He stops a few feet away, still mostly in the shadows. All I can really see are his eyes. “I’m Cole.” There’s a pause. Like maybe that should mean something to me. “Willa Culver’s son.”

“Oh,” I say, and I relax a little because at least that means he’s not a weird drifter with a necklace made of human teeth. But I’m also surprised, because I didn’t know Willa Culver had a son. Or any kids at all.

Cole is just staring at me. Like he’s waiting for me to say something else.

“So, do you have a name?” he finally asks with a little smirk. “Or . . .”

Shit. Now I look like an idiot.

“Avril,” I tell him, and we stare at each for a few seconds. “Avril Vincent.”

He takes a step closer, and now he’s lit by what’s left of the fire. I make note of the tattered jeans paired with an expensive sweater. The dark, wavy hair above wild, dark brows. The hard angles of him. Features carved out of rock. I feel him run his eyes over my wet T-shirt and shorts. My sandy bare feet.

My face.

There’s something strange about the way he’s staring at me now. The change in his breathing. I feel it. And I wonder if maybe I was wrong about that necklace of human teeth. But then he smiles.

And damn. My stomach drops.

I pull my eyes away from Cole’s to peer around him. Into the blackness. “Who were you talking to?” I ask, and he gives me a funny look. I’m still searching the dunes behind him, waiting for another shape to emerge from the night. “Just now. Who was out there with you?”

He shakes his head. Slips his hands into his pockets. “Nobody.” I still feel his eyes on me. “Why?”

I don’t think I believe him, but I also haven’t heard that whispering again.

I shrug. “I thought I heard something.” My damp hair is clinging to my face. It’s in my mouth. My eyes. I reach up to tuck a strand behind my ear. “I just—” I stop and listen, because maybe it’s almost there again. That whispering sound.

Or maybe not. I can’t tell anymore. The waves are so loud.

The way Cole is studying me makes me uncomfortable. “Forget it,” I tell him. “It doesn’t matter.” I shiver and wish again that I’d gone back to the cabin for a sweatshirt or something. I turn and walk back toward the dying fire. Cole follows me.

“You’re cold,” he says.

“A little,” I lie. My teeth are starting to chatter.