There’s a slight pause, a slow beat of silence, and then all at once, they’re at my side.

We head inside my house.

“Game two, boy!” Beretta claps, high-fiving himself and bumps a shoulder into Arsen, who laughs beside him.

Shaking my head, I set my glass of water in the sink and grab my blanket off the couch, joining Ransom on the balcony.

He holds a vape pen to his lips, and this time, when he blindly passes it my way, I accept.

As I inhale, his eyes slide my way, but only for a second.

We stand there, looking out at the night for a few minutes, nothing but the ocean in front of us.

I spin, leaning my back against the glass and look at him.

“Don’t.” His forewarning is quiet and ignored.

His command could mean anything. It could be his way of telling me not to ask questions about what happened tonight, or it could be related to the last time he was here. It’s probably his way for covering both, but we finally have a minute, so I take it.

“You had no reason to help me out with my car, but you did.”

He frowns, looking straight ahead. “I said don’t.”

“And I don’t care. I would have thanked you sooner had you been around, but you guys were never down the road when I tried, and apparently, school is low on your guys’ list.”

He scoffs, looking away. “Like B said, our lungs had to heal. Claim jobs make for a lot of smoke, and we couldn’t exactly light it and leave it.” His blue eyes find mine. “We had to make sure it was nothing but the frame when it was done.”

I stare a moment. “The cop had said it looked like it was gutted.”

He nods, a bit of a bite in his tone as he shares, “Sold the system to a guy in Irvine. Sold the gym bag in the trunk to a chick in Fountain Valley.” His gaze tightens the slightest bit, as if he’s looking for a reaction.

As if I’ll be upset over the Saint Laurent my mother spent a small fortune on when she insisted my workouts go from three days a week to five.

Keep it tight and he’ll still come home at night—laws of a loveless marriage.

“Well” —I look out at the water behind me, then back to him— “I hope you got a fraction of its worth.”

“I did,” he quickly confirms.

A small smile pulls at my lips and I shake my head, glancing inside the house at the other two.

Beretta tilts and turns his whole body as he plays the game, and Arsen sits beside him, calmly pressing buttons, chuckling at B, as Ransom called him.

“How’d you guys meet?” I wonder.

“Like most kids. At school.”

“Did you go to Harbor Day?”