The Wrong Brother for Brooke (Hot Tide Book 3)

by Michele De Winton

  everything I’ve shared with you.”

  “No. I don’t.”

  “It’s for my brother. He was going to surf it, but every time he tried, something came

  up and he didn’t get a chance. And then, just when everything had aligned, he had his accident. Bam, game over. I have to do it. For him. And to show everyone that I’m back.”

  “Sure. But not this year.”

  “Yes, this year. There are already reports of me being out and I’ve worked too hard to

  get here to let it all go now. I want this. I need this.” Her tone changed again and she softened. “Talk to my manager. Say you’ve spoken with me. I’ll go easy out there. I don’t have to win it, I just have to compete. I have to be there.”

  He looked at her beautiful face and every fiber in him wanted to pull her close. But

  He pushed that sensation away. If he softened now she would think he condoned what she was doing. Disrespecting the ocean. Not listening to her body. Being reckless with her life. Risking her beautiful, precious life. “I can’t do that. I can’t let you throw yourself into something you’re not ready for.”

  She shook her head. “You could. You just won’t.” She tipped her head to the side

  then straightened as if a new thought had struck her. “How’s the job going?”

  Was the fact she was changing the topic a good sign? Maybe they were done

  discussing Scar Reef. “The job with the WSL?” he said cautiously “It’s okay. I don’t know if they quite know what to do with me.”

  “So you’re going to stick around?”

  “Maybe. I’m not sure yet. I guess we’ll see.”

  “Maybe?” Her laugh shocked him. It was humorless. Dry and dead. “Is this how it was always

  going to pan out?”

  His frown was involuntary. He was lost now, he thought they’d moved on. “I was

  always going to put your long-term recovery first, yes.”

  She scoffed. “Whatever. This isn’t about me. This is about you. This is about you

  making sure you were able to run away.”

  That made him stop. “Run away?”

  “From me. From us. I can feel it in you. You’re so used to living life free and easy that

  when you’re faced with something real, with a real chance of making a life with another person, you find the first excuse you can to throw me under the bus and end the possibility of us ever being together.”

  “This is about your recovery. This is about you not respecting what the ocean can do

  to you. It’s about you needing to win at all costs. You say you’ve always lived under your brother’s shadow and now you’re finally free to live your own life, but this shows just the opposite. You’re only doing this to prove that you are his sister. You want to finish what he started and be a hero. You want to be just like him. I can’t support that.” She looked him up and down. “Are you finished?”

  He shrugged.

  “This isn’t about me. This is about you pulling away.”

  “What?”

  “This is about you hanging on to your need to be free. Whatever the hell that means. You know that I need this comeback. You know I won’t be able to look at you the

  same after you pull a stunt like this.”

  He shook his head. “This has nothing to do with me. It’s about you. And it’s done.

  Your manager has pulled you from the race. We should work out what’s next so you’re fully recovered.”

  She pulled herself up taller and the churning in Kai’s stomach ratcheted up a gear.

  Had his motivation been clear? Was this all about her recovery, not his own fear? But then she looked him dead in the eye and he realized it didn’t matter anymore.

  “You’re right. It is done. Get out. You were the wrong brother after all.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Tears brimming her eyes, Brooke shoved on her sunglasses to partially hide the clash of emotions she felt must be obvious on her face. She grabbed her board and crashed out the door down to the beach.

  Screw him. But that was just the problem. She had screwed him and it had been all

  kinds of wonderful. All kinds of life questioning, life changing, cliché driven, heartwarming wonderful.

  The waves were small today. The wind had changed and most people were at the

  other end of the beach, at the left-hand break, but Brooke didn’t have it in her to be amongst that. Instead she lazed just behind the breakers. She sat on her board and let wave after wave sail past.

