Disarm / Rafe Cameron

09. Needle In the Hay

Needle In the Hay
chapter ix
warnings: drugs, locker room talk

      HER ROOM WAS DARK WHEN she woke up, but Layne didn't know if she should accredit that to her black out curtains that block sunlight or the fact that she had slept nearly the whole day. She wanted to feel better about the fact that Rafe had promised to get better and that her parents knew about their relationship, and she didn't have to sneak around anymore, but there was still an unbearable weight on her that felt like someone was pushing her into the ocean with bricks tied to her ankles.

Layne sat up and pulled pulled her blanket all the way up to her neck, leaving it to rest on her shoulders. There was a cold breeze that drifted up the back of her shirt and she pushed her hair out of her face before tugging her phone off the cord. Rafe had sent her a picture of him at the gym, his hair wet, sweat glistening off his chest and stomach. Layne caught herself biting her lip and zoomed into his face until it was pixelated and she was unable to decipher his features. She hated how attractive he was. He had sent it a few hours prior and Layne realized she had slept half the day away. She hearted the picture and closed her phone, throwing it on the duvet and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

Her phone buzzed and Layne immediately picked it up, seeing a text from Rafe. For a moment she didn't want to open it, but he had never responded so quickly, it was hard to get used to. In fact, Layne couldn't think of a time that he had double texted her. Toying with her phone a bit, she finally opened it, and she felt like nothing really changed.

Wyd?

She frowned, although she wasn't really sure why. It felt like the beginning of their relationship, when he would text her that just so he could pick her up and fuck her in the back of his dad's car. Layne never would've thought that Rafe could destroy her life the way he has. She should've assumed that she would grow so attached to the boy who took her virginity—but Layne walked through life thinking she had a different stride than every other girl. She was wrong. Layne was so similar to everyone else it pained her.

just woke up lol

She deleted what she wrote and stared at the blinking cursor. He was her boyfriend now. At least, he said he was, she said he was, she told her parents he was, and everyone thought he was. He had promised to get better.

nothing

She sent it without thinking. Rafe probably thought she was annoyed. She laid down and stared at her phone and the typing bubble that kept showing up and disappearing. After a minute, her phone buzzed with a text.

You alone?

Layne narrowed her eyes, anxiously biting on her nail. She knew where this was leading and felt an indescribable amount of guilt swimming in her stomach. Layne felt gross and she shifted in the mess of sheets and clothes in her bed.

yeah just in my room

Rafe replied almost immediately and Layne felt herself starting to blush.

Can you send me a pic of you

Layne bit her lip and covered her face as if anyone was in the room with her. Turning over, she juggled on what to say. It wasn't like she hadn't sent him pictures before—he always asked for them. She had to put them in a separate folder on her phone so no one would see them. Rafe would send pictures back without her even asking, and Layne would delete them instantly because she hated seeing them.