Rough Waters (21 page)

“This sucks,” I say. “I didn’t move here for
this – to take community college courses and make my parents’
dreams come true. Do you realize that even with a college degree
you’ll still be making more money than I will after I slave away
with ten-page essays?”

A.J. glances over his shoulder. I instantly
regret it. Yes, he’s a high school drop-out who hasn’t even
bothered with a GED, but A.J. is no bum. He has motivation and
drive, even if no one else sees it.

“Thanks,” he says, dramatically rolling his
eyes on purpose.

I toss the wash cloth on the concrete and
glance around the massive storage unit of Strickland’s Boating.
These carousel sea creatures aren’t getting any shinier. They’re
still as dull as my future.

“I’m sorry,” I say, running my hands through
my hair. “I just feel like I’m back at square one, and this time, I
have nothing to chase after or hope for. I swear, it’s like my life
mirrors Colby’s so much that it’s not even a coincidence
anymore.”

A.J. leans against one of the Jet Skis in the
unit and folds his arms over his chest. “It’ll work out,” he says,
nodding along. “For you, for Colby, for all of us. Shark’s watching
out for us.”

I laugh. Of course Shark is watching out for
everyone. Shark loved these people and had a plan for them. Colby
just screwed up, and I accidentally hijacked his plan. He should’ve
never made that trip back to North Carolina.

“Shark isn’t watching out for me, though,” I
tell him. “Shark never even knew me. I’m not on his list of
endangered species.”

A.J. shakes his head. “You’re wrong. You’re
one of us. You’ve been there for me, Topher, Colby, and even Vin.
You’re part of this, and Shark has your back.”

Everything in me wishes I could believe him.
This summer feels cursed, like a bad omen telling me to leave, that
I’m not meant to be part of the Drenaline Surf family. Maybe this
is Shark’s way of watching out for me. Maybe he’s telling me to get
out before the rough waters sweep me out to sea forever.

I jump when my cell phone buzzes in the
silence. A.J. watches while I move toward the glowing screen. The
name flashing at me actually scares me. There’s no reason Shark’s
dad should ever be calling my cell phone.

“Hello?” My voice sounds foreign when I
speak.

“Haley, it’s Joe,” he says through the
earpiece. “Are you alone?”

I glance at A.J. but decide not to lie. “A.J.
is with me,” I say. “But we’re alone.”

The next few sentences literally freeze my
body. He needs us to come to his house. He needs us not to speak a
word to anyone. He’ll explain when we get there. I nod while he
talks, unable to verbalize anything in my brain.

I put my phone in my back pocket after I end
the call. Then I turn to A.J.

“We have to go,” I say.

I play out every possible scenario on the
drive to Joe’s house. Maybe Colby told him the truth about the
lawsuit or maybe he’s already turned in a resignation letter. Maybe
Drenaline Surf has already been sued, and we’re going under.
Shark’s dream and legacy may have already crashed and burned and
sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

Topher’s truck sits in Joe’s driveway when we
arrive. That unnerving feeling settles in the pit of my stomach.
Topher isn’t supposed to be back in Horn Island until tomorrow. Joe
stands on his porch and waves to us when I kill the engine.

We follow Joe into his living room, and I
feel crazy awkward because I’ve never technically been inside Joe’s
house before. It feels sacred in a way. It’s almost as weird as
what it’d feel like to be in Shark’s house, wherever that is.

The sunlight pours over the hardwood floors
and casts a glow on the living room. Joe motions us to the couch,
and I’m thankful to sit because my anxiety would probably slam me
into the floor if I had to stand any longer.

He sits in a chair across from A.J. and me. A
shelf with wooden tiki carvings rests against the wall behind him.
They remind me of the ones at Kale’s house. It feels rustic and
beachy here. It feels like Horn Island.

“There’s no easy way to say this,” Joe
begins. “So I’ll just be straight forward – Vin’s gone. He left
last week with no intention of coming back here.”

He explains, as A.J. and I pick our jaws up
off the floor, that Vin’s business trip to Florida was nonexistent.
He signed Drenaline Surf back over to Joe, paid the next month’s
rent on his and Topher’s apartment, left some cash for his brother,
and headed to Louisiana for some mechanic job on an oil rig. This
can’t be real. Vin Brooks would never leave Horn Island.

