“I know you are,” I say quietly.
“I just want to make sure they value you in the right ways.” He exhales heavily and rubs a hand over his jaw, shaking his head. “But Colton’s right. I should’ve pushed harder sooner. What happened today wasn’t okay, and I’ll be speaking to the people that can lay down some consequences tomorrow morning.”
A flutter of relief runs through me. “Thanks, Coach.”
A rare smile pulls at Gabriel’s mouth. “You don’t need to thank me, Kairi.” His eyes hold mine steadily. “Nobody messes with my team. Especially not my best female surfer.”
My eyes widen, because Gabriel almost never hands out compliments. The fact that one just came from him feels like I’m being handed an Olympic medal. Before I can respond, he pushes off the table and claps his hands together.
“Now,” he says, slipping his hands into his pant pockets, “can you do me a favour?”
I laugh softly. “Depends.”
“Bring some ice to the hot-head upstairs and let him know I’m waiting for him down here.”
I grin. “Sure.”
Gabriel sits back down at the table, opening his laptop as I leave the room.
The kitchen is quiet when I walk in except for the hum of the fridge.
“Hey.”
I look over to find Zale sitting alone at the island, slowly spinning a water bottle between his palms.
“Hi,” I reply.
“Did your talk go okay?”
“Yeah,” I say with a small smile as I open the freezer. “It wasn’t anything too crazy.”
The blue ice pack is shoved all the way at the back and I mutter under my breath as I stretch onto my toes, fingertipsbarely grazing it. A hand reaches past me and grabs the ice pack easily.
“Still short as hell, huh?” Zale murmurs.
I laugh under my breath as I turn to face him, but the sound quickly dies in my throat when I realize how close he’s standing. The freezer air spills around us in cool waves, but somehow the kitchen suddenly feels too warm.
“Thanks,” I say softly as I take the ice pack from him.
His eyes linger on mine before slowly lowering to my mouth.
“It’s a shame you’re with Colton and not me,” he says quietly.
My breath catches. “What?”
But he doesn’t repeat or explain himself. Instead, he just smirks and walks toward the back door like he didn’t just completely scramble my brain. I stare after him, pulse thudding hard against my ribs.
Zale has never looked at me like that before.
Never.
I jump when someone clears their throat, and I turn to find Gabriel leaning against the archway with an empty coffee mug in hand.
“Just getting coffee,” he says slowly.
My face burns as I hold his knowing gaze, and he glances at the ice pack. “Better get it to him before he punches another surfer.”
I laugh weakly. “Right.”
