"I don't get it," Limbrey slams the door open. Her crutches click against the floor as she walks into Rafe's house. "We had to have had the right place, nothing else makes sense."
I'm getting tired of listening to her ramble. I completely understand why she is so fixated on finding that cross. But it's making her crazy. She's so keen on finding this thing she doesn't even pay attention to anything around her.
I can hear her mumbling nonsense under her breath about where this cross could possibly be. It's like this is the only thing that she wants to think about. How can money control people this easily?
"Renfield help me up these stairs."
He brushes by me, wrapping his arm around her waist as she slowly walks up the stairs. She goes up one by one, needing to take a five second break after every three steps. I see Rafe roll his eyes next to me, he must be growing impatient.
"We're going to stay down here," Rafe says and elbows me to follow him. "Figure out another plan or something."
"I hope missy here isn't thinking of another plan," Renfield says, motioning to me. "She's the one that made us waste our day to begin with."
"I don't see you coming up with anything better," I retort. He gives me a look over his shoulder as he continues to help Limbrey up the stairs. Rafe and I walk outside, closing the door behind us.
"Why the fuck does he have to act like that?" I ask, motioning behind me to Renfield. "He's so unbelievably sexist."
"I don't know babe, but just drop it okay?" Rafe says, sitting down on one of the outdoor couches. The cushions deflate with air as he sits down, his elbows resting on his knees. He hides his face in his hands as I hear him let out a frustrated sigh.
"Why should I? I'm not going to let him talk to me like that." He's always been the first to stand up for me when someone talks down to me like that.
He looks back up, "Because, you don't know what he's capable of. They aren't good people."
"So why are you helping them?" I could feel the anger starting to grow inside of me. "You could've turned them away."
"I don't know if you can tell, Corrine, but I'm not a good person either. I want that money just as bad as they do, maybe even more." How could he say anything like that? I think as I watch him. After some time, he looks me in the eye. "Don't give me that look."
"Why would you say that?" I ask. I watch him sigh. "Is this about the shooting? You told me that you didn't mean to, unless now that's suddenly changed."
"It hasn't," He explains. "But it's not exactly the best thing to shoot someone regardless of the intentions behind it."
He was right, it's not good. But I vividly recall when he insisted I agree with him when he claimed to be a good person after he shot Peterkin. I wasn't sure whether he was at the time, but I assured him he was. We might both be living in denial, though. Either way, this is not a conversation that can happen right now.
"We're not getting into this," I say. It's just going to cause an argument. And I'm in no mood to argue. I'm tired from dealing with this treasure hunt bullshit all day. I want this to be over with. And I want these random people out of our lives.
"You brought it up." Why is he trying to pick this fight right now?
"No, I didn't. You're the one that said you aren't a good person," I counter. He looks up at me, his eyes droopy and I feel my stomach sink. I could see the redness in his eyes from here. "Are you high right now?"
"...I-"
"-I finally got her upstairs," Renfield's voice interrupts my question. "She's not going to stop until she figures it out. So we might be here a while." I feel his presence grow closer and closer until I see him in my peripheral.
"Rafe," I say again, directing his light eyes back to me. "Answer my question." I'm not saying this in an accusatory tone, but he did tell me that he was working on it. Has he been lying to me all along and I've been blind to it? Am I really that stupid?
He shifts his gaze away from me, suddenly drawn to the ground. He doesn't appear that he's going to answer the question, but his silence does anyway. I could see that his brain was working double time to think of something. Usually with coke, he was more hyper, sharper. So it can't be coke. It has to be weed? Is that any better?
No. Stop Corrine. Why am I making excuses for him? When it's this obvious that he's been lying to me, why does my brain automatically give him the benefit of the doubt?
"Mind if I get a sandwich?" Renfield interrupts again. "I'm starving."
"Would you give us a moment?" I ask, my head whipping around to face him. "We're in the middle of something here."
"Why are you always so feisty?" He asks. "I just asked if I could get a sandwich, unless you want to make it for me." This makes me even angrier, although I bite my tongue to avoid yet another argument.
"No, you cannot have a sandwich, order your own damn food," Rafe tells him.
