LOVEBOMB, Rafe Cameron

24. things can always be worse.

❝You're always on my mind
And I never minded being on my own
Then something broke in me and I wanted to go home
To be where you are
But even closer to you, you seem so very far❞
-ᵂⁱˢʰ ᵀʰᵃᵗ ʸᵒᵘ ᵂᵉʳᵉ ᴴᵉʳᵉ ⁻ ᶠˡᵒʳᵉⁿᶜᵉ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵗʰᵉ ᴹᵃᶜʰⁱⁿᵉ

24.  𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞.

The morning after, at almost 11:30am, Rafe and Luna were out on the St. James girl's terrace, sitting directly in the sun.

With her dark hair pulled in a sleek bun, she was wearing high waisted pants and a black sleeveless top, drinking some diet smoothie she was obsessed with. And he was wearing a pink-beige shirt with jean shorts, smoking.

"Ugh." The young woman rolled her eyes at her phone.

"What?" Sitting in front of her, a low dark table separating them, Rafe looked up at her.

She lowered her device away from her face. "I just hit Sarah up to hang out and she's ditching me again."

He shrugged. "Why do you want to hang out with her when you have me?"

"Because I want to get my nails done this weekend," Luna replied, her head slightly tilted. "so unless you wanna come with me and get acrylics too—"

"Nevermind." He cut her off.

She grinned for a moment then rested her face as she looked back at her bright screen. "She said your dad is taking her to the Bahamas." Luna shook her head. "Do you think she's lying to me to hang out with her new little boyfriend? It kinda feels like it."

"Wait. What?" Rafe frowned. "They're going to the Bahamas house? Like right now?"

"Yeah." She shrugged. "I mean, that's what Sarah said in her text, it's 'business.'"

The young man put the joint to his lips and inhaled. He had a sour look on his face as he blew the smoke into the air.

Watching his reaction, Luna added; "I mean, apparently, they're all up in some new development, and for some super-secret reason, they're going to the Bahamas."

Rafe put his half-smoked joint in the ashtray before abruptly standing up. "You know, I... I know about, like... a billion times more about the business than she does." He put one hand up and squeezed the back of his neck as he spinned to face the other direction. "What... what is this?"

Frustration and jealousy; that was what his voice was filled with.

When he turned around, his face was stiff. "This is bullshit. Complete bullshit."

The St. James girl looked up from her phone and sighed. "No offense, honey... but you're not really giving your dad any good reason to involve you in his business right now."

"Why? Because I stole some cash to pay off a debt? Come on. Everybody makes mistakes. Sarah literally stole twenty five thousands from a fucking dealer."

"I know. You already told me that." Luna leaned over to reach for the ashtray on the low table. "But maybe your dad doesn't even know about that. You should definitely snitch and see what happens." She said, picking the joint before bringing it to her mouth.

Rafe immediately stepped closer and grabbed it away from her two fingers. "Don't."

The young woman raised her eyebrows. "I paid for it, remember?l

"I'll pay you back, alright? I just don't want you to start doing that shit." He replied, sitting back down.

"Don't bother. It's just weed, who gives a shit?"