Breeze of Life (21 page)

“I wonder how much it would cost me to clear out this club so I can lay you down and fuck you right here on this table?” I took a long deep breath and exhaled as I drew back the cue and missed my shot. It looked like the days of holding my own in a game of eight ball were over. I let Harper pretty much finish up the game on his own and we fled the club before one of us combusted right there in public.

Chapter 19

Caught Inside

When the surfer gets caught on the shore side of a breaking wave; it’s a bitch…

Another day, another never crossed off the list. Harper had dragged me out of bed before the sun had risen suggesting we get in early and do a load of washing down at the laundry room. Two loads of washing later I had discovered how ridiculously uncomfortable sex on a washing machine could be. While Harper had made sure I still enjoyed the experience it was not one I cared to repeat any time soon. Call me old fashioned, but the beach was most likely the most daring sex I would ever get. Mind you, when I had confessed that to Harper he in turn threatened to expose me to a world of unabashed sexual exploration.  The thought prompted my inner woman to hum with anticipation and I scowled at her. The next morning when I woke, Harper had not yet returned from his dawn surf. The voice of pessimism had returned though and a nagging feeling of doom greeted me when I opened my eyes. I hated my doubt but something in the back of my mind kept telling me this happiness was going to come crashing down. I showered, dressed and ate a quiet breakfast on the deck under the bright summer sun, but none of it helped restore my contended mood. It was as if the shadow of gloom that had been lifted from my shoulders was back. Not sitting heavy and close, but still there hovering, threatening to take me over when I least expected it. The words I managed to pour into my notebook this morning didn’t echo the optimistic oaths that filled the previous pages. Darkness was trying to fill me once again and it scared me. Putting on my best ‘fake’ smile when Harper returned, I made him some breakfast and retreated to the bedroom as soon as I had the opportunity. Harper was far too in tune with me and my moods. It was only a matter of time before he noticed. A short time later Harper’s cursing from the living room caught my attention. He was on the phone to his agent Rick and was obviously unhappy about something. Once the call had ended, Harper strolled into the bedroom. He looked frustrated but kept curiously quiet as I folded away our clothes. They say curiosity killed the cat, well in this case, it killed the euphoria that had encased my heart. I couldn’t stand his gloomy silence any more, it was only feeding my own edgy mood.

“What’s up?” I finally asked.

“Rick, the fucker,” Harper grizzled.

“Obviously. What did he want?” Harper’s exhalation was one of defeat. He turned to face me.

“Rich and Evan, the other two Aussies on the pro tour, were supposed to do a meet and greet at a Ripcurl function in Sydney tomorrow night. Rick lost them, I mean how the fuck do you lose two fucking surfers? He tracked them down this morning in Morocco. Quite clearly they aren’t gonna make it to Sydney. He somehow tracked down George and George told him we were down this way and now Rick wants me to fill in. It will apparently help keep me in the good graces with Ripcurl.” Anxiousness filled my veins. This was the moment, the true test of a newly discovered relationship. Why I seemed to think it would be so difficult was beyond me, perhaps I was worrying over nothing. I had assumed when we left Seal Rocks though we would be headed for home. Baby steps. Home first, the world later. “Rick has already booked me a room in the city, he promised to make it worth my while which to be honest coming from Rick kinda scares me a little.” Harper chuckled but it was not entirely with humor. He was tense and nervous, very un-Harper-like. My bubble had officially burst. I knew I was being melodramatic. It was just a small work function in Sydney. A detour before we made our way home. No biggy. “Hey,” Harper whispered pulling me into his arms. “If you wanna stay I will call him back and tell him to fuck off.” I couldn’t allow Harper to do that. This was his career, his life. I needed to be supportive, I needed to be brave. If Mia could do it, I could damn well do it too.

“No, it’s okay. You need to do this and I need to learn to accept the high-flying, champagne swilling, celebrity part of your life.” Harper looked at me as though I had lost my mind.

“You know very well I don’t do champagne.” He winked. “You could stay here and hang out, call Mia and George. I’ll need to take off early tomorrow. I’ve got to pick up a suit and some other shit. I’ll come back first thing the next morning.” The thought of being alone had lost its appeal. I was on the edge of sorrow right now and afraid if Harper wasn’t around me I would simply tip into that dark abyss once more. Harper had ruined me for solitude. I sighed.

