thecamerons - Tumblr blog

thecamerons · 8 months ago

Text

so obsessed with your ex | r.c.

summary: “Hey,” you smiled at her, alarmingly genuine. “Rebecca, right?”

“Yeah.”

You nodded, your eyes warm. “We haven’t met. I’m-”

“I know who you are,” Rebecca interrupted you, her cheeks warming when she realized what she was alluding to. You exchanged a discreet look with Sarah and Rebecca willed the ground to open up and swallow her with the way the conversation was going.

OR If Rebecca had known that her obsession with you would lead to you and Rafe getting back together, she would've done a whole lot different.

pairing: Rafe Cameron x reader / Rafe Cameron x OC

warnings: during most of this fic, Rafe is dating someone else. Sorry, it's part of the plot, but they don't do a lot of couple-y things, if that's any consolation! Rebecca is kind of delulu (actually, she is very delulu), but i'm hoping that most of you can relate to it, NO cheating!

word count: 4,1k

author's note: something very different, i'm aware, but i was like a woman cursed when i listened to olivia rodrigo's song sorry and this was what i envisioned. I HOPE YOU LOVE IT!!!! Also, I want to @ my loveys @rafesmuse and @rafetopia bc ily guys, thanks for the support and my wife @ghostofwriting mwah mwah mwah, happy reading!!!

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Rebecca had always felt secure in her relationship with Rafe.

Until she found out about you.

It all started when she was looking for a hair tie, knowing she had left a couple of them in Rafe’s bedroom whenever she stayed over.

“Baby, have you seen my hair ties? I swear I could’ve sworn I put them in the bedside drawer…” Rebecca muttered to herself, pulling open the drawers, rummaging through them. She froze when brushed a pack of condoms aside to reveal a picture she had never seen before. Rafe was talking to her from the bathroom, but Rebecca couldn’t hear a thing as she picked up the picture, looking at it with a funny feeling.

The picture looked like it was taken mid-conversation as you and Rafe were standing closely together, having eyes for no one but each other. Even thought you were barely touching, it felt weirdly intimate. More intimate than a close friend. And Rebecca had seen you around Kildare before, but you never had made an active move to talk to Rafe when they were at a party, so if you were friends, he definitely would’ve introduced her to you, right?

“Bex, hey. Did you find one?”

“What?”

Flustered, Rebecca looked up from the picture, her cheeks red and Rafe raised an eyebrow at her, a hair tie on his open palm.

“I asked if you found a hair tie. I put them in the bathroom,” he said, rounding the bed to hand it to her. “What d’ya got there?”

“Oh, just a picture I found,” Rebecca said quickly, taking the hair tie out of his hand, moving to put the picture back in the drawer, but Rafe was quicker, snatching it out of her grip with a laugh.

“Are we starting to lie each other now?”

Rebecca watched him closely as he took a look at the picture, pressing her lips together as he paused, taking it in.

“That’s-” she broke off, clearing her throat, before she said your name. “… Right?”

“Yeah, yeah…”

Rafe frowned, before he lifted his head to look at her. Rebecca couldn’t quite decipher the look on his face. She had never seen him like this before.

“I didn’t know you dated her,” she said, nonchalantly, hoping he would deny it. But Rafe only shrugged, glancing at the picture one more time before he put it back in the drawer, shutting it close.

“We broke up before you came on the island, how were you supposed to know?”

Rafe pressed a kiss to her temple, but Rebecca was still fixated on the picture, staring at where she knew it laid inside the drawer.

“Are you ready? Top’s gonna come pick us up in a few.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Rebecca replied, distracted. “Uh, you can go downstairs, I’ll be down asap.”

“A’ight.”

Rebecca smiled at him, waiting until he left the room, before she slid open the drawer again, reaching for the picture to stare at it, her thumb rubbing circles into the corner, wondering who was still printing pictures in this day and age. She wasn’t sure how long she was standing there, jumping when she heard Rafe yelling for her.

“Bex, Top is here!”

“Coming!” Rebecca called back and without thinking, she slipped the picture into her purse before heading downstairs.

To say that Rebecca grew infatuated with you after finding that picture was an understatement. She was obsessed.

Okay, maybe not obsessed, that had a weird tone to it. Fixated.

She was pretty fixated on you.

