2 Chapter Two

The blonde one was standing over me, he was smirking at me and he looked beyond my face to the sketch.

"Wow, that's really good." He told me. I couldn't help but melt a little. He had one of those deep voices that were all honey and velvet promises. I flushed and smiled, looking back down to it.

"Thank you." I managed to tell him. He came around from behind me to plop down beside me.

"I'm Chase." He told me, extending a hand to me. I took it and shook it.

"Raine," I told him, holding his hand a bit longer than what was polite, but looking up at his face he was even more gorgeous up close. It should be sinful for someone to be so damned hot. I cleared my throat and pulled my hand from his, my face flushing harder.

"Would you want to come over and hang out with me and my friends? I promise we don't bite." He told me, flashing a killer smile with perfectly white teeth. I chewed on my lower lip for a moment before nodding.

"Sure, that sounds lovely," I told him, pushing my sketchbook back into my bag and moving to stand.

He rose up effortlessly and extended a hand to me. I took it and he tugged me upright till I was flush with his chest. I had to tilt my head back to look at him. He still held my hand and I had to take a step back and grab my shirt and bag off the ground. I was going over there to satisfy my own curiosity. That was all. I just wanted to see what they all looked like up close, for my painting, of course, that's all. The blonde had brilliant blue eyes that were almost the shade of the ocean itself. He looked like he belonged there, a prince in his own right, a prince of the waves. I followed along behind him as he led me over to their group.

"Raine, this is Avery" he pointed to the dark-haired guy with short hair. "And that's Jax." He told me pointing to the long-haired one. I gave them a little wave. "Guys this is Raine."

"Ello," I told them softly before I laid out my shirt and took a place near them.

"So, Raine, you must be pretty new here. That house was empty for a good bit." Avery said and I nodded.

"Yes, my uncle and I moved here last month," I said simply. When I spoke Jax snorted, making me look at him and raise an eyebrow.

"I should have known you would be a Brit." He told me, his Scottish lilt making me grin.

"Ah, should have known I would have enemies here already," I told him with my grin going wider.

The two boys looked between us and I waved it away. "The British were bastards to the Scots. Some of them are bloody stubborn about holding onto that grudge. Though I will have you know that my family was one of the few to support the Scottish rebellion. Many of my ancestors died defending the right for freedom." I directed the last part to Jax and he smirked at me.

"What's your family name then, Love? Anyone I might know. I've only been in the states a couple of years."

My grin fell off my face and I looked down at the sand. "Beauchamp," I said softly. I watched him out of the corner of my eye, he straightened and looked me over, tugging my glasses off my face.

"You're the Beauchamp heiress, the artist?" he asked, and I nodded. "Well, I'll be damned. Boys, we have ourselves a bit of royalty gracing us on the sand." He told them, staring at me. So, he had seen the papers from back home at least enough to know my face.

"Please. Don't…d-don't say anything. I came here to avoid…all that…" I told him, pleading with him.

He smiled and shook his head a bit. "Not to worry princess, your secret is safe with me." I didn't believe him, not even a little and he must have seen it on my face cause his smile dropped. "Hey, for real. We wouldn't say anything. None of us would there's no reason to. Everyone has the right to hide." He told me, his face darkening a bit.

"What are you doing out here then, living here and not back home with your parents?" Chase spoke up and I looked over at him. I grimaced.

"My parents died at the beginning of the summer, so my uncle came to get me. It was always the plan that once I was an adult, I would come out here anyway, but, well, life happened." I told him with a shrug.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Avery piped up.

"Not to worry. It will sound cold, but we were pretty estranged. I barely knew them anymore. Posh and British meant that they threw money at me and left to go out and be seen." I shrugged. "My uncle though, he is wonderful. He has been the biggest support system in my life." I smiled, a genuine one. That seemed to relax them a bit and I pulled out my sketchbook and looked out over the ocean again. It was mid-day and the sun hit it just right.

"Well, if I had any doubts, I guess that should shut them up," Jax told me as he looked over my sketch. I pushed the hair off my face, flushing.

