JJ's biggest flaw was his recklessness, and his bad ideas. Honestly, that didn't seem that bad to Bexley.
Rafe's biggest flaw? Jealousy. Pure, uncontrolled jealousy.
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tw: heavy violence, heavy sexual content
Ward scoffed, shaking his head as he walked into Rafe's room, seeing his son sleeping on the bed, and spotting the bag of cocaine on the night stand next to him.
This was getting clean? Ward knew he'd been lying.
In anger, he grabbed the small bag, and threw it at Rafe, snapping, "Get up."
Rafe rustled, slowly opening his eyes. He shot up when he realized Ward came into the room. "D-Dad?" Rafe's eyes fell to the cocaine now on the sheet of his bed. His heart dropped. His mind raced for an excuse. "That, um..." But he couldn't come up with one.
"But you're not an addict?" his father asked, in a voice that showed he never believed in him being 'clean' in the first place.
"That was a mistake," Rafe tried to say. "Fuck, I didn't-"
"I don't care. Get up. You have to leave."
But Rafe couldn't move. What he did the night before hit him like a slap.
He lied to Bexley. A lie about her brother that ended with her in tears in the middle of the night. And then...he used.
He used.
He had been clean for so long but he used.
All that work and pain for nothing. He was weak. He was weak when it came to his dad, and to drugs. How could he have ruined so much in one night?
He wasn't a good person. But he was trying to be. All that effort was shattered.
Rafe felt like breaking down and crying. It took everything in him not to.
"I'm going to get your sister," Ward told him, not seeming to care about the fact that Rafe looked like he was about to break down. "We're going out of town. Go to your apartment. I'll be back for you in two weeks if everything goes according to plan."
"Wait-what?" Rafe tried to stand, but felt woozy as he did so. He sat back down quickly, grabbing the railing of the bed to keep himself from falling. These clumsy movements were seen by his father. Ward now seemed even more convinced this 'sobriety' of Rafe's was fake. "You're leaving?"
"You know what? Stay here, go to your apartment, I don't care," Ward finally told him. "Just stay out of trouble. If that's even fucking possible for you."
Rafe finally pulled himself to his feet. "Where are you taking Sarah?" he asked his father. He didn't understand. Why was Sarah the one getting his focus now? "She's-She's not the one in trouble. I am. Why are you taking her?"
There was insecurity in Rafe's voice. Then again, that was always there when his father brought up Sarah, the favorite child.
"We're going to the Bahamas House," Ward explained, in a rush. "Don't bother Rose while we're gone. And don't-" He reached forward, grabbing the bag of cocaine, tossing it at Rafe again, rougher this time. "-be leaving this shit around my house for the police to find."