“I know this is a lot to take in,” Joe says.
“I was surprised at first too, but he’s had so much on him since we
lost Jake. He took on too much, and he’s too damn stubborn to let
anyone help him. I think he decided to take a page from Colby’s
book and run.”

The irony makes my insides twist around like
a tangled octopus. But I don’t think I can truly call it irony.
Colby ran for his freedom from something he couldn’t change. Vin
could’ve changed his fate at any moment. He didn’t have to run. He
just took the coward’s way out.

“Why did you call me?” I ask. I’m certain Joe
knows that Vin and I have been over. I’m one of the last people he
should call in this crisis.

Joe nods like he knew that question was
coming. “My son out there didn’t walk to talk to anyone but you,”
he says, nodding outside. “I told him I’d call and get you over
here.”

Topher. I honestly don’t even want to go
outside and face him because I’m not sure how he’s feeling. If I
know him at all, he’s pissed off. He’s probably cursing Vin
straight into some fiery pit of hell. Regardless of their problems,
Vin’s the only blood family Topher has left. He needs his brother,
and Vin may not realize it now, but he needs Topher too.

“I’ll be outside if you need me then,” I say,
forcing myself off of the couch and back toward the door. Like it
or not, this is where I have to be right now.

I walk around Joe’s house, and Topher sits on
the beach, near the shoreline. I trudge through the Horn Island
sand and attempt to steady my breathing as I make my way toward
him. He looks up at me when I stop beside him. I take a seat in the
sand.

“Are you okay?” I ask, even though I know the
answer.

Topher shoots me this ‘you’ve gotta be
kidding’ look, which answers my question.

“I can’t believe he fucking left,” Topher
says. “I mean, quitting the store or moving out is one thing, but
leaving Horn Island? Who the hell leaves Horn Island? Shark
died
three years ago, and he’s still in Horn Island.”

We sit in silence for a few minutes while
Topher eats sugar cubes and stares at the rolling waves ahead of
us. I don’t think I could go back to a landlocked area. The sound
of the ocean is normal now, almost comforting. I wonder what an oil
rig in Louisiana will sound like. I wonder if Vin will miss
this.

“Motherfucker,” Topher mumbles. Then he
laughs. “He seriously gave up the deed to Drenaline Surf. He paid
next month’s rent and left me a thousand dollars on the kitchen
counter. He sent me on that damned Ocean Blast Energy trip with
Miles so he could pack up and move out. There’s nothing left.”

He empties the last few sugar cubes from his
bag but throws them in the ocean instead of popping them in his
mouth.

“Have you talked to him?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “I have nothing to say to
him right now. He left me a letter with all this bullshit about how
he needed to get away and how he couldn’t take the pressure here
anymore, like leaving a goddamned letter would make it all
okay.”

I wish there was something I could say. I
wish I could tell him that he’s not alone and that he has this
whole Drenaline Surf family behind him, but I know it’s not the
same. No matter how much they fought, they’re brothers. Vin has
been Topher’s lifeline for years. Vin is the only stability he’s
had.

Topher sighs. “I hate asking Joe to make
phone calls for me, but I don’t think I can handle telling anyone.
I’m going to Miles’s house when I leave here. He already knows. He
walked into an empty apartment and goodbye letter with me.”

“It’s okay,” I say. “I actually thought he
was calling about Colby.”

“Colby?” Topher asks. “What about him?”

Damn it all to hell. I’ve been the freaking
ambassador of keeping Colby’s name and the lawsuit out of Hooligan
territory, and I’m the one who blows it all. I can’t tell him the
truth – especially now.

“It was nothing,” I lie. “You know how Colby
is. He gets all diva about stuff, and he never got along with Vin.
I thought maybe he went above him to complain or something.”

Topher laughs. “Haley, that’s about the worst
bullshit lie you’ve ever told me. Stop protecting me. I’m going to
be okay. What’s going on with Colby?”

I inhale as much west coast ocean air as I
can and secretly hope it smothers me so I can’t speak. When I
realize I’m still breathing, I decide to just confess all of
Colby’s secrets.

“Look, it’s not my secret to tell,” I say.
“But Colby’s parents filed a lawsuit against him, and he’s been
ignoring it, but he received word this week that if he doesn’t
settle and pay them off, they’re going after Shark’s estate and
Drenaline Surf too.”

