The next day, Rafe was in a shitty ass mood. He had gotten no snap from Kelce complaining about JJ, fucking Pope was where the fuck ever and John B - who knows? Not working at Tanneyhill, that was certain. And because Rafe was not a goddamn stalker he was no gonna put in any effort to find out where the boys were. And he knew that the most probable answer wouldnt exactly raise his mood anyways: with Kie.
There was one goddamn explosive combination and that was Rafe already being irritated and then Sarah being a snappy bitch. SItuation like that could end pretty badly. Rafe was lounging on the couch, refreshing Instagram every few seconds in hopes of someone posting a story that would somehow indicate anything about any of the pogues location when Sarah walked in, tossing her backpack onto the floor.
"Kiara is such a whore", she complained into the hall and Rafe looked around. There was no one else, apparently Sarah was talking to him. He chuckled. "She sure is"
Sarah jumped over the couch and fell into the cushions. She looked exhausted, almost like she cried. Rafe eyed her for a while. His sister and him didn't have a friendly conversation all too often.
"Bet the boys take turns fucking her over at John B's place", he mentioned and Sarah frowned at him.
"Eww, Rafe, that's totally besides the point"
Rafe didn't care what the point was, he just imagined it. Kiara was probably hooking up with every single one of those pogues and he wished to change that, give her some taste of his cock and mark her up for the pogues to see next time around, give her some beautiful bruises in hidden spots, pin her down and make her tell him he was better than any of the boys, bigger, she wanted him, that kind of stuff. "What is the point", he groaned.
"She's still hanging out at our spot! It was our secret spot", Sarah complained and she was almost fucking crying. Rafe frowned. He remebered the spot, was about the only person who knew about it besides the girls because he drove them down there a few times back when they were best friends. Just a secret nook at the shore, private little beach that you couldn't really get access to unless you knew the way. Sarah and Kiara had treated that spot like some sort of sacred place and it was like, their thing, when things were good between them and no one else was supposed to know.
Rafe took a few girls down there to fuck because they were impressed by that kind of shit and called it romantic and it was good that Sarah never found out because she would've lost her shit.
"I wanted to go there and read a book just now, cycled all the way out and guess who's there? Kie!", Sarah complained. She seemed so upset she just wanted to vent, to Rafe or whoever, it didn't matter.
"I don't get it", Rafe admitted, rather unsupportive. "You can still go there but she can't?"
Sarah crossed her arms and got up. She didn't know why the hell she had been talking to Rafe in the first place. "Yes, exactly, you don't get it, Rafe", she snapped and walked off.
Rafe shrugged, impatiently waiting until he heard the door to Sarahs room shut before he jumped up, heading straight towards Sarah's super secret spot.
Kie's car was parked at the side of the rocky dirt road and Rafe stopped his truck right behind it, making his way through the low woods down to the patch of sand. He spotted Kie right away, out on her surfboard riding waves and she didn't notice him sitting down, lighting the joint and enjoying the view.
When she did, notice him, she lost balance for just a second, stumbled off the board at the pierce of Rafes eyes. He waited with laughing until her head bopped out of the water again, laughed brightly through his teeth until Kie made her way back to the beach, dropped her board into the sand and stomped over, pretty face all frowned.
"What the fuck are you doing here, asshole? Are you actually fucking stalking me?", she spat and Rafe rose a surprised eyebrow, looked up her dripping wet body.
"What? Stalking? No, I wasn't- I wasn't stalking you", he reasoned. "I was simply looking for a quiet spot to smoke, what, is it my fault you hide here to practice your terrible fucking surfing skills in secret?"
It was just Rafes way to keep up a conversation, throwing 'round insults, he didn't even mean to hurt. If he had the intention to hurt he knew simpler, better methods than spitting words. And Kie liked conversation like that, playing insult-ping-pong with her friends, but Rafe was not a friend, despite holding out the joint for her like he was, still sitting in the sand.
