In the first two weeks the shop was open, Jace and I made six custom board consultations and sold ten boards off the racks. I would spend the first part of the day in the shop while Jace stayed home and shaped the boards then I would go to his house and start painting them. We had a good system worked out and I had cut back my hours at the bar so I only worked three nights a week. Jace hired Jonathan to work at the shop the day after the opening because he had personally sold three boards that day.

Jonathan was still staying on Jace's couch, which meant we saw a lot of each other, especially since I had been spending most nights there. I knew Jace loved having his best friend around, but three people in that tiny house was beginning to be too much. No, I didn't live there, but I might as well have with the amount of time I spent there. Jace had even cleared out a drawer for me and I knew it was really only a matter of time before I actually moved into the house. It just made sense. We worked there and I spent almost every night there, so we just needed to get rid of the houseguest and every thing would fall into place.

I was working at the shop with Jonathan and working on some designs for the boards Jace was shaping. Jonathan was organizing the racks and wiping down the boards.

"So, how's the house hunt going," I asked trying to be subtle.

"Eh, I haven't really found anything yet," Jonathan shrugged his shoulders as he made his way to the front counter standing on the opposite side of me. "Why? Do you want Jace all to yourself?"

"No, that's not it." I said defensively. "I mean, I can't say anything because it's not technically my house."

"I get it. Three people basically living there and one bathroom is hard." He came around the counter to stand next to me, a little too close. "Or maybe you don't want me to move out because you like me being there."

"What?" I shook my head trying to understand what was happening. Was Jonathan really trying to flirt with me or accuse me of liking him? "What are you talking about Jon?"

"Oh, come on, Clary." He placed his hand on my arm and I flinched, stepping back away from him, but he closed the distance, backing me into the wall. "I see the way you look at me. I know you want me. I can be better than Jace and you know it."

"Jon, we're friends, that's it. I don't know what you're talking about because I love Jace and you're his best friend, which means that I have to deal with you, nothing more." I scrambled to try and free myself from his trap, but he wouldn't budge.

"Don't lie to me." He took my face in his hand forcing me to look at him. "I could be so much better for you than Jace. Why would you want to be with him when you could be with me?"

"Because I love Jace." I pushed him back and he staggered enough for me to get away and walk to the counter. "You and I could never be what Jace and I are because I love him and he loves me. Don't you get that? What we have is forever and you don't love me, you love the idea of me."

"No, you're wrong." He stepped in front of me, pinning me to the counter. "And I'll prove it."

His mouth came crashing down on me. I struggled to push him away and fought him, but then I heard the bell above the door ring signaling someone had walked in the shop. Jonathan released his lips from mine to see who had interrupted him. His arm slithered around my waist and a sinister smile crept onto his face. I turned to see who it was and standing in the doorway was Jace with his mouth hanging open.

"Jace," I whispered in relief knowing he could put a stop to this. Surely he had seen me struggling, but after a moment of silence, Jace's face turned to anger and it wasn't directed at Jonathan, but at me. He turned and walked out the door.

I pushed Jonathan away and ran after Jace yelling his name and trying to get his attention, but when I went outside, he was already out of sight. I huffed in defeat and ran back into the shop to grab my wallet and keys. Jonathan stood at the counter with a smug grin plastered on his face. I walked past him toward the door.

"Get out," I yelled pointing at the door. "Get the hell out of my shop and don't even think of ever coming here again. Jace took you into his home and gave you a job, not to mention a second chance, but you have royally screwed us over and I will not let him be effected by your malicious games. I suggest you book the next flight to the mainland and never show your face around here again."

He stood there shocked and confused as I held the door open waiting for him to follow my directions. He finally walked out the door and started walking down the street. Good. I didn't want to hear anything he had to say. I just knew that I had to get to Jace before Jonathan was able to plant lies in Jace's head. I hoped he would hear me out and listen to my story instead of blindly trusting his supposed best friend. I was the one he loved and trusted and planned on spending the rest of his life with, right? Well, I was about to find out.

