Bad Influence (Rafe Cameron)

Chapter 11

Rafe's POV:

I drive to Claire's house slowly, my mind going a million miles per hour. I can't believe I actually convinced her to go on a date with me. This might actually be easier than I thought. I'll make her fall in love with me, some time during the process get her in bed, and then I get $500. That simple. I feel a little bad about this whole situation but I need that money. How else am I going to pay off my dad for the money I stole?

I pull into her driveway and get out of the truck. I knock on the door and tap my foot impatiently as I wait. I just want to get this night done and over with. I can already tell tonight is going to be really hard for me.

She opens the door and my mouth drops open when I see her. She's wearing a silky dark blue slip dress with silver heels. Her hair is curled away from her face, revealing the subtle makeup on her eyes and lips. She looks absolutely gorgeous. How am I going to have the guts to break this girls heart?

"Hey Rafe." She says, smiling brightly at me. My stomach turns and I force myself to make eye contact with her.

"Hey Claire." I say, giving her one of my charming smiles that always seem to drive girls crazy for some reason I'm not aware of.

"Where are you taking me tonight?" She asks as we walk to my truck.

"It's a surprise." I tell her poking her on the nose. This makes her narrow her eyes at me and purse her lips, which just makes me laugh.

"Okayyy." She tells me suspiciously, getting into my vehicle after I open the door for her.

I get in the driver's seat and begin taking us to our destination. All I'm going to do is take her out to a nice dinner and then take her stargazing at the beach. It was going to be just a dinner but knowing Claire I'm sure she would appreciate something more than that. I want to connect to her as deeply as possible. If I don't, my plan may not work and I will have found myself hanging out with this girl for no reason at all.

Once we arrive at the restaurant I help her out of the car before we go in. I tell them my name and they show us to a private seating room in the back. Her eyes widen when she sees the room. I might have gone a bit overboard, but it seemed like I shouldn't have given her anything less at the time. I need her to believe I'm all in.

She takes a seat and looks at me nervously. "You know you didn't need to take me somewhere so fancy and reserve a back room. I'm not crazy about things being extra." She laughs. "Don't ever feel the need to waste money on me."

"I wouldn't want to give you anything less." I tell her, giving her a wink. Also I used my dad's money to pay for all of this but she doesn't need to know that part.

Her cheeks flush a light pink and she picks up her water and takes a sip. Since I reserved a special room we also had pretty nice service. We both got our food relatively fast.

"So." I begin after we had both finished eating. "How would you feel about one more stop."

"Where?" She asks me, taking another sip of water.

"Again, it's a surprise." I tell her, rolling my eyes. "One thing about me that you'll learn is I love surprises."

"Yeah, well I hate them." She says under her breath, which makes me laugh. After a couple of seconds she begins laughing with me.