Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
I finish up and head home, putting Sunny down for his nap. Isla comes in just after lunch and goes right to the shower, completely ignoring me. The guys arrive a few minutes after she gets out, and when she sees them, her eyes widen. “Well, I didn’t think I’d see you two around here again. How are you boys?”
“Isla, good to see you,” Carson says, hugging her. “I see Bohdi has been keeping you busy.”
He nods to her belly.
Her face hardens a touch. “Something like that. What are you boys doing in town?”
“Surf comp. Mind if we steal your boy here for a surf?”
Isla gives them a tight smile. She wants nothing to do with me surfing, not these days, but she nods stiffly anyway. The two guys grin big, and I get the hell out of there before she decides to change her mind and make a scene. I dig out my old board and clean it up, then we all head down to the beach. There are a lot of surfers here today—the waves are huge and the sun is out.
Fuck it has been a long time.
“Let’s do this,” Carson says, jogging toward the water with his board under his arm.
Sean looks to me and grins. “It has been a while for you?”
“A fuckin’ long while. You two will show me up no doubt.”
He slaps my shoulder. “You were always the best, it’ll be like riding a bike.”
“I fuckin’ hope so.”
“It has been good seeing you again, Bohdi. Fuck knows the team ain’t the same without you.”
I give him a grateful smirk and then call out, “Race you.”
We used to barrel toward the water when we were boys, racing one another to see who reached the water first. We always said whoever reached the water first was the best, and it was always me. Sean laughs and jogs after me, and when we hit the water, we both soar out into it, belly to our boards, grins on our faces.
Fuck.
I needed this more than they could ever know.
I need them.
I need happiness.
WE SURF FOR HOURS, and slowly people trickle away until there are only four or five other people on the beach with us. We’re about to wrap up for the day, exhausted and well and truly sun kissed, when a loud yell comes from the left of me. For a minute, it just sounds like a yell of laughter, but I quickly learn it is so much fucking worse.
Carson’s bellow is something I’ll never forget.
He calls Sean’s name, and then the word we never want to hear comes echoing through the air. “Shark.”
The number one rule when that is yelled, is to move quickly. Get the fuck out of the water and don’t look back. But this time, this time is different. We’ve only ever experienced sharks twice in our whole time surfing, and both times we were lucky enough to get out without harm. This time, though, it’s fucking bad.
A red tinge fills the water where Sean was surfing, and his board is being thrashed about in the waves. He is nowhere to be seen and Carson is roaring his name as his head whips around. I get over there as fast as I can. I have to get Carson out of the water. The situation just became critical. Sean is nowhere to be seen, and the panic in my chest is one I’ve never experienced before.
“Where is he?” I yell over the crashing waves when I reach Carson.
“I don’t know. Sean!” he bellows. “Fuck. Help. Someone help.”
Lifeguards are running down the beach, roaring at us to get out of the water. I grab Carson’s arm, eyes darting across the surface when I see Sean appear, his arms launching out of the water before he is viciously dragged back down by the biggest fucking shark I’ve ever seen.
“We gotta get out. The guards will get him. It’s their job. We gotta get out, Carson.”
“Sean!” he roars, attempting to swim towards him.
I grab him and haul him back. “You go in there, you’ll fucking die. We gotta get out of this fucking water.”
“It’s killing him!” Carson bellows. “It’s killing him, Bohdi.”
“Get out of the water!” the lifeguards bark as they zip past us on their electric water boats. “Get out now.”
I pull Carson and his board as I frantically pull him out of the water. The minute we reach the surface, we both spin around and watch as the lifeguards drag Sean onto the boat. There is so much blood, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. “Call 9-1-1!” I roar to onlookers.
Three people pull out their phones.
The second the guards reach the surface they drag Sean onto the shore and we run over. The second we stop beside him, I know he’s not coming out of this alive. His entire left arm has been severed and he is covered in lacerations that are so deep, he is completely covered in blood. There is so much of it pouring out of his lifeless body, there is no way he’ll make it to the hospital alive.