Nate and the Invisible Girl (Gulf City High Book 4)

  Contents

  Also by Michelle MacQueen

  1. Sam

  2. Nate

  3. Sam

  4. Nate

  5. Sam

  6. Nate

  7. Sam

  8. Nate

  9. Sam

  10. Nate

  11. Sam

  12. Nate

  13. Sam

  14. Nate

  15. Sam

  16. Nate

  17. Sam

  18. Nate

  19. Sam

  20. Nate

  21. Nate

  22. Sam

  23. Nate

  Epilogue

  A Note From Michelle

  About Michelle

  2020 Michelle MacQueen

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons is entirely coincidental.

  This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Printed in the United States of America

  Image © DepositPhotos – GeniusKp

  Cover Design © Designed with Grace

  Editing by Cindy Ray Hale

  Also by Michelle MacQueen

  The Gulf City High series

  Jesse and the Ice Princess

  Roman and the Hopeless Romantic

  Spencer and the Younger Girl

  Nate and the Invisible Girl.

  Redefining Me:

  Dating My Best Friend

  Dating the Boy Next Door

  Dating My Nemesis

  The Invincible series:

  We Thought We Were Invincible

  We Thought We Knew It All

  Discovering Me:

  Dating Nashville

  Dating Washington

  Dating Texas

  The New Beginnings series

  Choices

  Promises

  Dreams

  Confessions

  For the people who don’t let me become invisible behind the illness.

  1

  Sam

  The clicking of her camera overcame the crashing of the waves until it was all Samantha Reed heard. Open. Shut. Open. Shut. Her shutter resembled what she’d always felt about her life. Each time an opportunity came, it disappeared just as quickly.

  Dropping to her knees for a better angle, she watched the magnificence that was Brayden Madison as he ran from the water, his board tucked under his arm. She didn’t know when she’d fallen for her best friend. She’d loved him for as long as she could remember.

  His teeth flashed when he saw her. “You watching me, Sammy?” His grin widened. “You should feel what it’s like on those waves today.” He dropped his board next to her and shook water from his sun-bleached hair, oblivious to the pain such simple words could cause.

  Yes, she should be able to experience the waves. She should know what it was like to stand without leaning on her cane or to walk the length of their beach without her uncoordinated legs collapsing beneath her.

  Standing, she brushed the sand from her knees. “I’ll have you know, I am perfectly happy on more solid ground.”

  “Of course, you are, Sammy. Because you know nothing else.” He slung his arm over her shoulder and plucked the camera from her hand. “Hope you got a good shot of me.”

  “I always get good shots,” she mumbled, hating how much she enjoyed his arm keeping her steady. “Give that back.” She reached for the camera.

  He held it above her head. “You’re always so touchy about this thing.”

  “Stop being a jerk.” What she hadn’t told him or anyone else was that the camera was the last gift her father gave her before he died when she was twelve.

  She’d been a girl just discovering her ataxia, a genetic disorder that affected her more than she’d admit, and her father told her that through a camera she could see the world any way she wanted.

  She’d never forgotten his words.

  Shrugging away from Brayden, Sam turned on her heel, lifting her camera to catch his handsome face. He stuck out his tongue, and she laughed as she stumbled backward, snapping photos with one hand.

  She was still grinning when her foot caught on something, and she fell back, unable to catch herself. A moment of dizziness struck her until strong arms wrapped around her back. “I’ve got you.”

  Clinging to Brayden without shame, she steadied her breathing, counting in her head. His touch sent a shiver down her spine, but she tried to ignore his bare chest or the way his strong hands held her together.

  Righting herself, she stepped out of his grasp just as a voice called to them. “Sam! Bray! It’s on!”

  Sam lifted her eyes to where her other best friend Bailey—Brayden’s sister—leaned against the railing on the deck hovering over the beach. The Madison and Reed houses stood side-by-side, looming over a private section of beach where Sam, Brayden, and Bailey had grown up together with their moms.

  The families did everything together, operating more as one entity rather than two. Two adults—Sam’s mom and Brayden’s mom—and three kids.

  Sam’s feelings for Brayden would break the perfect world they’d created.

  Pushing away any remnants of dizziness, Sam climbed the steps to the Madison’s deck, pulling herself up on the railing while Brayden went back for his surfboard.

  Bailey led Sam into the living room where they plopped down on the L-shaped black leather couch. Unlike Sam’s house next door, the Madison’s space didn’t scream “beach”. Instead, it combined contemporary clean lines and sophistication.

  “I can’t believe this is happening,” Bailey squealed, lunging across the couch for the remote. “My brother might make a professional surf team.”

  No, not Brayden. The other brother they hadn’t even seen since they were kids. Mr. and Ms. Madison divorced years ago, and they gave each kid a choice of who they wanted to live with. Bailey and Brayden stayed with their mom. But Nate… well, he’d always differed from them. With less than amicable relations between the parents, the kids’ relationships suffered.

