Let Me Burn (Angel Sands 1)

Then he saw it, a swell on the skyline that was angled to the left. He licked his lips, tasted the salt on them, and moved his hands smoothly through the water until he was gliding across the surface.

From the corner of his eye, he could see Griff and Jackson holding back, watching as he paddled toward the face of the wave. It was the etiquette of surfing – the one closest to the wave got it, the others yielded. He’d learned that the first time he’d hit another surfer.

As he reached the wave, he arched his back, lifting himself onto his board as the face steepened. Then he was riding it, feeling the rush of air as it hit him, feeling the speed of his board as he moved with the wave. There was no sensation like it in the world, nothing that matched this visceral feeling of nature taking over. It sent a shot of adrenaline through him that made him feel invincible.

He crested the wave before it broke, riding it over to the other side, avoiding being dragged under with the power. And then it was over, leaving him breathless and alive. His heart beating as fast as it ever did on a call out.

“That was a beauty. You’ve still got it, man.” Griff high-fived Lucas as he paddled back to where they’d been watching him. Before he had a chance to reply, Griff was paddling out, chasing another wave. The magic was happening all over again.

“You ever think we’re too old for this?” Jackson asked as they walked through the surf and back toward the beach. As soon as they reached the gear they’d left on the sand, he grabbed his glasses and pulled them on, blinking rapidly. Then he switched on his phone, frowning as it began to beep like crazy. As a technical whizz and a successful businessman Jack’s time was rarely his own. Sighing, he tapped out a couple of quick replies and then put his phone back down, picking his towel up and rubbing his smartly-cut hair.

They’d been out for over an hour, and the town was beginning to wake up. The shutters on the stores lining the boardwalk were being pushed open and racks full of clothes and brightly colored plastic toys were being rolled out. On the far side of the boardwalk, Lucas could see somebody unstacking the chairs at the Beach Café. Another hour or two and this place would be full of families and tourists.

But they’d never get to see the ocean the way Lucas was seeing it right then.

“Too old?” Griff asked, joining the two of them. “How can we be? We’re only twenty-one, right?” He gave them a wicked grin.

“Yeah, and some.” Lucas laughed, and it felt good. As though the salty air had pushed down any melancholy for a while, letting the good humor out. They carried their boards up to the shower, using the spray to wash off the salt. Then he stood beneath it himself, the ice-cold water hitting his skin.

“Remember how we used to laugh at the old guys when we were kids?” Jackson propped his board up in the sand and sat on the edge of the boardwalk, unzipping his wet suit, and letting it fall open. His phone beeped again from the sand. “I said I’d rather die than be one of those, and now I am one.”

“Aren’t we all?” Griff asked.

Lucas ran a hand through his wet hair. Sometimes he still felt like the kid he used to be, especially today, out here riding the waves. But there was still that weight on his shoulders, the one that hadn’t let up in the past month. That reminder that no matter what he did, he couldn’t protect everybody.

“How did that call out go the other day?” Griff asked him, pulling on a pair of cut-off jean shorts and a t-shirt. They were his usual attire – though on colder days he switched out the shorts for a pair of jeans. So unlike Lucas in his firefighter’s uniform and Jackson in his perfectly-cut business suits. Strange how different they all were.

“It was fine.” Lucas shrugged. “No fire, just a kid stuck in some play equipment.” He didn’t mention the teacher, though he immediately thought of her and those warm brown eyes. His hands curled into fists as he remembered how smooth her thighs had felt when he touched her. She’d been so delicate as he’d helped her down, his fingers almost spanning her tiny waist. He blew out a long breath – now wasn’t the time to fantasize about Ember Kennedy’s body, no matter how amazing it was.

God knew he wasn’t going to get a chance to feel it again.

“I love a happy ending.” Griff rubbed his hands together. “Plus I would have been heartbroken if the school had burned down. Some of my favorite memories are from that place. Remember when I kissed Maisie Lee in the girl’s bathroom and the principal frog marched me out of there?”

“How could we forget?” Jackson asked dryly. “You didn’t stop talking about it for years.”

“It’s not my fault that my most exciting kiss happened when I was five, some of us don’t have Lucas’ charisma.”

“I don’t have charisma.” Lucas rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, well you do have a uniform, and that’s pretty much the same thing,” Griff said. “What about when you were on the football team? You were batting high school girls off like flies.”

“Seriously?” Lucas felt cornered. “We’re on to this again?”

“Remember Mandy?” Griff said. “How we all used to worship her? And of course she chose you.”

Lucas shifted uncomfortably. He’d never been one for reminiscing. Maybe his aversion had come from living in a small town, and seeing the older generation relive their glory days a little too often. He never wanted to be known as a high school footballer, or the guy who’d dated Mandy Deleon. He just wanted to be himself.

Whoever that was.

“I wonder what happened to her,” Jackson said. “I always thought she’d become a movie star or something. Didn’t she move to LA?”

“She’s married with two kids in Sacramento,” Lucas said, hoping that would bring an end to the conversation.

“You keep in touch?” Griff sounded surprised.

Lucas shrugged. “She sends Christmas cards every year.” He looked down at his surf watch, battered and bruised from years of use, yet somehow still waterproof. “I gotta go, I promised my mom I’d help her move some stuff in the shop.” He stood, stretching his arms out to loosen the knots in his muscles. “And if I don’t go now, she’ll do it herself.” He grimaced; his friends knew his mom well. She’d taken care of them all the same way she’d taken care of her children, with love and a heavy dose of sarcasm.

Jackson stood too. “How is Deenie?” he asked. “I keep meaning to drop by the bookshop and say hi, but I haven’t had the time.”