After leading me into his father's office, Rafe places the journal on the wooden desk, then walks around to the side that I am standing and pulls the seat out for me. He taps the seat, waiting for me to sit down.
I pick up the book and flick through it. It is quite heavy for a small journal. It is small in size but filled with many pages.
"Look at the size of this thing. It is going to take me at least two days to read it. I'll take it home and report back to you once I have finished reading it."
He shakes his head at me. "Absolutely not. You will take my book, give it to the Pogues and you will find the cure without me."
"You don't trust me?"
"I don't trust anyone."
I hold the journal out to him. "Then you'll have to solve it yourself then." When he doesn't take it from me, I take a step forwards and place the book against his chest and turn around, ready to make my way towards the door.
"Wait." Rafe calls and I turn back around, crossing my hands over my chest and watching him curiously. "You can take it but you better not fuck me over because then I'll get mad." He walks over to me and stops walking when is abdomen is touching my arms which are still crossed together. "And I think you know what I'm capable of when I'm mad."
I stand up on my toes while looking up at him. "And I think you know that I'm not scared of you." I take the book from his hands while maintaining eye contact with him. I turn around and begin walking to the door, but he catches my wrist and pulls me back into him. I smirk at him when I turn around. "Yeah?"
"I'm driving you."
"Well I have no other way of getting home, Cameron."
*
The book sits safely on my lap while Rafe drives me home. While I am looking out the window as we drive past the river, Rafe's phone beeps. I turn my head and watch as he picks up his phone and stares down at it while driving.
"You're going to get us both killed and then someone else will definitely find the cure before us."
"Fuck." He throws his phone into the compartment before slamming on his breaks. Rafe looks over his shoulder before quickly making a U-Turn and driving in the opposite direction.
"What are you doing? Home is that way." I point over my shoulder.
Rafe lets out a sigh. "There's something I have to do first."
"Like right now?"
"Yes like right now. In fact I should have been there thirty minutes ago but I forgot because you-" he stops speaking and hits his steering wheel with his palm.
"Because I what?"
He ignores me and continues driving way over the speed limit.
A short while later, we drive through a small abandoned park with lots of trees surrounding the area. Rafe drives along the broken path and eventually we arrive at what looks to be a caravan park. Rafe drives to the end trailer which is secluded from the rest. The car stops and he turns off the vehicle.
He looks over at me and I can see that he looks stressed. Well, he always looks stressed. He just looks slightly more stressed than usual. "Stay in here and lock the doors when I leave, alright?" When I don't answer him, he repeats himself much louder. "Alright?"
I nod my head. "Yeah, whatever. I'll lock the doors."
"I mean it Scarlett."
He unbuckles his seatbelt and gets out of the car. I reach over to the door and press the lock button. The cars lights flash orange after I press the button.
This place is sketchy as. I get goosebumps just thinking about how eery it is. Why is Rafe even here? I look around for any human activity but I don't see any. Rafe disappeared behind the van. One of the lights flick on from a nearby van and it is enough to light up the area. I see a group of people standing together and one person standing alone opposite them. I lean forwards, trying to get a better look. That's when I see the orange shirt and realise that it is Rafe standing alone.
I hear a lot of shouting and one of the people from the group dart towards Rafe. Rafe pushes the person away and the man in black stumbles backwards towards the group. I unbuckle my seatbelt and reach forwards. I open the jockey box and stick my hand down the bottom. Beneath the loose papers, I feel a hard object. I pick up Rafe's gun and shakily hold it in my hands.
This is my first time holding a gun.
The shouting grows louder and the group all make their way towards Rafe. I open the door which unlocks the car and I jump out of it. I run over to where they are standing and see that two guys are on top of Rafe, throwing punches and kicking his abdomen. I fire a bullet onto the floor. This stops them from throwing punches on Rafe's face and kicking his ribs.
"Get off of him." I shout to the two hooded men.
"Woah country club, I think you need to tell your friend here to calm down. You know, she's pretty cute. I don't know what the hell she sees in you but by the way she's holding that gun, I think I know why you two have a connection." The guy standing to the side with a man bun says to Rafe who is still lying on the ground. My heart sinks when I see blood coming from his mouth and nose. It is terrible lighting here so I can only imagine how much worse it really is.
I point the gun towards one of the men and slowly walk towards them. "I said get off."
The two men hold their hands up and back away from Rafe. The guy with the man bun has a sly smirk on his face. He walks over to me and stands directly in front of the gun.
"You ever shot someone before? I hope it wasn't a cop like country club over here."
While I am staring at the guy who daringly makes his way closer to me, Rafe stands to his feet and hobbles over to me. He places his hand on top of the gun and takes it out of my hands. I place my hands in my pockets because they are trembling from holding the gun. He uses the hand that is holding the gun to support the injuries on his stomach. He uses his other hand to spin me around and push me towards the car.