"Says the guy who's probably never even put a foot on a surf board before", Kiara replied, crossing her arms until Rafe drew back his hand to put the joint back between his lips.
"Well", he shrugged. "I got hit into the head by one pretty badly at a surf course in Costa Rica and I've been afraid of these evil boards ever since, alright"
"That's terrible morale", Kie noted. "You never got back on? Wouldn't have taken you for a coward"
"Tell that to a seven year old alone in a foreign hospital", Rafe said and held the joint out for Kie again. "Shit traumatized me or some shit". This time, she took it. Because fuck it, it was just a joint and probably because Rafes little surf- story hit a sweet spot in her or because him sitting in the sand all innocent instead of getting up to threaten with his sheer height and broad shoulders like usual. Rafe tried not to look all too self satisfied.
"Let me guess, it was into the forehead?", she asked, taking a drag from the joint and pointing towards her forehead, her lips curling into a grin around the joint.
"The back, actually", Rafe said and leaned forward, bending his head between his knees, ruffling through his hair, way too comfortable of a gesture in front of your supposed enemy, exposing his neck like this. "See the scar?", he asked with undeniable pride and Kiara could indeed see a small patch of skin where no hair grew, that was usually covered up by Rafes hair.
It was all too easy to get comfortable like this, way too fucking fast and Kiara handed Rafe the joint back, crossing her arms, trying to gain back some of the distance she'd broken.
Rafe didn't notice, he took a drag and asked: "Why'd you say front? Do I have a dent in my forehead or some shit?" He rubbed over his forehead with his palm, joint between his fingers, seemed genuinely insecure about something being wrong with his forehead.
"No", Kiara chuckled. "It's just that in the prefrontal cortex is where empathy and compassion is stored, you know"
Pope had told her, among many other extremely interesting, or as he called it, miraculous facts about the human brain, Kie just coincidentally remembered now and she gifted Rafe a sweet smile.
Rafe took a while, staring at her blankly.
"Ha ha", he finally said. "Real funny"
Kie shrugged her shoulders, grinning proudly and Rafe held the joint out for her again but she shook her head, staying strong this time.
"I told you, we're not friends, remember", she said and yeah it was kind of ridiculous to say now, after laughing along with that fucker.
"And I told you I'm not interested in being friends", Rafe replied slowly, and as if to make it clearer, or maybe just because his thoughts wandered, he let his gaze travel over Kiara's half naked body, over the tanned skin of her legs.
Kiara swallowed and turned around to walk over to her backpack, hastily throwing on her shirt.
"Well, I was going home anyways. Enjoy your joint in quiet", she said, collecting her shit and tossing it into the backpack, ignoring the trembling of her hands.
Rafe jumped up, course he fucking did, Kiara had expected nothing else.
"Now? You just had a smoke"
"This concerns you- how?", Kie asked coldly, closing up the backpack.
Rafe shrugged. "Just that little perk where I like you and don't want you to die in a car crash"
With a chuckle, Kie bend up to face Rafe. "You need to drop the act already"
"What act, huh?"
"What's the goal here?", Kie asked back, rolling her eyes "Did Sarah just now tell you that I had a small little crush on you like forever ago and you think that's funny to play on now?"
Kie was the delusional one if she actually thought Rafe and Sarah talked like that. That weird phase of getting along when Kie had always been over, of him driving them to parties, buying them liquor even, that fucking fever dream was over. Sarah talking to him earlier that day had already been weird enough.
"Forever ago? Come on, that's bullshit. You'd jump onto me, if it wasn't for your boys", Rafe replied.
Ward had taught him gambling. Well, he'd taught him how to play cards, without the whole addiction and money part, taught him that's what business is all about, faking confidence, keeping a straight face, that kind of helpful stuff. Obviously Rafe missed the point, like with all things Ward tried to teach him and dove straight into another addiction, the thrill of loosing hundreds or thousand over those stupid cards tingly under his skin like blow, but at least he took away the whole thing about faking confidence. Lived by it, even.
