HEARTLESS─── RAFE CAMERON [1]

chapter seven

Before I arrived at the Country Club, I decided to make a pit-stop at the Chateau. It had been ages since I'd last been there, and I thought that I should meet up with some of my Pogue friends before returning back to the world of Kooks.

Rafe couldn't know I'd come here. He simply wouldn't allow it. He'd made that very clear yesterday.

I rapped on the door, but I got no answer. I sneaked a look through the window, however no one seemed to be home, which was strange. The Chateau was never abandoned or empty— there was always some form of life igniting it: Kie, Pope, John B, JJ...

Frustrated, I swiped a strand of hair away from my face before digging my fingers through the plant pot to get the spare key. Taking it between my fingers, I twisted the rusted key through the lock and the door unlocked.

As I made my way through the Chateau, my Converse bouncing lightly on the floor, I couldn't help but feel that this abandoned, quiet version of the Chateau was eerily creepy. I took note of the several maps and golden trinkets that lined the tables of the Chateau. What on earth was going on?

"Hello?" I called out.

No answer.

Realizing no one must have been at home, I was just about to turn around and leave— before I heard a deafening thump from the back of the Chateau. My senses spiked, and a small twinge of fear ran through me, before dissolving. It was mid-morning. Nothing would happen to me.

Nonetheless, I made my way to the corridor. The only place the sound could have come from was John B's bedroom— which was currently closed.

My hand rested on the doorknob before I eventually twisted it, opening the door.

There, right in front of me, lay John B and Sarah Cameron: limbs entangled as they shared a kiss. 

Both of them immediately flinched and broke apart as they saw me standing in the doorframe.

"Oh my God!" I scream out, shutting both the door and my eyes loudly, trying to remove the picture from my brain.

"Lux!" I hear Sarah call out from behind the door. She immediately comes running out to me. "It wasn't what it looked like! I swear!" John B follows just seconds later.

"I think it was exactly what it looked like!" I say, folding my arms over my head. "God, Sarah, you're cheating on Topper?"

"Well— no—" I give her a look and she caves. "Yes. I am. I am! Fine. But it's not what it looked like!"

"Really?" I say, sarcastically, but I'm not joking around. "So you two weren't kissing?"

"No— well— we were, but— Lux— please, at least listen to me first."

"Fine," I say, crossing my arms over my chest. "I'm listening."

"For a while, Lux, me and Topper have been off rhythm. I don't love Topper, Lux. Not anymore. It's not like this— it never was."

"Sarah..." I groan. I move so that I'm looking at both of them. "Why did both of you have to do this?"

John B finally says something. "In the nicest way possible, Lux, truly— it's not your problem."

"I know it's not, okay, John B? And I'm sorry that I'm here and I'm sorry that I saw you. But I'm not sorry for trying to save both of you— hell, just Sarah— from social suicide."

"It's not social suicide, Lux."

I scoff. "What are you saying? Of course it is. Do you remember that girl two years ago who slept with a Pogue? What was her name? Ana Gregory? Do you remember what happened to her?"