“What’s he coming over here for?” I gritted my teeth and moved my lips as little as possible to disguise my words. Within seconds, he was in earshot, roar of the ocean be damned. I opened my book and made a weak pass at legitimate reading until the sound of his feet scuffing against the wet sand was unable to be ignored.
“Hello,” he greeted with a smile that didn’t totally meet his eyes. “It’s a nice day for surfing, isn’t it?”
“That it is,” I shielded my eyes and put on my best Southern Belle smile that said I’m just a lil’ lady. Be nice to me, won’t cha’? Either he didn’t buy it, or he had some Southern Belle trauma.
“I haven’t seen you around here before,” he said, then sat down in the sand only a foot or so away. Too close for comfort. “I’m Sam. Sam Uley.”
“Collins Walker,” I reciprocated, extending my hand to shake his. His fingers looked completely normal, but as my hand wrapped around his, the feverish temperature made me pull away early. “I moved here a couple months ago. Are you the welcoming committee?”
He laughed, the fake smile finally reaching his eyes.
“No, but I—,” he paused, that same smile fading so quickly that my own mouth turned down in a frown. His nostrils flared out as he took a deep breath, and his eyes flashed from their casual friendliness into a cold stare. He looked like a different person in the matter of two seconds.
“I have to go,” he hastily sprang to his feet and jogged off in the direction the other guys had run off to only a few minutes ago. We watched him disappear with the rest, then turned to give each other identical questioning looks.
“That was weird,” I commented. Off in the distance, at the very tip of the cliff outlined by light blue sky and blue-black water, stood three figures. They simultaneously launched themselves off into perfect swan dives, landing in the ocean without so much as a splash.