The Summer Boyfriend

by Benjamin, Christina

  She snorted.

  What was it with the women and the snorting here?

  “Nice try, New York. But Jo would have my ass if I gave you her number.”

  “I thought you said you were gonna help me with my Joy problem?”

  “Trust me, I am.” Kendall laughed at his confusion. “Tell you what. I’ll give her your phone number.”

  “You think that’ll work?”

  “I think you’ll be seeing her very soon,” Kendall said, confidently.

  Then she left him at the ACE registration table.

  10

  Joy

  3 years ago . . .

  “If I have to grow up, then I think I wanna be a lifeguard,” Max said.

  Joy looked over at him sitting on his surfboard looking sun-kissed and beautiful.

  “I think you’ll make a great lifeguard,” she replied.

  He turned his head and hit her with one of his stunning smiles, the kind that made her toes curl and her belly flip. They’d been officially dating for six months and he still made her feel butterflies.

  “You have to say that ‘cause you’re my girlfriend.”

  Jo laughed. “I don’t have to say that. But I do love when you call me your girlfriend.”

  “Oh yeah?” Max paddled closer so his board was touching hers. “What else do you love?”

  “This,” Jo said, leaning over to press her lips to his.

  Max pulled her off her surfboard, never letting her lips leave his. They clung to each other in the water, her legs wrapping around his waist, his hands wrapping around her heart.

  “I want to be a lifeguard even more now,” he said, pulling away from her breathlessly.

  “Why?”

  “Because I want to guard your life with mine, forever.”

  Jo felt the butterflies in her stomach tie themselves in knots. Her soul smiled at Max’s words. They were a mirror of what she felt in her heart. “I think I want to be a lifeguard too,” she said, pressing her lips back to his.

  11

  Joy

  Jo woke with a start. It happened again. Her dreams played host to painful memories from her past. Why the hell was this happening now? She needed to have her head on straight. Especially today. It was the first day of ACE and she couldn’t afford to screw up.

  Last night she’d gotten home in time to call Kai. She’d felt so much lighter after hearing his voice. He promised her he was loving Maui and that he couldn’t wait to see her when ACE was over. She knew Kai being in Maui was for the best, but it was still hard. But having him nearby and not being able to spend any time with him would be harder. At least this way he was getting to spend some time with the side of his family he didn’t often see.

  Jo pushed away her painful dreams and lonely heart while she showered and dressed. She pulled on her black lifeguard swimsuit and the red ACE lanyard, examining herself in the mirror. She’d never looked more official. Her reflection hit her with a stab of pain that left her reaching for the wall to steady herself as she realized how badly she wished she could call Max and tell him all about her ACE lifeguard job. But she couldn’t. She wasn’t Max’s anymore, and he wasn’t hers.

  * * *

  By the time Jo got to the main hall, Lucas was finishing up his breakfast. The fact that he beat her to work was a good sign. It meant he wasn’t out causing trouble all night. She hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to him yesterday but she planned on rectifying that right now.

  Jo made a beeline for Lucas’s table planning on giving him a lecture on punching strangers and bedding tourists. But a flashback of Jo’s kiss-fest on the beach came rushing back, making her cheeks flush. Her steps faltered. Lucas would take one look at her blush and know she didn’t have a leg to stand on.

  Dammit, Jo, get it together.

  You kissed the guy two nights ago.

  It didn’t mean anything.

  Get over it.

  At least last night had been uneventful. Plus, no harm, no foul. Kissing wasn’t a crime. Jo wished she hadn’t gotten Hayden’s name so forgetting him would be easier. But at least she wasn’t likely to see him again. She just had to focus on erasing him from her memory.

  Hayden who?

  See, easy . . .

  Jo continued her trek toward Lucas, but before she reached him, someone across the room called her name.

  “Jo-Jo.”

  Jo whirled around, heart pounding with excitement. There was only one person who called her that—her brother Ryan. And there he was, still dressed in fatigues, dog tags jingling around his neck.

