.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
Once it gets close to 7:00, I start to look through my closet for an outfit to wear. My eyes land on a white babydoll blouse that would look perfect with my low-rise baggy jeans. I throw both of those on and try to fix my hair that seems to have been ruined by the school day. It takes me a second to decide, but I eventually pick some low heels.
By the time I get my purse ready and start to apply lip gloss, my phone buzzes on my desk.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘∘₊✧──────✧₊∘∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
wreck-it-rafe🥳
here but take ur time
no rush
kay
coming down
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘∘₊✧──────✧₊∘∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
I throw the lip gloss into my purse and walk down to the entryway.
"What are you all dressed up for?" my dad asks from down the hall.
"Just a date." I shrug, taking my hand off of the doorknob.
"Just a date," he repeats slowly with a slight smile. "Shouldn't he come to the door?"
"Um... no?"
"I raised you better than that, Juli Bug. Go get him and bring him inside."
"But we're about to—"
"—If Rafe wants to take you out, he has to be a gentleman."
I sigh annoyedly. "Fine."
"I'll be in the kitchen," he says before walking back down the hall.
I open the front door and walk over to Rafe, who's standing outside the Range Rover. He gets all smiley when he sees me and reaches his arms out, making me slightly run to jump into his arms.
"You look so pretty, baby," he says before kissing my dimple.
My cheeks begin to turn red, which only fuels him to kiss me more, all over my cheek and neck. I eventually drop down and take a step back to look at him. He's wearing khaki shorts with a silky sage green shirt that has a few buttons undone.
I place my hands around the unbuttoned part of his shirt and grin. "You look really good."
He bites down on his tongue and laughs.
"Like, really good," I repeat.
He looks into my eyes before kissing my forehead and pulling me into a hug. "I love you."
"I love you." I smile, holding onto him tightly. "My dad wants you to go inside."
Rafe pulls away and looks at me with furrowed eyebrows. "He does?"
"Mm-hmm," I say. "He's waiting as we speak."
He blinks. "Did you tell him..."
"I didn't tell him anything about last night," I answer. "He said something about how you 'have to be a gentleman.' I don't know."
He pushes his bottom lip out. "Okay, let's go, then." He laces his fingers with mine and begins to walk to the front door.
"Dad!" I call out once we re-enter the house.
My dad walks toward the entryway and smiles at my boyfriend. "Hey, bud," he says, holding his hand out.
Rafe shakes his hand firmly and smiles. "Hi, Mr. Moreno."
"Call me Miles," my dad says. "I don't know if I've ever really introduced myself." He laughs slightly.
"Rafe," Rafe says, half-laughing in reply.
"So, where are you taking her?" my dad asks curiously as he puts his hands in his pockets. "What are you guys doing?"
Rafe looks down at me and re-connects his hand with mine. "Just a nice dinner."
"Just a nice dinner," my dad chuckles as he looks at me, remembering what I said earlier. "Any ideas?"
"Yeah, yeah. A few ideas." Rafe grins. "I'll keep it a surprise for her."
I notice my little sister hiding behind the railing of the stairwell, staring at Rafe. "Gen, do you want to come say hi to Rafe?" I ask.
She ignores my words and keeps staring. Rafe waves at her and smiles, which makes her giggle and run back to her room.
"Tell me, Rafe..." my dad starts, which immediately makes Rafe squeeze my hand. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about a fight last night, would you?"
Rafe swallows hard but immediately puts on a fake-concerned look. "No, no. Why, what's up?"
"I heard about a party that got shut down by the police. They walked in and found a guy all bloody on the floor, said most of the students at Kildare Academy were there."
I cough. "I mean, we went, but I guess we left before any of that happened."
"Yeah, we must've just missed it," Rafe says with a nod.
My dad narrows his eyes, and just when I think he's about to say something even worse, he smiles lightly. "Alright, just uh... double-checking. Make sure you take good care of my girl, okay?" he directs to Rafe.
