#minimum electric design

[touhoutunes]

Title: アナスタシア (Anastasia)

Arrangement: 松井庸

Album: 幻想郷 Electronic Shoegazer

Circle: minimum electric design

Original: A Tiny, Tiny, Clever Commander

[despair-tea]

minimum electric design — another good morning

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Cleantech has an enshittification problem

On July 14, I'm giving the closing keynote for the fifteenth HACKERS ON PLANET EARTH, in QUEENS, NY. Happy Bastille Day! On July 20, I'm appearing in CHICAGO at Exile in Bookville.

EVs won't save the planet. Ultimately, the material bill for billions of individual vehicles and the unavoidable geometry of more cars-more traffic-more roads-greater distances-more cars dictate that the future of our cities and planet requires public transit – lots of it.

But no matter how much public transit we install, there's always going to be some personal vehicles on the road, and not just bikes, ebikes and scooters. Between deliveries, accessibility, and stubbornly low-density regions, there's going to be a lot of cars, vans and trucks on the road for the foreseeable future, and these should be electric.

Beyond that irreducible minimum of personal vehicles, there's the fact that individuals can't install their own public transit system; in places that lack the political will or means to create working transit, EVs are a way for people to significantly reduce their personal emissions.

In policy circles, EV adoption is treated as a logistical and financial issue, so governments have focused on making EVs affordable and increasing the density of charging stations. As an EV owner, I can affirm that affordability and logistics were important concerns when we were shopping for a car.

But there's a third EV problem that is almost entirely off policy radar: enshittification.

An EV is a rolling computer in a fancy case with a squishy person inside of it. While this can sound scary, there are lots of cool implications for this. For example, your EV could download your local power company's tariff schedule and preferentially charge itself when the rates are lowest; they could also coordinate with the utility to reduce charging when loads are peaking. You can start them with your phone. Your repair technician can run extensive remote diagnostics on them and help you solve many problems from the road. New features can be delivered over the air.

That's just for starters, but there's so much more in the future. After all, the signal virtue of a digital computer is its flexibility. The only computer we know how to make is the Turing complete, universal, Von Neumann machine, which can run every valid program. If a feature is computationally tractable – from automated parallel parking to advanced collision prevention – it can run on a car.

The problem is that this digital flexibility presents a moral hazard to EV manufacturers. EVs are designed to make any kind of unauthorized, owner-selected modification into an IP rights violation ("IP" in this case is "any law that lets me control the conduct of my customers or competitors"):

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

EVs are also designed so that the manufacturer can unilaterally exert control over them or alter their operation. EVs – even more than conventional vehicles – are designed to be remotely killswitched in order to help manufacturers and dealers pressure people into paying their car notes on time:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

Manufacturers can reach into your car and change how much of your battery you can access:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/28/edison-not-tesla/#demon-haunted-world

They can lock your car and have it send its location to a repo man, then greet him by blinking its lights, honking its horn, and pulling out of its parking space:

https://tiremeetsroad.com/2021/03/18/tesla-allegedly-remotely-unlocks-model-3-owners-car-uses-smart-summon-to-help-repo-agent/

And of course, they can detect when you've asked independent mechanic to service your car and then punish you by degrading its functionality:

https://www.repairerdrivennews.com/2024/06/26/two-of-eight-claims-in-tesla-anti-trust-lawsuit-will-move-forward/

This is "twiddling" – unilaterally and irreversibly altering the functionality of a product or service, secure in the knowledge that IP law will prevent anyone from twiddling back by restoring the gadget to a preferred configuration:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/

The thing is, for an EV, twiddling is the best case scenario. As bad as it is for the company that made your EV to change how it works whenever they feel like picking your pocket, that's infinitely preferable to the manufacturer going bankrupt and bricking your car.

That's what just happened to owners of Fisker EVs, cars that cost $40-70k. Cars are long-term purchases. An EV should last 12-20 years, or even longer if you pay to swap the battery pack. Fisker was founded in 2016 and shipped its first Ocean SUV in 2023. The company is now bankrupt:

https://insideevs.com/news/723669/fisker-inc-bankruptcy-chapter-11-official/

Fisker called its vehicles "software-based cars" and they weren't kidding. Without continuous software updates and server access, those Fisker Ocean SUVs are turning into bricks. What's more, the company designed the car from the ground up to make any kind of independent service and support into a felony, by wrapping the whole thing in overlapping layers of IP. That means that no one can step in with a module that jailbreaks the Fisker and drops in an alternative firmware that will keep the fleet rolling.

This is the third EV risk – not just finance, not just charger infrastructure, but the possibility that any whizzy, cool new EV company will go bust and brick your $70k cleantech investment, irreversibly transforming your car into 5,500 lb worth of e-waste.

This confers a huge advantage onto the big automakers like VW, Kia, Ford, etc. Tesla gets a pass, too, because it achieved critical mass before people started to wise up to the risk of twiddling and bricking. If you're making a serious investment in a product you expect to use for 20 years, are you really gonna buy it from a two-year old startup with six months' capital in the bank?

The incumbency advantage here means that the big automakers won't have any reason to sink a lot of money into R&D, because they won't have to worry about hungry startups with cool new ideas eating their lunches. They can maintain the cozy cartel that has seen cars stagnate for decades, with the majority of "innovation" taking the form of shitty, extractive and ill-starred ideas like touchscreen controls and an accelerator pedal that you have to rent by the month:

https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/23/23474969/mercedes-car-subscription-faster-acceleration-feature-price

Put that way, it's clear that this isn't an EV problem, it's a cleantech problem. Cleantech has all the problems of EVs: it requires a large capital expenditure, it will be "smart," and it is expected to last for decades. That's rooftop solar, heat-pumps, smart thermostat sensor arrays, and home storage batteries.

And just as with EVs, policymakers have focused on infrastructure and affordability without paying any attention to the enshittification risks. Your rooftop solar will likely be controlled via a Solaredge box – a terrible technology that stops working if it can't reach the internet for a protracted period (that's right, your home solar stops working if the grid fails!).

I found this out the hard way during the covid lockdowns, when Solaredge terminated its 3G cellular contract and notified me that I would have to replace the modem in my system or it would stop working. This was at the height of the supply-chain crisis and there was a long waiting list for any replacement modems, with wifi cards (that used your home internet rather than a cellular connection) completely sold out for most of a year.

There are good reasons to connect rooftop solar arrays to the internet – it's not just so that Solaredge can enshittify my service. Solar arrays that coordinate with the grid can make it much easier and safer to manage a grid that was designed for centralized power production and is being retrofitted for distributed generation, one roof at a time.

But when the imperatives of extraction and efficiency go to war, extraction always wins. After all, the Solaredge system is already in place and solar installers are largely ignorant of, and indifferent to, the reasons that a homeowner might want to directly control and monitor their system via local controls that don't roundtrip through the cloud.

Somewhere in the hindbrain of any prospective solar purchaser is the experience with bricked and enshittified "smart" gadgets, and the knowledge that anything they buy from a cool startup with lots of great ideas for improving production, monitoring, and/or costs poses the risk of having your 20 year investment bricked after just a few years – and, thanks to the extractive imperative, no one will be able to step in and restore your ex-solar array to good working order.

I make the majority of my living from books, which means that my pay is very "lumpy" – I get large sums when I publish a book and very little in between. For many years, I've used these payments to make big purchases, rather than financing them over long periods where I can't predict my income. We've used my book payments to put in solar, then an induction stove, then a battery. We used one to buy out the lease on our EV. And just a month ago, we used the money from my upcoming Enshittification book to put in a heat pump (with enough left over to pay for a pair of long-overdue cataract surgeries, scheduled for the fall).

When we started shopping for heat pumps, it was clear that this was a very exciting sector. First of all, heat pumps are kind of magic, so efficient and effective it's almost surreal. But beyond the basic tech – which has been around since the late 1940s – there is a vast ferment of cool digital features coming from exciting and innovative startups.

By nature, I'm the kid of person who likes these digital features. I started out as a computer programmer, and while I haven't written production code since the previous millennium, I've been in and around the tech industry for my whole adult life. But when it came time to buy a heat-pump – an investment that I expected to last for 20 years or more – there was no way I was going to buy one of these cool new digitally enhanced pumps, no matter how much the reviewers loved them. Sure, they'd work well, but it's precisely because I'm so knowledgeable about high tech that I could see that they would fail very, very badly.

You may think EVs are bullshit, and they are – though there will always be room for some personal vehicles, and it's better for people in transit deserts to drive EVs than gas-guzzlers. You may think rooftop solar is a dead-end and be all-in on utility scale solar (I think we need both, especially given the grid-disrupting extreme climate events on our horizon). But there's still a wide range of cleantech – induction tops, heat pumps, smart thermostats – that are capital intensive, have a long duty cycle, and have good reasons to be digitized and networked.

Take home storage batteries: your utility can push its rate card to your battery every time they change their prices, and your battery can use that information to decide when to let your house tap into the grid, and when to switch over to powering your home with the solar you've stored up during the day. This is a very old and proven pattern in tech: the old Fidonet BBS network used a version of this, with each BBS timing its calls to other nodes to coincide with the cheapest long-distance rates, so that messages for distant systems could be passed on:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FidoNet

Cleantech is a very dynamic sector, even if its triumphs are largely unheralded. There's a quiet revolution underway in generation, storage and transmission of renewable power, and a complimentary revolution in power-consumption in vehicles and homes:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/12/s-curve/#anything-that-cant-go-on-forever-eventually-stops

But cleantech is too important to leave to the incumbents, who are addicted to enshittification and planned obsolescence. These giant, financialized firms lack the discipline and culture to make products that have the features – and cost savings – to make them appealing to the very wide range of buyers who must transition as soon as possible, for the sake of the very planet.

It's not enough for our policymakers to focus on financing and infrastructure barriers to cleantech adoption. We also need a policy-level response to enshittification.

Ideally, every cleantech device would be designed so that it was impossible to enshittify – which would also make it impossible to brick:

Based on free software (best), or with source code escrowed with a trustee who must release the code if the company enters administration (distant second-best);

All patents in a royalty-free patent-pool (best); or in a trust that will release them into a royalty-free pool if the company enters administration (distant second-best);

No parts-pairing or other DRM permitted (best); or with parts-pairing utilities available to all parties on a reasonable and non-discriminatory basis (distant second-best);

All diagnostic and error codes in the public domain, with all codes in the clear within the device (best); or with decoding utilities available on demand to all comers on a reasonable and non-discriminatory basis (distant second-best).

There's an obvious business objection to this: it will reduce investment in innovative cleantech because investors will perceive these restrictions as limits on the expected profits of their portfolio companies. It's true: these measures are designed to prevent rent-extraction and other enshittificatory practices by cleantech companies, and to the extent that investors are counting on enshittification rents, this might prevent them from investing.

But that has to be balanced against the way that a general prohibition on enshittificatory practices will inspire consumer confidence in innovative and novel cleantech products, because buyers will know that their investments will be protected over the whole expected lifespan of the product, even if the startup goes bust (nearly every startup goes bust). These measures mean that a company with a cool product will have a much larger customer-base to sell to. Those additional sales more than offset the loss of expected revenue from cheating and screwing your customers by twiddling them to death.

There's also an obvious legal objection to this: creating these policies will require a huge amount of action from Congress and the executive branch, a whole whack of new rules and laws to make them happen, and each will attract court-challenges.

That's also true, though it shouldn't stop us from trying to get legal reforms. As a matter of public policy, it's terrible and fucked up that companies can enshittify the things we buy and leave us with no remedy.

However, we don't have to wait for legal reform to make this work. We can take a shortcut with procurement – the things governments buy with public money. The feds, the states and localities buy a lot of cleantech: for public facilities, for public housing, for public use. Prudent public policy dictates that governments should refuse to buy any tech unless it is designed to be enshittification-resistant.

This is an old and honorable tradition in policymaking. Lincoln insisted that the rifles he bought for the Union Army come with interoperable tooling and ammo, for obvious reasons. No one wants to be the Commander in Chief who shows up on the battlefield and says, "Sorry, boys, war's postponed, our sole supplier decided to stop making ammunition."

By creating a market for enshittification-proof cleantech, governments can ensure that the public always has the option of buying an EV that can't be bricked even if the maker goes bust, a heat-pump whose digital features can be replaced or maintained by a third party of your choosing, a solar controller that coordinates with the grid in ways that serve their owners – not the manufacturers' shareholders.

We're going to have to change a lot to survive the coming years. Sure, there's a lot of scary ways that things can go wrong, but there's plenty about our world that should change, and plenty of ways those changes could be for the better. It's not enough for policymakers to focus on ensuring that we can afford to buy whatever badly thought-through, extractive tech the biggest companies want to foist on us – we also need a focus on making cleantech fit for purpose, truly smart, reliable and resilient.

Support me this summer on the Clarion Write-A-Thon and help raise money for the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/26/unplanned-obsolescence/#better-micetraps

Image: 臺灣古寫真上色 (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Raid_on_Kagi_City_1945.jpg

Grendelkhan (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ground_mounted_solar_panels.gk.jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

[vampiriito]

Pillow talk and the fifth amendment (r.c flashback)

(JJ Maybank x pogue! reader x Rafe Cameron) ..in which you found yourself torn between two worlds when your best friend, JJ Maybank, who you've been in love with since forever starts dating Kiara. In a jealousy haze you start hooking up with Rafe Cameron, the infamous kook prince. Do you manage to keep everything casual and under control? No, is it fun? Also kind of no, given you hate yourself each time you managed to orgasm. And especially since Rafe's favorite activity is to pick on you and your friends outside the bedroom..

Sometimes working made you feel like you were living alone and just keeping yourself afloat. At times you liked to pretend you were a young adult working while she went to a college in New York, away from all the bullshit on the island. But you weren't. More than half of your paychecks went to your mom directly for "bills and food." Judging by how sometimes you didn't even have electricity, internet or hot water, you could only guess the money that your mom took from you went to something completely different than food and bills. She didn't even try to hide it, the fridge being mostly empty on the days her boyfriend wasn't over. She managed to eat god knows where and you were left doing the same.

Still, you were trying to save up for when you managed to graduate high school, which seemed almost undoable some days. The thought of finally leaving the island and living alone, living on a minimum wage paycheck didn't seem as bad to you, as it seemed to some people. As long as you managed to take a way out, you didn't mind where and what you ended up doing. Of course, sometimes it felt like island had its own way of keeping you anchored on its land. Your mom was a perfect example of that. No matter how much she tried, she ended up with a kid, living from day to day in a trailer park. Still on this stupid island she so desperately wanted to leave. Which scared the living shit out of you when you thought about on particular nights, the vodka or beer hitting you differently.

You polished the pint in your hand almost mindlessly, eyes fixed on the glass for any stains even though your mind was obviously elsewhere. At times like these you hated putting on the stupid club uniform and going to work to interact with the wealthy kooks who were looking to get day-drunk and talk shit about each other while dressed in expensive sundresses and colorful polos. Especially since you'd see most of them at parties snorting pounds of blow like it was a talent, coming to the country club and pretending like everything was fine. Pretending like they weren't rotten underneath the pastel colors of their designer threads and sparkling jewelry.

Which Rafe didn't really liked to partake in. Sure he dressed in high end clothes and wore rings that cost more than your monthly paycheck but he wasn't embarrassed to let the people around him know how rotten and unstable he actually was. His father's wealth managed to soften the blow and the looks he'd get, most people masking their distaste for him behind perfectly manicured respect. But some people his age still liked to whisper among themselves and once he turned away, the façade of respect fell. And he always felt the weight of it shattering behind his back.

Reason why he liked you in the first place. You didn't care about his wealth, or the coke he sold. You didn't even bother to put your customer service voice when you served him. You disliked him because he was simply Rafe, and that was more attractive than he liked to admit. With your recent interactions, his fascination with you continued to grow, despite the fact that you were in fact right.. He didn't really know you. Not that he didn't try. But he was okay with sleeping with you without knowing you fully, or without you being in love with him. He just didn't like that you were in love with the blonde, annoying and loud pogue. JJ Maybank.

It was a pretty slow day in the country club, which he should've been glad of, except that made it hard for him to keep himself entertained. And he was bored out of his mind, which was never a good sign, a sign that he could get into trouble, which he loved to do when he was bored. It was something to do, something to take his mind off the never-ending mess his life was. He sat on one of the high tables, a half empty glass of some bourbon clutched in his hand, listening to his friends ramble about the most recent party they went to.

His eyes were lazily wandering around the room, taking in the decor and the few people roaming around, his gaze stopping on the bar, catching your form working behind the counter. His fingers drummed on the glass in his hand as his gaze lingered on you for a beat longer than it should have, thoughts wandering in a very familiar direction.

His eyes trailed down your body, taking in how the blue buttoned down shirt of the uniform hugged you, the top few buttons undone, giving him an enticing view if he stood a little closer before raising his gaze back up. His thoughts were interrupted as one of his friends noticed the look on his face, "You staring at one of the waitresses again?" the boy nudged him, an amused smirk on his face.

"You know, you shouldn't get too involved with the help.. Might catch something.." interjected one of the boys sitting at table before Rafe could respond to Topper's comment.

Rafe rolled his eyes, shaking his head, his gaze still locked on you but now with a tight jaw. He was getting annoyed already. "Please, I highly doubt any of the waitresses here are stupid, or desperate enough to risk getting mixed up with someone like me." It was mostly the truth. Sure some girls were desperate for money but you weren't stupid. He could see it in your eyes in every brief look you threw him from the bar.

Topper chimed in again, letting out an annoying little laugh that made Rafe want to punch him right there at the table. "Why not? You're rich. You could offer one of those girls a couple hundred dollars and they would be yours, man."

He ignored him this time, his gaze still on you behind the bar where you were getting something from the other side of the bar. His heart pounded in his chest just looking at you, but at the same time, he was pissed. Not at you of course, but at the fact that his friends were getting on his damn nerves, but more so at the thought of you being with any of them instead of him. Especially when Topper's idiotic, suggestive tone and words left an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He shifted uncomfortably in his chair, taking a gulp of bourbon, the liquid burning in his throat as he swallowed. He almost wanted to get up and go somewhere else to sit and drink, but Topper's voice stopped him before he could. "Don't tell me you like one of the waitresses. That ain't smart, man. They're mostly trailer trash. They ain't your type." He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, almost amused by the idea.

"Hold on.. ain't that the chick he took home from your party last week?" asked Kelce with a curious gaze. He shifted between looking at you behind the bar a few good feet away and at Rafe sitting in front of him, his face growing more amused.

Rafe almost cursed at him, taking another gulp of his bourbon, his ears going red as Topper turned to look at Kelce in surprise. He hated that they noticed you and even more so, that they noticed he took you home. He felt a protective, territorial feeling building in the pit if his stomach at the thought of them possibly looking at you, so he shut his mouth instead of protesting.

What caught Rafe's attention though was one of the guy's lingering gaze on you. Jack, some dude from the mainland who was hanging out with him at the time due to his family ties with Topper, pissed him off mildly. Rafe didn't know what it was about the guy, his face looked like he asked to get punched. He didn't act on it, of course. He didn't really do anything to personally offend Rafe in the few days he hung around them. The brunette was eyeing you with a subtle sense of recognition, as if he'd seen you before, even though you had never interacted before. Or so he thought, anyway.

Topper was still giving Rafe a look, his smirk growing even more amused as he picked up the tumbler of his bourbon to throw it back. "Is that one? The girl you took home?" he asked, not even bothering to hide the disbelief from his tone. They all knew how Rafe usually was. He didn't do hook-ups with just anyone, and you were no exception, at least in his eyes.

He clenched his jaw a little bit, keeping his cool as best as he could, as all his friends eyes settled on him questioningly. "So what if I did?" he asked back, feigning nonchalance, as if it was nothing. Like he wasn't burning up with anger as they talked about you in front them, like you weren't right there, just a few feet away from them. The sound of alcohol in their glasses as they took another sip was the only sound in the room for a few moments, before Topper spoke.

Topper scoffed, rolling his eyes at Rafe's reaction. "Not like you to take a girl like her home.. thought you'd be banging some Kook trust fund chick. Not one of the help."

Rafe knew that was the truth. He had a certain reputation for only going after the rich girls here, but he found himself wanting something different for once. You were different, in almost every way, and he liked it. But there was no way he would admit this to his friends, so he just shrugged nonchalantly, taking another gulp of his drink.

The other guys at the table all shared a look as Rafe shrugged, a few of them letting out laughs at his nonchalant demeanor. Topper though, was not falling for it. "You really took one of the workers home? Aren't you worried you'll catch something? You might wanna get your junk checked out, dude." He said jokingly, his eyes still fixed on Rafe's face.

Rafe's hands closed tightly around the glass in his hand at the comment, his entire body tense. He was getting angry again, the thought of you being the topic of conversation making his blood boil and the thought of this idiot assuming you're some kind of disease-ridden slut was making him see red. Before he could even respond, Kelce, sensing the shift in atmosphere and the growing tension among them, spoke up, trying to diffuse the situation.

He could feel Kelce eyeing him warily while Jack still kept his gaze glued to you, his face a picture of subtle interest. Rafe was seething inside, trying to control his temper as Kelce's words cut through the awkward silence, "Hey, let's not talk about the help.. just a bunch of trailer trash anyway."

"Trash.. but good for a quickie, am I right?" Topper said with a smirk, the guy's all laughing at his comment as he looked up to catch you glancing their way for a split second. The guys, besides Kelce, were all amused by the sight of you working behind the bar and you being the topic of their conversation.

Rafe's fingers were gripping the glass so hard it seemed like it would crack at any second, his entire expression neutral as he watched all the guys laugh at that. It took all he had to not pounce across that table and slam his fist right into Topper's face. Instead, he sat there with gritted teeth, his jaw clenched so tight it might snap. Because he had no reason to want to defend you. Hell, by now he should be joining in on the teasing. Especially since you were kind of a bitch to him when sober.

"She ain't bad looking though. Kind of hot." Jack said, his eyes still trained on you, which was really getting on Rafe's nerves as he spoke. "Yeah, maybe if you're into trailer trash." Topper added, and before Rafe could shut him up, Kelce intervened again.

Rafe's jaw was so clenched now, you could hear his teeth grind from across the room. "Don't be an ass, just leave it." Kelce said to Topper, giving him a look. Kelce seemed to have some decency at least, even though he probably agreed with Topper.

Topper shrugged, dismissing Kelce and the look he gave him. "Just sayin' the obvious." he retorted, leaning back in his chair. "You can't deny it. You'd let her ride you like a rodeo." he added, grinning at the others in the table, who let out snorts of agreement. "Nah, I don't mess with that type." Kelce spoke up, sipping his drink, his eyes roaming around the club as he spoke.

Topper's comment made Rafe amused for some reason. Not because Topper was a comical genius, but because unknown to them he actually let you do just that 2 out of the 3 times you slept together, memories flooding into his brain briefly. He remembered you cutting up his favorite belt with your switchblade the first night and he most definitely remembered the time a few days ago when he took you home after getting spiked and you ended up sleeping with him again. Which you didn't seem to really mind, given you weren't chewing him out for it. Maybe you actually liked it.

Rafe found himself getting lost in his own thoughts again, drowning out the conversation the guys were having as his mind wandered. He was getting irritated once more as he caught Jacks lingering gaze on you, and to his dismay, you were returning the eye contact. It was probably just you looking around, but he didn't know that. The sight of you meeting eyes with anyone other than him made his possessive thoughts run rampant.

Topper noticed Rafe's gaze, the way his eyes were glued on you as you worked silently behind the bar. He followed his gaze, chuckling upon noticing the expression on your face as you peered through the crowd, locking eyes with no one other than Jack. He could tell Rafe was fuming, despite the blank expression on his face, and decided to speak up again, clearly amused, "She's looking your way. Maybe she likes you better."

Rafe's eyes snapped back to Topper just in time to see his smug look, and he bit his tongue to hold back the snarky response on his tongue. He knew Jack was pretty damn attractive. Of course he saw how girls were throwing themselves at him, even though he looked like the type to try and roofie you. But he didn't care if you noticed him, his eyes darting across the room and catching the way you were still looking in their direction. Which bothered him for a reason he couldn't comprehend.

Jack seemed to catch your line of sight, a smirk forming on his face before his eyes lingered on you some more. Rafe could feel his blood boiling at that stupid look on the guy's face, his fingers clenching into a fist. Topper noticed Rafe's reaction, grinning at the sight of him trying to hold back from jumping out of his seat. "She's still looking at you man.. you gonna go talk to her or what?" he said to Jack, still determined to piss Rafe off.

Just as Rafe was about to finally snap at them, Jack was already pushing his chair away from the table and standing up. He looked a bit cocky at the opportunity, clearly up for the challenge of getting a girl. "Yeah, I think I might." He said before heading over, his gaze still on you.

