LITTLE SECRET | RAFE CAMERON

15: 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘪𝘥

Alice had barely said a single word since they left Midsummer's. Silently she walked next to him, dry blood on her hands and her dress stained, looking like she just escaped a horror scene.

She knew that JJ had done things that were hurtful, things she couldn't just simply forget about and yet she couldn't leave him there.

Laying on the floor, after what Rafe had done to him.

She knelt down next to him as soon as Rafe got off him, the blood on the floor soaking her dress as she tried to help him, but JJ pushed her away.

She couldn't blame him for that, not after she stood motionless and watched what Rafe did to him.

And now that her expensive dress and her makeup were ruined and Midsummer's turned into the worst event of the whole year, she wanted nothing but to go home.

She wanted to hide under her blanket and preferably not come out again until the end of the summer.

It was already late at night when they both walked along the empty street.

Kildare island was drenched in absolute darkness and no matter how hard she had tried, Rafe hadn't let her go alone under any circumstances.

Even if she wasn't talking to him.

Every now and then he glanced over at her. Every time a brief look that remained unrequited, even when he put his jacket around her shoulders, because he noticed that she was freezing.

In the distance they already saw the Blakely house and although Rafe had enough time to think about what he wanted to tell her, nothing came out of him as they walked trough the large entrance gate. When they arrived at the front door, she dug out her keys and opened it, her hands trembling and making the keys clink.

And she could've just slammed the door shut in front of his nose, but she held it open for him instead.

A wordless invitation.

They entered the quiet house together and Alice threw her keys into the key bowl before walking wordlessly up the stairs, clearly sensing him following her.

Being just as quiet as she was.

They entered her room at the end of the hallway, which was drenched in silence that they could literally feel burning on their skin.

But although the mood wasn't necessarily the best - understandably so - Rafe took the moment to let his gaze wander through the girls' room.

Her room was...so different from his. It was very warm, inviting. Her furniture was made of solid wood, painted over with white. As white as the curtains that hung in front of the large windows and the door to her balcony.

Rafe was fascinated by the sight of her room, which strangely enough really felt like her. But when his eyes fell on the Polaroids hanging on the wall above her drawer, surrounded by fairy lights, he took a step towards them.

There were dozens of pictures sticking neatly to the wall.

He recognized her mother Laurel in some of the pictures, as well as her brother Ian. But most of them were with Sarah, which didn't surprise him. There were also pictures of a sunset or a sunrise hidden on the wall, but what the pictures all had in common was that they all had a small caption on their white frame.

Either one or two sweet words or the exact date they were taken.

Rafe somehow couldn't help but smile a little as he looked at the pictures. But his smile faded as his eyes lingered in the middle of the Polaroid wall.