"Of course," Rafe says immediately.
"I don't want her involved in any of that."
A defeated looks spreads across Rafe's face. "I don't either."
My dad nods. "Well, I'd better let you guys go."
"Thanks, Dad," I say before hugging him quickly.
"Have fun," he says. "And be back at a reasonable time. You know."
"Right. It was nice formally meeting you, Mr. Moreno," Rafe says while guiding me through the front door and out to his car.
✧ ˚ · .
As Rafe pulls into the parking lot, I look at the building. It's the nicest restaurant in Figure Eight, La Vie En Rose. It sits about a mile away from the country club and overlooks the water.
He parks and opens the passenger door, reaching his hand out for me to grab onto. I start to walk with him toward the building when he looks down at me. "Recognize the name of the building?"
"Mmm-hm." I smile. "Our song."
He smiles back and looks at my lips before leaning down to kiss my cheek.
After a man with a nice suit opens the door for us, we wait behind a couple at the front desk.
"What's the name for your reservation?" a worker asks them.
"Sawyer," the man replies.
The worker scans the screen and smiles. "Tara will lead you to your table."
As the couple follow the girl, the woman looks at us. "For Cameron?"
"Yes ma'am," Rafe replies with a smile. Of course they already knew the name.
"Right this way." She stands up and begins to walk the opposite direction from the couple before us.
"Where are we going?" I whisper, looking up at Rafe as we begin to follow her.
"You'll see," he says, grinning.
After a bit of walking, we eventually reach a beautiful waterfront dining area. Even though there are a few couples here and there, it's still private and peaceful. Rafe pulls my chair out for me and pushes me in once I sit down.
"We'll be right with you," the hostess says before walking back to the front.
I look at Rafe and press my lips together. "Rafe."
"What?" he giggles.
"You're insane."
"Why?" he asks, wearing his classic smile.
"How am I supposed to pay you back for all of this?"
"You're not," he says, now wearing a more serious look. "You deserve it. Especially after last night." He clears his throat. "And you should never question your boyfriend paying for things, Jules."
I hold onto his hand and look him in the eyes. "Thank you."
He nods and moves his thumb back and forth across my hand.
As I look into his eyes, I notice him press his lips together and start to act weird. "What?" I ask.
"I got suspended."
My eyes immediately widen. "Oh... my god."
"I guess word traveled fast," he says, fidgeting with his ring. "It's only for a day, so after tomorrow, I'll be back."
"What did the school say to you?"
"They called me down to the office after lunch. They said they 'don't agree with my behavior at a recent gathering' and that they 'encourage camaraderie between students' and other bullshit like that." He shrugs. "I'm not really bothered by it, though. It was worth it to me."
I take a deep breath in. "I guess I'll be alone tomorrow, then."
"Yeah, I wish you didn't have to be," he says before taking a sip of water. "They should've suspended Matt's ass," he mutters as he looks out toward the water.
We spend the rest of the dinner trying out random foods together and flirting like crazy. I'm sure the other guests hate us, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Rafe eventually pays for the bill and walks me to the car. Once he closes the driver side door, he starts the car, but doesn't drive toward either of our houses.
"Are you driving to the beach?" I eventually ask, noticing the familiar path.
He smiles at me. "Yeah."
"But I didn't bring a swimsuit," I say.
Still with one hand on the wheel, he takes his right hand off of my thigh and reaches into the back seat. He picks up one of my bikinis along with his swim shorts and brings them to the front.
I laugh as I take my bikini out of his hands. "Where did you even get this?"
"You left it at my house this morning when you were packing up your bag." He parks the car on the edge of the sand. "I figured we could watch the sunset on the beach, like we used to."
I gape at him in awe. He always remembers the little things.
We hop out of his car and walk toward the sand. He holds a towel around me while I change quickly, and I do the same for him.
Once we finish, he sets the towel on the ground and looks at me. "Wanna go in?" He points to the water, confused as to why I haven't run in yet.
