She gave me a smile and held out her hand.
“Ah, you must be Finn Summers. That was an impressive ride.”
I smiled back and shook her hand politely, sending Jet a curious look. He was smiling at me with this strangely excited twinkle in his eye.
“Finn, this is Sylvia Knott. She’s a sponsorship recruiter for Goliath.”
My brain was whirling as I put the puzzle pieces together.
Goliath was known for sponsoring extreme sports athletes. It was their entire marketing strategy. The fact that a rep from the brand was here, talking to me, meant that… I was beingscouted?
Sylvia smiled at Jet, nodding.
“Jet informed me that he had some promising new talent and that I wouldn’t want to miss your run today. As usual, he was right.”
Jet winked at her. “I’m always right, sweetheart.”
She chuckled. “That you are.”
She turned to face me, “Anyway, Jet’s timing was also impeccable. I was in town for Taming Leviathans. We were representing Mike Gurallo for the competition, but he’s recently suffered a minor injury, and his sports therapist has advised him to sit this one out.”
My eyes widened.
“TheMike Gurallo?” I glanced around the beach to make sure he wasn’t there. If surf god Mike Gurallo was here, I was going to shit my pants.
She laughed again. “The one and only.”
“Oh mygod!I watch him all the time on Goliath TV! He’s a fuckinglegend!”
She nodded. “Yes… Well. Anyway, we were going to cut our losses and pull out, but then Jet messaged me. After watching you surf, I was wondering if you would be willing to discuss signing onto the Goliath team on a trial basis.”
It took a minute for my brain to catch up to what she had just said.
“Wait…what?”
“Do you currently have representation?” she asked, frowning.
“He doesn’t.” Jet answered for me since, for the first time in my life, I couldn’t seem to get my mouth to make words.
She beamed.
“Wonderful!So, what do you think? I know this offer is sudden, but we would rather not pull out on such short notice. I can have a contract sent over to you by the end of the day for review.”
“Hold up, hold up… you… as inGoliath Energy Drinks,want to sponsormeFinn Summers… this weekend?”
“Yes. And maybe for longer, depending on how things work out during the trial period.”
Again.
Mouth…words… broken…
Jet jumped in and clapped Sylvia on the shoulder, grinning at me with that sly, wicked smirk on his face.
“Send over the contract, Sylv. I’ll look it over with him, and we’ll get back to you.”
“Great,” Sylvia quipped, her eyes no doubt twinkling at the fact that my jaw was literally in the sand.
“Looking forward to hearing back from you, Finn. Jet, Kai… always nice to see you both.” Then, she walked away, the wind whipping against her four hundred-dollar windbreaker as she went.
