THE PRINCE'S QUEEN | J.MAYBANK

[23]

"Hey, the Cameron's don't want people on their property right now," Shoupe announced, his voice dull and exhausted as usual nowadays. I glanced over at him, and he relaxed once, noticing it was only me. He waved me inside but not before I caught sight of the red paint sprayed on the wall behind him. MURDERS. 

Kiara.

I pushed it aside and walked into the Cameron's house. I didn't bother knocking since they were used to me walking in. They preferred I stay close to them in worry that I might spill their secrets. But they said that if I do, Ward will allow Rafe to add to his body count. Starting first with the Pogues.

I walked up the stairs and stood outside Sarah's closed door. The family had caught me crying in Sarah's room multiple times or just observing every last inch of stuff she once owned. I went inside and looked around at the familiar room, tears already clouding my vision. I pictured Sarah sitting in here with me once she returned home, us laughing and drinking the beers we snuck under her bed and hid from her parents.

Where we would get drunk and sneak out her window, being so rough that we almost broke it; before someone could get suspicious and ask why we were making so much noise, we would climb down the roof and sprint out of the yard. We would skip over the fence and run to my house. If we felt like taking a risk, we would steal my family's boat and ride around the marsh, screaming into the empty air in pure euphoria.

We would feel so free and yet so connected with one another that the very next day, no matter how bad the hangover or how much trouble we got in, we wouldn't regret a thing. That same day we would tell the tiredness and groggy feelings to wait and enjoy our post-celebration time. Maybe stop at a food joint and jump in my pool. Forgetting everything about the previous night except for how good it made us feel so we would do it all again.

A groan echoed through the hallway, and I looked up from lying on Sarah's bed to see Rafe standing in the doorway with an annoyed glare. "Will you stop being depressed and get out," he complained, strutting into the room as I sat up.

"Hello sociopath, add to your pile of bodies today?" I asked smugly.

"No, but if you don't shut up soon, I'll add to it."

I hadn't noticed till now that I had tears streaming down my face. I wiped them away as I stood up, meeting Rafe's threatening gaze. "First, you control my life with death threats, and now you won't even let me mourn your dead sister," I hissed. His jaw tensed, and his fists clenched together.

He leaned down towards me, so our faces were centimeters apart, and I could see whenever his eye twitched, or his lip turned upward. "Get the hell out of my house."

"You won't even admit that you were the reason Sarah died —" He cut me off by grabbing my hair, yanking my head back as he straightened up, glowering down at me.

"I saved my dad while you stood there doing nothing, and you were going to let him get shot," he growled, tightening his grip on my hair. I had seen Rafe snap a few times, and it never ends well, but I always knew he hyperventilates as he slowly grows more violent, then something gets triggered, and something terrible happens. I hated the look in his eyes when he tried to convince himself that something his psychopathic brain was coming up with was okay. When he does this, he truly fits the profile of a psychopath, and it sometimes scares me. But I've been determined to never show my fear towards Rafe or Ward even after everything they've done.

"You were going to let him die, weren't you? And after everything he's done for you —"

"He's done nothing for me," I spat, and his other hand snatched at my chin. My breathing got heavy as he ground his teeth together, and I could see the conflict in his eyes. "Just snap already, Rafe. Get it over with."