Rebecca immediately had followed you on instagram when she got home later that night. Scrolling through your profile, she noticed that while you weren’t following Rafe and vice versa, you still followed all of his friends and his family. Rafe’s younger sister Wheezie seemed to be a constant in your life still, judging by her comments under all of your pictures. Apparently you were still well-liked by his family friends, and Rebecca started to wonder why you and Rafe broke up. But it wasn’t like she could ask Rafe why you broke up, right?

“What?” Topper stared at her, as if Rebecca had just asked him to give her 1k. His look made her nervous though, and she glanced over her shoulder, making sure that Rafe was still out of earshot.

“You’re his best friend,” she stated, albeit unnecessarily. “You have to know.”

Topper rubbed his jaw, like he was conflicted, which Rebecca really didn’t understand. What was the big deal? She had intentionally waited until Topper was a little tipsy, and now she was wondering if that was a mistake, since he seemed strangely paranoid.

“You’re his girlfriend. Shouldn’t you be asking him that question?”

“I don’t want to stir up trouble! Why can’t you just tell me?” Rebecca raised her voice, her cheeks flushing when she realized that people were starting to stare, so she burrowed deeper into the couch, waiting until everyone went back to their business. Maybe she shouldn’t have asked this at a party.

“It was a mutual break up,” Topper then answered, speaking slowly like every single word was gravel in his mouth. “Rafe never really told me why, but they just disappeared out of each other’s lives from one day to the next, as if they haven’t been dating for the last four years. But she never said anything bad about him in the aftermath… Neither did he.”

That just created more questions than it answered, but before Rebecca could get her thoughts sorted to prod Topper again, Rafe returned, his shoulders lose.

“Your drink,” he said, handing Rebecca a cup, settling down on the couch next to her, throwing his arm over the back. He hadn’t even been sitting for a minute, when Topper got to his feet, muttering something about finding the pong table for a game.

“What’s with him?”

Rebecca only shrugged, choosing to sip on her drink instead of giving an answer, her mind still reeling from the information she got from Topper. The more she learned about you, the more she was intrigued and filled with questions, that she felt like would never be answered.

“You good?”

Rebecca barely lifted her head from the window she was leaning it, her reaction a little slow. She had been… Drinking a little more than she liked. Every time she wanted to ask Rafe about you, she stopped herself and went for another drink, and that process had repeated itself over and over again until Rafe cut her off, deciding to take her home. Rebecca was more than tipsy, her inhibitions slightly out of control.

“Fine,” she replied with a little sigh, rubbing her temple. She could feel Rafe’s eyes on her and she could feel her resolve crumbling. “Why did you guys break up?”

The car swerved off the road for a second, making Rebecca grab onto the arm rest to keep steady while Rafe cursed.

“The fuck?” he said, glancing over at her with a frown. “Where the hell did that come from?”

Rebecca exhaled deeply through her lips before she looked over to him, her brows furrowed, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Topper told me you were dating for four years, Rafe. Four years! But he couldn’t even tell me why. Isn’t he your best friend? He should know that, right?”

Rafe stared at her, as if trying to gauge her reaction. Rebecca hadn’t even noticed that he had pulled the car to the side, the motor long off.

“Is this like a test or somethin’?”

Rebecca rolled her eyes. “No. I’m just genuinely curious. She seems-”

Nice? Super pretty? Like his perfect match?

She didn’t finish her sentence.

“What?” Rafe muttered under his breath, and Rebecca only scoffed in annoyance.

“Whatever,” she huffed, leaning her head against the window again. “Just forget it.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Rafe just sitting there, turning the ring on his finger, letting out an exasperated sigh.

“We got into a lot of fights near the end,” he started, his tone defeated. “She’s pretty headstrong, likes being right. I like sticking to my opinion… It wasn’t healthy anymore, so we both knew that something had to change, even though I still…. There was still love.”

Rafe stopped, but Rebecca held herself back with saying anything, wanting to soak up every bit of information he was willing to give her.

“We figured a clean cut would be best for both of us, have no contact. Give us a chance to start fresh, see new people.”

Rebecca could tell that he was holding something back, probably something along the line of how he was struggling with the no contact rule, but didn’t want to seem like he was still holding onto you.

“She’s really pretty,” she only said.

“Yeah.”

Do you still love her?

Rebecca was glad that she was still able to hold herself back enough to not ask that. She had a feeling that she wouldn’t like the answer that much.

“Thanks for telling me.”

“Yeah. You done throwing tantrums?”