  Sam couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen Nate. He must have been ten, a few years older than her. But age had never mattered between the Reeds and Madisons. Bailey was Sam’s age, but Brayden was a year younger.

  And now… Twenty-year-old Nate was competing in a national surf competition in Oahu, hoping to earn a spot on the Rip Curl professional surfing team.

  What kind of world was this?

  Brayden walked in and took one look at the announcer talking about the upcoming competition on the TV screen before shaking his head and walking to his room.

  As the time neared Nate’s turn, their moms appeared. Ms. Madison took a seat beside Bailey while Sam’s mom plopped down next to her.

  Nate’s picture flashed across the screen, and Sam’s mom whistled. “That boy grew up good.”

  “Ewww.” Bailey plugged her ears. “Don’t say things like that, Kylie.”

  While their teasing continued, Sam zeroed in on the tv, listening to every word said about Nate. They spoke of him surfing in competitions along the west coast and even traveling to Australia. In his picture, he didn’t smile, and his eyes were beautiful both in their intense ocean color and their hardness.

  He looked like a cross between Brayden and Bailey with chestnut hair, tips lightened by the sun, and golden skin.

  Brayden joined them as Nate’s picture disappeared, and they moved on
to talking about someone else.

  Wedging himself between Bailey and Sam, Brayden forced them to make room. He’d changed from his swim trunks into a pair of low-slung sweatpants and a soft cotton t-shirt.

  Bailey elbowed her brother. “Nate’s as beautiful as you think you are, bro.”

  Brayden only grunted.

  Sam had been on the receiving end of many of Brayden’s rants about his older brother. The two barely knew each other anymore, but Brayden blamed Nate, saying he’d abandoned his younger siblings.

  Frankly, there was no love lost between them.

  Bailey romanticized everything. To her, Nate only left because he had a greater destiny, one he couldn’t fulfill in their small town of Gulf City, Florida.

  Sam peeked at Ms. Madison out of the corner of her eye. A tear slid down the woman’s face. Sam supposed seeing Nate hurt her worst of all.

  Yet, none of them would have ever missed this. Watching his competition allowed them to feel like they were still a part of his life, like they still knew him.

  “Do you think he’ll win?” Bailey asked.

  “Probably not, Bails.” Brayden laughed. “There are actual good surfers there.”

  The need to defend Nate rose in Sam. She’d always hated the way Brayden saw him, but her feelings for Brayden usually prevented her from saying anything. Now, though, as Nate readied to take on monster waves, Sam couldn’t hold the words back. “You only wish you were as good as him.”

  Avoiding their glances, he stood and stormed from the room. Guess the truth hurts.

  “That was harsh, Sam.” Her mom gave her a disappointed frown.

  But they didn’t understand. Sam had her first ataxic attack when she was seven years old. She’d lost control of all her muscle functions and couldn’t walk, speak, or see. It was the scariest moment of her life, a day she’d never forget. She was so young that her friends and family could barely remember her before the episodes. Sometimes it was hard for her to imagine a time before as well.

  Nate had been her friend, her constant companion when her life changed.

  I’ve got you, Sammy. I’ll take care of you.

  A year later, he left, taking her childlike semblance of safety with him.

  The boy they’d shown on screen was not him. Not anymore.

  She leaned forward, not wanting to miss a single moment as the camera panned over the rolling waves, zooming in on surfers finishing their heats.

  “Nate already made it to the semi-final heat.” Ms. Madison’s voice shook with excitement. “That’s next.”

  The ocean cleared out for only a moment before a new crop of surfers took to the waves.

  “That’s him in the blue rash guard.” Bailey bounced in her seat. “My brother is on TV.”

  Nate paddled out among the other surfers and sat up on his board. Sam didn’t take her eyes from him as he waited before choosing a wave. He paddled with a strength she’d never imagined in him when he was an awkward, gangly kid.

  And when he stood to conquer the wave, strength and grace collided. He twisted, and his board cut into the wave as if each move was an effortless dance and his partner was the sea.

  Sam could barely stand, but she’d always longed to feel the power of the ocean underneath her feet. Bailey and Brayden claimed nothing else compared.

  As he reached the end of his ride, Nate dove into the ocean, coming back up with a grin on his face. The camera zoomed in on him as he went out to catch another wave.

  When the announcer told them he’d made the final, Bailey and her mom jumped from their seats. Even Brayden reappeared, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest.

  Sam leaned back into the couch, trying not to let her pride show too much.

  They had to wait for another semi-final heat to finish and a break before the final. By the time it rolled around, the tension in the house choked the air. It seemed as though they worried they’d miss something if they spoke.