  Kai’s words ran around and around her head. This is about you not respecting what

  the ocean can do to you. It’s about you needing to win at all costs. Was that true? She shook her head. Even if it had been true, during this time with Kai she believed she had started to undo her fierce drive. What had he said? She’d started following her curiosity rather than smashing away at her passion. Being with him she’d felt herself soften and even in these past few days in the surf, she’d noticed that she looked at the water differently.

  But he hadn’t seen that. All he’d seen was that she wasn’t doing what he wanted, what

  he thought was best. And more than that, her actions had threatened the fragile bubble of security he’d built around himself about always being free. Instead of talking to her like a normal human, he’d gone over her head to her manager. Showed how much he trusted her. Or maybe it shows how much he does know you? Her subconscious whispered at her. If he had come to her and told her to pull out of the Freak of the Reef, without getting the backing of her manager, would she have? She shook her head. That wasn’t the point. The point was that he had been as much of a douchebag as those two reporters pushing Summer to fulfil their own agenda. He had his own agenda too, he just didn’t know it yet.

  Why did people do that? Why couldn’t everyone just make their own choices and be

  left to live with the consequences? Brooke made a decision. She might not be able to surf Freak of the Reef in the official contest, but Kai couldn’t keep her out of the water.

  She looked behind and saw a perfect wave starting to form. Lying on her board she

  started paddling and caught the wave easily. She rode it all the way into shore, a plan already forming in her head.

  #

  “Summer and I talked about taking photos out here for that fruit juice commercial last year. Shooting it at the blue house was a better idea though. Hers of course.”

  “I remember.” Brooke checked her brother. His eyes were normal, his face passive,

  lost in thoughts of his girlfriend. If anything, he seemed calmer than she did. She’d managed to get a seat for her and Ash on the boat trip the competitors caught to the tiny island that hosted Scar Reef and the Freak of the Reef challenge. Her manager had been awesome, better than she’d expected when she explained what she wanted to do.

  “Just take care of yourself,” was all he’d said. “I know you like to go hard, but Kainui

  isn’t wrong here. It’s good we pulled you from the contest. Scar Reef is a beast.”

  “I’m going out,” she said to Ash.

  “In that? No way. It’s massive.” Ash turned to look at her. “Is that what this is about?

  You want to prove Kai wrong?”

  The shrug was more casual than she felt. “I want to prove everyone wrong. But him

  pulling me out has just as much to do with him as it does with me.” She shouldered her board and waded out into the water. Scar Reef was further along the beach and the contest hadn’t started yet but the surf was still plenty big enough where she was.

  You say you’ve always lived under your brother’s shadow and now you’re finally

  free to live your own life, but this shows just the opposite. You’re only doing this to prove that you are his sister. You want to finish what he started and be a hero. Was Kai right? She paddled hard but the current was brutal. Every time she started making progress, it would t
ry and swing her sideways and the waves coming in threatened to pull her under when she duck-dived. When she finally got out the back, beyond the constantly crashing breakers, she could feel an ache in her shoulder that was more than she’d noticed before.

  A wave started building and she grabbed onto it, paddling hard. Finally, she felt the

  weightlessness pick her up. The water surged under her and she was flying, really flying. Her manager had been right, she wasn’t even over the reef proper and this thing was a beast.

  Don’t over think it, just feel. She did. She shut down her analytical mind and let the

  feeling of weightlessness well up in her. Her board sliced through the water, the spray flew back at her, the wind curled around and away. As the wave drew her ever upward, Brooke let the movement into her bones. Her legs bent and her arms stayed out to her sides. Relax. She willed herself to drop her shoulders but it was hard, the wave was big and strong and wasn’t all that happy about having her on its back. Her core tightened, her thighs clenched and her shoulder started protesting, loudly. But the wave didn’t stop. It went on and on, powering her down its length, pushing her closer and closer to Scar Reef down the other end of the beach. Do not panic. Do not panic.

