Bound By Lies - Rafe Cameron

Chapter 6

Rafe's POV

This was a terrible idea. Possibly the worst idea I'd ever had, and I'd had some pretty bad ones in my lifetime. But I didn't see any other way. If I wanted to keep Teresa from poking around, I needed her to trust me. Which meant... being nice.

I practically grimaced at the thought. Teresa Peterkin was already getting on my last nerve, always snapping back, always looking at me like she was two seconds away from punching me in the face. I didn't get why she was so goddamn infuriating, but something about her just... grated on me.

But I had to do this. I had to get her on my side. Make her think I wasn't the enemy. Because if I didn't... if she kept digging...

I shoved the thought away, taking a deep breath as I scanned the golf club grounds. It wasn't hard to spot her—she stood out like a sore thumb, looking slightly uncomfortable in that stiff uniform they made her wear. She was wiping down a table on the patio, her gaze distant and thoughtful.

Perfect.

I straightened, putting on my best attempt at a friendly smile as I made my way over. She glanced up as I approached, her expression immediately turning wary.

"Rafe," she said flatly, like she wasn't in the mood for whatever I was about to throw her way.

"Hey." I stopped a few feet away, shoving my hands into my pockets to keep myself from fidgeting. "Look, I think we got off on the wrong track."

Her eyebrows shot up, and she folded her arms over her chest, giving me a skeptical once-over. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah, really," I said, forcing myself to keep my tone light. "I'm not... I mean, I know I came off like a jerk—"

"Because you are a jerk," she interrupted, arching an eyebrow.

I swallowed the retort that immediately sprang to my lips. Don't snap at her. Be nice. Play nice.

"I'm trying not to be," I muttered instead, looking away for a second before meeting her gaze again. "Look, all I'm saying is that we're going to be seeing a lot of each other now. With your dad working for us, and me being here most days, it's kind of unavoidable."

She narrowed her eyes, studying me like she was trying to see if I was being serious or not. "So... what, you're just going to pretend to be a decent human being now?"

I let out a breath, fighting the urge to roll my eyes. "Yeah, something like that. I'm just saying... I don't want things to be weird between us."

"Weird?" She scoffed, shaking her head. "You grabbed me and threatened me yesterday, and now you're saying you don't want things to be weird?"

"Okay, maybe I went about things the wrong way," I admitted, clenching my jaw. God, this was hard. Being nice to her was like trying to pull teeth. "But I'm serious. I don't want us to be... whatever this is."

She stared at me for a long moment, and I could practically see the wheels turning in her head. Finally, she let out a sigh, dropping her arms to her sides.

"Fine," she muttered. "But I'm not just going to forget what happened."

"I'm not asking you to," I said quickly, relief flooding through me. "I just... I don't want to be enemies, okay?"

She looked at me like I'd just suggested we go fly a kite together or something equally ridiculous. "Why do you even care?"

Because I need to keep you close. Because I need to make sure you don't start asking the wrong people the wrong questions.