Chapter Ten
Cole
Would you say no to that? Sex with her and help at the shop? It's like business friends with benefits.
What could go wrong?
I've watched her all day as she set up her paintings in the lobby of the shop. She designed a display with a small table to proudly exhibit her paintings. Painted seashells and rocks decorate the table around the artwork to match her beach scenery.
The bright, shimmery colors draw my eyes there. Addi has a way of capturing just the right colors of nature, her blends of paint natural looking. The passion she has for the ocean, the beach, her home is felt in her artwork.
She catches me watching her, and she smiles shyly, in her flirty way. Like the colors drawing me in, she draws me toward her. It's like ...
Business, Cole.
I smile more around her, and people notice, which is unfortunate. Gramps tells me this morning that I was smiling off into la-la land while drinking my coffee.
He's full of shit.
I just have a lot on my mind, and he likes to meddle.
Addi’s blond hair catches in the light, and my cock twitches. I want a repeat of the other night. We can still work together. We're doing it now. Granted, all she's done is set up her display, but still.
We're not arguing, and it's not awkward.
Well. It's a little awkward.
From behind my desk, I grab the remote and turn the music on, the sounds filling the speakers located in every room. I listen to all types of music from rock to the top hits. Keeps my mind occupied.
“What do you think?” Her sweet voice interrupts my thoughts. Before I can answer, she points at the ceiling and laughs. “Good song choice.”
“Hey, there's nothing wrong with a little Michael Jackson to get you going.” I snap my fingers and rock to the music.
Every now and then, it feels good to laugh, to listen to amazing music and let yourself just feel it.
When I ride the waves, I pretend music plays in my ear, the sounds gliding me through the waves and the lyrics getting me through my days.
I don't open up much about myself. I work and take care of Gramps. Hang with my friends. And I surf. That's my love, my true passion where I lose myself and forget my problems. Drift away from what awaits me on the shore.
My childhood was rough, my parents divorcing young and my older brother and sister ignoring me. My mother paid more attention to her latest boyfriend after my father left, never to be heard from again.
Addi giggles and begins to dance as the air grows lighter between us. The sunlight shining in from the window catches on her hair, framing her face in a glow. “Michael Jackson is timeless. I grew up listening to him.”
I knew she was awesome for a reason.
My thoughts drift back to when I was younger, and the same music played on the radio.
Gramps and Gram took care of me as best they could, but I wasn't able to live with them. Then Mom got remarried, and I was stuck with two dickhead stepbrothers who terrorized me day in and day out.
I escaped as much as I could, and when I turned eighteen, I went to live with Gramps and Gram. That's when my life finally turned around, and surfing became my world. When I started working at the shop, my old boss Ed took me under his wing and made me his apprentice of sorts. That’s when I fell in love with everything surfing.
I also fell in love with a girl.
She destroyed me.
“Dance with me?” Addi beams up at me. No, this is dangerous territory. Why is she asking me?
It could lead to ...