Page 109 of Malibu Rising

“Sir,” the valet said. “You don’t seem like you should be driving.”

“Just get me my car,” Brandon said. “The silver Mercedes, up there at the front.”

Brandon had been the first one to arrive and so his car was packed in, quite firmly, behind at least a hundred others.

“It’s going to take a while,” the valet warned.

The key stand was left unmanned as the valet began the job of getting Brandon’s car out. The other valets were busy with other people. Brandon stood alone, lost in his own impaired thoughts, and started to forget why he was waiting there.

What had he been hanging around for?Oh, right. A car.

Fuck it.Brandon helped himself to a set of keys he saw with a Jaguar key chain and then used them to unlock the black Jag right in front of him.

And without delay, Brandon Randall drove off in Mick Riva’s car to go profess his love to Carrie Soto.

• • •

Tarine was sitting on Greg’s lap and nuzzling his neck while he continued to kick out the jams. But as she turned her head away, she sawthe unmistakable sight of Vaughn Donovan taking the Lichtenstein off the wall and then … peeing on it.

She started to wonder if maybe this party was getting out of control.

Mick was taken aback by his daughter’s anger but he was not deterred.

“You’re right,” he said, looking at his firstborn. “I have not been a father to you all. I have not been here when I should have been.”

Nina looked away, toward the water. Mick turned to the rest of his kids and switched tactics. “How about this? I won’t ask for your forgiveness or ask you to make any promises. I’m just asking to get to know you all, a little bit.”

They all turned to one another and then to Nina.Did they owe him that much?Nina wasn’t sure. Maybe you owe your parents nothing, maybe you owe them everything. But she was overwhelmed by her certainty that if her mother were in her place, she would give him a chance.

“OK, fine,” Nina said. And then she turned to her shed, opened the lock, pulled out an array of towels, and threw down a couple of surfboards. They hit the ground with a muffled thud.

Nina sat down on a surfboard, her feet on the sand, her elbows perched over her knees. Everyone else followed suit.

The five of them sat like that, on Nina’s longboards, and let the fresh air surrounding them grow stale with their silence.

“Quite a beating you took there, son,” Mick said finally, unsure where to start. He figured he’d address the elephant in the room.

Hud nodded, felt his lip. The blood was dry; flecks crumpled off. “Yeah,” he said, not looking directly at his attacker. “I guess.”

“What happened here?” Mick said.

“It’s not really anyone’s business, is it?” Jay said.

“I don’t know,” Kit said. “I’m pretty interested.”

Mick looked to Kit and saw, for the first time, what his daughter looked like when she smiled. She looked just like him—that crinklein her eye was so familiar. And yet, what an enigma she was. The youngest, the newest, the one he did not know. She was so boyish, in a way that Mick wasn’t sure was a good thing. But she looked like trouble, and that drew Mick in.

What has she inherited from me?he wondered. He suspected it was boldness, a sense of entitlement to say whatever she wanted. How had he given it to her so passively? And yet, there it was.

He hadn’t even needed to be there in order to help form his children.

“This does seem like something we should talk about,” Nina said, gesturing to Hud’s eyes and the way he was cradling his ribs. “Are you OK? Do you need a doctor?”

“I’m not sure,” Hud said. “I mean, no. Not yet at least.” He was trying not to cause any alarm. He knew that right now what he needed to do was play it cool. He was worried about Ashley, about where she was, about how she was feeling. He needed to take care of her, and he would, but for now, he knew she would be OK. She was the kind of woman who was always going to be OK. It was half of why he loved her.

“Seriously though,” Kit pushed. “What happened?”

Hud looked to Jay.

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