Rafe had never been a particularly big fan of obnoxiously large parties, held in vast houses and filled to the brim with bodied upon bodies dancing with one another. He would attend them no doubt about it, either to sell gear or see whom is out and about socialising- yet upon this occasion he was solemnly at this fruitless party for one thing, a distraction.
You saved your dad, aren't you proud of yourself?
Lately he had been in his head too much, concealed in a bundle of misleading thoughts that taunted him relentlessly and wanted a way out. There was only one thing that was able to numb that commotion for a short amount of time, drugs, drugs and more drugs.
Pouring the fine white powder from the small clear baggie it was stored in and then onto the bathroom counter, he pulled a random card from his wallet and created multiple precise lines of the substance next to one another. The males smile widened as he drank the sight in, mouth instantly salivating and organisms rattling with pure eagerness to consume those delicious looking fine lines.
There was around four rounds for him to inhale and within a blink of a second Rafe had his nostril connected to the cold counter, snorting the drug hastily with that greedy craving to feel numb. Usually he'd roll a dollar or two for a more clean and direct use, yet tonight was an exception as his patience was thinned to as little as a paper sheet.
He coughed a little as his eyes rolled to the back of his head, minimally shaking to let the drug enter his system whilst swiping his index finger across his two nostrils to clear the remaining power. Of course he never forgot to dig the pad of his finger into what was left upon the counter and rubbed it firmly into his gums, leaving not a grain of coke left to waste.
Looking in the mirror that hung above the vast sink, he took a free hand and raked it vigorously through his dirty blonde hair- letting it fall effortlessly upon his sweat lined forehead and breathed out a shaky exhale as he waited for it all to kick in.
And then he stood staring at himself in the mirror silently, examining each and every feature he inherited with all the concentration he could grasp. Hands gripping the edge of the marble sink as he leant in close to the reflection, you did the right thing Rafe, you're okay.
It wasn't long before he made his way back into the party now infused with cocaine, the intensity of the music and lights that were shone around the place were licking his tender skin. That same sense of euphoria he would often feel would arrive shortly, but for now he grabbed himself a red plastic solo cup and filled it to the brim with a cheap whiskey that sat on the beverage table.
The liquor swirled around in his plastic glass, watching it swell and fall with an intensive glare that the coke provided before he took it back and downed the whole lot with a few heft gulps. It burned, but he liked that, the feeling it summoned in the bit of his stomach as it felt fiery and warm.
Rafe never felt warm, always stone cold and lacking any heat within himself- so it was nice to experience that fuzzy feeling of the whiskey setting light to his insides.
A distraction, that's what he wanted initially as his top goal prior to attending tonight's party but it seemed the drugs and alcohol were just not enough, looking around as he slouched into an armchair that overlooked the sea of dancing bodies, hovering the cup over his bottom lip whilst scanning the area.
And that's when he saw her.
Dancing on her own upon a table that was in the middle of the mass of people- smiling and giggling as she ran her bare hands up and down her body sensually. The mystery girl was wearing a fiery red cami dress, clinging to her curves beautifully with a split that allowed her tan thighs to peak through as her wild chocolate locks were left dropped over her shoulder and down the nape of her back.
Rafe's favourite colour had always been blue, but now he felt himself gravitating more towards red- he wondered if she could tell.
His eyes were set on her for a good while, just mesmerised by the way she moved and he would definitely say a hundred other dudes were also in the same position he was in- because once you laid eyes on her it was like she were the only girl in the room.
But it wasn't their eyes that she locked with, it was his.
As she looked up either eyes instantly met, a smirk teasing the ends of her plump cherry lips as she continued to dance with their eyes still aligned with one another. Rafe didn't look away, he couldn't bring himself to do such a thing and instead matched her smirk with his own.
She was so angelic, he thought, and had never seen anything like what he was witnessing in that present moment as his eyes spoke for him. The drugs had kicked in but the all time high came from watching the female move with the music.