Rebecca rolled her eyes with a small smile and settled back into her seat while Rafe started the car to continue their way home. Most girlfriends would probably feel angry that their boyfriend seemed to be so sentimental still when it came to their ex, but all that Rebecca could think about was how you clearly were someone he held dearly, and that she wished to be that reach that point soon.

And when she was about fall asleep after they got home to his place, she wondered how often you had fallen asleep on her side of Rafe’s bed like this. She thought finding out more about your relationship with Rafe, she would stop obsessing you.

But she didn’t.

She kept it to herself, however, not mentioning you again after that one talk in the car she had with Rafe.

Rafe, who had been lighter ever since he talked about you, ever since she pushed him to talk about, which showed her that it was the right thing to do. Her fixation on you helped her relationship with Rafe and to her, that justified the amount of times she was checking out your social media, but Rafe wouldn’t understand. She admired you. Honestly, Rebecca felt like she could become pretty good friends with you, but what excuse did she have to talk to you besides dating your ex boyfriend? Worst case, she’d curse you out, best case she’d give you a fake smile. No thank you. Rebecca would much rather stick to admiring you from afar.

… Which was the reason why she was so nervous, when she met you for the first time. In her defense, this was the last place she had expected to see you. The place being Kelce’s house.

It was his birthday, and to celebrate it, he decided to throw a huge rager at his house. While Rebecca did arrive with Rafe, they quickly separated, with Rafe trying to find Kelce - this was his birthday after all - and her going to see her friends. After about two hours, and Rafe not replying to her texts, Rebecca started to walk around to see if she could find him. Which was easier said than done, the house was packed. When it took her nearly half an hour to get through the kitchen, Rebecca almost gave up until she saw Sarah sitting in the corner of the couch talking to someone.

“Sarah!”

Although Rebecca wasn’t the closest with her, she was about the only person she knew right now, and she could use a familiar face. Slipping between a kissing couple, she made her way straight to the couch, touching Sarah’s shoulder gingerly.

“Hey, I’m so glad I saw you. Have you seen Rafe anywhere? He hasn’t been answering his texts and I-”

Rebecca trailed off when she noticed Sarah glancing to her friend, only to realize that it was you who Sarah had been sitting with, and her words get stuck in her throat.

Oh.

“Hey,” you smiled at her, alarmingly genuine. “Rebecca, right?”

“Yeah.”

You nodded, your eyes warm. “We haven’t met. I’m-”

“They’re probably in the basement,” you offered, maybe as some sort of olive branch. “Kelce likes to hide away down there to play pool during his parties.”

“Oh yeah yeah, Rafe probably doesn’t even have any bars down there,” Sarah chimed in.

“Right, okay, thanks,” Rebecca said, awkwardly. She stood behind the couch like a deer in headlights. You must have noticed, because you grabbed Sarah’s arm, scooting back on the couch to make more space.

“You can join us, if you want.”

“… Really?” Rebecca asked skeptically, not quite sure if the invitation was genuine or not.

“Yeah, ‘course.”

Hesitantly, she sat down next to Sarah, trying to get comfortable but she was far too aware of your presence, placing her purse in her lap.

“So have you already settled into Kildare?”

Your eyes were inquisitive and Rebecca was trying to see if there was any sign of malice or distrust in them, but all she could see was genuine interest.

“I mean, I guess so… Life down here is pretty chill. Like it’s its own world…?” Rebecca winces at her own words. “Sorry, that’s stupid.”

“No, no!” You insisted, waving your hands at her quickly. “I know exactly what you mean. We went to Charleston once to tour the college campus there and it was like we were on another planet, remember Sar?”

Sarah’s eyes widened and she nodded quickly, slapping your arm in excitement. It looked like it hurt, but by the way you were laughing, Rebecca assumed it was a regular thing. She wouldn’t know, she barely ever spent over twenty minutes with Rafe’s sister.

“Remember when we were auditing that one sociology class and Rafe fell asleep during the lecture?”

“Oh my god, yes. Because he and Top were playing that stupid video game that came out two days earlier all night long.”

You and Sarah giggled as you reminisced about the past, like two best friends and Rebecca grew envious of your friendship, wondering if she was ever going to have that kind of relationship with Sarah, though you did have running start with building a friendship with her outside of being Rafe’s girlfriend. Or ex, rather. Rebecca started rummaging in her bag, acting like she was looking for something, doing anything to seem less excluded, really.

