Colton shakes his head. “No. Not me.”
He’s trying to hide how much it breaks his heart to not have his parents support, and thinking about how alone he must have felt when he went to The Rip Raiders—no friends or family by his side—breaks my heart too.
I can’t begin to understand how hard that must’ve been on him, and I understand even more now why he wanted to come back to The Shredders so badly. Not being accepted back by everyone on the team must be killing him too. To be treated like someone who wasn’t here from the very beginning…and yet he still sticks around.
“You don’t need them,” I say, squeezing my fork tight as I hold his gaze. “If they can’t support you being happy, then you don’t need them, Colton.”
He smiles sadly and nods. “I know.”
“You’ve built a new family for yourself with The Shredders, and sure you’re going through a rough patch with some members while you try to repair the hurt that leaving the team caused. But,” I pause, swallowing back the tightness in my throat, “they’ll get over it in time.”
He gives me another sad smile. “Thanks Kairi,” he whispers. “I appreciate it, and I hope you’re right.”
SIX
COLTON
Somehow,my practice date with Kairi has turned into a deep discussion about my family, and I hate it. I don’t know why I brought them up. I never talk about my siblings, ever. But the second she asked me to tell her more about myself, it just…slipped out.
But maybe I want her to know more than anyone else does. After all, we’re friends, and friends are supposed to know these things.
Right?
“I’m really sorry though,” she says softly, her expression sadder than I feel. “That must be really hard for you to deal with.”
I scoff, shrugging it off like it doesn’t matter even though it hurts like hell.
“I’ll survive,” I say, leaning forward slightly. “But back to you…why do you sound like you don’t actually love surfing?
“I did,” she says quickly before her eyes widen. “I mean—Idolove it.”
I lift a brow and she exhales, shoulders dropping as she stares down at her plate of food thoughtfully.
“I do love surfing,” she clarifies. “Just…not always the competition part.”
That catches me off guard and I lean back in my chair, studying her.
“An athlete who hates competition,” I murmur. “That’s new.”
I don’t believe it though. She’s relentless in competitions—impossible to ignore. People don’t get to that level of performance without loving what they do.
“I just feel…out of place when I’m competing,” she says, her hands dropping to her lap as she fiddles with her bracelet. “Like everyone there doesn’t think I should be there.” She swallows. “And then I start wondering if maybe they’re right.”
There it is again—that self-doubt.
She’s mentioned not feeling like she has a place in the surf world before, and it took me by surprise the first time. But this time around it hits differently.
“Has someone said something to you?” I ask, my voice quieter now. “At competitions? To make you feel that way?”
Kairi holds my gaze for a long moment, long enough that my chest tightens when I realize just how sad she looks. She nods—just once—and her lip begins to tremble slightly, causing hot anger to flare under my skin.
“Who?” I ask, forcing my voice to stay even.
I just need a name and I’ll hunt them down and make them regret ever saying something to hurt her.
“A lot of people,” she shrugs, dabbing at the corner of her eyes with the handkerchief. “Other surfers, their coaches, judges, sponsors, the list goes on. It kind of comes with the territory.”
My jaw tightens and I think back to our last competition, trying to remember, but I come up blank because I wasn’t ever paying attention. I’ve always been too focused on myself and on winning when we’re at competitions.
