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In one fast motion, he licks Marlow across his cheek.
Marlow fights back. “Fool!” He wrinkles his nose while the rest of us laugh. “Ew, that tongue, it’s like cow-size.”
Ty is back wrapped around Dani. “Someone likes it.”
“Yuck.”
“Someone’s yuck is someone else’s yum. Right, angel?” He kisses the top of Dani’s head and winks at me.
Marlow kicks the sand in his direction. “Yeah, teach the kid your nasty ways.”
But Sonny Little has a permanent grin on his face as he sits right on the sand with an open bag of potato chips and watches everyone with amusement. To say it’s weird to see a kid among us is an understatement, but it sort of gives the whole gathering a family vibe.
My phone beeps.
“Chyo nos povesila?” Marlow asks me why I’m down. “Sent you something.”
It’s a picture. I pull the screen closer to me so no one sees it, and my heart starts beating wildly.
It’s the only picture of us—Archer and I at Cece’s party, on the dance floor, dancingbachata. My back is to him, his hands are on my waist. I smile at nothing in particular while his eyes are on me like he’s just seen the most beautiful woman in his life.
“Thanks,” I say quietly to Marlow and put the phone away, though I want to stare at the picture for hours, studying every little detail.
My friend, Jonshu, used to say that attraction is a chemical reaction spiked by testosterone. So if you are a girl, as long as you have enough alphas around you, it helps to curb the need for it.
I can say with certainty that it’s rubbish psychology, because Kai, Marlow, Ty, Owen, Bo, and all the others combined can’t erase the feeling of something missing without Archer around.
I’m surprised to see Maddy here. Every time I run into her, I ask the same question: “Let’s hang out sometime. Maybe, go to a restaurant?”
“Sure,” she says indifferently every time, and somehow it ends up being a no. Maddy is always alone, and it feels like she prefers it that way. The only time she opens up is with the Outcasts. And Bo.
Bo is here too, which is an even bigger surprise. He’s fully recovered, now on payroll with Archer, taking on the giant task of managing Ayana.
Ty, Kai, and Owen pick up their surfboards, ready to conquer the giant waves brought by winds and the upcoming hurricane season.
I remember Archer mentioning surfing and ask, “Is it true that Archer used to surf?”
Ty, Kai, and Owen immediately turn their heads to me.
Archer told me this once, to which I bulged my eyes at him.
“Why are you surprised?” he laughed then.
“Because it’s like, salty, and wet, and God forbid you get dirty.”
The guys stand with beers in their hands as the rest of us sit on the sand or chairs in a semi-circle.
“He used to,” Marlow answers. “Used to be great.”
Kai narrows his eyes on the ocean. “What is he not great at?”
Owen snorts. “Keeping his shit together.”
Some Outcasts are still bitter about the last two years. I shouldn’t have brought it up. The guys leave their beers and walk off toward the water. The rest of us chill and watch the surfers, me and Maddy chatting about nothing.
This feels like being on the Eastside again until I turn my head and scan the majestic Ayana resort, splayed above us on the lusciously green hill.
The peak of Zion is weighed by giant fog. It rained earlier today. My butt is wet from sitting on the damp sand. Maddy passes me another beer, and I chug it just to kill my bad mood.