"Not yet." I smile and jump up into his arms.
He laughs as he grabs onto me. "Not yet?"
I shake my head. "Hmm-mm." I keep my arms around his neck and lay my head on his shoulder. "I wanna stay right here."
He laughs. "Right here... on my abs?"
"I don't want to hear you complain when I can literally feel both of your hands on my ass," I say sarcastically, still keeping my head planted on his shoulder.
He throws his head back with laughter and starts to kiss me all over my neck.
"Raaafe," I say, trying to stay still as he moves around.
Ignoring me, he decides to reach for my waist to begin to tickle me. I swat his hand away as I giggle, still keeping my face pressed into his skin.
He tightens his grip on my legs and starts to sprint toward the sea, taking me with him. I scream and squeal the whole way there, holding on for dear life.
Once we're waist deep, he drops me and fully dunks me under the water. I rise above the surface quickly and shove him, making him fall back and under the water.
As I wipe the droplets off my face, he jumps up and almost falls over again from laughing. I flip him off with both hands, which only makes him laugh harder.
I choose to dive into the water and swim farther from him, rolling my eyes at his middle school boy behavior.
After getting far enough away from shore, I notice he's only a few feet behind me. He swims toward me with the biggest smile plastered on his face, like he knows that I can never be annoyed at him for too long. I can't help but smile.
Before he gets to me, though, I lay out on my back and drift in the waves. That's when I notice a smiley boy's face appear hovering over me, covering half of the sky. He looks down and kisses me.
He grins. "Not mad?"
I sit up and float in the water before splashing him.
"Hey!" he giggles as he pulls me closer to him, both of us neck deep in the ocean.
"Not anymore," I smile as he holds onto me.
We kiss for a few moments before I decide to look at the sunset, feeling it's warmth on my skin.
"This is how it should be," I say. "Nothing else to worry about, you know? Just me, you, the sunset, and the sea."
He waits a beat before responding. "We'll get there someday."
I look away from the glowing orange sky to see his eyes. "What do you mean?"
"I mean ten years from now, we'll be out of the OBX. We'll be living in a big beach house I got for us, and we'll watch the sunset every night, and surf whenever you want, and—"
"Is that your plan?" I interrupt him and giggle.
"Yeah, that's my plan." He smirks. "What's your plan?"
I look around and make a thinking face. "What you said. But we'd have a golden retriever, and I'd have every color of converse in the world."
He laughs. "And our own golf course."
"A golf course?" I question sarcastically.
"Mmm-hm." He nods his head and kisses me sweetly.
I feel the cold metal of his ring on my back. I grab his hand from behind me and hold it out in front of me, slowly sliding the gold signet ring off of his finger and onto mine.
"I think it's a little big." He laughs as I try to keep it on my finger. "It's practically falling off," he says.
"I'll be careful," I assure him.
He smiles at me in awe. I could be doing the simplest thing and he would still look at me the way he does.
"Is it yours or, like— a family heirloom?" I ask.
"It's mine," he says, looking down at the ring on my finger. "My dad got it for my birthday a few years ago."
"Aw," I say, admiring it on my finger. "I like it better on you." I place it back on his and kiss him in the process.
We lose track of time by swimming around in the open abyss, even after the sun has set. I love night swimming.
Once it's been dark for a while, I eventually decide to swim toward shore. I ring the water out of my hair and walk back to our stuff.
"Rafe, you only brought one towel?" I ask, holding up the singular towel with sand all over it.
"Oh, I guess so." He laughs and takes it out of my hand, dusting the sand off of it. He smiles down at me and wraps the towel around my back, smoothly pulling me toward him.
We stand there in the sand, under the moonlight, wrapped up in one towel.
"Thank you," I say, looking up into his eyes. "For all of this."
"You're welcome, Jules," he whispers back. "You deserve it." He gently kisses the top of my head and pulls me into a hug.
