the water to move. Remember, your right foot is your strongest one. That’s going to help you keep the nose up and steer the board. Once you’re up, let the water push you in. It’s all smooth, babe,” I said, reaching my arm around her and kissing her temple. We were waist deep and letting the boards float now, “As smooth as the way my cock glides through—”
“Jake,” she snapped with a sigh, “don’t put thoughts like that in my mind. Jesus, I’m trying to focus, not think about sex with you.”
She lay on the board and began to paddle out. It took me duck-diving a wave and her going up and over it for me to confirm that the girl was a quick learner, and I was thrilled for her. She’d most likely have this down after a couple of falls, and I might be pushing her onto a shorter board in less than a few trips out.
“So,” Flex said after we all situated ourselves to sit on the boards, me continually looking back at the water and how it was breaking and moving toward the shoreline. “If you get dumped, shake that shit off. Just watching you from out here, Collin and I are impressed. You and Jake must have spent the entire night going over techniques.”
She pinched her lips, looking at me, and knowing exactly what we spent the entire night doing. Talking about how to surf was not part of that. “Yeah, we—”
“Let’s just say we didn’t do shit with surfing last night. Instead, my girl is making me think I should have her on a shorter board.”
“You’ve never surfed?” Collin asked with a laugh. “Cause you sure as hell looked like you were humoring Jake from where we watched.”
“Maybe I’m just a natural,” she said with a shrug.
“It’s happened before,” Flex said with a sincerity that I was used to, but the smile on Ash’s face told me she was trying to follow his genuineness. “God bless it when it does too. The ocean’s called you, and you’ve answered that call.”
“Flex’s love for the ocean has me wondering if he’s a mermaid at times,” I said. “His love is profound, and while you love the mass body of water in your artistic mind, his love runs through his veins.”
“It’s true,” Flex said. He was a pure badass on the board; his heart and soul were in the water, and he took it to a level of reverence that anyone who knew him well easily understood. “You love painting the water. Now, it’s time to feel the reasons for that.”
“No disrespect here,” Ash said. “If I don’t catch on, and I can’t click in like you might think I can, you’re not going to ban me from the beach, are you? Break my board and kick me out?”
Collin and I laughed in unison while Flex shook his head with a big grin. “Girl, you watch too much television.” He smiled. “Now, clear your mind of these thoughts. Move them away and let the ocean roll them into the shore. You’re going into this with the thought of being one with the ocean. Feel the power of the water behind that board, pushing you into shore.”
She exhaled while Flex laid his Tahitian surfing ways on her pretty hard, but her eyes changed into that look I always saw when she became fascinated with something. I felt like I could see right through her kind and daring soul. She was alive, happy, and determined. It was all there in the expression I studied on her face. She was in the water, seeing it differently now, having been in it and vulnerable to it.
Flex was practically chanting to sanctify her spirit in becoming one with the water. His reaction to Ash was not because she was my girl. He saw more in people than a mind reader would. It’s like he picked up on their vibes and read them. Ash had truly impressed him in a way that I felt he was beseeching the water gods to bring her into his brotherhood of surfers.
“Let’s snag her a wave,” I said, interrupting Flex’s fascination with Ash’s soul and the unity it found being in the water. “We’ll go deep into the victory chants after she’s taken a turn on the board.”
Ash blew the hell out of all of our minds, and part of me was wondering if her and Flex’s free spirits about the ocean were going to collide into one strong force, and I’d lose my girl forever. She only lost it once. After that, her brain must have rewired in a way to move with the next waves she caught. It was insanity, but so were the reasons I was in love with the woman. She surprised me at every angle. She unimaginably captured me by doing nothing but being a woman that was different than any other I’d met.
The day ended with stories of Flex’s life before moving to the U.S., and Ash’s smile plastered right where it had been since she glided through the waves like she was built to ride them.
I dropped her by her house, the evening breeze blowing through the Jeep and keeping both our spirits high and still roused from the day together.
I took her hand in mine, kissed it, then pulled her over to where I sat. I kissed her deeply, burning this feeling and sensation into my mind to get me through the week of work, during the day when I wouldn’t see her.
“I wish you’d just stay at my house in the Hills,” I said after withdrawing my kiss, “After watching you today, how in the hell am I supposed to get through the next twenty-four hours of not fucking your sexy ass?”
She licked her lips. “Tomorrow night, as we planned,” she reminded me.
“I’m booking that suite for the entire week,” I said. “That or I’m buying us a home closer for both of us.”
“Asking me to move in after buying us a house now? Damn, I must’ve been exceptional today.”
I laughed. “You were beyond that.”
“I think it was the chanting prayer your friend Flex sent out, blessing the surfing experience for me.” She chuckled.
“Flex is passionate. That’s for damn sure.”
“I like him,” she said. “He’s probably the most authentic human I’ve ever met.”
“Damn it!” I feigned being pissed. “I knew your souls were aligning out there.”
“The only aligning I’m doing is by jumping in the shower and getting this salt and sand off my body.”
“It’s nine,” I said. “You think they’re awake—or sharing a room?”
“We’re not having sex in my dad’s house.”
“We could, but your moans are insanely too loud, and you screaming out my name might shake the entire place to its core.”
“Stop it.” She smacked my arm. “You’re getting me all worked up.”
“That’s the whole point, babe,” I urged with the best smile I could. “At least allow me to do my part in ensuring the sand is removed from every part of your body?”
“Tempting,” she said. “Go get cleaned up. I love you.”
The way she said that meant more than I think she knew. “I love you,” I answered. “Tomorrow night, your ass is entirely mine.”