  Nate paddled out once more. He sat on his board, waiting. For what, they didn’t know. Maybe the perfect wave? Maybe for his nerves to go away?

  Whatever it was, he found it. A perfect roller came toward him, and he dug his hands through the water, looking in complete control of every moment.

  Sam saw the moment something went wrong, and she sucked in a breath, seeing his perfectly coiled control unravel moments before he toppled from his board. She recognized it because she faced the same loss of control every day.

  As he fell, she wasn’t sure she heard anyone in the room take a single breath. Like her, maybe their hearts were breaking as they considered what this meant.

  Nate hadn’t won. With such a quick fall, he’d be lucky to get onto the podium even if he found another wave in enough time.

  For a long time – too long – he didn’t resurface.

  Bailey gripped Sam’s hand, her fingers tightening. Now, it was their turn to wait. People on the beach stood, perfect strangers, as if trying to see the boy who could’ve been any of them.

  Emergency personal crashed into the water as Nate’s once unbeatable surfboard drifted ashore with the fizzling waves, the last remnants of a dream gone so wrong.

  Sniffles came from the people around Sam, but she only watched the search for Nate with wide eyes. She’d taught herself over years of heartbreaking illness that letting herself get emotional wasn’t an option. At least in front of other people.

  Brayden moved to the back of the couch and put a hand on his mom’s shoulder.

  That was the thing about fear. It could be debilitating, but it could also bring change for good, like overcoming sibling hatred.

  Joy shot through Sam’s body as two emergency personnel pulled Nate from the water, and she felt like she could breathe again.

  The announcers chattered on about past accidents at competitions, but Sam didn’t pay them any attention as she watched the motionless Nate Madison. After what felt like years of torment, Sam finally saw his body convulse, and his eyes open.

  The beautiful boy who’d tried to conquer the sea was still alive.

  2

  Nate

  The ocean used to be a refuge, but Nate Madison no longer felt its safe comfort. Instead, anger ripped through him as he sat on the beach where he’d spent so many years learning the be the kind of surfer who didn’t almost drown during the most important competition of their lives.

  Picking up a rock, he flung it into the water. It landed with a satisfying splash.

  “It’s your fault.” He stared at the contemptible waves and the men and women riding them with ease. When he moved to Long Beach, California with his dad, he’d been a sad kid. His brother and sister had stayed behind in Florida with his mom, but as much as he’d wanted to stay home, he couldn’t let his dad be on his own.

  He hadn’t realized the deteriorating situation between his parents would mean he was choosing which part of the family to never see again.

  The waves became his connection to home. When he was out there, he could imagine they were the same waves crashing against the beach behind his old house, the same waves Bailey and Brayden rode.

  But that was a child’s dream.

  And now the waves were nothing more than dark water threatening to swallow him whole. He’d faced the end. As that roller trapped him, tumbling him over and over, he hadn’t thought he’d make it out.

  And now that he had survived? He wasn’t sure what to do.

  A shadow loomed over him. His best friend, Oliver, plopped down in the sand at his side. “You moping again?”

  “No.” Nate refused to look at him, because, yes, he was moping.

  “Look, I’m—”

  “If you say you’re sorry again, I’ll snap your board in half.”

  “That’s mean. Plus, I didn’t even bring my board.”

  “I know where you live.”

  They’d lived in the same neighborhood a mile from the beach since Nate had moved there when he was ten. Since the first day t
hey met, they’d done everything together. Until now. Until Nate screwed up the biggest opportunity of his life, and they offered Oliver his spot on the surf team.

  A spot Oliver didn’t even want.

  It was hard not to hate him for how easy it all seemed to come.

  “I really am sorry, though, man.” Oliver dug his hands into the sand, a habit he had whenever things got too real. It was like he thought he could bury everything he felt. “But I don’t want it.”

  “You should take the spot.” He’d be dumb to refuse.

  Oliver sighed. “Surfing is cool, bro, but it was never my dream.”

  “Then why did you compete?”

  He shrugged. “It was fun.”

  Fun. Something Nate had worked toward for years, training all the time instead of enjoying his life. He’d rarely dated, never partied. He’d known nothing other than his goal.

  And Oliver thought it was fun.

  “How are you feeling, really?”

  That was the question, wasn’t it? Physically, he was fine. He’d been shaken up and gotten all the tests to make sure nothing else was wrong. But mentally… he didn’t know what he was.

  “I’m fine.”

  Oliver looked at him out of the corner of his eye, a look that said he smelled bull.

  He didn’t ask why Nate fell in the competition. No one had. Maybe they all knew he wouldn’t give them a truthful answer. Did Nate even know the truth?

  For a moment, as he’d stood on his board, seeing the wave curl in toward him, he hadn’t been able to breathe. Fear wasn’t something he’d ever experienced while surfing, but in the biggest moment of his life, it was all he’d felt.