ROCK BOTTOM ~ Rafe Cameron // OC // JJ Maybank

sixteen.

tw: mentions of past parental abuse, mentions of past abduction

"Amber?"

The name came off Rafe's tongue like it had a bad taste.

Bexley took a deep breath. "Everyone keeps talking about her. They say...Rafe, they say you did something to her-"

"I didn't do shit to her," he snapped. His frustration clear in his voice.

She almost wanted to tell him to forget about it. But his upset reaction only made her more worried. "Okay. So tell me what you didn't do."

He looked around, like he thought someone was listening. "We can't talk about this here. Okay?"

Why couldn't they talk about it in public? More worry rippled through her. How bad were the things he was about to say?

She masked her anxiousness, and nodded. "Okay. Then you have to take me somewhere we can talk about it." She wasn't giving up that easily.

Maybe if it had just been Sarah talking about Amber, Bexley would forget about it. But Topper brought it up. Topper. He brought it up when Rafe was angry at her, like he was worried Rafe would do something terrible. Something like what he 'did' to Amber.

"It-It was nothing," Rafe said. The tremor in his voice made it seem like it wasn't nothing. "It had nothing to do with me."

Bexley sighed, standing. She wasn't going to beg him for information. If he didn't want to talk about it, they didn't have to. But she didn't have to hang out with him either. "Just take me to work then, Rafe-"

"No," he said quickly, panicked at the thought of her leaving. He closed his eyes for a second, pinching the bridge of his nose. "We'll talk in the car, alright?"

Bexley just nodded. "Alright."

"Let just finish first," he said. He convinced Bexley to sit back down. And then they finished the ice cream, and Rafe seemed to still be stalling.

"Let's go, Rafe," she urged him.

His face paled as he stood, and the two reached the car.

They got back in the vehicle, and she was surprised that he immediately turned it on.

"Where are we going?"

"Just-Not here," he mumbled.

Rafe drove off again, not parking until he reached the docks.

His face changed on the drive. Before, he had seemed terrified. He relaxed, slowly. An unreadable expression gracing him now.

It's like he forced himself to be anything but nervous.

"Want to go out?" he asked as he parked. He nodded towards the Cameron's boat docked in front of them.

She didn't know what to say. "Out, like, on a boat ride?"

"Yeah," he said, his voice low. "Want to?"

Her heart pounded in her chest. And she wasn't sure if it was from excitement, or sudden anxiety.

"Are you gonna...tell me what happened out there?"

He nodded, slowly.

"Why not out here?" she said. "In the car." In the safe car, in the semi public parking lot.

"I want to tell you out there," he said. "You want to go out?"

She thought for a few moments, her heartbeat picking up. Again, was she excited for this boat ride with Rafe? Maybe she would be if wasn't now about Amber. But that was her choice. She wanted to know what happened.