Mr. Mitchell Billionaires' Club Book 2 - Raylin Marks Page 0,135

my paddling with the current a notch. Once I found the break, I popped up—faster this time—dropped down, and focused on enjoying the ride this time instead of the fact that I could get up. I leaned back some and carved the water—nice fucking board—and rode next to the wall as the wave curled over me. The familiar sound it made—like banging on a hollow pipe—surrounded me. Now, it was time to stay ahead of the water that was on my ass. I put more pressure on my front foot, crouched down, and sped up the board. It felt like such a rush, needing to beat the powerful water that was crashing in on itself behind me.

Come on, I thought, crouching more, knowing I was inches ahead of where the water was crashing. Now, it was just me and the wave I chose. Nothing else mattered but beating this. I was only zeroed in on outrunning the tunnel. Once I made it through, I instinctively threw both hands in the air, and before I ended up sinking in the whitewash, I cut back on the shoulder of the wave and dropped down, paddling out some and kissing the board.

“Fucking hell!” I heard one of the guys say as I paddled over to them.

Jake met me with a high five, and I grinned. “Wow, guess that makes two of us who still have it after all these years,” I said, looking for Addy on the shore. I smiled when I saw her holding onto Jim’s hand and jumping up and down. “So sweet that he had her watch me,” I said, mainly to myself.

“You killed that,” Collin said. “Are you taking another?”

I brushed water over my forehead and face. “I’m not conditioned to sit out and surf all day. Just needed to beat the hell out of a wave and feel victorious for a second.”

“You looked great,” Jake said. “Tell Ash I’m riding one more then I’ll be in behind you.”

That afternoon we were all relaxed and sat around talking about random shit. Addy stole Jim away from me more than once, obsessed with her sandcastles and digging for treasures that she and Jim were using great imaginations to find.

While they were occupied, it gave me time to get to know Ash more, and it didn’t take long to feel like we connected really well on a friendship level. She told me about the struggle of losing her mom to cancer, almost losing her dad, and how Jake was pretty much her saving grace. Their story was beautiful, and I could definitely relate to her about finding herself—virtually overnight—in a relationship with a gazillionaire. Neither of us came from a champagne and caviar background, so it was nice to bond over that.

I didn’t go into great detail about my life history. God only knew that my past wasn’t something I liked to drop on people, and that was more to save them from feeling uncomfortable. Most people didn’t know how to react, and I didn’t want the pity anyway. I only gave the highlight reels of how I was a runaway after being stuck in a shitty foster home, rebelled outrageously, and practically lived in the ocean for years in Santa Cruz. Even if I didn’t think it was a depressing subject, the truth was that I wasn’t very comfortable opening up to people. I guess that’s what happens after being on your own for so long. Maybe it was out of fear of judgment, or perhaps it was self-protection to avoid talking about the trauma of it all, but either way, that was all I was comfortable sharing for now.

As I listened to Ash talk about her mother, my heart went out to her. Ash had had a close relationship with her mother, and she gave up college and all of her young-adult prospects to take care of her while she was dying. I always imagined there was a special place in heaven for people who sacrificed so much to care for other people. That kind of sacrifice wasn’t something I’d ever experienced—certainly not from my mother—so I couldn’t relate to Ash’s experiences in that way, but listening to her story gave me a look into what kind of person she was. I knew instantly that people like her were rare, and it didn’t surprise me one bit that Jim’s brother didn’t want to let her go. After hearing her story and the story of how Jake and Ash got