"If it wasn't for you tormenting my friends, you mean?", Kiara corrected.
"Yeah", Rafe shrugged. "Whatever"
Kie scoffed, shaking her head at Rafe, finally walking over to her surf board.
"You actually think I'm gonna let you drive?", Rafe asked calmly, his arms crossed as he watched her pick up the board in amusement. It was fucking Rafe. She knew he wasn't gonna fucking let her, he's the kind of guy who'd call the police on you out of spite, make her lose that new drivers license of hers real quick. Not that it would be necessary, with Kie, he could just hold her down here, if he wanted.
Kie bit her lip, before letting herself fall into the sand, crossing her arms and turning her head away from Rafe, chin all high up but Rafe's only got eyes for the soft neck beneath anyways.
He sat down next to her, relit his joint, stared at her and didn't say shit and Kie sure as hell wouldn't either. That whole mess is on her, though, no one fucking forced her to take the joint from her enemy like they were hanging out.
"Okay..so..you're mad I'm not fucking letting you crash your car, huh?", Rafe finally said after a while.
"You're so hypocritical, it's unreal", Kie scoffed, facing him. "When do you ever drive sober?"
"That's different, I'm a guy, alright"
"So..what? That makes you a better driver?", Kie chuckled and Rafe nodded. "Exactly"
Kiara glanced over, Rafes blue eyes flashing back at her, his lips sealed in a smile. "What?"
"You're fucking with me"
"No, I'm not", Rafe said and Kie smiled.
"You are"
Rafe shook his head, holding back a grin. "No, I'm serious, alright. Actually, I think women shouldnt even-"
"Shut up, okay", Kie laughed and Rafe let his chin drop forward, hiding his smile and rosy cheeks before leaning his head to the side to look at Kie, rolling her eyes him as she caught her breath.
Rafe didn't really wait to appreciate the soft curling of her lips, the way her chest rose under her wet shirt or even the sun reflecting in thin strands of baby hair at Kiara temples, he just leaned over to kiss her.
"Woah, woah, Rafe, what the FUCK", Kiara made, slipping away from him, noticing damn well how Rafe was the one to roll his eyes now, sigh in annoyance as his jaw got harder.
"What", he shrugged.
"What is wrong with you", Kie asked, pulling in her knees to wrap her arms around her legs.
"Come on", Rafe grinned. "Stop playing"
"Playing? Rafe, I don't even want to fucking be here right now, you're forcing me to stay, you realize, right, or are you like, too fucking high-"
"Look Kie-", Rafe interrupted. "I wouldn't put in all the effort and follow you down to the most hidden bay in the outer banks if I didn't think what we have is special"
Rafe felt pretty good about himself. It had been a romantic thing to say, impressive to get it across without stuttering or drowning the sentence in filler words like he was used to. Sure, Kie must've been impressed too.
"What we have? Rafe, we don't have a thing." Kie still had her arms locked around her knees, regretting taking even a hit off that joint, showing the slightest bit of friendliness towards Rafe for old time sake cause God knows, it had been too much.
"Course we do. Since the first time-", Rafe went on.
"Did you just say you followed me?"
Rafe was too focused on himself, gesturing with his hands in the air, to acknowledge Kiara concerns. "We're like, like- soulmates or some shit. Yeah, soulmates, that's it, yeah "
Kiara wholeheartedly laughed.
"God, how high are you?", she asked.
"You're angry, Kie", Rafe said and looked at her with a worryingly clear spark of admiration in his blue eyes. "Just like me"
"I'm nothing like you", she snapped.
"You're always angry, it seems. So fucking angry at the world, alright. I've never seen that, you know, cause im angry all the goddman time too, I just am, alright, deep, deep inside, okay and you're too and that's..like..that's special, alright"
"Yes I'm angry, Rafe", Kie cried out. "I'm angry at the government that doesn't care about its citizens, I'm angry at the oppressive system we live in, I'm angry at the corporations destroying our environment, at men trying to take away our bodily autonomy...I'm angry for a reason!"
