This is Me Trying ⭑ Rafe Cameron

six

CHAPTER SIX
[6]
song: come a little closer by cage the elephant

She found solace in the fact that if Rafe made the call to Kitty Hawk, they wouldn't come and get her until Monday. But even then, as she sat in The Chateau watching the sun rise, she couldn't help but wonder how long she'd be gone this time.

She tried to think of ways to convince her grandma not to let them take her again. To tell her to give her a drug test, tell her that someone was lying, that she couldn't go back. But her grandma made that call once herself before, and even despite all of Cassie's letters saying she was fine and doing a lot better, she kept her there for a year. Maybe it was easier not having to worry about Cassie all the time when she was on the island, easier not to have to feed two bodies.

Another sleepless night added to her list of many. The Chateau, which was supposed to be her getaway from the bedroom where she was first hauled away, had now become the place Rafe Cameron had showed up in the night and threatened her. If she slept, if she even closed her eyes, she were leaving herself vulnerable.

Three cheap coffees in, Cassie spent her morning cleaning up the mess JJ had left from his stays here. Empty beer cans, dirty dishes in the sink, an unmade bed and clothes everywhere. She expected nothing less from the boy, but if John B were ever coming back, he deserved to come back to a clean house at least. And it was something to do to keep her mind off of the night before.

At eight thirty, she got two texts from her brother.

jj maybank:
we're On our way! home btw
and we have a surprise
two surprises

cassie maybank:
ok well i'm still at the chateau so i'll see you then

It was then she wondered if telling her brother, or anyone, about what had happened would be worth it. JJ would just end up doing something stupid if he heard what Rafe had said to her, if he knew he was here, alone, with his sister. Kiara would just get pissed. Pope would at least try to be calm, but in the end he'd probably join JJ in the act of doing something stupid.

She just wanted to enjoy today. She wanted to be with her friends, and have a care-free weekend like she should be able to. Like she used to.

And as Cassie dragged a trash bag down the porch stairs and over to the dumpster around the back of the house, she caught glance of a bigger, nicer fishing boat approaching the dock.

She dropped it into the trash can, keeping her eyes steady on it as she tried to see whose it was. My Druthers Too it read on the side. The Cameron's, surely, but that wasn't Rafe on there, that was her brother.

And John B.

Dropping the lid with a loud slam, she felt her feet start carrying her down to the docks, and fast, before her brain could even register what was happening.

"What's up Cassie Jude!" John B yells happily from the boat.

"Oh my god." Cassie mumbles with a smile, practically leaping onto the wooden dock as they got closer. "Oh my god!" She yelled, coming to a stop as JJ leaned off the side to tie up the boat.

JJ, Pope, Kiara, John B and Sarah Cameron. All here in the backyard.

When the boat was stable, John B got off first, brushed some dirt off of his board shorts, then looked up at Cassie with a smile and held his arms out.