"To be continued." The guy with the man bun shouts after us. "You're welcome back too, blondie." He says and this earns some laughter from his group of friends. When we reach the car, Rafe grabs onto my hand and spins me around to face him.
"Fuck Scarlett, I told you to stay in the damn car. You never listen, do you?" He waves the gun around in front of him while shouting at me. "Why the fuck do you never listen?" He walks closer to me and my eyes remain on the gun in his hands. For every step he takes forwards, I take one back. Eventually my back comes into contact with his car and my body presses against it while he continues moving closer to me. I stare up at him and look into his dark eyes which are filled with anger.
"I thought they were going to-"
"They won't do fucking shit to me." He slams his hand against the window beside my head and I close my eyes, afraid that his hand was going to land on my face instead. I can feel his hot breaths against my skin as his face nears mine.
I slowly open my eyes and stare at him, internally praying that he won't hurt me. "Rafe." I say his name, trying to snap him out of this rage-filled trance that he is in. I've seen this violent look many times before, but usually they come from dark brown eyes.
Earlier I said to him that I wasn't scared of him, but now I'm not so sure.
"Rafe you're scaring me."
As the words leave my lips, Rafe's eyes wander around my face and analyse my appearance. He blinks a couple of times before exhaling deeply and moving his face away from mine. "I'm sorry." He places the gun in his back pocket and places his hands on my arms. I flinch when he touches. me. "I'm sorry, Scar."
I slip to the side and successfully move away from him and walk to the other side of the car. I open the door and get inside. Rafe gets in the car and before starting the engine, he looks over at me. I avoid looking at him while staring directly ahead, but I can see him in the corner of my eye.
"Scarlett."
"Just fucking take me home."
He puts on his seatbelt and starts the car. He glances over at me again and bites down on his lip while he contemplates whether he should speak to me or not.
I close my eyes and rest my head against the seat behind me. What the hell even just happened? I just fucking pointed a gun at somebody. I've never even touched a gun before. He's right, I should have stayed in the car and none of this would have happened. Though I wouldn't have been put in that situation if he had just dropped me home like he was supposed to.
"Please look at me."
Refusing to do as he says, I keep my eyes closed.
I feel his hand on my thigh and my eyes immediately burst open and I slap his hand away. I glare at him, not needing to speak because my face says enough.
"You know I'll never hurt you. Alright?"
When I don't answer him, he leans forwards. "You made me angry. You embarrassed me in front of all of those guys. You put yourself at risk."
"Oh, so it's all my fault." I laugh sarcastically.
"Yes it is all your fault Scarlett."
"You shouldn't have taken me there in the first place then."
"I told you to stay in the car."
I simply groan in response which makes Rafe realise that he chose the wrong words to say to me. He presses his lips together and looks away from me, trying to think of something else to say. I'm not going to argue with him anymore because he isn't even willing to see things from my perspective.
"Just listen next time, alright? Those guys are dangerous." He says more softly this time. This guy is so bipolar. One minute he is shouting at me and being demanding, while the next he is like soft putty in my hands.
"Says the king himself."
He stares at me with confusion. "What?"
"If you looked up dangerous in the dictionary, it would have a picture of you beside the definition."
"I'm not dangerous." He says before pulling out the gun from his pants and placing it back in the jockey box. "I'm going to take you home now."
"About fucking time. Why did you have to go there anyway?"
"I'm all out and needed a hit. Barry texted me saying he had a delivery tonight and I went to get my cut. Only they tried to rip me off and charge double of what it cost last time."
I shake my head disappointingly. "Think of all of the smart investments you could have instead of wasting so much money on drugs. You could be donating it to charity."
"Why would I spend my money on making other people happy while I am here miserable? The only time I don't hate the thought of being alive is when I'm high."
We drive the rest of the way in silence. I was sitting so close to the edge of my seat the entire journey, desperate to be as far away from him as possible. I kept feeling his eyes on me but I refused to look at him because then he would think it was okay to talk to me.
When Rafe drives onto the grass and continues driving down to the house, he eventually comes to a stop. I unbuckle my seatbelt and reach for the door handle.
"Wait, before you go."
I stop opening the door and turn to look at him. "What?"
Rafe reaches down to the floor and picks up the book. "We're still a team right? You're not going to back out on me?"
"I pulled a gun out on someone for you. You're going to have to do a lot more than backing me into a car to scare me off." I take the book from him and he lowers his head, smiling in relief.
"Hey Scar?"
I sit beside him in his car, staring at him while awaiting his response.
"I meant what I said. I would never hurt you."
I get out of the car and before closing the door, I say one last thing to him. "You better not." I purposely slam the door.