angel - rafe cameron (outerbanks)

8 - morning sunshine

chapter 36
morning sunshine

angie hadn't stopped thinking about the necklace since she found it. the way it gleamed in the light, the weight of it in her palm—it felt like a secret she wasn't supposed to know. all night, she tossed and turned, the thoughts racing through her mind, colliding with each other in a never-ending loop. she should've asked rafe about it, questioned him, but the words wouldn't come. not when she wasn't sure what was true anymore.

it was a little after 4 a.m. when her phone buzzed, the screen lighting up with rafe's name. she picked it up before she could think twice.

won't be around for a couple of days. don't do anything stupid.

the message was short. detached. the kind of message someone sends when they don't want to say more than they have to. she stared at it, her fingers hovering over the keyboard, but she didn't know how to respond. she didn't even know what to ask. if rafe had wanted her to know where he was or why, he would've said it. he didn't want her to know.

so, she let the silence linger. the weight of uncertainty pressing down on her chest.

she had thought about asking her parents, but that was a risk she couldn't take. if they found out she had it, they'd make her hand it over to the police. and if she did that, she'd have to explain how she got it. no—this was her problem to figure out.

in the morning, she left the house and headed for the wreck—she had the day to herself so decided to treat herself to breakfast. she had thought about going to tannyhill, but what was the point? neither rafe nor sarah were there. she slowed to a stop as her eyes landed on the vandalism outside the cameron house.

MURDERER

it was smeared in red paint. it had been washed, but the faint letters still bled through. her stomach twisted. she didn't have to guess who had done it. the pogues. she swallowed down the feeling in her throat as she faced the reminded of rafe's actions and continued her walk towards the wreck.

she'd have been lying if she said she didn't expect for kiara, jj and pope to be sat at their usual table in the back of the restaurant, but they were certainly surprised to see her. angie gulped as they all stared at her, their eyes burning into her skin. did they know too?

"angie?" kiara called, waving the girl over and receiving scolding, panicked glances from the two boys sat with her.

"hey?" angie greeted, standing awkwardly behind the empty chair at their table, which john b usually occupied.

"sit." kiara ordered, gesturing to the chair. angie hesitated. she had no reason to trust them. but then kiara's eyes narrowed, like she was putting the pieces together. "you know."

"know what?" angie asked, sitting down with the group.

"they text you too?" she asked. angie swallowed hard. she wasn't good at lying. her silence gave her away. she hesitated for a second before pulling out her phone and sliding it across the table. the text from sarah pulled up on the screen. "have you told anyone?" angie shook her head, no.

the pogues went quiet. then pope pulled out his own phone and turned the screen toward her. a text from the same number. the realisation hit all at once. it was real. angie exhaled, slumping back in her chair.

"so you haven't told rafe?" pope asked.

"no. why would i?" angie replied.

kiara's gaze sharpened. "what's going on with you and rafe?"

jj let out a short laugh, shaking his head. "so you draw the line at a pogue, but a murderer is okay?"

kiara shot him a glare. "jj."