Chapter 27
Daisy and I surf for a couple of hours, and everything about it is perfect. There’s no one else out here for the first hour, although Alana and Flynn eventually join us. Watching those two surf is amazing. Daze and me both hanging back at one point as the two of them catch a wave in together.
“They really are good, aren’t they?” she murmurs, straddling her board beside me.
Chuckling, I grab her wrist, pulling her closer. “They are, yeah,” I say, my hand sliding up her arm to grip the back of her neck as I pull her in for a kiss.
Daisy smiles against my mouth. “What was that for?”
I kiss her again before pulling back. “For talking sense into me last night,” I say. She swallows hard, her eyes locked with mine. “You were right. Me going over there is exactly what he wanted. I don’t want to give that asshole anything, so thank you.”
She leans over to kiss me. “Thank you for coming back.”
I smile, nuzzling my nose against hers. “You know I’ll do anything for you, Daze,” I tell her. “Anything.”
“Oi, lovebirds, we surfing, or what?”
We both laugh at Flynn’s comment, his Aussie accent standing out as he and Alana paddle out to join us.
“Yeah, we’re surfing,” I tell him.
Flynn sits up on his board, an easy smile on his face. “Come on then, Olsen, show me what you’ve got.”
I glance behind me, looking for the next wave. “Any tips, coach?” I ask.
Flynn laughs. “Get your arse up on the board and surf, mate!” he says.
I see the swell build, knowing I’ve got my next wave. “Race you in?” I suggest with a grin.
He grins back at me, already lying on his board and ready. “Fuck yeah,” he says.
The wave reaches us, and we both start to paddle. Flynn is up on his board before me because he’s a five-time world champion. As I stand, I watch him carve through the face of the wave, glancing back at me, a huge grin on his face as he gives me a shaka.
He might be an Aussie, but the guy is fully embracing Hawaiian life.
“Come on, Olsen!” he shouts, barely even watching the wave as he switches back before disappearing into the barrel of the wave.
There’s not a chance in hell I can compete with this guy, but that’s okay. It’s enough that we’re just out here surfing together.
When we both reach the shore, I grab my board, tucking it under my arm. “Fuck, that was so good,” I tell him.
Flynn laughs, turning to the ocean where the girls are now catching a wave. “Nah man, she’s what’s good,” he says, gesturing to Alana.
And he’s right because she is good, always has been, even back when we were kids and Mitch and my dad were giving us tips on how to catch waves. Alana always stood out as something more, something better, and I’m so fucking glad she didn’t give up when Mitch died.
So glad Flynn came into her life too and convinced her to try again. The guy is her biggest supporter, and it’s everything that she needed.
Daze and Alana reach the shore, both of them smiling as they grab their boards and join us.
“Should we get going?” I ask Daisy, knowing we have lots to do today.
“Yeah,” she replies, smiling up at me.
We say goodbye to Alana and Flynn, who of course are still surfing, before we walk back to our house across the street.
I take care of our boards before joining Daisy in the shower, my hands resting on her hips as I step in behind her.
“Wanna go grab some breakfast before we go to the police station?” I ask, kissing the side of her neck.
Daisy turns to face me, her hands resting on my chest as she says, “I was thinking maybe we should just leave it.”
“What?” I ask. “You don’t want to get a restraining order?”
She shrugs, her eyes dropping to her hands. “I don’t know. Is it maybe overkill?”
I slide my hands up her sides to her neck, my thumbs under her jaw as I gently tilt her face up to mine. “No, I don’t think so,” I tell her.
She blinks up at me, and I brush her wet hair back off her face, waiting. “It just feels like maybe I overreacted. Like it’s not that big a deal.”
I suck in a breath, letting it out slowly before I speak. I don’t want to fight about this, but I also don’t want to just let it go. Daisy might have stopped me from going over to beat the shit out of Isaac last night, but that doesn’t mean I’m okay with just dropping it.
“Babe,” I start.
“I mean it’s not—”
“Daisy,” I say gently, my hands cupping her face. “He broke into our house. Twice. He harassed you at work, and he threw a bag of dog shit at our front door. I think the least we can do is get a restraining order.”
She blows out a breath, licking her bottom lip as she nods. “I just don’t want to provoke him any more than we need to.”
“I get that, but we can’t keep letting him get away with this, Daze,” I tell her. “This is our home, your workplace, and he’s fucking with that because he can.”
“I know,” she admits.
I lean in and press a soft kiss to her lips as I pull her closer. “You were right to stop me from going to see him last night, but we need to do this, babe,” I murmur against her mouth.
Daisy nods as she whispers, “Okay.”
I kiss her again, wrapping my arms around her as I pull her body flush against mine and slide a hand down her spine to her ass. “I love you.”
She smiles at that as she says, “Are you trying to distract me?”
Chuckling, I give her ass a squeeze as I drop to my knees, pressing a kiss to her stomach. “No, this is your distraction, babe,” I say before I bury my mouth between her thighs.
After we finish up in the shower and grab some breakfast, we head to the police station. I have no idea how these things work, but I’m guessing once we do this, Isaac will be told about it.
