Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Bryce
Luckily, they don’t want too much of me in the Ocean’s Curl offices.
My mind is all over the place. But I do everything that Lexie asks me to do, posing with new products, selfies, reels, whatever.
Claire watches me, a slight frown on her face, but she doesn’t say anything until we’re sitting and eating lunch in one of the big conference rooms. Jeff is eating with us, but he’s just stepped out to take a call.
“Bryce.” Her soft voice jolts me back to myself again. I realise I’ve hardly spoken at all during lunch, Jeff filling the conversation gaps by asking Claire about herself.
“Is everything okay?”
Her blue gaze is gentle with worry. I can hardly bear it, but I can’t offload onto her. “It’s fine.” I try to look as though I mean it.
She doesn’t seem to buy it, her frown deepening. “Are you sure? Because you haven’t seemed right since we got in the office. Can I do anything? Or do you need some space? I can ask Jeff to drop me back if you want to head out for a surf or something.”
Some space? Fuck. I realise she’s asking because she thinks it might be her. It’s so not her.
“No,” I say. Then, at her questioning look, I realise I need to clarify that.
“Honestly.” I soften my tone, reaching across the table to take her hand.
I play with her slender fingers, trying to figure out what I can tell her.
“Remember I said I was here for a month or so? Well, I have some family stuff going on. And it’s just…
” I can’t say any more, my throat tightening.
I hope she doesn’t press me for details I’m not ready to share.
Her fingers squeeze mine. “It’s okay,” she says. “I’m here if you want to talk about it, but I understand if you don’t. Just … if you want to take off, let me know.”
I smile. “I’ve enjoyed spending the day with you.” It’s the truth. “And I’m not ready for it to end just yet. Besides, these guys want me for another hour in the store this afternoon.”
“And then?”
“And then I’ll take you home, though we can stop off for a swim if you want. But you might need to get bathers.”
“I have them!” She holds up the shopping bag she was carrying.
“Bought a new bikini. A bit more fabric in it than my other one.” She giggles, the frown leaving her face.
She’s fucking adorable, and once again I have to restrain myself from kissing that glossy pink pout until neither of us can stand.
“These guys will shout us a couple of towels. You sure you want to go out again?”
“Maybe not so deep this time? I just… I need time to get used to that.”
“Deal.” My other hand comes to our linked ones, and I twine my fingers through hers.
We stare into each other’s eyes and again I can feel that spark building between us.
I’m not sure what would have happened if Jeff hadn’t come back into the room.
He gives our clasped hands a quizzical glance, but doesn’t say anything.
I guess this all looks good for him, if the sponsors are happy.
“They’re getting ready for you in the store again,” he says.
“And maybe we can get a few shots with you, Claire? Lexie really likes your look, especially as you’re already wearing Ocean’s Curl.
Just some candid stuff for the socials. We’re already getting great engagement on the shots from this morning. ”
“Yeah, sure,” she says, as though she’s been doing this all her life. “We can make it look good.” She shoots me a wicked grin that goes straight to my dick. This girl.
“Yeah,” I say, returning her glance with one of my own. “We can.”
My phone buzzes, breaking the tension. It’s Mum calling me back. Fuck.
“I need to take this, sorry,” I say, grabbing my phone and heading for the door. “I’ll meet you down there.”
I step into an empty conference room across the hall, and pull the door closed. I see Lexie, Claire and Jeff leaving the other room, Claire shooting me a concerned glance through the blinds. I give her a thumbs up to let her know I’m okay, even though I’m not sure I’m going to be.
“Mum. What’s going on?”
It’s time for me to face my shit. Matt was right, last night. I stay away because it’s easier that way. Because I can’t bear to see my sister relapse.
Millie is a drug addict. She’s been to rehab, got clean, but there’s always the fear she might go down that pathway again.
Especially as the guy who introduced her to heroin, her drug of choice, also happens to be her ex-boyfriend.
They’d been living together when Mum, horrified at the way her daughter was wasting away before her eyes, called me.
I was in Hawaii at the time, filming. But I caught the next flight home, and together Mum and I managed to get Millie out of there and into rehab.
It was a close call, though, and I often relive the satisfaction I felt driving my fist into the guy’s face when he tried to get violent with Millie.
