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R iddick had been weird all night after his old buddies had come by our place. He wouldn’t talk to me, and it left me feeling really uneasy. What made things worse was he wasn’t in the house when I woke up the next morning.

Had to run out to take care of some things.

See you when you get home from work xx

I frowned. Riddick rarely ran out to ‘ take care of things.’ If we needed stuff, he usually sent me since he had a huge aversion to going into town. I didn’t even know where he’d been living before we got together. Whenever I asked him about it, he’d always give me some stupid, flirty answer.

‘Was living in purgatory ‘till I met you, baby boy.’

‘What do you mean? I’ve always been here, waiting for you.’ Wink .

It hadn’t bothered me at the time, but now I was starting to get freaked out. Something weird was going on, and the amount of nausea I was dealing with over it was not fucking cool.

I went through the motions of my morning workout on my own, hoping the exercise would help with the strange churning sensation I was experiencing in my gut.

It didn’t.

I texted Turtle to see if he wanted to meet up to kill some time before my shift, and he came to pick me up in Blake’s car, which just put me in a shittier mood.

“What’s got you looking like someone dropped in on your wave, brother?” he asked, getting out of the car to greet me. I shrugged.

“I don’t know; just having a weird couple of days.”

“Yeah, man, I feel ya. The weather’s turning. Wanna hit Stars Cove up before work? Maybe your fan club will cheer you up.” He winked at me, and I grinned back.

“Yeah, alright. Let’s do it.”

“Load up your board, brother. Surf’s up!”

The waves were nice but sort of boring after all the time I’d been spending at Leviathans.

I shredded some easy pipes with Turtle, and by the seventh or eighth run, I was starting to feel more relaxed.

Turtle had been right. Surfing was my happy place, and it was definitely working as a way to get my mind off how weird Riddick was being.

Or it was until Jet and Kai showed up.

I had just finished a run, so I assumed the cheers coming from the beach were from my fan club. However, when I went to wave to them, I noticed they weren’t cheering for me.

My Finnatics were all crowded around two dark figures that I immediately recognized as the guys who had come and knocked on my door the other day .

They both had their boards with them and wetsuits on, which told me they were coming to surf.

My heart was suddenly racing in my chest.

I didn’t know what to do.

Riddick hadn’t wanted to interact with them at all. I had to assume that meant he didn’t want me to interact with them, either.

But…

Riddick was keeping secrets from me, and I was starting to get sick of being kept in the dark. Why didn’t he want to talk to these guys?

Why were they even here?

I paddled back to meet Turtle in the lineup, and we both bobbed on our boards, watching as the two newcomers paddled out to join us.

“Heyyy, brothers, how’s it hanging? Sick waves today,” Turtle greeted them in his friendly Turtle way.

The guy with the long hair gave him a half smile while the dude with the shorter hair just glowered at us.

“Hey man, yeah. Nice day,” Long-hair said. He had a full sleeve of what looked like traditional Hawaiian tattoos and a shark-tooth necklace.

“I’m Turtle, and this is my best bro, Finn.”

As soon as Turtle said my name, both of their eyes flashed.

“Hey. I’m Jet, and this is Kai,” Long-hair said, gesturing to him and his very pissed-off-looking friend. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Turtle replied. I remained silent, but both of them were staring at me now.

“Blake told us a lot about you, Finn. Sounds like you’ve become a bit of a local celebrity. She says you’re planning on riding Leviathans.”

“Uhm. Yeah. I mean, I’ve already surfed there a bunch, but the waves should pick up next week. I’m hoping to hit my first twenty-footer then,” I answered honestly.

Kai looked furious. “Oh yeah? Do we have you to thank for the fucking surf competition Blake told us about? ”

I frowned. “What? No. I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

Jet studied me carefully, as if trying to decide if he believed me or not. “Blake tracked me down to let me know she’d heard some rumors from the mayor’s son that he was organizing one. We came to see if it was true, and sure enough, they just printed an announcement this morning in the Gazette.”

My eyes widened in surprise. That bitch Kyle had mentioned it at that party in the summer, but I hadn’t heard anything about it since.

Kai narrowed his eyes on me.

“Cut the act, kid. Blake told us all about how you’ve been running around town telling everyone you’re training for Leviathans. Do you know how dangerous that is? You’re sensationalizing that beach! You’re going to get people killed!”

“Hey, Kai, relax.” Jet put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “He clearly had nothing to do with the surf competition. He’s just one dude. This has Tully written all over it.”

Kai just grew angrier. “My friend fucking died on that beach, and we’ve done everything we could to keep idiots like you from doing the same shit,” he snapped. “And now look at what’s happening! There’s going to be headlines bringing surfers in from all over the world. I hope you’re happy.”

“Kai!” Jet snapped, his tone dark and authoritative. Kai glared at him and shook his hand off his shoulder, turning his board to face the shore.

“Fuck this. I’m not in the mood to surf with dumbass kids that have a death wish,” he growled before paddling back to the beach.

Turtle looked thoroughly confused. He scratched his head as he watched Kai paddle away, and I raised an eyebrow at Jet.

Jet sighed and shook his head. “You’ll have to excuse him. He’s a little… triggered right now. That wasn’t about you. He’s a really great guy; you’re just not meeting him under great circumstances.”

I shrugged and rolled my eyes .

“I don’t really care, dude. I’m just here to surf. How about you mind your business, and I’ll mind mine, yeah?”

We moved up a few spaces in the lineup, but Jet didn’t seem interested in backing off. He was staring at me intently, clearly curious about me.

Unlike Kai, Jet’s interest in me didn’t feel hostile, just cautious and wary.

“Blake says you’re really good. She says you remind her of Riddick.”

I froze, my heart literally stopping in its tracks at the sound of Riddick’s name coming out of Jet’s mouth.

“She says it feels like some sort of divine tragedy that someone with a surfing style so similar to Riddick’s shows up out of nowhere, dying to rip up Leviathans.”

I glanced at him, feeling my skin roll with goosebumps under my wetsuit. I had no idea what he was talking about, but the way he was staring at me was making my hair stand on end.

“We came by your place yesterday,” he continued, and I nodded.

“I know.”

“Why didn’t you answer?”

“Why didn’t I answer the door for two strange dudes I’d never met before? I’m Gen Z, bro. I ain’t answering the door for anyone who doesn’t text first.”

Jet’s handsome face split into a genuine grin, and he chuckled.

“Fair enough.”

He glanced over my shoulder, and his grin widened.

“Looks like you’re up, surf star,” he said, jerking his head to indicate that we were now at the head of the line. “Let’s see if you’re as good as Blake says.”