His Choice - Rafe Cameron

5. Caught

I leave the kitchen and walk through another long hallway. I take a right turn at the end and this just leads to blank wall. This time I turn left at the end of the hallway and see a room at the end with two large wooden doors. I approach the doors and press my hands against the dark oak wood when I reach it. There's a thick black iron door handle with a passcode attached. 

Could this be Ward's office?

Already knowing that the door is going to be locked, I twist the handle anyway. It doesn't budge. Something catches my above the door. I stare at the dark object with the red flashing light. 

How could I forget that a place like this would be crawling with cameras? The devil himself is probably watching me as we speak. Just thinking of that man sends shivers down my spine. I've barely said five words to him my entire life, but I despise him. 

Those doors won't open so there's no use staying here any longer. I'll go check out the upstairs area next. When I turn around, a loud gasp escapes my lips because I bump into a hard chest. I keep my eyes closed, not wanting to open them because I know who I have bumped into.

Unless Maria is over 6' tall and is extremely buff, I have unfortunately bumped into Rafe for a second time. 

"What are you doing?" He asks lowly, peering down at me. His words a slurred and his eyes are blood red. He's either drunk, high, or both. 

I stumble backwards into the door and place my hands against the timber to stop myself from falling. "I was just looking around."

He slowly walks closer to me. I am unable to move away from him because I am trapped against this door. I desperately glance around the confined area but there is no escape. Rafe reaches out and I thought he was going to hit me but he places his hand firmly against the door instead. His hand rests right beside my head while he hovers over me. I can smell the alcohol coming from his breath. I close my eyes and tilt my head to the side, sickened by the horrid stench. 

"You don't want to look at me, Scarlett?" He uses pointer finger to push against my cheek, forcing me to look at him. "That hurts my feelings." 

"Oh, you have feelings?"

He looks down and snickers. When he looks back up at me, he has a sadistic grin on his face. "You're funny. That was actually really funny."

My eyes drop down to his waist and I wonder if he has a weapon shoved into the back of his pants. I know he's got a weapon in the front of his pants. Now is not the time to be thinking like that Scarlett. This is Rafe Cameron we're talking about. You cannot be thinking like that about Rafe. 

"My Dad's not going to be too happy that you've been snooping around his office."

"Well it's not like he's going to come here and punish me for it, is he? Isn't he supposed to be playing dead or something?"

Rafe pushes off the wall and takes a step back from me. He massages his chin with his fingers while staring at me, preparing what he is going to say next. "Those Pogues really told you everything, huh?"

"Yeah, they did. Well, they filled in the blanks for me. I had already heard about Ward's confession and dramatic explosion on the news."

He presses his lips together and slowly nods his head. "And what else did they tell you?"

"They told me that they went to get Pope's cross which you stole. Where your entire family planned to start a new life."

Rafe nods his head, knowing full well where this conversation is heading. 

"But you came back, why? Living life as a billionaire on a private island wasn't good enough for you? Actually, I don't think the billionaire life was the problem. It was the private island. There was nobody there for you to hurt."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"You killed Sheriff Peterkin, Rafe. You got away with murder."

"My Dad took the fall for that so I'm a free man."

"Are you really free though?" Now it is I who is walking closer to him and trapping him against the wall. Rafe looks over his shoulder as his body comes into contact with the grey wall behind him. "You might not be behind bars, but you're a prisoner inside your own head. I bet what happened on the tarmac still haunts you, Rafe."

He shakes his head in disagreement. "You don't know a thing about what goes on inside my head. You don't know who I am, Scarlett. You left town to go live who knows where. Probably somewhere even shittier than where you're living now. Because that's all Pogues can afford. Shitty little houses."

"I know that you were good once. I still remember the boy who helped me pick up each tiny bead that fell from my necklace when Parker Brooks pulled it from my neck. Then that same boy beat up Parker a few years later because he was pulling me down the hallway by my ear, chanting about how big they were."

"You should be thankful for me. He never bothered you again after that, did he?"

"No because he suffered so many fractures in his hand that it still hasn't recovered to this day. I seen him at the bonfire with a splint on his wrist."

Rafe shrugs his shoulders. "He deserved it."

"Scarlett, where'd you go?" Sarah calls from somewhere in the house. 

I walk away from Rafe and head back to the lounge room. Sarah is standing there rubbing moisturiser into her arms. I watch as her smile falls when she sees Rafe walking behind me. 

"You're home?"

"Obviously, I live here."

"I thought you were gone."

"Gone?" He questions her.

"Yeah, maybe to visit Dad. Heard from him lately?" I can hear the sarcasm in her tone. 

"You could hear from him too, but you abandoned him. You abandoned your whole family on that ship. Even Wheezie, your little sister."

I watch as Sarah swallows a lump in her throat. "Yeah, well at least I didn't try to drown my little sister." She picks up her phone which was balancing on top of the lounge. "Come on Scarlet, the other's are waiting for us." She sends Rafe a look of disgust before turning around and heading towards the front door.

I stare at Rafe for a moment who is watching his sister walk away, before I turn around and do the same. I look over my shoulder at him and he now has his back turned. His hands are on his head and he is pacing around the lounge room.