Page 43 of Harper’s Renegades

Before I could jump off, a strong arm wrapped around my legs and pulled me into the water. The next thing I knew, I was being tossed toward Magnus, who had a big smile on his face as he caught me.

“Look at you, doll. We’ll have you out here slicing waves in no time.” He all but purred as he nuzzled into my neck, giving me a playful nip.

“Don’t hog her. I’m the one doing all the hard work,” Ghost grumbled as he tugged me from Magnus. His hand gripped my waist as he twirled me in the shallow water like I was a child, however, I couldn’t help but laugh at his antics. “You did amazing, angel! I knew you just didn’t have the right teacher.”

Laughter poured out of me until my cheeks hurt. The guys were acting like I’d done something worth winning a medal for when all I’d done was the simple act of standing on a surfboard. Pride bloomed in my chest at their reactions. Is this why, when we were kids, we craved this kind of acknowledgment? Because let me tell you, I was ready to do anything they asked if that’s the reaction I got.

“Now it’s time to take you out further so we can practice your timing. Surfing is all intuitive. You need to feel when the wave is going to crest. It’s hard to teach, but once you get a feel for it, you’ll just know,” Ghost said as he plopped me on my board and placed the Velcro cuff around my ankle so I didn’t lose the damn thing.

The four of us paddled our way out to a spot between the larger wave break and the second round closer to the shore.

“Now, as you feel the swell, just start to paddle. You’ll see right away if you started too late or too early,” Jaxson instructed.

Ghost slapped an armful of water at Jaxson. “Hey, who’s teaching here?”

“You didn’t say it, so I figured I would before we paddled off, and she didn’t know what to do,” he shot back.

Before the moment devolved into a typical fight between the brothers, a wave started to form. “Go, go, go,” they yelled in unison.

There was a flurry of motion as all of us started to paddle. It was clear I was late on the uptake, and the wave passed me by while the three of them rode it out. I stayed where I was, knowing another would be along soon enough, and as Ghost said, you just have to feel it. Then I could feel the water start to pull back as it created the round. Once I saw the round beginning to head toward the beach, I paddled. Cupping my hands, I scooped into the water, propelling me forward along with the motion of the wave.

This time I knew I got the right timing, and as I started to get my board on top of the wave, I began my steps to stand. Keeping my body steady, looking up as I moved forward, I hovered a moment, ensuring my weight was balanced and pushed off with my fingertips. I was standing with my knees bent. My board crested the top of the wave, and I rode down it, but my body started to pitch to the side and out went my feet. The wave rolled me under the water a few times before I broke the surface.

The cord attaching me to my board tugged while it kept it from being carried off. Swimming after it, I tried to regain my orientation and figure out where I was and where the guys ended up. Shoving myself up so I could see farther, I spotted them a little to the left. They waved and shouted, making me smile as I paddled my way over to them.

It seemed a cross-current pulled as I was waiting for the wave.

I saw a flash of something purple from the corner of my eye, but I assumed it was a fish or something. Then a searing white-hot pain jolted up my leg. Reflexively, I jerked my leg, but this only seemed to make it worse. Looking in the water, I spotted a lone jellyfish with a trailing tentacle wrapped around my calf. The more I struggled, the worse the pain was, but I had to get it off.

For some ridiculous reason, I kept hearing the damn clownfish from Finding Nemo, “You can only touch the tops. The bottom is poison.” Rolling off the board, I screamed and kicked out, knocking the jellyfish off my leg, but the pain was so bad I couldn’t seem to focus. I grabbed for the board, desperate to get up on it so I didn’t run into the jellyfish again. The sound of splashing alerted me that the guys were coming and would know what to do.

“Harper!” Magnus bellowed. He grabbed me and turned us both on our backs so he could keep me above water. “What the hell happened? Are you okay?”

“Jellyfish,” I whimpered, my whole left leg throbbing as if hot acid had been dropped on it.

“Jaxson, get her tether off so I can get her to the beach,” Magnus barked out. “Do we have the first-aid kit in the duffle?”

“Yeah, I made sure it was stocked the other day. We should have everything we need,” I heard him answer as I was freed from my board and towed back to the beach.

The moment Magnus’s feet touched the sand, he swung me into his arms and hauled ass out of the water. He laid me out on the towels and started to look at my leg.

“You have to pee on it, please it hurts so bad,” I begged, tears pricking at the corner of my eyes.

Magnus looked at it, and brushed my wet hair out of my face. “Doll, that doesn’t really work. It’s an old wives’ tale, and it could actually make the pain worse. We have something that will help. Just let me get the rest of this tentacle off your leg. Seems the bastard really latched on to you.”

“No, I know it works. You have to pee on it. They did it on Friends. It has to be true,” I argued. Ghost appeared, handing Magnus a knife while holding a first-aid kit in his other hand. “Ghost, you’ll pee on me, right? If I ask for it so the pain will stop, you’d do that for me, wouldn’t you?”

Ghost looked at Magnus then back at me. “Is she serious?”

“Yeah, they did it on Friends. It must be true,” Magnus said, sarcasm thick in his tone.

Ghost kneeled beside me and took my hand as I felt the knife start to scrape along my skin. “Angel, while I would happily do most anything you ask of me, I’m not going to do that. One, watersports aren’t really my kink, and I don’t think it’s yours. Two, the toxins in a jellyfish sting won’t be neutralized by urine and could make it more painful. With the number of times we’ve been surfing, this isn’t the first or the last time one of us has gotten stung. We’ll fix you up, and in a few hours, you’ll have a great story to tell… minus getting peed on.”

“You’re sure it doesn’t work?” I asked just to be sure.

Rolling his eyes at me, he rested his forehead against mine. “Yes, I’m a thousand percent positive it won’t work. Now, if there were another reason you wanted me to pull my dick out for you, I would be happy to distract you if it would help.”

Snorting, I shoved him away so I could see what Magnus was doing. He’d removed the jellyfish from my skin, and a nasty red welt wrapped around my calf. Flipping open the first-aid kit, he yanked the top off a reusable bottle and poured it over the welt before sprinkling another white substance.