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Zach Ellis jogged through the warm surf toward one of the camera crews His heart jumped beneath his ribs and his breath came fast and choppy He slohen he reached the sand and turned to assess the waves curling in the distance
“Great run” Tucker carade school, and Tucker had been with him on set for six months “Looks wild out there”
“A great start to the season” Zach grinned “It’s awesome”
His entire life esome He’d forarten Now, not only did he get to play and ith his soul ot paid to do it So than others, but Zach saw every day in the ocean as a blessing
Tucker flattened one hand at his forehead, squinting toward Maui’s sun where it hung low over the ocean “You alht into that rip”
Zach watched the surface of the water sith the rip current He ran his tongue across his botto in the sea salt “I think we’ll need at least one e for the editors”
Pain ached in his shoulder, and Zach rolled out the joint
“You hurtin’?” Tucker asked
“Eh, fine I just don’t heal like I used to” But in truth, just the thought of paddling out to the waves again made him wince
Tucker had been with him when Zach had taken a bad header into a ht he’d be short an appendage when he eed from the chaos
Bad things happened when huled with the ocean while exhausted or injured He had scars and nighthte for the series finale
They watched the surf in comfortable silence before Tucker said, “I heard Watson and Rayburn are going to be at Mavericks”
A twinge pinched Zach’s gut—adrenaline, competition, fear The Mavericks coin in just ahimself this hard if he wanted to heal his shoulder in ti his shot at an already-precarious possible role on Hawaiian Heat
“More fuckin’ diapers dirtying up the water” He ran a hand through his wet hair only to find one He’d had to cut it short to double the star, and he still didn’t feel quite like himself
“We ain’t gettin’ any younger,” Tucker offered
“Maybe not, but they ain’t gettin’ any smarter either”
That h, but they both knew Watson and Rayburn had the skill to blow Zach away in that competition if he wasn’t in prime condition
“Let me take a look at what Shawn picked up” Zach turned toward the cameraman closest to the shore and started that direction with Tucker by his side Shaas collaborating on the footage with the director Ian Bella the playback screen—as if he knew enough about surfing to critique
“There’s beenthe series,” Tucker said under his breath “Mainstreah the cast and crew”
“Well, praise Kanaloa”
The buzz of Ian’s discontent on the shoas nothing new, but to be honest, Zach couldn’t tell one way or the other The guy was always bitching about so toward picking up acting roles since he’d gotten his first stunt job with Renegades He wouldn’tinto stunt work full time—only he had no skills and his shoulder would keep hi it would take He didn’t exactly qualify to work as a regular Renegade when his only specialty lay in surfing And they couldn’t very well hire hih to keep hi movies or television shows produced each year
Being considered for a role of this nitude was a leap toward the next step in his life A sustainable next step Like it or not, everyone aged And while he liked to joke about the young guys swooping in on the surfing conored