His Choice - Rafe Cameron

24. Insane

"This one is purple." I say to Emily who picks up the purple ball with her left hand. She reaches forwards and retrieves the green ball. "This one is green." She makes a little noise, as if to acknowledge what I said. "Yeah, it's green. Where is the purple one?" 

Emily throws both of the balls towards me and they land by left foot as I sit cross-legged in front of her. "You have a strong arm on you girl." I roll them back towards her and she picks up the purple ball first again. The doorbell goes off from downstairs and it startles both Emily and I. "Are your parents expecting guests?" I ask her, despite the fact that she is a baby and does not understand a word that I am saying. 

I pick her up and place her on my hip as we head downstairs. It is obviously someone or more than one person who the family know because otherwise security would not have let them in. 

As the door swings open, I am shocked to see Rafe standing on the other side. Before I can even say his name, he steps passed me and welcomes himself inside. Rafe glances around the room at his surroundings. 

"I have always wondered what this place looks like from the inside. Ours is way nicer." He walks over to the dresser and picks up a packet of cigarettes that belong to Emily's father. 

"Can you not smoke inside? It's not safe for Emily, plus I don't want Miranda thinking I had guests over."

He drops his lighter back into his pocket, keeping the cigarette between his lips. We walk into the lounge room and Rafe spins around as he continues taking a look at the place. "Can I trust you Scarlett?"

"I am not the one whose trust should be questioned."

"Don't make me regret my decision to come here."

"You're acting like I begged you to come over." I roll my eyes and place Emily on the floor inside her play pen. I bend down and place my hand on Emily's arm to comfort her because she is staring at Rafe, analysing the stranger in her house. "How did you even know I was here?"

"That ugly wagon isn't exactly hard to miss. I seen it parked out the front when I was standing on my balcony. Wheezie told me that you babysit the kid here."

"Her name is Emily."

"Whatever, I don't care." He holds out his phone to me and walks over to me, showing me some sort of map. It is the area surrounding the lighthouse that we visited a few weeks ago. "Look familiar?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"The cure was here."

"Was?"

"Yeah, we were looking in the right place all along. We were just 16 years too late."

"So who took it?"

He purses his lips as he watches me carefully. "That's what I am contemplating telling you."

I stand up so that he isn't hovering over me. He is a lot taller than me even when I am standing up. It feels belittling when I am crouching down, glancing up at him. 

"You are obviously going to tell me because otherwise you would not have wasted your time in coming here."

He lets out a half laugh. 

"So go on, tell me. You clearly need my help."

"Big John Routledge."

I blink a couple of times, staring at Rafe in shock. "How do you know that?"

"I have been looking into this for a long time Scarlett. I have spoken to a lot of people. Read a lot of journals. Some given to me with ease. Some not so much ease." He whispers the last part, but due to the silence in the room I am able to hear him clearly. I don't even want to know how he got those journals with not so much ease.