{tw:
mentions of violence}
a force to be reckoned with,
rafe cameron.
it was all he knew.
to be corrupted from the inside out,
tongue dripping with venomed words until his dagger tongue slid between the ribs of the offended.
and if that wasn't any relief,
well his marred fists could make up for the lack.
tonight is no different.
rafe's chest rises and falls with heaving breaths,
hands flexing at his sides with unchecked fury.
"think about what you're saying to me. really fuckin' think about it, y/n."
she watches rafe pace the room,
the sight nothing new.
except there's a fire in his eyes that's never been put there before,
at least not by her own words.
so she sits on the edge of his bed,
watching.
"what? you wanted an idea, i gave you an idea,"
she defends,
unrepentant shrug finding shoulders baring the moonlight.
the pair are hidden in the dead of night,
burdened by far more than the usual kid their age should be burdened by.
but nothing was easy when it came to rafe cameron and y/n had long come to accept that.
"i asked you for an idea. not a—a fools errand that'll get us killed."
y/n runs a hand of frustration down her face,
having grown tired of this same conversation.
she knew how singleminded rafe could be,
but if it didn't grate her nerves...
"fine. you want to go the rest of your life being your dads little errand boy? being wards bitch? be my guest."
her palms come up in some mocking sense of surrender.
rafe gives pause,
leveling the girl with a firm gaze.
at least he's stopped pacing.
"watch your mouth, y/n."
though it's a thinly veiled demand,
y/n obliges.
but not without rolling her eyes first,
stubborn girl she was.
silence settles in the room,
everything left unspoken and unsolved between them for just another second longer.
rafe loved her,
god did he love her,
but she was as maddening as she was endearing.
she was good for him and his corroded soul in their own twisted way,
he just prayed to whatever god would listen that she didn't slip between his fingers like the fate of everything else in his life.
rafe steps closer to his love,
standing between her legs parted on the edge of the bed.
he says nothing for a while,
content to let his stormy eyes roam over her being.
all it's perfections,
all the places his lips and touch had become so acquainted with over the years.
the limbs he watched her grow into,
the innocence of youth no longer preserving,
devotion swirling in colored depths.
rafe reaches a callused palm out,
fingertips trailing featherlight down her jaw.
as if she's made of glass,
made to shatter at any given moment.
"you'll stay, yeah?"
rafe asks through a whisper,
voice lowered on a rasp.
"all this bullshit aside. i'll always have you, won't i?"
he's searching,
drowning in waves of obligation with only y/n here to save him.
the pad of his thumb sweeps reverently across her bottom lip still swollen from their kisses.
"say it, y/n. i need to hear you say it."
though his voice is still quiet,
it's bordering on desperate.
as if he'd fall to his knees and beg for her everlasting devotion if she asked for it.
for now,
he stands on quickly weakening legs and lets his unworthy being stand in the gaze of heavens incarnate.
"i'm yours. i'm yours forever,"
she vows through a breath and rafe swears he can feel the kiss of god on his skin.
forever.
rafe closes his eyes,
exhaling a shaky breath of relief.
"now are we stealing this treasure or not?"
rafe's eyes flutter open slowly to see y/n grinning up at him,
playful nips finding his fingertips as if to coax him.
and god,
if he isn't helpless where she's concerned.
rafe feels a lazy grin to match her own find his lips before he nods,
leaning in close enough to feel her breaths across his lips.
"the treasures all ours, baby,"
he murmurs against her mouth,
meeting her for a kiss far less searching and desperate.
instead,
searing as if they could mend their souls through this embrace alone.
and rafe very well tries.
***
rafe and y/n are staring at each other,
eyes blank and hearts still racing deep in their sternums.
hard enough that it feels like they might break free of their cages.
an eerie silence settles,
as if they're waiting for the other shoe to drop any given moment.
it doesn't feel right.
after such a blowout,
how can such quiet follow?
rafe hears his fathers cursing and threatening words echo,
haunting him in this confined space.
the boat rocks beneath them,
carrying them to a destination unknown.
then rafe is leaning his head back against the wall supporting him and a laugh escapes his lips.
he's laughing.
something manic,
something worn and twisted.
something relieved and free.
his ribs are aching,
sore from the flee and this sudden onslaught of amusement in the grim aftermath.
"fuck, y/n,"
rafe breathes out,
roughing a hand down his face before he reaches out for her.
slender fingers around her wrist bring her close until she's perched in his lap,
right where she belongs if you ask rafe.
