That right there nearly gets me smiling like an idiot.
She’s got a mouth on her. Quick too. I adore that. Most people either get shy around the three of us or start performing. Adelaide doesn’t seem interested in either option. She just keeps firing back.
Ace drags a hand over the back of his neck. I’ve known him long enough to know that move means he’s hiding something.
North knows it too. “You gonna keep pretending this is normal?”
Ace sighs. “What part?”
“The part where the woman you’ve been half crazy over for three weeks drops out of nowhere in the middle of our surf.”
Adelaide slows just enough to turn her head. “Half crazy?”
Ace’s expression doesn’t change, but I notice the shift in him anyway. North, because he enjoys throwing lit matches into things, says, “That’s me being generous, considering you spent weeks searching for her.”
“Appreciate that,” Ace mutters with a groan.
I bark a laugh.
Adelaide stares between us, then at Ace. “How much did you tell them about me?”
Ace doesn’t answer right away, which is answer enough. Something in her expression flickers because she has to know he told us everything.
We keep moving up the sand, boards under our arms, surf hissing in and out behind us. The beach is quiet today. A couple of tourists farther down, with one old guy setting up a chair like he has nowhere better to be. The air smells like salt, sunscreen, and wet board wax.
Adelaide catches my attention. “So are you always this annoying, or is this a special welcome package?”
“I could ask you the same thing.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one you’re getting for free.”
She laughs under her breath, and Christ, that sound lights up my insides.
North studies her from the other side of Ace. “You really threw that wave on purpose?”
She keeps walking. “You’ll never prove it.”
“I watched it happen.”
“Might want to get your vision checked.”
Ace huffs a quiet laugh.
I glance over at him. “See? He’s alive.”
“Barely,” North says.
Ace shakes his head. “You two are painful.”
“Yeah,” I say. “But you love us.”
He gives me a look that says he’ll deny it to his dying day, which has me chuckling.
Adelaide is smiling to herself now, and I catch it right as she tries to hide it. Just the corner of her mouth, yet it changes her whole face into something even more beautiful.
I step a little closer, lowering my voice just enough to make it feel like its own conversation. “So what’s the real story?”
