Chasing Forever Down (Great White Surf Saga, #1) [Wattpad Featured Story] | ✔

Chapter 17: The Secret's Out, Shark!

My breath catches in my throat, and I'm overcome with relief when I find Vin talking to A.J. I'd have never heard the roar of his motorcycle over the music of Sapphires and Sunsets.

"Why didn't you tell me Topher was your brother?" I ask before I can talk myself out of unearthing the skeletons that Vin has worked so hard to keep hidden.

He folds his arms over his chest, looks at me like I'm an absolute idiot, and says, "You never asked."

Right. Because any normal person would've thought to ask if Topher was his brother. Of course. That makes total sense.

I shrink into my surroundings, like in the movies when the camera zooms out and the main character looks so tiny and helpless in a world of drama and chaos.

"What else haven't you told me?" I do all I can to keep my voice steady, but I feel that intimidation from day one on The Strip all over again. And he's not even armed with lame hair dye spray tonight.

He throws his arms into the air. "What do you care?"

He pushes off of the car behind him and heads toward his bike. A.J. stumbles behind him, and I trail along, racking my brain for any good reason as to why I care that doesn't sound totally invasive and obsessive.

"You really need to leave some things where they are, Haley," Vin says, turning back around to face us. "You don't want these answers."

Oh but I do. Beginning to end. The good, the bad, the drowning, and the surfer. And anything else you want to shed light on. I don't just want them. I need them.

The silence continues to grow more awkward and uncomfortable, at least for me because I think Vin likes staring at me and freaking me out. The street lights flicker and stars pop out of the sky. Music pours over the roof of the beach house and floods the sand. I don't even know how long we've been standing here.

"I'm going with you," I finally say.

"No," Vin counters. "You're not."

"My car," A.J. says, dangling his keys.

Vin snatches them out of A.J.'s hand. "You're too drunk to drive anywhere."

A.J. latches onto my arm to balance himself. "But you...can drive," he says, pointing his finger at Vin for extra emphasis.

A.J. must've been sitting out here since the fight, drinking beer to his heart's content, or until he forgot why he was kicked out to begin with.

Vin doesn't verbally surrender. But when he helps A.J. into the backseat of that tin can of a car and motions for me to get in, I want to squee like an excited fangirl. I climb into the passenger seat and lose all focus upon seeing the Enchanter hanging from A.J.'s rearview mirror with what looks like a yarn noose. The doll is small with black fabric for its body. But it's not wearing clothes. Instead, the entire body is covered in white stitches, like Enchanted Emily cut him apart and sewed him back together and left his battle scars out there for the world to see. Its lime green eyes stare back at me.

"That's Logan," A.J. says, leaning in between the seats. Vin pushes him back and tells him to put his seatbelt on.

A.J. does as he's told but keeps talking. "Like Logan Riley," he says. "That motherfucker got fucked up bad...black market organs...and that's what we're going to do to the east coast."

So A.J. is a little more drunk than I thought. I glance over at Vin, and he tells A.J. to go to sleep, but A.J. keeps talking and slurring his words more each time he tries to tell me the story behind his Enchanter. I still don't know the story even after we pull into the gas station parking lot. Vin goes inside for the beer, being the legal twenty-two year old that he is, and A.J. goes into a comparison of Logan Riley and our dear friend Dominic.