Carefree || JJ Maybank

Chapter Seventy-Nine

She was practically thrown in the room and her knees were buckling. She climbed up on the bed onto her knees and Rafe came rushing over.

"Ev, what the hell. Did he hurt you, Ev?" Rafe questions her, hesitating to put his hand on her back, so he pulls away.

Everleigh chokes, the air finally starting to fill her lungs again. "It wasn't Mr. Singh." She gasps, feeling lightheaded. "It was a guard."

Rafe ran his hands over his head again, and he walked to the door. "You're gonna pay for this you son of a bitch." He yells, punching the door. How he didn't break his hand, was practically unexplainable. But all Rafe did was leave a dent in the door.

He rushed back over to Everleigh who was sitting straight up now, finally under control of her breathing. "Why do you even care, Rafe?"

"Before you get confident, you're my only hope of getting out of this hell hole. So if you die, or you become to hurt to to anything, than you're pretty much useless." He explains with a cocky smirk that Everleigh would've slapped off if she cared.

She smiles, "How charming of you. Thanks sweetheart."

Her face falls again, remembering that her friends had put themselves in danger. Now, she wanted to cry. She wanted to save them but couldn't even get out of the trap she was in.

"What happened?" Rafe asks her, ignoring the fact that she was literally seconds away from bawling her eyes out. "You're gonna have to talk to me. At some point, alright?"

"Do I have to remind you of everything you've done?" She asks him. "You killed Peterkin. Do you remember that? And everything you've put Sarah through." She looked at him for a few seconds with hurt eyes.

"Peterkin." Rafe scoffs, getting close to Everleigh again. "I was protecting my father. Okay? I did what I had to, so... don't."

He leaned against the window sill. Everleigh had flipped a switch in Rafe by bringing those things up to him again. But she didn't care, her biggest priority was her friends.

Rafe sat in the chair. He couldn't stop moving and his eyes became darker. "I'm just as much a victim as she is. No? Think about it." Everleigh didn't want to hear the bullshit story, but what choice did she really have? "Okay? What did I get from shooting Peterkin, huh? Nothing. Okay? I had nothing against her. I mean, I... I... I liked her. You think I wanted to make that choice? Huh?"

He was getting upset. Almost like he was going to cry upset. Everytime he asked 'huh' or 'okay' it made her think of JJ. Always looking for reassurance because they never thought anybody was listening.

He calmed his tone, "What I did was a gift from me to my father for... for him. And I got screwed because of it, okay? So don't get that look when I say I'm a victim, alright? And you. You manipulated me into thinking that I could trust you. You remember when you showed up to my house that night? Yeah, yeah, you manipulated me."

Everleigh bit her bottom lip. She was at a loss for words because she couldn't really even believe what Rafe was saying. she want screwed. John B was. Her twin brother spent time in a prison cell, nearly murdered and Rafe had the audacity to call himself a victim?

"I will admit, though." He started to speak again, his eyes fell to the floor and softened. "What I did to Sarah... what I tried to do, uhm... what I tried to do to Sarah, I mean that was wrong. I know that, alright? So you don't have to remind me."

Rafe was crying now. And he was pacing around the room, occasionally hitting himself in the head. "Oh god." Everleigh whispers. The sight she was watching was honestly pathetic. It was like a reality television show unfolding right in front of her.

"She was family. I should've never touched her, you know? I should've never touched her but, you know. I just lose control in moments like that and I don't know what happened. I'm trying... I'm trying to get better."

Everleigh just nods. She wasn't going to exercise the conversation, the sooner it was over the better.

"It doesn't matter. All I'm saying is that I'm not the bad guy you think I am, okay? But even if so was... even if I was just like, bad Rafe Cameron or something... you got no choice." Rafe changed the topic like it was no big deal. Like he didn't just have a breakdown in front of Everleigh just seconds ago. "You may... you may not want to trust me, okay, but I'm your best bet."

She looked at him ridiculously. Never seeing this side of Rafe before.

Then he started to lower himself. He was nearly on his knees in front of Everleigh who shot him a death stare when he went to put his hands on her knees, he stopped himself. "Look, I've got a boat that can get us off the island, okay? But first, we gotta get out of here. And it's better if we work together."

She just looks at him. She hated the fact that he was right. She hated that she needed to work alongside Rafe even more. And just as she went to respond, a truck is heard stopping outside the window. Orders were being directed and voices were heard replying as Everleigh rushed to the window to see what the commotion was about.

"They're leaving?" Rafe questions confused. He was unaware of the message send from Portis' phone and who had sent it.

Everleigh's heart skipped a beat, "They're going to find John B. And your sister." When she turned around to walk away, she felt the bruises forming on her torso, making her take a deep breath.

"Sucks for them." He says just loud enough that Everleigh could hear. "That's good for us though. This may be our only shot at getting out of here."

She looked at him upset, and in the worst way possible, he was right again. She looked around and when she turned again, her midsection hurt again, making her arm immediately brace against it.

"Hey, hey, hey." Rafe asks, approaching her. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Rafe." She groans.

Rafe looks at her as she went and laid herself out on the bed. "I'm not gonna force you to tell me, but I know you're lying." He mentions, turning to look at her. "Are you gonna be able to run with me, or not?"

"I said I'm fine." She grimaces as she sits up. "How the hell are we getting out of here?" She smirks as she looks at him, and he just smiles back.