At this point, Rafe had completely tuned out the others, who were amused at the sight before them. His gaze was fixed on you and the guy making his way over towards you, making his way to the very bar you were standing behind. He couldn't look away even if he wanted to. Jack stopped right in front of the bar, a charming and cocky smile on his face that made Rafe even more furious.

You, who was still working behind the bar, could see Rafe's table from far away, and you noticed the guy making his way over to the bar. That, and of course you noticed Rafe sitting in one of the high chairs. That was a new habit he had formed. Coming to the club every other day and just sitting at one of the tables, watching you work. And you'd be a liar if you had said it didn't make you feel uneasy and a little hot at the same time.

You weren't exactly thrilled at the sight of the mildly familiar yet strange guy approaching your bar with a determined look plastered on his face. You continued to polish the glasses you just washed, shifting your gaze down in hopes he was just coming over to order a drink or get a refill.

Jack stopped in front of the bar, taking a quick perusal of your figure in the tight fitting country club uniform. His gaze lingered, taking in every detail, from your name tag to the buttons of your shirt. It left him impressed with how pretty you were, and his lips curled upwards as he noticed you looking down at the glasses instead of at him.

He waited a few seconds for you to acknowledge him and look up, but you just continued your busy work, obviously pretending your weren't noticing his presence. He cleared his throat and leaned forward on the bar, "Excuse me."

You hummed, finally raising your gaze up from the last glass you were polishing, plastering a fake polite smile on your face to indicate you acknowledged him.

He leaned a little more forward, looking at you through hooded eyes, his gaze roaming over your face like he was studying you. He was shamelessly scanning your body, letting his gaze roam over the curves of your chest and the buttons that ran down the middle of your shirt, before letting his eyes meet yours again. "Can I order something strong?" he asked, his voice quiet.

You suppressed the urge to grimace at him, reaching up to adjust your glasses nodding. "If you're looking to get day-drunk, maybe.. What's it gonna be?" you asked, still trying to mask the hint of unease at getting checked out so blatantly.

He thought for a second, a subtle smirk forming on his face as he watched you. He knew he made you uneasy, and that only spurred him on. He kept his gaze locked on you as he spoke, "Whiskey neat. Thanks." His eyes flicked between yours, studying your expression and the slight frown on your face.

You nodded, turning around to grab a rocks glass and pour a shot of Bourbon in the short tumbler. Your movements were quick and swift, going thru the motions of serving the simple drink before sliding the glass on the counter to him. Your eyes flitted towards Jack's table, catching Rafe's eyes for a split second before looking at the man you were serving. "You got a tab open?" you asked unenthused, smiling politely once again.

Jack took the glass from you, noticing the brief moment where you looked over at Rafe's table. His gaze flicked back to you and he took in the fake, polite smile you gave him. He was amused, taking a small sip from the glass before answering your question, "No. Just pay now."

"That will be 30 bucks.." you stated, looking down at his glass.

Jack raised his eyebrows in surprise. $30 was a lot for a single shot, but he was used to prices like that. He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, pulling out a crisp fifty dollar bill. He slid it over to you, "Keep the change." he said nonchalantly, taking another sip of his drink as his gaze flickered over your figure again.

You raised one brow subtly as he handed you a fifty dollar bill, urging you to keep the 20 as a tip. These rich, snobby kids could really just go around and pay 30$ for a drink and leave a 20 dollar bill as a tip. Incredible. "How nice.." you mused under your breath, stashing the 50 in the register and taking the 20 bill to hand it back to him with the receipt. Basically flat out refusing his tip.

You raised one brow subtly as he handed you a fifty dollar bill, urging you to keep the 20 as a tip. These rich, snobby kids could really just go around and pay 30$ for a drink and leave a 20 dollar bill as a tip. Incredible. "How nice.." you mused under your breath, stashing the 50 in the register and taking the 20 bill to hand it back to him with the receipt. Basically flat out refusing his tip.

Jack couldn't help but scoff at your reaction. He was well used to people bowing to him and jumping at the opportunity of tips, but you weren't giving him that. He was used to people being overly nice and polite to him, not giving him bitchy attitude. He smirked back at you, his gaze narrowing as he leaned back on the bar, his gaze roaming your form again. "I told you to keep the change." he repeated slowly.

"I was making sure i heard you correctly.." you chuckled dryly, pocketing the tipped bill in the pocket of your apron. You moved back to washing and polishing the remainder of the glasses, fully expecting him to just get up and leave from the bar nor that the interaction was done.

Instead of doing what you had expected, he stayed where he was, leaning forward on the bar and watching you with a smirk as you continued polishing the glasses. He sipped on the Bourbon he had ordered, observing your movements with a curious gaze. You were pretty, of course he noticed. But he just couldn't understand why you wouldn't be bowing down to him like the rest of the girls here.

You looked back up at him and then at the table he came from once again. Topper was watching his cousin and you intently with a shit eating grin, not trying to hide that he was staring along with Kelce. Rafe was just.. sitting there, trying to resist the urge to look over his shoulder at the scene of Jack trying to chat you up. "Do you.. need something else?" you asked awkwardly, raising one brow.

Jack's gaze flickered back to yours, and he leaned even closer across the bar, his smirk widening as he noticed your hesitancy and your obvious efforts of trying to get rid of him. He chuckled as you asked if he needed anything else, clearly amused.

He watched how you briefly stole a glance over at Rafe's table, noticing Topper's smirk and Kelce looking in your direction as well. Jacks gaze hardened just a bit as he spoke up, "No.. don't think so."

"Thought the country club boys didn't really like to chat it up with... the help." you spoke evenly, customer service voice still standing strong against your disinterest in the guy sitting in front of you.

Jack's smirk grew even bigger. He was amused by your boldness, but he also found your attitude kind of intriguing, if not a little bit aggravating. He took another sip of his drink, his gaze still roaming over you, taking in every feature on your face. "Depends on the help." he replied bluntly, eyeing you with a sly smile.

You raised your brows, shaking your head gently to yourself. The guy was trying. You were wondering if Rafe sent him over to entertain his little group of clowns. Certainly their friend trying to hit on you might amuse him. "Smooth.." you smirked cynically, looking back down at the champagne glass you were lazily polishing.

Jack let out a small laugh, amused at how you were reacting to him. He was used to women melting at the sight of him, and here you were, acting like he wasn't the finest man you've ever seen. It was intriguing and frustrating at the same time. He leaned in slightly, his gaze not faltering from your face, "You're fun. A little disrespectful, but fun." he mused under his breath, chuckling softly.

Disrespectful? Wow, that was a new one. "Do you.. wanna file a formal complaint?" you muttered teasingly, not raising your gaze to glance at him, chuckling quietly.

He was amused, his smirk widening as you teased him. He took a moment to reply, taking another sip of his drink, "I'll pass. This is more fun." He chuckled softly, his gaze drifting over your face, "You usually act like this to all your lovely customers?"

"Not usually, no.." you spoke flatly and shook your head. "I usually save this attitude for the Cameron boy at your table.. Seems like he didn't wanna verbally abuse each other today and sent you to torture me.." you added, nodding vaguely towards Rafe sitting at his table with Topper and Kelce.

Jack hummed, following your gaze to the table of boys sitting in the corner. His eyebrows rose at your comment, the smirk still plastered on his face, "You know him? The guy who's sitting over there?" He asked bluntly.

You smirked genuinely for the first time Jack ordered his drink, your teeth sinking into your bottom lip as you studied the glass in your gloved hands with an amused look. Oh, how did you know Rafe.. "You could say that, yeah.." you responded, grinning once you locked eyes with Jack.

Jack's eyes narrowed slightly, something about the look on your face, the way you looked the way you smiled whenever you looked over at their table... He felt something. But he was more intrigued by the fact that you knew Rafe. He shifted forward a bit on the barstool, leaning in slightly, "You guys good friends or something?"

You grimaced slightly at the word 'friends'. You and Rafe, friends... What a joke. Maybe with benefits if it came to giving a label to whatever it was that you were doing with one another. Although you weren't friends. Maybe enemies with benefits seeing as you didn't really like Rafe outside the fact that he was good in bed. "No.. Not exactly." you shrugged, your answers continuing to be small and cryptic.

Jack's eyebrows raised, a curious gleam in his eyes as he heard your answer. The fact that you knew Rafe obviously peaked his interest and he was quick to pick up on the fact that you were intentionally leaving something out. "Then what are you?" he asked bluntly, a smirk playing on his lips as he waited for your answer.

"Trailer park trash..? In his words.." you chuckled heartily, sparing Rafe another glance. "We don't really get along that much.." you added quietly, leaning in slightly.

Jack huffed, a smirk still lingering on his face as he took another gulp form his glass. He was amused, that's why he was prolonging this conversation. You were easy on the eyes, feisty and bold, it intrigued him. "He seems like a dick." he stated flatly, his eyes flickering towards Rafe for a second before landing on you again.

Your brows furrowed in confused amusement at his statement, "Aren't you his friend?" you asked, studying his face intently.

Jack scoffed at your question, taking another sip of his drink and setting the glass down on the counter. "Never said I was his friend." he answered bluntly.

You looked over to Rafe once again, your amused expression falling as you turned back to Jack, "You're not from the island, right?" you asked almost cautiously, chewing the inside of your cheek.

Jack's smirk grew a bit at your question, raising his eyebrows at your cautiousness. He shook his head, "No. What gave it away?" he chuckled softly, his gaze not breaking away from your face.

The way he acted, first of all. Especially in relation to Rafe. Any guy in their right mind, who hung out around THE Rafe Cameron, would scramble to claim that they were friends. Every kook on the island wanted to be associated with the Camerons. But not this guy, he acted like a tourist, but with extra steps. Maybe a cousin of either Topper or Kelce. Definitely not Kelce.. "Just the way you act.." you shrugged, your words casual as you looked down at your gloved hands.

Jack hummed under his breath, amused at the way you observed him so closely, trying to figure him out. He watched you with interest, leaning back against the barstool, "And how do I act?" he asked bluntly, a sly smirk on his lips.

"Like a touron with extra steps.." you whispered mockingly, eyes narrowed in condescension.

Jack chuckled at your dig, amused by your attempt to provoke him. He leaned in closer, his smirk growing wider, "Touron.. Haven't heard that one before." he said with a scoff, raising his eyebrows jokingly in a mockery of shock. His eyes were fixed intensely one yours before they flickered down to your chest area, his gaze lingering on the buttons of your shirt.

"It's an Outer Banks thing.. Just like 'Kook' and 'Pogue'.." you rolled your eyes with a smile, pleased that you had the upper hand in the conversation and he didn't since he wasn't from around here.

Jack rolled his eyes in return, chuckling under his breath before leaning in even closer, his gaze flickering down to your chest again as he spoke in a hushed tone, "From your smile i have a feeling you're hiding small insults behind your words, ones I'm not capable of hearing..."

You rolled your eyes once again, this time in subtle annoyance rather than amusement "Calm down outsider, I'm not insulting you.." you muttered, scoffing.

Jack smirked in response, amused by the annoyed look on your face, "You sure seem like you want to-" he retorted, his gaze sliding over your body once more, "..but I'll give you a pass, just cause you're pretty."

You pretended to be flattered by his words, gasping in mock gratefulness. "Whatever would i have done if i wasn't saved by my pretty privilege.." you spoke mockingly, placing a hand over your heart sardonically.

Jack scoffed at your comment, his smirk growing even wider. He leaned in closer, his gaze flickering down to your chest once again before returning to your face, "Oh, I'm sure you know exactly how to take advantage of it."

Your eyes narrowed as you noticed his gaze drift down to your chest once again, for the millionth time since the conversation started. Men. "My tits are not gonna change shape or color if you continue to glance at them.." you sighed in annoyance, not even bothering to stop the sarcasm and irritation from rolling out of your words.

Jack's smirk turned coy, his gaze returning to your eyes after he was caught in the act. He chuckled under his breath, amused by your direct call-out, "I'm curious now, what are they like-" he muttered teasingly, his eyes flickering from your face down to your chest and back again, raising his eyebrows in mock sincerity.

"Maybe you can ask your buddy Rafe, then.. I'm sure he knows what they're like.." you trailed off cryptically, sparing another glance towards the table of Kooks.

Jack's cocky expression faltered for a second, replaced with something resembling annoyance and curiosity. He shifted on the barstool, crossing his arms over his chest, "And why would he know that?" he asked bluntly, his gaze flicking towards the table where Rafe was sitting before returning to you.

"Why do you think?" you asked, raising your brows knowingly, reaching up to adjust your glasses.

Jack huffed, his lips pressed in a tight line. He hated that he couldn't get a proper answer out of you, it was irritating. "That's not an answer.." he grumbled underneath his breath, eyeing you with narrowed eyebrows.

You scoffed as you distracted yourself by putting away some of the glasses you polished. This guy was starting to really annoy you. "My job application didn't entail me giving you answers about who gets to see my tits or not.." you muttered.

Jack chuckled in response, amused by your snarkiness. He leaned back slightly, taking a long sip from his drink as he studied your face, "No, but your job application definitely involves being polite and courteous to guests.." he retorted, grinning slyly.

"Yeah, when they're keeping their eyes on appropriate parts of my body.. Like my face for example.." you narrowed your eyes, slipping off the rubber gloves to button up the top 3 buttons on your light blue uniform shirt.

Jacks eyes widened in surprise at your action, his gaze dropping down to follow your fingers as they buttoned up your shirt, his expression a mix of annoyance and intrigue. He bit down on his lip for a second, before leaning in slightly, his voice dropping to a hushed whisper, "You're no fun.."

You sighed, adjusting your glasses unenthusiastically "I've been called worse.." you stated, fixing him with your gaze.

He couldn't help but chuckle in response, his smirk growing wider as he took in your expression. He leaned a bit closer, his gaze wandering over you before meeting your eyes again, "I can't tell if you love or hate me right now.." he said bluntly.

You raised on brow, scoffing in mock disbelief "Those are the only options i get?" you asked, pretending to be disappointed. "Maybe i feel a third, secret thing towards you.."

Jack's smirk widened into a grin despite his best efforts to contain it, intrigued by your response. He leaned in closer, his gaze locked on yours, "Oh yeah.. What's the third thing?" he asked curiously, fully invested in your answer now.

You tapped your chin, pretending to think over your answer "Definitely not something as strong as 'love' or 'hate'... Maybe disgust or even annoyance. Or perhaps boredom.." you stated in a sickly sweet tone, despite the sarcasm in your words.

Jack chuckled at your response, his gaze never faltering from your face. His smirk faltered for a moment, his expression hardening slightly but his amusement prevailed, "Ouch, that stung." He said in a mock pained tone before continuing, "I can live with 'annoyance', though."

You pinched the bridge of your nose, growing more and more annoyed as the conversation stretched. You were definitely starting to appreciate the fact that despite being annoying, Rafe was definitely more charming with the banter and the attempts to irritate you. Maybe sleeping with him before contributed to that. "Is this what you country-club freaks do for fun?" you asked, letting out another sigh "Just.. bother the workers? Or is this your attempt at hitting on me and not succeeding?"

Jack huffed, his expression darkening slightly. Despite his cocky facade, he was evidently getting irritated at your comments, "This isn't an attempt for anything.. I'm just trying to chat.. And you're not making it easy." he responded, his gaze fixed on yours.

"I get like.. 30 of you "trying" to chat me up during my shift. While also ordering the same fucking thing as you did.." you pointed to his almost finished glass of Bourbon. "In the middle of the day too.. Whiskey neat to get day-drunk, isn't as unique as you like to think.."

Jack rolled his eyes in response, raising an eyebrow. He let out an amused scoff, taking a final gulp from his glass and setting it back on the counter. He leaned in closer, his gaze meeting yours, "Maybe if you weren't so damn annoying to chat with, you would get asked out more..."

You plastered another fake and polite smile on your face, obviously not deterred by his not so subtle jab at you being hard to talk to. "Guys ask me out.. I just don't go.." you muttered, your smile widening.

Jack's expression darkened slightly, his gaze narrowing as he studied you, "Now that is surprising.. You have the kind of face that guys should be dropping on their knees for.." He leaned back on his stool, his smirk growing slightly, "But that mouth.."

He trailed off, his eyes flickering down to your mouth. He let out a scoff, his gaze flickering up to meet yours, "I can see why they stop after one try.."

You grimaced in pure annoyance now, going back to putting away the remainder of the polished glasses. "Maybe you should follow along, then.."

Jack chuckled, amused by your annoyance. He leaned forward, his arms resting on the bar, "I'm not the kind of guy who takes no for an answer so easily, darling."

You scoffed as if he had confirmed something by saying that, shaking your head to yourself "Trust me, you act the part.." you muttered breathlessly.

Jack's expression grew curious, a slight smirk tugging at his lips, "What part am I acting?" He asked, his gaze locking on yours. He couldn't tell if your words were a compliment or a jab at him.

"The part where you clearly can't tell when someone is not interested.." you responded bluntly.

Jack rolled his eyes in response, leaning back on the barstool once again. He let out a scoff, his gaze narrowing as he studied you, "You say you're not interested but you're the one who keeps the conversation going.." he retorted, his tone growing annoyed.

You turned back to face him, sighing loudly, obviously fed up with his shit. "Okay fine.. I'm ending the conversation and politely asking you to leave the bar."

Jack's gaze hardened at your demand, his irritation clear on his face. He clenched his jaw, his eyes flickering with annoyance before he sighed and stood up from the barstool, grabbing his wallet and tossing another 20 dollar tip on the counter.

He adjusted his shirt, his expression still annoyed but more passive now. "You're fun.. Sometimes.." he muttered, his gaze flickering from your face to your chest for the last time before turning away and heading back towards his friends at their table, throwing you one last look over his shoulder.

You watched as he made his way back to Rafe's table, Topper instantly brightening up as Jack approached the table. You glanced back down at the second 20 dollar tip, smiling to yourself. You just made 40 bucks by simply rejecting an annoying kook's advances. The country-club job continued to surprise you.

Rafe had been watching the interaction from the table the entire time, his gaze fixated on you and Jack. He was watching with irritation and jealousy, his expression hardening as he noticed how close the guy got to you. He couldn't hear what you two were saying, but he sure could see how close the guy's face got to yours as he leaned on the bar.

Topper let out a whoop as Jack sat back down, slapping his back in a half-hearted attempt to cheer him up for his failed attempt at hitting on you. He smirked, "Not so successful, huh?" he asked, glancing over towards the bar in amusement.

Jack leaned back against the chair, trying to maintain his composure after the less than successful conversation. He huffed, annoyance evident on his face, "I don't get it, man.. I had her going for a bit, she was even playing along.. Then out of nowhere she just shut me down.”

Topper shook his head, amused by his cousin's frustration, "Yeah, that's usually how it goes when you try to have a civil conversation with a Pogue girl.." he responded with a shrug, grabbing his almost depleted beer and downing it in one large gulp.

Rafe had been listening with a mix of amusement and satisfaction, sipping on his beer quietly. He couldn't help but feel amused by how his friend failed to sweep you off your feet and annoyed that you were even giving him the time of day. He stayed silent, trying to keep his own jealousy and irritation in check.

Jack let out a loud sigh, still annoyed and irritated with how the interaction ended. He leaned forward, his eyes flickering over to the bar, "She's a piece of work, that one.." he muttered, still staring at you. Topper chuckled, taking another gulp of his beer, "Yeah.. But she's fine.. Wouldn't mind getting a piece of that myself.." he joked, earning a scoff from Jack.

Rafe's grip on his beer tightened involuntarily, his jaw clenching as he overheard their comments. He knew how men talked about women all the time. But for some reason, hearing them talk about you rubbed him the wrong way. He took another gulp of his beer, trying to mask his irritation.

Of course Rafe had no claim over you. It wasn't like the two of you were dating. You slept together three times and that was it. He was more than sure that if he walked over to the bar right now, you'd give him the same attitude you gave Jack, maybe worse. So his irritation and jealousy were completely unwarranted since you were a piece of work and an absolute menace to have around. And Rafe was well aware of the fact that you were in love with your annoying pogue best friend. God, if he thought he couldn't dislike the loud and reckless pogue more, he was wrong. You were sleeping with him whenever you got wasted to try and get another guy (who had a girl) out of your system and here he was, getting jealous over you. How pathetic.

Rafe took another long sip of his beer, trying to keep his gaze from wandering to the bar where you were. He was used to keeping his feelings in check (sometimes) but for some reason, hearing you reject other guys made his heart flutter a little. He bit down on his bottom lip, shaking his head at his own idiotic emotions. He looked away, trying to distract himself with conversations around him.

Jack was still rambling about his failed attempt at talking to you, still irritated and disappointed. He didn't handle failure well, never did. "Goddamn it, how hard can it be to chat up a girl..?" he muttered angrily under his breath. Topper chuckled, shaking his head "With Pogues.. Pretty damn hard..." He added with a scoff, taking another gulp of his beer. Rafe couldn't help but chuckle, his mood lightening a little.

Jack huffed, running a hand through his hair in frustration, "But she was flirting with me for a bit, though.." He said in irritation, his gaze flicking over back to you. Rafe followed his gaze, his own gaze flicking over to you once again. "I guess she doesn't like that pretty face of yours after all.. Or the fancy clothes.. Or the money.." He commented sarcastically, his eyes taking in your outfit and the way you carried yourself, his gaze falling down to the necklace peeking out from the collar of your shirt. The same cheap necklace he had dangling in his face when you rode him..

Jack scowled at the insult, his expression hardening once again, "It's not like you're doing any better... When was the last time you even got laid?.." Topper snickered at that comment, amused by the jab.

Rafe hummed as if he was thinking over the comment, poking the inside of his cheek with the tip of his tongue. In reality he was just revisiting the last time he had slept with you like a couple of days ago, the memories flooding his brain pleasantly. "Two days ago.. more or less.." he mumbled casually, smirking slightly at Jack.

Jack rolled his eyes, annoyed at how confident and smug Rafe seemed. Despite his irritation, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in surprise, "Two days ago.. with who exactly...?" He asked, his interest piqued. Topper leaned in, now intrigued at the possibility of gossip.

Rafe took a casual sip of his drink, his smirk growing slightly. "Doesn't matter.. Point is, I got some recently. While your sorry ass is here whining like a little kid about a Pogue girl turning you down..." He replied, his tone condescending.

Jack scoffed, his annoyance growing even more. He knew they were both just trying to get a rise out of each other, but it was working. "Well.. I still have a better chance with her than you do.." He retorted, his gaze flickering over to you again.

Rafe stifled a scoff, almost choking on his beer at the ridiculous statement. He couldn't help but be amused and annoyed at the same time. "Oh really.. And how did that go for you? I just watched her reject you from across the room and make you look like a total dick..".

Jack clenched his jaw, refusing to be embarrassed by his failure. He was Jack Maynard, he always got what he wanted. "I was getting close... she was interested.." he snapped back, trying to defend himself.

Rafe chuckled derisively, rolling his eyes at Jack's arrogance. "Oh yeah, real interested in your annoying ass.." he snarked back, taking a long swig from his beer. This was especially funny to Rafe knowing he scored before with you. Knowing that unlike the guy sitting in front of him, complaining about how you shut him down, he had a bigger chance of scoring again with you than this guy ever did. And that just lightened his sour mood, even if it was just a hint lighter.

Jack gritted his teeth, his irritation growing with each passing second. He couldn't stand the cocky confidence coming from Rafe. "Oh yeah.. How do you know so much about what she's interested in.. Just cuz she let you take her home once doesn't make you an expert.."

Rafe scoffed, not being able to stop his cocky smirk from growing. He leaned back against his chair, his gaze meeting Jacks, a challenge in his eyes. "Well I'm not the one who just got rejected, am I?" he replied smugly, before adding "And don't forget.. once is more than your zero times..".

Jack clenched his jaw tightly, his hands curling into fists. He was getting tired of the cocky smirk plastered on Rafe's face, the way he was so smug and condescending. "At least I tried, man. Unlike you.." he shot back with a scoff, trying to hide his annoyance. Topper watched the back and forth in between his cousin and friend with increasing amusement.

Rafe chuckled, shaking his head at the obvious attempt to undermine him. "Oh, I tried alright.. multiple times, actually.." he responded with a cocky smirk, taking another sip of his beer and ignoring the curious look Topper was sending his way.

Jack huffed in annoyance, his irritations growing every second. "Yeah, and how's that working out for you? Got rejected a bunch, did you?" he replied sarcastically, his gaze flickering over to you for yet another time.

Rafe didn't bother looking in your direction, he knew you were busy with the job. Instead, he let out an amused scoff at Jacks response. "Not me, no.. Some people actually know how to handle a girl.. and it's a lot more complicated than just trying to talk it out like you did." He replied, leaning back on his chair nonchalantly, taking a long swig from his beer. Topper looked back and forth between them, growing curious by the second.