Rafe shrugged, flicking his hand. "Yeah whatever, point is you are, right? And you get me. You feel me"
Kiara shook her head. "Nope"
„Must hurt", Rafe noticed and Kie rolled her eyes. „Being so angry and no one's listening, right? No one gives a shit cause you're not a threat, right? Makes you wish you were stronger, huh?"
Whatever the fuck made Rafe think it was appropriate to touch Kie, put his hand into her neck as if to show how utterly useless her anger was, Kie slapped it away. „Don't fucking touch me", she snapped.
Oh, Rafe just fucking loved how strong he was. How easy it was for him to pin a girl down, how he didn't even have to try.
He was too rough in the way he tackled Kiara to the ground, made her feel like old times, like messing around with him and Sarah in the pool, like he was just that mean older brother sneaking up from behind and then the last thing Kiara saw was Sarah's eyes flash maliciously at Rafe behind her back before he grabbed her bride style and jumped into the pool. Sometimes Sarah and Kiara managed to push Rafe into the pool, too, and sometimes he held them under the water for it. It was all fun, back then.
Now, he wasn't the mean older brother of her friend, but just mean and she felt like she couldn't breathe for a second at the impact of her back on the floor, barley softened by the sand. With gloating ease, Rafe secured her wrists between one of his hands, sat down on her waist and Kiara still didn't feel like she could breathe, but this time it was fear paralyzing her lungs. Rafe could do whatever he so pleased.
"What the fuck", she cursed and Rafe grinned down on her, enjoying himself.
"Let go of me"
"Nah", Rafe shook his head and let Kiara struggle for a bit, spit insults at him, try and fight him off. Let her warm up; he enjoyed the squirming against his thighs.
Then, he felt for her heart with his free hand, placing it flat over her chest, no sexual intentions though, just feel that thing thumping under the wet fabric of her shirt.
"Feel that?", he asked and was quiet for a while, to make her feel it. "The anger?"
"Yes I'm angry!!", Kiara yelled. "You're holding me down against my will!"
Kiara tried so fucking hard to not come across as whiny, when she told him again and again to just let her go, but she felt like crying at the helplessness of being trapped. It made her furious.
"Just calm down then", Rafe shrugged. Kiara kicked her legs and it didn't do a thing. „Isn't that what they always say? Calm down, Kie, just calm down"
Rafes free hand at her cheek. Kiara jerked like a horse from its bridle and she glared at Rafe with hatred, it was all she had on stock.
"You don't wanna calm down, do you? Me neither. Fuck that shit", Rafe kept talking.
Kiaras chest was moving frantically beneath him, and he knew that feeling, knew it all to well. "But no one gets that, right? No one gets you, Kie, but I do"
The true issue wasn't how tight he held her wrists or pinned her hips down, it was the spark in his eyes as he looked down on her, it was the small smile on his lips as he spoke.
"No gets me but you"
Rafe really just had to be delusional. Maybe just because of the drugs, or maybe his brain had never worked just right, but it was scrambled enough for him to somehow think it was a good time to lean down and kiss her.
Kiss Kiara, who felt like her anger burned her up from the inside out, who's lips he could feel trembling in an attempt to stay calm the second he touched them, felt them on his own like he'd been wanting for so long.
It was just those few seconds too much, that Kie took to press her lips together. Maybe because she truly was just a whore and kissed back instinctively, maybe because Rafes words had some impact on her at least and she knew that they were truly meant for each other, maybe she'd finally got that, that there was no point in running from that fact. Or maybe because her lips stopped trembling under Rafes and she did calm down. Maybe the weed was making her slow and maybe a little bit needy too.
Whatever it was, the hesitation took long enough to make Rafe more than certain in his actions and he kept kissing her even when she pressed her lips shut.
