Chapter Seven

KOREY

"Korey, just calm down. If she wants to have a good time, let her enjoy her night," Kasey shouts at me.

"Let her enjoy her night?" I growl. "She's out there getting drunk and fooling around with God knows who."

"Well, buddy, if you're so concerned about our girl stepping out on us, then let's go to the party, have a good time, and keep an eye on her from a distance."

"Good idea, Gage." So, we get dressed and head out to the party. Once we arrive, we grab some beers and search for our girl.

When we find Dakoda and Mac, they're on the dance floor, completely lost in the moment, ignoring everyone else around them. "Man, she looks beautiful when she's carefree."

We stand there, watching the two girls dance until that jealous Harlan pushes Dakoda, causing her to stumble into Mac and both of them falling. Dakoda tries to help Mac up, but she's too drunk and falls forward. I can't help but laugh at how adorable she looks right now. But then Harlan kicks her.

"Fuck!"

Harlan attempts to kick Dakoda again, but she deflects the kick. Harlan falls to the ground, and Dakoda quickly gets up and kicks her in the ribs. I grab Dakoda by the waist and hand her over to Gage.

"Get her out of here," I growl at him and Kasey. Once they're gone, I turn back to Harlan. "What the hell do you think you're playing at, Harlan? Didn't I tell you to leave Dakoda alone?"

"I thought you were just saying that because she was there. Like you didn't want to hurt her feelings or something," Harlan pouts.

I slap her hand away from my chest and lean in close to her face.

"Stay the hell away from Dakoda!"

"Does that get your attention?" I ask, then turn around and walk away.

I meet the guys back at Dakoda's house once I'm sure Mac's boyfriend is taking care of her.

When I walk in and see Dakoda sleeping, I splash some water on her.

"What the hell?" She yells.

I smile as she throws my hoodie over her head, thinking it's a blanket, and tells me to go away. "Not so fast." I grab her off the bed. "Get up."

She tries to push me, but she's still drunk, so I don't budge. Right after that, Kasey laughs, and I look up at him, and damn, Dakoda knees me right in the balls.

She tries to run out of the room, but Gage grabs her. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Kasey and I both lay into her, and honestly, I haven't seen my buddy that angry in a long time.

But then she fires back at us, and the guys are no longer angry. Her words hurt them, and that pisses me off. Gage lets her go, and she skips down the stairs.

"What do we do now?" Gage asks.

"We're going to teach her a lesson," I reply.

The guys give a nod and exit the room, making their way down the stairs and out the front door, slamming it shut. Damn, she's going to have to do some serious apologizing to those two guys. I decide to stay in her room and wait for her to stumble back up here, knowing she's still drunk and will want to come back to bed. And just as expected, here she comes, stumbling her way back to her room. When she spots me standing in the corner, she freezes.

"Korey, please leave. I'm still drunk and just want to go back to bed."

"Nope, no sleeping on my watch. We're training tonight."

Before she can protest further, I swiftly lift her up and carry her out of the front door. I place Dakoda on Kasey's lap and then make my way to the driver's seat.

Once we reach the beach, we all grab our gear and head towards the water. I simply point towards the waves and instruct them to paddle out as far as they can see, then turn around and prepare for the wave.

"Fuck yeah!" I mentally celebrate as Dakoda rides her first massive wave with skill and confidence. But when she emerges from the water, she seems frustrated. She paddles out again, but after a while, she comes out of the water angry.

"Okay, I'm done. I want to go home and go to bed," she says, storming off towards the Jeep.

"Let's take her home," I suggest with a smile towards the guys.

They nod in agreement, understanding Dakoda's frustration. We quickly gather our belongings and follow her towards the Jeep. As we approach, Dakoda slams the door shut and sinks into the driver's seat, her face still filled with anger.

🏄‍♀️🏄‍♂️

The next day, the guys and I decide to give Dakoda some space. We realize she needs a day or two to cool off, but not before we sneak a peek at her. And damn, I instantly regret it because I feel like the biggest jerk. Dakoda and Mac are watching the end of "10 Things I Hate About You," and Dakoda is in tears.

I overhear Mac asking her what's wrong, and Dakoda pours her heart out about how the guys and I constantly confuse her. How we can be mean one moment and intimate the next. Mac seems intrigued by this. I suggest to the guys that we should let them have their day. Kasey, Gage, and I head to the beach to practice. As we step out of the Jeep, our friend Rider approaches us.

"Long time no see, assholes," he greets us.

"Where the hell have you guys been?" Rider asks.

"Here and there," Gage replies, earning a playful punch to the arm from Rider.

"Asshole," Rider mutters.

"Nah, bro, we've been around. Just been helping a friend practice to get her ready for the pros," I inform Rider.

"Oh, hell," Rider exclaims. "So, which one of you is involved with her?" he asks, pointing between the three of us.

