Bound By Lies - Rafe Cameron

Chapter 15

My whole body ached as I slowly opened my eyes, the morning light filtering through the curtains casting a soft glow over the room. I shifted, a sharp sting of pain radiating through my muscles, and I winced, biting back a groan.

God, I felt like I'd been hit by a truck.

Everything from last night came rushing back in a blur of tangled limbs, harsh whispers, and rough hands that had left me trembling and breathless. Rafe's voice, his touch, the way he'd taken me like he couldn't get enough—it all echoed in my mind, leaving me dazed and aching.

But as I blinked the sleep from my eyes, reality began to set in. The bed next to me was empty, the sheets cold where his body should have been.

"Rafe?" I murmured softly, my voice hoarse from all the screaming and moaning the night before.

No answer.

I sat up slowly, wincing at the soreness in my thighs, my body protesting every movement. The sheets pooled around my waist as I glanced around, searching for any sign of him.

But he was gone.

A strange, hollow feeling settled in my chest, a mix of confusion and something darker—something that felt dangerously close to disappointment.

I shifted, swinging my legs over the side of the bed, and that's when I saw it.

A crisp stack of bills sat neatly on the bedside table, a small note tucked beneath it. My heart lurched, a sinking feeling twisting in my gut as I reached for the note, my fingers trembling slightly.

Figured you can't walk home in that state. Take a cab.

I stared at the words, the hollow feeling in my chest spreading like a cold, heavy weight. For a moment, I couldn't move, couldn't breathe, the note crumpling slightly in my grip.

What... what the hell?

He'd just... left. Without a word. Without a goodbye. Without anything.

And then he'd left money, like I was some kind of charity case—like I was nothing more than a mess he'd created, a problem he didn't want to deal with.

Figured you can't walk home in that state.

The words rang hollow in my mind, the meaning behind them cutting deeper than I wanted to admit. He'd been rough last night—more intense, more demanding than ever before. And I'd been left sore and aching, my body bearing the marks of his possession.

But this... this felt like a slap in the face. Like he was throwing it all back at me, reminding me that I was just another girl to him—just another body to take and use and then leave behind.

A sharp, bitter laugh escaped my lips, the sound harsh and jagged in the empty room. What had I expected? For him to stay? To wake up next to me and smile, whispering soft words and promises?

No. That wasn't Rafe Cameron. He wasn't capable of soft. He wasn't capable of anything that didn't involve control, possession, or pain.

I swallowed hard, blinking back the sting of tears as I forced myself to move. The money sat there, mocking me—proof that whatever had happened between us last night didn't mean a damn thing.

It was just sex. Just another way for him to assert his control, to mark me as his, to remind me that he could take whatever he wanted without giving a damn about how it left me.

"Stupid," I whispered harshly, shaking my head as I shoved the money away, the bills fluttering to the floor in a scattered mess.

I shouldn't have expected anything more. Shouldn't have let myself believe, even for a second, that there was something deeper between us. He'd left, and that was that. He'd probably done me a favor, leaving before I could get in over my head.