Free Storm Shells (The Wishes Series #3) by GJ Walker-Smith Page B

rolling over the oncoming waves as he waited.
    “You look forward, I’ll look back,” he told me. “When I tell you to go, go. Paddle hard. Don’t try and get up, stay on your belly and just coast in. Got it?”
    “Yeah.” No .
    I kept my focus on the beach ahead, wondering how many pieces I’d be in when I reached the shore. It was like waiting to be struck by a train. I felt the dips as we rolled over the top of three more waves before he spoke again.
    “Get ready,” he warned. There was nothing I could do but listen to him. “Go, Adam! Go! Go! Go!”
    I paddled hard. The wave rolled under me and I went nowhere. That happened more than once. I was hoping Alex would lose patience and give up, but he didn’t. He was determined to kill me.
    “Try again. Next one’s the charm,” he told me.
    After my millionth attempt, something incredible happened. I actually caught a wave. I paddled hard until the force of the water took over. From there, I just hung on for dear life – and felt the absolute rush of my life.
    As soon as I was through it, I wanted to go again. Alex stayed out past the breaking waves, waiting for me to paddle all the way out again, which seemed to take forever.
    “That was freaking awesome!” I yelled, long before I could be sure he’d hear me.
    He laughed. “What did I tell you?”
    “I want to go again.”
    “Yeah, I figured you might.”
    I knew that forcing me into the water that day wasn’t a bonding exercise. Alex was a grown-up version of Charli. There was a deeper meaning to it, I just wasn’t privy to it yet.
    “Why are we out here, Alex?”
    He grabbed the nose of my board to stop me drifting away. My board wasn’t sleek, short and pretty like his, but it did float better. He was half submerged.
    “I just want you to understand it,” he replied. “It’s one of the many reasons why my kid doesn’t belong in a big city. I made her that way.”
    He made it sound like the greatest thing he’d ever accomplished. I wasn’t about to argue the point. As long as I was floating on a piece of fibreglass hundreds of yards from shore, my life was in his hands.
    “I get it. And for the record, I already knew that your daughter doesn’t belong in a big city.”
    “That creates a bit of a problem for you, doesn’t it?”
    “Not really,” I mumbled. “We’ll work it out.”
    “She doesn’t need you, Adam,” he told me. “Sometimes she just thinks she does.”
    “You might be right,” I agreed, “but I need her.”
    “From what she’s told me, you don’t deserve her.”
    “You might be right about that too,” I conceded.
    Giving me an unsympathetic grin, he shoved the nose of my board, widening the distance between us. “Ready to go again?”
    “Yeah. Let’s go.” I sounded much surer this time round, but my confidence turned out to be a little premature. It was hard to pinpoint the moment it went bad. One minute I was on top of the whole world, coasting through the water. The next minute I was under it, thrashing around, trying to stay alive.
    I should’ve heeded the warning to relax and let myself sink, but the urge to get to the surface took over. I fought the water the whole way in and came out second best, eventually surfacing in knee-deep water near the shore. I staggered onto the dry sand and collapsed in a heap, coughing like a pack-a-day-smoker.
    Alex appeared a few minutes later. It was too much to think he’d come in to check on my welfare. He walked up to the beach to retrieve the board that had washed up after me.
    “Not too bad,” he said examining it. “Nothing I can’t fix.”
    “Oh my God!” screamed a familiar voice in the distance. “Alex, you’ve killed him!”
    A tad dramatic maybe, but at least she was concerned.
    “He’s not dead, Charli,” scoffed Alex. “He’s probably feeling more alive than he ever has.”
    She knelt beside me and pulled my head onto her lap. “Are you okay?”
    I squinted, focusing on her lovely, worried