"you're crazy rafe."
"only for you hayden."
IN WHICH. . .
rafe cameron had fallen
in love with something other
than the gold.
( RAFE CAMERON x FEM!OC )
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
you're my favorite."
JAQUELINE HAYDEN WAS the kind of person who seemed born from sunshine.
Whether it was her long, golden hair cascading to her hips, her wide, sea-salt eyes framed by lashes that could sweep you off your feet, or those plump, pillow-soft lips that always looked like they were just about to smile, everything about her screamed perfection.
She moved like liquid gold, a halo of light slipping down her head like a crooked tiara. If angels walked among us, they'd be dressed in designer, wings hidden beneath silk and satin.
Her words were as perfect as the rest of her.
The Kook queen of the Outer Banks was known for her smile, always flashing it at strangers, lighting up anyone within range of her radiant charm. And her laugh—oh, that laugh. People fell in love with her just hearing it, like she could trap hearts with the sound of it alone. It wasn't just a gift; it was a power.
Jackie Hayden was the crown jewel of the island, a one-of-a-kind phenomenon, the purest of pure.
But here's the real question: how does someone as angelic as Jackie Hayden end up loving someone as devilish as Rafe Cameron?
They met in second grade when he accidentally got gum stuck in her hair. Rafe had stood there, looking horrified, waiting for the inevitable meltdown, but Jackie just smiled, waved it off, told him it was fine like it wasn't a big deal at all. Something shifted in him then, and from that day forward, they were glued together.
Best friends. The kind you never saw apart for a second.
But Rafe Cameron wasn't like Jackie, not even close. Where she was all softness and light, he was jagged edges and shadows. Rude. Disrespectful. Brooding. His eyes filled with contempt for anyone, especially the Pogues. He carried himself like the world owed him something, and he hated anyone who got in his way. While Jackie opened her arms to everyone, Rafe walked around with fists clenched.
From the white powder he snorted to the venom that spilled from his lips when he spoke, Rafe was the textbook definition of disrespectful.
His life was full of anger, aggression, and second choices that slowly hollowed him out, but Jackie?
She saw something different. She saw the boy who rested his head in her lap, the monster who turned soft under her fingers.
To her, Rafe wasn't the devil everyone made him out to be. He was misunderstood, broken, somehow—beautiful.
It's not like she was blind. She knew who he was, knew of his doings.
But she didn't care.
To Jackie, he was still her best friend, the only guy on the island who didn't want something from her, who stuck around because he liked being around her—not because he wanted to sleep with her.
And Rafe loved her like a rabid dog.
His affection was raw, wild, like he had no idea how to be anything other than a disaster. Yet that girl, time and again, would brush away the darkness. Where everyone else saw a man who needed to be fixed or diluted, she saw someone worthy of love just as he was.
But one summer can unravel everything.
One wrong move. One group of Pogues that shakes up the world they've both known, everyone hungry for money.
And one massive mistake by the boy she spent her life defending will make her see Rafe Cameron in a way she never has before.
Because it's not that rafe was just rude.
It's that he's dangerous.
OR!
IN WHICH... he handed her a bloodied hand, and she took it only because it was his.