  Brooke made herself focus on her breath. In and out. That was all she had now. Her

  breath, her body, the water, momentum. Her left thigh started twitching from holding on so long but she didn’t dare shift her weight, not now she was coming to the end of the ride. This was where she’d lost it last time and now, out here with less crew on standby to drag her out if she fell, she’d be in trouble.

  She rode the wave on and on. Letting herself observe her muscles. Making herself breathe. Relishing the power of the water underneath her. Then finally, the tug of the wave released her and she saw the beach in her peripheral vision instead of just water. It was only a short distance to the shore. Wading through the shallows she stopped to catch her breath and look back out at the breakers. “Holy crap.” The one that was rolling in was a complete monster. It towered like a literal wall of water. “Thank goodness I didn’t catch that one.”

  “Yeah, right. Thank goodness. You caught the big daddy instead.” Ash came up

  beside her.

  “What?”

  “Your ride. This lot were yelling their heads off. Didn’t you hear them?”

  Brooke looked at the five surfers that had gathered. And shook her head. “I didn’t

  hear anything. Concentrating.”

  “I bet.” Ash blew out his mouth. “Thank god you were too. Honestly that wave was a

  giant among giants. I wondered if you were going to make it for a moment there.”

  “Me too,” she admitted. “Let’s sit for a bit.” They made their way up the beach to sit

  at the base of a set of white-sand dunes.

  “Hey, are you okay?”

  Brooke nodded. Then shook her head. “I doubted myself out there. I never doubt

  myself. Honestly if that wave had gone on any longer I don’t know if it would have been such a pretty exit.”

  “Anyone would have doubted themselves out there. Look.” Ash pulled up his camera,

  something she still hadn’t got used to him having with him at all times. He flicked it on and scanned through some shots.

  “You were shooting me?”

  “I shoot everything. You know that. And anyway, isn’t that why you brought me out

  here with you? To get this shot and show Kai what a dick he was for going behind your back?”

  Brooke sat back. “No.” Her heart hurt that her brother thought she only wanted to

  have him here for his amazing photography skills. But she was still coming down off the adrenalin from the wave and couldn’t put into words everything she needed to say to him yet.

  Ash just shrugged. “Here. Look. Epic, like I said.”

  Brooke looked at the tiny screen and could barely make out what she was seeing. It

  was almost completely filled with water. “I don’t know what I’m looking at.”

  Ash leaned over and pointed. “There. That’s you.” Ash flicked a button and zoomed

  in on the image. Brook’s form, hair flying, sheer determination on her face, came into focus.

  Brooke did a double take. “Holy crap.”

  “I did try and tell you.”

  “I had no idea it was that big.”

  “Probably a good thing.”

  She sat back and looked out at the ocean which was still producing wave after giant

  wave. “I didn’t bring you out here to take photos of me.”

  Ash didn’t say anything, perhaps aware that she hadn’t finished.

  “All my life, you’ve been the one who won. It always looked like nothing took very

  much effort. You almost fell into surfing and then, well, you were amazing at it.”

  “You know that’s not true though.”

  “Do I? Honestly you got on your board and you pretty much started winning

  competitions.”

  “Is that what you remember?”

  She nodded.

  “I broke my first new board. Don’t you remember that? The surf was stupid messy but

  I’d saved for so long to buy my board I just couldn’t wait. And I went out and went down. Snapped the tip clean off my three fin. The guys at the shop felt sorry for me and fixed it. But the shine was taken off it.”

  Brooke searched her memory but didn’t remember it. “I guess I was pretty young

  then.”

  “Yeah I guess so. Still. I wasn’t some golden boy. Plenty of stuff went wrong on the

  way up. And then of course there was all this.” He waved his hand behind them, to the scene of the accident that had stolen his career. “Have you had a thing about this, about me? All these years?”

  The nod felt shallow, especially given that her brother had lost so much. But she had

  to get this out. To admit the shadow she’d felt hanging over her head for so many years. “Kai called me on it. I didn’t want to admit it, but he was right. I throw myself at everything. I decide I want something and then I make it my mission to get it.”

