Page 24

T he party was a rager. Almost all the staff for Sharkies showed up, and even some people from the neighboring town.

I only knew, like, a handful of people, and I more or less stuck as close to Turtle and Blake as I could.

Stars Cove Beach had a tiki bar they staffed for these events, and there was a line of three people deep trying to get drinks.

A DJ was bumping top forty hits, and as the sky got darker and the crowd got tipsier, people started to kick off their shoes and dance.

I was nursing a rootbeer, half listening to Turtle tell Blake all about some douchebag customer he’d needed to deal with at Sharkies, when some preppy dude in a polo and beige cargo shorts appeared.

“Hey, it’s the Turtle Man, how’s it hanging?” Preppy Boy grinned, flashing freakishly perfect teeth.

Like, they were so perfect. I wondered vaguely if they were veneers. Dude looked like a ventriloquist dummy.

“Tully, my man , what’s going onnnnnn?” Turtle grinned in his usual good-natured way, clapping hands with the guy in a friendly manner. I didn’t know this guy, but his name sounded familiar.

“Nothing much, nothing much, just figured I would come and mingle with the common folk,” the guy, Tully , said.

I narrowed my eyes.

That was kind of an asshole thing to say.

Turtle didn’t seem perturbed; he just nodded, still smiling.

“Right on, brother.”

“Who’s this?” Toothtastic Tully asked, jerking his head to me but talking to Turtle like I wasn’t even here.

I wrinkled my nose.

This guy was giving me the serious ick.

“This is my best bro, Finn Summers.”

Tully’s eyes flashed, and his creepy, fun-land smile turned mean.

“Ah, yes. I heard about you. Quinn talks about you a lot.”

“Oh yeah?” I deadpanned, not even bothering to pretend I was interested in this conversation.

“Yeah. She says you have some dumbass dream of riding Leviathans. You know that’s only for the pros, right?”

He said it like he was implying that he was the pro in question.

“Whatever, man,” I replied mildly, already scanning the crowd to see if I could come up with an excuse to get away from this dickwad.

“Hey, I see Blake. I’ll be right back,” Turtle said suddenly, disappearing from my side.

I almost shouted after him not to leave me alone with this douchebag, but by the time I opened my mouth, he was already gone.

Turtle, my ass. Dude was fast as fuck.

“Anyway, that’s why my dad is opening up Leviathans for an annual surf competition. He says it’ll bring loads of money into the town. I’ve already been training for months. ”

It was like someone turned the sound off, and all of a sudden, all my attention zoned in on Chip fucking Skylark’s stupid face.

“He can’t do that, man,” I said dumbly, knowing that Riddick would absolutely lose his mind if something like that happened.

The guy scoffed, taking a giant swig of his beer. “Of course he can. My dad’s the mayor of Stars Cove. He can do whatever he wants.”

That’s when it clicked. Tully. That must be this kid’s last name. He was Mayor Tully’s son.

I glared at him, shaking my head.

“Nah, man. Leviathans is on my property. I bought Jake Whittling’s old place. There’s no way I would let him do that.” Feeling pleased with myself, I took another swig of my rootbeer.

Tully just started laughing. “God, you’re dumber than I gave you credit for.

Leviathans falls under the Public Trust Doctrine.

Even if it’s technically on your land, it’s still owned by the state and is open for public use.

You think my dad would start putting something like this together without checking all his boxes? ”

I scowled.

What the fuck? What was even the point of buying land if everyone could just do whatever the fuck they wanted on my property anyway?

I rubbed my temple, suddenly feeling like I was getting a headache.

“Is Kyle bothering you?” I glanced up to find Quinn standing there with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her pretty face.

“Quinn, baby. I was just teaching this jerk off the basics of California property law,” he said, puffing out his chest like that made him cool instead of a complete dweeb.

“Ew, Kyle. I’m not your baby. Why don’t you crawl back under whatever rock you scuttled out of?”

His expression changed from amused to violent so quickly that I had to blink to keep up.

Suddenly, he was grabbing Quinn’s arms so hard she cried out in pain, and he was snarling in her face.

“You think you can talk to me like that, you stupid bitch?” he spat .

My mouth dropped open in surprise. What the fuck!? I’d gotten the feeling this guy was a piece of shit, but I wasn’t expecting this level of depravity.

Quinn didn’t look surprised, but she didn’t cower either. She turned her angry green eyes on him and spat directly in his face.

“ You cunt !” he bellowed and tossed her down into the sand like she was a rag doll. He pulled his foot back, and I suddenly realized that he was planning to kick her.

“Oh, hell no!” I snapped.

I kicked out his knee on the leg that he’d put all his weight on, and he collapsed into the sand next to Quinn.

I was on him in a second.