That connection was soon broke when Rafe was ripped from his hypnotic trance as he felt a firm hand slap his shoulder, causing the male to jump slightly due to being hyper sensitive from the coke that was laced within his organisms.
"Hey man, didn't see you show up! How long you been here?" The familiar voice spoke over the music, causing the dirty blonde to glance up and identify the other as Kelce.
"Not long bro, not long" he responded simply, taking his chance to look over to where the brunette had been dancing and coming to realisation she was no longer above the crowd. Hurriedly flickering his eyes over every head he could and come to conclusion that he'd lost her amongst the horde.
Shit.
The raw reality he had been ignorant to soon came crushing down without her small presence in his eye line, it was patronising and dominant above every thing else that consisted within him- not even the drugs were strong enough to keep him immune.
Murderer, murderer, murderer.
He conversated with Kelce for awhile, yet that never stopped his wondering blue hues from dancing across each being at the party as he searched for her. Finally coming to conclusion that the female must of simply been a hallucination, she was too unreal to even exist, he thought.
None of the other girls he laid eyes on since the brunette had interested him in the slightest, either trying to hard, trying for male validation or too drunk to function. Rafe didn't like either of those things, it almost felt too unnatural.
He wondered why he had never seen her around as he usually knew everyone in this island, being who he his and having the status he upheld it wasn't often he missed an individual. And that's what made her all the more interesting.
"Want another drink bro?" Kelce offered looking down at both their now empty cups, just barely snapping Rafe from his daze he had fallen captive to.
All he could do was nod in response, still a prisoner to the menacing thoughts that flooded through his mind relentlessly- the drugs were strong but not nearly strong enough. What he needed was something smothering, something so potent he'd forget his own name and-
"We're you just gonna sit there all night and stare or were you actually gonna come dance with me?"
There it was, bingo.
The silky voice located just behind him, turning to acknowledge that same angelic being whom he had his eyes set on for majority of the night. Up close she was even more mesmerising, velvety tan skin, eyes border-lining between a beautiful hazel and sage green, soft chocolate locks that fell effortlessly over her petite shoulders. Rafe nearly found himself lost for words.
Instead pulling a smirk to tare at both corners of his mouth, looking the female up and down with no subtlety. "Sorry angel, I don't dance"
The brunette rolled her eyes that contrasted her pearly white, toothy grin. Crossing her arms firmly over her chest to cover the minimal cleavage on show, much to Rafe's distaste. "So is staring how you make your move?"
He cocked his head to the side with mocking intent, bringing the empty cup to his mouth as rested it on his plump bottom lip. "I could ask you the same thing, I wasn't the only one looking at the other was i?"
"I look at a lot of people" she shot back, allowing her eyes to wonder down to where he was lightly nibbling on the plastic and feel a hot flush surge through her body.
"Yet out of all the men who were watching you dance" he rounded the surroundings using the cup as his pointer. "It's my eyes you looked into" he landed on himself, now pointing the item at his chest with a devilish smile.
"Maybe I was just watching to see when you'd look away, I hate it when creepy guys watch me dance" she shrugged, copying his mannerisms and also tilting her head to the side with bold raised brows.
Rafe let out a barking laugh, tilting his head back before letting his amusement die down as he looked towards the female again. "Creepy? Ouch, you've hurt my feelings angel"
It was hard not to smile, she thought. He was rather attractive, dirty blonde hair parted and scattered messily across his forehead- the male was clearly high, she could tell as his pupils mostly covered the gorgeous blue tinge to his hues. Yet it didn't make him less attractive, no, it made him all the more interesting.
"So you don't dance huh?" She queried, slowly stalking closer towards his form with her arms still crossed. His eyes followed the slow movement, breathing getting deeper to each second she inched closer, it was evident in the vast movement of how his chest fell and rose. "Do you explore?"
Rafe raised a brow to his hairline, looking down at the brunette in bewilderment. "Explore?"