"Are you crazy? You can't just kiss me", Kie cried out. Rafe gaze was pinned to her lips.
"I can do whatever the fuck I want, alright", he replied absently and was more than right about it, Kiara was helpless under him.
She spat at him. Oh, and If there was one thing that got Rafe furious it was disrespect. Like getting spat at. In a knee jerk reaction, he pushed Kiaras face to the side with his free hand, right into the sand but it was less than intentional, he let go the second it happened, sand sticking to Kiaras left side of the face, to her lips.
"Shit, sorry", Rafe mumbled. He was just a little to successful at his mission to make Kiara angry, the girl was crying now, of course she was trying to hide it by fluttering her eyelids but Rafe saw it all too well. "I...-see? Don't fucking provoke me like that. That's exactly what I'm fucking talking about"
He exchanged his hands, the grip around her wrists even tighter under his right hand and he used his free one to gently wipe at Kiaras face now. Carefully draw his thumb under her eye to wipe away the little grains of sand as if he could take it back like that. Touch that was softer than anything Kie had ever seen from him.
"I'm going to tell my friends about what you did", she threatened and Rafe listened, his thumb sliding across her wet lips to free them from the sand. He resisted the urge to push it in, let her suck on his finger, exchanged it for his cock. Those very lips around his shaft and Rafe was certain Kie could take him deep down without gagging, she probably sucked three dicks every goddamn morning. "They're going to beat you up so bad"
Rafe sighed. "Tell 'em 'bout what huh? About how I made you wet?"
"You think this is turning me on?"
It all made more sense now. Rafe was just stupid. Maybe he'd never intended to scare her that much, this was his way of flirting or some shit.
Rafe leaned down to whisper next to her ear: "Isn't it?"
It was a mean question to ask and continue to move down her neck with kisses. It was a mean question to ask while his fingers digged into her hips and the rough fabric of his pants rubbed against her naked thighs.
It was mean, since Rafe didn't grab her softly, didn't feel her skin like she was breakable, didn't ask her if she was fine every second like she was weak. The roughness in his actions, the ruthlessness with which he kissed her was a sort of respect Kie'd been aching for, hadn't been payed, by her worried parents, her kind friends, treating her like a goddamn porcelain doll.
Rafe had that at his advantage, the fact that Kie didn't feel like a fragile little girl under his hands, and how hot his skin felt against hers, and he had a desperation in his breaths that made her feel wanted.
No, it sure did turn her on how Rafes was not afraid to take, press himself close and make her feel how hard he is. But Kiara'd be damned before admitting Rafe had any effect on her; not his body and not his stupid speech about them being alike.
"No. Let me go", she finally managed to say. Rafe pushed himself up to hover over her, his teeth pressed together so hard it must almost hurt, his jaw in a tight lock trying to keep that damning word inside, please.
"You're lying", he said confidently but got off all insecure, finally got off, falling into the sand next to her with an aching boner in his pants.
Kiara took a few relieved breaths before pushing herself up, still feeling Rafe all over her body.
"You know what, Rafe, you're right, I should be honest with you", Kiara said solemnly and folded her hands.
Rafe nodded slowly. "Yeah, right"
"It fucking does. You're hot, you know that", Kie admitted and Rafe actually fucking blushed. "I wanted nothing more than to give in just now. But you're a terrible person, Rafe. You're mean, and arrogant and violent and I don't want those hands on my body"
Rafe looked down at his hands and the bloody crust on his knuckles, as if the problem was really within them, and not his fucking head.
"I just- I just get angry sometimes, Kie, just like you, alright, I mean I.."
"You're cockblocking yourself, is what I'm trying to say, you fucking idiot"
"Tz", Rafe made. "It's not like I'm desperate for it"
"Oh really? It almost fucking seems like it, driving all the way out-"
"Yeah for you", Rafe interrupted. "Have a talk.."
