19. Harper
HARPER
Eventually, I managed to set aside what Magnus had told me as I applied my suntan lotion and worked on my tan.
When I got too hot, I shifted to the shade, rolled up a towel for a pillow, and took a nap.
Moments like this made me pause to put a mental note that vacations were needed far more often than I’d been doing them.
It was so freeing not to have a schedule—no worrying about what client was going to have an emergency that required me to work through the night.
Here, I could blissfully ignore all that was happening in the world except that someone was dripping water on me.
Cracking open an eye, I found Ghost grinning at me. “Ready?” I groaned and took the hand he extended, pulling me up onto my feet. “Trust me, angel, this is going to be fun.”
“Just you wait. Soon, you’ll be banishing me to the beach, so I don’t drive you crazy,” I mumbled as I entered the water.
Ghost grabbed the longboard he was going to teach me on and waded after me. “We only need to go about waist deep. No sense in trying to drown you as we work on the basics. So tell me what you do know.”
Moving to the back of the board, I hoisted myself up. “I know you need to find the sweet spot so the nose doesn’t dip under the wave or sit too high. This, I didn’t have a problem with. It was the whole chase-the-wave-and-pop-up bit.”
“Okay, show me how you pop up,” Ghost instructed.
Heaving a sigh, I pushed up like a plank, then tried to bring one foot forward only to have the board shoot out from under me. Then, into the water I went just like I knew was going to happen.
“You all right there, angel?” Ghost asked as I stood, wiping the water off my face.
I glared at him and pulled myself back on the board. “This is going about as well as it did last time.”
“From what I saw, you aren’t making sure you’re steady before pulling your foot forward. Everything is happening too fast. Slow it down. Pretend you’re doing yoga on a paddle board, and you need to keep things balanced and smooth,” Ghost explained.
This time, when I lifted on the board, I waited until I felt grounded.
“Good, just like that, now when you bring your foot forward, don’t take it so far. You need to take two steps, not just one.”
Just as I was moving forward, a large wave crashed behind us, tossing me off the board as a burst of whooping laughter could be heard. Once more, rising out of the water, I saw Jaxson and Magnus finish riding out the wave, high-fiving.
“Bad luck on that one. I should have been watching. Since it’s getting later, the waves are becoming a little rougher,” Ghost apologized. “Come on. You did way better that time. Let’s give it another go.”
Up on the board, I went, into my plank, holding firm, taking one step.
“All right now, lift your head and look where you’re going, don’t watch the board. It will stay where you want it if you trust it to.”
I wobbled a bit, then found my center, looked forward, brought the second foot up, and stood. There I was, standing on the longboard, even if I were a wobbly mess, while I tried to find my balance. The water undulated, and I was once more back in the ocean.
Popping up, I was met with a round of cheers, not that the other two had joined us.
“Gorgeous, you did awesome,” Jaxson encouraged. “I bet you can do it again now that you have a feel for it.”
“Standing on a board with no forward movement is tough, so don’t let that get you down,” Magnus added. “This time, let Ghost push you to simulate a wave and try. It should help.”
It was hard not to feel energized with all of them so excited with the small amount of progress I’d made. “Okay, let’s give it a shot.”
They were right. Now that I got a feel for what it should feel like, letting my body flow into it was easier.
I’d always been able to pick up new Pilates or yoga moves once I got a sense of them.
This seemed to be no different. As I pulled up on the board, finding the sweet spot, Ghost gave the board a good shove sending me forward.
The momentum was different, but as they said, keeping the board steady as I got up was helpful.
Standing and keeping the balance was far smoother, and I kept myself upright until the board slowed.
Before I could jump off, a strong arm wrapped around my legs and pulled me into the water. The next thing I knew, I was being tossed toward Magnus, who had a big smile on his face as he caught me.
“Look at you, doll. We’ll have you out here slicing waves in no time.” He all but purred as he nuzzled into my neck, giving me a playful nip.
“Don’t hog her. I’m the one doing all the hard work,” Ghost grumbled as he tugged me from Magnus.
His hand gripped my waist as he twirled me in the shallow water like I was a child, however, I couldn’t help but laugh at his antics.