"Well that is what I said isn't it sunshine?" She was oozing in confidence, cocky, self righteous- thats what drew Rafe closer towards her and that pretty little red dress she worn too well.
"Yeah I explore, as much as you'd like me to sunshine" he inched their faces dangerously closer together, arching his neck down to align their eyes- it felt like the room was almost silent, just the two of them consisting with no surroundings.
"Good" she beamed, taking the solo cup from his possession and throwing it on to the closest table around them. "Because I have the perfect place I want to go to with no one to go with, you sure you can handle it big boy?"
The remark made him scoff, rolling his tongue on the inside fleshy walls of his cheek as his head slightly bobbed into a nod. "You're on" he proposed, satisfied with the smirk he earned the female to sport. "I can handle anything princess"
Within a mere second his free hand had been taken, the female proceeding to pull him in the desired direction she wished to take and Rafe felt no fucking remorse for leaving Kelce- not even the slightest smidge of guilt within, he just hoped that someone would put that extra drink to good use once he realised the male had bailed.
They were lead throughout all the bodies until they reached open air in the outside atmosphere, resulting in bumping into a few individuals who he knew but brushed off and dismissed as quickly as possible. Mostly his mind was set on where ever the mysterious girl was planning on taking him, all The male could do was keep his gaze focused on their linked hands and symmetrical footsteps.
Her hand released his once they came to a halt by a vast tree trunk positioned by a large pillar on the outside decking, Rafe it skeptically as he attempted to suss out what the females next move was going to be. In a mere blink she had pulled herself up and climbed upon the oak, following by reaching out and dragging her whole being up the walls and beckoned for him to do the same.
Rafe obliged with nothing to lose, using all the strength he could grasp whilst being inside his intoxicated state and followed the brunettes actions- soon enough he found himself upon the roof top of the lean house, looking out into the darkness as all below looked like minor figurines.
"It's beautiful up here isn't it?" Her smooth voice spoke out from where she had perched herself and cut the silence that had been summoned between them.
His feet had spoken for him, taking Rafe over to where she had seated on the roof tiles and parked himself not too far away. "When you said explore I thought you meant like some mad shit, not climbing on a roof" he chuckled, rotating his neck so he could fixate his gaze on the angelic human that glowed under the moon lit atmosphere.
"Well you can't exactly leave the party, you just have to find somewhere cool enough to explore whilst you're here and that's when I found this spot" she shrugged nonchalantly, pulling her bare tan legs to her chest and resting her chin on the centre of her knees.
In that moment he didn't feel in control and that was something he wasn't extremely fond of, usually he just about managed to handle everything that spurred in each moment, loosing the dominance in any situation freaked Rafe out completely- so he turned to the only coping mechanism that only seized to exist in his messed up world. More cocaine.
Fiddling around in the front pocket of his cargo shorts and locating the transparent baggie, he pulled it out and dipped his index finger into the crisp power. He could feel her gaze watching, set on his actions and every move he was bound to take, yet it didn't stop him from scooping the meager mountain of substance from his stash and snorting it straight from his finger within a split second.
Yet the reaction was one he didn't expect to earn, his ears were alert to the sudden laughter that was being projected in his direction from the brunette. "Aren't you gonna offer me some pretty boy?"
"You ever taken a bump sweetheart?" He asked with genuine curiosity, drawing both brows to his hair line as he clamped the baggie between his middle and index finger and shook it menacingly.
"Are you trying to patronise me?" She scoffed, leaning her weight closer toward his direction and snatching the white intoxicant from him. "Of course I have"
There was a conflict between wether or not he should have found the attitude in what she did attractive, Rafe usually liked his women submissive, obedient, who'd drop to their knee's with a simple demand as his desire for dominance would excel in those situations. But he had a inking that this female was a handful, she'd bite back and also battle for the upper hand.
"So why have I never seen you around, huh?" The male queried as he watched the brunette carefully, her dainty fingers also dipping into the contents and managing to scoop a generous hill onto the pad of her finger.
