I was glad I’d jumped in the ocean before coming in here.
“Derek.” Marina batted her eyelashes at him. “I’m sure Chase doesn’t need the details.”
Derek laughed like she’d said something charming. She hadn’t, particularly.
She turned back to me. “How are you finding our water?”
“Honestly? Swells aren’t much. I’ve seen better.”
Derek’s hand found my arm. “What Chase means is?—”
“He means the swells are flat.” Marina smiled. “He’s right. Give it a few days. The ocean works up slowly here.” She tilted her head slightly. “She needs a reason, but she might have just found one.”
Wasn’t a huge fan of how she looked at me while she said that.
“You surf?” I asked.
“I have a relationship with the water,” she replied.
Ah. Our local consultant.
Fuck me.
Derek laughed again, stepping between us with absolutely no subtly.
“Marina, can I steal him for just?—”
“Of course.” Her eyes lingered on me a half second longer than necessary, and she knew I saw. “We’ll have more time to talk, I’m sure.”
Derek steered me toward the merch table and immediately started in.
“Bottle in hand. Always. We’re doing the full setup shoot in an hour and I want it to be natural, okay? Not staged—natural.”
He picked one up off the table and held it out.
I took it and turned it over. The green, holographic label caught the light:
NEW BIODEGRADABLE BOTTLES
BECAUSE WE LOVE OUR OCEAN
“Sure.”
“You say that, but last time you put it down the second the cameras?—”
“I said sure, Derek.”
He pointed at me. “Natural.”
I glanced at the bottle.
You’re here with RipTide,Selena had said.
I was used to being the problem; it had never been my sponsor before. What could she have against them?
I looked around the massive tent again, taking up a huge amount of space on what she had calledher beach—generators churning, air-conditioning blasting. RipTide loved our oceans, as long as it didn’t have to experience any of the inconvenience of dealing with nature.
I guess I could see her issue.
