After all this time⇢ ꒰Rafe Cameron꒱

chapter sixteen

"this was so stupid of you," jj said quietly, sitting on the cold floor of the cell, his hands covering his face.

"i wasn't going to let you take the blame along j, i would never. you and pope, it's only been a few days but you guys are like family now and i come with a bunch of fucked up baggage, but you stayed, so i'm staying for you," flora said sternly, making sure her point towards jj was well understood.

"come here," jj muttered, pulling flora into a hug. "family means nobody gets left behind or forgot," he said with a smile, quoting lilo and stitch.

"that was cringe-worthy, but cute, i'll give you that," flora chuckled. 

"sorry to interrupt the two of you, but ms.daniels, if you would come with me," sheriff peterkin asked.

"okay," flora said, giving jj one last glance before following the sheriff into a closeted room.

"i'm not going to lie and say i think that you sunk that wave setter, because i know damn well you didn't," the sheriff said, closing the door.

"but i did!" flora said, trying to argue her way through making them believe in her fake crime.

"you're trying to protect him ms.daniels, and it's foolish of you to do so. you know your mom is in rehab, and with what happened with your dad, it was expected for you to act out one day," the sheriff started, trying to sympathize with flora.

"what are you trying to say, sheriff?" flora asked, not wanting to hear the pity talk she so often heard when it concerned her parents.

"what i'm saying ms.daniels, is that we did not contact ward cameron about what happened, and in all honesty, you should be thankful we didn't," the sheriff said, waiting for a thank you from flora.

"so what? i get to go free while jj just sits here, how is that fair? we committed the same exact crime, same thing," flora argued again, her blood boiling in anger.

"look ms.daniels, topper has already testified that you already didn't do it, you're off the case. now, rafe cameron came to pick you up, you can leave," the sheriff said, pointing towards the door.

"i'm not going anywhere until jj's leaving," flora said, crossing her arms.

"listen flora, this is going to be real talk," the sheriff stated. "we should've told warned ward once you started hanging out with jj and his group of delinquents, but we didn't, and that's our bad. now, you have two strikes, a third one, and you're going back to new york, and we both know you do not want that. if you wait for jj, that's a third, if you let me take you to rafe cameron, you're clear." peterkin said, obviously not joking.

"take me to him," flora whispered with a shaky breath.

––––

"i'm so tired of your bullshit flora," rafe said, pulling into the cameron driveway.

"tired, you're tired of my bullshit! this is your fault, you're the one who probably pressured topper in turning pope in, i had to take the blame, but of course, rafe the magnificent comes in again, ruining everything!" flora said, hitting her head into the car window.

"ruining everything? you mean saving your ass from all the shit you put yourself into!" rafe said, turning flora's face so she could face him.

"i don't even know why you do it anymore, don't you see, i hate you rafe cameron, i will never forgive you for how you make other people miserable, but then try to make yourself feel better for treating me decently," flora spat, opening the car door.

"i do it because i care, because i care so damn much about you because even if you say that you hate me, deep inside i know you don't, four days ago you were telling me how much you loved me, feelings can't change that fast," rafe said, his voice slightly shaky.

"guess i saw your true colors, you don't truly care about me rafe," flora said, walking into the cameron household, trying to ignore how much her heart hurt every time her and rafe got into a fight, how sick she felt afterward.