“Hey, babe,” I said, surprising myself – it was probably the first time the word ‘babe’ had ever passed my lips. Yaz turned to me and blinked. I came up next to her and took her hand. Her fingers clutched mine instantly in an almost desperate way, and I really had the urge to shake that slimeball of a producer. “You finished?” The snap in my tone caused the creepy producer bloke to take a step back, and I gave him an insincere smile.
“Um, I think so,” she said. “Dex, you need anything else?”
Dexlooked down at our entwined hands, then back up at Yaz, a flash of annoyance in his expression for a moment, before he cleared it and forced a smile.
“Sure,” he said, in a rather forced, casual tone. “We’ll just hang around and get a few shots with you and your mates, if you don’t mind. Helps with the promo.”
So that was how I ended up playing volleyball on the beach with Yaz’s friends and a camera crew looking on. I’d like to say that Bodhi and I were mature enough to not let things degenerate, but before I knew it we were full-onTop Gun-ning that sitch. We may as well have covered our torsos with oil and worn the aviators. Luckily Yaz was on my team, and I rule at volleyball. So between us, we smashed Bohdi’s side.
Other than Bodhi, Yaz’s mates were all pretty decent people. Some were totally tied to the sea like Yaz, making their living on the water whether via water sports or diving – there was even a fisherman among the group – others were yoga teachers or alternative therapy practitioners. None were conventional, and all clearly loved Yaz. And from the conversations that went on around me it was also clear that Yaz was the friend many of them could rely on. She was the one who’d volunteered to pick up her mate’s kids from school last week. She was the one who had taught a windsurfing class when her other mate had a cold. How I ever thought Yaz was unreliable, beggared belief, to be honest. The only fly in the ointment of Yaz’s friends was Bodhi. Unfortunately he seemed very adept at hiding his arseholery from Yaz and all her mates, apart from Dee, that is. I’d caught Dee giving Bodhi some strong side-eye a couple of times now. Clearly she didn’t fully buy into his act either. Dee and Yaz seemed close, and I knew Dee was essential to the well-being side of the business, but it seemed that Bodhi had wormed his way further into the actual running of it than anyone else involved.
“You think you’ll manage to tap that?” Bodhi said under his breath as he sat down on the sand next to me. Yaz and some of the girls had gone out on paddleboards to do yoga out at sea, and there was just me, Bodhi and a handful of others left – but with the wind direction, I was the only one in earshot of Bohdi’s comment.
“Are you seriously this much of a prick?” I answered, giving Bodhi a disgusted look, which just caused his smirk to ramp up a couple of notches.
“Come on, man,” he said. “We both know you’re not hanging out with this bunch of losers for the fun of it.”
“I thought these people were your friends?” It was getting hard to keep my voice down. This water monkey was seriously winding me up.
He snorted and took another gulp of his beer. His eyes were glassy and red-rimmed now, and I wondered how much he’d had to drink and whether he was taking anything else with it. “I’m not one of these hippy fuckers. I can ride and I’m making cash out of it, but I don’t buy into any of this bollocks. Yaz makes me money, end of.”
“You are the worst business partnerever. Not to mention a despicable human being.”
“Don’t pretend to be all high and mighty. I’ve seen you treat her like shit before. Only reason you’re here is because you want in there. Only reason I’m here is so I can take advantage of these fucking idiots and rake in the cash. Can’t say I blame you – wouldn’t mind tapping it myself if she wasn’t such a frigid bitch.”
My temper is something that I rarely lose outwardly. Seeing my parents out of control so much as a child had made me very cautious about expressed emotion. But listening to Bodhi, whom I’d just watched over the last four hours pretending to be super chilled and great mates with these people, openly admitting that he would rip them all off given half a chance and calling Yaz a frigid bitch, tipped me over the edge. My beer fell out of my hand onto the ground, and I launched myself at him. As I pinned him to the sand, he still had that fucking smirk on his face, as if he’d won whatever battle we were engaged in.
“Don’t you ever talk about her like that!” I shouted as I shook him by the front of his t-shirt.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and shook it off, focusing still on Bodhi.
“Heath!” Yaz’s voice broke through the red mist and I relaxed my grip on Bodhi. “Let him go. What are you doing?”
I pushed away from him, shoving him back into the sand in disgust. Bodhi’s smirk had been replaced by a totally fake shocked look and he was rubbing his chest as he sat up as if I’d hurt him.
“For fuck’s sake,” I muttered under my breath as I saw Yaz bend over him, checking his chest and shoulders for injuries. “Yaz, I barely touched the bastard.”
When she turned back to me, it was clear that she was furious.
“Bodhi iscompletelynon-violent. You can’t just come here and assault my friends, Heath.”
“He’snotyour friend. You should have heard what he was saying about you. He’s a bloody con man. Yaz, you’ve got to listen to me. I–”
“I gave you a chance here,” she said in a low voice. When I glanced over her shoulder, Bodhi flashed me a triumphant smirk. It took all my self-control not to launch at him again. “Just because we’re unconventional and we don’t see the world like you doesn’t mean we’re all a dodgy bunch of weirdos.”
“I’m not judging any of you guys.” I swept my arm out towards Yaz and her friends. “It’shimI have a problem with.” I pointed at Bodhi, who was still rubbing his chest and looking fake-shocked.
“If you can’t treat me and my friends with respect, then I think you’d better leave.” Her eyes flashed and her hands went to her hips. There would be no explaining anything to her while she was still so angry. How had I buggered this up so royally? It was made even worse as it followed the fundraiser where Yaz had fitted in so well with all my friends and colleagues. Of the two of us, I was proving to be the liability, the one with the potential to embarrass. I felt a flash of anger and scowled across at Bodhi.
“This isn’t over,” I snarled at him. The bastard winked at me before rearranging his features into a confused expression and holding both his hands up.
“Yo, man. I’m not into all this aggression. You should try meditating. It can really balance out all that testosterone.” A few of the others were nodding along with him. I was willing to bet that this dickhead had never meditated in his life. I did notice Dee looking at him through narrowed eyes though.
“Just go, Heath. I should never have let you stay anyway. This isn’t your scene.”
“Yaz, listen,” I started toward her, but she took a step back. My shoulders dropped in defeat and I stopped in my tracks. If only I hadn’t lost Yaz’s trust in a hundred different ways then she might have believed me about Bodhi. As it was, I was going to have to concede defeat. This round, anyway.
Chapter 28
