as I-
Something hit my cheek.
“Ow,” I whispered.
I heard a whistle.
I looked down and shook my head.
It was happening again.
Someone was looking up at me from the beach.
This time it was Xavier.
I had the urge to throw the vodka bottle at Xavier, or maybe just spit on him for what he did to me, but I had to play it cool.
“Come down!” he yelled up to me.
“No!” I yelled back.
I could see that Xavier wore a hoodie. He had the hood up but pulled back halfway across the top of his head. Xavier was the dark, sexy, brooding one. He owned the custom car shop. It was his shop where they all got together and decided to kill me.
And now he was here.
Just like Easton. Just like Noah.
Meaning they followed me here.
They waited for me to leave the hospital and followed me to Dad’s house.
They watched everything that happened there and then followed my mother and I here.
Not many people in BFH knew about my mother.
This wasn’t good.
They were taking their stand to see what I really remembered.
Which had to be nothing… and everything.
Xavier waved his hands at me.
I waved my hands back.
He picked something up off the beach and threw it at me.
He had great aim.
The little piece of beach rock almost hit me again.
“Go away!” I yelled down at him.
“Get your ass down here, Winter!” Xavier bellowed.
I gritted my teeth.
Last thing I needed was my mother to show up.
If she knew these guys had followed me here and were messing with me… well, I wasn’t sure what she would do.
I pushed away from the balcony and hurried through the house to go back outside again.
I ran through the kitchen and out to the deck.
There was no sign of Xavier.
I opened my mouth and came this close to calling out his name.
“Hello?” I yelled instead. “Where are you? Who are you?”
There was no response.
I moved to the edge of the railing and leaned over.
Xavier wasn’t there anymore.
I sighed.
I crept down the deck steps to the beach.
It should have been peaceful.
The sound of the ocean waves. The peacefulness of the beach at night.
My toes moved through the sand as I looked for Xavier.
There was nothing. Nobody.
“What the fuck?” I whispered. “What an asshole.”
I turned around and Xavier stood right there, just like Noah.
Except Xavier touched my sides and yelled BOO at me.
I jumped back and swung my hand, slapping him across the face.
Xavier let out an OHHH sound as he grabbed for his face.
I gasped and almost apologized.
But I held back.
“You fucking asshole,” I yelled. “What is your problem? Why would you do that to me? Who are you?”
I added the last question for good measure.
Xavier slowly faced me again.
He was like Easton with the scruff on his face. Except Xavier didn’t care. He would sometimes clean himself up nice like Noah. And then he would let it go for a while and do it again.
As he stared at me, his nostrils flared. He reached up and peeled the hood of his hoodie back.
He was mad.
And he was big, tough, and really mean when he wanted to be.
His eyes blended in perfectly to the dark sky.
Dark and evil.
On his hoodie was a big letter X with a car tire and smoke all around it.
That was for his shop.
Not that he needed money or anything.
The shop was just a place for him to hang out and work on cars.
A place to come up with plans to kill someone like me.
We stared at each other as my heart raced fast.
“Scared you, huh?” Xavier finally asked.
“No shit,” I said. “Who are you?”
“Who do you think I am?”
“Well… I met someone named Noah. He scared me. Then someone named Easton showed up. He scared me. And now there’s you. You threw a rock and hit me on the cheek.”
“I needed your attention, Winter.”
“You’ve got it. Who are you? What do you want? Is there any more people who are going to show up like this?”
“You tell me,” Xavier said.
“I wish I could. But I can’t. I don’t remember anyone or anything. Should I get that on a t-shirt?”
Xavier just kept staring.
His eyes were smoldering and devouring me.
My toes curled in the sand.
“Do I know you?”
“I guess not,” he said. “But I know you.”
“Please tell me we’ve had sex.”
“Excuse me?”
“Easton told me about me and him,” I said. “In his car…”
Xavier curled his eyebrows. “Easton told you that?”
“Yeah. Why?”
He slowly shook his head. “Don’t worry, Winter, I haven’t been in your panties.”
“Good.”
“How do you know that’s