Page 19 of Try Me

Red Velvet Invitation

Declan

“Jesus, McKenna,”Declan said, stalking as far across the room as the phone cord would allow. “It isn’t the 1950’s anymore.”

“It’s not that far off.”

“Almost twenty years.”

“I realize that,” McKenna said. “But I’m still not signing a woman.”

“I’m telling you,” Declan said into the phone, “Pearl Sunn is the best surfer I’ve ever seen.”

There was a pause as McKenna lit a cigarette an inhaled. “She’s still a woman,” he said. “Women are trouble. They are distracting. Unreliable. They cry too much. They get pregnant.”

As McKenna ticked off the reasons he didn’t want to manage a woman athlete, Declan paced across the room as far as the cord would reach, feeling more and more restless with each step.

“You haven’t seen her,” Declan said. “She’s amazing,” he said finally.

“She must be a dog,” McKenna concluded.

“What are you talking about?”

“She must have a face like a dog,” McKenna clarified. “You haven’t said a word about the way she looks.”

An image of Pearl’s face flashed into Declan’s mind. “She’s no dog,” he said. “She’s the most beautiful woman in the world. She’s a goddess.”

McKenna was silent for a long moment. Declan could hear the deep inhale and exhale as he smoked. “It’s not happening,” McKenna said with finality. “I’ve never signed a woman, and I won’t start with a surfer. There isn’t even a women’s team to put her on.”

“You could start one,” Declan suggested. He sat up and rubbed the back of his neck where a pain throbbed. “Do you want to be behind the times or ahead of them? If you don’t snag Pearl someone else will.”

“I don’t know.”

“Just watch her surf,” Declan said. “You won’t be able to forget it.”

Declan hadn’t. Pearl had haunted his dreams last night. For the first time in years, Declan’s thought upon waking hadn’t been whiskey — it had been Pearl. No matter that she’d used him. Her reasons were justified. She was never going to make it without some help. He wanted to be the one to do it for her.

“What’s this woman to you?” McKenna asked, picking up on Declan’s urgency.

Declan closed his eyes and remembered unzipping Pearl’s wetsuit. The way she’d glanced over her shoulder at him had sent his heart racing.

“You sleep with her?” McKenna asked.

“That’s none of your business,” Declan growled.

McKenna’s laugh rumbled across the line. The sound was loud and close enough to be in the next room at the Clairmont, not hours away in Los Angeles.

“Everything you do is my business,” McKenna said.

Declan got up from the bed and paced to the window. He’d warned Pearl that he didn’t have any power, but she hadn’t believed him. He was nothing but a pawn in McKenna’s game. Powerless.

Unless…His eyes fell on the nightstand next to the bed, and he hurried across the room to open the drawer. Declan took out the red envelope and slapped it against his hand. He ripped it open and looked at the invitation.

You are cordially invited to compete in the Fourth Annual Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championships, Sunset Beach, Hawaii.

An image of Eddie walking into the water, his back straight and strong, flashed before Declan’s eyes. It was the last time he’d ever seen his friend alive.

“I’ll compete in the Duke,” he said, knowing McKenna wouldn’t say no to that. Declan could only imagine the offers that would come pouring in if he won the Duke. McKenna would be known as the best in the industry.

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