Your laughter subsided and you smiled at Rebecca, stilling her hands in her purse when she realized the attention was back on her.

“How is Rafe?”

“Oh you know him,” Rebecca replied, a little less nervous now that she was talking about a topic where she wouldn’t feel left out, taking her purse off her lap, placing it on the couch between her and Sarah. “The usual. He’s more focused on keeping up the company than ever, been away a lot.”

You nodded, tucking your hair back, and for a second, you looked incredibly sad. Rebecca wasn’t sure if she was imagining it, because a second later, you were smiling again.

“I’m really glad he has you,” you then said, completely surprising Rebecca. “I think you’re really good for him. Rafe has been really hard on himself, taking everything a little too seriously, and I think you’re really balancing it all out.”

Rebecca’s eyebrows have almost disappeared into her hairline by now, she was so shell-shocked she didn’t even notice Sarah clinking herself out of the conversation, crossing her arms as she sat back.

“Isn’t it weird for you?”

“You mean because he’s my ex and you’re his new girlfriend?” You smiled wryly at her. “I guess it’s a little weird. But it’s not like there’s any bad blood between Rafe and I… In the end, I just want him to be happy, and it seems like you’re making him happy.”

Ducking her head, Rebecca hoped that it was dark enough to conceal her red cheeks. To her, this felt like an insanely gracious statement and suddenly, Rebecca felt validated for obsessing over you so much. You were great and she wasn’t being parasocial.

“I- Thank you. That really means a lot.”

“Of course, don’t worry about it,” you said with a smile, glancing at Sarah when she tugged on the ends of your hair gently. “What, do you want to leave?”

“I promised John B I’d meet him on the beach at sunrise.”

“Fine,” you sighed, you and Sarah standing up. Rebecca stayed seated, though she couldn’t help but feel disappointed that the conversation was cut short.

“It was really nice to talk to, Rebecca. Don’t be a stranger, alright?”

Rebecca waved good bye to you and Sarah, watching as you left with Sarah whispering into your ear insistently. She sat there by herself for a while, replaying the conversation in her head, before she realized she was being weird. Clearing her throat, Rebecca grabbed her purse, that still sat open next to her, her smile dropping when she saw that the picture she had snuck from Rafe’s drawer was peaking out of it.

“Shit,” she muttered to herself, pushing the picture deeper into her purse, before looking up into the crowd, wondering if you had seen it, and if you did, what you thought of her.

“Do you want to do something today?”

After discovering the picture had been sitting in the open like that, Rebecca started worrying if she just ruined her impression you had of her. But seriously, how stupid could she be? She completely forgot that the picture was in that purse. Rebecca had spent the remaining time at the party worrying what you thought of her.

“Like what?”

Rebecca rolled over in bed, looking up at Rafe as he got dressed. It was late in the morning, but still early enough for her to be tired after getting back from Kelce’s so late.

“I don’t know, something fun.”

He raised an eyebrow at her, his face disappearing momentarily while he put his shirt on.

“I have a meeting with Mr. Harris this afternoon and I’m meeting Dennis for an early lunch.”

“But it’s Sunday,” Rebecca pointed out, sitting up, a frown on her face.

“Work is work, no matter what kind of day it is.”

“Sorry, I just thought it’d be nice to do something fun for once,” she said, knowing she would spent the entire day worrying about what you thought of her if she wasn’t distracted, not noticing how Rafe was looking at her through the mirror.

“What’s going on with you?” he asked, his brows furrowed. “You never cared about that before.” Rafe paused, realization washing over his face. “You talked to-” His voice cracked, and Rebecca raised an eyebrow at him.

“… You talked to her, didn’t you?”

Rebecca could hear the accusatory tone in his voice and she leaned against the headboard, drawing her legs close.

“I did, at the party last night… She said she’s happy that you have me, that she was worried about how you work too much.”

Rafe was quiet for a while and Rebecca could feel a knot forming in her stomach. She couldn’t have two people be mad at her.

“That’s what she said?”

Nodding quickly, Rebecca smiled at him brightly. “Yeah. She was really nice. I like her.”

He let out a quiet huff, followed by a headshake, and she wasn’t quite sure what to do, nervously playing with the hem of her shirt.

“Alright. Maybe I can cut my lunch meeting short and we can do something after,” Rafe relented, and Rebecca looked up at him in surprise.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I’ll text you later, alright?”

