The scar beneath begins to burn for no reason. I know he’s already seen it, but I don’t like having my clothes off for other people to stare.
Most people in this town know what happened a few years ago, and I can’t handle the unapologetic attention. It makes my skin crawl and my anxiety spike, it’s better to keep covered up to save the questions.
It’s not hard to Google this town along with my name.
I come up, the first result.
“I bet you’re great at it,” JJ offers when I don’t respond.
He leans forward and wraps his arms over his legs, muscles flexing with the movement.Damn him.My heart flutters and I clench my fists, allowing my nails to dig into my palms.
“Great? I was fantastic,” I deflect.
JJ grins at me, and I internally fumble.
“Yeah, I could tell by the balance of your feet when your heel broke.”
My eyes narrow at his playful tone. “Oh my god. Let it go. That was completely different,” I shoot back. “How was I meant to balance with only one heel?”
JJ laughs, and it sends an earthquake of a shiver down my spine. The sound makes me feel like I don’t know myself at all.
“It was a good night,” he comments.
My throat tenses, and I suddenly find the sand rather interesting.
“I haven’t had fun like that in a while,” he adds.
The back of my neck begins to heat.Me neither,I want to say, but I keep it to myself. It’s not worth the pain in the future.
Daisy screams from the sea, and we turn to see her standing up on the board, grinning from ear to ear. I cheer her on from afar before she catapults herself into the water.
After a few moments, they come out of the sea, soaked from head to toe.
“Did you see?” Daisy asks JJ with excitement behind her eyes.
He nods with encouragement. “Yeah, you did better than me.”
“Doubt it.” She pushes away her dripping hair that cascades down her toned back. “You were great.”
Finn glances between them and smirks to himself. “Should we get beers?”
“Absolutely.” Daisy claps her hands together.
JJ stands up from the sand, and I follow his lead. “Sounds good to me.”
“Actually…” I trail off quietly. “I might head home.”
Finn whips his head to me, brows pinching. “What? You’ve got nothing better to do.”
I scowl at him. “I might, thank you very much.”
“Come on.” JJ’s voice catches me by surprise. “One beer.”
When he stares at me, I don’t miss the way his eyes sparkle. They’re pleading with me to come with them. I want to be strong enough to decline and tell them again that I’m busy. But we all know that’s a lie.
“One beer.” Finn folds his arms over his chest.
“Fine.” I roll my eyes. “Onebeer.”