I jumped in my Jeep and sped to Jace's house as fast as I could. When I pulled in the driveway, I glanced toward the shed to see if there was any sign of Jace being in there, trying to blow off steam. The shed door was closed and locked and the lights were off. I hopped out of the car and walked up to the front door knocking and waiting to see if he answered the door. After I knocked and waited five times, I used the key he had given me after the opening of the shop. I rushed through the house trying to find him, but he wasn't there.

After locking up the house, I sat in my car trying to think of where he could possibly be. My house seemed like the stupidest place to find himself and the bar was up there too because I had a shift that night. When I looked at the shed again, I noticed that his board was gone and I knew exactly where he would be. My board was already in the back of the Jeep so I drove to Break Wall.

Pulling into the parking lot, I jumped out of the car thankful that I was wearing a bathing suit under my clothes because Jace and I were planning on surfing as soon as he was done with the boards he was working on. That's why he showed up at the shop, he was coming to get me. I hurried down to the beach and searched the lineup for my golden California boy, but came up short again. Sitting down in the sand, I decided that I needed to clear my head and he would hopefully show up at some point. I had the advantage of having a car and he had to walk so he could have been right behind me.

I paddled out to the lineup and sat up on my board, feeling like I was missing something. I was missing Jace. I searched the lineup again to make sure I hadn't missed him and searched the beach to see if he was there and would follow me out. He was nowhere to be found.

I lie back on my board and let the sun warm my body. How the hell did any of this happen? How had I not seen what Jonathan was up to? I had only known him for two weeks and there was absolutely no way I had ever looked at him the way I looked at Jace. He was completely misinterpreting everything. After I thought about the situation a little longer, I came to the conclusion that Jonathan never wanted to repair his relationship with Jace. He was still mad about the whole drunk driving incident and hated the fact that he had been driving and Jace hadn't. He saw Jace as this perfect person with a perfect life who could do no wrong. He thought that if he could take me away from Jace he would be able to live the perfect life that Jace had.

Huffing out the deep breath I had taken in, I sat back up on my board and saw a beautiful wave forming on the outside. It was going to be bigger than a normal wave and I wanted it, bad. If there was anything that could help me clear my mind and figure out what I was going to say to Jace to clear his mind of the lies Jonathan had, no doubt, told him, it was shredding on this wave.

As I turned to paddle for the wave, I thought of when I saw Aline all over Jace and how I felt that night. I had been so hurt at the thought that Jace had played me and I never wanted to feel that way again. I wanted him to know that I loved him and for him to love me back. Walking into the business that we owned together to see his best friend kissing his girlfriend must have felt like a knife to the back over and over again. He trusted Jonathan and he trusted me, and he thought I had betrayed that trust, but he was wrong. Man, he was so wrong. I needed to tell him how wrong he was.

I glanced back over my shoulder to gauge how hard I needed to paddle to catch the wave. Turning back, I knew I had about five good strokes to catch this wave before I missed it. Paddling as hard as I could, I felt the wave form underneath me and knew I had to pop up before I lost my chance. Grabbing the rails of the board, I pushed to my feet and dropped in on the wave before turning down the line. When I noticed a barrel forming, I dropped down in a crouch to get inside of it. The barrel formed over my head giving me a solid ride.

The wave was getting faster, but I wasn't. Images of my wipeout and injury six years before flashed in my mind and I tried to get myself out of the barrel, but it was too late. The wave closed out on me, forcing me under the water with great force as my board slid out from underneath me.

I felt my back hit the reef before my leash tugged on my foot. I felt relief in the fact that I was still connected to my board because I could use my leash to pull myself back to the surface. When I felt that another wave wasn't going to push me under, I did just that, pulled myself to the surface, but when I surfaced, a bigger wave pushed me under. My leash held tight to my foot as the wave held me down. I felt like my lungs were going to explode from holding my breath, but I couldn't fight the water holding me down. The leash slipped and that's when I started to panic.

I had trained my whole life not to panic in these situations, but as I was being held underwater, visions of my accident made it difficult not to panic. My time in the hospital and the months afterward all flashed through my mind as I looked up toward the surface seeing the sky just above the water. My leash finally gave up and slipped from my ankle allowing the water to push me farther down.

My head hit a rock and I remember thinking I was having déjà vu. The last thing I remember was seeing Jace's smiling face and golden eyes before everything went black.


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