𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘴 ☼ 𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘯

𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦〔 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 〕

"Shit!" Rafe curses.

"Keep your knickers on, Cameron" I warn him.

"How are you so calm?!" He snaps at me and I raise a brow at him.

"First of all, lower your tone when you're speaking to me because I am not afraid to knock you clean out. Second of all, you and your family have kidnapped me on multiple occasions. This is nothing new for me" I explain to him as if he's a child and he glares at me.

"It's not nice to have your free will evoked, is it?" I add with a sarcastic grin.

He visually calms himself down and sits on the bed next to me in a silence that practically crawls down my throat searching for something to say.

"How have you been?" I ask him and he lets out a laugh, as if I'm crazy.

"I've been shitty. Haven't really slept much" He admits and the dark circles around his eyes only make me feel a little guilty "Where have you been, Addy?"

"I've been on an island. We ate coconuts and surfed all day everyday for a month straight" I tell him.

"Sounds like a dream" He murmurs.

"It was hell" I correct, looking up at him and he frowns.

"I thought you loved coconuts and surfing?" Rafe jokes with a hint of a smile.

"I do, but there was just always something missing. I was lonely, y'know?" I shrug, looking down at my bare crossed legs and playing with a loose thread of my satin shorts.

"You were with six other people" He counters.

"They weren't you" I retort.

The two of us are enveloped in a silence that shakes me to my core and I take a deep breath, looking up to the Cameron boy. Rafe is looking down at me through red rimmed eyes and my breath escapes my body, leaving me speechless.

"I missed you too, sweetheart" Rafe mumbles.

☼    ☼    ☼

"Please don't hurt my friends! Please!" I hear Kiara screaming as she nears the room and I leap out of bed, alerting Rafe "Please don't hurt them!"

"Inside!" The guard demands, pushing Kiara inside the room before locking it again.

Kiara sits down on the bed and she buries her face in her hands, breathing heavily.

"You okay, Kie?" I ask the girl in worry, placing my hands on her shoulders and she nods slightly.

"What happened?" Rafe asks her but she doesn't answer him, she just takes deep breaths "You're gonna have to talk to me at some point. Okay?"

"Do I have to remind you of everything you've done?" Kiara spits out and I rub her back, letting her get everything out "You killed Peterkin. Do you remember that? And everything you've put Sarah through"

"Peterkin, I was protecting my father.                   Okay? I did what I had to, so... don't" Rafe retorts and I can see the tears glistening in his eyes as he starts to pace the room.

"Rafe, just breathe. Yeah?" I tell him and out of habit he does.

The Cameron boy sits down in a seat by the window and I watch his erratic breathing as I stroke Kiara's hair.

"I'm as much a victim as she is" Rafe says in a small voice and I glance down to see Kiara give him a look "No? Think about it. 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 continues getting angry and I give him a warning look to calm him down "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, all right? I am!"

"I will admit, though, what I- what I did to Sarah...what I tried to do, um...what I tried to do to Sarah, I admit that was wrong. I know that. All right? So you don't have to remind me" He tells her.

I glance over to see tears streaming down the Cameron boy's cheeks and my heart shatters in my chest for him, despite everything bad he's done. He starts hitting himself in the head, a bad habit I thought we got rid of, and I subconsciously lurch toward him, grabbing his wrists with ease.

"Oh God" Kiara mutters.

"No hitting. I thought you stopped that, huh?" I mumble to him softly and he stares at me through tears, breaking my heart.

"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" Rafe rambles out "I'm trying- I'm trying to get better"

"Yeah" Kiara nods.

"We know that you're trying, Rafe" I assure him.

"It doesn't matter. All I'm saying is just that I'm not the bad guy you think I am, okay?" Rafe explains and I place a gentle kiss on his palm, effectively calming him down a little more "But even if I was, even if I was just, like, bad Rafe Cameron or something...you got no choice. You may- you may not want to trust me, okay, but I'm your best bet"

"Look. I got a boat  that can get us off island, okay? But first, we gotta get out of here, and it is better if we work together" He finishes.

"You have a boat?" I question and he nods.

The sound of a large vehicle approaching the house gains our attention and we jump to our feet, racing over to the window to see guards piling into a truck.

"They're leaving?" Rafe questions in surprise.

"Why are they leaving?" I aim my question at Kiara.

"They're going to find John B" Kiara says to me before looking at Rafe "And your sister"

"Sucks for them. That's good for us though" Rafe states, staring out the window as the truck speeds off "This may be our only shot at getting out of here"

"You think we could do it?" I question unsurely.

"We gotta try" He shrugs.