“Backed into me and knocked me down,” I argued, gaining his attention again. “Made contact, brother. Enough that it put me on my ass. And straight up, she would’ve kept on reversing and would’ve put me under the wheels if I didn’t have the reflexes I do, so thank fuck for that. She’s fuckin’ crazy.”

“She’s sayin’ this was an accident, and not to call you out, man, but it sounds like it was.”

“What the fuck? Whose side are you on?” I asked, my voice growing louder with edge.

Jesus fucking Christ. Sunshine got to him.

He shot me a hard look.

“No one’s. Are you fuckin’ serious? You know I don’t give a fuck,” Dash said, straightening up and turning to face me. “I’m just pointing out what’s being said and giving it to you straight. Yeah, that girl’s been shootin’ you down for months. We’ve all witnessed it. But I doubt she’d get that sick of your shit she’d try and take you out with her car. She doesn’t seem the type.”

“You mean, the psycho pussy type?” I asked, lifting my bottle and tipping it at him. “You’re wrong, brother. She’s the type. Bitch tried to kill me.”

“Christ,” he mumbled to the sky, tipping his head back.

“She’s psycho pussy. I’m just callin’ it like I see it.”

I took another swig of my beer.

“Word of advice,” Dash started, meeting my gaze again. “You might wanna get the psycho pussy shit outta your system before we head inside. Doubt Syd’s gonna be down with hearing you call her girl that.”

“Figured,” I returned, shrugging weakly. “Not tryin’ to leave here without getting some of that food she’s cookin’ so I’ll stick with referring to Legs as ‘crazy bitch.’ ”

“That might not fly either.”

“Man, whatever. I’ve been traumatized. I can’t be held responsible for shit I say right now. I was run over.”

Dash chuckled. Then he bent his elbow on the railing and leaned his weight onto it.

“What?” I probed when he kept staring at me like I should be saying something.

He cocked his head.

“Really? You got nothing to ask me?”

We kept looking at each other, him not giving up any more, then I mumbled an “oh, shit,” because it hit me right then what he was getting at and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t gotten around to asking him about it already. This shit was important. Had been on my mind the entire drive over here.

Dash got out on the water yesterday. He hadn’t surfed since his accident.

This shit wasn’t just important. It was huge.

“Fuck, man. Sorry. How was it? How’d you do?” I asked, excitement racing through my voice and my mouth twitching.

He shrugged, looking happy.

“Better than I was expecting.”

“You eat it?”

“Twice.”

Both of us broke into laughter.

I reached out and slapped his shoulder, then held on and gave it a squeeze.

“Proud of you, brother. Straight up. This is fuckin’ awesome,” I said, feeling all kinds of warm shit spreading through my chest.

Dash let his grin settle into a smile. “Thanks, man. Means a lot,” he told me.

And I felt that, too.

“Know a lot of this has to do with your girl and she’ll be gettin’ my appreciation, but also know you allowed yourself to get to the place you’re at now, and that shit wasn’t easy,” I continued, letting my arm fall. “You should feel good about that, Dash. Let that shit settle inside you. You deserve it.”

“I am. Syd’s makin’ sure of that.”

“Good. ’Cause straight up, I don’t want to sound selfish and I won’t if you stay at the level you’re at right now, but gotta say, I wasn’t sure you’d ever get here again, and besides being fuckin’ ecstatic for you, I’m fuckin’ ecstatic for me. I hate waitin’ for shit. You know that. So heads up, me and you, soon as we get the chance, we’re hitting the water. Just like old times.”

Laughing, he nodded his head.

“Sounds good. I could use a fuckin’ lesson,” he replied, gripping the back of his neck and looking down at the wood.

“Got you covered on that,” I said, holding out my arms and grinning big. “Lessons from the fuckin’ champ. I won’t even charge you.”

He chuckled again, mumbling an “Appreciate it,” before looking toward the house at the sound of the door opening.

“Hey, guys,” Syd called out, sticking her head through the opening in the slider. “Dinner’s ready. Come on.”

“Sunshine. I owe you a fuckin’ hug, babe. Come here.”

I crossed the deck, making my way to Syd and keeping the grin on my face. I was seriously fuckin’ ecstatic and ready to show my appreciation.

Syd, however, was looking confused and a little hesitant, tilting her head cutely and giving me a blank stare.

“Uh, okay, yeah, better give it to me now,” she mumbled, sounding a little strange. Then she stepped outside and let me wrap my arms around her. She slid hers around my back and gave me a quick squeeze. “There,” she said, trying to pull away.

I held on, knew Dash was coming up behind me, and got out what I wanted to say before he heard it.

“Thanks, babe. For everything you did for him,” I whispered against the top of her head.

Didn’t feel like much, what I was giving her, but it was.

I heard her quick inhale of breath a second before her arms tightened around me once more.

“You’re welcome,” she whispered back.

“No one holds Wild but me, asshole. Back the fuck up before you lose an arm,” Dash threatened behind me.

I chuckled and released Syd, who was laughing, too.

She smiled up at Dash, then rushed in to give him a quick kiss. “Did you ask him?”

Dash shook his head.

“Was waiting until after dinner,” he told her.

“Ask me what?” I looked between the two of them, settling on Dash.

He threw his arm around Syd’s shoulders and pulled her close.

“Wanted to talk to you about buying back part of Wax,” he informed me.

“You serious?” I questioned, feeling my lips curl up. “Shit. You don’t gotta ask, brother. Wax is ours. Always has been.” Syd slid out of the way when I stepped in close to Dash, offering my hand, and when he gripped it, pulling him into a hug while throwing my other arm around his back and patting him hard between his shoulder blades.

“Thanks, man,” he mumbled, reciprocating the hug.

We dropped our arms and separated, both of us grinning big.

“This is awesome,” I commented, shifting my eyes to Syd and seeing her happiness, too. “Only thing that’ll make this night better is gettin’ some of that good-smellin’ food in my stomach.”

I turned to head inside, ready to eat, but before I could take a step, Syd was jumping in front of me and planting a firm hand on my chest.

Not that I couldn’t plow through her easily, she was tiny, but I halted anyway.

“You got more good news to share?” I asked her, cocking my head. “Not sure you can top what Dash just put on me, but you can try, Sunshine.”