“No, let’s just get this over and done with.”  Harper didn’t move as his baby blues pinned me with a deadpan stare that made me shift nervously.

“You should stay, I’m gonna be passed around like a slab of meat; it’s not really a good introduction to the crazy side of my life.” I leant back against the wall, a chill of doubt invaded my body reducing my knees to jelly. The voice of gloom whispered from the depths of my mind. He didn’t want me there? Harper seemed distracted but still noticed the obvious change in my mood. “It’s not that I don’t want you to come, I just don’t like the idea of throwing you in the deep end.” I raised a brow.

“I can handle it!” I kinda growled. Harper laughed.

“Shit, baby girl. What the fuck is wrong with me? I want you there. How about we pack up now and we can crash at Sean’s tonight. You owe him a payback for when he scared the shit out of you last Christmas. We’ll check in to the hotel tomorrow night before the function.” The thought of seeing Harper’s cousin Sean got me pumped. It had really only been the three of us growing up and I hadn’t seen Sean in almost a year. And I did owe him payback, big time! We packed slowly, both of us a little reluctant to leave and it was after lunch by the time we got on the road. I tried hard not to glance back over my shoulder as we drove away and when Harper caught me, he settled his hand over mine.

“You don’t need to be sad, Breeze, we’ll be back in January, it’s booked, it’s done. And if that isn’t enough, you’ve booked it for June with Mia and her mum. Hell, maybe we should buy our own cabin here. I’ll look into it when we come back in January.” The faraway look in Harper’s eyes confirmed he was suddenly imagining our very own and permanent Seal Rocks’ bubble. I smiled as he dreamt of our future and I tried to shake off the nervous tension that had begun to build inside me.

***

The good thing about the apartment Sean was staying in was it actually belonged to Harper, so he had a key. We made two stops along the way, one for beer and Vodka Cruisers, the other at a novelty shop where we picked up two scary prosthetic masks. Last Christmas Sean had hidden in my closet for an hour and a half waiting for me to settle into ‘almost’ sleep before jumping out wearing the ghost mask from the movie
Scream
. He knew that movie freaked me out and I seriously screamed so loud the neighbors called the cops. Thanks to Harper, the officers saw the funny side of it and left without further word. I, however, had a score to settle. My mask was a flesh eating zombie. Why a zombie you ask? Because having been friends with Sean for as long as I had, I knew his nightmares were weirdly zombie related. Harper’s mask looked a little like something from
Planet of the Apes
. His purchase was made with careful consideration too, Sean hated that movie! Again, the idea of monkeys taking over the planet kinda freaked him out a little. Yeah, Sean had some stranger afflictions that Harper and I had somehow kept a secret. Now they were to be used to our advantage!

Harper sent Sean a text which confirmed he wouldn’t be home till around six that evening. We were supposed to get in sometime around seven. Harper carried our bags and the alcohol up to the apartment while I brought in my guitar and the masks. The place was curiously spotless, very unlike Sean. He was a messy bastard whom I spent far too many hours picking up after. We shoved our bags away in a cupboard in the spare room so when Sean got home the place looked empty, then a little before six we hid ourselves away in the enormous wardrobe in Sean’s room. The idea was when he came in to get changed we would jump out and hopefully scare the ever loving shit out of him. I couldn’t help my mental swear, I was bouncing with excitement.

When we heard the front door slam shut, I could barely contain the little squeaks of laughter that escaped my lips. Harper slid his hand over my mouth in an attempt to shush me and we stood silently amongst the clothes.

“We need to be quick, they’ll be here in the next hour,” came a whispered voice from the doorway to the bedroom.

“You know how much I hate quickies,” panted a female voice. My breath caught in my throat. The sound of clothes being discarded quickly followed.