"you're gonna be the death of me. you know that?"
kisses rain down the column of her neck where she laughs with him and lets her hands collect at the nape of his neck and pull him close.
neither are content until they're flush together,
barely an inch left between them.
but here they are,
free, rich, and ever so in love.
y/n kisses rafe's temple like it's the closest thing to heaven she'll ever have in her hands,
breathing him in.
their hearts slow to one rhythmic beat in this boat of theirs proving as a sanctuary.
"i thought we were goners for sure,"
y/n says through a laugh then,
the sounds of gunfire still echoing through her frenzied mind.
of course ward had taken to means of utter destruction once he realized where rafe and y/n were leaving with his treasure.
"you kidding? ward's always been a shit shot,"
rafe muses with that lazy grin that always has y/n's heart fluttering tenfold.
it's times like these she remembers why she fell for rafe and fell for him hard enough to be involved in such life threatening schemes.
a kiss,
gentle and reverent,
finds her lips parted on a breath.
rafe holds the nape of y/n's neck,
steadying her as his lips begin their prayer against heated skin.
he can feel the frenzied beat of her heart where his thumb rests against her pulse point,
caressing it to calm it.
then he's laying her back,
hovering over her perfect form so wholly crafted to fit his own.
he stares down and sees the rest of his life staring right back up at him.
"just you and me forever, y/n,"
he whispers,
fingertips trailing over the collarbone he's come to mark so often over the years of their love.
his girl.
and god help anyone who said otherwise.
***
how many times has she said it before?
no good can come from such money,
such riches.
sure,
it'd been her idea to run off with the better half of the treasure ward had been storing away.
but she didn't think it would turn rafe into...this.
this monster of a man so paranoid beneath the surface.
a twitch of the finger,
a sigh on the lips,
a stirring of the wind,
and rafe was checking over his shoulder to make sure they weren't being closed in on,
to make sure nobody could steal back what he'd rightfully fought for.
not even y/n.
she's millions of miles away from home and she just wants to be safe again.
but how can they be?
they're on the run with millions of dollars weighing them down,
being hunted down by ward cameron who's just waiting for one of them to slip up.
why had she done all of this again?
"the hell are you doing, huh? i told you to leave it alone."
y/n's ripped away from the hidden treasure by rafe's hand on her arm.
she gasps softly,
both from his sudden presence and his nearly bruising grip on her arm.
she thought he'd be gone for a few more minutes,
surely.
but she should have known better than to think rafe would stick to a routine in a time so perilous.
his eyes search her expression as if there will be some sort of secret hidden in smile lines and hurried blinks.
"you're hurting me,"
y/n whispers as if they're sharing a secret and not a fact of combative means.
as if doused in cold water,
rafe drops his hand and takes a step back from y/n like it burns to be too close.
"shit, baby, i'm—i'm sorry. i'm sorry,"
rafe breathes out,
shaking his head as if to clear the thoughts muddying his mind.
he brings her close by the gentle guiding of her wrist like he's always done,
leaning in to rest his forehead against her own.
he breathes her in as if it's the only remedy his tumultuous life has to offer.
"you know i'd never hurt you, don't you? i'd strip myself to the bone before i ever hurt you, baby. tell me you know that."
grasping for some sense of understanding,
rafe's words turn rushed and breathy against the brush of her lips.
his fingertips skate across her cheek.
"this treasure...it's just—it's making me crazy, you know?"
y/n looks up at rafe to see the regret and misery written across his expression.
she remembers a time when their summers were spent beneath the sun and tangled in bedsheets.
how far removed she feels from that life.
does she even love him anymore?
y/n quickly shakes that thought away.
what a dangerous thing to even consider.
"i know. i know,"
y/n whispers as her delicate palm comes to cares over his ribs like they've done so many times before in this life of theirs.
"it's okay. we're okay. just a little stressed, aren't we?"
rafe huffs a laugh that brushes over her skin.
stressed was an understatement.
"yeah. yeah. just stressed,"
he echoes as he meets her for a kiss.
but something has shifted.
and rafe can feel it.
can feel it in her tentative touch to the skin of the body she built from the ground up,
can feel it in her hesitant kiss that's mapped every inch of his existence,
can feel it in the depths of her eyes quickly losing their glimmer.
"i love you."
rafe doesn't know why he says it.
it's rushed and desperate on his lips,
as if to reassure himself of the fact and hear y/n's words in return that will ease his aching head.
she smiles a smile he itches to trace beneath reverent fingertips,
waiting with bated breath for the vow to follow.
then rafe's world comes crashing.
