'Safe with Rafe' Y/N x Rafe Cameron

Chapter CXXIV

"What?" He asks again after still getting no response from you. He angles his head down to the side of yours to get a better look at your face, hoping that maybe an answer would be written across it in the form of a daring smile. His hopes would be quickly shut down when you lift your head, looking into his eyes to reveal the most disapproving of looks.

It was no secret, this side of Rafe.
But you had hoped that it was diminished alongside his ties with the people that made him that way; but as it turns out, scars are scars.

"What do you mean what..." You mutter.
"Come on-" He begins with a smile but that only makes you push away from him again.
"Rafe, I'm not going to be an accomplice in these- these-" You start to lose your words so he steps forward again to comfort you, placing both of his hands on either side of your face to gently lift it towards his, forcing you to look into his eyes with no escape from reality. Your breathing was jagged and your eyes were becoming glassy but his face was calm, like it was offering you a safe haven, to which it did.
"Y/N, I didn't want to drag you into this. Believe me, you're the last person on earth that I'd ever want to go through this but you have to at least think about it. It's the only way we can be together, alright? And I don't want to be apart from you...don't you feel the same?" He asks, softly.
You only stare into his eyes, the most beautiful shade of blue. His stare consumes you whole.
As if he could hear your thoughts, he leans in, placing a passionate yet innocent kiss on your lips.
It was so slow and delicate, allowing you to capture every emotion it held, exchanged from him to you.

As Rafe devotes himself to you through the language of a kiss, his hands slide down your face, past your neck, around your waist and tenderly grasping at your curves before finally moving to the back of your thighs, picking you up against his own hips.

Rafe walks over to the bed, placing you down gently before breaking the kiss at last.
"Give it some thought...alright?" He says, smoothly.
His face was still so close to yours that you found it hard to keep yourself from leaning in again, you figure he could feel it too because his face spreads with the most likeable of smiles, teasing at you.
You nod as response, allowing him to pry himself away from your body at last.
"Good girl."

As he lazily walks over towards John B's wardrobe, you can't help but admire the way his shoulder move as he walks. His shirt was still drenched from outsides mishap so his muscles were so, very visible through the tight fabric.
"Here." He says, cutting you off from your thoughts. You feel something light land in your lap to see a pair of loose, gym shorts and a vibrant, palm tree embossed sun shirt. Similar to the one that Sarah had stolen from John B not too long ago, you still see her wearing it around and it wasn't the worst of choices, at least on her.
"Interesting choice..." You say under your breath, the return of your bubbly personality made Rafe perk up in a sunny smile.
"Knew you'd like it." He teases.
"I'm sure you did."
He huffs a small laugh before pulling his own shirt off, revealing his hard abdomen. His hair falls messily over his face as he pulls it over his head, throwing the wet cotton to the side. You sit and stare in the comfortable silence until he speaks again.
"Hey, uh..."
"Hm?"
"I'm sorry." He says, "-For embarrassing you earlier..."
"What?"
"I know your friends always warn you about me, and you're always defending me, I just- didn't do you any favours back there...and i..." He sighs as he pulls a dry shirt over himself, "I would never, in my right mind, ever talk to you like that...I just want you to know that." He flashes a quick glance over to you as he says that, but looks away just as fast.

You stand up off of the bed, walking towards him as his head stays low. The second he feels your arms wrap around him, his own instantly come to, squeezing you further into his body.
"I'm just having a hard time at the moment..." He says with a shaky breath.

This sentence made you sad.
Rafes shakiness and bizarre honesty conjured the most surreal of sadnesses from deep in your stomach. It sounded like a cry for help.

Of course it was.

Rafe had been copping the worst of it since he was a child, he never got used to it and apparently neither did he escape it. It continues with you.

You press your face into his chest after feeling it wobble with grief. The absurdity of his proposal from earlier was simply the result of all the tiresome, never ending turn of events that he's had to hopelessly fight his way through from the beginning of time.
He had grown sick.