Rafe got his fucking talk, until he finally granted Kiara permission to drive, talked about their criminal records and how similar they were, proofing further just how the two of them belonged.
It didn't seem to get inside his head that a small acab graffiti and breaking a glass door with another man's skull weren't the same thing, although both tried as malicious destruction of property. That failure to follow police order when protesting at the women's march wasn't comparable to ignoring the cop car that caught you joyriding and continuing to speed away. It didn't matter to Rafe, it didn't matter how pissed Kiara tried to appear while reacting to his stories; he could see her smile, every now and then, but at least he didn't try to kiss her again, let her drive away in peace when it was no longer reasonable to keep her there.
Kiara went straight to the chateau and whatever the hell it was, maybe the way her heart fastened when she thought about it, but she didn't mention Rafes hands on her body, not until deep into the night over the bonfire, actually, not even then.
"Let's talk about Rafe", she said and for a second, she thought she didn't smell the smoke, or the beer in her hands, she smelled Rafes cologne too close to her neck.
"Rafe?", Pope asked.
"Nah, that's bad vibes, Kie, baaad vibes", JJ mumbled around his joint.
"Did something happen?" John B, concerned as always.
"No", Kiara replied way too fucking fast. "No, nothing happened. I was just wondering..what's like, the worst things he's ever done to you guys"
"Uh, being born, i'd start with that", JJ said and spread up one finger of his hand as if he was ready to count every single incident. "Yeah", the boys agreed and Kiara chuckled.
"Nah, but for real, worst thing? That'd be when he cut my fucking tires"
John B let out an agonized groan as he remebered and Pope nodded enthusiastically.
"I went straight up to Ward C when I saw him at the docks next time, right, told him exactly what his spawn did..", JJ made a longer pause for dramatic value until Kie and the boys looked at him all anticipated. "And- nothing. He said no, I must be wrong that wasn't Rafe and I needed to", JJ curled his fingers in the air to mime quotation marks. "Watch my mouth with these accusations. I didn't get a cent"
"Definitely tough, yeah", Pope agreed and Kiara nodded. "That's awful"
"Especially since that psycho would kill anyone that'd mess with his bike"
"He should know how it feels then", Kiara thought and JJ laughed brightly. "He does"
"Worst thing for me?", Pope said and caught the groups attention. Everyone looked up and his face seemed awfully serious in the glow of the campfire. He nodded quietly and everyone was weirdly silent all of the sudden. "I was literally in kindergarten, it's kind of stupid I even remember this, I shouldn't-well, i dont even really know how it went down but he, he called me a, I think it was..a monkey."
Pope pronounced the word with so much disgust it made Kiaras skin crawl. It was still quiet, for a second before JJ interrupted loudly. "Yep, that's Rafe, right there. Exactly this"
John B shook his head and looked down, ashamed of the skin color he shared with that douche. "You never told us this before", he said and Pope shrugged his shoulders.
"I kinda forgot about it until Kiara just asked"
"Its easy to forget all the shit hes done, yeah", John B nodded. "Sometimes I see him having fun with his friends from the druthers and I catch myself thinking, what was the problem again? I could probably have a beer with a guy like that"
"You could have a beer with anyone", JJ interrupted.
"I just...Rafe and Ward are both pretty loud when they scream. I hear stuff at work that Rafe would probably kill me for if he knew and I'm not gonna tell you guys, that wouldn't be fair, it's just..Rafe doesn't have it all that easy either and sometimes I'm almost sorry for him", John B shrugged.
"Right? I feel that", Kiara nodded. "I constantly need to remind myself what a horrible person he his"
"That's just his washboard abs", JJ replied and Pope started snickering. "That's definitely it for me", John B laughed and Kiara joined in. She thought about asking him, what the worst thing was, that Rafe ever did to him but maybe John B had brushed over it on purpose, maybe he was trying to get off topic and Kiara let him with an awful knot in her stomach.
09/28/22