Topher doesn’t say a word. He stares at me
for a few seconds, but I can’t handle the silence, so I continue
spilling Colby’s troubles.

“At first, he had the ‘fuck you’ attitude
because they demanded he move back to North Carolina and change his
name back and leave this life behind,” I explain. “But now, he’s
planning on leaving because he refuses to let Drenaline Surf or Joe
go through that because of him.”

“You’re serious?” Topher asks.

I nod. “Yeah, he said Joe deserved better.
His exact words were, ‘I may have put my parents through hell, but
I refuse to put that man through it.’”

Topher shakes his head. “No, I know that. He
loves Joe, and he loved Shark. I know he’d do anything for them. I
meant about the lawsuit.”

The ocean rages in Topher’s blue eyes,
dancing like crazy waters about to join a hurricane. All this time
I thought no one believed in Colby, that no one knew who he truly
was. I thought Shark was the only person aside from me who saw that
light in him. But Topher knows. In spite of everything Vin ever
said about Colby Taylor, Topher knows.

“You believe in him.” The words come out in a
whisper.

Topher nods slowly and sort of looks at me
like he’s shocked by my statement. “Well, yeah,” he says. “I was in
the store the day he walked in. I knew that look on Shark’s face
when he was talking to Colby and talking about his future. It was
almost the same look he gave me – almost. I’ve always liked Colby.
Vin just made me stay away from him.”

“Well, you won’t have to worry about that
anymore,” I say. I bury my face in my hands. “Sorry. I didn’t mean
to say that out loud.”

But then it hits me. Vin isn’t the only one
we’re losing. Colby’s about to leave too. Colby Taylor is going to
cease to exist. He’ll change his name back to Spence Burks and move
back to North Carolina and get a fucking law degree. This cannot be
happening to us.

“It’s cool,” Topher says. “My brother’s a
dick. We both know that. I hate admitting it, but I’m sort of
scared to start making decisions without him.”

He pushes himself up from the sand and grabs
an envelope that was sitting on his other side. He reaches for my
hand and pulls me up.

“He didn’t just leave a goodbye letter,”
Topher says, handing the envelope to me. “Take this. Read it when
you get home. Let’s just keep it between us…and Joe…and Miles. I’m
actually going to crash at Miles’s place tonight. I don’t want to
go home. It doesn’t feel right. Can I call you in the morning?
After the sun’s up?”

I nod and wrap him up in the best hug I can
give. He holds on a bit too long, which I get – he’s distraught –
but I wish he’d let me go so I can see what’s in this damn
envelope.

After we walk back to the house, A.J. lingers
on the porch with Joe and Topher for a minute, so I rush to my car
for isolation and open the envelope. Before I even unfold the
papers all the way, I immediately know what it is – a Drenaline
Surf contract…with Topher’s name on it.

Reed stands over the oven with a pot of
boiling water. Alston sits on a barstool playing on his phone. This
is how our household looks every night, except I’m usually
attempting to help Reed and A.J. is usually outside smoking. I
almost hate to wreck their normal little lives with what has
happened.

“Vin’s gone,” A.J. says from behind me.

Alston looks up from his phone, and Reed
turns away from the oven. At least I didn’t have to be the one to
say it. Working in a management position at Drenaline Surf has
given A.J. a whole new confidence. He steps into the leadership
role so easily these days, so I don’t interrupt him as he tells the
guys what Joe told him about Vin’s departure.

“But now a lot of things are up in the air,”
A.J. says. “Vin’s gone. We have no real management. I’m just a
store manager. I don’t deal with payroll and public relations and
marketing. I can check inventory and run the store while he’s gone,
but there’s a lot I don’t do or know how to do.”

Reed walks from the oven to the sink and
briefly disappears in a cloud of steam when he drains the water. He
darts around the kitchen like a chef on a timer in a five-star
restaurant. Then he calmly leans back against the countertop.

“What about the second store?” he asks A.J.
“Is that even an option now? Drenaline can’t open a second store if
the first one is at risk of floundering.”

“That’s what we’ve gotta talk about. Joe
asked if I’d keep my job and help him get the store fully staffed.
I also told him I’d need a PR rep,” A.J. says as he shoots a look
my way. “Joe said I already had the perfect candidate, so if you
want your job back, it’s yours. Please say yes.”