  “I know. I’ve always been impressed at how you do that.”

  “Yeah. It’s been good in a way, meant that I scraped my way to the top. Meant that I

  actually got here. But it’s gotten me into so much trouble too. And it’s exhausting.”

  “So don’t do it. Let it go sometimes, or whatever.”

  She smiled. “But I haven’t been able to. I was under your shadow for so long. Pushing

  so hard to make it. To show everyone that I was more than just your little sister. And then you had your accident and I felt that I had to make it even more.” The words tumbled out all in a rush.

  “Oh, Brooke. Why didn’t you say something?”

  “Like what? That I was jealous of how well you were doing? That all I wanted was to

  have half of the success you had? And then when you had your accident, what could I say? That I wished everyone would stop telling me how sorry they were for you. How it must have been so hard to come back from? God, what an ass I am.”

  “You are not an ass.” Ash said it quietly and put a hand on her shoulder. She flinched, more out of instinct than because it was sore. But it was sore. Sorer than it needed to be.

  “I’m so proud of you.”

  Brooke did a double take. “I tell you I’m a mean bitch and you tell me you’re proud

  of me. Come on. How am I supposed to come back from that?”

  Her brother laughed. “You’ve made it. You don’t get that, do you? You’ve been

  fighting so hard for so long to get here, you haven’t stopped to see how far you’ve come. And your fight was harder than mine. I get it. I didn’t really even see it, but I do now. It’s like Summer and her ex, she was always the girlfriend. It’s taken her all this time for people to see her as the athlete. And so I get that you�
��ve probably always been seen as the sister. But I never saw you like that. I’ve always been amazed at how you threw yourself at stuff. And look where you are now.” He waved his camera. “Anyone else would have crept off to lick their wounds from an injury like that, especially when you were getting so close to getting a spot on the leader board for keeps. But you go off with Kai and work your butt off and then look what you smash out. Maya is going to love you. This shot is golden, I’m telling you. She’s going to sell it in a heartbeat. And you know that you’re the talk of the circuit. Everyone is waiting to see what you do next. Maya reckons there are sponsors waiting in the wings to snap you up after your come back. It’s a fantastic media story.”

  Brooke finally felt the glimmer of a smile creasing the edges of her mouth. “Really?”

  “Really. Come here, idiot.” And he pulled her into a hug. Brooke winced and he

  pulled back. “Oh shit. Did you hurt your shoulder out there?”

  “Not really. It was just a brutal paddle to get out there. And then holding on for so

  long. It makes sense seeing it on your camera.”

  “Can you do me a favor?” Ash asked.

  “You name it.”

  “Don’t do any more surfing while we’re here. Rest. Swim or whatever. But give

  yourself a chance to chill. And then go back and smash it out in the Open event. But don’t tell Summer I said so.”

  “You’d rather I won than your girlfriend?”

  Ash grinned at the mention of his girlfriend. “I didn’t say you had to beat her, just

  show everyone what you got.”

  “Deal.” Brooke lay back on the sand and stared up at the pure blue sky. The lump that

  she hadn’t even realized she was carrying between her shoulder blades was gone. She felt lighter. Like Ash was right, and she had actually made it. Had she been fighting so hard to get here that she’d missed the point when she got to celebrate?

  #

  Ash and Brooke spent the next two days eating great food, swimming in the shallows and watching the Freak of the Reef contest. Sitting on the beach in front of the reef, they watched wave after wave crash against the rocks at the edge of the beach. The waves were fierce and Brooke flinched every time someone was taken out. T.J., Summer’s ex, lost it on a wave that was only half the size of the one Brooke had conquered a few days before, but when he finally came out of the water, board broken, blood oozing from a scrape on his arm, he looked visibly shaken. “It’s called Scar Reef for a reason,” Ash muttered. “Poor bastard.”