Once we're dried off, I grab one of his sweatshirts from the car and throw it on over my bikini before hopping into the passenger seat. He props the driver door open, puts his button-up back on, and steps inside to start the car.
✧ ˚ · .
"I'll make sure Kelce and Topper look out for you tomorrow, okay?" Rafe says as he puts the car in park on the street of my house.
I nod. "Okay."
"When do you have to be back inside?" he asks, still rubbing his hand back and forth on my bare leg.
"I don't know, my dad just said not to be out late," I say. "Why?"
He presses his lips together before moving his hand higher up my leg. "I was thinking about everything that happened last night."
My heart starts to beat faster as adrenaline kicks in, taking note of the fact that I'm only wearing a bikini under my sweatshirt.
"I feel like I never got to properly apologize," he says with a low voice as he leans over the center console and puts his face in my neck. "I wanna show you how much I really love you, Jules," he whispers up against my skin, and I can feel his mouth form into a smirk.
I naturally start to hold his head in one hand and run my fingers through his hair. "I am a visual learner."
He doesn't even reply before digging into my neck, forming a line of kisses until he reaches my mouth. He hesitates for a moment, still hovering over my lips, making both of our heavy breathing fill up the otherwise silent car.
Just as I'm about to say something, he moves his left hand off of my waist and onto the bottom of the sweatshirt. "Can I take this off? I wanna see something," he says.
I blankly stare at him before nodding. He then lifts the sweatshirt up and over my head, leaving me in only my swimsuit.
After tossing the sweatshirt in the backseat, he places his hand on my chest. He stares at where his hand is before meeting me with his eyes. "Your heart's beating really fast."
Instead of replying, I keep staring back at him, trying to figure out what he's thinking.
Without moving his hand, he puts his mouth up to my ear and kisses just behind it. I sigh breathily as my heart starts to naturally pick up its pace even more.
"Oh my god," he whispers into my ear as he more firmly presses his hand up to my chest. "I like that."
He moves his hand around to better find my heart, and it continues to beat faster as every second goes by. He finally lifts his hand and replaces the empty space on my chest with his lips, gently kissing right over my heart. I have to sit up slightly in order to distract myself from the freak out that my body is starting to have.
Once he's finished kissing my chest, I watch as he grins with excitement, already knowing that's he's gonna feel for my heartbeat again.
"It's gonna beat out of your chest, Jules," he says with a proud smirk after pressing his hand up again.
"I think I have a while to go until I get to that level."
His eyes widen as a look of desire lights up inside them. I glance down at his lips, which immediately makes him come in to kiss me. His hand travels down my side as he moves his mouth over mine, before he eventually touches my lips with his tongue. The second I open my mouth, he moves his hands to my hips and lifts my body over the center console, quickly placing me onto his lap to straddle him. I rest my hands on his shoulders as I kiss him back for a few moments before pulling my face away.
"What's wrong?" he whispers, visibly out of breath.
"Nothing's wrong." I smile as I move my hands down to the buttons of his shirt and undo the rest of them.
He smirks as he helps me take his shirt off before throwing it in the backseat. Once he turns back around to face me, I start to kiss him again. He giggles before biting my bottom lip, his hands moving up and down on my thighs. I let go of his shoulders and instead place my hands on his bare chest before kissing him harder.
He starts to feel for my heartbeat, mid-kiss, and smiles into my face. "I think I'm addicted to making you feel like this."
I break away quickly to laugh before taking his hand off my chest and moving it to my ass as I kiss him again. The loud sounds of our lips connecting and separating fills up the entire car as we continue to make out for god knows how long.
✧ ˚ · .
↴rafe's point of view
I wait in my car for Juliet to close her front door instead of driving off immediately. She always shyly waves goodbye and smiles before shutting the door.