Jack felt like his patience was running thin at this point and he was ready to flip the table over, only barely managing to control himself from doing so. "Oh, yeah?.. And what exactly is your approach, then? Huh? You're just gonna strut over there and flash your money at her until she thinks you're interesting?" he retorted with an annoyed scoff.

Rafe laughed at the childish and irrational response, his smirk growing wider as he watched Jack get more and more irritated. "No, man.. That's more your style.. You'd just flash your Rolex and your dad's credit card and think that'll do the trick.." he replied, his tone amused and mocking. Topper stifled a laugh at Jacks expense, enjoying the banter.

Jack's irritation reached a boiling point when Rafe brought his family's wealth into the conversation. He was fed up with the insults and condescending tone, "At least I have something to use. What do you offer? Just your arrogant attitude and shitty personality..."

Rafe chuckled, raising his beer to his lips. He couldn't help but feel amused at just how irritated he was getting his friend. "Yeah.. you got money. And yet the Pogue girl still didn't give two shits about you.. and let's be real... I actually have a personality."

Jack was close to physically exploding at this point. He was tired of the condescending tone and insults, but what really got under his skin was the mention of you and your lack of interest in him. Despite the fact he knew you were not interested in him, hearing the truth from someone else hurt his pride. "Oh, yeah? Right... Because being a dick is personality.." he retorted dryly as he took another sip of his bourbon.

Rafe scoffed, a smirk playing at his lips at Jacks obvious irritation. He knew he was hitting a nerve, and it was too easy to get under his skin. "Well, I'd take my personality over your arrogance any day.. At least I don't whine like a little kid when I don't get what I want..."

Jack was just about to snap again, his irritations getting the worst of him for a moment, before Topper intervened. He could sense the growing tension and before a fight breaks out he cleared his throat, trying to steer the conversation into a different direction. "Alright, enough.. Both of y'all are being dickheads.. Can we drop the topic, please? Let's talk about something else."

Jack grumbled under his breath, unable to let go of his irritation just yet, while Rafe took another smug sip from his beer, still enjoying the banter. But the rest of the conversation shifted into a different, less heated topic. They still looked at each other with irritation, but kept their snarkiness to themselves to not cause a scene.

By the end of their drinking, the early afternoon shifting into early evening, you had finally cleaned up most of the counter, glancing occasionally over to the table of Kook boys, as the alcohol has started taking in effect. The atmosphere changing into a loud one. The group kept on getting more rowdy and you weren't sure how to feel, your gaze flicking over to them every now and then, watching them with a mixture of annoyance and entertainment. The tables around the bar continued to fill up, your shift growing more unbearable as you had to interact with more condescending kooks while simultaneously pouring the same few drinks over and over.

Rafe had downed quite a lot throughout the day and was feeling pretty drunk, but not too far gone yet. Just enough to feel the alcohol and the buzz, but still remember what he was doing. He occasionally let his gaze wander over to the bar to catch a glimpse of you working, a lazy cocky smirk on his face each time he did. He was definitely checking you out more often than he should.

At a moment when things seemed to calm down a bit, you were wiping down the bar-counter when you felt an all too familiar pair of blue eyes on you, boring into your skull. You didn't need to look up to know who it was, you could sense him watching you from across the room. The guy had a habit of staring a little too intensely for your liking whenever the two of you were in the same room. Even before you slept together. Which you didn't know if it was supposed to be flattering or not.

Rafe was sitting with his friends yet his gaze was fixated on you on the side. His eyes never left you, he was too fascinated with every little move you did. And he didn't really care who could see him staring right now. His eyes were glued to you through hooded lids, his head tilted to the side as he watched you intently, a cocky smirk plastered on his face as he slowly took in the sight of you.

You could feel Rafe's eyes on you, boring into you like a drill as he lazily leaned back to slouch on his chair. Which he changed at some point during the day, now sitting in a chair which faced the bar directly. You knew he was watching you and you knew he was drunk, the way his eyes were roaming over your body shamelessly gave him away. You could also feel his friends' eyes on him, not so discreetly, observing the way he was looking over at you. You tried your best not to acknowledge his gaze, even though your whole body was heating up from his intense stare. You were used to getting checked out by the younger kook boys, but Rafe was a different story. Your shared animosity and the fact that you knew him outside of work, made it all the more... awkward? You didn't even know if that was the correct word for how your relationship progressed over the past week.

Rafe was getting some interesting looks from his friends, but he didn't care. He was too busy watching your every move, his gaze intense and hungry. He liked it when you were ignoring him, it made it feel like a fun little game of cat and mouse. He knew he was being too obvious with his staring, but he couldn't help it. Every inch of you was like a magnet to his eyes.

He watched as you continued your work, his gaze flickering up and down your figure, drinking in the sight of you in those jeans. He could almost feel his mouth watering at the view. He was getting drunker by the minute, his inhibitions lowering and his desire growing stronger.

He took a sip of his beer, his gaze still following your every move as you were now bent over one booth to pick up some trash, Rafe's eyes roaming down your body to your ass, practically drooling a bit. He could hardly keep himself from getting up and walking over to you, but he knew it would cause a scene with his friends, so he just sat back and continued ogling you from across the bar.

You could feel the heat in your cheeks as you went through the same old routine of collecting trash, occasionally stealing glances at the table across the room where he was sitting. Rafe was definitely not being subtle about his stares anymore, his gaze hungry and intense, making your heart rate quicken in response. If this had been another night, you might have found it amusing how obvious he was being, but given the fact that you were working, it was actually becoming extremely irritating. Especially since you were completely sober, unlike him. You definitely didn't wanna interact with him, or any of the guys at his table for that matter. You walked back behind the bar, just tidying up the space in hopes of ignoring the stare down Rafe was trying to have with you, accidentally looking over at him for a split second and cursing yourself internally.

As soon as your eyes flickered over to his, Rafe smirked, noticing the sudden shift in your facial expression. He could tell you tried ignoring him, but one quick accidental look revealed the opposite. You were aware of his gaze. And he loved it. He slowly ran his tongue over his bottom lip, the smirk never leaving his face, eyes locked on you like a predator locked on its prey.

He took another lazy sip of his beer, his eyes still on you, his gaze growing darker and hungrier by the minute. He watched as you tidied up the counter, his lazy smirk growing wider as he found himself growing more and more enchanted by the fact how completely unbothered you seemed by his stares, as if you weren't getting ogled by a drunk boy at all

After finishing up wiping the counter for the third time in the last ten minutes you decided you had enough of it. You fished your phone from your back pocket, leaning against the counter as you unlocked and swiped through your apps to reach the messages. You hovered over Rafe's contact, chewing on your bottom lip. Were you two even supposed to text? That would just give him the satisfaction of irritating you. But you had to decide quick, given you shouldn't be seen on your phone at the bar, despite not having anything to do or any customer to serve. So you gave in texting him briefly before stashing your phone back into your back pocket.

You rolled your eyes at his last text, tucking your phone back into your back pocket ending the conversation by leaving him on read. A small smile tugging at your lips as the bar started getting more crowded now that it was reaching rush hour. You spared another glance towards his table, sliding the glass of champagne to the last lady in the group of older kook women sitting at the bar, smiling as you opened the tab for them.

He watched as you worked, your every movement was like a spell he couldn't take his gaze off of. The way you moved around the room, the way you interacted with the customers, it was like watching an artist at work. He also noticed how you had put your phone away, refusing to engage in the banter with him anymore. And he had to admit, he missed your attention.

He found himself nursing his beer, his eyes glued to your figure as you continued to attend to the other customers. He was lost in his thoughts, a small frown tugging at his lips. He didn't like when you ignored him like this, it made him feel vulnerable in a way he wasn't used to.

He hated that you were able to mess with him like this. He wasn't the type to let anyone get under his skin, but you? You had him wrapped around your pinky without even realizing it.

Maybe it was the alcohol in his system that made him so desperate for your attention, or maybe he was just feeling more emotional than usual. But he couldn't shake off the feeling of wanting to be near you.

He knew it was a bad idea, given the fact that you were working and you were both in public, but he didn't care. He needed to be close to you, even if just for a moment.

He downed the last of his beer, getting up from his seat with a bit of a sway as he made his way towards the bar, his eyes not leaving your figure for a second.

You were occupied with cleaning the bar countertop as he approached the bar, choosing to ignore him for a few moments until he'd eventually speak first. Because he always did. You still had the hope that he just walked over to get a refill or maybe even close out his tab for the day, but you probably didn't have that kind of luck.

He leaned against the bar top, propping himself up on his elbow as he watched you work. He couldn't help but admire the way your hips moved under those tight jeans every time you bent down to reach for something.

He waited for you to look up at him, but you seemed to be intentionally ignoring him, pretending like he wasn't even there. He couldn't help but smile, you were stubborn, he knew that much, and it was kinda hot. He cleared his throat, trying to get your attention, but you simply continued wiping down the bar.

"I know you can hear me." He called out in a singsong tone, his smirk growing wider as he watched you freeze in your movements at his words.

Your face soured in mock sadness before looking up at him and setting down the rag, "Unfortunately.." you sighed, shaking your head.

He chuckled softly, his smirk growing wider at your sarcastic response. He leaned a little bit closer towards you, resting his elbow on the bar top and propping his chin on his hand. He was in a strangely playful mood tonight, and that usually meant he was itching for a reaction from you. He gave you an obvious once over, taking his time admiring your body in the tight jeans.

He noticed how the denim hugged every curve of your body, the way your apron was tied around your waist. "Looking good tonight." He spoke, his tone low and playful, his eyes never leaving your figure.

He wasn't even trying to hide the fact that he was openly checking you out, or hitting on you and you couldn't help but grimace slightly. Although he was definitely doing better than his "friend" who tried to chat you up earlier that day. "Then i must be doing something wrong, huh?" you asked casually, feigning disappointment.

He chuckled softly, shaking his head, his eyes still glued to your body. "No, no baby, definitely doing something right." He replied, his tone suggestive yet playful. He was enjoying this little game you two were playing, even though it was driving him crazy. "Those jeans should be illegal." He added with a smirk, his eyes finally flicking up to meet yours.

"Rafe.. your pick up lines should be illegal.." you mumbled, studying his form as he leaned in, cheek still propped on his elbow lazily. He was obviously more than tipsy with how much he downed today and with the way he was talking to you.

A smirk tugged at his lips, his eyes glistening with amusement as he leaned in even closer, his face now just a few inches away from yours. Your scent engulfed him as he let his eyes wander over your face, taking in every single detail. "I haven't even tried any of my actual good ones yet." He replied in a low tone, his gaze slowly trailing down to your lips, his smirk growing wider.

You pretended to shudder in mock disgust, not leaning back when he leaned in, although he was getting too close for personal space even with bar countertop between you two. "Please don't.. Do you wanna drink something? or are you here to make the rest of my shift harder?"

He chuckled softly, tilting his head to the side as his eyes roamed your face once more. Your words had no effect on him, he knew you were just being your usual snarky self, even if you were secretly enjoying him getting all up in your space.

"I'll drink anything off your lips." He replied bluntly, his smirk growing even wider at the thought.

The flirty statement didn't seem to phase you as you leaned back slightly to fidget with the rag. You had to admit it wasn't too bad, definitely unique, but he was being obnoxious and Rafe-y, so the charm of it flaked away instantly. "Don't think I'm allowed to serve drinks that way.. Sorry, handsome.." you mumbled, pretending to be apologetic once again.

He groaned, rolling his eyes but there was no real annoyance behind it. He liked this. He liked you being a complete brat to him, acting like he wasn't affecting you at all when deep down you were at least a little flustered over him.

"That's a damn shame. I'd pay good money for that." He said in a teasing tone, his smirk transforming into a sly smile.

"I bet.. You kooks like to just throw away money left and right.." you teased lowly, mirroring his expression. You adjusted your glasses with a soft flick of your fingers, studying his features and the way he sat on the barstool.

He chuckled softly, resting his chin on his hand once again and looking up at you through half-lidded eyes. He loved the way you were eyeing him, the way your gaze lingered on his lips for just a bit too long. He leaned forward a bit more, closing the distance between you even more.

"Only if it's worth it." He murmured, his eyes roaming your features before they dropped to your lips, his smirk growing wider.

"If i uh.. get a price list, I'll let you know.." you mumbled, smiling tightly at him, still fidgeting with the rag.

He chuckled softly, shaking his head at your snarky response. He couldn't resist the urge to tease you as much as possible, knowing it would piss you off, and he loved it that way. He leaned in even closer, the smirk on his face growing even wider as he watched you fidget around, playing with the rag in your hands.

"I have a blank check ready, baby." He replied cheekily, his gaze never leaving your figure.

You scoffed, rolling your eyes with a slight smile. You didn't understand how he managed to be charming and annoying at the same time. All while being unfairly handsome. "I'm sure you do.. Maybe order a drink first and then we can talk.."

He smirked, clearly enjoying himself. He let out a low chuckle, giving you a once over once again, a smirk plastered on his face. He leaned back slightly, running his tongue over his bottom lip as his eyes roamed your body, taking his sweet time to admire every curve of your body.

"Oh. Someone's getting impatient." He replied cockily, leaning forwards once again, getting closer to you. "This is landing right in my lap, isn't it?"

"You're hogging my bar, country-club.. At this pace, people who actually want to order won't have somewhere to sit.." you narrowed your eyes, smirking as you felt your breath hitch ever so slightly when his tongue ran over his bottom lip slowly, his blue eyes checking you out for the countless time that day. You felt a bit guilty, getting affected by the Rafe Cameron. This was still the same guy who had a distaste for your social class and friends. Nothing changed. Right?

He chuckled lightly, noticing how you were visibly affected by him, and that realization alone made him even more cocky. He knew he could get under your skin. He knew exactly how to push your buttons and how to make you break down that wall of annoyance that you built up against him. He smirked, leaning back in the barstool and giving you a once over with his piercing blue eyes.

"Don't worry baby, I'll tip you well." He replied, his smirk growing wider as he watched your every move.

"You need to order first so you can leave a tip.." you pointed out in a snarky tone, smirking teasingly at him.

He laughed softly, amused by your witty comebacks. He loved seeing you act like this, his smirk growing wider as he continued to eye you up, shamelessly checking you out as he spoke.

"And what's gonna happen if I don't leave a tip... You'll kick me out?" He asked in a cocky tone, his eyes still roaming your body.

Your eyes never left his blue ones, your smirk growing as you leaned in to whisper "Already tried to over text and it didn't work sadly.."

He felt his heart skip a beat at your response. The way you were bantering, the look on your face, and the sound of your voice. It was doing things to him that he wasn't expecting. He let out a breath, running a hand through his hair, trying to remain casual.

But it wasn't working. At least not for him.

He leaned closer, his face inches away from yours, his eyes wandering over to your lips before he could stop himself.

He couldn't help the feeling coursing through his body, the way you looked at him was driving him insane. He was supposed to be messing with your head, not other way around.

He chuckled dryly, leaning a little bit closer, his breath fanning over your face, his eyes glued to yours, not even trying to hide the fact that he'd been staring at you up and down all night.

"Try again to kick me out, baby. I'd like to see that." He whispered.

You leaned back slightly seeing as the distance between the two of you was shortening too much for comfort or professionalism. You really don't wanna lose your job over bantering with Rafe Cameron in a suggestive manner, "You're a VIP member of this club, i can't really kick you out as an employee, can i?" you asked casually, taking a deep breath to calm yourself down. You were being ridiculous, this was the same guy who looked down on you and liked to make your shifts unbearable, why were you being nervous?

His cocky smirk widened even more at your response. He loved the fact that you couldn't kick him out, it was giving him free rein to bother, pester, irritate, and tease you to his hearts content. He felt a sense of power over you, and it was making him even more cocky.

"Damn right, baby I'm a VIP." He said with a slight hint of arrogance in his tone, his eyes still roaming over your form, and he was trying his best not to stare at your lips.

He chuckled deeply at your witty remarks, his eyes locked on yours as the tension continued to build between the two of you. He leaned forward once again, his face an inch away from yours, his lips hovering over your skin, almost close enough to touch.

"Baby.." He muttered in a low tone, his breath fanning over your face once again, his eyes roaming over your lips, as he fought the strong urge to close the distance and kiss you. This was getting out of hand.

You chewed the inside of your cheek, letting out a small scoff at his low and needy tone as if it was the most funniest thing. You stepped back even more, putting some needed distance between the two of you. Your eyes drifted from his to the table he was sat at, his friends still drinking and talking among each other. "Why aren't you with your friends..?" you mumbled, occupying your hands with tidying up the counter, throwing away the lemon peels and wiping down the spilled tequila.

He let out a dry chuckle, feeling slightly disappointed when you took a few steps back, putting more distance between the two of you. He rolled his eyes at the mention of his friends, letting out an annoyed huff.

"They're boring, that's why I decided to come bother you." He replied, his tone slightly annoyed, as he leaned against the bar top on his elbows, his gaze roaming over your figure once again.

You let out another sound resembling a laugh, even though it was more airy and breathy than one, eyes flickering back to the group once again. "Your new addition to the group paid me a visit at the bar and tried to hit on me earlier today.. Did you send him over to make fun of me for entertainment?" you asked softly, referring to Jack's earlier visit at the bar.

He rolled his eyes once again at the mention of Jack, visibly annoyed. The idea of Jack trying to hit on you made him irrationally angry earlier, even though he'd never admit it. He ran a hand through his hair, letting out an annoyed sigh.

"No, I didn't send him over." He replied, his tone slightly irritated. He took a sip of his beer before continuing, "He's a dick, ignore him."

You leaned in slightly, narrowing your eyes subtly behind your glasses. You were almost sure the older Cameron boy had sent over to entertain his little group and you weren't entirely convinced of his tense denial. "That's funny... 'Cause when he walked over i was like: 'this guy looks kinda familiar..' And then i realized he tried hitting on me at the party a few days ago.." you mumbled so only he could hear. "And I'm pretty sure he was the one who spiked my drink.."

He didn't like what he was hearing. His jaw immediately clenched at your words. The thought of Jack trying to make a move on you and even worse, drugging you was making him livid. He didn't even try to hide his anger. Which he now had a reason for. Meaning he could probably kick this guy's ass finally and warrant it on something as bad as him spiking your drink.

"He tried hitting on you... and he's the one who spiked your drink..?" he asked, his tone low and dangerous.

You leaned back once again, nodding almost too casually. The pieces clicked earlier while studying Jack from afar trying to figure out why he looked familiar despite not being from the island. And then it clicked. "Yep. I just thought you sent him over to fuck with me or something.."

He felt a sudden burst of irritation. He was pissed at Jack for trying to hit on you, and even more pissed that he had the audacity to spike your drink. He took a deep breath, trying to control his emotions.

"I would never send him over here to mess with you. I'm not that much of an dickhead."

You put your hands up defensively, eyes flickering across the room at Jack without even intending to so at this point. "You're Rafe.. I can expect just about anything from your royal highness.." you muttered teasingly, shrugging as you looked back into his eyes.

He let out a dry chuckle at your comment. He couldn't deny that he had a bit of a reputation for being a cocky jerk, but he was offended that you thought he was that bad. Plus, there was something about hearing you tease him. It was kinda hot too.

"Are you implying that I'm a dickhead?" He spoke in a low tone, leaning forward on the counter top once again.

"You're not?" you asked, grinning teasingly at him.

He smirked at your response, leaning a little bit closer, his gaze flickering over your features, taking you all in, inch by inch.

"A dickhead..?" he whispered, his tone low and teasing as he studied your face intently. "Maybe..." he admitted in a mocking tone, his smirk widening as he leaned even closer, his face just inches away from yours.

You hummed lowly, nodding slowly as he leaned in over the counter top without any shame, and you were glad your manager wasn't able to see you blatantly flirting with a patron in the middle of a shift. You weren't entirely sure what was happening to you and why you were entertaining Rafe's antics. Before you hooked up he'd flirt with you but you'd pay it no mind, so what changed now? "Besides.. Dickhead is an understatement..." you whispered mockingly, your eyes drinking in his features in the dim light of the country club, your grin softening due to the proximity.

His smirk widened, clearly amused by your response.

"Oh, come on now. I'm a little offended actually.." he teased gently, leaning forward even more, his face now mere inches away from yours. He could feel your breath fan over his face, the tension between the two of you was like the atmosphere before a lightning strike. He swallowed, his eyes flickering down to your lips.

He tried to sound cool and collected, but there was no hiding the fact that he was getting more than just a little affected.

"You should be... That's what i strive for.." you chuckled, reaching up to adjust your glasses slowly.

He chuckled softly at your response, the sound low in his throat, his eyes roaming over your face as you adjusted your glasses, and he bit his lip to contain the growing smirk on his face.

This was new. This was territory that neither of you had ventured into with each other.

He leaned in, his face now just an inch away, his gaze focused on you. "Yeah? Being a smartass gets your rocks off, huh, baby?"

You grimaced at his question, a confused smirk tugging at your lips. This indeed, was territory that neither of you would have thought you'd step in. Actually flirting? As two people who hated each other supposedly? Very strange. "Not exactly, no... That's just how i talk and you take offense to anything i say.." you murmured back, a small giggle escaping you as he leaned in even closer, as if the counter top wasn't in his way.

He chuckled once more, enjoying the playful banter between the two of you. It was almost unreal how your usually antagonistic nature was slowly transforming into something so much more. He couldn't help it, he was absolutely fixated by your presence. He was intrigued by your every move.

He leaned in even closer, his nose almost touching yours, his eyes roaming over your face.

"I don't take offense to everything. Just the things that are stupid, which is about 80 percent of the things you say." he teased.

The teasing words made you roll your eyes, shaking your head in mock annoyance, the two of you almost forgetting where you were and that you were both surrounded by people drinking in the country club leisurely. "And you flirt with me by insulting me... Who's more stupider?" you asked, drumming your fingers on the counter top as he grazed his nose against yours, giving in and trailing your pointer finger over his forearm slowly and in a feather-light touch.

He chuckled softly, loving the way you were slowly letting your guard down, and your demeanor around him was becoming more and more relaxed. He felt a shiver course through his body as you gently traced his forearm with your finger, and he watched you with eyes that held something more than just cockiness.

"I dunno.. maybe you. You're the one insulting me and then trying to cop a feel." he replied with a smirk, his eyes roaming your face once more.

Your expression twisted into an amused one at his words, gasping softly in disbelief, " 'Cop a feel' is an exaggeration.. I'm just.. being nice." you whispered, snorting slightly without realizing, your finger stopping its up and down motion to dig your nail into his skin gently.

He let out another low chuckle at your response, his smirk widening at how you were trying to downplay the fact that you were actually kind of flirting with him now, whether it was conscious or not, it still counted.

He winced softly at the feeling of your nail digging into his arm, feeling the skin underneath break slightly under the pressure, but he was too focused on you to even care at this point. "Being nice huh?" he teased, raising an eyebrow at that statement

Your eyes flickered down at your own finger, pressing down your nail a little bit more, maybe even close to stinging "Yeah, is it surprising that i can be a little nice?" you asked narrowing your eyes a little.

He took a sharp intake of breath, his eyes flickering to your finger still digging into his skin. It was slightly painful, but he didn't mind it too much. He actually enjoyed it, just a slight bit.

He let out a low chuckle, letting a smirk play on his lips. "A little nice, yeah. You're usually anything but nice to me, baby."

You fell quiet for a moment, as if you were thinking over something, still not leaning back even though right now you were definitely testing the boundaries of a professional interaction. "Do you think they'd fire me if you kissed me right now..?" you asked out of nowhere, your slight smile widening at your own whispered words.

His eyes widened slightly at your question, his smirk transforming into a smile of surprise at your unexpected words.

He looked around the room once, checking if anyone was paying attention to the two of you, his gaze falling back on you as he tried to play it cool.

"Mmm.. they might. Would you risk that?" he asked, his smirk growing wider.

You trailed your finger over his forearm again, nail brushing over the small crescent mark you left when digging it into his skin, the gesture almost soothing, "No.. I want you to order something so i can go back to work.." you mumbled, grinning teasingly as you pulled back slightly, moving behind the bar to distract yourself a little.

He smirked at your response, slightly disappointed at the loss of contact, but he decided to play into his role of a cocky rich country-club boy for a bit. Even though he'd rather just watch you work the entire night.

He leaned back in the barstool, fixing his shirt before speaking, "Get me a scotch, baby." he said in a demanding tone.

"Highball?" you asked, tucking the rag resting on the counter top in your apron's pocket.

He smirked once more, enjoying you taking his order and playing along. He leaned against the bar top, his gaze fixed on your figure.

"Yeah.. You know how to make a good one.” he replied casually, tilting his head to the side as he watched you prepare his drink.

You scrunched up your face despite knowing that once he got a little tipsy at the country club he didn't bother with fancy drink orders and just downed highballs like it was his religion. That was his usual, and the first time he ordered it you couldn't believe that someone as snobby as him was drinking whisky and soda. You moved swiftly as you prepared the drink, grateful from the distraction provided by his order since things were growing too charged for your liking at the workplace with Rafe. And just in general regarding the two of you.

