team effort - rafe cameron 3

twenty four

and that's how i ended up at the county prison later that day. i was sitting on one side of the glass, waiting for them to bring cami in to sit on the other side. there was a loud buzzer and the door opened. i watched her appear, sitting down as i grabbed the phone, placing it to my ear as she did the same.

"your name was the last one i expected." she said.

"i'm not here for me." i said. "i'm here for rafe."

"wow, still trying to take my life."

"i don't want rafe." i said. "i'm over him and that entire thing. i'm doing better, much better, without them. i'm here because he told me that you're trying to take the baby from his care."

"what's it to you?"

"it's the only thing rafe has left." i told her. "he lost gracelynn, then he lost you, got you back, lost me and then lost you again. let him have that baby, he deserves to have her and she deserves to grow up with her dad. cami, i know you're better than this, i've heard all the stories, don't become your mom."

"i'm already too far deep in that hole."

"you don't want your daughter to end up like her, right?" i asked. "so don't take her from her dad."

"why do you care so much if you don't care about rafe?"

"i didn't say i didn't care about rafe, but i don't want to be with him anymore." i explained. "i want him to do better, to be better. i think sadie would be a major, positive change for him. i think he'll really get it together for her."

"were you in love with him?" she asked.

"yeah, i was," i shrugged. "come on, you know as well as i do, it's impossible not to fall in love with him."

"did he really love me?"

"yeah, he did." i nodded. "he told me about you right away, same with gracelynn."

"you know he's still in love with you, right?" she asked. "that's why i did it, that's why i destroyed your room and all your stuff. because you came in, totally unaware of anything and rafe fell in love with that. he bought you a guitar for god's sake. did you ever look up to see how much money he spent on that thing?"

"no, i just kind of assumed it was a couple hundred."

"try a couple thousand." she said.

"what?"

"i looked it up, so did the judge, that guitar was brand new, high class and almost four thousand dollars."

"oh my god," i choked.

"i'll talk to my dad, tell him to stop, but..." she trailed. "if rafe keeps her, and you decide that maybe rafe is what you want, take care of her."

"you'll be out soon, cami." i said. "why are you talking like you're never going to see her again?"

she stayed quiet, "i'm bound to end up like my mom, there's no stopping that. after i'm out of here, i'm out of here for good. i'll go back to california or something, just anywhere away from here. rafe deserves a good like, you said the same thing. you claimed it was with me, but it's with you, ainsley." she shrugged. "so, be good to rafe and be good to my baby." she hung up the phone as i opened my mouth, to stop her but she was already walking away. i sighed, pushing the phone back on the hook. i sat there for a second, trying to let my mind catch up before i stood, walking out. i got out of the prison and to my car, driving back home. i past my house, going straight to rafe's. i parked my car and walked up to the front door, pressing the doorbell. i waited a moment before it flew open, revealing wheezie.