When I saw Claire at the pub being manhandled by that jerk, Simon, it awakened the same protective instincts. Like I say, violent controlling assholes push my buttons for a number of reasons.
Even though Millie is clean now, her ex-boyfriend is still hanging around, and for reasons neither Mum nor I can understand, she keeps in contact with him.
She says it’s to make sure he’s okay, but Mum and I both worry it’s because she wants to go back to him.
It doesn’t help that the guy tries the same manipulative bullshit I saw Simon using on Claire, barraging her with text messages, sending gifts, showing up places to talk to her.
I sometimes feel like shit for being away so much, for not being there.
Maybe I would have seen the signs earlier, and could have stopped things before they got so bad.
Or maybe not. Surfing is my job, and it pays me well, but it also means I need to travel.
Plus, Mum needs the money I give her every month, to maintain the house and pay for Millie’s counselling and rehab. So I’m kind of stuck, really.
“Oh, Brycie.” Mum is the only person in the world who gets away with calling me that. “Don’t worry. I was just having a moment, that’s all.”
“A moment?” I try not to get angry. This is the other thing that pisses me off, though I try not to let it get to me. Mum has a tendency to downplay things.
“It’s just… I thought Millie hadn’t gone to school today. She had her location on, on her phone, and it showed her at the flat when she was supposed to be in class. And when I rang her, she wasn’t answering.”
Millie lives in a flat that Mum owns, bought as an investment years ago.
One of the conditions of her living by herself was that she shares her location with Mum, both to keep her safe but also to make sure she’s not in any dodgy places.
She resisted at first, and I get why she did, but both Mum and I made it clear it was non-negotiable, and after all she put us through, she grudgingly agreed.
“So where was she?”
“Well, I couldn’t get hold of her, and then I got worried, which is when I messaged you, and I was about to get in the car and go over there when she rang me. Apparently she left her phone at home when she went to school. No need to worry.”
“Are you sure?”
“You’ve seen her, seen how well she looks. How well she’s doing with school and everything.”
“She did look well. She’s still thin, though.”
“She’s built like me, you know that. Look, I’m sorry I worried you, especially when you’re working. I’ll let you go.”
“Mum, I’m here if you need me. Do you want me to come back down tonight?”
“No, no, I’ll be fine. It’s all good. You enjoy yourself. Come and see us this weekend. Maybe bring Claire with you?”
“If you’re sure… You need to be honest with me, Mum. I can take it.”
“I’m fine,” she says, sounding bright. “Honestly. It was just a mix-up. You know how jumpy I get with all this.”
“All right.” Jeff is outside the window, beckoning to me. I’m loath to hang up, though. “If you’re sure.”
“I am. Go and have fun. I’ll see you in a few days.”
“Love you, Mum.”
“Love you too.”
I hang up, though disquiet curls in my gut.
Maybe it was just a mix-up with Millie’s phone.
We have to learn to trust her again, like we used to, even though it’s not easy.
I’ll take Claire down to meet Mum and Mil, I decide.
That way I can check on them both, and it’ll be nice for Claire to meet my family.
I tell myself this as I leave the room, heading downstairs to meet Claire and Jeff in the Ocean’s Curl store.
Claire is clutching a couple of new towels, thanks to Lexie, and all I can think about is being in cool water with her again, letting my worries drift away.
But now I have a job to do. Claire snuggles up to me for some promo shots, then squeals as I dip her backwards again under the wave, burying my face in the curve of her neck.
She smells like flowers and butterscotch, and I swipe my tongue across her soft skin. For the photos, of course.
But she’s panting a little when we straighten up, and her eyes have that slight dazed look again. She stays in my arms, her hand on my chest, gazing up at me. It feels like the most natural thing in the world.
I relinquish her, eventually, to Jeff and Lexie, and start greeting the long line of people in the store.
The hour passes quickly, thank fuck, and soon enough we’re out in the car park.
The photographers Jeff arranged are gone, but a few people take shots of me and Claire as we pull onto the road.
I’m glad when we’re free of them and it’s just me and Claire and the road unspooling like a ribbon alongside the blue silk ocean.
My thoughts are tangled, and I need a minute to sort things out.