  “Ry!” Jo shrieked, before running across the crowded staff room and leaping into her oldest brother’s arms.

  “Damn sis, you’re getting too big for this,” he teased.

  If anything, Jo felt smaller than ever wrapped up in Ryan’s massive arms. Being in the Marines for the past five years had really filled him out. He smiled down at her, his brown eyes sparkling. His hair was so short she couldn’t resist scrubbing it with her knuckles. She missed his floppy brown hair and how it always fell in his eyes. But the Marines kept everything shipshape, even hair.

  “You weren’t home when I got in last night,” Ryan said.

  “That’s ‘cause Goldilocks made lead tower,” Ethan called, sidling up behind Ryan and slapping him on the back.

  Ryan looked back at Jo, his mouth tugging up in the corners. “No shit?”

  “No shit,” Jo replied.

  “Congrats, Sis,” Ryan said, picking her up again in a bone-crushing hug. “I’m so proud of you.”

  “Thanks.”

  “What the hell’s this?” Lucas asked marching up, a piece of bacon hanging out of his mouth. “You can’t have a family reunion without me.”

  “I thought I smelled trouble,” Ryan said, shadowboxing Lucas before giving him a rough hug.

  Jo beamed as she watched her brothers. It was rare that they were all together like this. The stellar paycheck wasn’t the only reason she’d fought so hard for her spot on the ACE staff. It guaranteed her time with her two favorite brothers.

  Ethan had been working with ACE for the past two years whenever he was on break from college. And Ryan only took leave once a year, always during ACE, so he could help Jack.

  Secretly, Jo always thought Ryan only volunteered to help out so he could yell at people as much as Jack yelled at him when he was growing up. Either way, Jo was just happy to have her oldest brother back for a few weeks. Ryan may not have always had the most in common with her due to their age difference, but he was the best big brother a girl could ask for. He took her camping and surfing and taught her how to dive and spearfish.

  Basically, she owed her bad-assery to Ryan. Which is probably what helped her become such a great lifeguard and score a spot on ACE this year, along with Lucas, who didn’t train half as hard but somehow was naturally good at everything anyway—a fact that royally pissed Jo off.

  “We got the whole fam-damily this year, huh?” Jack said walking into the room.

  He shook hands with each of his kids, including Jo. He gave her an extra warm grin and her heart swelled with pride. She may not be his daughter by birth, but she didn’t think there was a man in the universe who could have been a better father to her. Nor a man she’d want to make prouder.

  Normally, if this reunion had been at home, Jack would’ve given them each a hug and joked around with them. He wasn’t a man afraid of affection. But that was Jack Wright, the father and husband. This was Jack Wright, the ACE drill sergeant. He was not a man to be trifled with. And he wanted the staff to know it.

  “Well, I gotta get to work,” Jack whispered with a wink. “And you should, too. See ya on the other side.” Then he walked down the stairs to the athletes’ mess hall below.

  Knowing the conversation Jo intended to have with Lucas would have to wait, she gave her brothers a quick salute, grabbed a few granola bars from the mess station and started toward the door. But once there, she couldn’t resist peeking into
mayhem below. The staff hall was located one floor above athletes’ mess hall. And currently Jack had just blown his whistle calling everyone to attention.

  Hayden

  Hayden’s heart picked up speed when he walked into the mess hall. The room was bustling with excitement and bursting with some incredible athletes. Some he recognized, some he didn’t. ACE was on. Time to put up or shut up. Go big or go home, and all that macho shit.

  A whistle pierced the mess hall while Hayden was taking it all in. Jack Wright took the podium. Hayden already knew what kind of words Jack had in store for them—he’d done his research. Plus, Hayden had been listening to these types of speeches his whole life. His father was a fan of aggressive motivation—Hayden was not.

