LITTLE SECRET | RAFE CAMERON

64: 𝘏𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘺

Alice hurried back to Rafe's car with the plastic bag in her hand full of everything she had bought. The engine was still running loudly and audibly, waiting for her to come running back in her pretty dress between the smell of gasoline and the deep night.

The heels of her shoes clicked soundly on the pavement of the gas station, causing Rafe to lean out the driver's window of his Jeep truck.

„Don't break your heels" He called out to her with a laugh.

„You bought them, your money not mine" She called back and slowed down, rounding his car to get to the passenger door.

Rafe reached over the middle console to her door and opened it for her, offering his hand to help her get in while other cars were already pushing up behind them, eager for the spot at the gas pump.

As soon as she sat down and fastened her seatbelt, Rafe hit the gas pedal and sped away from the gas station with his engine roaring.

The chilly night wind swept into the car through the open windows, cooling her skin as her hair blew a little. She leaned out of the window to look at the countless lights, feeling a sense of security resting on her which she only felt with a handful of people in the car.

And when she looked back at Rafe, she caught the shallow smile on his lips after he'd spent too long paying attention to her instead of the road.

Something hovered between them that she could hardly describe.

Just looking at him, she felt...a lot. The sight of his veins pulsing on the skin of his hands as he kept a firm grip on the steering wheel made her feel a tingle in the depths of her body, as if she hadn't seen him bare and on top of her countless times before.

But his hands were just something else.

She kept quiet as she followed his hand with her eyes when it reached into the plastic bag from the gas station lying on her lap. And for a moment, she wished the bag wasn't on her lap.

For obvious reasons.

A curt breath fell from her lips as he pulled his hand away again with his fingers wrapped around a brown beer bottle, the lid of which he brought between his teeth and cracked open.

She cringed at the sound. „god, you'll break your teeth"

„Years of practice, baby" He winked and took a swig of the beer before handing it to her and bringing his hand down to her thigh in the process.

Slowly but surely, the tension went to her head as his fingers pressed lightly into the skin of her leg.

She knew that the back seat of his Jeep would have been big enough to turn the fantasy in her head into reality. But what she also knew was that they would ruin her dress and his suit in the process without even arriving at the Island Club.

So she took a big sip of the beer instead, hoping the booze would catch up with her faster than her body's cravings.

But the cravings of her body were soon buried when the loud ringing of a phone erupted through the car.

Loud and shrill, brighter than anything else in the car, Rafe's phone attracted their attention as it lay in the cup holder from the middle console.

Maybe she had been too slow or maybe he had been too fast, but when Alice wanted to take a look at his phone, Rafe had already turned it away so that the name on the screen was no longer visible to her.

Her brows twitched in confusion as she looked back up at him. „who's calling you?"

„Kelce." Rafe replied shortly.

She had never been suspicious of him and the things he did on his phone. Never in her life would she have thought about looking through his phone, but his answer seemed too...short.

„Why don't you answer it?" She asked, just as his phone stopped ringing.

„Cause' I'm driving"

„I could've answered it for you"

„He stopped calling now anyway" Rafe's voice became stricter.

„I could call him back"

„God, just shut up, I didn't ask for your fucking help" He shouted at her and hit the steering wheel with his hand, which made her flinch, but she didn't take her eyes off him.

The way his previous demeanor towards her had changed so quickly told her that it definitely wasn't Kelce who had called him.

But she kept her mouth shut and brought the bottle back to her lips. She leaned her head back, downing the rest of the beer in one go in the hope that she would soon be drunk enough to simply ignore his lie.

Because she was too afraid that there was something behind his lie that would hurt her.

Rafe cleared his throat hesitantly and looked over at her. „I didn't mean to shout, I'm sorry"

As he spoke, he brought his hand back towards her thigh. His touch burned her skin, but not in a good way.

„Don't touch me" Alice pushed his hand away with a small voice.

„I said I was sorry" He got a little louder as he tried to put his hand on her again, but this time she used more force to push it away.

„I didn't ask for your apology" She copied what he had said to her earlier.

„You're acting like a child, Alice."

„At least I was taught not to lie"

He let out a deep huff through his nose and gripped the steering wheel tighter with both of his hands. „I'm not lying to you"

„Oh yeah, then tell me who called you?" She looked over at him, her hands crossed over her chest.

„Kelce" He swallowed hard at his own voice, causing his jaw to tighten.

„You know what?" Alice shook her head because a second lie was more hurtful than she had expected. „fuck you and Kelce. This is stupid, I'm not doing this with you"

„Baby, you're overreacting—„ Rafe tried to put his hand on her knee.

„Get your fucking hands off of me" She shouted at him and slapped his hand away hard, suddenly feeling too pressured by him.

But the force of her voice started a fire in the car.

„Stop being a bitch"

„Oh, I'm a bitch now for not believing your fucking lie?"

„I didn't lie"

„Then show me who called you"

Rafe clenched his jaw as deep lines crept into the skin between his brows. His eyes fixed on the street as the digits on the speed display began to shoot up.

But his anger was answer enough for her. „yeah, that's what I thought"

The two of them stubbornly stared out of the windscreen in silence. And as hard as it was for her, Alice gradually had to admit that she had noticed that he had been different lately.

It wasn't his love that felt different, but his...honesty.

Rafe broke the silence between them with a shake of his head. „maybe you should have a little more trust in me"

„You make it hard to trust you, Rafe" She said tiredly, but honestly.