He shakes his head no, backing away slowly.

My mouth falls open and then he darts off, I don’t know what possesses me to act like a child, but before I know it, I’m chasing after him.

He spins behind a bike rack, juking left and right, so I wait, cut around the second he breaks free, but I bump into someone, stumbling slightly.

Hands wrap around my biceps, steadying me, and my smile lifts to the skater boy I ran off his board.

“I’m so sorry—”

I cut off when Ransom’s arm darts between us, and he grips the guy by the shirt, twisting the thin cotton in his fist. He yanks him forward only to toss him back.

The guy stumbles over the curb, falling into the sand beneath it. “Yo, what the fuck, man?”

My eyes widen, flying to Ransom, but he glares at the angry guy on the ground.

“Oh my god, I—”

I try to apologize again, this time for Ransom’s antics but then his hard eyes find mine and I snap at him instead. “What the hell?”

His jaw is flexed, but he says nothing, tearing away and stomping down the beach.

I turn, but he’s already up and spun for his skateboard.

Arsen hands over my phone with a tight-lipped smile and jogs off to catch up to Ransom, Beretta and me slowly following behind.

“Someone is in a mood today.” I sigh, and Beretta bumps his shoulder with mine.

We head back to the cave, both sticking to our thoughts, which sucks, and once we reach it, Ransom is standing outside of it.

He steps in front of me, blocking my path, his light blue eyes staring into mine.

It’s funny, I’m always in heels, but standing here like this, the flip-flops I bought dangling from my hand, I realize he’s even taller than I thought. He’s irritated, so I should leave him to himself, but for some reason, I reach up, brushing a little bit of sand from the edge of his forehead, and his frown deepens.

It’s as if he’s waiting for something, but I’m not sure if it’s from me or from himself. Either way, it never comes.

He growls and walks away.

I spin, facing the water, and Beretta comes up behind me, wrapping his arms loosely over my shoulders.

“He’s got a lot of shit going on, that’s all.” He excuses his friend.

I scowl at the ocean.

“His uh, his brother’s a dick,” he shares, and my ears perk up. “Uses him when he needs to, but it’s all to keep a leash around his neck. It’s fucked up, but it was that way with his parents, too. They didn’t like him, they might love him, I don’t know, but they didn’t like him.”