  It wasn’t any wonder that none of Hayden’s four stepmothers decided to stick around. No amount of money was worth being yelled at everyday. Too bad divorcing his father wasn’t an option for Hayden.

  Motivating assertively may get results in the athletic and financial arena, but in a family . . . Well, that didn’t seem to have the same stellar results. At least not for Archibald Anderson. Although being one of the richest men in the nation made it so Hayden’s father didn’t have to give a damn. The only thing his money couldn’t seem to buy him was the son he’d always wanted. No matter what, Archibald was stuck with Hayden and endless disappointment.

  Hayden didn’t give Jack’s speech much attention. He was too busy scoping out his competition. The athletes in the room were the only obstacles keeping him from escaping his father’s insane demands. Beating everyone here was Hayden’s way out.

  Jack droned on. “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to ACE. You are the best of the best. But it’s my job to make you better. For the next six weeks, you’re going to be pushed harder than you’ve ever been pushed before. You’re going to experience training you don’t understand. It’s not your job to understand. It’s your job to follow orders. Understand?”

  A resounding, “Yes, sir,” rippled through the room.

  “Good. Now as you know, it is a privilege to be invited to ACE. It is also a privilege to stay at ACE. There’s a professional code of conduct you are expected to maintain. It’s fairly easy to follow. No fighting. No cheating. No breaking curfew. And absolutely no relations with staff.”

  A few snickers broke out around the mess hall. Hayden didn’t laugh. But he noted who did. Those fools just identified themselves as not being worth his time. Hayden was here to win, not flirt with the staff.

  “Do we understand each other?” Jack asked.

  “Yes, sir,” the room answered.

  But Hayden didn’t answer. He kept his eye on the prize. In six weeks, he’d be one step closer to making good on his promise to his father and getting his life back.

  “Take a good look around,” Jack ordered. “The stats don’t lie. Based on our previous records and this season’s recruits there are at least three future Olympians in this room. It’s up to you to decide who those three are.”

  Hayden smiled. He could already feel the weight of the gold medal around his neck. Take a good look losers, one spot is already taken.

  12

  Joy

  No matter how many times Jo heard her uncle Jack give that speech, the results were always the same. It gave her chills.

  It gave her chills the first time she heard it as a nine year old.

  It gave her chills now, ten years later.

  Jack retired from the Marines ten years ago, but the retired lifestyle was never really anything he entertained. He only went willingly because he was basically headhunted to run ACE, which at the time, was only a concept. But turning athletes into warriors was in Jack’s blood. It’s what he’d spent a lifetime doing with the Marines. It didn’t hurt that before he’d joined up, he’d had an impressive swimming career himself. He was nationally ranked at the collegiate level and went on to win Olympic gold. ACE was an opportunity for him to help others continue down that path.

  Joy took one last glance around the room. She wanted to stay and hear the rest of her uncle’s speech even though she knew it by heart. But what she wanted more was to make Jack proud. So she slipped out of the building and headed to her tower, ready to be the best damn lifeguard ACE had ever seen.

  Hayden

  After Jack’s grueling speech, Hayden checked in at the competitor table, got his number and his first week’s assignments. He frowned when he saw the name J. Wright listed as his supervisor. It didn’t seem like a coincidence that whoever this J. Wright was, he shared a last name with the guy in charge of ACE.

  Whenever these types of coincidences occurred—which was often—Hayden instantly went on the defensive, wondering if his father had a hand in it. It had started off small.

  Hayden getting the best doctors.

  Hayden getting special treatment.

  Hayden getting bumped up the list.

  Hayden ending up in the best schools.

  Hayden ending up on the best swim teams.

  Hayden ending up with his preferred swim lane.

  Hayden getting accepted into the best and most exclusive programs.

  The list went on and on.

  Hayden understood. He really did. He may not be a parent, but he understood the concept of wanting the best for your child. But what his father didn’t understand was the crippling self-doubt all this favoritism caused. Hayden never knew what he actually earned, or what he was capable of doing on his own.

