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“You threw your phone into the ocean?” he asks, and I can hear the judgment from here. “Why?”
My mouth slams closed. It’s not like I can exactly tell him why without sounding like a crazy person. Fuck. “Ah, someone annoyed me, and I threw it in there. Coke makes me stupid.”
When he doesn’t answer, I look up at him from below. He’s shaking his head, running the towel over his hair. The muscles on his body are cut to definition and my mouth waters. I almost want to ask him if he spends all day in the gym to get that way. Thankfully, I’m not a flirty drunk.
I’m more a rage-until-you-look-like-an-idiot drunk.
Which doesn’t make me a lot of fun.
“We’ll get you another one tomorrow.”
I shoot up from the sand, drying my body and shuffling into my clothes. “Why? Why the fuck are you helping me?”
He doesn’t answer as he tugs his jeans back on.
“Sparrow?”
His body turns stiff as he turns back to face me. A shadow swirls around his face that makes me step back a little. “Who says we’re helping you?”
“Ah…” I look around. “The fact that when my mother died, you took me in until I turned eighteen so I wouldn’t have to go into some fucked-up foster care.”
It’s the first time I’ve really said the words out loud, and now that I have, I’m aware of how silly they sound. That can’t be why they did that—right? There has to be more. Or maybe there isn’t, and I’m so conditioned into thinking that everyone is tainted that I can’t see the three of them for exactly who they are.
I fold my arms in front of me, not even bothering with my hair.
He reaches to the back of my neck, forcing me to him. “You’re thinking too far into it.”
“It doesn’t make sense.” I bat my lashes up at him, the words coming out a whisper. “Make it make sense.”
He flashes me a dimpled smile. “I’d rather watch you fight to figure it out.” Then he releases me, and I step back. “Come on. Entertain the teenagers so we can leave.”
I follow him back to the surf club, watching my step as the sand once again morphs back into grass. Looking over my shoulder briefly, guilt swallows me whole as I realize what I’ve just done. I don’t know her number. How will I contact her…but even as I follow Sparrow back into the party…
I know.
I know that no matter what, one thing is always certain.
She will always find me.
I woke—flying up from my bed and looking around the room. I was back. What happened? Where was I?
Dion
My leg won’t stop moving as I watch her laugh among her friends. She goes between talking with some to chatting with others before coming back to Raidne and Blaire. They are clearly her comfort. Her home base any time she moves through. I can feel it, though. The tension between the three girls.
“How long until you think they’re going to figure it out?” Malyk asks, leaning forward on the sofa beside me.
He’s resting his forearms on his thighs, his eyes staying fixated on Shiloh. The music is at least decent. It makes it bearable to be here. Hades Hollow has never been a town to follow the rules. Law enforcement is rigged. It’s pretty much run by one man and one man only, and he isn’t here right now.
“Not soon enough, which is perfect.”
I lean against the chair, reaching for my phone when it starts vibrating against my leg. I see who it is and slide up from my chair, making my way outside. People move wherever I walk, and they know better than to ask if they can get a photo with me. It’s partly why I like Hades Hollow, because to them, I’m not the famous musician. I’m something entirely worse.
I slide my phone unlocked and bring it to my ear. “What?”
“Sorry to disturb you. I didn’t—”
“Just spit it out, Melissa.”
