𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐅𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐃─𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬

one hundred twenty five.

─☼☼☼─

"I THINK YOU should stay with me tonight," Rafe announced, his truck kicking up dust as they drove toward the surf shop. "I have the space, and I have a security system. You'll be safe there, Lottie."

They'd received a call from Kiara not five minutes after fleeing from the hospital. They'd found JJ, and he was alive, but Groff had tried to kill him. Charlotte felt absolutely sick knowing that all could have gone a lot worse than it did. 

So, while Rafe's offer was extremely tempting, she needed to see JJ. To make sure he was actually okay. 

"I need to make sure my friends are okay," she answered, her voice sounding like nails on a chalkboard. Clearly, the swelling hadn't gone down enough and her jailbreak from the hospital likely wasn't going to help in that regard. 

Rafe glanced over at her, his face morphing into sadness at the sound of her voice. "Lottie, your friends are fine. You need to worry about you." He shook his head. "You almost fucking died, and now what, you're gonna go engage in another day of runnin' from the cops?"

He wasn't wrong, that was almost certainly what they were going to be forced to do. Shoupe was already after JJ for the destruction he caused the other night, and now he was going to be looking for her too. 

"Good thing I wore my sneakers," Charlotte muttered, trying─and failing ─ to earn a laugh from Rafe. 

"I'm worried about you," Rafe said softly, blue eyes veering fromt he road to meet hers. 

Charlotte felt her heart stutter from the way he was looking at her, from the words he was saying. Everything he'd said and done in the past few weeks chipped away at the wall that she had put up between them. "I'm okay, Rafe," she assured. "And I appreciate you looking out for me, but just...trust me, okay?"

Rafe exhaled, focusing back on the road as he pulled into the driveway. He parked his truck, killing the engine before turning in his seat so he could fully face her. "Lottie, I don't think you understand what I would have done if you..." he trailed off, unable to say the words out loud. "I can't live in a world without you. I won't."

"Hey," Charlotte whispered, leaning across the console to lightly wipe the tear that had trailed down Rafe's cheek. "I'm right here. I'm okay."

He reached up, cupping her hand in his own, mouth open to speak. 

But something caught Charlotte's attention before he did. 

"Shit," she muttered, instantly pulling away from Rafe and throwing open the truck door. She was out of the vehicle before Rafe had a chance to blink. 

"What is he doing here?" JJ demanded, marching toward them with the other five Pogues hurrying after him. "You don't just get to keep showing up here, man," he snapped at Rafe who had followed Charlotte out of the vehicle. The older boy wore a slight smirk, always finding amusement in how much he seemed to piss off JJ Maybank. 

"Relax," Charlotte demanded, stepping in front of JJ before he could reach Rafe. "He was just giving me a ride home from the hospital."

JJ's face clouded in confusion. "Why the fuck were you at the hospital?"

Charlotte glanced back toward her sister who wore a sheepish expression. They clearly hadn't filled JJ in as to what had happened in his absence, meaning Charlotte had the task of doing so. In the split moment that Charlotte had taken her eyes off JJ, he hadn't taken his off of her, and in doing so had spotted the angry bruises that encircled her neck. She was just looking back toward him when he lunged, face flaring in anger as he sidestepped Charlotte and delivered a single punch to Rafe's face.