My own house is silent and cold when I walk inside. I can hear my dad and step-mom arguing from their bedroom. They constantly argue, no matter how perfect they act in public. Sometimes I even hear a loud thud or a bang. I always wonder if he's hitting her, but I try to shove that thought out of my head. Who knows what he'd do to me if I said anything, especially now that I know what he's capable of. I wonder if my sisters have always ignored the constant yelling like I have.
After taking a cold shower in my bathroom, I hop in bed and try to fall asleep.
It's been a few days since I've slept without Juliet next to me. I don't know if it's because of that, or because of everything else going on, but I can't fall asleep.
After tossing and turning for hours on end, I eventually just stare up at the ceiling and get lost in my thoughts. Whenever I have Jules with me, I feel like I can just focus on her and ignore the mess inside of my brain. I wish she was here.
"Rafe."
I turn around to see my dad standing over my bed. It's still pitch black outside. "What?" I ask, squinting to look him.
"I need you out here," he says urgently.
I climb out of bed and hesitantly follow him to the driveway. He stands next to the back of the truck and looks at me. "I need you to stay calm, okay?"
Instead of answering, I just stare at him and wait for him to reveal what's in the truck. Why would I need to stay calm?
"Okay?" he repeats.
"Yeah," I reply impatiently.
As he lifts the tarp up, I try to make out the figure through the darkness. It looks like a man. There's no way.
"What the fuck is that?" I panic.
"A body, Rafe," my dad says blankly.
"Oh my god." I raise my arms above my head and start to pace around. "Oh my fucking god!"
"Rafe," he cautions.
"Did you do this? Holy shit!" I say, breathing heavier. "Who the hell is this?"
"It doesn't matter, Rafe."
"It so matters!" I start to raise my voice as I freak out. "Who the hell is in that bag?"
"Be quiet!" he stresses.
"You have got to tell me who that is!" I practically yell. "Did you do it? Why would you—"
"Stop!" he says, aggressively covering my mouth. "Shut your mouth!" He glares at me before slowly removing his hand and holding onto my face. "It's Gavin."
"Gavin..." I say as my eyes dart around, trying to think of someone I know. "Oh my god, the pilot."
My dad nods his head.
I shake his hands off of me and look at the body bag. "What... what did he do?" I ask with tears now filling my eyes. "What could he possibly have done?"
"He was trying to blackmail us."
"Blackmail?" I reply in absolute disbelief. "So you murdered him?"
"Shh!" he demands angrily. "Listen to me! The day that you shot Peterkin, I needed to trust him, right? I needed him to fly the plane to the Bahamas."
I nod my head urgently. "Right."
"I gave him the gun you used and told him to throw it into the ocean." His eyes burn into me. "But he didn't. He kept it."
"He kept it?" I ask. "What do you mean he kept it?"
"He kept it so that he could blackmail us for more money."
A single tear falls down my cheek. "Why would he do that?"
"He was planning on turning you in, Rafe. He said he wasn't going to jail for a psychopath like you."
I stare at him, still not able to comprehend how my own father could do something like this.
"Now, will you please help me take him to the boat?" he says, not as a question, but as an order.
I open my mouth to reply as I think of what I'm going to do. I obviously don't want to help my dad get rid of a dead body, but I'm more scared of what he would do to me if I refuse.
"...I'll get the head," I finally say with uncertainty.
✧ ˚ · .
"You have to know that this was a last resort, Rafe," my dad insists as we get close to the boat. "I offered him... more than I had."
We both grunt as we drop Gavin onto the floor of the boat. I climb back over and sit on the edge, my feet resting on the dock.
"I need one other thing, son," he says quietly.
I look over at him with wide eyes.
He stares at me with a weirdly dark gaze. "I lost the gun."
It's now that I realize I've been profusely shaking.
"It washed down the storm drain near the construction site at Grand. You have to get it back, alright?"
I swallow hard. "All right," I say quietly before standing up and heading back down the dock.
"And the police want to talk to you this morning."
I stop walking. "What?"