You filled the highball glass with solid ice and poured the scotch and topping it with club soda, adding a bit of ginger ale, knowing he always requested it anyway. You stirred it gently and placed it on the counter in front of him and leaning back "Am i adding that to your current tab?" you asked, already preparing to add the drink to the running tab under his name.

He took the glass with a smirk, swirling it around slightly and savoring the smell before bringing it to his lips and taking a sip. He let out a small sigh before speaking, "Yeah, put it on my tab.. I'll pay it off when I'm done for the night." he replied, his eyes glued to you as he took another sip, the liquor burning his throat and sending a shiver through him.

You hummed entering the drink in the system and updating his total on the tab before flitting your eyes back to him as he took the first sip. "you enjoying the drink? did i get it right?" you asked, nodding vaguely towards the drink as you adjusted your glasses.

He smirked as he took another sip, enjoying the taste before nodding in approval. He was impressed by how well you knew his drink order already, and how you got it down perfectly every time.

"Yeah, you did a good job." he replied in response, taking another sip and letting the liquid burn his throat. Once again, he felt his eyes roam over your figure, drinking you up and enjoying the sight in front of him.

You felt your cheeks heat up a little as his gaze roamed over your figure once again, his eyes hungrily trailing every single curve. You could feel his heated gaze even if you tried to ignore it, and it was beginning to get slightly awkward, and it was making you restless. You couldn't help but feel a little bit self-conscious in his presence, but it felt good to be so blatantly lusted over. Even if this was Rafe, and you weren't exactly wearing the most appealing outfit. A light blue polo shirt (provided by the club of course), a simple pair of jeans and a brown apron tied from waist down. You looked especially rough right now since it was nearing the end of your shift so why was he shamelessly drooling over you?

His gaze slowly traveled up your figure from your feet, to your legs, then your thighs, hip and waist, finally resting on your chest. Despite your very plain and mundane clothes, he couldn't help but find you insanely attractive. Your rough, sweaty appearance was adding to the allure and he felt himself growing increasingly hot just at the sight of you. He could feel his pants becoming a bit tight and he had to shift slightly in the barstool.

He took another sip of his drink, his gaze still glued on you, taking his sweet time to scan every inch of your body.

You continued to fidget in your spot, eyes flittering around almost desperately. Rush hour was almost over now, and the people in the country club were focused on hanging out with each other rather than drinking endlessly, since they were nicely buzzed. So aside from Rafe and a group of ladies to your left no one was really sitting at the bar. You had nothing to polish and the counter was clean from your excessive wiping, the space not cluttered since your shift was almost over.

So you were left with standing there almost awkwardly, staring right back at Rafe who was ogling you without a care in the world while drinking a highball casually. God, you hated work.

He watched as you fidgeted in your spot, your movements almost frantic as you tried to keep yourself busy with something, anything. His smile grew a little bit wider as he watched you squirm under his gaze, finding this situation absolutely hilarious. He knew that everyone was too busy in their own groups, enjoying eachothers company, and he knew that nobody was paying them any attention.

He finished the last of his drink, putting the empty glass down on the counter top and leaning in over the bar top.

"Baby.." He muttered almost desperately once again, his eyes never leaving yours.

You reached for the glass as soon as he put it down, placing it on your tray of dirty glasses that you needed to take to the kitchen and trying to muster a grimace at the word 'baby.' Even if you found yourself slightly liking how needy and low it sounded due to him being tipsy. "What..?" you mumbled in something to subtle exasperation, sighing softly.

He chuckled softly at your exasperated tone, still watching you intently as he leaned on the bar top. He could see that your demeanor was trying to stay nonchalant, but there was a hint of irritation and something else in your expression. He loved how you reacted to his words, no matter the situation.

He let out a low hum, tilting his head to the side as he spoke in a low tone, "Stop trying to act like you don't find me hot right now."

You stood in your spot, rolling your eyes in mild annoyance at his deduction, crossing your arms "Stop blatantly flirting with the bartender at your country-club.."

He chuckled softly again, the sound low and deep. He could tell that you were trying to act annoyed, but he knew that there was a hint of attraction in your eyes, no matter how hard you tried to cover it up. He leaned in a little closer, his voice dropping even lower, his eyes locked with yours.

"Why? I'm sure you've seen guys hit on you all the time before.. I mean, who could blame them? You look sexy in that boring polo shirt..."

You grimaced once again, confusion flashing over your features. Drunk Rafe Cameron was definitely a sight to behold, and you couldn't believe he was still sitting there, almost hunched over the bar top, flirting with you and using the most corniest lines ever. "You're so tipsy it would be funny if this shift wouldn't have completely ruined me.." you muttered, adjusting your glasses as a distraction from the growing tension.

He chuckled at your response, finding your attempt to divert the conversation comical. He knew that his flirting was probably bordering on stupid and corny, but he didn't care. He was drunk, tired, and had nothing better to do. The growing tension between the two of you was palpable, and he could feel his heart rate picking up at the thought of doing something completely reckless in that moment.

"You look pretty ruined right now, dolly." He responded, a smirk playing on his lips as he took in your tired but still beautiful face. "But i think i can ruin you even more.."

"One of these days I'm actually gonna report you for harassment to my manager.." you chuckled dryly, shifting your weight from one foot to the other.

He let out a light scoff at your comment, a smirk still playing on his lips. He knew that you didn't really mean your words, and the thought of you reporting in to your manager about him making passes on you was almost amusing.

"And what are you going to say, baby? That I'm a rich spoiled brat that you secretly find attractive? I'm sure your manager will be very shocked.."

"Better yet... Who said i found you attractive? you're just a country-club brat who has nothing better to do than to flirt with the help.." you teased, shaking your head in mock disbelief. Your eyes were fixed into his, the dim light from the lamps scattered in the country club bar making his features looks more soft and blurred, a rare occurrence for Rafe Cameron.

He chuckled at your response, his eyes sparkling with amusement and something else. It was almost like he was enjoying this little back and forth between the two of you, despite your words having a bite to them.

"Oh, baby.. You're the prettiest girl in this whole damn country club, and we both know it.." he said in a low tone, taking in your features under the soft light, admiring how beautiful you looked. He had always thought you were pretty, but seeing you under the dim lights like this was making his heart beat much faster.

Your eyes roamed over his face as he chuckled, his eyes crinkling at the corners when he laughed or grinned, the sight reminding you of JJ for a split moment. You pushed down the aching in your chest, letting the tension and lust drown out the buzzing of your heartbreak by holding onto the words he muttered softly. "You ran out of options already?" you asked, grinning slowly.

He was acutely aware of the way your eyes were studying his face, and the way you smiled despite trying to hold in a smirk. He could see the pain behind your eyes, the heartbreak etched on your features, but it only made him want you more. He could feel his body growing more and more hot, the idea of having you right there, on the bar top, was almost impossible to resist.

"Nah, baby. I have plenty of options.. You're just my favorite."

You scoffed, the sound breathy and slightly mocking "I feel honored.."

He chuckled at your response, a sly smile on his lips. He loved how you were able to match him whenever he got forward with you. The fact that you were so witty and feisty just fueled the fire in him even more.

"You should be." he replied, his voice low. He leaned in even closer, his eyes locked on yours. "You're not like the other girls I hook up with. You're different. Special."

You leaned on your elbows, resting them on the bar top as you tilted your head to the side, pretending to study his face intently "You hook up with other girls? And here i thought we were exclusive.." you murmured, narrowing your eyes in mock hurt.

He let out a low scoff, finding your mock hurt expression hilarious. But there was something about the fact that you were pretending to care about his past hookups that made him want to tease you even more.

"Baby, there's nothing exclusive here." he said, trying to keep his expression nonchalant even though he could feel his heart rate increasing at the idea of you actually caring about his hookups. "And you wanna know the number of girls who I've hooked up with in the last two weeks alone..?"

"That's right, nothing's exclusive about us... I just said i was using you to get over the fact that the guy I'm in love with has a girlfriend.." you whispered, your tone seductive despite the fact that your words were nothing along those lines. Rafe didn't seem deterred, matter of fact he seemed like he was waiting for you to say something like that, his smirk widening as you leaned closer to him.

Of course, the older boy still thinks about your little confession in his car the night you got spiked and he had to take you home to take care of you. About how in love with JJ you were, and how the dumb blonde wasn't gonna return your burning feelings cause he was dating the Carrera girl. If you asked him, it was a useless loss of time, especially since you were such a pretty girl and the world didn't narrow down to just one blonde surfer. But no one actually asked Rafe Cameron so..

His smirk widened even more as you leaned in closer to him, your tone seductive and alluring despite the words coming out of your mouth. He'd be lying if he said that he didn't wish he could replace the idiot that had your heart. Especially after the night he took care of you after you got spiked. He'd never admit it, but that entire night was permanently burned in his head, and the memory of you confessing your love to another guy hurt more than he cared to admit.

"Oh yeah? And who's the unlucky bastard you're trying to get over..?" he asked despite knowing the answer. Because if Rafe was anything, he was one masochistic bastard and he loved twisting the knife that stabbed him.

Your expression soured, even if it was for a hint, a small twitch in your features, exhaling softly as if there was a weight pressing down on your shoulders. You had felt it for a week or so now, barely even spending time with the pogues anymore due to the fact that JJ and Kie just started dating. "JJ.." you muttered, the name giving you a bittersweet taste as you spoke each syllable.

A pang of a thousand knives twisted in his stomach as you mentioned JJ's name, confirming his worst nightmare. He had heard it before, but hearing you say the words out loud and sober this time, was like a gut punch. He swallowed the sudden wave of jealousy and anger down, his heart aching as if someone was physically squeezing the life out of it. Which he instantly blamed on the alcohol, not wanting to dwell on any feelings tied to you for more than two seconds.

"JJ's a fucking idiot." he muttered under his breath, his voice laced with a bitter sarcasm. "He's too stupid to see that you're way too good for him."

You scoffed bitterly, your eyes roaming over his features without realizing, tracing them from behind your glasses, still leaning casually on the bar top, faces close "You don't have to pretend like you care about my soap opera of a life.." you whispered softly, "I don't even wanna be a part of it.." you chuckled bitterly, your teeth digging into your bottom lip thoughtfully.

He let out a scoff at your words, his eyes locked on yours, noticing the way you were studying his features with your doe eyes. He wanted to reach out and run his thumb over your bottom lip, to soothe away the pain that was written all over your face. But he restrained himself, his hands gripping the edge of the bar top to keep himself in control.

"Who said I was pretending?" he asked quietly, his voice soft and sincere.

You let out another chuckle, this time the sound genuine yet low, your features twisting in soft amusement "I dunno.. The voices?" you mumbled, shifting the focus of your eyes between his. Left-right, right-left.

He couldn't help but feel a pang of something in his chest at the sound of your chuckle, a rare moment of genuine humor seeping through your witty facade. He chuckled softly at your comment, a smirk playing on his lips.

"You're as funny as always." he replied, his eyes fixed on yours, and how they were darting back and forth between his. He found himself getting lost in the way your eyes shimmered under the dim light of the bar, the thought of how easy it would be to just lean forward and kiss you.

"Being funny is just one of my greatest features..." you grinned smugly before adding with a low, suggestive undertone "Among other qualities, of course.."

He chuckled softly as you spoke confidently, a smirk spreading across his face at the suggestive undertone in your voice. His eyes darkening with a mixture of lust and amusement as he spoke.

"Oh, I know all about those other qualities." he said, his voice low and filled with a playful innuendo. "You know I have a weakness for smart, witty, hot bartender girls.." he added, leaning in closer to you, his eyes practically glued to your lips.

"Then you must be just as mentally ill as me, country-club.." you teased, your breath hitching as he continued to inch closer, his blue eyes fixed on your lips. Which were basically almost shredded to pieces given you nibbled nervously on them all day.

He chuckled at your response, his smirk widening at the hitch in your breath. He could see the way your lips were slightly chapped from your constant habit of biting them, and the sight only made him want to kiss them even more.

"You have no idea, dolly." he muttered under his breath, now only a few inches away from you. "I'm a little bit insane when it comes to you."

You scoffed, tilting your head to the side slightly, desperately holding onto the last bit of control seeing as he wasn't backing away from leaning in. "Are you usually this desperate and a little pathetic or is it just to be funny?" you asked, your shaky words carrying a smidge of condescension.

His smirk widened into a sly, crooked grin at your words, the slight edge of condescension in your tone only making him want to get closer.

"Only for you, baby." he replied, his voice low and seductive. He leaned in even closer, his breath hot against your ear as he added, "I'd be on my knees for you right now if I could.."

Your brows raised in surprise, your mind torn between the fact that he was just going along with the teasing because he was tipsy or if he was actually serious. Both options seemed thrilling enough, looking down at his lips for a few moments as he grinned, your voice coming out even more low and teasing "Oh really? The big, bad Rafe Cameron on his knees for someone..?"

His hands gripped the edge of the bartop even tighter, his heart rate picking up at your question. The image of him on his knees for you was all he could see in his mind now, his mind swimming with the thought of your hand wrapped in his hair as he ate you out.

"For you, doll? Always." he said, his voice low and rough. "I'd do anything to hear you say my name.."

You didn't know what it was, but every time Rafe seemed to flirt with you in a genuine manner your first response was nervous amusement. You weren't entirely sure when that changed from absolutely hating his invasive and unstable presence into actually thriving under his corny attentions. And you weren't sure if you liked it.

By the look on his face, you could only guess you were both thinking about the same thing, falling silent for a few moments as you stared at him, brows still raised in surprise and maybe even arousal. You lowered your head to laugh softly, taking his words at face value and assuming he was just trying to be funny, the only sounds around you both being the atmosphere of the country club still packed with patrons around you.

He watched the myriad of emotions fleeting over your face as he spoke, the amused shock and slight arousal in your expression fueling his desire to get even closer to you. He wanted to run his hands through your soft hair, to kiss that gorgeous laugh of yours, to press you against the bar and have his way with you in front of everyone in this god damned country club…

But he just stood there, his knuckles almost turning white as he held onto the edge of the bar, trying to keep himself in check as he watched you laugh softly.

He couldn't tear his eyes away from your face, the sound of your soft laughter like music to his ears. He was still struggling to rein in his desires, the image of you spread out in front of him, moaning his name filling his mind, already feeling how your thighs would threaten to close around his face as you got closer. The thought of having you right there, in front of everyone, in this crowded country club, was driving him feral with need.

He suddenly reached out, his fingers gently wrapping around your chin, tilting your face up to look at him. His touch was surprisingly gentle, a stark contrast to the fiery lust in his eyes.

Your amused smile faltered slightly as he tilted your face up, your hands itching to adjust your glasses out of nervousness as you watched him expectantly before speaking up "What..?"

He chuckled lowly, noticing the way you almost reached up to adjust your glasses, a hint of nervousness in your eyes. He couldn't believe how beautiful you were, standing there, looking like the perfect mix of innocent and seductive all at once. It was driving him crazy.

"You really have no idea, do you dolly?" he whispered, his voice low and filled with a mix of hunger and tenderness. "You have no idea how much I want you. How badly I want to have you right now.." he added, his fingers tracing your jawline softly.

Your breathing hitched as if you had never been touched by a guy before, or even less- spoken to by one. Your fingers drummed on the counter nervously, exhaling as you studied his face intently, waiting for the punchline to land so you could laugh (like you always did when flirted with you). Maybe for the first time while interacting with Rafe you were genuinely flustered. You didn't know what it was in the air, and much to your dismay the punchline didn't come, leaving you leaning over the counter top staring up at him with wide eyes.

You blinked a couple of times, itching more than anything to have the power to reach your hand up and adjust your glasses, instead you just continued to look up at him as a small smile tugged at your lips "Yeah sure.." you mumbled, trying to sound teasing and sarcastic, unaffected by the neediness in his eyes and voice.

Rafe could almost feel his heart leaping out of his chest at your response, the sound of your voice making his chest fill with a mixture of desire and relief. He could sense the slight surprise and nervousness in your tone, and it made him feel a sense of power, knowing that he was able to make you flustered for once. He leaned in closer, his fingers still gently holding your chin, the need to have you more intense than ever, almost primal.

"Say it." he murmured, his voice low and demanding. "Say you need me too."

You were almost ready to actually comply for once in your life, more surprising given this was Rafe. And you'd never find yourself actually doing anything he'd ask you if it didn't entail you doing your fucking job. You breathed out as he leaned closer, ghosting his lips over yours as if the two of you weren't still in the country club bar, and as if you weren't an employee of the said club almost getting ready to kiss one of the highest paying patrons. You nodded vaguely, humming in response as you kept your eyes locked on his, the small hum coming out without even realizing.

The fact that you were actually responding, that he had you so close to actually giving in to him, was making Rafe feel like he was high on ecstasy. His mind was filled with nothing but thoughts of you, nothing but the need to feel your lips on his, your body against his, the taste and smell of you on his tongue. He watched as you nodded and hummed, the sound driving him even more insane.

"Say it." he repeated, his fingers tracing the line of your jaw. "Say you need me. Say it, dammit."

Your eyes drifted down to his lips, watching them as intently as you were watching his eyes, trying to keep your voice as unaffected and steady as possible "I'm not-.. I'm not gonna say that.." you murmured, chuckling breathlessly.

He felt like he was going crazy, the way your eyes traced his lips, the sound of your laugh, the fact that you were so goddamned stubborn and defiant even in a moment like this. He wanted to grab your face and kiss you until you couldn't think straight, until you were begging for him to take you right there in front of the entire country club, until the only words you could speak was his goddamn name.

"Say it, baby. Tell me you need me."

Your heart raced in your chest like never before, now itching to just lean in a kiss him, consequences be damned. But you didn't. Not yet, although you knew next time you and Rafe were gonna be alone you definitely will. Your words were almost inaudible over the noises from the other kooks in the island club, and you weren't sure if you actually said the words 'i need you' outloud.

But before you could see his reaction to your words, you were startled to death by someone clearing their throat behind you. When you jumped back from Rafe, scrambling to turn around and face the person, you were praying to every god up there, that it wasn't your manager. And thankfully it wasn't. "Fuck! Sofia.. Can you stop-.. Sneaking up on me like that?" you whisper shouted at her in exasperation over being startled by your coworker standing behind you with a raised brow. "Seriously it doesn't get funnier each time you do it.."

Rafe was so close to just grabbing you, to just kissing the living daylights out of you until you admitted that you needed him, that you wanted him just as much as he wanted you. But then the sound of someone clearing their throat behind you broke him out of the haze of lust that clouded his mind. He blinked a few times, coming back to reality and realizing that you had actually whispered the words he'd been so desperate to hear.

He turned to look at the person who had interrupted the moment, his irritation flaring up at the sight of your co-worker. Which he wasn't too proud to admit that he knew.... And even slept with in the past. Maybe he had a type now that he thought about it.

He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back on the bar, his mind still a bit fuzzy from the alcohol and from the almost-kiss he had with you. He could still feel the ghost of your breath on his lips, and the sight of you blushing and stuttering as you spoke to your co-worker was not helping to calm down the ache in his jeans. He tried to focus on the conversation between the two of you, but his mind kept wandering back to the memory of your lips so close to his, and how badly he wanted to feel them on his again.

"Your shift ended 15 minutes ago.." stated Sofia, narrowing her eyes at you with an amused yet curious smirk.

Rafe raised an eyebrow at the comment from your co-worker, his mind quickly doing the math in his head. Your shift had ended 15 minutes ago, which meant that you were technically on free time now. Which he knew very well what could happen in 15 minutes....

A sly smirk spread across his face as he looked between you and your co-worker with a knowing gleam in his eyes.

You spared a fleeting gaze towards Rafe before looking back to Sofia and adjusting your glasses. God, you didn't even notice. And you were supposed to already be changed and out back waiting for JJ to pick you up and take you to the Chateau. Instead you were sitting there, flirting blatantly with Rafe. "I was just.. waiting for you.." you chuckled awkwardly at your coworker, reaching behind you to slowly untie the apron.

His smirk widened as he watched you fumble with the apron behind you, the thought of taking it off for you himself slowly creeping into his mind. He pushed it back though, knowing he had to be patient, that soon enough you would be alone with him, in his car, under him, moaning-. He mentally shook his head to clear his thoughts, focusing back on your conversation with your co-worker instead.

Sofia raised an eyebrow, looking between you and Rafe for a few moments, as if she was assessing what was going on between the two of you. She could probably tell from the tension in the air and the look in both of your eyes that there was something more than just ordering a drink happening. And the fact that you were still in your work uniform while Rafe was practically devouring you with his eyes didn't go unnoticed either.

"Well, you better get going then." She said with a smirk, a hint of a tease in her voice.

Your eyes drifted back to Rafe still leaning over the bar casually like he wasn't damn near making out with you right here, right now. What the hell were you doing? you had to ask yourself every time you were close to him. Which at the moment was a question without an answer. "Uh.. yeah." you muttered back, shifting in your spot while Rafe just simply stood up and walked back over to his table, where his friends were still talking and laughing loudly. Leaving all alone at the bar with Sofia, whose teasing look turned into a more curious one.

Rafe could feel your eyes on him as he walked back to his table, his friends instantly teasing and making jokes about his interaction with you. He couldn't help but shoot a glance back towards the bar, his gaze meeting yours for a brief moment before he looked away. He tried to focus on the conversation his friends were having, but his mind was still racing with thoughts of you, and how badly he wanted to just say 'f*ck it' and pull you away from your work and have his way with you right here on the bar.

Sofia leaned against the bar, crossing her arms and looking at you with a sly smile, her eyes flickering between you and Rafe. She had a feeling that something more than just a drink was going on between you and the infamous billionaire bad boy of the island. And she was damn well going to get it out of you.

"Sooo...." she drawled, her tone teasing and curious. "What's going on between you and Rafe Cameron, huh?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

You let out a nervous chuckle, grimacing in mock disgust at her question. "Me and Rafe? Nothing.. he was just ordering a drink, that's all.." you deflected, your grip on the apron in your hand tightening as you leaned on the counter of the bar by the sink.

Sofia chuckled, not buying your answer for a second. She knew damn well what she had seen and heard while you were talking to Rafe, and she was not going to let you get away without spilling the tea.

"Uh-huh, sure." she replied, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "So, the googly eyes, the leaning over the bar like he wanted to kiss your face off, that was all him just ordering a drink, right?" she teased with a smirk.

Her deduction made you pause almost visibly before you had the chance to deflect once again, growing more flustered, which surprised you because you were never flustered. Let alone from speaking with Rafe. "Well.. Yeah. He's just drunk.." you shrugged. "And also didn't you also hook up with him for a while last summer? He seems like he has a type for pogue bartenders.." you mumbled teasingly, still trying to deflect the attention from you onto her.

Sofia raised an eyebrow at your attempt to deflect the conversation onto her, but her smirk widened at the mention of her previous hook up with Rafe. She was not going to let that slip past her either. "Ouch, that was low." she chuckled, a hint of amusement in her voice.

She paused for a moment, studying your flushed expression closely before adding "Don't change the subject. We're talking about you and Rafe, not me."

"Aren't you gonna try and warn me and share your wisdom as the older coworker..? You know since you hooked up with him before?" you asked, leaning in teasingly as you felt yourself relax a little bit. "Not that I'm hooking up with him or anything along those lines.." you added hurriedly, shaking your head despite lying through your teeth.

Sofia raised an eyebrow at your question, a small chuckle escaping her lips as she leaned against the counter to match your position. She could tell that you were trying to deflect and avoid talking about the fact that you were most definitely getting close with Rafe. But she decided to play along for now, pretending to give into your distraction.

"Well.." she drawled, her tone a bit smug. "I can't blame you for wanting some of that billionaire bad boy D, but I gotta say.. He's not the most.. loyal. Or stable."

You grimaced once again, this time the gesture genuine as if the idea of committing to Rafe was actually ridiculous. "Trust me i don't want him to be loyal to me..." you trailed off before adding. "And besides i don't even like him.. He's snobby and annoying, the least good thing about him would be the D. If i was getting some.. Which I'm not."

Sofia chuckled at your response, shaking her head and crossing her arms over her chest. She knew damn well that you were lying, but she decided to play along for now, feigning skepticism.

"Right, right, of course. You don't like him, and you're definitely not getting any of that good D from him." she said with a smirk, her tone laden with sarcasm. "Seriously, you're as convincing as a brick wall."

Your shoulders dropped as she continued to call you out on your blatant lying. In some way maybe you had physical attraction to Rafe, given you slept with him three times already, but your mind drifted back to JJ and how pathetically in love you were with him while he had a whole girlfriend, and your mood soured even more. "All i can tell you is that even if i was hooking up with him it would be casual. Because you know.. I'm emotionally too attached to someone i can never have and it's eating me up inside for a week or so. Normal girlhood stuff.." you stated as you waved your hand in the air dismissively, your words cynical and sarcastic.

