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She scooped up a handful of water, letting it trail through her fingers. It dropped into the wave below, nothing supernatural at all. Then she gave him a wry glance. “Not everyone’s like you, Chris.”
He sighed. “Yes. There are a lot of people like us. Communities in every town—if you listen to Michael.”
“Every town? Whole communities of people who can control the elements? But that’s—”
“Not everyone can control the elements,” he said, and his voice sounded bitter, plus a little self-deprecating. “Like I said, some people are just born with an affinity. Only those of us with the strongest connection can actually control—god, I’m boring myself.” He swiped the pattern out of the sand.
She caught his arm. “No! I knew—”
He looked up, his face close. “You knew what?”
“Something,” she said. “I knew ... something.”
He held there, unmoving, until she became aware of her heartbeat, of the scent of sand and fire on his skin.
Then a wet tongue was on her cheek, a cold nose in her ear, and a ruff of fur pressed into her hands. She recoiled, pushing the dog’s muzzle away from her cheek.
“Casper!” she cried.
“You know this dog?” said Chris.
Becca rubbed Casper behind the ears until he started his rawr-rawr-rawr. “Yeah, he’s—”
“Mine.”
She whirled.
Hunter stood ten feet back, near where the wild grass met the sand.
CHAPTER 14
God, an hour ago she’d felt guilty for being at the party with Hunter. Now she felt guilty for sitting here with Chris.
You weren’t sitting on the beach, idiot. He just pulled you out of the water and performed mouth-to-mouth.
Becca brushed sand off her cheek and looked up at Hunter. She could hear his breathing from here—just a little hard, like he’d been running or he was angry—but she couldn’t make out the expression on his face.
She had no idea what to say. “Hey,” she offered.
“Are you all right?”
“Ah ... mostly.” That was a loaded question. She pointed to the guy sitting next to her. “Found Chris.”
Chris snorted, but if it made Hunter smile, she didn’t see. Casper was sniffing at her hands, and she petted him again, glad for an excuse to look down. After Chris’s revelations, this whole moment felt surreal.
No, this whole moment felt awkward.
“How’d you find us?” said Chris.
His voice wasn’t friendly, and shadows cloaked his eyes. He still sat halfway in the water beside her, and she felt the tide crawl over her fingers again.
She snatched her hand out of the water. Chris smiled.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Hunter was glaring back at him. “Was I interrupting?”
“Yeah.” The water climbed farther up the shore this time, warmth seeping into the space behind her knees.
For god’s sake. “Don’t be a jerk,” she muttered, then struggled to find her footing in the wet sand. Her head swam a little, like her ears were full of seawater. Hunter stepped forward to help—right when Chris found his feet to do the same thing.
