Chapter 16
SIXTEEN
COLTON
“Men’s heat is up next,” Gabriel calls out to us, but my focus is still stuck on the look Kairi had when she saw her bullshit score and the anger I feel for her.
I drag a hand down my face and roll my shoulders, trying to shake it off, but it sits heavy in my chest, simmering just beneath the surface.
“Yo, you good?” One of the new guys, Josh, asks as we head toward the water together.
“Yeah.”
I glance back toward the canopy, seeing that Kairi is sitting in the shade speaking with Gabriel.
“Alright, men, let’s see what you’ve got!” the announcer booms over the speakers. “Current standings have the Saltwater Shredders just shy of first place, and this heat could change everything!”
We all line up at the shoreline, the ocean stretching out in front of us as clean sets roll in.
The horn sounds again and I take off, sprinting into the water and tossing my board down, diving forward in one smooth motion.
Cold saltwater crashes over my head, but I barely register it as I start paddling hard and fast.
By the time I hit the lineup, my lungs are already burning, but I don’t care. I sit up on my board, scanning the horizon and waiting for the perfect wave, and when I spot a set start to build in the distance, bigger than the last few I’ve seen, my pulse kicks up and I turn.
“Colton’s in position!” I hear the announcer call. “Let’s see what he does with this one!”
I paddle hard, digging deep, timing the swell as it lifts beneath me.
I pop up right on time, dropping fast down the face as the wave steepens beneath me.
Everything around me narrows and my focus kicks into overdrive as I drive straight into a deep bottom turn, loading up with everything I’ve got, compressing low and feeling the power coil through my legs.
I go faster and higher than I ever have before, hitting the lip hard and launching the board completely out of the water, fins clearing the lip as I throw it into a full rotation, my body following through the air as the crowd noise spikes.
“Oh my—” the announcer gasps. “Colton with a massive rotation off the lip! But can he land it?”
Time stretches and for a split second I feel weightless. I bring the board down clean, reconnecting with the face of the wave, my knees bending to absorb the impact before I drive straight into another section.
I’m not holding back today, my rage for what Kairi has been going through fuels me.
I snap more vertical this time, spray exploding behind me before I carve back down and ride it out all the way to the inside. The wave fizzles beneath me as I step off into the shallows, chest heaving.
The beach is loud with cheers, but I barely notice it as I turn toward the judges table, adrenaline still flowing through me as I look into the eyes of the judge that gave Kairi a low score, daring him to be anything but honest with his scoring.
He seems like the type to screw with me too, just so that the team she’s on doesn’t win.
“Ladies and gentlemen, that might be the biggest move we’ve seen all day!” the announcer shouts. “Judges are locking in their scores now, but this could be huge for The Shredders!”
I rip my gaze away from the judge and stare at the scoreboard, chest still rising and falling from the ride. I’m not surprised when a few minutes later a perfect score appears across all five judges, including that asshole.
I let out a slow breath through my nose, rolling my shoulders as the tightness in my chest finally starts to ease.
“There it is! A perfect ten!” the announcer roars. “And just like that, the Shredders jump into first place for the men’s division—and possibly the whole team.”
I jog up the beach, water dripping from my wetsuit, barely feeling the burn in my legs. I spot Kairi standing under the team tent, and her face lights up the second she spots me.
“Colton!” she calls, bouncing on her toes. “That was insane! Your landings were perfect.”
“Good job, kid,” Gabriel says beside her. “Was not expecting a performance like that out of you today.”
I ignore him, my eyes trained on Kairi as I close the distance between us. She barely has time to react before I pull her into me tightly, arms locking around her like I need to anchor myself to her.
She lets out a surprised sound against my shoulder. “Woah,”she laughs.
I don’t say anything as I hold her there, and a few seconds later her hands come up, hesitating for a beat before she relaxes and hugs me back, her arms wrapping around my back. The heaviness in my chest completely melts away and I want to stay like this forever.
“Alright,” Gabriel says beside us. “I’m going to go…anywhere but here.”
Kairi tries to pull away, cheeks faintly flushed, but I pull her back in.
“Get out,” I call after him.
He laughs. “Already gone.”
A few seconds of us hugging passes before I speak again. “Still upset I called out the sponsor for you?”
She looks up at me, smiling softly. “Not as much as I was.”
“Good,” I say, finally letting my hands drop from her as we pull apart and stare into each other's eyes.
The moment between us doesn’t last long as a group of guys stop behind me, clearing their throats loudly. I turn around and find my old team, The Rip Raiders, and I know this won’t end well. One of the reasons I wanted to leave them was because of how dirty they play at competitions.
“Well, well,” one of them drawls. “Didn’t think you’d show your face here, man.”
“Yeah. We figured you’d be halfway back to daddy’s ranch by now,” another adds with a laugh. “Or did they kick you out again for being too soft?”
I exhale slowly through my nose, trying to let it roll off because they’re not worth my time.
“Why don’t you worry about your own shit scores instead of running your mouths?” Kairi says, surprising me.
They go quiet and look her over, as if just realizing she’s there. I reach over and tug her behind me, pressing her against my back to shield her from them.
Davis Anderson, the unofficial leader of the team, smirks as he watches me.
“Didn’t think you were into…half-breeds,” he says, lip curling with disgust. “Guess this team really is more your scene afterall.”
Kairi goes still against me, and something inside me snaps clean in half. I walk up to him so that we’re face to face.
“What’d you just say?” I growl.
“Colton, don’t!” Kairi warns, grabbing my arm, but I yank it out of her grip.