Sofia's smirk faded a bit as she picked up on the shift in your tone and demeanor. She could see the pain and bitterness in your eyes as you talked about being in love with someone you could never have and it tugged at her heart slightly. She knew exactly what it was like to be in that kind of situation, and it wasn't something she wished upon anybody.

"Ouch." she muttered, her voice quieter now. "Been there, done that. It sucks." she said softly before adding after a beat of silence. "You talking about JJ?"

Your eyes snapped to her instantly, brows furrowing as she shot the perfect target with one try. In such a casual way too, like it was obvious to everyone but JJ how in love with him you were. "What? Where is that deduction coming from? Why would your first guess be JJ?" you asked, a small frown pulling at your features.

Sofia simply raised an eyebrow, her gaze locking onto yours. She could see the surprise and defensiveness in your expression at her accurate guess, and it only confirmed what she already suspected. She took a moment to study you before responding, her voice gentle yet slightly amused.

"Well, I've seen the way you look at him." she stated matter-of-factly. "Like he hung the moon or some sappy bullshit like that. Plus, you're always hanging around him and pining like a lost puppy."

"Please tell me it's not that obvious.." you muttered, deadpanning before you groaned in something akin to frustration.

Sofia chuckled at your response, shaking her head slightly. "Sorry, sweetheart." she replied with a sympathetic tone. "I hate to break it to you, but it's pretty damn obvious. Anyone with eyes who's been around you and JJ together can tell you're head over heels for the guy. It's almost painful to watch, honestly."

"Imagine how i feel.." you muttered, your gaze dropping down on the floor, letting them roam over your beat up sneakers. "The only person not aware of the fact is the problem itself."

Sofia let out a small sigh at your words, her heart aching for you. She could only imagine the torment and frustration you must feel being in love with someone who was completely oblivious to your feelings, even someone as clueless and dense as JJ Maybank.

"God, that's rough." she said softly, her voice genuine. "I can't believe JJ hasn't picked up on it yet. The blind idiot."

You raised your gaze once again, feeling overcame by a myriad of emotions including disgust at yourself for moping over someone so obviously. Your expression hardened as you tried to feign nonchalance, words coming out lowly "Well even if he has, he's dating Kie.. So.." you trailed off, mind flashing with all the moments you witnessed between the two in the past week, chest aching just a smidge.

Sofia's heart ached at the sight of your hardening expression, knowing that you were trying so hard to hide the pain and disappointment you were feeling. She knew how much it killed you to see JJ with Kiara, and it was clear to her that it was like a knife twisting in the wound every time you saw them together.

"Yeah... that's the kicker, isn't it?" she said, her voice empathetic. "The fact that he'll probably never look past Kiara and see you for what you're really worth."

"Girl... That's really deep." amusement flashed over your face after a few moments, placing a hand on her shoulder as you snorted. "But i am hooking up with Rafe to bury my feelings in a pool of self hatred and guilt. So I'm coping pretty well if i do say so myself.." you murmured, grinning widely.

Sofia chuckled at your response, rolling her eyes at your sarcastic comment. She knew you were trying to deflect and make light of the situation.

"Oh, yeah. That's an extremely healthy way to deal with your feelings. Diving headfirst into a pool of hot, filthy self-hatred and guilt sex with a rich, unstable bad boy. Definitely the best way to handle your feelings for your best friend who's dating someone else." she teased, giving you a knowing smirk.

You pretended to sigh in disappointment as she made an accurate description of your situation, despite the self destructive tendencies of the whole ordeal. "When you put it like that you're taking the fun out of it and making it sound stupid and self destructive.." you rolled your eyes, adjusting your glasses.

Sofia laughed at your response, shaking her head in amusement. She knew damn well that you were taking this whole thing lighthearted, but she also knew that deep down, you were fully aware of how stupid and self-destructive your current situation was.

"Well, I'm sorry to rain on your parade, but sometimes the truth hurts, sweetheart. And the truth is, you're engaging in some self-destructive behavior that'll probably end badly if you keep it up."

You shrugged dismissively despite knowing that she was in fact right. And that you probably could've chosen someone else to hook up with to drown out your feelings. Because looking at it right now, if the pogues found out you could lose all of them. But who were you, if not the worst person at making choices and ruining your life? You held it close to your heart to live up to the title everyday.

"Well my shift ended unfortunately and i have to cut this conversation short.." you mumbled in mock disappointment, desperately wanting to end the conversation since you managed to sound more and more stupid as words kept getting exchanged. "Instead of being a bartender you should look into the vacant spot for a psychologist at the club. I'm sure they'll hire you, babes.. These kooks definitely need someone to deal with their unstableness and alcoholism from an young age." you patted her shoulder, walking past her from behind the bar, heading towards the employee locker to get changed out of your uniform and finally be done with the day.

Sofia rolled her eyes at your sarcastic comment, shaking her head slightly. She knew you were deflecting once again, trying to cover up the fact that deep down, you were well aware of the self-destructive nature of your choices. But she also knew better than to push the issue further.

"Yeah, yeah. Go get changed, smartass. Try not to trip on your self-sabotage on the way out. And I'll think about the psychologist thing." she replied, a smirk playing on her lips.

As you walked away towards the employee locker to change, Sofia watched you go, a mixture of concern and mild annoyance on her face. She knew you were good at hiding your feelings behind sarcasm and witty comments, but she couldn't help but feel a twinge of worry for you. She wondered if this whole thing with Rafe was just a coping mechanism for the pain of loving someone you believed you could never have. But she decided to let it go for now, shaking her head as she turned to continue cleaning up behind the bar.

Meanwhile, as you changed out of your work uniform and got ready to leave, your mind was swirling with thoughts and emotions, but the main thing on your mind was your complicated relationship with Rafe. You could feel the weight of the whole situation pressing down on you, and you couldn't help but wonder if Sofia was right. Was this all just another form of self-destructive behavior? Were you really fooling yourself into believing that this casual hook up with Rafe would help you deal with your feelings for JJ? As you pondered over these questions, the sounds of the country club slowly faded into the background.

You stood at the back, looking down at your phone, waiting for JJ to reply to your texts and let you know that he was in fact coming to pick you up from the club like he promised yesterday. Which never happened. You fidgeted with the hoodie string, chewing down on the small plastic part and scrolling through your phone for fifteen minutes before he actually texted you. Instead of the usual 'on my way!' followed by a string of dumb excuses of why he was late came a text that quite frankly sent your feelings plummeting down even more. Which honestly, were in such a state that you were wondering when they were gonna reach the rock bottom of the hole you were in.

Today 9:58 pm

'Sorry date with kie got stretched, currently at the wreck, still eating :( u can take the bus right?'

Blared your phone back at you. You wanted to say typical JJ but this wasn't the case. He was late but he never pulled stunts like these before. Having a girlfriend wasn't the problem here, him thinking he could manage to go on a date with his and then also pick you up as he promised was. He could've let you know, and then maybe you could ask to leave early to catch the last bus, but he didn't and now you were left to walk to the Chateau. Which you weren't even sure you wanted to do anymore.

Your heart sank as you read the text from JJ, disappointment and frustration washing over you in waves. Of course, he would choose his girlfriend over you. But what stung even more was the fact that he hadn't even bothered to let you know in advance. And now, you were left with the prospect of having to walk all the way back to the Chateau because he was busy on a date with Kiara.

You felt a pang of hurt in your chest as you sighed, putting on your backpack and slinging it over your slumped shoulders.

You reached into the pocket of your hoodie, the anger and exhaustion from the shift weighing down on you considerably, dropping down to sit on the curb of the small sidewalk behind the country club. You pulled out the pack of cigarettes, plucking one and lighting it almost too desperately, inhaling as soon as the end of it burned a dull orange. Calling your mom to come pick you up was a no go because 1. she was probably drunk, hooking up with her boyfriend and therefore couldn't drive and 2. she simply wouldn't want to. Because she was your mom and there a few things in this world she wanted to do, which unfortunately and due to circumstances that you didn't understand, didn't include you.

Now was walking all that bad? No. You had your earphones and enough music on your phone to get you through the walk, but there was a small storm warning for tonight and in general walking home at night sober terrified you. You never understood how you could do it while being drunk, especially as a girl. Maybe you should keep a small flask of vodka in your backpack for times like these. But you'd just solidify your own alcoholic tendencies, and you weren't quite ready to be aware of them yet. So, no flask for the time being.

You sat on the curb, letting out a cloud of smoke as you exhaled slowly, the anger and disappointment still hanging heavy in your chest. You were considering your options. The walk back to the Chateau was doable, but it would take a while, and the thought of walking through the darkness on your own didn't sit well with you. Especially with the storm warning. You could call an Uber, but you didn't have the spare cash for that, and you'd already spent most of your paycheck on weed earlier. Spending the tips you got today on an Uber was basically throwing money away.

You took another puff of the cigarette, letting the smoke fill your lungs and numb your emotions for a moment. As you exhaled, you couldn't help but wonder if this was what your life had been reduced to. A series of bad decisions and unhealthy coping mechanisms. You knew you were being hard on yourself, but in this moment, it was hard not to be. You could hear the faint sounds of laughter and chatter from inside the country club, the stark contrast to your lonely situation only making you feel more isolated and alone.

The sound of laughter and chatter from the inside of the country club only seemed to highlight the sense of isolation you felt. You felt a pang of loneliness. This life was not where you wanted to be. You wanted to be happy and carefree like everyone inside the club. You wanted to be carefree like JJ. The thought of him enjoying his date while you were out here smoking away your pain only added fuel to the fire of self-pity. You took another long drag of the cigarette, inhaling deeply, the smoke filling your lungs and calming your emotions.

After the long walk to the chateau in which you fortunately didn't get stabbed and mugged to death, you reached the front door, taking out your earphones and stopping the music that was blaring inside them. Instantly you were met with the faint sounds of the pogues inside. Your friends were probably tipsy and judging by Kiara's car sitting parked outside, JJ and Kie were inside too. The thought alone was enough to bring your mood back to the state it was before you started walking here, and you found yourself hesitating even if it was for a few moments, rethinking the decision of going inside.

As you stood outside the front door of the Chateau, you could faintly hear the voices of your friends inside, the sound of their laughter and chatter floating through the windows. You paused for a moment, the thought of seeing JJ and Kiara together bringing back the pang of hurt and disappointment you felt earlier. Part of you wanted to turn around and go back the way you came, but you knew that was just cowardice talking, and the stubborn, masochistic side of you won over.

You mentally prepared yourself for the possibility of seeing JJ and Kiara together, a sight that you knew would only add to your pain. With a deep breath, you pushed open the door and walked inside, trying to appear nonchalant as you entered. John B and Pope were playing beer pong, Sarah watching intently by her boyfriend's side and the sight made you smile. And then your eyes shifted to the couch, where JJ and Kie were snuggled up next to each other, completely unaware of what was happening around them and the small smile dropped instantly, probably comically even. You had to take a deep breath and step further into the living room, making your presence known since they didn't hear the door opening due to the music playing from a speaker next to Pope's feet.

As you walked further into the living room, the sight of JJ and Kiara snuggled up together on the couch sent a jolt of pain through your chest, but you tried your best to brush it off and act nonchalant.

Your entrance into the room went mostly unnoticed at first, as most of the Pogues were focused on the game of beer pong happening between John B and Pope. It wasn't until you stepped closer, your presence finally breaking through the haze of music and laughter, that JJ and Kiara finally turned their attention towards you.

JJ's eyes widened slightly as he caught sight of you, a mixture of surprise and guilt briefly flashing across his face. He could see the disappointment and hurt in your expression, even if you were trying to hide it. But Kiara, completely oblivious to the tension, immediately perked up at your arrival.

"Hey you!" Kiara exclaimed, her voice cheerful and loud. "Where were you? We were wondering when you'd show up!"

You stood in the middle of the living room awkwardly, your hand stopping mid way as you were about to take your backpack off, when Kie's voice stunned you for a second. Your eyes drifted from hers to JJ's as you spoke up, a tight smile gracing your lips clumsily "Yeah.. I had to walk home. The last bus from the country club leaves at 9 and i finished at 9:30.."

JJ's eyes narrowed slightly as you spoke, a pang of guilt shooting through him. He knew damn well that he was the reason you had to walk all the way back here, instead of him picking you up like he promised.

But, JJ being the cocky idiot in this whole situation just leaned back against the sofa, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Damn, that sucks.” He said, his nonchalant tone only adding more salt to your wound. “Guess you should've left work a bit earlier then, huh?"

Your stomach twisted as he spoke teasingly and casually, no hint of remorse playing over his handsome features, his hand draped over the couch and playing with a strand of Kie's hair like he had no care in the world. Like you didn't just walk here all the way across the island, in the dark with a storm warning looming over your head. Your fingers finally wrapped around the backpack strap, sliding it off your shoulders and dropping it by the coffee table in front of the couch, eyes narrowed significantly. 'Not even a sorry?' you asked yourself internally as slumped on one of the lawn chairs in front of the couch, sighing. "Guess i should've.. But i wasn't supposed to take the bus, was i?" you asked, the question meant to subtly make a jab at JJ breaking his promise.

JJ felt a pang of guilt at the subtle jab in your question, even though his expression remained deceptively calm and nonchalant. He knew exactly what you were hinting at, and he knew he had messed up by forgetting about his promise to pick you up from work.

He continued to play with Kiara's hair, his movements a little more tense than before, the teasing smirk still plastered on his face.

"Yeah well, plans change." He said with a shrug, his gaze flickering from you to Kiara, feigning innocence.

Your brows raised a bit, your disbelief at his audacity almost bleeding out onto your expression before you managed to school it. You weren't gonna make a scene, you kept repeating to yourself like a mantra, jealousy and anger bubbling up in your stomach and make it twist like it would usually before a test. Except you weren't at school, you were sitting in front of your best friends, who seemingly had a great time on their date at your expense. You tried to chuckle casually, adjusting your glasses as you spoke after a few moments.

"I'm assuming your date went well, right?" you asked, pointing to the two of them sitting in front of you, your smile not reaching your eyes quite fully.

JJ could see the anger and jealousy in your eyes, the effort it was taking you to keep it hidden only making him feel guiltier. But he was never one to admit his faults easily, especially not in front of other people. Instead, he just nodded his head, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Yea, it was pretty fun." He said nonchalant, his hand still playing with Kiara's hair. Kiara chimed in as well, completely oblivious to the tension in the room.

"It was great! We went to the Wreck and then took a walk on the beach." She said cheerfully.

You nodded as if you actually cared about the details of their stupid date, feeling like there was cement slowly getting poured over your neurons, your brain desperately trying to shut itself out from feeling the regret you were feeling at not just making a beeline for your house. Your legs ached, the heel of your foot feeling like it was on fire from standing up all day without sitting down more than ten minutes, you had barely anything to eat and you were overall just in a shitty mood. You probably looked like you needed a shower, smelled like it too.

But still, that didn't deter you, you were not gonna falter in the sight of exhaustion and bitterness, instead choosing to chew on your already shredded bottom lip as you averted your gaze for just a little. "I'm sure it went great, JJ's really good at grand gestures when it means he gets to ignore the little ones.." you mumbled, hoping the last part wasn't audible over the music playing from the speaker.

The comment caught JJ's attention and his hand paused in Kiara's hair, his expression faltering for a brief second before he quickly concealed it. He could feel the bite in your words, the hidden accusation that he was more willing to go all out for Kiara than put in effort for you. It stung, but he quickly composed himself, continuing to play with Kiara's hair.

"Hey, I do the big and the small gestures, thank you very much." He shot back, trying to keep his voice light and unbothered, even though he knew damn well you had a point.

"I'm sure you do." you replied in a cheerful tone that didn't quite match your tight expression, waving your hand in the air as you spoke, "I mean.. I didn't really get to congratulate you guys officially. And it's been a week already." you chuckled, looking between them with yet another tense smile as your gaze settled on Kiara "Dude, you're seriously so lucky you have JJ's full attention and.. dedication to put in the effort."

Kiara giggled, blissfully unaware of the underlying tension between you and JJ. She didn't pick up your sarcastic tone or the hidden jab in your words. She just saw it as harmless teasing between friends, and she responded with her usual cheerfulness.

"I know, right?" She said, looking lovingly up at JJ. "I'm damn lucky."

JJ's fingers continued tangling in Kiara's hair, his expression still casual, but there was a hint of discomfort in his eyes as he glanced at you.

The conversation continued, with Kiara blissfully rambling on about their date and their plans for the future while JJ pretended to listen intently, his mind elsewhere. He could feel the discomfort in the air, the tension between you and him like a thick cloud hanging over them. He couldn't help but steal glances at you, silently begging you to drop the act and just confront him, but you stayed silent, continuing to feign nonchalant banter with Kiara.

John B and Pope, meanwhile, seemed blissfully unaware of the tension, their attention solely focused on the beer pong game in front of them.

The conversation between Kiara, you, and JJ continued to flow, the awkward tension in the air almost palpable. Kiara continued to babble about their date and their plans for the future, while JJ just nodded along half-heartedly, his hand still running through Kiara's hair. John B and Pope were too drunk to notice the tension, still deeply absorbed in their game of beer pong, their laughter and banter filling the room.

Eventually, Kiara got up, excusing herself to the bathroom, leaving you and JJ alone on the couches for the first time since you arrived.

The moment Kiara disappeared, the silence between you and JJ became deafening. It was as if a spotlight was suddenly shining on the two of you, highlighting the tension and the unspoken words. He couldn't bring himself to look at you, his eyes still glued to the floor, his hands clenching and unclenching nervously in his lap.

After a few moments, he finally spoke up, his voice a low murmur.

"You're mad at me, aren't you?"

Your eyes were fixed on his face, trying to intimidate him with your intense gaze and it worked since he spoke up first. Giving you the chance to respond instead of addressing the fact that you were mad, rightfully so. "Should i be mad at you? It's not your duty to pick me up and drop me places." you spoke casually before adding "That's for Kie.." you whispered, a small mocking smile tugging at your lips.

JJ clenched his jaw, a mixture of annoyance and guilt flashing across his face. He knew your words were meant as a subtle dig, and it stung. The mention of Kiara in the context of picking you up and dropping you off sent a pang of guilt through him, but he refused to let it show. He met your gaze with a defiant glare, his voice firm and defensive.

"I promised I'd pick you up," he bit out, his hands clenching into fists at his sides.

You rolled your eyes, your façade dropping slightly as he stated the obvious thing, looking out to the side at the dark window, fingers playing with the frame of your glasses. "Right.. don't worry your pretty little head about it. I had a blast walking here at night with a storm warning interrupting my music every ten minutes.."

JJ felt a wave of guilt wash over him as you described your walk home, the storm warning and the danger that had come with it. His jaw clenched tighter, his eyes locking on your face as you looked out the window, his heart starting to pound in his chest. His own words, cocky and nonchalant, played back in his head, making him feel like a total jackass.

He didn't respond at first, his voice quiet when he spoke up again, his voice tinged with guilt.

"Why... why didn't you just call an Uber..?"

Your eyes snapped back to his face, brows furrowing in barely contained anger. God, you were so ready to snap. "Because i don't have the money, blondie. Not like your girlfriend. She can just call an Uber or get in her car and go places while all i have in my name is a stupid, old skateboard. Which by the way, i didn't have with me because i took the bus this morning. And then you promised to pick me up, so i didn't bring with me to work."

JJ's jaw clenched as you snapped at him, your words hitting every guilt button he had for the last hour. His cocky demeanor crumbled for a split second, guilt flashing across his face before it was quickly concealed. He ran a hand through his hair, avoiding your gaze as you spoke about your lack of money and means of transportation.

He had never really thought about the difference in your and Kiara's financial situations before, and the realization made him feel like the biggest douchebag.

"I'm.. sorry," he mumbled.

He had never realized the disparity between your financial situations and Kiara's. The fact that you had to rely on the pogues' Twinkie for rides and couldn't simply call an Uber or hop in your own car like Kiara, who had the financial means to do so. And he had completely overlooked the fact that you had even taken the bus instead of bringing your skateboard just because he promised to pick you up.

Seeing how upset it made you, how much it pissed you off, made him feel like a complete and utterly thoughtless jackass. He felt guilty as hell.

Which you didn't care about. You could see the guilt written all over his face but the anger coursing through you was way too strong to let him off the hook and accept his apology. Instead you just grunted in acknowledgement, looking to the side once again as you fidgeted with the small charms attached to your phone case, trying to relax your tense shoulders and expression.

JJ clenched his jaw, watching your reaction with a heavy heart. He could see the anger still burning in your eyes and the way you avoided his gaze as you fidgeted with the charms on your phone case. He wanted to reach out, to try and make amends, but he knew damn well that it was too early. You weren't ready to listen, let alone accept his apology.

He shifted on his seat, his muscles taut with tension, and swallowed hard.

".. are you really that pissed at me..?" He asked, his voice low.

"I'm just exhausted from work JJ." you mumbled, not looking at him and still choosing not to fully acknowledge him.

JJ's heart sank further at your response. The exhaustion in your voice was palpable, and it only added to the weight of his guilt. He knew damn well that he was partially to blame for your weariness. You'd taken the bus to work instead of bringing your skateboard just because he promised to pick you up. And now, instead of keeping his word, he'd completely neglected you to have a stupid date with Kiara.

He clenched his jaw, his guilt-ridden expression turning into frustration when you continued to avoid his gaze.

He let out a frustrated huff, his annoyance at your cold demeanor starting to get to him. He knew he didn't deserve for you to be all sweet and forgiving, but he wished you'd at least look at him and not just avoid his gaze like he was some sort of leper.

He leaned forward, his forearms resting on his thighs as he tried to catch your eye.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you, damn it." He said, his voice a low, almost pleading whisper.

"You'll be fine." you spoke quietly, resting your chin on your palm, elbow propped on the arm of the lawn chair. "I can hear you just fine like this too.." you added.

JJ bristled at your response, frustration and regret building up in his chest. Your nonchalant, almost smug attitude only fueled his annoyance, and he wanted to shake you, to make you understand how guilty he felt for abandoning you for a date.

He sat up straighter, his expression hardening as he tried again.

"I don't just want you to hear me, I want you to look at me," he grumbled, his voice tinged with frustration and an undeniable hint of desperation.

But you didn't. The situation was slowly but surely escalating and you hated confrontation, especially when it came to your friends. Especially when it came to JJ. You were almost wishing that he would just go back to being anything but apologetic, your jaw clenching in irritation. "Don't make a big deal out of it JJ, i told you: 'you'll be fine.'"

JJ's annoyance flared at your nonchalant response, his frustration reaching a boiling point. He was tired of you acting like he hadn't monumentally screwed up and left you hanging, walking all the way to the Chateau alone at night.

He let out a frustrated huff, his hands clenching into fists in his lap as he tried once more to make you look at him.

"How can you say 'don't make a big deal out of it'? I'm trying to apologize and you're acting like a total... douche."

Now your eyes finally snapped to his, to make sure you actually heard him right and that he was indeed still holding onto his audacity and somehow blaming you. "And maybe i don't wanna accept your apology. Ever think of that, goldilocks?" you asked, quiet venom dripping from your words. "I have free will and I'm allowed not to. Especially when you call me a 5th grade insult like 'douche' while doing so."

JJ met your gaze with a mixture of anger and frustration, his temper flaring at your response. He was already feeling guilty, and your coldness and refusal to accept his apology only added fuel to the fire.

He clenched his jaw, his whole body tensing as he bristled at your remark.

"Oh, so now I'm not allowed to call you out for being a dick just because I'm trying to apologize? That's real fair." He retorted, his voice rising slightly, his guilt making way for anger.

"Excuse for being mad at lil' ol' you.." you mumbled in a sickly and mockingly sweet tone before your face dropped in anger again. "Didn't know we were playing the fair field here.. Thought you made it obvious we weren't, when you left me to walk home at night to prolong your date.."

JJ's anger flared once again, his guilt turning into irritation and defensiveness. He knew he was in the wrong, knew he had screwed up, but he couldn't help himself from feeling like you were just twisting the knife deeper.

He clenched his jaw, his voice coming out as a low, frustrated hiss.

"Oh, so that's what this is about? You're angry because I was too busy on a date instead of giving you a ride home? Is that it?" He snapped, his tone dripping with sarcasm and irritation.

You leaned back, forcing your shoulders to relax despite the feeling in your stomach building up to a level of almost being sick. Was it jealousy? anger? the anxiety you felt while walking home that didn't die down even as you were inside the house, safe? You didn't know which. But you had to keep the situation from escalating, or else you'd actually end up admitting that you were in fact not happy for JJ and Kie for getting together, like you stated earlier. "No. But you know what? If that's what you think this is.. Jealousy. Maybe you should just continue being mad. I'm too exhausted to argue with you right now."

