AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The freedom to go as far and as hard as I want.
Waves aren’t great, but I find my rhythm. I catch a decent swell and ride it all the way to shore. I do it again. And again.
My stomach rumbles with growing hunger. The cobwebs in my head begin to clear.
I was a jackass yesterday. The “sidewalk fight”. The ensuing black eye.
That goddamn proposal.
And telling Jenny to end things with that dickwad she’s seeing but not seeing? I had no right.
And yet I still hold my board in a death grip when I think about some idiot motherfucker giving her the runaround.Hehas no right. Does she not think she deserves better? She’s so smart and talented. Open-minded. Not to mention a wonderful friend. And yeah, the fact that she’s fucking gorgeous doesn’t hurt either.
The sun climbs in the sky, warming the air. I feel the blood pumping through my veins. My legs are steadier now than they were when I woke up.
I’m going up on my surfboard when I glimpse a familiar figure making its way down the beach.
My gut clenches. Shit.
Riley.
I’m able to make out his expression as I hurtle toward the shore. He stares me down, mouth a flat line.
So he heard about the sidewalk fight, then. I meant to call him yesterday, but after Joe’s bombshell news, I just forgot.
“Hey!” he calls as I get closer. “A word?”
I ride a wave to shore and hop off my board onto the sand. Shake the water out of my hair before smoothing it back with my hand.
I’ve known Riley since we were freshmen in high school back in South Port. Like me, he came from a broken home. But he didn’t let that stop him from chasing down his dream of being even richer than the richest families who summer here on the island.
Matter of fact, he’s fixing to marry a girl from one of those families. He and Lu Wade fell in love ten years ago, when his mom was working for her grandparents as their housekeeper. They recently reunited, Riley took his shot, and now they’re engaged because, well,of coursethey are.
“How’d you know I was here?” I ask.
“You weren’t at home. The bartender at Stede’s didn’t see you last night, so you didn’t shack up with a barfly. Next guess was a workout.”
Dropping my board onto the sand, I begin to peel off my wetsuit. “I’m sorry. About the Harrisons.”
“We’re gonna lose a million. Probably more, and all because you couldn’t keep it in your goddamn pants. Jesus Christ, Abel. Look at you!” He gestures to my eye. “You’re a mess.”
I spear a hand through my hair. “I got no excuse. Actually, I do. The man treats her like garbage. And you know, I didn’t even?—”
“Don’t care.” Riley holds up his hands. “Keep those sordid details to yourself. Just—get your act together, all right? This can’t keep happening. It affects everyone. You, me, all the people who work for us. Think about your subs and all the people they employ. And it’s not only the money. It’s our reputation that’s taking a real hit. Your reputation, specifically.”
I scrunch up my face. My banged-up eye pulses. “I do good work. Very good work. Our waitlist is a mile long. That’s the reputation that matters. Who I do or don’t sleep with is irrelevant.”
Riley pokes his tongue into his cheek as he slowly shakes his head. “You really don’t get it. People hear that a GC fucks his clients’ wives, they’re not gonna touch us with a ten-foot pole.”
“Because I have a ten-foot pole?”
“Would you stop?” Riley asks, even as his lips twitch. “Point being, it doesn’t matter if you’re the best, most talented builder in the state. People won’t care if they know you break up clients’ marriages. This shit ends now, you hear?”
He’s right. I’m also not entirely in the wrong. But proving that would require me taking a deep dive into a story I’m not all that interested in revisiting.
Also. “Cleaning up my act” has me thinking about marrying Jen again.
Specifically, how me being engaged to such a perfect, well-respected woman would solve this problem, and many others, in one fell swoop.