It was gone before Rafe could blink, an experienced inhale that proved him wrong as he continued to stare once again- swiping her finger under both nostrils and sniffling a few times. The current females he had watched snort would automatically start giggling and act instantly giddy, throw themselves straight at him and it was cringe to witness yet he found himself impressed with how she had handled the drug. She looked almost, unfazed?
"I'm homeschooled, I don't usually attend local parties like these. I have a fake that gets me into the big clubs that are just outside the island but tonight I was forced to come here by my best friend. The guy throwing it is someone she's been hooking up with or something I'm not sure" her profile tilted to gaze into the mesmerising night sky, admiring each and every single star she could focus on as she anticipated the cocaine to take its toll.
"Do you live on Figure Eight?"
"Do I look like I live in the cut?" She instantly shot back, turning and using her hand to motion at her appearance. Rafe took it as his opportunity to admire her beauty once again, taking his eyes slowly down her body and back up towards her warning eyes, responding with a simple shake of the head. "Anyway, I don't even know your name"
This is where it could all get fucked up, he thought, swallowing to instant lump that welled at the brim of his throat and shrugged away his discomfort. Rafe had always taken pride in his name, his status, his reputation that his family held, but now he almost felt ashamed- all he wanted was to do right by his farther and be the business man he longed to be.
But now he had a metaphorical target on his back, murdered, pawn in a homicide investigation.
His world had been tilted on an axis since that day on the runway tarmac, in the moment he felt a sense of security of knowing he had saved his farther from possible trouble- but now, the severity of the situation was catching up with his muddled thoughts. In truth the male had a lot of baggage that came along with him, a lot of underlying secrets that taunt him on a daily that he could never let be exposed to another soul. That he struggled with and that's where the drugs come in hand.
Well done Rafe, you did the right thing, now be cool.
Stretching and offering out his hand, he forced on a fabricated smile before responding coolly. "Rafe Cameron ma'am, you?"
Much to his relief she didn't hesitate in taking the hand, shaking it with a grin that sent his mind into a facade of mixed emotions- wether it was due to the sensitivity of her touch in favour of the cocaine or the sincerity of her smile, Rafe couldn't comprehend the sudden effect she possessed over him.
"Scarlet Meadows sir, pleasure to meet you"
"Now tell me Scarlet, how old are you?" Rafe stroked his chin in a mocking way, earning a subtle giggle from his female company.
"I am nineteen years of age Mr Cameron, yourself?"
Something about hearing himself be addressed in such way by the most attractive girl he had ever seen had turned Rafe slightly hot, a twitch shooting straight down to his groin that urged him to remind himself to keep composure. "I'm twenty in a few months" the male struggled to speak, closing his eyes for a few harmless moments to push the desire down steadily.
What was happening?
If you asked Rafe wether or not he believed in love, he'd straight up tell you absolutely fucking not. It made you weak, vulnerable and drained every single ounce of your power- this was made a perfect example out of Sarah, and what a fool she had become. He couldn't afford that self sabotage in the slightest, not now he was climbing the ranks in following Wards footsteps.
"Do you work or do you live off daddy's money?" Scarlet continued, now watching Rafe with an attentive gaze. He looked the wealthiest you could get around the island, typic rich boy whom is soon to follow in his feathers footsteps- the brunette normally didn't like striped shirts on men yet Rafe seemed to be convincing her otherwise. She wondered if he could tell.
"I mostly take care of business with my dad, sometimes I do some other jobs you know to reel the money in-
"You drug deal don't you" she mused, attempting to read him like an open book that welcomed her in- it was solemnly a guess on her behalf, but the way Rafe's face slightly dropped had informed her that the wild guess was correct.
"Would that be a problem?" He maintained his unbothered exterior he worn far too well, masking it with a barely there smirk as he watched the brunette shake her head. "So do you work?"