JJ clenched his jaw, his irritation only further fueled by your denial. He could see the tension in your shoulders, the subtle signs in your body language that betrayed your true feelings no matter how hard you tried to maintain a façade of nonchalance.

He let out a bitter scoff, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Right," he sneered, his eyes narrowed. "You're too exhausted because I left you to walk home all alone, but not too exhausted to act like a petty, jealous little.." he paused, letting the insult hang in the air.

You paused, eyes narrowing at his unsaid insult and at the fact that despite you trying to not let the situation escalate, he was making that very hard. "You're way too full of yourself." you stated, your words tight with barely contained anger.

JJ's irritation flared at your response, his muscles tensing as your words hit him like a punch to the gut. He opened his mouth, a biting comeback right on the tip of his tongue, but instead, he clenched his jaw so hard that a muscle in his cheek twitched.

He took a deep breath, his voice coming out as a low, barely controlled whisper.

"Are you really gonna sit there and act like you're not pissed off that I was out on a date instead of picking you up and dropping you home? That I was prioritizing Kiara instead of you?"

You knew what he was trying to do. Called it from the beginning of this stupid conversation. Because if there was anyone on the planet that knew JJ more than he knew himself, it was you. He wanted a reaction from you. Thrived on it. JJ was a guy who thrived in fast paced environments and loved commanding attention and emotions to his will. Maybe that was because just like you, he never really had any control over important aspects of his life, so he would make up for that fact by messing with people and drawing reactions from them. That was his nature. There was no changing JJ. Just like there was no changing you. You were the only person who didn't quite give him the satisfaction of a mindless reaction.

You shrugged, releasing the inside of your cheek from the tight grip of your teeth, exhaling to calm your anger down, at least by a notch so you could speak. "You want me to be?" you asked, a small mocking smile tugging at your lips, whispering the words in the same tone, careful not to attract the attention of the other pogues on the argument currently unfolding under their noses.

JJ clenched his jaw once again, your nonchalant attitude and mock-sweet tone of voice hitting him in a way that both fueled his anger and slightly impressed him.

He gritted his teeth as you spoke, his heart racing in his chest as he tried to keep his own voice down to not attract the attention of the others, trying not to give them a show in the process.

His intense gaze was fixed on you, studying your face with an almost desperate fervor, looking for any sign of vulnerability that he could exploit to get a proper reaction out of you.

He leaned slightly forward, his eyes narrowing as he studied you, his brain trying to find the words to get a rise out of you. And in an instant, he found it. A realization.

He let out a scoff, a bitter smirk playing at the corner of his lips. "Yeah. I do. Maybe it pisses you off, doesn't it? That I chose Kiara over you. Maybe you're just jealous, aren't you?"

Obviously the words stung. They stung like when you'd try to learn a new skateboard trick and you ended up tripping in the process, scraping the first layer of skin off and leaving you with a big tender patch all over your knee. That's how you felt for the past week since Kie and JJ made it obvious they were an exclusive couple. It wasn't just the fact that he was trying to exploit it to make himself feel good, it was the fact that to some extent it was obvious. Still, the anger at his audacity blared so much stronger than the hurt you were feeling, jealousy and possible sadness making way for the adrenaline induced anger.

In spite of all that, you let out a small laugh, throwing your head back as you laughed momentarily. "It still baffles me J.." you started, shaking your head as if the words were merely part of a normal conversation, soft and reverent "How much of a dick you can be sometimes. I mean... you stood me up when you clearly promised, and somehow you managed to twist it enough to make it sound like I'm in the wrong for being mad at you. For not accepting a half assed apology... Like I'm jealous." you spat out the last part, your anger quiet and controlled yet a familiar sight for JJ.

JJ seethed as he watched you laugh, his irritation flaring at your words. He couldn't believe you were acting like he was the dick in this situation. He clenched his jaw, his muscles tensing as he tried to keep his anger in check.

His eyes narrowed as you continued, his heart rate spiking as you mentioned his half-assed apology and the fact that you didn't accept it. He wanted to snap, to yell at you that he was trying his best here, but something in your voice stayed his hand and made him listen instead.

He clenched his hands into tight fists in his lap, his knuckles turning white at the force of it. He hated how he found himself getting sucked into this argument, even though he knew it was his own fault. The fact you were being so reasonable, when he was trying so hard to poke and prod and push you into a reaction... it was infuriating, but also oddly attractive in a twisted way.

He took a deep breath, his voice coming out slightly more controlled than before.

"I'm trying to apologize, damn it. What more do you want from me?"

You shrugged once again, silently dismissing him once again. A genuine twisted smile spread over your lips for a moment before you schooled it back into condescension, satisfied that he didn't get a reaction out of you. "Maybe don't call me a petty, jealous little bitch indirectly.." you responded, your sigh coming out akin to a parent disappointed in their child.

JJ gritted his teeth, his irritation flaring at your cold, dismissive shrug and the condescending look you gave him. He clenched his hands into fists once more, his anger and frustration boiling to a point that he felt like he was going to burst if he didn't say something soon.

He let out a sharp huff, his voice low and biting as he shot you a glare.

"Well, it's not my fault if the shoe fits."

You rolled your eyes, adjusting your glasses. It did. The shoe fit. But he didn't have the right to point it out in the context of this conversation. Not when he was at fault and your main problem was the fact that he didn't keep his promise. Jealousy wasn't the main factor driving you into being mad at him. Because that was JJ's style not yours. If the roles were reversed and he was the one pathetically in love with you while you had a boyfriend, all but aware of his feelings for you; he'd be seething right now. He'd make it everyone's problem and would probably even try and ruin your relationship in a half ass, half thought through plan. You knew JJ. He didn't take well to jealousy and other feelings, reason why he tried to mess with the feelings of other people.

So the fact that you were sitting there, still managing to come to the group hangouts or go to parties with the pogues sent you a notch higher above JJ. And you liked that. A lot. It didn't mean that you weren't jealous and bitter, but unlike JJ you didn't have the emotional intelligence of a tea spoon. "God, you're such a goddamn man child.." you mumbled after rolling your eyes, yet another sigh escaping your lips.

JJ clenched his jaw, his fists clenching and unclenching as he listened to you insulting him and sighing at him, as if he were some child having a temper tantrum. And maybe, in a way, he was. But he wasn't going to admit that to you, or to anyone else.

He let out a frustrated huff, his voice coming out laced with anger and bitterness.

"Oh, I'm the man child? You're the one who's acting all pissed at me because I stood you up for a date. Grow up."

Instead of being hurt by this conversation, you chose to be amused by it. It was awfully amusing, especially since you were the one supposed to be mad and not the other way around. You let out a genuine snort of laughter, shaking your head as you studied his tense form on the couch in front of you, the desperate attempt at getting a reaction out of you. "Y'know what baffles me?" you mumbled between chuckles, "The fact that I'm literally pulling the stunt you're trying to pull on me. I'm getting a reaction out of you instead of the other way around. And you're oblivious to it. Instead of backtracking and just forgetting the whole thing, you keep adding shit that you're gonna be forced to apologize for later. Something that you clearly don't take well to.." you added, gesturing to him vaguely as you spoke the last part of your amused comment.

JJ felt his irritation growing with each quiet chuckle that escaped your lips, the sound making his heart race in his chest. He clenched his teeth tightly, trying to force himself to remain stoic despite the feeling swirling through him.

He had started this argument with the intention of making you react, but you had managed to turn the tables on him again, and that was driving him crazy.

He huffed, his voice low and dark as he spoke. "You're messing with my head, you know that, right?"

Your grin widened with each word he spoke, nodding along. "Not my fault you're easy to read."

JJ felt his irritation flare once more at your grin, his heart racing in his chest as he clenched his fists tightly in his lap. He hated how easy you were able to get to him, how you had managed to manipulate the conversation into something else entirely.

He let out a scoff, his voice tense and low.

"Easy to read" his ass. He was the most closed off person around, always avoiding talking about his feelings. How the hell were you able to read him so easily all the time?

He ran a hand through his hair, his fingers tangling in the messy strands as he looked away, his eyes scanning the room, trying to distract himself with something, anything, other than your damn annoying smug face.

He opened his mouth to speak again, but before he could say anything, Pope's awkward cough cut through the air, breaking the tension between the two of you in the process.

JJ's head snapped up, his attention now directed towards Pope, who was casually sitting on the armrest of the couch, on the opposite end from him clearly having been watching the exchange from the start.

Pope shot him an amused look, a sly smirk playing at the corner of his lips, and JJ had a sudden urge to wipe it off his face… with a punch. Instead, he just gritted his teeth and said nothing, his gaze flickering towards you for a brief moment before returning to his friend.

You directed the grin at Pope, openly satisfied that he was also amused at the fact that you managed to shut JJ up. You turned around and just as you were expecting, John B, Sarah and Kie were standing by the table listening in intently too, the beer pong game long forgotten.

JJ felt his irritation increasing exponentially now that he realized that all your friends had been listening to the whole thing unfold, watching as you turned around to face the rest of the pogues with a victorious grin on your face.

He couldn't help but shoot each of them a glare, silently cursing the fact that his plan to get a reaction out of you had failed so spectacularly. Pope continued to watch the situation unfolding with a smirk, clearly enjoying the show. John B's expression was neutral, although there was a flicker of concern in his eyes, and Kiara looked… amused.

In spite of all, of shutting down JJ victoriously and managing to play off the whole situation off, you still felt the dull sting of JJ's words. You knew that they were mostly things said in anger, his way of dealing with the guilt he felt for standing you up like that. In a sense he was acting like a man child. To put simply big feelings scared JJ and he liked to mostly do all his thinking with the lower head instead of the perfectly working one on his shoulders. You knew that a little silent treatment would have him apologizing in a heartbeat but what hurt more was that this time they were true.

Since him and Kie made it obvious that they were officially the second couple of the group, after John B and Sarah, you had managed to find excuses to not hang out with the pogues as much. Disassociating on hang outs to avoid looking at him while he made out with his girlfriend, or watching the two of them sneak off at parties wasn't exactly the fun you were hoping to have that summer. So you took to sneaking off too. Whether it was keggers or kook house parties, you managed to get blackout drunk for over 3 times in the past week. It wasn't entirely fun either. Especially when you started finding yourself in the orbit of Rafe.

Sex with Rafe was good, almost too good. You were clearly physically attracted to each other, an attraction that you didn't really know the source of and one that made you very guilty afterwards. That night when you got spiked, he managed to surprise you in a way that made you feel even guiltier. Because he didn't act like the Rafe you knew and grew to hate. He helped you out and in the haze of the realization that you could've died from alcohol poisoning and drug overdose in a random ditch on the island if he didn't find you, all you could do was sleep with him. Again. Because there was no space for verbal gratefulness or emotional shit. Not when all of that space was filled with hatred and annoyance. It was stupid. This was the same guy that hated your social class with a passion and hunted them for sport and fun. So why the fuck was he interested in perturbing your bubble and floating around in your shitty, cheap orbit?

That night went by without any more arguments between you and JJ, choosing to keep your distance so he could compartmentalize his emotions. You played beer pong, and then some Uno while tipsy and before you knew it, Pope had left to go home with the pretext that he didn't wanna be stuck here if the upcoming storm had gotten worse. Which was code for basically abandoning you with two horny, drunk couples in the chateau, who will probably be fucking until they passed out while you slept on the ratty couch in the living room. And you were almost sure you were gonna sleep through the whole night, given you were tipsy enough to fall asleep after sitting still for ten minutes.

But you weren't lucky enough, it seemed. Because you stirred awake, the sound of the rain pattering against the old roof of the chateau pulling you out of your sleep. The wind wasn't all that strong, not enough to send you into a hurricane scare, but you could tell the storm wasn't here to play. You propped yourself up on your elbows, not bothering to reach for your glasses on the coffee table since it was almost pitch black in the living room. Great, so the power was out. No wifi, no electricity and probably no signal for mobile data. You looked around for a few moments, slinging your feet on the floor and leaning against the couch in a sitting position. You rubbed your hands over your tired face, head pounding duly from the alcohol. You should've threw up before sleeping. And then you heard it.

The room that JJ hogged as his in the chateau didn't exactly have the thickest walls. So now that he was sharing it with Kiara, the two of them clearly restless and giggly when they went inside to "sleep", you could hear everything. They weren't being exactly obscene per se, but you could make out what was happening even in your groggy state and it made your stomach twist violently. JJ's grunts and occasional comments reverberated through the thin walls in the dead silence of the living room. God, were you just gonna have to stand here on the couch with no phone or electricity having to listen to the guy you were in love with fuck his girlfriend? And not to mention that she wasn't being exactly shy about letting him know how good of a job he was doing.

You were doomed. Quite literally sentenced to sit there, unable to go back to sleep or distract yourself with your phone as JJ and Kie had drunk sex in the room a few feet away. You sighed, turning to look out the window and the sounds of the rain matched the way it was pouring down. You could walk home right? Murderers didn't really like to kill in storms like these, you were the only one thinking about even going out there in these weather conditions. Who were you kidding. Most murders happened on rainy and stormy nights. But you weren't gonna sit there and take it (quite frankly more lamely than Kie currently was.) So you rose up to you feet after putting on your sneakers and hoodie, grabbing your glasses off the coffee table along with your phone and slung your backpack over your shoulders.

You put your hood on, as if the piece of fabric was gonna shield you from the pouring rain and made a beeline for the front door. You didn't bother with being quiet since JJ and Kie were too occupied at the moment and John B and Sarah were probably asleep already. Or maybe they were just being quiet. You didn't wanna stick around to find out.

Meanwhile, back in the small room occupied by JJ and Kiara, things were heating up quickly. The storm outside was a mere background to the sounds coming from within, the room filled with grunts and moans, Kiara's laughter and JJ's low curses with no idea of the fact that you were leaving. JJ grunted, his hand tightening its grips where it had been holding Kie's hip, the sound of the rain and the lightning outside barely registering in his mind, completely focused on the girl underneath him. This was the best way to handle his conflicting emotions, this was the best distraction from the anger and guilt swirling in his chest.

As you reached the front door and pulled it open carefully, a particularly loud cry of pleasure sounded from the room behind you, the sound reverberating through the house. Maybe even through your soul. Which quickly pushed you to make up your mind and step out of the house into the rain, hand instantly shooting up to try and shield your glasses from getting wet.

The only person insane enough to be out in the streets, let alone drive on these weather conditions was none other than Rafe. He didn't really have a choice, giving the scuffle he created back at Topper's house, and the headlights of his SUV were barely strong enough to help him against the darkness in front of him and the rain pattering against the windshield, the water droplets laying on the glass like a thick layer of veil. His bruised knuckles tightened on the steering wheel, ignoring the pain that shot through him when he did so. He was still drunk, but more than anything he was still angry. At the storm raging outside? At the fact that Topper literally kicked him out of the house for doing something inherently righteous? He didn't know himself.

He let out a sigh, the sound a mix between annoyance and relief as he saw his house loom in the distance, the white paint a stark contrast to the darkness of the sky. He was relieved to have finally made it home (without crashing or getting pulled over) and he was more than ready to just shower, change quickly and pass out. Until he saw you. At first, when he pulled into the driveway he didn't recognize you, not with the hood on your head. He was more than sure that it was a burglar, someone trying to break in using the storm advantage and his adrenaline and anger induced brain was ready to step out of the car and beat the dude to a pulp under the pretext of self defense.

But then you turned around, facing the car and the headlights shone over you face, causing your glasses to glimmer in the light momentarily and he calmed down partially. What confused him was the fact that you looked just as confused as he felt, unsure of what exactly you were doing at his house. As if he was the one that called you here. He wasn't.

Your walk home was uncomfortable, to say the least. Your hoodie was doing little to protect you from the heavy rain, your hair sticking to your forehead and your glasses becoming almost useless with the amount of water on the lenses. However there was no way you were turning back around, you'd rather get drenched completely than endure even another second in the chateau, listening to JJ and Kiara.

Your thoughts were swirling in your brain, each one more spiteful and bitter than the last. You didn't really pay attention where you were going, too focused on getting home as quickly as possible and ignoring the sound of lightning and thunder erupting and tearing the sky above you. How you thought it was a good idea to walk all the way to Rafe's was beyond you. Especially with the state you were in and the walkable weather. But seeing your mother had locked the back and front door, and you weren't exactly able to slip through the windows or in the possession of a spare key, your last option was... Rafe. You were sure he was already home and despite the long walk to Figure Eight, you still didn't really know what to tell the older Cameron. To explain why the hell you were at his house in the middle of the night, during a freakish storm, still wearing the clothes you left work with.

When Rafe saw you at the foot of the driveway, his surprise was evident. His eyebrows pulled together in confusion and he squinted through the rain to check if his alcohol-addled brain was playing tricks on him. But no, it was you, standing there in the pouring rain like a wet stray dog. He sighed, shutting off his headlights and stepping out of the car.

He was immediately hit with the heavy downpour, the rain soaking through his clothes and chilling his skin in mere seconds. He walked towards you, his long strides eating up the distance between you quickly.

He came to a stop a few feet away from you, his gaze flickering over your wet form. His eyes taking in the way your sodden hoodie clung to your body and your soaked glasses, your hair sticking to your forehead. He was also soaked through, the fabric of his shirt sticking to his toned frame, the water running down his face and dripping off the end of his nose.

"What the hell are you doing out there, are you insane or something?"

You watched as he turned off the car the headlights no longer blinding you. So he wasn't at home, you thought. Driving on these conditions also explained why he wasn't replying to your texts. Which you caved in and decided you were in dire need of sending. You were almost ready to turn around and walk back all the way to the Cut, risking getting pneumonia, before he pulled to a stop in the driveway. Effectively freezing you in your spot. Now your brain was actually empty as he asked you the question you dreaded the past 15 minutes standing awkwardly in his driveway.

You shifted in your spot, pressing your lips together as you struggled to put aside your pride and just tell him the reason you were here. Which of course he didn't care about, because why would he? And technically speaking you left the chateau unreasonably, no one in their right mind was walking outside at night, on a storm. Not even out of jealousy and bitterness. And the fact that you actually went through with it and walked over to his house baffled you as much as it baffled him.

"I texted you like 5 times." you raised your voice over the sounds of the rain, the statement being the only one that you had enough courage to yell out.

Rafe clenched his jaw as you spoke, his annoyance with you quickly flaring up. Though, he was more confused than anything. He ignored the way his wet clothes clung to him uncomfortably as he took a step closer to you, his eyes narrowing in irritation.

"First of all, you can ditch the attitude. I didn't see your texts." He said, his voice rising above the pouring rain. "And second, why the hell are you here and not at home in your own damn bed like a normal person?!"

Your eyes roamed over his form, at first with the intent to subtly check him out before you tried to deflect again but something caught your eye. There were small splatters of blood on his shirt, the crimson stains a stark contrast against the white wife beater he was wearing. Which you didn't remember him wearing at the country club. Your eyes flicked back to his face, features twisting in confusion, knowing what you saw despite the wet glasses and low visibility.

"To be honest i don't have an answer to that question myself!" you spoke, your voice rising to match his over the rain, and not to give him attitude like he thought. "Is this a bad time?! I'm not helping you to hide any bodies, just so you know..!" you added, nodding vaguely towards his shirt, a shitty attempt at covering your unease with humor.

He glanced down at his chest, cursing under his breath when he realized the dark spots of blood soaking through his white tank top. He should've changed his shirt, this was just idiotic now. He looked back at you, a mixture of anger and annoyance in his gaze, your attempt at humor not going over his head.

"Don't worry about the blood. And no, it's not a bad time." He said, though his voice was gruff. "Just get in the goddamn house. Before you catch pneumonia or something."

You stood there, as if debating between turning around and going back to the chateau once again due to your unease from his brushing you off, or actually following his orders. He looked tense, and angry you could tell that much from knowing him so little. And you were definitely worrying about the blood now that he was trying to brush it off so quickly. But the part that didn't want to walk back to the chateau eventually won out, and you turned towards the glass doors of his house, quickly stepping into the dark house. You looked around at the dark surroundings while he followed suit, despite having been over at the Cameron's multiple times, pulling your hood off your head and removing your glasses. Were you making a mistake? You knew Rafe wasn't entirely sane, so your allusion at murder wasn't entirely far fetched. But you figured even killers had cooldowns. At least that's what you told yourself to help with the unease.

Rafe followed you into the house, the glass sliding door shutting behind him with a loud slam. The sound of the storm outside became a faint background noise, the quiet interior of the Cameron's large house suddenly feeling a lot more claustrophobic. He watched as you pulled your hood off your head, your damp hair sticking to your forehead. He let out a sharp exhale, his eyes roaming over your face and body briefly, trying to figure out why you were here.

His gaze then landed on your glasses in your hand, his eyes narrowing.

He crossed the distance between you in a single stride, his hand snatching the soaked glasses from your grip, his movements almost aggressive. Despite his touch being firm and rough, he held the glasses in a gentler grip, his eyes tracing the frame and the lenses. He was almost worried that it got damaged. He ran a thumb over the glasses, the action almost tender and caring. But once he realized what he was doing, his eyes snapped up to your face, his expression hardening once again.

"You're drenched from head to toe."

Your eyes followed his movements as he snatched the glasses from your grip, turning to face him almost cautiously. "Well.. it's raining, in case you haven't noticed.." you gestured behind him towards the glass doors, your voice weak and unsure, but still sarcastic.

He shot you a glare, his annoyance flaring up again at your sarcastic remark. He rolled his eyes, the movement almost dramatic, as he started towards his room upstairs. He grabbed your arm as he went, dragging you behind him. He didn't bother with turning the lights on as he led you through the dark house, only illuminated by the occasional flashes of lightning, up the grand staircase.

Once they were inside, he slammed the door of his room behind you. He then turned to look at you, his eyes scanning over your soaked form in the moonlight seeping through his curtains behind him.

The house, which usually was beautiful and grandiose, looked ominous and dark. Vacant, like in a horror movie. You blinked in surprise as he still held onto your glasses, his free hand wrapping around your wrist and dragging up the stairs onto the dark second floor of the house. Okay, now you were definitely regretting this. Not only was he acting cryptic and strange, movements full of anger and body tense. But the his bloody tank top and the fact that he didn't really address it deepened your unease. Not that he had to. You weren't even sure why you were here. You weren't exactly dating or friends, so showing up unannounced like this definitely caught him off guard.

Your eyes were fixed on his back as he was walking in front of you up the stairs, anxiety coiling in your stomach like a snake. Once you reached his room, you gave his bedroom an once over, the familiar sight making you feel even more on edge, a mix of guilt and flight or fight pressing down on your chest. You looked over the bed in the middle of the room, and then at the clothes sprawled on the foot of it and on the chair at his desk, eyes finally landing on the small bar further into the room. "So.. you're not gonna murder me for showing up here, right?" you asked looking back at him, and you didn't know if the question was another lame attempt at humor or genuine.

Rafe's expression was stoic as he watched your eyes dart around the room, noticing how tense you looked. He could practically feel the anxiety radiating off of you, even if you were trying to play it cool and make jokes. He ignored the question at first, his eyes fixing on your wet body for a moment, his gaze feeling almost predatory as it roamed over the curves of your soaked hoodie. Then he broke the uncomfortable silence.

"Take off your clothes." was all he said, his voice low and commanding.

Your brows raised in surprise at his command, shifting in your spot uncomfortably, a stark contrast from your usual demeanor. What the hell was wrong with him tonight? "Uh.. no, i'd rather get killed in my clothes.." you mumbled weakly, lips twitching up in a smile that didn't hold any amusement or casualness.

Rafe's irritation grew at your response, his jaw clenching. He took a slow, purposeful step towards you, closing the distance between you and towering over you with his tall frame.

"This isn't a joke, dumbass. You're soaked and probably going to get sick. Now. Strip." He said, his voice leaving no room for argument, his eyes locking with yours, his gaze hard and intense, leaving no room for debate.

You tensed up when he stepped closer, your eyes drifting back to the blood stains on his tank top before flickering back to his face. Without your glasses your vision was blurry and unfocused at the edges, but you could still see the small cut on his lip and the small bruise on his cheek. Which if this was in any other circumstances, maybe you'd strip. But your gut feeling made you want to stand your ground. "Yeah well.. i'd prefer to do it in the bathroom, preferably while you're out here..." you whispered before adding almost desperately, wanting to clarify. "-lending me a change of clothes.."

He clenched his jaw, his hands clenching into fists at his side, frustration and anger boiling under the surface. He was tempted to grab you and drag you across the room to the en suite bathroom himself, to toss you into the shower and then manhandle you until you listened, taking care of you himself. But he held back, if only slightly, understanding that it'd make everything even weirder.

He gritted his teeth, his jaw flexing before sighing, his hands reaching up to run through his messy hair. Then he took a few steps backwards, dropping himself down on the edge of the bed.