"Just a simple interrogation, Rafe. Stick with the story we discussed, okay?"
I take a deep breath in, already dreading going down this path with him. "Okay."
"Be careful," he warns.
"Yeah," I reply as I start to walk up to the house.
If I look at the bright side, maybe this could be an opportunity to make my dad proud of me. Helping him could make him finally realize how valuable I am in his life. More valuable than Sarah ever was.
The second I'm out of my dad's sight, though, I run to the nearest toilet and immediately vomit into it. I stay hunched over the edge before rushing to flush its contents quickly.
My dad taps his hand on the doorway, scaring the shit out of me. "Try to get some rest before the interrogation, alright, bud?" he says, not even questioning why I'm staring at the toilet with the door wide open.
My throat forces a light burp out of me, leading me to self-consciously try to wipe any sign of puke off of my mouth. "Yeah, okay."
✧ ˚ · .
↴juliet's point of view
After four dreaded classes, it's finally lunch time. It's weird without Rafe, because lunch is the only time I get to spend with him during the school day.
I immediately spot the table I sat at yesterday. Kelce is sitting with some of the other boys that got high the night of the party. I guess it would make sense for me to sit there because they're Rafe's friends, but I don't really want to.
I look around at the rest of the cafeteria until I notice Topper waving at me to join him. He's also sitting at a table of Kook boys, but the other type. The type that wear pastel, have tons of gel in their hair, and reek of expensive cologne. The kind that Rafe used to be. Now he's just the... I don't really know how to describe him now.
I walk over to Topper's table and stand at the end.
"Hey, where's Rafe?" Topper asks as he looks around the cafeteria.
"He, uh... got suspended."
"Ohhh, gotcha." He nods. "It was for a good cause, though, right?" he says with a smile.
"Yeah, yeah." I shrug. "I guess so."
He looks at his friends before turning back to me. "Wanna sit with us? I mean... if there's nowhere else you want to sit."
"Uh... sure."
He scoots over and lets me sit on the end, so the only person I have to be next to is him. His friends start to talk again, but he stays silent and continues eating.
"How are you guys doing?" he eventually asks. "You and Rafe, I mean."
I smile and nod. "Good."
"That's good, that's good." He takes a bite of his salad. "I wasn't sure if you were mad at him for anything he did the other night."
"Well... he lied to me about doing coke."
His eyes widen. "Oh, shit. Did he tell you that he wasn't?"
"Yeah, he said he'd stop. Right after everything that happened with Barry."
"Oh my god, that's awful," Topper says with a genuine look of concern on his face. "Are you glad that he beat Matt's ass, though?"
"I mean... yeah. I'm glad I have a boyfriend that's willing to protect me."
"Well, shit, I'd hope any guy would do the same. Matt harassed you."
I shrug. "Some guys might not want to get expelled, I guess."
"I would've done that for you. In a heartbeat," he says as if it's a casual statement. "Probably wouldn't have needed to in the first place if I was your boyfriend," he mumbles jokingly, but I just stare at him.
"How many people know about what happened?" I ask after a moment. "Like, what really happened?"
"Everyone. Easily."
"Really?"
"Oh, for sure." He laughs. "I've heard the names 'Rafe' and 'Juliet' at least five million times in the past 48 hours."
"Not Matt's name?"
"I mean, barely. It's mostly just girls that wanna fuck Rafe talking about you and guys that wanna fuck you talking about Rafe."
My jaw embarrassingly drops to the floor. "W—what?"
"I knew you guys were together, but a majority of people figured it out at that party."
"But we posted each other on our stories a while back."
"Oh, yeah. Nobody could tell who it was in his post, and like, nobody follows you. So no one saw yours."
I shift back slightly, shocked at how blunt he's being.
"Matt's just the first of many, trust me. You're gonna need body guards or some shit."
"For what?"
"For the guys coming after you, and the girls coming for your throat."
"Over Rafe?"
