He was fucking flirting with him!
Finn, happily, seemed either unaware or uninterested. “Listen, I’m having a pretty shit night. I’m not in the mood to entertain some random dude I barely know. So if you don’t have a reason for being here, then I’d appreciate it if you?—”
“Blake was right; youdosurf like him,” Jet interrupted.
Finn glanced at me again, but it was brief enough that I don’t think Jet noticed.
Jet pushed up off the counter and took a few steps closer to Finn, who was frowning now.
“I’ll admit, I kinda jumped at the chance to come check on you when Blake messaged me freaking out. Seeing you surf today was… Let’s just say I’m intrigued.”
“Intrigued?” Finn breathed, and Jet continued to close the distance between them.
“Yeah.Intrigued.You’re good, surf star. Like,reallygood. Do you have anyone coaching you?”
Finn’s gaze darted to me again, and my heart sank as his normally bright eyes turned flat and dead.
“Not anymore,” he whispered, and my stomach bottomed out.
Jet’s grin widened.
“Cool. So the position’s open, then?”
Finn met his gaze, and there was a long beat of silence that made me want to tear my fucking hair out before, finally, he nodded.
“Yeah. I guess it is.”
“Dope.” Jet grinned, and I watched in horror as hereached out and touched Finn’s chin.
He literallytouched his fucking face.
Like he had arightto.
“See you tomorrow, surf star. I’ll be here bright and early. Can’t wait to see what you’ve got on the real shit.” He winked, then left the shack, spinning Blake’s car keys in his hand as he went.
Ifelt like shit. My body was heavy, and getting out of bed was hard. It was very similar to how I felt after I’d learned my mom died. The difference was that I didn’t have the luxury of lying in bed and wishing for death to take me too.
We were only a few weeks out from the surf competition, and I wanted to be ready to surf a true Leviathan before the beach was flooded with news and paparazzi.
I didn’t have any interest in the competition, but Ididwant to prove to myself that I could survive this beach before any of those other assholes did it.
So, when Jet started pounding on my door, I pushed through the heavy blanket of depression that was threatening to pull me under and got up.
Riddick was waiting in the living room. He’d made me breakfast like he always did but hadn’t tried to crawl in bed with me the night before.
I was grateful. I could barely look at him. I wasn’t even angry with him. I was just…heartbroken.
I thought I knew what heartache was, but I’d been wrong. This wound in my chest was all-consuming.
I felt the paineverywhere.The grief of losing Riddick was a living thing.It crouched on my shoulders—a feathered scavenger that preyed on things already halfway dead.
What made the grief cut even deeper was the fact that he was gone… but somehow also stillright there.
I couldseehim.
I could smell him.
And I knew, if I allowed myself to, I could touch him.
