Country Club Living - Rafe Cameron

Chapter Thirty - Three - Aftermath

Wards jaw clenched and he rubbed his brow bone with his hand "He could still be alive, but if he is then you're absolutely going to jail Rafe. Do you know how serious this is?"

"He was going to hurt Ivy. I wasn't going to let him do that to her dad, the look on her face... I never want to see that ever again. She was terrified"

Exhaling loudly Ward composed his thoughts for a moment "I'll handle this. For now, stay out of trouble, get Ivy away from here and son?"

"Yeah?" Rafe answered with an almost childlike innocence

"Make sure she's okay" he gave a curt nod to which his son returned before closing the door behind him, leaving Ward in the study alone to make some phone calls in an attempt to fix this gigantic mess Rafe had landed himself in.

In the house next door Ivy had just returned home, Alexis was round at the new house and as Ivy entered the empty house with next to no furniture and boxes strewn around she suddenly felt more alone than she ever had before. She trudged upstairs and headed for a shower, turning the heat up and scrubbing extra hard on the places that Michael had placed his hands. She felt dirty despite her shower and fresh clothes and her boxed up room only seemed to amplify her anxiety and fears. Although she herself was shaken up from the events that had just taken place, she couldn't help but focus on Rafe and how he must have felt, she feared the worst and knew that there was a very big chance that he would go away for a long time.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a knock came from her window causing her to jolt back into reality. Rafe's face appeared at the glass, and he motioned for her to open up the door. The two stood in awkward silence for a moment before Ivy broke it.

"I have a door you know" she teased

"I thought this would be less inconspicuous" he shrugged putting a hand to the back of his neck

"Than climbing a balcony?" Ivy raised an eyebrow to which Rafe gave a small smile to

The topic of conversation then switched to the elephant in the room "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah I always feel great after almost getting assaulted and then witnessing a murder" she quipped

Rafe sighed and ran a hand through his already dishevelled hair "I... I'm sorry for what I did" he said unconvincingly

"You don't sound it"

Rafe placed his tongue in his cheek and walked around the room "You know what. I'm not. The only thing I'm sorry about is that you had to see it happen and that I wasn't there in the first place to stop it from happening"

Ivy met his gaze and could that guilt was eating away at him "What did your dad say?"

"He's gonna make some phone calls. Try to save my ass I guess" he exhaled before dropping onto the bed beside her "I'll go. I know you won't want me around right now"

"No. Please stay, I'm alone right now and I really don't want to be" she murmured reaching her hand out to hold his which felt like a block of ice.

Rafe nodded, sharing her thoughts, and not wishing to be alone either. The two lay on the bed beside one another and scrolled through Netflix aimlessly, just looking for some background noise to drown out the deafening silence and the thoughts of what was to come. Zoning out completely Rafe's mind wandered to his potential future, a life behind bars. Somewhere he was always destined to be. He knew that under no circumstances could Ivy be implicated in this, she had to get away from here, away from him.

When the movie that neither were really paying attention to was almost finished Rafe received a call from his father. He stepped into the bathroom to take it and listened intently to what he had to say. Ward had done some digging and found out that Michael Douglas had a bit of a checkered past himself. He was no longer attending Stanford and had been kicked out due to multiple allegations from his female classmates of the very thing he had attempted with Ivy. The only difference was, unfortunately, none of those girls had Rafe to protect them. Rafe's fists balled as his father listed off girls names down the phone to him. He thanked Ward for the information and hung up the phone, entering the room with Ivy who looked completely catatonic as the end credits to the movie rolled. He didn't inform her of the information he had just been told, he knew this would only make her feel guilty. He lay beside her and stroked her hair, scared to place his hands on her body.

The sound of the door opening startled the two of them and Rafe looked toward the glass door leading onto the balcony.

"Ivy, I think it might be a good idea to head to your dorm a little earlier than planned. It's just a week right? I don't want you around here if this thing blows up"

"I'm not some delicate flower that needs to be protected you know. I'll still be able to watch the news at Harvard, this won't go away the minute I leave Kildare"

Rafe rubbed between his eyes "I know that. I just..."

"You don't want me to see if you get arrested"

Rafe pursed his lips and sighed, he pulled Ivy close and gave her a small kiss on the forehead, careful not to overstep any boundaries.

"What if this is the last time I see you" she murmured

"Then I need you to block out everything that happened on the docks, even on the boat. You weren't there, you never saw me. You just saw me when I climbed up to your balcony and we watched some crappy movie on Netflix that neither of us paid any attention to and then I told you that I love you okay" he let out a sad chuckle

Ivy's lip wobbled for a second before Rafe looked at her as if to get her to agree "Okay. I didn't see you"

Rafe placed his forehead onto hers "I told you. That I was gonna protect you, and that's what I'll do. No matter what. I just need you far away from all of this right now" he whispered before pulling away and heading for the door.

"Rafe," Ivy said before he pulled the handle "I love you too" she announced with tears in her eyes.

Against all of his better judgement to stay, Rafe gave a sad smile before disappearing onto the balcony and down the drain. Leaving Ivy in the emptiness of her room, her heart hurting.

Ivy crept along the landing and entered her mother's bedroom where she was getting ready for bed. The once grandly decorated bedroom was now just some walls and a bed, all of the expensive coats and dresses that once hung up on the railings were in boxes, ready to be donated to goodwill. Alexis had decided that going into her new life she didn't want much to remind her of her old one. The older woman paused what she was doing when she saw her daughter standing in her doorframe.

"Baby is everything okay?" she asked

Ivy's strong walls broke down "Mom" she whimpered before bursting into a flood of tears.

Alexis hurried over and wrapped her arms around her daughter, bringing her over to the bed and trying to speak to her over the sobs but there was no use. Each cry was a loud gut-wrenching sob that shook Alexis to the core, she had never seen her daughter so upset, not even in recent weeks when life had been the toughest for her. Ivy wailed in her mother's arms like a young child, wanting nothing more than wanting to tell her what had happened, but she knew she couldn't and this only made her cry harder until eventually there was nothing left and she drifted off to sleep, with her mother's protective arms around her.

A/N - Hi guys! I'm back after a very long month. It's been my birthday and I've been incredibly busy between college deadlines and working 40 hour weeks so I've really had 0 time which I'm very sorry about but here's a new chapter and I'm sad to say that the next few ones will be the ending :((( Hope you enjoyed this one! Remember to vote and comment!