AllFreeNovel
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Jealousy
Drew
Lying down flat on my stomach, I paddle my arms in the water, heading straight toward the wave coming in quickly. Brady and Matt are both to the right of me on their own boards, paddling toward the same wave. We’re all chasing the rush that comes with riding an epic wave.
I’m right there, I can feel it, and I push my way up onto my knees and toes, crouching on my board. The waves curl up at the perfect angle, and I push myself up onto my feet.
Riding the perfect wave isn’t something I think I’ll ever be able to stop chasing, and this one doesn’t disappoint. The spray of water on my face and the adrenaline spike as I soar across the water almost creates a euphoric feeling.
I ride until the wave crashes over me and I’m pulled underwater. The water is a beautiful clear blue that allows me to see everything around me.
I can’t wait for Greer to experience this. She can stand up on her board, but not for very long. That crazy, beautiful girl can do anything she puts her mind to, and I’m confident she’ll be riding her own waves in no time.
My head pops out of the water, and I shake my wet hair out of my eyes. My board is just ahead of me, floating in the water. Thanks to the leash attached to my ankle, the surfboard can never get too far away from me, thank God, because as long as it was our old, beat-up boards, losing them would have been more of an inconvenience than anything else, but we’re trying out the new, fancy ones we bought with part of the money Greer loaned us. Losing these would be a disaster.
I swim toward it and climb on with my ass on the board, straddling it with both of my legs in the water. I paddle closer to shore, but there’s no hurry. We’ve been out here for a few hours and the sun is slowly sinking closer and closer to the horizon. We’re going to have to get out of the water soon, but it’s obvious that none of us are eager to return to the beach. It’s as if all of our problems disappear when we’re surfing, but sure enough, those motherfuckers are always waiting for me the second my feet touch dry land.
Brady’s the first one to pull up beside me. He’s sitting exactly how I am, and when Matt arrives on the other side of me, he’s mirroring the two of us.
It feels damn good to be out here, just the three of us. All we do lately is work our asses off for something we don’t even know will pan out. It makes me feel old, like the best years of my life are slipping away from me. I’m barely twenty-four, but fuck if I don’t have my fair share of problems.
“If Greer were here, this would be perfect,” Brady says wistfully as he stares at the shore. “By the end of the summer, she’s going to be better than all of us.”
“She’s fucking amazing,” Matt says with an equally dreamy smile on his face, and I don’t like that in the slightest.
They are both practically obsessed with her, and it’s not like I can fucking judge them. All three of us are.
Now’s the time to man up and confess my sin. I’ve been dragging my feet and looking for a way out of it, but that’s just stupid. We don’t keep secrets between the three of us. We’re brothers, and that’s how we can trust each other enough to go into business together.
“Listen…” Brady hesitates, and alarm bells start going off inside my brain. “We have to talk to you about Greer.”
“Yeah, man,” Matt quickly cuts in. “Brady and I both have real feelings for her, and we decided to give it a shot with her. The other night we talked with her, and after we realized she’s into all three of us, Brady and I talked about it and we’re surprisingly okay with sharing her. I know it might sound weird at first, but after watching them together, I realized I’ve got no jealousy where my brother is concerned. We were wondering what’s up with you. Since you spent the day with her, we wanted to know if anything happened that maybe we should know about. We’re not stupid, we know you’re into her too.”
My mind blanks out everything but his words as they tumble through my head on repeat. I feel almost sick to my stomach at what feels like an incredible betrayal.
“You’re lying,” I snap at the two of them, because in my eyes they are both guilty in this situation. “We hooked up today, and she didn’t say a single word about either of you…”
I trail off as reality dawns hard like a swift kick in the balls. No, she didn’t say anything, but she did get weird and quiet after I mentioned Brady needing to get laid. I thought maybe I had done something wrong, and my mind went to the obvious difference in our social standing and I thought she had realized how little I’d have to offer her right now if we went beyond hooking up. But I was wrong, she was really just upset over the thought of Brady sleeping with someone else. Now it couldn’t be clearer.
I look at both of them, and Brady holds up his hands as if he’s attempting to ward off my words. “Chill, bro. Matt and I talked it out, and we’re cool with you hooking up with her too. No one’s mad here but you.”
“But no one else other than the three of us,” Matt says seriously, like this whole thing isn’t one giant fucking joke. “I’m not okay with her hooking up with anyone but us. And, out of respect for Greer, we’re not going to mess around with any other girls while this thing with her runs its course.”
They are both speaking nonsense, and I can’t even wrap my mind around it. I don’twantto wrap my mind around it.
I sneer at them angrily, dismissing this bullshit entirely. “The three of us can’t share Greer like she’s a fucking toy, and you’re both delusional for even entertaining it. I know I don’t want to share her. I want her for myself, and I’m done listening to this shit. I’m out of here.”
I ignore them as they shout after me, and I don’t look back. I paddle to the shore and quickly pick up my board, carrying it back to my little cottage.
For once I’m happy that I’m living all by myself this summer, because I can’t stand to be around either of my brothers right now. I need to put some distance between us before I wipe those stupid smiles off their faces.
I’m so fucking furious. I don’t understand how they can so easily speak of sharing her without jealousy being involved. Just hearing them talk about her like that has me seething with jealousy.
I love my brothers, and we’ve shared a lot of things over the years, but I won’t budge on this.
No, I want Greer Manning all for myself, even if it is just for one summer and my heart will eventually get crushed when she leaves at the end of it. Today I learned that one summer with her is better than nothing at all.
But sharing is definitely out of the question.