"Yes, over Rafe," he says, rolling his eyes. "Believe me, I've had to deal with it my entire life. It's bullshit how many girls drool over him. And you're, like, the girl version of him now."
"No way."
"Oh, abso-fuckin-lutely," he says in a corny way before laughing. "Ask anyone."
I sit back and try to take in what he said before one of the girls at the table starts to speak.
"Juliet, you should come to the beach with us tonight!" she says with a smile.
Another girl's eyes light up. "Oh my god, she should!"
I clear my throat. "Oh, I don't really—"
"It wouldn't be as fun without you," she pouts. "Shit, wait. I'm Katie, this is Summer."
Summer waves politely which makes me half-smile.
"We're meeting at the shore close to the Island Club at, like, 9:00," Katie says excitedly. "I can text you the address if you give me your number!"
I look to Topper to see if I can read his face, but he just has the same smile they do.
"Um... sure." I hand her my phone and wait in silence as she types her number in.
Katie hands me my phone back. "I hope you can make it!"
"Yeah." I smile and nod before looking back at my food.
✧ ˚ · .
↴rafe's point of view
After a few hours of questioning from the police, they eventually let me go. They made me give a detailed explanation as to where I was on that day. I stuck to the plan my dad told me and gave them the perfect mix of vague yet detailed answers. They've grown suspicious, I guess, after the shit that John B pulled right before he died. He blamed everything on my dad, and apparently my sister told someone from the SBI that I did it, so the police are "just taking precaution" by questioning my family. Luckily, my dad has the best lawyers in North Carolina, so I'm not too worried about it anymore. I just want the case to finally be closed.
"I mean, shit," Barry says as he stares down into one of the drains on Grand Street. "This ain't good, Rafe."
I blink a few times before moving closer to him. I know I shouldn't be talking to him right now for Juliet's sake, but I need his help finding the gun because of his knowledge with the sewer system.
Barry shakes his head. "If the gun went down in here, it's either six inches deep in the catch basin in some nasty shit you definitely don't wanna be walking through, or it's way out there by that outlet." He turns and points down the road.
"So what do we do?" I ask impatiently, knowing that my reputation with my dad is on the line.
"I'd say flush it, because I guarantee you I'm not gettin' down there in that shit-hole."
"Well, let's go." I say, throwing my hand in the air.
Barry walks over to the waterwheels and unlocks the chains that guard them before turning the wheel slowly in order to force water through the sewer. After just a few seconds, I start to hear loud shouting coming from the drain.
"There's something dead! I repeat, there is something dead in here!" a muffled voice squeals.
Barry stares at me as I walk up to the drain.
"Did you find the gun? Is it Gavin?" another voice asks.
I scoff, quickly realizing that it's the Pogues. "Well, they're in the sewer."
I can't let the Pogues steal this gun. If they get their hands on it, I'm going to jail for life. I'll never see Juliet again. We're so close to closing the case.
I stand up slowly as I tighten my fists and look at Barry. "Just flush them out."
He laughs. "You flush that pipe, you gon' kill the rat."
I nod coldly. "Yeah."
He takes a step closer to me with a look of disbelief on his face. "The last thing you need is more dead bodies showin' up around this bitch. You realize what you're doing if you do that?"
I shrug and look past him. "If you wanna be a pussy, you can leave—"
"Do you not realize what you are doing?" he asks with wide eyes.
"Get the hell out of the way," I say, staring down at him.
He scoffs. "All right, then, tough guy."
"Look, if you don't wanna be here for this, go find the truck, okay?" I throw the keys to him and wrap my hands around the wheel.
"Some fucked-up shit," Barry mutters to himself as he walks to the car.
Adrenaline rushes through my body as I turn the wheel quickly until I see water flood out of the drain. It's not like I would do this to just anyone, I tell myself. These people treated my girlfriend like shit, and they could get me thrown in jail if I don't do this. They deserve anything bad that comes their way.
✧ ˚ · .