“You did amazing, angel! I knew you just didn’t have the right teacher. ”
Laughter poured out of me until my cheeks hurt.
The guys were acting like I’d done something worth winning a medal for when all I’d done was the simple act of standing on a surfboard.
Pride bloomed in my chest at their reactions.
Is this why, when we were kids, we craved this kind of acknowledgment?
Because let me tell you, I was ready to do anything they asked if that’s the reaction I got.
“Now it’s time to take you out further so we can practice your timing.
Surfing is all intuitive. You need to feel when the wave is going to crest. It’s hard to teach, but once you get a feel for it, you’ll just know,” Ghost said as he plopped me on my board and placed the Velcro cuff around my ankle so I didn’t lose the damn thing.
The four of us paddled our way out to a spot between the larger wave break and the second round closer to the shore.
“Now, as you feel the swell, just start to paddle. You’ll see right away if you started too late or too early,” Jaxson instructed.
Ghost slapped an armful of water at Jaxson. “Hey, who’s teaching here?”
“You didn’t say it, so I figured I would before we paddled off, and she didn’t know what to do,” he shot back.
Before the moment devolved into a typical fight between the brothers, a wave started to form. “Go, go, go,” they yelled in unison.
There was a flurry of motion as all of us started to paddle.
It was clear I was late on the uptake, and the wave passed me by while the three of them rode it out.
I stayed where I was, knowing another would be along soon enough, and as Ghost said, you just have to feel it.
Then I could feel the water start to pull back as it created the round.
Once I saw the round beginning to head toward the beach, I paddled.
Cupping my hands, I scooped into the water, propelling me forward along with the motion of the wave.
This time I knew I got the right timing, and as I started to get my board on top of the wave, I began my steps to stand.
Keeping my body steady, looking up as I moved forward, I hovered a moment, ensuring my weight was balanced and pushed off with my fingertips.
I was standing with my knees bent. My board crested the top of the wave, and I rode down it, but my body started to pitch to the side and out went my feet.
The wave rolled me under the water a few times before I broke the surface.
The cord attaching me to my board tugged while it kept it from being carried off.
Swimming after it, I tried to regain my orientation and figure out where I was and where the guys ended up.
Shoving myself up so I could see farther, I spotted them a little to the left.
They waved and shouted, making me smile as I paddled my way over to them.
It seemed a cross-current pulled as I was waiting for the wave.
I saw a flash of something purple from the corner of my eye, but I assumed it was a fish or something.
Then a searing white-hot pain jolted up my leg.
Reflexively, I jerked my leg, but this only seemed to make it worse.
Looking in the water, I spotted a lone jellyfish with a trailing tentacle wrapped around my calf.
The more I struggled, the worse the pain was, but I had to get it off.
For some ridiculous reason, I kept hearing the damn clownfish from Finding Nemo, “You can only touch the tops. The bottom is poison.” Rolling off the board, I screamed and kicked out, knocking the jellyfish off my leg, but the pain was so bad I couldn’t seem to focus.
I grabbed for the board, desperate to get up on it so I didn’t run into the jellyfish again.
The sound of splashing alerted me that the guys were coming and would know what to do.
“Harper!” Magnus bellowed. He grabbed me and turned us both on our backs so he could keep me above water. “What the hell happened? Are you okay?”
“Jellyfish,” I whimpered, my whole left leg throbbing as if hot acid had been dropped on it.
“Jaxson, get her tether off so I can get her to the beach,” Magnus barked out. “Do we have the first-aid kit in the duffle?”
“Yeah, I made sure it was stocked the other day. We should have everything we need,” I heard him answer as I was freed from my board and towed back to the beach.
The moment Magnus’s feet touched the sand, he swung me into his arms and hauled ass out of the water. He laid me out on the towels and started to look at my leg.
“You have to pee on it, please it hurts so bad,” I begged, tears pricking at the corner of my eyes.
Magnus looked at it, and brushed my wet hair out of my face. “Doll, that doesn’t really work. It’s an old wives’ tale, and it could actually make the pain worse. We have something that will help. Just let me get the rest of this tentacle off your leg. Seems the bastard really latched on to you.”