His hands found mine, stroking over the chains on my hands. There wasn’t anything to say. It was the truth. I think I did want more, and had no way to really ask for what I needed, because I didn’t know. We would figure it out together.
Logan conquered that wave and stayed on his board, and he made it look effortless. If I was on a surfboard, I would be pounded flat by the waves in zero-point-five seconds.
The other surfers were good. Great even. But you could see that Logan was a cut above. He movedwiththe water like he belonged in it. Almost like the water was his home, and he was a visitor on land. He was beautiful.
“Theo?”
He looked over.
“What’s your favorite race you’ve won? I want to watch it.”
“I’ll send it to you.”
Brooks laughed. “I’ll send you the best fan compilations.”
“Fan compilations?”
“Logan and Bastian have some too. Mostly shirtless shots of them to music.”
I nodded. “Yes. I will need that in my life at the earliest available opportunity.”
Bastian looked at his phone. “He has time to catch one more wave.”
Surfing competitions were a complex blend of free-for-all surfing and a hierarchy of those within the actual grouping. You caught waves and got scored on them, taking the best few, and there might have been amaximum amount of waves you could surf.
There.
I saw it.
Everyone saw it.
A gathering wave that was going to be incredible.
Logan spotted it and began to paddle. There was another surfer going for it too, but Logan made it there first and took the wave. “Yes!” I clapped my hands together, everything tensing as if I could somehow affect the outcome.
It was a barrel wave. He lived inside the opening, catching the wave so far down the beach that I saw his back by the time he finally pulled out of it.
The whistles blew, signaling the end of the heat. “Hehasto win after that, right?”
“We’ll see,” Bastian said, then winked. “Don’t jinx it.”
I mimed locking my lips with an invisible key.
Not even ten minutes later, we were in the crowd around the stage for the announcement of the winners. Someone grabbed me. I yelled before realizing that Bastian had me on his shoulders and was lifting me so I could see over the crowd.
Logan won. It wasn’t even close. He had a solid three points over the surfer in second place. He spotted me and pointed at me as he accepted his prize. After yesterday’s social media post, I was sure some of these people knew exactly who I was.
I didn’t care. I was just proud of my Alpha.
He jogged over, giving his board to Brooks so he could pull me off Bastian’s shoulders and kiss me in front of all these people.
“Congratulations,” I said between his kissing me.
“Thanks, wildfire. Now let’s get the hell out of here.”
“Where are we going?”
He laced our fingers together. “To get you wet.”