"yeah. you, too, rafe."
she can't even say i love you anymore and rafe is supposed to somehow be able to sleep?
to breathe?
this damn treasure.
rafe has half a mind to turn this godforsaken boat around and just give it back up to ward.
he'll have hell to pay,
but at least he'd still have y/n.
rafe thinks he might be sick.
where had it all gone so wrong?
as if it's that easy to forget.
rafe feels like he's being torn from the inside out,
the echoing words of indifference to his love echoing to haunt him.
"you're moving too much,"
y/n mumbles half asleep,
face scrunched against his chest where she's resting as it bothered by his incessant shifting.
"sorry. go back to sleep."
a wide palm comes to the back of her head,
holding her close as his fingernails scratch her scalp soothingly.
only when she falls back limp on top of him does rafe allow himself a moment to rest his lips against her temple and breathe her in.
his eyes flutter shut for the first time tonight.
and suddenly,
he knows what he has to do.
***
y/n stares blankly at rafe as her brows furrow.
"you want...to go back?"
rafe nods his head.
"we're way out of our depth here, y/n. i mean...what did we think we were doing, tailing off like that? we can't be castaways for the rest of our lives."
y/n tries not to look as relieved as she feels.
she's missed home more than anything and maybe,
just maybe,
without this treasure driving a wedge between them,
they can find their normal footing again.
rafe reaches out for her hand,
kissing her knuckles like a man meeting his maker.
"i'm tired of running. tired of living on this boat, sailing from city to city like fugitives. you and me...we'll make our own lives together without this treasure. yeah?"
y/n nods her head eagerly,
tears pricking beautiful eyes.
"yeah. yes,"
she breathes out,
voice breaking on a sob as she meets rafe for a grand hug.
rafe holds her close,
breathing her in all over again.
then she's kissing all over his face and laughing and it's the most beautiful thing rafe thinks he's ever seen.
then finally:
"i love you, rafe."
and does she ever.
yet again,
their love has proved triumphant.
rafe smiles against her lips before kissing her lazily,
a sense of content settling over him.
at least for the time being.
"i love you, y/n. always will. no matter what."
he takes her face between wide palms,
thumbs sweeping reverently over the apples of her cheeks.
"what do you say we go explore this town, huh? go see how far away we got before we turn back around."
so hand in hand,
the two board off the boat in a strange town for what could very well be the last time.
they pass shops and restaurants,
they people watch and make up stories about the passing citizens who are none the wiser to rafe and y/n's past transgressions and reignited love.
just when the sun is beginning to set on the horizon,
rafe and y/n are walking along the outskirts of the city.
"shit, y/n. come look at this,"
rafe says through an almost boyish laugh,
hurrying into the opening of the trees to find the eye of the forest.
y/n lingers at the edge,
watching rafe disappear amidst shrubbery and wildlife alike.
"rafe! it's getting dark,"
y/n calls after him,
having no real choice but to follow.
so she pushes branches out of her way,
let's the dead leaves crunch beneath her feet as she swats away offending bugs zipping past her ear.
"god, you owe me for this, rafe cameron. my shoes are ruined,"
y/n teases through a laugh,
finding herself in the clearing that's suddenly void of rafe's presence.
wasn't he just here?
y/n knows he was.
his scent still clings to the humid air puffing in and out of her tired lungs.
"rafe?"
she calls,
the only answer being her echo.
her heart stutters in her chest as she walks further and further into the unknown with searching eyes,
unfamiliar terrain taunting her with each breath she takes.
"rafe!"
her voice borders on panic now,
breaths taking up speed as she looks around to find some sense of familiarity.
but she is well and truly lost.
y/n hears a branch break beneath growing footsteps and she seizes.
then she's slowly backing up,
eyes fixed on the darkened branches hindering her vision.
god only knows what lingers on the other side and
y/n finds that she doesn't want to find out.
worst case scenarios flash, unbidden, across her frenzied mind,
willing her slow steps to just continue their exit backwards.
then she's colliding into a firm figure behind her,
a gasp escaping chapped lips.
but it's rafe,
looking down at her upon his return.
"oh, god! i thought i lost you!"
y/n calls,
voice wavering from the panic now settling as she wraps her arms tight around rafe's ribs in a hug.
she doesn't even realize his tight expression,
doesn't feel the tension taut in his body,
doesn't feel him reaching into his waistband from behind.
what y/n does feel is a paralyzing dread following the cold press of a barrel to her stomach.
