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

ten.

tw: violence

"He sank my fucking boat." Topper slammed the weights back onto the floor. "And my mom thinks it's my fault. She think I did it!"

Topper was in the weight room with Rafe and Kelce. It was hot as hell outside, and they were all sweating perfusely. But Topper barely felt anything other than anger.

"I do everything my mom wants me to do," he snapped. "And she still blames me. I'm sick of it."

That morning, Topper's family went out to find their brand new luxury boat was gone. At first, they thought it was stolen. But that wasn't the case. It sank, completely. And, of course, his parents blamed him for sinking it.

Rafe did once more set, before he too put down the weights he was using. "Well, we know who did it, right?"

Kelce nodded. "It was that little geek Pope."

"Pope, yeah," Topper said, grinding his teeth and looking at his friend. "Hey, Rafe, if you wouldn't have jumped him on the golf course, I'd still have a boat, right?"

Rafe scoffed, wiping sweat off his face. "Sorry if I had your back after a pogue put a gun to your head," he said, sarcastically.

Topper narrowed his eyes at him. "C'mon, Rafe. That shit wasn't about the gun. You got pissed off his friend was texting your maid." Rafe looked away,
scoffing again. Topper continued, "Why'd you buy her a phone, man?" The question had bugged Topper to no end.

Kelce frowned. "You bought her a phone? Your cleaning lady?"

"She needed one," Rafe snapped. "For the store. So what?"

"So what? You went fucking psycho for no reason. You beat the shit out of that guy."

"I'm not the enemy here," Rafe snapped. "Pope is. Pope sank your boat. Him and that piece of shit, JJ." The name brought anger to him.

"That's right," Kelce said.

"So," Rafe challenged. "You need to force him to take some personal responsibility for it."

Like Rafe ever did that.

"What are we doing?" Rafe asked Topper.

Topper thought for a moment. "We're gonna find him. And fuck him up."

Rafe laughed. "Just what I was thinking."

The boys lifted weight for another half hour, Topper still steaming and ranting the entire time, before Kelce eventually took off. When he did, Rafe decided to get ready to leave too.

He had to pick up Bexley soon.

"Hey," Topper started, cautiously, catching his friend before he left. "You and, um, Bexley..."

Rafe's eyes snapped his way.

"That's, like, nothing, right?"

Rafe hesitated as he grabbed his towel, wiping his face. "The fuck are you talking about?"

"It's just..." Topper felt worried about bringing this up. "She's, you know, not..." How could he say this?

The last thing he wanted was for Rafe to get as mad as he did on the course.

"Not what?" Rafe pressed.

"She's not someone you should mess around with," Topper said, finally.

Rafe turned. "What?"

"She's nice," Topper said. "Sarah likes her. Wheezie likes her. I just think, maybe, you shouldn't harass her or anything."

"You think I'm harassing her?" he scoffed.