Page 21 of Surfer's Paradise

Too quiet.

The nearest shop was half a block away, closed for the night. No pedestrians. No traffic. Just the faint flicker of a streetlamp and the deep, aching silence of a city that had already moved on without her.

The man made a sound in the back of his throat. Something low and amused.

“You ain’t got a ride, do you?”

Rosie’s fingers curled tight around her duffel strap.

The bus was nowhere in sight.

Her heart started pounding.

She should have waited for Amy.

She should have let someone drive her.

She should have never let herself believe she could exist in a night like this without something coming for her.

The man shifted closer.

And Rosie braced.

Chapter 5

Of course he didn’t leave.

Of course he followed her.

Isaac wasn’t even sure why he tried pretending otherwise. Like he could just walk away from Rosalie Quentin, like he hadn’t spent his entire life looking out for her.

Like he didn’t know exactly where she was going, what she was doing, how alone she was.

So he walked. On foot. A few steps behind. Just watching.

Same as always.

Rosie never saw it the way he did.

The way people looked past her.

Or worse, right through her.

Even back then, in the halls of their shitty middle school in Signal Hill, he’d seen the way kids acted like she wasn’t there.

The awkward, skinny girl with glasses too big for her face, hiding her sad eyes, sweaters that swallowed her arms, hiding her scars. Shy. Quiet. Smart as hell.

But alone.

And people didn’t know.

They didn’t know why she had no friends.

Didn’t know why she barely spoke.

Didn’t know why she disappeared after school, why she never invited anyone over, why she never let anyone get too close.

Isaac knew.

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