"back up, y/n."
"rafe—"
"i said back up, y/n. don't...don't make this harder than it has to be, alright?"
so y/n obliges.
she takes a grand step back,
eyes darting between that face she has loved and known since she was a girl and the offending weapon aimed right for her.
is this what it's come to?
a plan concocted to earn their freedom together brought to nothing but chaos?
"how could you do this to me?"
y/n asks through a trembling whisper.
rafe scoffs before he closes in on her,
making her flinch just slightly.
the sight seizes his rotten heart.
"how could i? how could *you*?!"
he retorts,
voice echoing only for the falling leaves to hear.
the pacing commences.
"you were going to leave me, y/n. after everything, you were going to leave!"
y/n shakes her vehemently.
"i wasn't—i wasn't going to leave, rafe, i swear."
but wasn't she?
wasn't her plan to let things go as easily as possible once their boat landed home?
as if seeing right through her with those piercing eyes,
rafe spits,
"bullshit. that's bullshit and you know it."
the way he's waving around that loaded weapon has y/n on edge,
skin slick with sweat.
"don't—don't fucking lie to me, okay? you think this is easy for me?!"
rafe runs a hand through unkempt hair,
pulling at the strands as if ripping out his hair will somehow make this easier, somehow make this make sense.
"you can't leave me, y/n. you hear me? not after everything you've seen, you've heard."
y/n swallows hard.
she doesn't like that tone of finality in his voice.
she knows once rafe's voice takes on that rasp that he's made his mind up and god help anyone who try to make him budge.
"i'm not leaving. i won't leave."
rafe's gaze is impenetrable,
too calm for her liking when he speaks again,
"i know."
he takes a daunting step closer to y/n and her breaths are beyond erratic.
this is the man who once walked to the tune of wedding bells in her minds eye.
what does she have now but the ashes of their love,
quick to scatter in the wind?
what will god make of her body if it lies here to rest in this forest with only the birdsong to carry on the last words of her life and the haunting scream she'll surely exhale?
"i'd never hurt you, baby. never."
rafe's touch caresses along the column of her throat as he stares down at her,
tender touch belying the loaded weapon in his palm.
"i just...i needed you to remember. yeah?"
a wry laugh escapes his lips and for once,
y/n sees the truth of his warped mind.
sees the darkness for what it is,
not some twisted reality to make right through love and tender devotion.
no...
rafe is dangerous.
"you trust me, don't you? you love me."
it's less of a question,
more of a demand she has to answer correctly.
y/n nods shakily and it seems to appease rafe.
"my perfect girl. god, you're so...so perfect, y/n."
he's smiling somehow,
beads of sweat clinging to his brow as his palm comes across her cheek.
and just as his eyes flutter shut to lean in and kiss her something sweet,
to make up for the fear and pain he's caused in his harsh reminder of their everlasting love,
y/n knows it's now or never.
as fleeting as the breeze itself,
y/n pushes rafe until he's stumbling back.
tripping over a root,
rafe lands onto solid ground hard enough to send the breaths rushing from his lungs.
and y/n runs.
she doesn't know where,
doesn't know how she'll end up home or if she'll even make it out of these woods alive,
but she'll be damned if she leaves here in rafe's clutches.
foolish girl paying for her naïveté,
but at least she's still alive to curse herself.
when rafe collects himself again,
he stands on shaky feet to find the forest barren of his love.
gone,
right through his fingers.
frenzied eyes dart,
hyperaware ears listen for the faintest breath or the slightest crunch of leaves beneath retreating feet.
what does he have but the whispering wind taunting him of his loss?
a bellowing cry escapes his burning lungs,
her name on his lips like a curse as it echoes into the night.
perhaps rafe will lie here and let the dirt swallow him whole.
perhaps his body will grow into seed and root alike,
sprouting with it the most elegant, wondrous tree yet.
and perhaps while y/n is making her grand escape from rafe forever,
they will cut down this tree made of rafe's bones and beating heart branded eternally as y/n's and wonder why the wood burns so warm.
all is fair in love and war,
his father used to say.
and what a war he's lost.
—
an
hiii sorry guys idk what this is LMAO
it's just the first thing i've written in a while and missed you guys enough to publish it bc i LOVE yall😁
anyways i hope you guys enjoy
very ballad of songbirds and snakes inspired.
stay safe <3
-e