  Not one medal or trophy lining the shelves of his home could be trusted. How many of them had been bought? Yeah, sure, Hayden’s records were his own. Time was the one thing his father hadn’t found a way to manipulate, yet. Although, maybe that wasn’t true. Hayden ran his hand subconsciously over the scars on his chest. Hadn’t his many surgeries bought him time he shouldn’t have had?

  Either way, the outcome was the same. Hayden was irrevocably damaged by his father’s constant overcorrecting. Archibald Anderson had taught his son that nothing less than perfection was acceptable. And any time Hayden fell short of the mark, his father bought the perfect results he wanted. And that was precisely why ACE was the means to an end.

  Hayden had enough of living his life to fulfill his father’s failures. He’d made his father a deal. One Olympics, then he’d get his life back. His father owed him that much after Hayden had given him twenty years of pursuing a dream that wasn’t his own.

  That’s why ACE was so important. Winning essentially guaranteed Hayden a spot not only on the US Olympic team, but also a medal next summer since beating out the rest of the ACE competitors basically meant he was better than anyone he’d face at the Olympics.

  Before committing to the grueling six-week program, Hayden had made his father a deal. The only reason Archibald agreed to it was because if it worked, it would finally get him the gold he’d always wanted. An Olympic medal was Archibald Anderson’s one and only failure.

  Hayden’s father had been a gifted swimmer. He’d been to the Olympics twice and both times missed the podium by mere hundredths of seconds. The result of which turned him into a medal driven maniac who groomed his son to achieve what he couldn’t, even if it nearly cost Hayden his life.

  Someone shouldered Hayden on their way past, tearing him away from his thoughts.

  “If it isn’t Aquaman,” the muscled guy with leather skin remarked snidely.

  Hayden watched the guy adhere a number fifteen tattoo to his muscular arm.

  Hayden had already adhered the number eleven to his own defined arm and he flexed it, letting Fifteen know he wasn’t intimidated.

  Sure, Hayden’s father had filled him with doubt, but he’d also taught him the importance of confidence and posturing when it came to competition. So Hayden put his game face on and shouldered his way to the starting line where his day would begin with a twenty-mile beach run.

  It was time for Hayden to get his head in the game. He took in the field of guys he’d be competing against this week. There were twenty of them. Ea
ch week the groups would change based on performance. By week five he’d know who his biggest threats were. Then week six, they’d face off.

  From the quick glance Hayden had taken at his schedule, he knew not everyone in his group would make it through the first week. The routine Jack Wright set up was punishing. Week one involved more running and strength training than swimming and Hayden had a sneaking suspicion it was a strategy meant to weed out the weak.

  Fifteen shouldered Hayden again. “You ready for this, Aquaman?”

  A little friendly competition, eh? Hayden could get down with that. It was a good strategy to target an opponent. If Fifteen wanted a fight, Hayden was game.

  Hayden could tell Fifteen was an Aussie from his accent. And being called Aquaman was almost a compliment compared to some of the less flattering nicknames he’d earned. Hayden had heard them all. Aquaman. Hydro-Hayden. Poisid-erson. The Eel of Steel. And those were the nice ones. He did his best not to dwell on the names he’d earned due to his father’s status.

  “Ya really as perfect as they say, mate?” Fifteen asked.

  Hayden smirked. “You tell me. I heard I look pretty good from behind.”

  Bang!

  The pistol went off and the competition was on.

  13

  Joy

  Jo sat in the shade of her tower checking her stopwatch. She should start seeing the first heat of competitors any minute now. She pulled out her binoculars and checked the beach. The white sand rippled with heat like she was staring at the desert, but the only thing moving on the horizon were storm clouds and shorebirds.

  She sat back down and picked up her clipboard scanning the names again. There were some top caliber athletes in her squad. Jo was excited to see if any of them would make it to the final round of ACE Madness: the side-betting pool most of the ACE staff participated in.