“You like to hit girls?” I snarled, cocking my fist back and slamming it into his nose so hard blood gushed out. “Why don’t you try fucking with someone who hits back, huh?” I slammed my fist into his stupid, ugly teeth and grunted as I split a knuckle open on his veneers.

“Finn! Stop!” Quinn was shouting and pulling me off the little douchebag, who was now sputtering and spitting blood into the sand.

“You’re gonna pay for that!” Kyle yelled at me as he got to his feet.

I lunged for him again, but he turned tail and ran like the little bitch he was. He was lucky Quinn was holding me back, or I would have given him a black eye to go with his broken nose.

“What a fucking asshole,” I growled, and Quinn gently took my throbbing hand in hers and held it up to examine the damage.

“You shouldn’t have done that, Finn.” She sighed.

I scoffed, finally tearing my gaze away from Kyle’s retreating form to look down at her.

“He was going to hurt you. Right in front of me! What was I supposed to do? Watch him beat the shit out of you? Fuck that.”

She looked up at me with those pretty eyes surrounded by dark lashes, and for a moment, it looked like she might cry. Her dark hair was so thick and healthy that it reflected the warm orange flicker of the flames in the tiki torches that lit up the beach .

She really was gorgeous. In a different life, I would have chased her down in a heartbeat. As it was, even after putting three days of distance between us, I was still chasing Riddick.

“No one’s ever done something like that for me before,” she said softly, and I frowned.

“Then you need to hang out with better people, Quinn. That was fucked up. Is that the first time he tried to hurt you?”

She shook her head and dropped her gaze. Her shame was so great I could feel it roll across my skin like a living thing.

“Hey,” I said, tilting her head up so she would look at me again. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I basically called him a cockroach… and I spat on him.” She pointed out, and I burst out laughing.

It was the first time I’d laughed since I left the shack. It felt really good.

“ True. But I mean, if the antennae fit.”

She giggled. “Did you see how he scuttled away after you beat his ass?”

I nodded in mock seriousness.

“Serious cockroach behavior.”

She giggled again, and I felt another surge of sadness that I wasn’t into her. She deserved someone to take care of her the way Riddick took care of me.

Or, I guess, the way he had been taking care of me before I left him on that beach.

“I used to date him. Believe it or not, he was really nice to me at first. Charming. Then, after we were together for a while, he started to change. I broke up with him after he hit me the first time, but he’s been obsessed with me ever since.”

I was starting to understand why he’d seemed to hate me on sight. He thought I was after Quinn, who he seemed to think belonged to him.

I fucking hated dudes like him. I should’ve hit him harder.

“He’s not going to let this go, you know,” she said, gesturing to my now swollen and bleeding hand.

I snorted. “I’m not afraid of him, babe.”

“You should be. His dad’s the mayor, Finn. They could make your life here very complicated if they wanted to.”

I shrugged.

My life here was already complicated, and it had nothing to do with bitch-ass Kyle Tully.

“I like it when you call me that, you know?”

“Huh?” I asked, shaking my head to snap myself out of my thoughts of Riddick.

“ Babe,” she said, her cheeks blushing, and my chest flooded with guilt.

Ah fuck.

The last thing I wanted to do was lead her on. Riddick had done that to me for weeks, and it felt like shit. I wasn’t down to do that to someone else. Especially not someone as cool as Quinn.

“Listen, Quinn. I think you’re rad and all, but it’s not like that,” I said, and she frowned.

“It’s not?”

“Nah. I know Turtle’s been pushing for us to hook up, but I’m not looking for a relationship right now.”

“Why not? Is it me? Is it something I did?” she asked, and I could see the anxiety in her features. Something told me that Kyle guy hadn’t just hit her. He’d damaged her self-esteem. Someone who looked and acted like Quinn shouldn’t be this insecure.

“No, babe. It’s not you. You’re gorgeous and funny and smart, and you deserve way better than that douchebag Kyle. I’m just… into someone else.”

Her face lit up at that, and I immediately regretted saying anything.

“Really? Who?! Do I know her?” My cheeks flushed, and I shook my head.

“Nah. Probably not,” I muttered .

“Well, she’s very lucky. Whoever she is.”

I huffed out a painful laugh, shrugging. I doubted Riddick would agree that he was lucky to be the object of my affections. He couldn’t push me away fast enough.

She reached out and placed her hand on mine gently, smiling up at me.

“Thanks again, Finn,” she whispered, and I grinned down at her.

“Of course, Quinn.”

Suddenly, a deep, angry voice ripped through the balmy California night, causing me to jerk away from Quinn in surprise.

“And what, exactly, is going on here?”

My head whipped to the side, and Riddick was there, barely a foot away from us.

And he looked pissed.