He was sick enough that when it became clear he was impressed with what I could do, I got a warm, fuzzy, accomplished feeling in my tummy.
He watched me intently every time I was up, and he even offered me a few words of congratulations after a particularly epic run.
When the three of us turned in for the day, the Finnatics were losing their minds. Both Jet and I were asked for autographs, much to Turtle’s delight. However, whereas I obliged, Jet grew considerablymore reserved than he’d been in the water and refused, telling us he would catch up with us later.
Turtle was yammering my ear off excitedly as we strapped our boards to Blake’s car and headed into work. Since Sharkies was right on the beach, it was just a short walk.
I wasn’t really listening to Turtle as we got changed in the staff room before punching in for our shift. My mind was running a mile a minute with everything Jet had said.
I was alsopissedabout the surf competition. Riddick was going to be in such a shit mood when I told him about it. I really wasn’t looking forward to dealing with one of his grumpy ass moods when I got home.
It was a weeknight, so the restaurant was relatively slow. I went through the motions of clearing tables as the sun went down when I noticed one table had a copy of the Stars Cove Gazette left on it.
Remembering what Kai had said about there being an article about the surf competition, I snatched it up.
Right there, on the front page, in big, bold letters, read:
MAYOR TULLY LAUNCHING THE FIRST ANNUAL STARS COVE SURF COMPETITION: TAMING LEVIATHANS
Anger simmered in my gut as I read the article. He must have been working behind the scenes on this all year, as the competition date was already set, and it was a few weeks away. Of course, Kyle was listed as one of the contestants, along with several other relatively well-known names in big wave surfing.
The entire event was going to be televised and would last a whole weekend. My eyes skimmed the page, and I blinked in confusion when I saw Riddick’s name mentioned.
In memory of Stars Cove’s own surfing legend,
Jake Whittling, Mayor Tully has announced the first place award to be titled ‘The Riddick’ award. This is meant to be a tribute to Whittling in recognition of his contributionto Stars Cove.
‘Without Jake, we might have never discovered Leviathans,’ Tully explains. ‘And though his passing is a tragedy, I have to believe he would look down on this competition with pride, knowing that his legacy lives on.’
Then, there, beneath Mayor Tully’sbullshitfucking quote, was a black and white photo of Kai, Jet, andRiddickholding shortboards on Leviathans Beach. The caption read:
The Founders of Leviathans
Featured Left to right:Kai Kalani, Makoa ‘Jet’ Kealoha, and Jake ‘Riddick’ Whittling
I blinked again, trying to clear my eyes because clearly, my mind was playing fucking tricks on me… but no.
This was real. I ran my thumb over the face of the man I had spent the last seven months training with… living with,sleepingwith as he stared up at me with that same smile he now gave me so freely.
My hands began shaking so violently I couldn’t read the rest of the article. My breathing became choppy, and dark spots danced across my vision.
I couldn’t breathe…
Fuck, fuck fuck…I COULDN’T FUCKING BREATHE!
Alexa Play: Fire In The Water by Feist
Ididn’t tell anyone I was leaving.
I couldn’t. I felt like I was underwater. I kept losing time as my mind tried to process what I’d read, and suddenly, I found myself walking alone down the dark street toward my shack, clutching the copy of the gazette I’d found to my chest like it could protect me from the truth.
This couldn’t be happening… It couldn’t be real. Riddick wasn’t… He couldn’t bedead?
It was a trick! He’d tricked everyone, faked his own death for some unknown reason…
I would ask him about it when I got home, and he would laugh and tell me it was just a coincidence. Or a misprint. Some sort of crazy misunderstanding that would feel obvious once he explained it all away…
With each step I took, I forced myself to focus on my breathing, the way Riddick taught me to do.
