BRUTAL | jj maybank

TEN

"And I love you, too, but lately...our morals have been different and you've just been hurting my — Kiara's friends and I can't let you do that," Kyla explained, trying to stay calm so that Rafe did.

He started to shake his head, completely forgetting about the burn on his arm as he started to get upset about the 'breakup'. "No, n-no, we can't," Rafe replied shakily as he held his hands up to his temples, sniffling at the same time.

"I'm sorry, but this is my choice. Once you get your life back on track and—"

"I AM ON TRACK!" Rafe shouted as he took a few threatening steps closer to her, making her backup in fear. "I'm — I'm a proactive type of person, Kyla! Okay?! I-I can f-fucking handle this!" he continued as he pointed to himself.

She shook her head, her lips in a thin line as she blinked back tears at the sight of her disheveled...lover. Well, he wasn't going to be her lover soon. "No. No, you can't. When Tara told me that you were unstable, I didn't wanna believe her. But now—"

"Are you kidding me?! You're gonna listen to fucking Tara? You know, she goes to Barry, too!" Rafe cut her off angrily.

"Barry?" Kyla questioned, her eyebrows raised. "Who the hell is Barry?"

"N-No one. No one," Rafe said as he gulped, realizing his mistake.

Kyla scoffed, getting annoyed rather than upset. "This is exactly why we need to take a break. I can't date you if you're going to lie and keep things from me," she told him as she shook her head. "I'm gonna go find Sarah," she muttered, turning around and walking away towards the Cameron household.

"You keep things from me, too, you know!" Rafe shouted after her, but she kept on walking. "Are you gonna tell me why you were with those dirty Pogues at the Hawks Nest?" he called out and Kyla stopped walking for a split second before she carried on. She heard Rafe groan behind her, so she picked up the pace towards the back door of the house.

She was able to blink away her tears so that none had fell. She didn't want to show Rafe any vulnerability. Especially since he seemed vulnerable himself.

She then made it to the back door and furrowed her brows when she saw Sarah leaning against the wall with an angry looking Topper walking closer to her. Her eyes widened and she quickly slid the door open, hearing Topper yell, "You're a slut! You know that? You're a slut!"

"Top—!"

"Watch your mouth when you talk about my daughter!" Ward warned as he walked into the room, cutting Kyla off.

"Your daughter's banging a Pogue—" Topper tried to say before Ward grabbed Topper's neck with his both of his hands, making Kyla place a hand over her mouth in shock at the violent behavior.

"Dad," Sarah whispered as she heard Topper gurgle for air.

"You need to go home, Topper," Ward told him softly as he kept his hands around Topper's throat.

"Dad, stop!" Sarah cried. "Dad, let go of him, please."

Kyla then moved out of the way so that Ward could open up the back door and push Topper out of the house, where he immediately ran over to his car. Kyla then looked over to Sarah, who had fully started to cry, so she went over and enveloped the girl in a hug. "It's okay, it's okay," Kyla whispered as Sarah cried into her arms.

Kyla looked over at Ward, who nodded in thanks to her. Kyla nodded back, even though she was slightly scared of him, before she looked back down at Sarah.

・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

Kyla left Sarah's house after the blonde assured her she was okay, and drove to the Château where the Pogues explained that they found the gold at the old Crain house. Everything seemed to be going smoothly for the Pogues...except for when John B brought Sarah.