And all three of us smile and point to ourselves.

"Fuck!" Rider exclaims. "When do I get to meet this mystery girl?"

"Not sure if we're at that level yet," Gage responds.

I glance at my friend and realize I'm not the only one feeling jealous. "Alright, well, we're going to hit the water," I tell Rider.

"Sounds good, bro."

Finally, we make it to the water after running into two more friends.

"Who wants the first wave?" I ask the guys.

"Let's race for it," Kasey suggests.

"Alright, brother, let's do it," I agree.

"Let's go," Gage says in his deepest voice, causing us all to laugh.

We haven't had this much fun since we met Dakoda.

It seems like we're always consumed by thoughts of her.

As we paddle out into the water, the weight of our thoughts about Dakoda starts to fade away. The waves are perfect, and the adrenaline rush of catching a wave takes over. We take turns riding the waves, cheering each other on and laughing as we wipe out.

For a moment, it feels like everything is back to normal. Just the guys, the ocean, and the pure joy of surfing. But as we paddle back out after a particularly exhilarating ride, the conversation inevitably turns back to Dakoda.

"I can't believe how much she opened up to Mac," Kasey says, shaking his head.

"Yeah, it's like she's been holding all these emotions in," Gage adds.

"I feel like such an idiot for not realizing how much we confuse her," I admit, feeling a pang of guilt.

"We all do, man," Kasey says, patting me on the back. "But at least now we know. We need to figure out how to be more consistent with her."

Gage nods in agreement. "We can't keep playing hot and cold with her. It's not fair."

I take a deep breath, feeling determined. "You're right. We need to have a serious talk with her when she's ready. We need to apologize and make it clear that we want to be there for her, consistently."

The guys nod, and we continue to surf, but our minds are no longer solely focused on the waves. We're thinking about Dakoda and how we can make things right with her.

After a few more hours in the water, we finally decide to call it a day. As we walk back to the Jeep, salty and exhausted, I can't help but feel hopeful. We may have made mistakes, but we're willing to learn from them and make things right.

As we drive back to our place, the sun setting in the distance, I can't help but think about Dakoda. I miss her, and I hope that when we finally talk to her, she'll be willing to give us another chance.

But for now, all we can do is wait and hope that she's ready to forgive us.

🏄‍♀️🏄‍♂️

On Monday, instead of picking up Dakoda for school, we decided to give her an extra day to calm down. When Dakoda arrived at school, she completely ignored us and joined Mac, her boyfriend, and some other guy. Kasey asked who the guy was, to which I replied, "I have no idea." Gage chimed in, saying, "That's Charlie Dean, the football team captain." I didn't care who he was; all I knew was that he better not lay a hand on Dakoda, or he'd regret it. We kept a close eye on Dakoda throughout the day, sitting near her in every class.

Dakoda finally snapped at us, telling us to knock it off and giving us a deadly look. She turned around and faced us, declaring that the drama between us was over and she wouldn't let us control her anymore. We brushed off her outburst and continued with our own business. During lunch, she thought she was being sneaky by sitting with Mac and the guys, but we made a note of it in the punishment book. We planned to push her hard during practice as a consequence.

Dakoda was angry with us for not picking her up in the morning, but after seeing how she was yesterday, I thought it would be best to give her some space. Apparently, that was the wrong move.

She turned around and blew us a kiss before getting into the car. I clenched my fists, feeling a mix of anger and frustration. This was not how things were supposed to be. Dakoda was supposed to be with us, not with Mac and certainly not with some random guy like Charlie Dean.

As we watched her drive away, Kasey suggested that we follow them and see where they were going. Gage and I agreed, and we hopped into my car, tailing Mac's car from a safe distance. We followed them to a nearby fast-food restaurant, where they parked and went inside.

We decided to wait outside, keeping an eye on them through the window. Dakoda seemed to be enjoying herself, laughing and joking with Mac and Charlie. It made my blood boil. How could she just forget about us so easily?

After what felt like an eternity, they finally finished their meal and got back into the car. We followed them back to Dakoda's house, where they all went inside. We parked a few houses down, still determined to keep an eye on her.

As we sat in the car, frustration and anger filled the air. We couldn't understand why Dakoda was pushing us away and choosing to spend time with Mac and this new guy. It felt like we were losing her, and it was tearing us apart.

But we weren't going to give up. We made a pact right then and there to fight for Dakoda, to show her that we were the ones who truly cared about her. We would do whatever it took to win her back, even if it meant going up against Mac and Charlie Dean.

With renewed determination, we drove away from Dakoda's house, ready to come up with a plan to win her back. We knew it wouldn't be easy, but we were willing to do whatever it took to make things right again. Dakoda was ours, and we weren't going to let anyone take her away from us.