LITTLE SECRET | RAFE CAMERON

84: 𝘚𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘥

The sterile chill of the hospital room seemed to cling to Alice's skin, settling into her bones as she sat on one of the chairs in the corner

Her body was curled in on itself, an attempt to shrink away from the weight of everything that had happened in the last couple of hours.

Ian and Sarah stood by Rafe's bed, their voices hushed, their expressions unreadable. Alice could feel the air thick with unspoken words. She wished she could escape, to flee this place that felt as though it was swallowing her whole.

It wasn't just the sterile smell of antiseptic or the relentless beeping of machines that trapped her in that moment. It was the suffocating realization that this - whatever this was - might have always been inevitable.

Had it all led to this?

Was it her fault? His fault? Whose fault was it?

She couldn't make sense of it, the spiraling thoughts colliding with the sharp ache in her chest.

Alice drew her knees up to her chest, folding in on herself as if trying to disappear completely. Her chin rested against her knees, arms wrapped tightly around her legs.

Rafe. Her Rafe.

Was he still hers, or had he slipped away, becoming someone she didn't recognize? Would he ever be the same? Would she?

In some twisted way, she knew that Rafe needed her more than ever.

The strong, stubborn man who had always kept his pain buried behind the walls of his strength was now fragile, so terribly fragile.

She couldn't remember the last time she had seen him like this.

Maybe that night when Ward had thrown him out, and he had sought peace in the quiet of her room. But even then, he hadn't looked like this.

Broken in a way she couldn't comprehend.

Alice had to admit to herself, as painful as it was, that she would do anything to bring him back on the right track. To bring him back to the boy she had fallen for. That was how she knew what she felt for him was real, because even now - when everything had gone wrong - she still cared more than she could ever express.

But this...this wasn't a love story.

It wasn't the kind of love she had ever read about or dreamed of. It wasn't perfect. It wasn't easy. It wasn't the love that swept you off your feet or made your heart race.

No, this was something darker. Something jagged, something messy.

It was the kind of love no one ever warned her about.

And God, how it hurt.

In the midst of her tangled thoughts, Alice didn't even notice when the focus of the room shifted to her.

Three pairs of eyes turned toward her, but she felt miles away, locked in the corner of the room, invisible in her isolation.

„It's getting late," Ian's voice sliced through the silence, quieter than usual. He glanced at his watch. „she hasn't slept much."

Rafe's gaze shifted to her. „how did she find out?"

„I...I called her," Sarah admitted. She sat at the foot of the bed, glancing from Alice to Rafe. The air between them felt thick with something unspoken, something shared but never addressed. „I mean, she's your—...I didn't know who else to call. I'm sorry."

Rafe's expression tightened, the words hanging heavy in the room. Sarah and he had never fully discussed the thing that had happened between Alice and him. But Sarah had known, without needing to be told, that Alice's presence would force Rafe to confront what he'd been avoiding.