“Oh fuck,” groaned Harper in my ear. I glanced back over my shoulder at him. I knew my eyes would have been pleading because there was no way I wanted to be stuck in here while Sean got his groove on with some chick. The wet kisses and breathy moans from the other side of the door were beginning to do my head in. No. No. No! This was not at all the way my payback was supposed to go. “We will have to wait for them to finish before we jump out,” Harper breathed in my ear again. What? We were still going to jump out? I was mortified. But, it wasn’t me who was caught getting my sexy on. What did I have to be embarrassed about? In fact, this would make scaring the crap out of Sean just a little more fun, unless he tried to beat us to death in some manly form of honor bound fearlessness. So, the breathy moans got louder, I blushed whereas Harper’s body grew tense, actually, a particular part of Harper’s body grew tenser than the rest.

“Really? Now?” I whispered with a small chuckle.

“You do realize I am a man and being this close to you does things like this to me.”

Soon the sounds of skin slapping against skin filled my ears and at this point I realized I was going to need a hell of a lot of Vodka Cruisers to unglue this moment from my mind. I stuck my fingers in my ears as Harper trailed kisses down my neck. I elbowed him. I was not getting my sexy on while listening to Sean get his on!

“Oh Sean, you make me so wet,” the girl groaned. Thankfully Harper smothered my mouth to prevent the laugh that almost escaped my lips. I really couldn’t believe this was happening.

“How wet sugar, show me,” Sean grunted.

“Sugar?” I whispered.

“Fuck that’s hot,” Sean panted. “Let me taste it.” Oh…My…God, I was officially trapped in one of my romance novels, except it wasn’t turning me on like my books did. I know some people get off on porn… Okay, I am big girl enough to admit that there have been instances where I have felt, something, after glimpsing a bit of a naughty film. But listening to someone as good as your brother get it on was not doing it for me. Harper on the other hand, Mr. Touchy Feely Hands, was a little too ‘stiff’ and seemed a little too comfortable.

“Please don’t tell me you are a kinky voyeur or something?”

Harper’s chest rose and fell with a silent chuckle. “No, but I am a man. Wind just has to blow right and I’m hard.”

Finally a long suffering groan was followed by a beautiful silence. My body immediately relaxed and Harper was close to losing his shit behind me as he shook with laughter.

“We don’t really have time for snuggles,” Sean said a little breathlessly. A small burst of laughter escaped my lips. Snuggles? Seriously? “What the fuck?” Came Sean’s suddenly curious voice from beyond the wardrobe door. We quickly pulled on our masks and wasting no more time, we pushed open the enormous bi-fold doors and ran into the bedroom screaming. Sean’s panic quickly disappeared into laughter, while ‘sugar’ screamed to the point of hysterics. Wasn’t exactly the pay back I was hoping for, but curiously enough I was still satisfied.

Chapter 20

Duck Dive

A method of getting under or through a broken, or breaking wave and coming out the other side.

Sean’s grin was smug. I know this payback was meant to be all mine, but having to listen to him have sex kind of meant it rebounded off him and straight back on me. His ‘friend’—and I use the term loosely because the legs to her armpits, dark haired beauty had yet to take her eyes off Harper (Sean seemed the least bit concerned)—took a little longer to recover. She took an extra-long shower in an attempt to calm her nerves. Now she sat in the lounge chair in a skimpy little dress that barely covered her ass looking seductively at my man. I bristled. I did more than bristle, I attempted to growl. Harper glanced at me and grinned, pulling my bare feet into his lap where he began to rub them in an attempt to soothe me. I glared at Sean who watched the entire scenario with amusement.

“Tonya, would you mind grabbing Harper and I another beer?” Sean broke the weird silence that had settled. She gracefully stood up without showing too much of her underwear and I watched Harper’s eyes. They never left the massive aquarium built into the far wall. One ‘tick’ for Harper.  “So,” Sean said looking at me. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?” I sighed. Harper’s hands became a little tense on my feet. We had covered the basics of my year just before Tonya had entered the room and sent it into an uncomfortable silence.

“Don’t worry, cuz, she didn’t tell me either. Don’t think you’re the only special one around here,” added Harper and I glared at him. Not helping, butt-munch!

“I had my reasons. Sometimes a girl just has to make her own decisions and take care of her own problems for once.”

Sean shook his head with disbelief. “Even a chick who can’t decide on damn hair color asks someone for fucking help. What? Cancer not important enough for you to include your damn friends? To hell with that, we’re as good as family and you left us out!” He was yelling now and I really wasn’t too keen on the whole screaming part.