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“Can you teach s the boat to a stop

“Sure I—”

“Hey, I’ll teach you, babe,” Ash tells her

“But you just said that Cam’s better than you,” she tells him, eyes wide and innocent “And I want to learn from the best”

I crack up I can’t help it—the way Ash’s mouth drops open is absolutely priceless, and for a second, I wish lance at Luc, wanting to share the joke, but he’s looking out over the water Deliberately not looking atin the conversation about me

I freaking hate it

But now’s not the time—or the place—to dwell on the disaster that is our friendship So I make my way to the back of the boat, climb up on the seat I make sure to bump into Luc as I do It works For a second, just a second, he’s looking at me And this time when our eyes meet, he smiles a little

“Stomp it out there”

Relief sweeps through me and I smile, probably way more than his comment warrants

“I plan on it”

I fasten my wakeboard onto my feet, then slide over the side of the boat and into the water with a splash I gasp a little at the chill of it—it’s only September, but up here in the h for a wetsuit, but definitely cold enough to make me shiver at first contact

“You ready?” Z calls

I grab the line, get myself in position with my knees pulled towardparallel to the back of the boat

“Hit it!” I tell him

He laughs a littleforward, he keeps it slow and steady But that’s Z for you He’s an adrenaline junkie ill try just about anything once—even stuff that’s aluaranteed to kill him—but when it comes to the

rest of us, he’s totally rock solid, totally responsible

It’s one of the things I love about his that used to h it was reallyelse There aren’t many people in my life who try to take care ofthat kind of friendship with love was stupid on ot over once I accepted Ophelia wasn’t going anywhere Because she loves Z for real and he loves her the sarips with all the shit in his own life—ht have had for him way back when

“Hey, faster,” I call, when he see “We’re barely !”

He lets out another eh the water at a speed that’s enough to get

I shiftto since we startedI can feel the pull inup Not yet, not yet, not yet…

We hit what feels like about twentyacross the lake now, and I’ seconds, I keepfast, and the boat is kicking the water up,it a little choppy But I like it that way—and as Z lays on the speed, I shift ht and pop a couple Ollies

Logan cheers, and I laugh, but settle in to do a couple more tricks for him—a corked spin followed by a uns it then, gets the boat up to what I’ is twenty-three or so miles per hour as he doubles, then triples up

I’ when he does that, love what it feels like when the wakes cross and hit three ti ht, when it feels perfect, I jump I catch mad air, just like I’d hoped, and I do a double inverted cork that I land perfectly, despite the huge wake

It’s a great fucking feeling The trick The landing The rush