Page 1
Prologue
Derek ruined everything! Ryker looked out at the waves with his surfboard planted next to his feet in the powdery sand. It wasn’t fair that Eddie got to go out with his brother, and he was stuck here on shore watching, just watching.
The waves are firing! And I’m missing it!
Ryker glared over at Derek who also had his butt planted in the sand as he watched Eddie and Larry surf.
“You’re a prick, you know that, don’t you?” Ryker asked.
“If you say one more word,” Derek turned to him, “I’ll tell Mom and Dad that you came out here without their permission and Dad’ll blister your ass.”
Ryker’s fists planted on either side of his long, skinny body. “Fuck you. The last time I was spanked was when I was four years old.”
“He’ll make an exception, trust me.”
Ryker had never heard his big brother sound so angry. How did he even find him, for God’s sake? The sun had only come up forty-five minutes ago. He couldn’t believe it when Larry drove into the parking lot and Ryker saw Darek’s fucked-up Volkswagen van.
I have the shittiest luck!
“This isn’t a big deal,” Ryker told him again. “Larry does this all the time.”
“Larry’s sixteen years old. There’s no way he should be taking his little brother out at The Wedge.”
“Larry knows what he’s doing. He explained he wouldn’t let either of us ride the big waves. He was looking out for us.”
“Goddammit, Ryker, you’re not listening to me. Somebody died out here last year. A grown man. This is exactly why Mom always asks you who you’re staying with and who’s going to be watching you.”
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…that was Derek, just moaning on about garbage that didn’t matter. Why couldn’t he be more like Larry? Larry was cool. Eddie said he even saw him have sex with a girl once, at least he was pretty sure because when he peeked in the downstairs basement, he could see her boobs and ass.
I bet Derek’s never had sex, and he’s even older than Larry.
“Are you listening to me?”
“If you’re not man enough to surf, why are we even staying here?”
Ryker’s sneer didn’t seem to bother Derek. “We’re staying because as soon as they come close to shore, I’m dragging Eddie’s ass out of the water and taking him home too. Mrs. Gilder is going to flip her shit when I tell her that Larry let him surf The Wedge.”
“You’re going to narc? You can’t fucking sell him out!” Ryker scrambled up to stand in front of his brother and yell down at him. It didn’t matter that he was only twelve years old and Derek was seventeen; if he told on Eddie, his friend would be grounded for the whole summer, and then who was he going to hang with?
“This is for your friend’s safety.”
“He’s been surfing even longer than I have. He started when he was six. He rips!”
“I know that. But it isn’t about how good he is, it’s about how strong he is, and he’s twelve, he hasn’t developed the muscle he needs to surf—”
Derek shot to his feet and kicked off his sneakers. He moved like lightning and grabbed Ryker’s board out of the sand and started running at the water. Ryker couldn’t even make out what his brother had seen that had him acting like the world was on fire.
He kept looking out at the ocean. There were nine surfers out there, almost all wearing black wetsuits, all coming off the last wave. Larry was easy to spot because his board was bright blue, but that’s when he saw it—a surfboard, light blue, floating upward with its nose pointed at the sky. It was Eddie’s.
Oh God, he’s tombstoning!
Shit, if his surfboard was standing on end like that, Eddie’s leash still had to be tied to it and he was probably halfway to the ocean floor!
Another wave was beginning to break. Ryker flinched as it plowed over Eddie’s surfboard. Now he couldn’t even see the spike of the board standing up in the surf.
Ryker tasted bile as he fought down the need to vomit. Eddie could die! He kept watching the others.
Where is Larry?