"Oh yeah, I work at a coffee shop called café parfait near the golf course. It doesn't pay well but i can make a mean flat white and it's something to do to get me away from the house for a little while"
"What's so bad about your house that you have to get away?" Rafe blurted, no exactly considering wether the question could be a slight bit inappropriate.
"Sometimes it can be suffocating you know? Like I adore my farther and he's been amazing since my mother passed away but there's so much pressure on me that I feel like I'm drowning with the weight of responsibility. It sounds stupid but it feels nice to just escape and work a regular job with regular people to ground myself from the high horse" Scarlet rambled on, the drugs and alcohol that intoxicated her mind to fully blame for the over sharing to a complete stranger.
Yet Rafe was blown away by the ambush of sudden emotions, because he too understood where the female came from- his feet were in the same shoes with maybe a slight bit more darker secrets that over powered all of the similarities. "I understand, so are you the only child?"
"No" she giggled, exhaling heavily as if deep in thought. "I have an older brother called Lake, but I don't see him often anymore because he left as soon as he turned twenty one. Sad really because we were really fucking close and I miss him, what about you?"
"Yeah I have one sister, her name's Wheezie. She's thirteen so I'm the eldest" Rafe nearly choked on his words as he attempted to answer, instead painting an effortless expression upon his features to portray his lie as truth. In some ways it was some what true, himself and Sarah had never seen eye to eye- if it wasn't for the fact she had betrayed the family and was a possible threat, Rafe would have forgotten about her a long time ago.
Being a cold hearted bastard had its perks, an incredible liar being one of them, making it too easy for people to believe his fabricated words. Some may say he was a narcissist, and he had to admit it was a weak argument to go against.
"Wheezie and Rafe, cool names I must say. We're your parents either drunk or high when they thought of them?"
"What because Lake is any much better than our names, huh?" He defended playfully, rolling his tongue on the inner section of his lower lip.
Scarlet had to restrict herself from watching the carnal movement, keeping her eyes focused on else where like his piercing blue hues to keep herself from getting ahead of herself. She clicked her tongue, refocusing her pupils on the mass of stars that hung above them like a million floating lanterns. "You've got me there Rafe"
It wasn't often she'd sit and have a casual conversation like this with a male, Scarlet was much used to flirting and figuring the men were all for the same thing- sex. Although for all she knew Rafe could too be aiming for that solemn purpose, it felt refreshing to look up at the twilight in another's presence and feel comfortable that the drugs he had provided were not laced to get into her pants.
She still didn't trust him though, not one bit.
He seemed like a thousand chapter book with a colourful hardback cover but depths of pages to indulge in and get lost in darkness, a pretty face didn't mean always a pretty soul.
And he didn't trust her, hell, Rafe couldn't trust anyone these days after the betrayal of Sarah. His own sister had turned her back on the whole family for some summer love and he felt ashamed to share even a speck of the same blood as her.
A vibration accompanied the sound of Scarlets ringtone from her bag, pulling it out to see her best friend was calling her, most likely to question where the fuck she had been for the last hour. Time flies by quickly with the right person, slips through your fingertips like liquid silk.
"I've got to go my friend is calling me" she quickly sat from her position, shutting off her phone and turning to view the still sitting male. Scarlet never knew how to dismiss in a formal yet friendly way with someone she had taken a liking to, resulting in an awkward hand stretched out to shake with an even more awkward smile. "Nice meeting you Rafe Cameron"
He met her hand with his own, shaking it firmly and returned the same sweet smile which she could definitely get used to. "You too, Scarlet Meadows"
With that she left with a single nod and a small wave as she made her way from the roof spot, her mind occupying the thought of most likely never seeing the male ever again. It was a small island with any more people to meet, he was just one in a thousand of those individuals.
And too, Rafe observed her retreating form with the same thought. He hoped one day they would bump into one another with the memories of this night still fresh in their mind.
But it was a rare chance, Scarlet Meadows would just become a prompt memory in his muddled up mind.