Page 28 of The Surfer

I put my hands on my hips to emphasize how angry I am. “Do you know what time it is?” I ask, voice dripping in such strong venom that it surprises me.

“I dunno,” Cove replies with a loud yawn. “I guess the time’s pretty fucking early, that’s for sure.”

“It’s seven-thirty,” I say, standing over his side of the bed. The girl next to Cove is rubbing her eyes. Both of them stink of sex. “You were meant to meet me at the beach parking lot at six, remember?”

“Oh yeah,” Cove says with a smirk on his face. A smirk. The bastard. “That. Whatever.”

“Whatever?”

“Yeah,” Cove replies sleepily. His blonde hair is perfectly disheveled as he pouts his kissable lips. “Whatever. Just leave me be, girl, just let me sleep, Jesus.”

Cove falls back to his pillow and shuts his eyes whilst I shake my head in anger. God, Cove is so much more a dickhead than I initially thought. I know, right now, that this whole thing with him getting back on his feet is going to be a lot harder than even I have anticipated. I’m going to have to go in strong and stand my ground.

I look at the girl lying next to my best friend’s handsome hunk of a brother. The girl is hot. Real hot. Big tits. Thick mouth. Of course, she’s the type of girl Cove will sleep with. She’s lying back in the bed taking absolutely zero notice of me. I’m nothing to her, just another plain girl annoying the man she’s trying to ensnare.

But this particular plain American girl is not gonna stop at the first hurdle.

I look at them both nestled there in Cove’s large bed, realizing now that this is the first time I’ve been in Cove’s room, or even seen the inside of it. And the place is messy. A filthy pigsty of a room. Dirty clothes hang everywhere. Nothing is in order. Cove evidently doesn’t give a shit about the place he lives in. But this isn’t just his place, this is Sandy’s house, and he clearly has no respect for his sister’s property. That pisses me off even more. After everything she’s done for him, taking him in and paying for his lifestyle, this is how he repays her? Making his room an utter mess?

Wow, a real grade-one asshole.

Yeah, this job for the next six months is going to be a lot harder than I ever anticipated.

My eyes land on the bedside table next to the girl. A large bag of green… something… lies next to a thick rolled joint. I know what it is.

Weed.

Jesus.

If all Cove thinks of me is that I’m some stupid loud American girl flying in to ruin his life, then I’m more than happy to play the part. I just think of my Mom and how this is my one chance to make a massive improvement in her life, all I have to do is get this gorgeous muscular ass out of this bed.

Time to wake up and face the music, surfer boy.

I lean in close to Cove’s face. His eyes are still shut, but I know he’s awake. I know he’s just pretending in order to piss me off, and it’s really working. I scan my eyes over his perfect cheekbones and his pronounced strong jawline. He’s so goddamn perfect, a top-notch specimen of the male species, but he needs to be straightened out. He can’t worm his way out of this with his beauty, oh no.

Not with me, sunshine.

I take in a deep breath, preparing to use the full extent of my voice.

“There’s going to be some ground rules that I’m going to set if you want me around,” I shout loudly into his ear. Cove jerks back at the sound of my voice and blinks. He stares back at me with his cool blue eyes. “Number one, I am not going to do this if there’s going to be a constant stream of girls entering and leaving your bedroom while I’m living under this roof.”

Cove shakes his head in both disbelief and rejection. “What?”

I continue, ignoring his protests. “Number two, if you’re going to be late again and make me wait in some parking lot for an entire hour for your sorry ass to show up then there’s going to be hell to pay.”

“Wait, my sorry ass?”

“And number three,” I point to the bag of weed and the joint on the bedside table. “If you smoke pot in front of me then-“

“What?” Cove asks aggressively. “What are you going to do? Call my Daddy on me?”

I stare back at Cove, into his beautiful blue eyes. Yeah, sure, he may be beautiful, but he isn't going to sway me with this mocking tone. “Precisely. That’s exactly what I’m going to do, I’ll call your Daddy on you, and that’ll mean that your money, your inheritance, will be gone. Forever. You can kiss all your money goodbye because with one call from me then it’s out the door, so I’ll be pretty scared if I were you.”

Cove waves his hands above his head in mock surrender. “Ooooh, I’m so scared. You terrify me so much, American girl.”

“American girl?”

I’ve heard that insult from him too many times to simply ignore it now.