Page 13 of Fool Me Twice

Joey frowned. “The Scottish bird?” The others nodded. “Oh yeah, I’d forgotten about that.”

Peter paled. What happened to the blonde girl? He wanted to ask, but maybe it was better he didn’t know.

“Don’t worry, Dad. I’ll teach you.“ Jaxon glared pointedly at Joey.

The five of them headed down another flight of steps, through a bolted metal gate and out onto the sand. Peter struggled with his surfboard – not because it was heavy, it was just awkward and unfamiliar.

“Here.” Jaxon tried to take the board from him.

Peter brushed his arm away. “It’s fine, I can manage,” he snapped, offended that his son thought he couldn’t hack it. He may not be twenty-five anymore, but he looked after himself – he jogged, swam and did cardio. Okay, so maybe he hadn’t done a lot of swimming since he’d left LA, but that was only because there hadn’t really been the opportunity when he’d stayed at Mac’s place and it was too cold to swim in Jaxon’s pool. And he may have fallen behind on his cardio, he reluctantly admitted to himself, but only because he’d been busy.

Gaz laid his board on the sand and started doing some stretching exercises. The others snickered as they watched. “What’s the matter, Gaz? Office job made you soft?” Joey asked.

“Screw you.” Gaz flipped him the bird as the others roared with laughter. “Come on then, you gobshites.” He picked up his board and jogged toward the water.

Joey and Cy jogged after him, splashing through the shallows before laying their boards on the surface.

“Go.” Peter turned to Jaxon.

Jaxon shrugged, his eyes fixed on Gaz as he rode a wave toward the shore.

“Go, I’ll be fine.” Peter patted his shoulder.

Jaxon rocked back on forth on the balls of his feet. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Peter smiled, touched by his son’s concern. “Go.”

“I’ll be ten minutes,” Jaxon called over his shoulder as he ran toward the water with the board under his arm. “Fifteen tops.” He raced through the shallows to his friends.

Lowering himself onto the sand, Peter held up his hand to shield his eyes from the sun, squinting as he watched them skimming across the waves, then crashing into the water. Only to get back up and do it all again.

Their shrieks and laughter could be heard all along the beach and Peter wondered if perhaps he’d been too hasty in his decision to sit it out on the side-lines, while everyone else was out there having fun.

Sitting on the side-lines was the story of his life. The only child of an over-protective mother, who fretted everything and everyone was out to do her beloved son harm, had turned him into an anxious child who sought invisibility. His size and timidity meant he was always the last kid to be picked by the team captains in gym class, and his lack of sporting prowess only furthered his isolation. Labelled a ‘mama’s boy’ at school. His shyness made him an easy target for bullies and he became an expert at finding places to hide out during break and lunch times.

All his life he’d been the quiet, dependable one, always hovering in the background and never putting himself forward. He’d let others take the lead, and he’d gone along with it. But maybe it was time for a change. He got to his feet. Maybe it was time to do what he wanted. Maybe it was time to throw caution to the wind and do something wild and reckless before it was too late?

“That was freaking awesome,” Gaz said when they returned, shaking his head like a wet dog.

“Right,” said Peter, eager to begin his lesson. “Let’s see if you can teach this old dog some new tricks.”

Jaxon went through the basics with his father on the sand, before deciding it was time for him to put what he’d learnt into practice.

Peter strode down the beach, then splashed through the shallows until the water was deep enough for him to pull himself up onto the board. He turned to look for the others, a couple of metres behind him. “Hurry up, you lot,” he called, his legs kicking impatiently beneath the surface.

Jaxon and Cy soon caught up with Peter, while Gaz and Joey paddled further out to where the water was deeper and the waves bigger.

Under Jaxon’s guidance, Peter watched a couple of small waves as they broke the surface. His body buzzed with excitement when Jaxon gave the signal to stand up. Just as he’d been taught, he jumped to his feet, found his balance and rode the wave as it rose, skimming the surface as it crashed toward the shore, before disappearing beneath the waves. “Whoo!” Peter shouted, the adrenaline pulsing through his veins. “That was friggin’ amazing.”

“Ready?” Jaxon pointed behind him, where a fresh wave was gathering momentum. Peter watched as it swelled. His heart pounded as he jumped to his feet, his eyes fixed as he waited for the perfect moment to hit the wave.

Spotting a ripple further out, he began paddling toward Gaz and Joey, ignoring Jaxon’s calls as he fixated on the surge.

“Don’t worry,” Peter called over his shoulder, seconds before hitting the seabed beneath a wall of water.

Chapter six

Evie eyed the clock – only another ten minutes until the end of class. Usually, she loved Reeva’s classes, but today she struggled to focus. Even the simplest of stretches seemed a chore, and she couldn’t shake off that feeling that something wasn’t right.

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