With a wave, Rafe left the bedroom, and Rebecca laid back down, letting out a happy sigh. Everything is working out in her favor!

A couple of hours later, Rebecca was standing in front of her closet, scanning the different clothes that hung in there, trying to decide on what to wear. She wasn’t sure what Rafe had planned, so she didn’t want to be completely inappropriately dressed. Letting out a annoyed sigh, Rebecca picked up her phone to text her friend for some fashion advice, stilling when she saw the new notification.

“Oh my god.”

You followed her back on insta! You must have not seen the picture after all and think she was weird!!!

Rebecca’s fingers hovered over the keyboard, wondering if she should dm you, maybe ask if you wanted to hang out, before she decided against it, putting her phone back on the dresser, face down. She didn’t want to seem to eager, she could wait a week.

Okay, maybe not a week, Rebecca thought, picking out some shorts and a red top, but a few days at least.

When she was all done, Rebecca grabbed the keys to her car, making her way over to Rafe’s place after he said he was done. It was a beautiful day out and she was so excited to see what he had planned for their date. Parking her car behind Rafe’s truck, she got out, heading inside.

“Baby, it’s me!” she called, shutting the door behind her. She didn’t have to wait long, until she could Rafe coming down the stairs, a box in his hand.

“What’s that?”

Rafe looked at her, his face unreadable.

“… What’s wrong?”

He let out a sigh, before stopping in front of her, and as Rebecca looked into the box, she realized it was full of her stuff.

“We need to talk,” he said, and her jaw dropped.

“What?”

“I just don’t think I’m in this relationship as I thought I was, and I don’t want to string you along, Bex,” Rafe explained, pushing the box into her arms. She just accepted the box, too shocked to do anything else.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No. You did the opposite, actually. Helped me see what I was really feeling. And I thought I’d get this over with, before anyone else gets hurt,” Rafe told her. “You understand, right?”

She only blinked at him, nodding dumbly.

A grin grew on Rafe’s face, and he stuffed his hands in his pocket. “Great. I knew you would understand.”

With an arm on her back, he lead Rebecca outside, and she just let him, moving on autopilot.

“I’ll see you around Bex,” he said, standing in the doorway, his hand on the door. “Don’t be a stranger.”

With those words, Rafe shut the door in her face, and Rebecca just blinked, still not having processed the situation.

“And he said he doesn’t want to string you along?”

“Yes.”

The words were muffled.

Rebecca was facedown in her pillow, hoping to die of embarassment, even if Jane was her best friend in Kildare. It had taken her a week to recuperate before she could tell her friends what happened, mostly because she still wasn’t sure what had happened.

“Are you okay?”

She lifted her head, giving Jane a look.

“I just don’t understand why he broke up with me.”

Jane waved her off, picking up her phone. “Oh don’t worry about it, I’m sure he’ll come crawling back tom- Never mind.”

“What?”

Having stopped mid-sentence, Jane was staring at her phone, eyebrows raised so high and Rebecca groaned, taking the phone out of her hand.

“You can’t just stop talking in the middle of the-”

Her eyes widened when she saw what had rendered Jane speechless: Sarah had posted an instagram story, a picture of a couple walking hand in hand in front of her. It was dark and a little blurry, but Rebecca could tell exactly who it was: You and Rafe.

“He’s such an asshole!” Jane screeched, snatching her phone out of Rebecca’s hand. “Let’s egg his house!”

Rebecca only snorted, rubbing her hands over her face with a groan. “J, no. Believe it or not, but I feel like this one’s on me.”

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

author's note: tell me what you think :)

#rafe cameron x reader

1K notes · View notes

thecamerons · 2 years ago

Text

wait in the truck

inspired by wait in the truck by hardy and lainey wilson. though it is not explicit, this does deal with heavy topics such as abuse and murder so please do not read this if you are not able to handle those topics. this also is not edited in the slightest so let me know if you find something.

jj maybank x reader, ex!rafe cameron x reader

words: 2,281

masterlist

it was pouring rain. you would think there was another hurricane blowing in with the way it was whipping against your skin. of course this was the night that everything had come to a head and you were forced out of tannyhill. it had only been an hour since rafe came home in the worst mood you had ever seen him in. he was muttering to himself, something about his father, and slamming doors and cabinets. you made the wrong move of asking if he was alright, if he wanted to talk about anything, and he absolutely lost it. he blew up at you simply because you were the only one there for him to let his emotions out on. but rafe was never good at handling his emotions in the right way and you're sure you were only able to make it out of the house because he opened the door and physically threw you out of it.

