Surge : A Stepbrother Romance (13 page)

Chapter
25 Mick - Redemption

        I return to my house in the morning, if only to
prove to myself that it’s still mine. Also to take some time to think about how
I am going to solve this whole money situation.  My house is still in tatters—scaffolding
everywhere, wood all over the place, boarded up windows. It’s a mess.

That wasn’t important
right now. Right now I needed to call my accountant.

“Hi, Marvin? It’s Mick. I
want to go over my money with you. Well, I really want to find out how much
money I have left.”

        “Mick? Are you serious?”

        “Yeah, what’s the problem?”

        “I told you months ago you were running on
empty and you had to change your lifestyle if you were going to save any money.
You don’t have any money left. Your sponsors have dropped you, you’re not
competing anymore, from what I hear. Everything you own is financed and owned
by the bank. If I were you, I would sell that house and get whatever equity we
were able to put into it.”

        “So, you’re saying I’m broke?”

        “No, if you were broke, that would mean you
just have zero. You have less than zero. You’re in debt. I told you all of this
months ago. Do yourself a favor, Mick—return the cars, sell the house, and you
may come out just broke.”

        I hang up the phone numbly. All of this time,
all of that money, I have burned through it all. I have no career, I can barely
surf, and if I’ve really screwed up this badly. Financially, I have reached rock
bottom.

As I sit back, ready to
wallow in despair, I have an epiphany. I realize that the money doesn’t matter,
but Sam and our baby sure as hell do. I need to get back to her. I loved Sam
and she needs to know that. I immediately picked up the phone, she did not
answer. Jumping back into my beater I made my way back to her house.
Why did
I even have those expensive cars? I spent most of my time in this car anyways.

       
As I pull into
Sam’s driveway, I see her van isn’t there—she must be down at the beach. She’s
always parked by the pier, and thankfully, today is not an exception. Running
out of my car like a madman, I call her name.

        “Sam!
Sam!”

She looks in my direction
threw her arms up and then continued to ignore me. Her stress regarding her
financial situation is showing through.

        “Sam, I need to talk to you about my financial
situation.”

        “Mick, we can talk about this later. I have to
give out these flyers so I don’t lose my business. Not all of us have millions
of dollars.”

        “Well, that’s more good news. I am broke! Well,
according to my accountant, worse then broke.”

        “What are you talking about?”

        “I have burned through a lot of cash. Now I
have to get a real job!”

        “This is supposed to make me happy? I don’t
need to take care of someone else. One sec. Hi, there, are you interested in
surfing lessons?” Someone has approached Sam to inquire.

        The man looks over at me and smiles. “Well, if
Mick is teaching them, then we may just be.”

Sam looks pleased at the
thought. I’m sure it doesn’t hurt her feelings that she might become my boss. I
turn to the man.

“I would love to teach
you how to surf. Come back tomorrow. Lessons start at eight a.m. for $150 an
hour.”

        “I would have paid double. Deal!”

I smile at Sam. “We may
have just found a solution to our problems… partner.”

        “Don’t get any ideas, Mick,” she tells me. “You
are not my partner. You are my employee.”

        But the important thing is she smiles back.
Who knows? Maybe this will be good for us. I lean in toward her for a kiss,

        “Ah, ah, ah—no fraternizing during work hours.
Here are some flyers. Get to work.”

***

        We spend the rest of the day booking
appointments for the coming days, then weeks, then months. It appears as though
I’m quite a draw. The crowd continues to build. News crews come by, asking for
an interview. I refuse to give them anything; the last thing I want to do was
to get into that world again. They’re pissed, obviously, so I fend them off by
letting them know I’ll be competing in the next pro tour contest.

        “Mick. Mick!” There’s someone yelling overtop
of the crowd.

        I squint to see if I can tell who it is. It’s
Jaime.
Good fucking Lord.

        “What do you want?” I hiss at him.

        He glares. “It is not what I want. It’s what
you owe me.”

        “We’re still under contract, so anything you
make from this operation, I get a piece of.”

        “Jaime, you are such a fucking crook. Why
didn’t I see this before?”

        He shrugs. “It’s nothing personal. It’s just
business.”

        Jaime has some kid beside him. I can only
assume, after his run-in with Greg, it’s a bodyguard. He looks rather small to
be a bodyguard, though.

        I nod to the stranger. “Who the fuck is this
guy?”

        “Oh, that’s right, you don’t pay attention to
surfing anymore. This is Blane Vandeer. He’s a surfer from Brazil. I guess you
can call him your replacement.”

        My blood begins to boil. I want to hate that
kid, but why should I? He’s trying to make a living, just like me.

        I look back to Jaime. “I have a proposition
for you.”

        He raises his brows. “Oh, yeah?”

“I am going to surf in
the next contest. If I beat your boy here, you rip up all the contracts you
have with me and absolve any outstanding debt.”

Jaime laughs. “Why would
I do that?”

“If your boy here wins, I
will give you all of the money that I owe you, plus the Shelby Cobra you have
been trying to get from me for all these years.”

        Jaime blinks at me, hard. “Are you serious? From
what I heard, you can’t even walk, never mind surf. On top of that, you are
going to give me your 1.5 million dollar car?”

        I smile. “Yup.”

        Sam pipes up. “Mick, don’t do this. There has
to be another way.”

        I understand her concern. I’m not sure I can surf,
and now I’m putting this all on the line. I need to do this to break away from Jaime,
though. I need to be able to start out with a clean slate. I need to do this
for Sam and me. Besides, I don’t even own the Cobra. As my accountant said, I’m
worse than broke. The worst thing that happens here is I go bankrupt. Done
deal!

