Camila’s head snaps up. “He saved me. Beck saved me.”
It’s then I start to peel her off of me. With a guard here, she should be safe. I’d be surprised if he has much training to prepare for this kind of situation, but I think I’ve played my role. At least for Camila’s safety, that is. It’s Jordan I need to comfort. But she shakes her head when I reach for her, eyes darting to Camila.
Sarah puts a hand on Jordan’s shoulder. “Go inside with Beck. I’ll handle this.”
Jordan shoots Sarah a grateful look before following her order, but she doesn’t take my hand until we’re inside and out of sight of Camila. Two EMTs move quickly through the restaurant as I pull Jordan to a more private corner.
“Jordan,” I choke out her name. “When I said you keep amazing me, this isn’t the kind of thing I had in mind.”
I wrap my arms gently around her waist and pull her to my chest as I see tears begin to streak down her cheeks.
“Beck?”
“Yeah.” I squeeze her tighter, my eyes burning with the need to shed tears of my own. “I think we should look into getting a camper van with a toilet and a shower, I feel like I deserve that luxury after being held at gunpoint by one stalker and saving another from jumping five stories.”
I nod, surrendering to a few hot tears and not caring if anyone sees this vulnerability. “Griff did say he was thinking about getting you a vehicle of your own if you won the X Games.”
She rests her head on my chest and I let my strong, amazing girl cry. To anyone else, it might look like she’s breaking, but I know better.
“Camila was bubblerollie,” she tells me. “It makes sense now, as much as a stunt like that and everything leading up to it can make sense,” she adds.
“I’m so sorry,” I tell her after a few minutes, kissing the top of her head. I can hear some commotion outside from the EMTs dealing with Camila and I know we’ll have to answer questions soon.
“Stop. Please don’t even try to take on any bit of responsibility, Beck.” She lifts her head. “If I haven’t said it before, I’m living my dream, being with you and skateboarding and all of it. While I didn’t expect this kind of thing to be the cost I had to pay to get it, I survived. We survived. We’ve got our next adventure ahead, and I can do it guilt-free now, knowing I’ve suffered sufficiently.” She smiles, the quiver in her lips the only indication that she’s masking distress with a little humor.
“And there you go, amazing me again,” I murmur, in awe of the woman in my arms.
“I want to amaze you for the rest of our lives,” she whispers.
My heart swells. She’s just told me in so many words she’s accepting my proposal to road trip for the next year. Is it too soon for another kind of proposal? Fuck it. Timing doesn’t seem to matter when it comes to us.
“When can we get married? I’m ready tomorrow if you are.”
It’s a lame proposal, but it makes her smile, and laugh. That’ll do, for now.
Epilogue
One year later
Jordan
The wind whips around us as we make our way up the stairs to the top of the Riptide half pipe. There’s no fear or anxiety as I stand with my board in hand, looking out at the ocean on one side, the park on another, and the gigantic vertical drop below me. I’m not exactly calm either, but I’m ready.
All I’m planning to do is drop in, hit the coping on the other side once, and ride partway up this side of the vert before slowing to a stop. It’s almost too easy, and I know I’ll be tempted to keep going and screw my conservative plans, but I’m sticking to it. I’ve got plenty of time to show Riptide who’s boss. For now, I just need to successfully drop in and ride for a few seconds without crashing. I might have conquered some of my anxiety, but it’s still my old friend, coming out occasionally.
There haven’t been any social media threats like the ones from Camila or Fliss, but there are still haters or, on the flip side, fans who are a little too enthusiastic for comfort. It comes with the territory, and if it’s part of the price I have to pay for this life, I can learn to deal.
Crashes are another part of the skateboarding life, but when it comes to Riptide, I’m determined to be smarter this time around.
Beck squeezes my hand. “Want me to go first?”
I look over at the guy I’ve slept beside every night for the past year. I was worried we might get sick of each other, or that life on the road, with breaks only to get on a plane to travel overseas for competitions, would wear on us and our relationship. I worried it wouldn’t be nearly as fun as we’d hoped. I was wrong, and I’m trying to get better about not worrying so much. Life on the road suits us. And I should have known we just fit; wherever we go and whatever we’re doing, it’s easy. Being together has always been easy.
“I’ll go first. Like I said, I’m seriously just dropping in, going up the other side, and slowing to a stop.”
“This time,” Beck says with a knowing smile.
“This time.”
I give him a quick kiss, drop my board to the platform, and take a deep breath. With a long look at the ramp that used to haunt me, I tip forward and zoom down. My stomach flips from the extreme angle or, more likely, the nerves I was pretending didn’t exist a second ago, but my legs remain steady. The vert on the other side is the same size as dozens of ramps I’ve been on over the past year, and despite the significance of this particular pipe, I skate up to the coping for a smooth kickturn before riding down. I’m not tucked low to get my speed up for riding up the other side. Instead I stand tall, letting my momentum die down until I come to a stop in the middle of the half pipe. It should be anticlimactic, but I’m satisfied. For now.
Beck calls down to me. “Stay there!”
He looks like he’s about to drop in and I start to pick up my board, confused. “Right here? Why?”
“It’s the spot where we met. I want to get a kiss.”
I glance around, confirming no one’s in sight. We slept in our camper in the parking lot, just like he did the night before we first met and he spied on me. The sun is still rising, and we’ve got the park to ourselves.
As Beck slows to a stop in front of me, I tease him, “You want me to take position lying on my back again too? Maybe you can carry me back to the van and everything.”
Beck purses his lips. “Actually yeah, good idea.”
“Seriously?”
“I used to have naughty dreams about that, except when we got back to the van, we didn’t just sit around talking.”
That makes me giggle. And then I roll my eyes at myself. I can’t believe he still makes me giggle like this. I also can’t believe I’m now getting down and lying on my back like I was when he found me after my first crash.
Beck takes position kneeling beside me. He strokes my forehead and unbuckles my helmet.
“Jordan. You amaze me every day, and I want you to keep amazing me for the rest of our lives. Will you marry me?”
My head pops up so fast that my vision blurs a little just like it did that first day we met. Sure enough, he’s holding out a ring.