ROCK BOTTOM ~ Rafe Cameron // OC // JJ Maybank

FIFTY FOUR.

tw: heavy violence

The more she stared at him, the stranger he looked. The more dangerous he looked. Dangerous and deranged and just...terrifying.

Rafe Cameron stalked through the room, clenching the axe in his hand, swinging it around like he'd eventually catch someone with it.

There was an alarm blaring now. Red lighting filled the room. Something was going on upstairs.

"I told you that shit was a trap," he scoffed. He pointed at her with the axe, snapping, "They think I'm some fucking idiot, don't they? I've dealt with dirty pogues like this my entire life, I know how they think."

"Rafe, we don't even know what's going on-"

"Shut up!" he spat at her. "You think I don't know this is your brother doing all this?"

Her lips formed a thin line.

Rafe kept looking around, hollering, "I know it's you, John B! Stop hiding like some fucking pussy!"

She stayed completely still, so frightened by the way he kept swinging the axe in every hiding space he could think of. He hit a few different pipes, causing them to burst. She really hoped he didn't end up sinking the whole ship. If anyone could do that, it'd be Rafe.

It continued like this for another five minutes, Rafe searching the whole room. She stayed exactly where she was, not even attempting some escape. Every time Rafe looked her way, she'd feel her heart stop. He'd stare at her, as if to dare her to move. To dare her to try to bolt like she had that night at the restaurant. He was still so, so upset about the restaurant. She could see it in his eyes.

She didn't understand how his eyes had become so terrifying. She had been scared of Rafe for a long time, but it was different now, worse now. There was no more spark of empathy in his eyes anymore, at least not right now there wasn't. There was just...anger.

He looked bigger somehow. Or maybe it was just his new haircut that made her realize Rafe wasn't just some teenager anymore. Rafe was a man. A man capable of horrible things.

He clenched and unclenched his fists. All Bexley could think about was the time those hands gripped her hair as he slammed her head onto the concrete floor.

He could kill her if she wasn't careful, she reminded herself. Even if he didn't mean to, he could kill her if he got angry enough.

"It's empty down here," Rafe finally said, his voice rough and authoritative. "Let's go."

He grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her across the room. He pushed her through a door that led outside.

"Keep moving. The lifeboat's on the right."

As he yanked her to his side, she realized how much he towered over her. He somehow seemed taller than before. Or maybe he just walked with a confidence he didn't have before. Because honestly, why wouldn't he be confident about now?

He won.

Rafe Cameron won.

He got the gold. He got the cross. Now he was going to get Bexley.

He won, and she lost. That had been the case for their whole relationship, and that would be the case for their whole future.

Rafe pulled her the whole way up the stairs. Her heart dropped when she spotted the lifeboat. Rafe pushed her onto it. "Sit down and stay down," he told her.

She didn't know what else to do, so she just...listened. She started to feel numb. So hopeless she lost her feelings altogether.

Her brother had gotten on the ship to save her, and she had gotten herself into a situation that was unsavable? Of course she did. What was wrong with her? No wonder her life was so fucked up, she never did anything to make it better. Anything she ever did just made things worse and worse and worse.