angel - rafe cameron (outerbanks)

2 - missed calls

chapter 30
missed calls

angie's hands clenched the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles turned white. the road blurred past her, headlights cutting through the dark, but she wasn't really seeing any of it. her mind was still back at barry's house, replaying his words over and over. 

maddie wasn't just dealing. she was supplying.

she had gone to barry expecting more half-truths, more bullshit. but this—this was something else entirely. she had spent days convincing herself that maddie had been a victim, that whatever had happened to her wasn't her fault. but what if she had been wrong? what if maddie had known exactly what she was doing?

the thought made her stomach churn. she pressed harder on the gas, her vision blurring with unshed tears.

she didn't know where she was going. she just needed to move.

the moment she pulled off the road near the marsh, everything inside her snapped.

her hands balled into fists, slamming against the steering wheel once, twice. she let out a broken, guttural scream, her whole body shaking. she could barely breathe, her chest caving under the weight of everything—maddie, the box, the unanswered questions pressing against her ribs like a vice.

"fuck!" she shouted, the sound swallowed by the empty night. she had spent months trying to piece together maddie's secrets, but she had never been prepared for this.

her vision blurred as she pressed her forehead against the wheel, trying to ground herself. but her mind wouldn't stop spinning. whoever had sent that box knew too much. knew exactly what to show her.

what if this wasn't just about maddie? what if she was being watched too?

her whole body went cold. she wasn't just chasing ghosts anymore. someone had put this right in front of her—fed it to her like bait.

her pulse thundered in her ears as she turned to look out over the marsh, the sun casting a silver sheen over the water. the place had always made her uneasy, even when she was a kid. maybe because of how vast it was. maybe because it was too quiet. too still. a memory pulled at her, sharp and sudden.

she was eight years old, maddie was ten, and they were out on the water.

the marsh stretched wide and endless around them as they sat on their parents' boat, their fingers skimming the surface, watching the ripples chase each other across the water. they looked so alike that they could've been mistaken for twins—waist-length blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, matching dresses in different colors.

maddie had picked lilac. angie had picked yellow.

it had been their mother's idea, of course. the whole thing had been orchestrated to perfection. their parents had wanted them to look like something out of a magazine for their big meeting at tannyhill. their parents had this meeting arranged for months. it was why they had moved to kildare in the first place, the two families were finally going into business—angie still had no idea why to this day, her family didn't need the money.

angie remembered maddie laughing as she dipped her fingers into the marsh, flicking a handful of water in her direction.

"madeleine!" their mother's sharp voice cut through the air. "look at you both! you're going to ruin your dresses before we even arrive!"

"stop it!" angie had squealed, pulling her hands back into her lap.

maddie grinned, the sunlight catching in her hair. "why? it's just water."