call, too confused to feel anything else. My dad has said a lot of idiotic things over the years. He’s made it clear before that he had no interest in the nitty gritty parts of raising me. I don’t know why today, of all days, it hit me that it’s time to stop tolerating him. Maybe because he did actually hurt me, and Jordan, when he didn’t bother telling his wife or the wedding party not to post pictures of us. It’s a relatively minor thing in the grand scheme of all the wrongs he’s committed over the years. Maybe it wasn’t even within his control in the first place. But I’ve got enough drama coming my way from Shred Live and my elevated fame. The last thing I need is someone in my life who calls himself Dad but brings me nothing but negativity. With one call from him earlier in the car, I went from an incredible mood to a sour one. I didn’t even answer at first and he had that effect.
It’s time to focus on people and relationships that bring out the better parts of me, not the worst.
I’m about to turn around when I feel her hand on my back.
“Beck? You okay?”
I spin and slide my arms around her, needing her comfort. “Yeah, I will be. I’ll tell you about it later. Let’s check out the digs for Brazen, yeah?”
“Sure.”
Griff’s excitement is contagious. The store front expands to a storage area in the back. Griff wants to knock down the wall to make space for a little half pipe and a rail and a box. Upstairs there’s plenty of space for offices, at least based on the current numbers of employees. The rent is high, but with the momentum Brazen’s built, it’s not out of range.
I don’t know if it’s the energy from talking about the vision for Brazen’s future, or the excitement of a new park, and a private one at that, but Jordan is fire on a skateboard later that day. I haven’t seen her skate like this since… no, I’ve never seen her skate like this before.
“I thought you said you needed time before you were ready to compete?” Griff calls to her after she lands a 360.
She skates closer. “I do. I’m still not ready for inverts or steep ramps.”
Griff and I exchange looks. “Hotshot,” I say, using my new nickname for her. “You just dropped a steep ramp and landed a 360 off it.”
Jordan glances behind her at said ramp. “Oh shit, that is pretty steep, isn’t it?”
“Bikini Girl thought so,” Griff says.
“Please tell me she didn’t make it past the first couple of rounds?” Jordan asks.
“She didn’t,” Griff and I assure her in unison. He adds, “She still managed to hook up with half the male cast in her short stint though.”
“Bummer. I was hoping she wouldn’t be so predictable. Skating in a bikini doesn’t have to mean you have sex with tons of guys for attention, does it?”
“No, guess not. But I don’t want Summer and Naomi skating in bikinis, and not only because of the road rash potential.”
“So, Bikini Girl got road rash dropping that ramp?” Jordan guesses.
“You’ll just have to watch the episode,” I tell her.
“Let’s just say I don’t think Brazen’s going to be coming out with a bikini line anytime soon,” Griff says.
“That’s fine,” Jordan calls, already skating away to try a new feature. “I need more chest support anyway!”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jordan
We’re doing this. Watching Shred Live, together in my room. There are ten episodes, each about forty-five minutes long. One guy and one girl get eliminated each episode, and since I know Beck makes it to the end, my plan is to binge watch the entire thing. It will be more television viewing in one day then I typically watch in several months combined. I just want to get it over with, but Beck thinks I’ll need a break. Either way, we’re starting at 3 PM, so if we push through, we can still get to bed at a reasonable hour. It’s the day after one of my most epic sessions on a skateboard in months, maybe ever. I didn’t realize it at the time, I don’t think, but after sleeping on it, I recognize some sort of breakthrough happened yesterday. I’m hoping the rush from that will get me through whatever crap goes down on these episodes.
“You ready?”
“Ready.”
He hits play, and episode one begins.
Beck’s more nervous about this than I am, so I