You watched as he stood on the of the bed, your own stance awkward by the door. You weren't sure what to do, you'd never had to deal with this kind of Rafe. Never had the chance to. There were so many questions floating through your mind, and the fact that he was still holding onto your glasses made it even worse. A part of you wanted to tell him that he was slightly scaring you, but you thought against it, reaching up to fidget with the damp string of your hoodie.

He rested his elbows on his knees, his fingers running through his messy and quite damp hair, his eyes fixating on you by the door. You looked like a wet cat, your clothes sticking to your body and hair tangled in messy strands, your glasses in his hand. He found himself thinking again how much he wanted to throw you into the shower and dry you off. Take care of you. Like he did earlier tonight, unknowingly to you. He felt almost angry at the thought. But the sight of you fidgeting with the string of your hoodie only made it worse.

"Just go use my bathroom to change, dumbass." He repeated.

You watched him intently, as much as you could without your glasses and you found yourself humming in agreement, but not moving just yet. "What.. what happened?" you asked, brows furrowing slightly.

He sighed, his eyes flickering up and locking with yours in the dimly lit bedroom. He could hear the genuine concern in your voice, but he felt defensive and closed off at the question. His eyes narrowed slightly, his jaw clenching as he debated how much to tell you, if anything at all.

"Got into a fight." He answered simply, the partial truth slipping off his tongue easily. "Why do you care anyway?" He added with a touch of bite to his tone

Your expression twitched slightly, looking down at your soaked sneakers as you scratched your temple. You didn't, not really anyway. You didn't even know where the question came from. Maybe from your anxiety, which dimmed down considerably as he told you he got into a fight. Still there was something in his demeanor that just... put you off. He looked like a man that didn't get enough punches in, anger still rolling off of him in waves. "I was just making sure i wasn't about to-" sleep with a murderer? you finished internally, speaking up after a few seconds, "well.. just making sure i wasn't gonna be your second victim tonight.."

He huffed out a short, sharp laugh as you spoke, shaking his head slightly, his gaze not leaving your small frame. He felt a pang of guilt and annoyance at your words, knowing he kind of deserved it. He ran a hand through his hair, messing it up even more than it already was. Despite his anger, there was a hint of playful irritation at your sarcasm.

"Don't worry, sweetheart. You're not a target." He said with a touch to sarcasm in his own voice, his eyes flickering over your body once more. "Just a nuisance."

He leaned back on his hands, his eyes still flickering over you. His gaze was intense and almost predatory as he continued to take in the sight of you in the dim light of the bedroom. The way your wet clothes clung to your body, the way your hair was sticking to your face, the way your eyelashes clung together after being soaked. It was all driving him insane. He wanted to take you, right here and now. Take all that pent up frustration and anger out on you.

Although those two statements sounded more like the Rafe you knew and hated (usually,) the way he was silently watching you after, made you squirm in your spot. Not to mention you felt vulnerable without your glasses. And foolish for coming here without a clear reason as to why. "..Right." you muttered weakly after a few moments, pressing your lips in a thin line.

He raised an eyebrow at your nervous fidgeting, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. He noticed the way you squirmed under his gaze, and it only fuelled the burning heat in his gut. He pushed himself off the bed, his eyes fixed on you as he slowly walked closer. He was like a hunter stalking his prey, his movements slow and predatory, as if trying to get you to run so he could chase you.

He stopped right in front of you, towering over you with his tall, broad frame.

He reached out, his fingers hooking under your chin, tilting your head back slightly so he could study your face from a different angle. His eyes roamed your face, taking in every detail, the way your eyelashes clung together, the way water droplets dripped from your hair onto your face. He was acutely aware of the way you were shifting, fidgeting, and avoiding his gaze. It only made him want to tease you even more.

"You look like a wet puppy." He said, his voice low. Amused. A hint of mockery in his tone.

You tensed up when he stepped closer, brows furrowing slightly when he tilted your face up to look at him, eyes roaming over his face, which was a little less blurry now that he was closer. His damp hair was sticking to his forehead and his eyes were a bit blown out, blazing in simmering anger. "Thanks.." you responded to his mocking statement, biting back the remark that was threatening to slide off your tongue.

His smirk grew into a sly grin, his thumb tracing over your chin, his fingers still gripping your chin, holding your head in place. He could see the defiant response on the tip of your tongue, the snarky attitude that he knew too well. And it only fueled the fire inside him. He enjoyed you like this, off balance and a little on edge. It made him want to see just how far he could push you before you broke.

He chuckled, leaning in slightly, his face now mere inches from yours.

He was close enough that you could feel his hot breath on your face, his eyes locked on you with an intense, almost hungry look in them. "You're quiet tonight." He murmured, his thumb still tracing circles over your chin. "Usually I'd have to shut you up by now. But you're just standing there. Like a good little girl." He teased with a touch of mockery in his voice. He enjoyed seeing you like this. A little more submissive. A little less hostile. A little more pliable and tame.

"Cause you're low-key scaring me.." you retorted back quietly, breath hitching as he leaned in, eyes drifting down to his split lip before trying to focus into his eyes.

A hint of surprise flashed across his face before he could stop the reaction. He wasn't used to you being honest about your feelings. He was used to your snark and sarcasm, and that was the version of you he was used to dealing with. But this? This was new. He wasn't expecting it. It made him feel an odd mixture of guilt and irritation.

He chuckled, his grip on your chin tightening slightly as he tilted your head up more, his eyes flickering to your lips for a moment before meeting yours again.

He studied the expression on your face, the slight hint of fear mixed with the defiant look in your eyes. He knew he was scaring you, and it should have stopped him. But he couldn't stop himself. Your mouth was slightly parted, your breath hitching as you spoke, and he suddenly found himself having the urge to taste you. To see if you would melt into him like melted butter like you usually did.

He chuckled again, amused at your response, as he leaned in even closer, his mouth hovering just above yours. "Me? scaring you? That's a first.. You're not stepping back , cowering in fear so i assume you enjoy it.."

You chuckled breathlessly at his words, despite the mocking undertone of the reply. Your anxiety was dissipating slowly as his finger continued to rub circles in your skin, eyes narrowing as if you were expecting him do something. "Right.. i enjoy not knowing if you wanna fuck or murder me.." you muttered in amused sarcasm, the focus of your eyes shifting between his blue ones.

He laughed, a dark, genuine laughter that rumbled through his chest. He enjoyed seeing the change in your demeanor, how your fear was starting to melt away and return to the usual snark and sass. It was familiar, and it felt more like the dynamic he was used to between the two of you. He smirked again, his eyes sparkling with amusement and something else, something more. The words you said sent a jolt straight to his gut.

"Can it be both?" He teased, his thumb moving from your jaw to your lips, tracing them lightly.

"Depends in what order.." your eyes narrowed almost mischievously, eyes moving over his face intently.

He chuckled, a sly grin spreading over his face. He was enjoying your little back and forth, the way you challenged him even when you were scared. He couldn't help but admire your sass, your ability to keep up with his playful banter, even when the situation was slightly more serious than usual.

"Hmm… murder and then a good, hard, rough -" He paused, his thumb still tracing your lips. He leaned in closer, his mouth now close to your ear, his voice dropping to a whisper as he continued.

"-fuck. How does that sound to you?" His hot breath ghosted over your ear as he continued, his thumb still tracing your lips and his body pressed firmly against yours. He could hear the slight hitch in your breathing, feel the heat radiating off your skin, and it only made his desire grow. He was enjoying the feeling of pushing you to your limits, of teasing you until you broke and gave in.

You raised one brow even though he couldn't see it, a small grin tugging at your lips. "Why are you asking me as if I'd be alive for it.." you muttered, a small chuckle following your words.

He chuckled again, the smirk on his face growing wider. He enjoyed the way you could always find a witty comeback, even when he was trying to tease you into submission. He knew that deep down, you would enjoy it just as much as he did. He pulled back slightly, his hands moving to rest on your hips, his grip tight and possessive as he looked down at you.

"You'd be alive enough." He replied, his voice a low, seductive murmur as he continued. "You'd be screaming my name and begging for mercy."

Your face twisted in amusement even further, another chuckle escaping your lips. "What is this? are we in 'Scream'? you wanna play psycho killer as foreplay?" you asked teasingly, eyes drifting down to the blood on his damp tank top. "Please don't kill me mister ghostface, i wanna be in the sequel.." you feigned fear, sighing.

He laughed out loud at your response, his hands gripping your hips even tighter. He found your sense of humor utterly amusing, even during moments like this. He always marveled at your ability to switch from fear to sass so quickly. He found himself wanting to see how far he could push you before you snapped. He played along with your teasing, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

"No, no. Ghostface is a pussy. He wears a robe and a shitty halloween mask. I prefer my hand around your pretty little neck, sweetheart."

Your brows raised for a moment, before you schooled your expression once again, your eyes drifting back down to his lips "I dunno... you give me 'i own a ghostface mask and i like to fuck girls with it on' vibes.." you stated, looking back up at him.

He let out a loud genuine laugh, finding your comment both humorous and provocative at the same time. He was enjoying the witty banter between the two of you, the way your sarcasm and sass fueled his own. He smirked and shook his head slightly, his eyes locked on yours. His hands were still gripping your hips possessively, his body pressed firmly against yours as he responded.

"I can assure you I do not own a ghostface mask, sweetheart. My fetishes are way more interesting than that."

You pouted in mock disappointment, shaking your head as if he'd broke the most devastating news to you. You continued to get more surprised of your conversations with Rafe escalated. And how ridiculous they were sometimes. I mean, here you were, standing in the middle of his room, at three in the morning most likely, on a storm, all drenched. And maybe still a little uneasy. "Aww man, and here i thought you were gonna put the mask on for me.." you whispered.

His smirk grew into a wicked grin, finding your exaggerated disappointment utterly amusing. He chuckled as he responded, his hands moving from your hips and sliding upwards over your soaked hoodie, tracing over your body in a possessive gesture. His fingers danced over your curves, leaving a trail of fire in their wake under your clothes as he continued to hold your gaze.

"Is that what you want, sweetheart? You want me to wear a mask while I rail you against the wall? Cause I absolutely could…" He smirked, his eyes darkening with desire.

His hands continued to roam over your body, his touch growing more possessive and almost needy as he continued to hold you close. He loved seeing the effect he had on you, the way you looked at him with a mixture of desire and fear. Your soaked clothes clung to your body, and he couldn't help but think how beautiful you looked, even drenched from the storm outside. As if on cue, a loud clap of thunder boomed outside, the storm outside getting more aggressive.

Despite the fact that you probably should've turned back around the moment you saw him step out of the car and noticed the blood staining his shirt, his demeanor tense and angry, you found yourself wrapping your arms around his neck lazily. He leaned in slightly, nosing at your jaw in a way that almost made your knees buckle. The warmth of his body seeped through your damp clothes, your arms wrapping just a little bit tighter around his neck as you spoke, "I wouldn't be opposed to some mask action... Think I'd deserve it given you wanna murder me.."

He chuckled, feeling your grip tighten around his neck, the way your body pressed against him making his own knees feel weak. He couldn't deny that he loved the feel of your body against him, the way you fit so perfectly in his arms. He let out a hum, his teeth gently nipping at the sensitive skin on your neck before responding, his voice dripping with desire and need.

"Oh, you'd definitely deserve it." He murmured against your skin. "But first, I need to dry you off."

He shifted his grip on you, his arms wrapping around your waist and lifting you up effortlessly, holding you against him. He could feel the dampness of your clothes against his bare skin, reminding him of how drenched you were from the storm outside. He carried you to the bathroom, setting you down on the edge of the counter, his hands roaming over your body as he spoke.

"Let's get you out of these wet clothes, gorgeous."

Your legs wrapped around his waist as he carried you towards the bathroom and set you on the counter beside the sink, your arms still wrapped around his neck loosely. "Aren't you gonna keep prying and ask me why i showed up to your door in the middle of a storm?" you asked, eyes narrowing slightly in curiosity.

He chuckled, his hands roaming over your wet clothes, feeling the damp fabric against his skin. He loved the way you looked sitting on the counter, your legs wrapped around his waist, your arms around his neck. He loved having you close, feeling your body against his, the way your eyes narrowed in curiosity. He paused for a moment, his hands still on your body, before answering.

"Later", He replied, his voice a low whisper. "Right now I just want to get you out of these wet clothes and into a hot shower."

You let out an involuntary sigh as his ringed hands slid under your damp hoodie and crop top, the feeling of his warm and needy hands sending a pleasant shiver through your tense body. You hated the physical attraction you felt to Rafe, because no matter how much you'd try to fight it, you'd always end up in his arms and in his bed if you were alone more than 10 minutes. Being touch deprived was both a blessing and a curse because you could feel the heat blooming between your thighs every time he touched all the right places, the body clearly not giving any fucks about what the brain thought of Rafe or how guilty it felt after sleeping with him.

"In which I'm getting in alone, right?" you asked, the tone of your voice matching his, as you studied his face, the cut on his lip and the bruise on his left cheek.

He chuckled as he pulled your sodden clothes off leaving you only in your bralette and underwear, his eyes roaming over your body propped on the bathroom counter like he was taking in a work of art. He knew you were touch deprived, he could feel it in the way you leaned into his touch, how your body reacted to him. He enjoyed being the one to fill that need, the one you always ended up going back to in moments like this. He could see the mix of desire and guilt in your eyes, and it only fueled his own need for you.

"Are you sure you want to shower alone, sweetheart?" He asked.

Your eyes narrowed teasingly, in a way that was akin to pondering over his question before you spoke "Wouldn't that be too intimate? Showering together is a couple's thing.."

He chuckled at your teasing response, his hands still roaming over your bare skin, his eyes tracing every curve and dip of your body. He knew that you were trying to play coy, to act like you weren't just as affected by him as he was by you. And he loved the challenge.

"Oh really? So what's your excuse for always ending up underneath me?" He teased, his tone dripping with sarcasm and desire as he leaned in to nip at your neck, his lips tracing a path down your neck to your collarbone.

Well, you didn't really have a simple answer to that. Why him specifically? It could've been someone entirely different, someone less likely to get you to lose your friends if they found out who you were sleeping with on the low. Someone you hated less. "Simple.. the need of a distraction.." you mumbled, tilting your head back to allow him to kiss at your neck.

He chuckled against your neck, the vibrations sending a flutter of heat through your body as his lips continued to explore your skin. He could hear the note of guilt in your voice, the way you tried to justify your actions, but he chose to ignore it. For now, he was only concerned with the feel of your body against his, the way your body responded to his touch like a moth to a flame.

"Interesting." He murmured, his lips moving up to nibble at your ear." I didn't realize that I was just a distraction."

Another sigh like moan escaped your lips, your hands tightening around his neck to bury his face even further into the crook of your neck, fingers tangling in the damp hair at the nape of his neck, carding them through it lazily. "Yeah, isn't all this casual?" you asked quietly, words soft and breathless.

He hummed against your neck, the sound sending a shiver down your spine. He loved the way your hands pulled him closer, the way your fingers tangled in his hair as you tried to keep your voice even and calm.

"Yeah, it's casual." He replied, his voice low and seductive, his warm breath sending a jolt of heat through your body. He knew it wasn't casual, not really. It was a twisted sort of non-relationship, fueled by desire, guilt, and a deep need to fill a void.

He continued to kiss and nibble at your neck, his hands roaming over your body, tracing the curves of your hips and the dip of your waist. He could feel the heat between your legs, the way your body responded to him like it was made for him, despite the fact that he was just a "distraction."

"But I don't mind being your distraction." He murmured against your skin, his lips trailing back to your ear. "Not if it means I get to have you like this."

Your nose grazed his cheek slowly, pressing chaste kisses over his jaw between words. "Have you tried looking into therapy then..?" you asked almost mockingly, still playing with the hair at the base of his neck.

He chuckled at your question, his body shuddering under your gentle touches. He let out a low hum, his hands continuing to roam and explore your body as he replied.

"Therapy? Me, go to therapy?" He asked, feigning offense, his eyes sparkling with amusement. "Yeah, right. I'm not paying some stranger to try and fix my issues when I can do that by throwing punches and sleeping with you."

You chuckled, the sound shuddering in your throat as his fingers found the clasp of your bralette and undid it swiftly, discarding the black, lacy piece of fabric on the tiled floor of the bathroom like it was a rag. Your hips shifted on the counter to scoot closer to him, legs wrapping even more tightly around his middle, your chest pressing against his, slightly irritated at the fact that you were the only one topless. "But why? You can have a stranger diagnose you with alcoholism and a raging coke addiction, putting you on BPD medication.." you murmured almost condescendingly, still peppering kissing over and under his jaw.

He laughed at your little jab, enjoying the way you pressed yourself against him, the way your legs wrapped around his waist and your chest pressed against his. He loved the way you were trying to act indifferent, but your body betrayed your true feelings. He could feel the heat between your thighs, the way your hips moved against his.

"Mmm, is that your professional diagnosis, baby?" He asked, his hands roaming over your bare back, tracing the sensitive skin of your spine. "Alcoholism, BPD, and a coke addiction… sounds about right."

You hummed in response, nodding against his skin as your fingers moved through the damp strands of his hair. The smell of alcohol and expensive cologne sent a new wave of heat through your body, nosing under his jaw gently. "So you're not denying being completely insane and bat shit crazy then?" you asked lowly, clinging to him in spite of feeling uneasy from his behavior earlier.

He chuckled at your observation, his hands continuing to roam over your bare back, his body moving to slot himself more firmly between your legs. Your touch and the way you clung to him, despite feeling uneasy, only fueled his already burning desire for you.

"Insane and batshit crazy? Me?" He asked, feigning innocence. "I prefer the term 'proactive'."

His words amused you slightly, a long and drawn out, knowing sigh leaving your lips "Oh, i know all about your proactiveness. That's your thing, right? Blaming the insane shit you do on being "proactive.." "

He chuckled again, the sound low and rough as he continued to hold you close. He loved the way you teased him, the way you knew him so well, despite the fact that you weren't supposed to. He pulled back slightly, looking at your face with a smirk, his eyes dark with desire.

"Yeah, that's my thing." He replied, his hands moving to caress your thighs, his fingers tracing lazy patterns over your skin, igniting a fire within both of you. "I'm just a proactive type of person, dolly."

With a swift movement, he lifted you up in his arms, holding you against his body effortlessly. He started walking towards the shower, his steps confident and determined.

"And right now, I'm feeling very proactive." He added, his voice rough and low in your ear. "Would you like to know what I'm feeling proactive about?" he asked, his lips trailing back down your neck, nipping at the sensitive skin.

"Taking off my underwear and your own clothes so we could shower?" you answered with a knowing question, smirking slightly as he carried you towards the shower effortlessly, legs and arms wrapping around him more securely.

He chuckled against your skin, loving the way you wrapped yourself around him, your body so willing and eager. He loved the way you knew exactly what he was thinking, the way you could read him like an open book.

"Oh, you're good, dolly." He murmured, his voice filled with admiration and desire. "You know me so well. You've got me figured out."

He reached the shower and set you on your feet, his hands reaching for the waistband of your underwear.

With a quick, fluid motion, he hooked his fingers around the band of your underwear, and pulled them down your legs, discarding them on the shower floor. His eyes roamed over your body appreciatively, admiring every curve and dip, taking in every detail of you like a starving man who just found a feast.

"God, you're so goddamn beautiful." He murmured, his voice laced with a mix of awe and desire, as he worked on removing his own clothes with quick, efficient motions. Just like you Rafe was desperate to bury his anger and confusion under sex, making your arrival perfect.

You swallowed as you watched him undress quickly, your eyes roaming over his abs and his chest, before you snapped them up to his face, teeth digging into your bottom lip. He stepped into the shower with shutting the door to it closed and not wasting time to crowd you, the heat of his skin pressing into yours. Thinking back to the few times you slept with Rafe, you realized that most of the stuff you did was so intimate and familiar, it made you feel even guiltier. You hated each other and each other's friends in the daylight but when it came to sex, you realized it was mostly on you now with how you seemed to act around each other during night time. Your desire to forget about JJ was pushing you into the arms of the person who spent most of his time picking on you, and you liked it.

You didn't dwell on any other emotions other than lust as you wrapped your arms around his shoulders, bringing him for a kiss, all teeth and desperation, a low moan reverberating through your chest as you felt him kiss back almost instantly.

He pressed you up against the tile, the cold surface no match for the heat between you. His body pressed against yours, his hands roaming over your body, exploring every inch of you like he had been craving this all day.

His lips found yours in a kiss that was all raw passion and heat, his tongue delving into your mouth like he was starving for you. A low, guttural moan escaped his throat as he kissed you back with equal fervor, his hands gripping your hips, pulling you flush against him.

Your hands cradled the back of his head in a frenzy almost, trying to match and outdo his pace of the kiss. He slammed you gently against the cold tile wall of the shower, which caused you to grunt against his lips as the cold made contact with your flushed skin, but you quickly recovered. You squirmed against each other, hands desperately clutching at anything in their reach. In the midst of making out one of you had turned on the water, the feeling of the warm and steamy water seeping into your hair, a welcome one given it was damp from the cold rain.

Water cascaded over your bodies, the hot stream running over your skin and adding to the already rising heat between the two of you. His body caged you against the tile as he continued the kiss, his tongue delving deeper into your mouth, tasting and exploring you like a man drunk on desire. His hands continued to roam over your body, tracing every curve and dip, the feeling of your soft skin against his rough hands driving him wild with need.

One of his hands came up to cup your jaw, holding you in place as he deepened the kiss even further, his hips grinding against yours.

When his hips moved against you, almost pleading silently, one of your arms unwrapping from his neck as his hand cradled your face and snaking it in between the two of you to wrap around him. You didn't bother breaking the messy, wet kiss as your hand moved in purposeful strokes, determined to get a reaction out of him.

His eyes closed, and his head tilted back slightly as you wrapped your hand around him, your touch sparking a wave of heat through him that shot straight to his core. A low, guttural sound escaped his lips, swallowed up by the kiss, but still noticeable as you continued to tease and touch him. His hips bucked involuntarily, his body reacting to your touch like a well-tuned instrument.

"Doll " he gasped, his voice ragged and hoarse, his lips moving down to your neck, nipping and sucking at the skin with wild, desperate hunger.

The small gasp he let out only fueled you more, glancing down between the two of you, watching your hand as it worked over his hardening cock in something akin to satisfaction and fascination. The warm water from the shower was pouring down your face, dripping from the tip of your nose and from your parted lips as you muttered "What?" simply, your breathing ragged as you paused to brush your thumb over his tip teasingly before resuming your purposeful strokes.

He stifled another gasp, his body shuddering under the combined sensations of the warm water and your touch. His hands gripped your hips tightly, his nails digging into your skin, leaving little red marks in their wake. You looked goddamn addicting like this, water running down your face, your voice ragged, and your touch determined and teasing.

He raised his head from your neck to look at you, his eyes darkened by a mix of desire and need, his mouth forming a smirk as if he was about to say something snarky.

But all that came out was a low, guttural moan as your thumb darted across the sensitive spot, sending a wave of pleasure shooting through his body. The combination of your touch, the water, and the look on your face was almost too much for him to handle.

"God damn it, dolly..." he muttered, his voice ragged and breathless. "You're gonna end up killing me."

"I'm trying to get you to finish.." you whispered back, your hand gripping the hair at the base of his neck as you continued your ministrations, the tight circle of your fist around him giving a small squeeze to drive him even more crazy. If there was anything that you loved in this world more than alcohol and making bad decisions, it was men who weren't afraid to be vocal. And Rafe was vocal alright. He gasped and groaned, moans and even whimpers leaving him once the two of you managed to do something. It was something you noticed rather quickly in the few times of sleeping with him, and it turned you on beyond belief.

He growled softly, a mix of pleasure and need, at your words and the way your hand continued to tease and work him. He leaned his forehead against yours, his breath ragged and uneven, his body trembling with desire.

"Are you trying to kill me, woman?" He gasped, his voice low and rough as he spoke. "Cause I swear I'm close to snapping."

Your eyes locked with his blue ones when he leaned his forehead against yours, the movements of your hand slowing down as your breathing continued to grow more heavy, brows knitting up slightly as the ache between your legs demanded attention. You unwrapped your hand from him, wrapping your arm around his neck loosely. "I'm just being nice.." you murmured, teeth digging into your bottom lip.

He let out a small sound of protest at the loss of your touch, his body still on a high from the sensations you'd just inflicted on him. But as he noticed the look of need on your face, he understood what you were silently asking for. He didn't let you wait for long, his hands gripping your thighs, lifting you up effortlessly and pressing you against the shower wall.

"Oh, baby, I'm gonna be a whole lot more than just nice to you." He murmured, his voice low and rough with desire.

He positioned himself between your legs, your back against the cool tile wall, your body pressed against his. His hands continued to hold you up effortlessly, his eyes locked on yours as he looked up at you, a mix of hunger and need in his gaze. He took a moment just to admire the sight of you, your wet skin, the drops of water running down your skin, and the need in your eyes.