you had stayed on the porch for god knows how long, trying to catch your breath and find the will to stand up and leave. when you finally did, you barely had your feet beneath you before you were falling back to the white wood again. you did your best to quietly scoot yourself down the stairs, praying to whatever higher power there was that rafe didn't hear you and come out to find you. once you found yourself sitting on the bottom step, bare feet on the ground, you used the railing to hoist yourself up, letting out a small whine at the aching in your side. you let out a deep breath and made your way across the yard, hoping this would be the last time you ever set foot on tannyhill grounds.

your relationship with rafe hadn't always been like this. it was perfect at the beginning, the blissful honeymoon stage. of course, that stage always has to come to an end, and before you realized it, rafe was a completely different person than the one you started a relationship with. and just when you thought it couldn't get worse, he began his verbal abuse. he would order a salad for you before you could even look at the menu, tell you that you should probably change into something more flattering before going out, or act as if you were fully incompetent when it came to some things. you were tired of it all, ready to break off the relationship to save your mental health. he didn't like that idea. that was the first time he bruised you, gripping your wrist so hard you could almost make out his fingerprints days later. it scared you enough to stay with him, and you convinced yourself it was a one-time thing. oh, how wrong you were. every time it happened, it just scared you further into submission until you were too scared to leave him. rafe only became more controlling until finally he was in charge of every aspect of your life. he chose what you did, what you wore, who you were friends with, and where you went.

you were sort of relieved when he threw you out of the house. this was your chance to never see him again. in the past three months you had maybe been out of his arms reach twice. both times you had wondered what it would be like to leave and never come back, go to the police and have him locked up. but he was rafe cameron and he had the whole force under his thumb and you just knew they would let him go and you'd be worse off than you already were. so you stayed put, waiting for him to come home to the dinner you had cooked him so he could tell you everything that was wrong with it. but this time he had pushed you out, something he had never done before. you wondered if he would find you in an hour or two, doing the same thing he always did after a fight, bringing you back to tannyhill, up to the room you shared, and showing you how much he "loved" you. you hated just the idea of it. but you didn't have any more fight in you. if he found you, he would get his way, no doubt about it.

that fact was what got you moving. it was what made you ignore the pain of rough asphalt digging into the bottom of your feet. it made you push your way through the storm around you, not even flinching at the too-close strike of lightning or the loud clap of thunder it produced. you weren't sure where you were walking to, just that you had to get as far away from figure eight as you could.

you couldn't have gone more than a mile when headlights illuminated the road. they came from behind you, and without even a glance over your shoulder, you took off running. realistically, if you wanted to get away you should've taken off into the woods or something instead of just booking it down the road because only a few seconds later the vehicle was idling beside you. your mind was clouded, and it took you too long to realize that the person yelling at you over the storm wasn't rafe.

"hey! hey!" someone was in front of you, putting both hands on your shoulders to stop you from running and keep you in place. your eyes were wide as you looked up at them, brow furrowing when you made eye contact. "shit, are you alright?"

"you're not rafe," you whispered to yourself.

"that was a dumb question, of course you're not alright."

"how do you know i'm not having the time of my life right now?" you asked accusingly and the blond boy in front to you nearly scoffed.

"you're running in the rain in the middle of the night."

"maybe i enjoy doing that." you weren't sure why you were being so defensive with the stranger, no, not stranger, you had seen him before, but you chalked it up to the fact that you were constantly defensive with rafe.

"you also- i bet you have no idea how you look right now, do you?" your arms instinctively came up to cross over your stomach at his words and you looked down at your feet. it was then that you noticed the blood on your shirt and the bruises on your arms. you could only assume that your face looked nearly identical.

"oh." it was silent for a moment, and then you were jumping as lighting struck a nearby tree.

"okay, we can't be safe out here. get in." the boy nodded toward his truck and then walked over, opening the passenger door for you. you hesitated, looking around for a moment to see if anyone was around to see you get in a vehicle with him. rafe would be pissed if he found out. but then you realized that things needed to change. you wouldn't let rafe find you and drag you back to tannyhill to be his little lapdog again. you'd move off the island if that meant you would never see him again. so you slowly made your way into the truck, flinching slightly when the door slammed behind you. the boy got into the driver's seat and fiddled with the knobs until hot air blasted from the vents. you shivered when it hit your skin, realizing now how wet and cold you were. the boy turned and produced a hoodie from the backseat, offering it to you.