“I called that bitch exactly what she is.” He grins. “Half. Bree—”
My fist connects with his jaw before he can get the word out, the impact so strong it jolts up my arm as his head snaps to the side and he stumbles back, crashing into one of his teammates.
Shouts break out around us, but I don’t care as I grab his shirt and drive another punch into his face before he can recover.
He swings back, catching me in the side of my face close to my eye, but it barely registers as I shove him hard, sending him down into the sand. I’m on him before he can get up and I manage to get one more hit in before someone's arms wrap around me and pull me away.
“Colton!” Gabriel shouts.
He hauls me back, arms locked tight around my chest as I try to surge forward again.
“Let me go—”
“Knock it off!” he snaps, dragging me further back. “You’re done!”
My chest heaves as my vision goes red at the edges. I glare past him at Davis who’s on the ground, clutching his face with a smirk still in place as his teammates help him up and usher him out of our canopy.
Warm liquid runs down my cheek as I watch him go, and when I swipe at it my hand comes back bloody.
“Are you out of your mind?” Gabriel hisses, forcing my attention to him. “You might have just lost our team the gold.”
“You didn’t hear what he called Kairi,” I growl.
“There are other ways to handle inappropriate language here.” His grip tightens on my shoulders for a second. “But you just let them bait you into a physical altercation, which is against the rules of the competition.”
I scoff. “Bait me? That’s not wh—”
“That’s exactly what they did, and you fell for it. Now get to the car,” Gabriel says, firmly. “And put something on that cut to stop the bleeding.”
“I’m not—”
“Now, Colton.” He turns to Kairi. “And you, come with me.”
She stands a few feet away, arms wrapped around herself, visibly shaken. I drag a hand through my hair and step back, feeling like a complete ass.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
She shakes her head before following after Gabriel without saying a word to me. They walk over to the judges table, while I grab my board and head for the parking lot, blood still trickling down my face, and my fist still throbbing.
Even if what I did loses our team the gold, I won’t regret it because Davis deserved it. Every second of it. And if I had the chance to do it again, I would.
The inside of the team SUV smells like stale sunscreen.
It’s the only thing I can focus on as I sit in the back with my elbow braced against the window, jaw tight as I press a clean towel to my face to try and stop the bleeding.
My eye is already swelling shut and I’m sure it’ll stay that way for at least a couple days.
Moments later, the side door opens and one by one the rest of the team piles in loudly, still riding the high of the competition.
“Holy shit, dude,” Josh says, climbing in and knocking his shoulder into mine as he passes to get into the row behind me. “You were insane out there.”
“Yeah,” one of the girls chimes in next to him. “You carried the whole team.”
I nod once, because it’s the best I’ve got, and they continue talking amongst themselves. Their excitement reminds me of my first competition, years ago when I first joined the team. It was a surreal experience, finally being able to do what I was good at without worrying what my parents would say.
“You good?” Zale asks, sliding into the seat next to me.
“Peachy,” I mutter, pulling the towel away from my face to check if the bleeding has slowed, pleased to see that it has.
He huffs out something between a laugh and a sigh. “Yeah, you look it.”
He opens his mouth to say more, but the doors open and Kairi squeezes in between us, her arm pressing against mine, just as Gabriel climbs into the driver's side holding the golden trophy. He shuts his door and lets out a long breath, shaking his head as he turns halfway toward me.
“You,” he says, pointing the base of the trophy at my face, “were this close—” he pinches his fingers together, barely an inch apart, ”—to losing us first place.”
I hold his gaze, ready to snatch the trophy out of his grip and toss it out the window to show him how little I care about it in the grand scheme of things.
“You’re lucky,” he continues, shifting the trophy into his lap, “that one of the judges has a soft spot for me. Otherwise we’d be having a very different ride home right now.”
I straighten slightly, my gaze still holding his. “Did you get Kairi’s shit score adjusted while you were there, too?”
The car instantly goes quiet and Gabriel’s expression hardens. “Colton—”
“Did you fight for her score the same way you fought for the medal?” I cut in, my voice low.
Kairi shifts beside me. “It doesn’t matter—”
“It does to me,” I snap, more aggressively than I mean to, and her mouth closes.
Gabriel studies me for a moment longer, then exhales through his nose, leaning back in his seat.
“He’s a sanctioned judge,” He finally says, voice tight. “Which means we need to handle this carefully. Not by throwing punches and making a scene when we disagree with something like a child throwing a tantrum.”
My fingers curl into fists against my thighs. “Yeah,” I mutter. “God forbid someone calls out the blatant favoritism going on.”
Someone gasps in the back row.
“That’s not what I said, and you know it.” There’s a warning in his tone now. “We’ll talk about it when we get back to the house. Everybody buckle up.”
A chorus of seatbelts clicking into place fill the space and no one else says a word after that. The rest of the three hour drive back to Saltwater Springs is dead quiet, aside from Gabriel’s radio blasting mainstream music.
Kairi doesn’t look at me once so I just stare out the window, replaying everything over and over again until it makes my head pound. By the time we pull into the driveway, my injured eye is swollen shut. I reach for the door handle, and swing it open, unbuckling my seat belt at the same time.
“Colton—” Gabriel starts, but I’m out of the car before he can finish.
I head straight for the house, not slowing down or stopping, and certainly not looking back.
“Hey!” He calls after me, but I ignore it.
Inside, I take the steps two at a time until I reach the top, and I shoulder the door of my room open, stepping inside and slamming it behind me hard enough to rattle the frame.
I drag a hand down my face and pace the length of the room, the pressure in my chest refusing to ease.
If I open my mouth right now, I know I’m going to say something I’ll regret.
Staying in my room until I can get my head straight and my temper under control is the smartest thing I can do for myself, and for everyone else.