"You guys can't spare two pieces of bread and some turkey? Do you see the house you live in?" Renfield scoffs, "So ironic that you rich folk are always so fucking selfish." Can he shut up?
Rafe stands, "I'm not fucking selfish. You're in my house, tearing apart my walls so that you can find the damn cross."
"It's one sandwich man-"
"Would you shut up!" I finally lose it, "You're a stranger in his home asking to have food, do you know how rude that is?"
His eyes darken as he looks at me, crossing his arms over his dirty white shirt. He snaps his gum while glaring down at me.
"I know you're not telling me to do something right now," He says as he walks closer to me. "Listen here little lady, I don't take orders from-"
"You seem to take orders just fine from Limbrey," I say, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Watch yourself."
"You watch yourself. What the hell is your problem with me?" Rafe glances between the two of us.
"Little girls like you are the problem sweetheart. You get everything handed to you, you've never had to face trouble in your entire life." He isn't acting this way towards Rafe, only with me. His issue can't be about money.
"My dad worked hard for the money he made, it wasn't just handed over to us like some trust fund," I explain, even though I don't have to. "It's not my fault that he was able to provide for me."
"That's what all the little spoiled girls like you say." What business does he have talking to little rich girls?
"Renfield, back off," Rafe warns.
"Don't tell me to back off, tell your girl to."
"I do what I want," I tell Renfield. "Not what my boyfriend tells me to do."
"Clearly, that's why you're such a fucking brat." He glares down at me.
"Don't pretend like you're any different, you want the money just as bad as we do," I tell him. Money makes people crazy, if Renfield isn't an example of that I don't know what is. "I'm suddenly a brat because of what my dad does for a job?"
"I knew your dad," He says. "We both did. We never got along in school because he was a stuck up prick."
"I'm nothing like my dad," I tell him. "You just have a problem with me because I'm a woman."
"That's not true."
"Do you get tired of Limbrey bossing you around all day? Is this why you try to make yourself seem better to every other woman?" I challenge, staring dead into his eyes.
He suddenly grabs both of my wrists harshly, staring deep into my soul. I struggle to try to get out of his grasp.
"Let go of me." I wince from his extremely tight grasp. His eyes turn black and keeps his death grip on me. He jolts my body closer to his.
"Let go of her, now!" Rafe attempts to push him back but Renfield squeezes down even harder.
"Bitches like you need to be put in their damn place," I manage to free one of my hands and slap him across the face. This causes him to let go, and not even a second later Rafe shoves him backwards. I watch him stumble back, a confused look appears on his face.
"Get the fuck out of here Renfield," Rafe shouts at him while grabbing a fist full of his shirt. "Before I bash your ugly face in." He gives him one last shove backwards.
He doesn't say anything, but I could tell he was angry. He glares at me one more time before turning around and disappearing around the corner of the house.
Rafe turns around, sighing as he walks back over to me. He grabs my hands and examines my wrists.
"Are you okay?" He asks.
"Yeah," I say, my tone much different than before. "I'm fine."
"I can't believe he did that."
"I seriously don't want them here anymore. I don't care about the cross, he makes me really uncomfortable."
"He'll stay far away from you, I'll make sure of it."
"No, Rafe, I don't want them in your house," I tell him. "He clearly has a problem with me, and it's not because we have money."
"I know," He says, "I'll take care of it."
I'm not going to try to figure out what he means at this point. I take a few unsteady breaths in and swallow a knot that was forming in my throat. He moves part of my hair out of my face while softly lifting my chin.
"You're sure you're okay?" He asks.
"I'm fine," I tell him, even though I was a bit shaken up. It'll go away. "I just don't want to be involved with them."
"Okay," He tells me softly. He pulls me in closer and hugs me tightly. "You won't see him again. Please don't worry, okay?"
I nod just as I hear a car pull into the driveway seconds later. Rafe looks over my head, and I watch him roll his eyes. I turn around just as the person gets out of the car.
"Topper, what can I do for you?"
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i totally envision renfield being sexist on top of the horrible person he already is...
i know these past couple of chapters have kind of been slow, but it's going to pick up next chapter. i promise😈
i love you guys. seriously. especially the ones that have been here from the start. thank you from the bottom of my heart.
i hope you all enjoyed
much love,
meg <3