A part of me hopes he’ll react to it, coming over to our house and breaking the order straight away so his ass winds up in jail where it belongs.
I sit beside Daisy, my arm along the back of her chair as she outlines all the things Isaac has done since they broke up.
The cop listens, writing everything down, occasionally asking a question to clarify something.
When she’s done, he reads through his notes, nodding to himself before he looks up at us.
“Do you know why he would be doing all of this? This seems like a pretty extreme reaction to a breakup.”
Daze and I look at each other before turning back to him. I slide my arm closer, so my hand is resting against the back of Daisy’s neck. “There’s some history there,” I eventually say. “With me.”
The cop turns to me, a questioning look on his face as he says, “History?”
I nod. “Yeah, we used to be in a band together,” I start.
“We kinda got good, sort of made it big, but we kicked him out before that happened. He stayed here while we went on tour on the mainland. That’s.
..that’s um, when he went after my girl,” I continue, wishing I didn’t have to bring all of this up, knowing all it does is upset both of us.
“When I came back and Daisy dumped him, he obviously wasn’t happy. For a lot of reasons.”
The cop nods, writing some more notes before he asks, “And have there been any altercations between the two of you?” He gestures at me with his pen, as though to clarify.
I blow out a breath. “Yeah,” I admit. “I might have punched him a couple of times.”
“Might have?”
“I did,” I say.
The cop nods. “There is a possibility he may want to file assault charges. You know that, right?”
“Yeah,” I say, as Daisy says, “Isaac swung at Miles’ brother first.”
The cop turns to her now as he asks, “He what?”
Daze clears her throat. “The time he was at my work, he swung at Kai, Miles’ brother, first. Hit him right in the face.”
The cop doesn’t say anything as he writes more stuff down. Eventually, he looks up, giving us a smile as he says, “Okay, well, I think there’s enough here for a restraining order. We can deal with any additional charges if and when that happens.”
Beside me, Daisy exhales with relief as I gently squeeze the back of her neck.
“We’ll be able to get it in place for your home, but public places are a bit more difficult. We can mandate that he’s not to be within one hundred feet of either of you, so that should help.”
“We’re both going to be on it?” I ask, surprised. I wasn’t really thinking I needed to be, only caring about Daze being safe.
“Did you not want that?” he asks.
“We do,” Daisy says to him before she turns to me and adds, “It’s better this way.”
I smile at her, knowing I’ll do whatever she wants, whatever keeps her happy.
“Okay,” the cop now says. “We’ll get this drawn up and serve him with it today. You’ll get notification when it’s done, and if anything happens, don’t hesitate to call.”
“Thank you,” I say, standing as I hold out my hand for Daisy.
We walk out of the station, and I can already feel a weight lifting off my shoulders. Throwing my arm around Daisy’s shoulders, I pull her close, pressing a kiss to her temple. “You wanna go finish up at the bakery?”
She shakes her head, a smile on her face as she slips her arm around my waist and looks up at me. “Can we stop in at the bar first?”
“Sure,” I tell her. “You wanna let Lisa know what’s happening?”
“Uh huh,” she says with a nod. “And ask her a favor.”
“A favor?”
She smiles, pushing up on her toes to give me a quick kiss. “You’ll see.”
I grin, pulling her closer as we head to my car. It’s only a short drive to the bar, which is just opening for lunch. Inside, Lisa is restocking the fridges when we walk in.
“Hey,” she says, smiling over her shoulder at us.
“Hey,” Daisy replies.
“What’s up? You here for lunch?”
“Not exactly,” Daze says as she leans on the bar.
Lisa looks from Daisy to me and back to Daze again. “Okay, so what’s up?”
“So we’ve filed a restraining order against Isaac. He’s not going to be allowed within one hundred feet of either of us. He’ll be served today.”
“Well, thank god for that,” Lisa says, smiling.
Daisy laughs, glancing at me before she turns back to Lisa again. “So that’s the first thing,” she starts, reaching over, tugging on my T-shirt and pulling me closer.
“Oh?” Lisa asks as I stand here wondering what else Daisy came here for.
“I was wondering,” she starts, looking up at me again, “if maybe you’d be interested in a new music act for the bar?”
“Wait, Daze, what the hell?” I ask.
She turns to me, an easy smile on her face as she looks up at me. “Music is what you love, Miles.”
“You are what I love,” I tell her.
She rolls her eyes playfully. “Yeah, that too, but I know you miss playing.”
“How do you know that?” I ask, knowing I’ve barely spoken about my music since we got back together. And short of singing that song for her, there haven’t been any other times that I’ve picked up my guitar.
She steps toward me, resting her hands against my chest. “Because I know you,” she says. “And I see you looking at your guitar. Hear you singing along to the music when we’re working in the bakery. You miss it, Miles, and I want you to have it back again.”
“Daze,” I say softly.
“Miles,” she whispers back.
“I...I don’t want this to—”
“It won’t,” she says, knowing exactly what I’m thinking right now. “You’ve given me so much, Miles. So much. Please let me do this for you.”
I blow out a breath, my heart pounding in my chest for so many reasons right now. Daisy stares up at me, her eyes locked with mine as she waits for my answer.