Chapter
26 Mick - Training

        “Mick, don’t do this. There has to be another
way.”

        “Deal,” Jaime says.

        Jaime shakes my hand with all the greed in the
world. I am amazed at just how slimy he is. I never thought he was my friend,
but I also never thought it would come to this. I need to start training, and
training hard.

        “Mick!” Sam snaps once Jaime has walked away. “Why
would you do that?”

        “No time for that now, I need your help. Can
you train me to win?”

        “I don’t know, Mick.”

        “I need you to say yes.”

        She sighs. “Yes.”

        “You don’t believe it now, but you will soon
enough. We are going to get our lives back, and it all starts tomorrow.”

        Sam and I barely talk for the rest of the day.
We don’t even go home together. I’m not really sure she wants to be with me. After
all, I have put everything on the line. But I truly believe I can do it. We
agree to meet up at the beach the next morning to start the lessons with our
new clients, after their lessons will be mine.

***

        As I’m teaching people how to surf, it amazes
me how much insight I’m able to gain. I never really had to think about the how
of it before; it’s always just come to me naturally. Now, however, I have to
think about it. I am able to understand and break down how I used to do what I
did and what people need to do in order to master the skills of surfing.

I have great success that
day. Every single one of my students is able to stand on the board. A few are even
able to turn. As surfing goes, to turn on your first day is quite a feat. There
is a great deal of satisfaction in teaching, something I never thought I would
ever say. I truly and thoroughly enjoy it.

As I finish with my last
student, I looked over to see Sam. She’s majestically standing on the beach,
her arms across her chest. She’s trying to be mad, but a smirk falls across her
face. She loves the fact that I am teaching and I think she loves the fact that
I am that happy about being in the water.

My grin cannot be
contained as I watch her watching me. This was the woman I love.

Once the last student is done,
we begin working on my surfing. I grab my favorite board and head out to the
water. Nervousness washes over me. I think about the impending competition and
how embarrassed I’ll be if I can’t surf. I sit up on my board, waiting for a
wave. Looking down at my leg, I can see the scars where the shark sunk his
teeth into my flesh. My heart pounds just looking at it.

        “What’s wrong, Mick?”

        “Nothing. Just thinking about something that
happened to me once.”

        “Mick, if you’re scared, do it anyways.”

        She knows what I’m thinking about. In fact,
most times she knows what I’m thinking. My life has changed so completely in
the past few months, and there is no way I’d be here today without her. She’s
so beautiful, so perfect—she is my everything now.

I nod at her and make my
way into the next wave. I spring up to my feet and steady myself on the board. It’s
an amazing feeling. This must have been what it felt like when I surfed for the
first time. It amazes me that the water is pushing me, supporting me. I am at
one with the ocean, and I feel at peace.

I begin to make wide, sweeping
turns along the wave. Granted, I don’t have the same strength that I did
before, but I’m able to maneuver the board around. All of that strength may
come back with a little bit of time.

Getting to the end of the
wave and flopping back down, I look back to see Sam catching the next wave. She’s
a great surfer in her own right. She has the old school moves and a real grace
about her. She’s a real joy to watch. I don’t know why I never thought about
dating someone who I had something in common with before. It seems so obvious
now. I paddle out again, watching her, and she leaves her wave early so she can
meet me.

        “You’re looking good out there,” I tell her.

        Sam smiles. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

        We surf for about an hour after that, laughing
and joking all the way. This is what surfing is about. I regret making that bet
with Jaime, but it may be the only way to get him off my back. I hate him with
all that I am, and I need to be able to start a life with Sam and our new baby.
I just needed to win one more time!

        We continue to teach lessons that month and
surf every night. I get back a lot of my surfing skills, but I am definitely
not the surfer I used to be. I’m not sure I can win the competition, but I hope
I can at least beat that kid and win the bet.

       
        It’s now the day before the competition. Coincidentally, I have to go
into the hospital for a checkup on my leg to be sure everything has healed
properly. Sam accompanies me to the appointment. She’s been acting weird the
whole day.

        “What is your deal today?” I ask her.

        “Nothing. Why?”

        “I don’t know, it just seems like you’re up to
something.”

        “Just happy to be with you.”

        I shrug. “Okay, Sam, whatever.”

        The doctor is ready to see me as soon as we
arrive. I guess that is just the treatment you get when you’re a famous surfer
in Surf City USA. He’s quite pleased with the progress I had made. No doubt
surfing for the last month has probably helped to strengthen my leg. It’s
almost strong enough for me to surf the way I was used to—almost.

        “Keep up the good work, Mick. You have made an
almost miraculous recovery. I don’t think I need to see you anymore, so with
that, I will wish you the best and say goodbye.”

        “Thanks, doc. I would like to say I am going
to miss you, but I will be glad to be out of hospitals for a while.”

       
        Sam and I walk away from the doctor. I’m glad this is almost all behind
me, and also glad my leg is now “doctor-approved.”

        “One more thing, Mick,” the doctor says.

I turn to him. “Yeah?”

“Good luck.”

I smile. “Thanks, doc.”

As we walk away, Sam grabs
at her stomach. “Oh, my God!”

“What’s wrong, Sam?”

“I don’t know, Mick. Something
doesn’t feel right!”

“Is it the baby?”

“I think so.”

Looking at Sam, I notice
water is dripping on the floor. The doctor comes over and puts her in a
wheelchair. He grabs an orderly passing by.

“Take this woman to the maternity
ward immediately.”