Every Beauty Deserves a Beast

Chapter 2

I stood up slowly and grinned. My favourite food was mom’s lasagne. She literally had to make two of them because, even ten years ago, I would finish a whole lasagne to myself and sometimes even eat the leftovers of hers at midnight for a snack. She made the best food and I could already feel my stomach growling in anticipation!

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I woke up in a sweat as I gasped for breath. My heart thundering against my ribs so hard that I held a hand to my chest for a while I waited for it to slow down. Every night... every night I had nightmares of the ambush on the base and the shots that pierced my flesh. Every night I’d been constantly reminded of how much it hurt to be shot, as though seeing the physical reminder wasn’t enough.

I glanced over at the alarm clock and saw that the numbers read quarter to five. I wiped the sweat on my forehead and threw the sheets back. I wasn’t going back to sleep. I’d feel even more tired and after ten years in the Air Force it wasn’t too bad waking at this time. Normally I’d be up at five and that was a sleep in!

I grabbed my crutches and got dressed. My leg may need healing, but I needed to do more than just sitting around watching TV or doing nothing. I locked the front door and made my way down the shell drive way turning towards the hidden pathway that I found when I was younger. I wondered if anyone had found it during the decade I was gone and whether it was a common walk way now. It was a path that cut straight towards the beach with no need to travel around the trees, bushes and other roads.

To my surprise and happiness I discovered the path had overgrown with the thin spindly trees that grew by the sand off the main stone pathway and I grinned as I pushed my way through it. Obviously no one had found the hidden pathway and I felt like I was ten years old again as I pushed my way through the trees. The sandy path was still here, but the trees simply grew over making it almost impossible to see if you weren’t looking for it.

As I walked, the trees thinned showing the sandy banks and other beach side plants. There were plants with thick leaves and bright flowers and little crabs that scuttled away before I neared them. I looked up to see the dark blue and purple sky with a faint dusting of clouds. The sun hadn’t risen yet and the sand below my bare feet was cold and comforting. I knew that once the sun was in the sky the sand would be as hot as coals so I was thankful I’d brought a pair of flip flops.

I began to hear the soft crashing of waves and my smile grew. I’d always loved the beach, ever since I was younger the beach had always given me some sort of reprieve from the world. It calmed me down and, besides my mom, it was the one thing I missed the most while I was in the Air Force. I didn’t see the beach much and I could really feel myself relaxing now that it was so close.

The trees seemed to close in again and I easily pushed through them sighing in happiness when the sight of endless ocean met my eyes. The sand surrounding me was a greyish yellow and the ocean was a dark grey blue. In the distance the first rays of light were beginning to streak themselves like paint on a black canvas. Where the rays of light hit the sky the sky turned from a dark blue to an interesting shade of imperial purple before lightening to lavender.

I walked slowly a little ways, leaving my crutches where the break in the trees were, letting the muscles in my leg work themselves a little harder as I walked in the sand. I’d heard it was better to walk on sand if someone had a leg injury because the muscles harder and I had to admit... that was very true. I’d walked for about ten minutes before stopping to sit on the sand bank. There was a lone surfer in the water. By the look of her bikini it was safe to say the surfer was a ‘she’.

She sat on her board staring at the horizon and I turned my head in the same direction. The sun had begun its journey upwards and the top of the sun made its appearance over the flat line of the water. Sunlight burst out changing the sky all hues of colours. The grey-blue water lightened to a deep sapphire blue then continued lightening to a crystal blue as the water became shallower. The sand was no longer greyish yellow and instead it was easy to see that it wasn’t a single colour, instead every shade of yellow, white and pink was on display as the sun rose.

I breathed in the air as a gust of salty wind blew in my face and I sunk my fingers and toes into the sand. I’d miss this. A lot. My life here seemed even more far away than the life I’d lived in the Air Force and it seemed odd that I could fit into both. I turned back to the lone surfer and watched in surprise at how good she was.

Her strokes through the water were so fluid it didn’t look like she was even trying. I watched her as she caught wave after wave and I couldn’t help but wonder who she was. Her body movements were so graceful and she had this sort of finesse that a lot of surfers couldn’t seem to perfect.

Plus her body.

Wow.

Her body was insane, in a definite good way.

It was hard to keep my eyes off of her. In fact, I watched over for so long I didn’t realise how time seemed to fly and too soon she was paddling her way back to the shore. She grabbed a towel that she had left in a pile with a bag and dried herself off before slipping on a pair of ripped denim short shorts over her bikini bottoms. She let her sandy blonde hair down and shook it out. I noticed it was longer than I’d thought reaching half way down her back before she wound it back up into a messy bun.

She grabbed her board and bag then flung her towel over her shoulder before walking up the sand banks and out of my sight. I sighed. Despite how much I loved the beach it wasn’t the same as when I was watching her. I stood up and dusted the sand grains that clung to me and made my way back to my crutches. By now my leg ached painfully and when I finally saw the two metal crutches I felt relieved at having some sort of physical aid.

I walked back through the hidden pathway using the crutches and soon could feel the sand heating up beneath my feet. I slipped on my flip flops and continued walking. The whole walk back I couldn’t help but think of the lone surfer. She didn’t look familiar, though I was a fair distance from her to have a proper look. Was she new? Or just one of the people I didn’t get to know before I left?

One thing I knew for certain was that it was going to take a lot to get her out of my mind.

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A/N

Hm.... Yeah, this chappie is pretty much to show you how much of a mommy’s boy Ray is and just a bit of his life.

Dedicated to @ariesgirl72 for correcting me with my Air Force terms (n,n) I respect anyone who puts their life on the line for their country and apologise if I made any other mistakes. I personally don’t have any sort of background with this kind of thing so if I make any mistakes please let me know =D

Nix <3