"Yeah, natural talent, an ability to bring out the passion of everyday life and portray it in such a way that will bring tears to your eyes…or so the papers said," I smirked and shook my head. I knew I was talented, but I never could bring myself to not be humble about it. I knew there were better artists out there. The wind blew the page open to the next and it drew Jax's attention. I looked down and there was a half-done sketch of him, and I flushed as bright as a tomato.

"I couldn't resist," I told him shyly, tucking my sunglasses back onto my face. "You don't get to see people like this at home. It's usually too cold, wetsuits just aren't all that appealing." I told him quickly, but I noted that his cheeks were tinged a little pink as well and I don't think it had anything to do with the sun.

I flipped to the next page and there was the sketch of Chase, though now that they knew about it, I might as well finish them. So, I flipped back to the sketch of Jax and I started working on it. Tucking my knees up closer to my body to use as a table of sorts. It didn't take long before I was shading it in. I moved on to Chase and finished his out, capturing his smiling face in a smaller sketch off to the side. I sketched out Avery too. Committing each line of them to memory to serve later for my canvas. They thankfully ignored how awkward it was that I was checking them out, even if it was for the sake of art. They all just talked around me about the surf, then about school and that gained my attention.

"What school do you go to?" I asked them as I sketched the pensive look Avery seemed to have when he wasn't paying attention. I flipped back to Jax's sketch and I sketched out a smaller sketch of his smile.

"Oh, we go to the public school." They told me dismissively.

"That's where I will be as well," I told them and they all looked at me like I had grown a third head. "What?" I asked.

"We just figured you would be going to the prep school, is all," Chase told me.

"Oh, well, it was thought of course but… I never fit in with those types of kids back home. I figured it wouldn't be any different here. I sort of wanted something new all the way around. My life back home was wonderful in its own way, but it was also cold…I didn't want to bring that here. I want something different." I told them as I went back to sketching them. They were all still looking at me, but Chase leaned over and looked at his sketch I had open.

"You really are good." He commented, and I flipped to Avery's sketch, to finish off the details of his hair as it was half dry and flowing around his face, framing it perfectly. "You made him look so much better" he teased, making Avery get up and crowd behind me to look. I could feel his body head on my back, and it took everything in me not to lean back into him. I stayed straight and showed him the sketch.

"Yeah, I think you did too." He joked and I smiled, shaking my head.

"No, I think I captured you just perfectly," I told him, giving him a smile over my shoulder.

"I should have brought my camera." He muttered, staring at me.

"Why?" I asked him, realizing he was very close to my face.

He opened his mouth like he was going to respond but then he just flashed me a grin and moved away to go sit back in his spot. I watched him as he walked away and plopped down on his towel. I smiled and moved to a blank sheet and started to sketch all three together as I had started on the painting, though now it was up close, and I could make out their details.

As I suspected Jax had dark eyes, though they had a bit of Amber in them. Avery had hazel eyes that seemed to change colors in the light. I would have to commit the colors to memory and try to match those colors to the best of my ability. It would be challenging but I was already plotting out the colors I was going to choose.

The next weeks that lead up to school were much the same, I would paint until they came out of the water, then I would go and join them. They even tried to teach me how to surf and by the second day, I managed to stay on the board, mostly. I showed them my sketches and told them about my life in London. It was easy, so easy, to just sit there and talk to them. The conversation flowed around us and even when it died down it was a comforting silence around us. I finally got up the nerve to ask them up to my studio, seeing as the clouds over us were threatening rain.

I was nervous to have them up there. It was my sanctuary, a place I wanted to keep clear of negative energy, but seeing as they were all practically the sunniest part of my day, I took a deep breath and pushed the door open and let them in. All three halted when they looked at my wall, displaying my favorites.

"Wow." Avery murmured.

"Seriously, Raine, these are…..." Chase started, trailing off with a shake of his head.

Jax was the one who stayed quiet and he walked farther into the room, looking at each piece for a moment before he moved on to the next.

"I…I just finished the one I was working on with you guys in it," I told them, my face flushing. I could already tell that these three would be an addiction... One I might not ever want to recover from. Having them here in my studio, watching them as they interacted with it, only confirmed what I was growing to see for myself.