"oh, i don't-"

"please, just put it on. if you want, I can turn around so you can take off your wet shirt first." you stared at the material in your lap for a minute before looking up and nodding. he did as he said he would, turning around until you gave an okay, letting him know you were decent again. you sighed, settling into the seat when you assumed he was going to start driving again. he stayed parked though, and it only took a moment for you to turn back to him with a questioning look.

"um..."

"so where is he?" now you were even more confused.

"where is who?"

"rafe. he did this to you, didn't he?" the boy's voice had more of an edge to it now than it did when he spoke to you just moments before.

"oh, uh, you know rafe?"

"sweetheart, i think everyone on the island knows rafe."

"and you know that we're together?" you spoke softly and slowly, trying to avoid his original question.

"course i do. you don't remember that day at the club?" your brow furrowed, trying to think back to what he could possibly be talking about. noticing your confusion, he began to elaborate. "I was your waiter. it was you, rafe, topper, and kelce. i knew I would start shit by acknowledging you but I could tell you were bored out of you're pretty little mind by the conversation that they were having."

"you were the only one that spoke directly to me the entire time we were there," you told him, finally remembering what he was talking about. that was why he looked so familiar. jj was his name, you may have forgotten his face but you would never forget his name. especially after rafe had used it against you so many times in the following weeks.

"rafe made sure to pay me a special visit before he left that day." you grimaced, hating how many times rafe had succumbed to violence just because he knew he could get away with it.

"i'm sorry," you spoke softly, but jj shook his head. "it's not your fault. you know, i always hoped you would come in again, just so I could see that you were okay. when you didn't, i was hoping it was because you had ditched him. but then sarah told me that rafe was practically keeping you captive and i nearly lost my mind."

"you know sarah?"

"we basically live together. she's "married" to my best friend, john b." he put air quotes around the word married but you were more struck by the name of his friend.

"the dirty, good for nothing, gold-stealing pogue," you stated, and the boy next to you barked out a laugh.

"is that what he told you?" you shrugged. "no, of course that's what he told you. that's not the truth though, but that's a story for another time."

"so let me guess, sarah isn't a stuck-up bitch either?" you asked, only half joking.

"only sometimes," he responded, half-joking too. he finally put the truck in gear, but instead of moving forward, he backed up just enough to turn around. "so, is he at tannyhill?"

"jj, no. i can't go back there," you told him, suddenly panicked. you thought he would be something of a knight in shining armor, not the reason that you ended up back in your own personal prison.

"hey, calm down. you'll be fine." it was only a moment later that he was inching up the driveway and putting the truck back in park. "I want you to wait here, okay?" he rummaged around in the glove box above your knees for a moment before finding what he wanted. you could tell he tried to hide it but the smooth metal of the small gun glinted in the moonlight. your gasp of surprise was covered by the sound of the truck door closing and before you knew it, jj was on the porch, knocking on the door.

you watched as he waited a moment or two, and then, deciding that enough time had passed, he took a step back and kicked the door in. you waited in silence, eyes flicking back and forth between any windows you could see and the open front door. you weren't really sure what you were waiting for until it came. it was loud, even with the rain and lightning and thunder. it echoed across the yard and through the truck and you could've sworn it made your heart stop for a moment. it was the longest second of your life but then it was over and it was just the rain against the top of the truck again. you didn't realize you were holding your breath until you let it out upon seeing jj in the front doorway. he was on the phone, pausing on the porch until he hung up and then making his way to you. he opened the driver side door, patting the seat.

"you need to go," he said. it took you a minute to process and he could tell. "the cops are on their way and you need to be long gone by the time they pull in."

"you want me to take your truck?"

"trust me, i'm not gonna need it for a while. keep her up and running for me while I'm away, okay?" he gave you a smile and then shut the door, cutting off your protests. you watched for a moment as he walked back toward the house and then climbed over the console and adjusted the seat. he was right, you needed to not be here when the police showed up. you backed up enough to turn around and drive back down the pavement and then sent one last glance up at the house. you caught jj's eye as he lit a cigarette, sending you a wink and waving you off. you let out a breath, gave yourself a reassuring nod, and then put the truck in drive.

#tbr

229 notes · View notes