𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐁𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐍 ᯓ outer banks

chapter eighty-six

BROOKLYN HADN'T SLEPT all night. She had changed into some rather uncomfortable velvet nightwear last night and just laid in the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. Rafe sleeps soundly on the floor as she sits up, trying to contemplate whether to get killed or tell Singh that she knew of the diary.

She couldn't stand being in the same room as Rafe, not after everything he's done to her, to her friends. Last night after she had changed, he asks her about her gun wound, his finger reaching out to trace the mark but she pushes him away.

"It was you, wasn't it?" she asks when the lights are off. "You shot me, hoping I'd be dead and you'd never have to see me again."

She doesn't look at him, instead closes her eyes and pretends to sleep. She doesn't have the time to grill him, to ask him all these questions or to even argue with him. She needs to get out of here and see her friends, see her boyfriend and brother again.

That morning she decides that there and then she would tell Singh about the diary. She leaves the bed, walks to the window, reaches her hand up and begins to knock repeatedly until one of the guards turns around. "Hey! Hey. I need to talk to Mr. Singh," she whispers, hoping not to wake Rafe at the same time. "Go get Mr. Singh."

"What are you doing?" Well, so much for not waking him up. He grabs her arm, a wince leaving her lips as she pulls away from him. "Brooke, what are you doing?"

"Like I owe you an explanation," she says, moving past him to try knocking on the door.

"Brooke, what are you doing?" She ignores his continuous questions and begins to bang on the door of the bedroom. "Hey! What're you doing?"

"Don't talk to me, Rafe," she threatens, making sure he doesn't get any closer to him.

Rafe comes up close to her as she continues to knock on the door. He leans down to her and says, "You're lying about this diary thing. You know where it is."

"No, I don't," she lies again.

"You don't? Okay." She knows that he doesn't believe her but she doesn't owe him anything. "Listen, I wouldn't tell me either. But he's never gonna believe we don't know something, all right?"

Rafe grabs her arms again and this time she snaps, "Hey! Don't touch me, okay?"

"Look around, Brooke, I'm the only friend you got," he tells her in the hopes of her actually telling him what was going on.

Brooklyn is almost relieved when the door unlocks and a guard steps in. Brooklyn moves quickly to tell the guard that, "I need to talk to Mr. Singh. I have something to tell him. It's urgent." She looks back at Rafe who, well, isn't exactly happy with her decision to not tell him but go and tell the man who could potentially kill them at any given moment.

"Yes," the guard replies, snatching Brooklyn's arm and pulling her out of the room.

It wasn't long until she was face to face with the stone cold killer herself. She sighs and admits, "I lied. I know about the diary. I don't have the original. But I can get you a copy."

Singh smiles at the girl. "I'm relieved to hear you say that, you know," he says.

"I just want to get you what you want, and then I want to leave," she tells him. "I know where it is. But I have to go by myself. Alone."

Brooklyn knows he would likely never let her go by herself but it was worth asking. "How would I know that you'd come back? You know, I need some collateral," he speaks.

"Rafe's here," she responds and he scoffs. "Keep him." She most certainly wasn't bothered what happens to him.

"Rafe," Singh chuckles, rising to his feet and walking over to her. "How did someone so young get into so much trouble?"