"You want me to be nice, dolly?" He asked, the muffled words against your skin full of sweetness and sultriness, his lips moving to kiss and nibble at the sensitive skin of your neck.

You exhaled softly when you wrapped your legs around him and felt him slip inside just an inch, his words making your skin tingle in need. "Well you could try.. given you're usually not." you chuckled weakly, your words meant to be teasing but just coming out quiet and needy.

He chuckled against your skin, his grip on your thighs tightening as he slowly slid himself further inside you, your words and noises only fueling his own desire. He loved the way you were coming undone in his arms, your usual snark replaced by this needy, desperate need for him.

"You're gonna have to forgive me, dolly. I'm just not a very nice guy." He murmured against your neck, his lips and teeth tracing a path up to your ear, biting softly at the lobe as his heavy breathing echoed in your ears along with the water from the shower.

You tilted your head back against the tiled wall when he finally slid inside you, the small pain dissipating after a few moments, melting into pleasure. You let out a soft moan, the sound almost drowned out by the warm water still pouring over the two of you. "I'm barely nice myself, it's okay.." you murmured between ragged breaths and sighs.

He groaned as he slowly, torturously, started to move inside you, each motion sending waves of pleasure through him. He loved the way your body felt wrapped around him, the way your moans and sighs filled the shower, the hot water cascaded over the two of you but not nearly as hot as the heat clouding his mind with every thrust. He leaned his forehead against yours, his breathing ragged as he spoke.

"Yeah, we're a pair of assholes, aren't we?" He replied, a shaky laugh escaping him.

He continued to move inside you, his pace slowly increasing as he held you against the tile, his hands gripping your thighs tightly, his lips finding your neck, his mouth hot and hungry against your skin. He bit and sucked at your neck, leaving small, possessive marks on your flesh.

"But god damn, dolly, you feel too good." He murmured, his voice low and needy, his breath hot against your skin. "I can't be nice, I can't be gentle, I can't be anything but just absolutely desperate for you."

You could feel his pace picking up, still feel the earlier anger lingering in his thrusts and the way he was holding onto you, and your body reveled in it. You loved that just for a moment, sex made you forget, especially with someone who was so goddamn good at it. You fought to keep your eyes open due to the pleasure and the water streaming down onto your face, trying to keep them fixed on his face. You were listening intently to his sounds, watching how with every thrust he was fighting the urge to roll his eyes back before he buried his face in the crook of your neck and it drove you even further. Even closer to a well deserved orgasm.

Your breathing was coming out in shallow pants, fanning against his shoulder as you managed to speak, "Sometimes being an asshole gets you far.. i mean-..." your words were cut off by a moan before you tried again "I mean look at you, you're nothing but an ass but you still manage to score.."

He chuckled against your neck, his body shuddering as he listened to your words, his pace picking up even more, his heart racing with desire and lust. He loved the sounds and words coming from you, the way your body was responding to him, the way you were completely undone in his arms.

"What can I say, baby. I'm an attractive dick." He murmured between gasps and pants, his lips finding your ear again, nipping at the lobe before replying.

"But I only have eyes for the biggest, prettiest, snarkiest, smart-mouthed dick on the whole island."

The way he sounded, the way he almost hit that spot inside you just about right with the position he had you in, it all made everything so much better. One of your hands buried itself in his wet hair ruffling through it and carding your fingers to keep your hand occupied, mouth hanging open as you could feel your orgasm approaching slowly. "Did you just call me..." you started, the snark melting out of the sentence and getting off by a whimper of pleasure "God you're so big.." you mumbled breathlessly, lolling your head back once again, eyes squeezed tight.

He let out a deep, guttural moan at your words, your fingers in his hair, your body responding so beautifully to every move he made. He was losing himself in you, in the sensations and the need and the heat between you, and your little gasps and whimpers were driving him insane.

"It's 'cause I'm trying to make up for being a dick in all other aspects." He managed to say, his voice shaky and hoarse from the pleasure and the effort.

He continued to move, his pace almost frenzied now, his body driven by the need to make you feel good, to make you come, to hear you falling apart in his arms. He leaned in to kiss you, his tongue delving into your mouth, his teeth nipping at your bottom lip. His hand came up to cup your face, his thumb tracing the curve of your jawline, his breathing ragged and uneven against your mouth.

"Come for me, baby." He pleaded between kisses, his voice rough and needy. "Let go for me. I got you. I got you."

With every movement he rocked your body against the wall, nails digging into the wet skin of his shoulder as your moans transformed into shaky whimpers, desperately trying to return the kiss in midst of the growing pleasure. His name was coming out between the sounds of pleasure almost involuntarily. His thumb slipped past your already parted lips making them close around the digit and biting down on it, cutting off your moans and the way you were muttering his name under your breath.

He watched as you fell apart in his arms, your moans and whimpers driving him wild, your nails digging into his skin and leaving little marks. The sight of you, the way you were responding to him, and the way you were biting down on his thumb, sending a bolt of desire through him.

He gasped at the feeling, his pace faltering for a moment as he looked down at you, his breath ragged, his eyes dark with need.

"Oh, god. That's good, baby." He managed to say, his voice hoarse and rough.

He continued to move, his body pressed against you, his thumb still between your lips as you continued to bite down. He could feel the pressure building between you both, the heat and the need and the pleasure all consuming, threatening to take him over the edge with you. He leaned in, his lips finding the sensitive spot on your neck, sucking and biting at it, leaving his own marks on your skin.

"Come for me, dolly." He pleaded once more, his voice low and desperate, his breath hot against your skin. "I want to feel you let go."

You fluttered around him, the tight grip of your legs locked around his waist growing even tighter if that was possible. You pulled him even deeper inside you, thighs shaking as he finally hit that one spot perfectly, back arching into his chest desperately. Your moans were turning more breathy with each movement although they were muffled by his thumb, begging and pleading for release without using words; not that you could, with your brain turned to mush.

He could feel you fluttering and shuddering around him, the grip of your legs around him a lifeline as he held onto you. He had you pressed up against the wall, completely at his mercy, and he reveled in it.

The sight and feeling of you so utterly undone in his arms did things to him. He continued to move inside you, each movement driving him closer and closer to the edge.

"God, you're so perfect." He gasped, his voice rough and ragged. "You feel so good, baby. It's like this pussy was made for me.."

His words were hoarse and shaky, a mixture of need, desire, and possessiveness as he continued to move inside you, his body completely consumed by the need to make you feel good, to make you come undone in his arms.

"Tell me how good I make you feel, baby." He murmured, his thumb slipping out of your mouth, his lips moving to your ear, his hot, ragged breaths caressing your skin. "I wanna hear you say how good I make you feel. Say my name."

Your eyes struggled to find his, one of your hands swiping at your face to prevent too much water getting into them, vision already blurry. Your face was contorted in pleasure, brows knitting up almost pathetically, hair messy and sticking to your flushed cheeks and forehead. "God i-.. you feel so good.. Right there.." you barely responded before your nails clawed at his shoulder, digging into the flesh as your moans became even breathier and airy.

He watched as your eyes struggled to focus, your face twisted in pleasure, your hair stuck to your skin, a sight so beautiful and wrecked it set him on fire. He felt your nails dig into his skin, the faint pain only adding to the sensation and the need.

"That's right, doll." He murmured, his lips brushing against your skin, leaving a trail of soft, hot kisses along your jaw. "You're taking me so well, baby.. You feel so good around my cock, so perfect.. I need to hear you say my name. Say it. Say my name, dolly."

The praise sent another wave of arousal coursing through your overheated body, fluttering around him once again as you muttered his name under your breath, your eyes fixed on his face desperate to anchor yourself to something against the pleasure that made your thighs shake and your ears ring. You could feel the orgasm close, just in your reach but you needed more, something to push you towards it fully, "I need more.. go harder or faster or something.." you rambled, your voice needy and shaky.

He loved the way you responded to his words, the way you shuddered and quivered in his arms, begging for more, begging for him. He was so close, so close to the edge, but he couldn't hold back, not when you were pleading with him to go harder, faster, anything.

"You want it harder, baby?" He said, his voice rough and ragged, his movements becoming frantic, his body driven by the need to give you what you wanted, what you needed. "I'll give you more. I'll give you everything." he whispered, one of his hands snaking between the two you shakily to rub over your clit, the motions in sync with his frenzied thrusts.

He watched you as his fingers found your sensitive spot, his touch deliberate and precise, the added stimulation causing your body to arch against him, your head lolling back against the tile wall. He could feel the wave of pleasure building within you, the way your body was growing tighter around him, drawing him even closer to the edge, to the brink of an orgasm which would make him see stars.

That was what you needed, your thighs shaking around his waist as the pleasure washed over you without any warning, letting out a cry of pleasure from your throat. It was like the breathing was rocked out of your lungs for a moment, eyes prickling with warm tears from the intensity of the orgasm even though you couldn't tell with the water from the shower.

He could feel your body shaking and shuddering against him, the way you clenched around him, the sound of your moans and cry of pleasure washing over him, sending him over the edge, his body shuddering as he found his release, your name leaving his lips in a low groan, his forehead resting against your shoulder as he rode out the waves of ecstasy with slow, sloppy thrusts.

"Oh, baby." He gasped, his chest heaving as he tried to regain his breath, his body still pressed against you, his arms wrapped around you like lifeline.

Your whole body relaxed, slumped against the tiled wall as you exhaled. Your legs were now wrapped around his waist loosely, shaky fingers playing with the wet hair at the nape of his neck idly. You couldn't speak for a few good moments as you let the silence take over, the only sound between the two of being the running water and your heavy breaths. But as the silence stretched, you could feel the guilt creeping in so you pushed it down, deciding to ignore the sickening feeling, "This might be my favorite position.."

He held you against him, his own body relaxing as he reveled in the aftermath of the pleasure, the feel of your fingers in his hair almost soothing, grounding him back to reality. He let out a soft chuckle at your words, his lips finding the pulse point on your neck and leaving a soft, possessive kiss.

"Yeah? I can tell." He replied, his voice low and rough. "You're like a ragdoll when I got you like this. All limp and satisfied."

"Or maybe cowgirl.." you added mindlessly, sighing gently.

He chuckled again, his hand tracing a lazy pattern on your bare back, his heart still racing from the exertion and the afterglow. He raised an eyebrow at your words, a sly smirk playing at his lips.

"Oh, I know all about that one." He teased, his hand moving down to pinch your ass playfully. "You like that one, huh? Letting you be in control a bit, getting to ride me how you want."

He continued to hold you against him, the water still running warm over their overheated bodies, the air between them still charged with the remnants of desire. He couldn't help but feel a pang of attachment to you, the way your body was so pliant and relaxed in his arms, the way you always seemed to fit so perfectly against him.

"You should stay the night." He said suddenly, the words slipping out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

The movement of your fingers stilled, eyes locked into his intently. In the few times you hooked up you did stay the night, even if you were gone in the morning. But him asking you too sounded so intimate that you felt compelled to. And besides the storm was probably still raging outside. You grinned lazily, trying to sound casual and lighthearted "Shower sex got you feeling romantical, huh? Think that would work for me asking for a hundred bucks too?"

He chuckled at your response, amused and a little bit endeared by your attempts at keeping things casual, trying to keep things in the realm of "no strings attached".

He raised an eyebrow, feigning offense as his grip on your hip tightened, pulling you even tighter against him.

"You're using me for my money, dolly? That's just plain rude.." He replied, his voice teasing and playful, patting the shower wall blindly to turn off the water.

At his action of pulling you closer, you sighed softly given you were still connected. You resumed your fingers' actions, carding your fingers through the wet strands of his hair. "I'm just plain using you.. Getting money out of it is because I'm broke.." you teased, even though your words were technically true.

He closed his eyes at the feeling of your fingers in his hair, the simple gesture soothing and comforting in a way that was completely foreign to him. He let out a soft breath, enjoying the moment, enjoying the way your body felt in his arms, the way your soft skin felt against his. He knew that you were teasing, but he couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt at the reminder of your financial needs.

"You could just ask, dolly.." he murmured, gently pinching your ass again.

He pulled away from you just a bit, his eyes meeting yours as the water stopped running, the last remnants of desire fading into a comfortable silence. The air was cool in contrast to the heat of their bodies, the world outside the shower still distant and muffled by the sound of the storm raging on.

"And I'm serious." He added, his hand coming to rest on the side of your face, his thumb tracing over your bottom lip. "Stay the night. No money necessary."

And you did. Because honestly speaking, although you'd never admit it to him, Rafe's bed was 100 times much better than your own, or the ratty couch at the Chateau for that matter. It was something about being in a room and in a house that felt like it was a completely different realm from the outside world. Where Rafe never asked questions or demanded answers from you, not tonight when you showed up to his house unannounced and not the last three times you slept with him. He just fucked you and you'd get to leave in the morning without worrying about calling. It was easy, especially when he'd act the same way he always did when seeing you around. Well maybe aside from today at the bar, where you were close to kissing on company time, with patrons and members of the club still drinking in the background.

Although you were knocked out cold when you two got to bed, sleeping peacefully beside Rafe with your mouth slightly parted and damp hair sprawled all over the pillow, he was restless. He laid beside you, his eyes wandering to his old t-shirt draped over your figure and a pair of boxers (also lent by him) peeking from where the shirt ended, and he clenched his jaw. More in anger than in anything. Anger at getting too intimate with you, almost flying to close to the sun. Especially tonight at Topper's, the fact that he was bothered enough by Jack spiking your drink the other day and acting on that feeling was angering him. He clenched his bruised knuckles, fidgeting with one of his rings as he recalled slamming them in the cheek of the brunette in a haze of anger, toppling him over the coffee table and ruining the night in less than five minutes. He was going insane.

Rafe laid beside you, his eyes tracing over your sleeping form, the way the t-shirt he'd given you clung to your curves, the way your hair was tousled and messy on the pillow. He knew he should be sleeping, his body was exhausted after the events of the night, but his mind was wired, thoughts racing, the anger and frustration that had been simmering beneath the surface for days finally starting to bubble over.

He couldn't stop himself from reaching out and gently running his fingers along your cheek, feeling the soft, warm skin under his touch.

He watched your chest slowly rise and fall with each steady breath, the rhythmic movement almost hypnotic in the dark room. He wanted to reach out and pull you closer, to feel your body against his, to feel the heat and the softness of your skin against his. He wanted to push his fingers through your hair, to feel the strands slipping through his fingers, to bury his face in the crook of your neck and breathe in your scent.

But he didn't. He just laid there, his hand withdrawing from your face, his eyes fixated on the ceiling as he struggled with the war raging inside his head.

He silently cursed himself, his mind still racing with thoughts and emotions. He couldn't understand what possessed him to act so recklessly at Topper's party, letting his anger and possessiveness take over him, ruining the night. He clenched his bruised knuckles absentmindedly, wincing at the dull ache that throbbed underneath his skin.

He wanted to turn his head to look at you, to watch your chest rising and falling with each breath, but he resisted the urge. He was scared of what he might feel, of the feelings he knew were growing inside him, against his better judgment.

The silence in the room was deafening, the only sound being the steady hum of the air conditioning and the faint sound of the storm that was still raging outside. Rafe felt like he was suffocating, the weight of his thoughts and his emotions crushing down on him, making it hard to breathe. He clenched his jaw, his frustration boiling over.

He wasn't one to get into mindless fights, not anymore at least. But the thought of that dick Jack spiking your drink and getting away with it didn't sit right with him, and he felt entitled to take action. Even if you didn't ask him. Even if he wasn't your boyfriend or the guy you were in love with. He was doing all these things for a girl who didn't even love him, someone who hated him outside sex. And he was okay with it. Because being slightly older than you and a guy, he understood the weight of Jack's action so much better than you did.

He was spiraling, his thoughts becoming a tangled mess of anger and desire and confusion. He couldn't understand why he was so damn protective of you, why the thought of someone hurting you made him see red. He wasn't your boyfriend, he wasn't your anything, yet there he was, laying next to you while you slept, his mind racing with thoughts of you.

He closed his eyes, taking a shaky breath as the sound of your steady breathing filled his ears.

He tried to focus on the rhythm of your breathing, tried to find some semblance of calm in the familiar sound. But it only seemed to make his thoughts more intense, the need to touch you, to hold you, growing stronger by the second.

He clenched his fist, his knuckles white against the sheets, the dull ache from his bruised knuckles reminding him of the fight at Topper's. The fight he started because of you, because he couldn't bear the thought of another guy looking at you, let alone hurting you.

He turned his head then, glancing at you in the soft glow of the moonlight. You looked so damn innocent, so damn beautiful, lying there asleep and peaceful, completely oblivious to the chaos that was going on in his head.

He couldn't help himself. He reached out, his hand tracing over the curve of your hip through the thin material of the shirt you were wearing, his touch tentative and hesitant, as if he was afraid he would break you.

Gone was the sarcastic, mouthy girl who managed to have a reply to anything he said, the girl who would torture him with snarky remarks and then end up in his bed. She was replaced with this peaceful, angelic looking girl, sleeping in his bed like a fawn resting in the middle of a forest clearing. Like tonight for example, you showed to his house on a storm and he never got to know why truly. But he'd figure it was the same reason you slept with him in the first place. JJ. And the fact that he had a girlfriend.

His expression darkened at the thought of JJ, his hand tightening on your hip almost possessively, the same possessiveness that had him throwing punches at Topper's party just earlier in the night.

He knew it was selfish, but he couldn't help it. He couldn't stand the thought of you with anyone else, not even JJ. You were his, damn it. His to touch, to kiss, to claim. The thought of another man touching you, kissing you, claiming you, made him crazy.

He clenched his jaw, fighting back the wave of jealousy that rose in his chest. He didn't want to think about it, didn't want to picture you with JJ or anyone else. But the images kept popping up in his mind, unbidden and unwelcome.

He shifted closer to you, his body drawn to yours like a magnet. He couldn't help it. He needed to touch you, to feel your skin against his, to remind himself that for now, at least, you were his and his alone.

these songs are so rafe and reader coded

A/N: This was also very long, im so #teamrafe it's crazy, he's kinda strange and peculiar but at least he has an ounce of maturity. And oh, he's so falling in love. Special treat next chapter btw, if you guess what is it ill kiss you thru the screen (also do u guys want more texts with rafe?), don't forget to comment reblog since it helps me out, like and of course send me asks because i love interacting with you!😁👍❤️

Tag-list*:･ﾟ✧ @cali-888, @bee-43, @jjscoquette, @melsbels-zip, @stanseventeen @wh0reforbucknasty @wtfisastiles @annaconscience @pqndxra @carrerascameron @nini2mem @iynsane @gublerstylesobrien1238 @wrldfilms

[whencyclopedia]

U-Boat: Germany's Submarines of WWI & WWII

The U-boat, short for Unterseeboot (undersea boat), was the name for submarines used by the German Navy during the First World War (1914-18) and Second World War (1939-45). In the two Battles of the Atlantic, U-boats sank thousands of ships, but defensive strategies such as dropping depth charges, providing air cover, and, above all, the convoy system, ensured Britain was supplied with the resources it needed to continue both wars until victory was achieved on land.

U-Boats in WWI

When WWI began in 1914, the German Imperial Navy had only 20 operational submarines or Unterseeboots (undersea boats), as they were known, a name soon shortened to U-boat. Together, Britain and France had around 200 submarines. German production went into overdrive to catch up. The German navy constructed several classes of submarines to meet different requirements, such as coastal patrols, laying mines, and long-distance vessels. By 1917, Germany had 140 U-boats. While the British Admiralty focused on smaller submarines for the defence of ports, Germany opted for a vessel that could attack enemy shipping anywhere at sea. U-boats became particularly important following the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 (a strategic victory for the Royal Navy, but one with high losses), after which the giant German battleships were largely confined to port. U-boats, on the other hand, were free to roam hidden beneath the waves and attack at will any enemy target they came across in the North Sea, Atlantic Ocean, and the coastal waters of the British Isles.

The earliest U-boats, the UB class, were limited to coastal operations, but developments improved their operational capacity as the war wore on. The typical WWI U-boat had a range capable of reaching the Western Atlantic Ocean, a top speed of 17 knots, and displaced around 700 tons. U-boats carried six torpedoes. Two torpedoes could be fired from the bow and two from the stern. The submarine also had a gun which could be fired when on the surface; this had a minimum calibre of 4.1 inches (10.4 mm). A diesel engine was used when on the surface, and twin electric engines when submerged. The crew on board numbered up to 39 persons. Conditions on board were extremely cramped and uncomfortable, and made worse by the constant stench of diesel fuel, which even permeated the taste of the submariner's food.

The German Navy built a larger class of U-boats, which was unarmed but capable of carrying cargo. The Deutschland was the first of this type, put in service in 1916. Some of these cargo submarines were subsequently converted into armed vessels known as U-cruisers, although the first were not operational until 1918. The U-cruisers had an impressive range of 12,000 nautical miles, and they could well have turned the tide of the war if they had been produced earlier and in larger numbers.

The UC-class submarines were used as minelayers from 1915. With a slow speed of six knots and a limited range of 750 nautical miles, these vessels were designed to stay near coastlines and lay mines, 12 per trip. The mines were released from near-vertical tubes that had been flooded. An upgrade to the class in 1916 increased the range tenfold and the mine load to 18. The UC II class was also armed with a 3.4-inch (8.8 cm) gun. The UE-class submarine was a larger, ocean-going version of the UC-class. The UE-boats, in service from 1915, could voyage 8,000 nautical miles and carry 34 mines. A class upgrade in 1918 meant the newer UE-boats could carry 42 mines in their tubes and another 30 in deck containers.

Read More

⇒ U-Boat: Germany's Submarines of WWI & WWII

[dock57]

i saw your shrike headcanons may i ask if ya have some for the big guy Beebs?

[Apologizes that it took me some time to come back to this ask. I been thinking and thinking if I do have any head canons for the beloved cube head. I'm not the best when it comes to thinking about head canons, honestly a lot of my HCs come from others and their HCs that I accepted as a good HC that I enjoy for the character. But let's see what I have thought about for Beebs: 1. A Mechanic. As someone who has cybernetic limbs, I would assume that Beebs have a pretty good understanding of being a mechanic, as well as in robotics. From EP 3, Us & Them, we see that Beebs seems to have an understanding at fixing mechanical, such as the Cat Brothers Ship, and when he mentions while getting a call from Us, "Great, ANOTHER thing to fix." I believe that Beebs does most of the fixing around the ship. I would never trust Shrike to "fix" anything that needs electricity to run...

2. Royalty. A stretch perhaps. From what we know so far about Beebs' species and their culture, I think Beebs comes from a pretty high ranking, or "royal" like house. Although Beebs does not match what is expected from the family, being an "aberrant" to some eyes, such as Ajax. I think Beebs came from a house, even in higher status than Ajax. I been wondering that the reason why Ajax wanted Beebs' as a servant was for his own status. Like "Look at me, I have the son of a higher house, under me, as a servant." That would be a blow to another house, since it seems Walarian take their status in society very seriously (Also I never can spell the species' name correctly, please forgive me on that).

This is also why I believe Beebs also takes on a very simple life, to move away from the complexation of the life he live before. 3. Speaking of simple, I like to think that Beebs is a man who enjoys minimum things. As in, I don't think Beebs enjoys complexity, not just in life, but even in technology as well. Beebs prefers things to be simple such as clothes, music, food, and even when it comes to working on issues that need solutions. Beebs will go all out to solve a problem, but I think he would prefer if the issue was not to be created to be complicated in the first place, it would have save a lot of time... 4. He lost his limbs. I seen some other who HC or theories that Beebs may have been born without his limbs at all, but I think I prefer the idea that he lost them. I think about this part at the dinner with Ajax in EP 4, Plague Walkers:

When Ajax looks at Beebs' cybernetic arm, then to his own, he mentions how he has "employers I know would TAKE the liability" which makes me think that Beebs lost his limbs from an incident that carried risk, a risk that Beebs took and losing his limbs was a consequence from it. 5. Beebs see Himself in Shrike. Not sure if this counts as a head canon, but I think one reason why Beebs has taken Shrike in and sticks to his side is because he see a younger self in Shrike. Someone who has been there and live through his mistakes, and perhaps he doesn't want the same for Shrike. So he takes Shrike as not just a friend, but as a little brother, one that he wants to see improve himself so Shrike does not end up making the same mistakes that Beebs may have made in his own past.

I cannot think of a good example from the show to see where this though comes from, but I think its when Beebs gives Shrike a soft smile that tells me that Beebs see Shrike as a little brother that he trying to take under as someone he can mentor as well.

6. Heavy Weight Drinker. This one may actually be more close to a Head canon than the others, but I like to think that Beebs can handle his alcohol well. Beebs doesn't drink as much compare to Shrike, who is quick to become intoxicated, Beebs can have quite a bit before even showing sides to be a bit tippy. He always the "designated" driver for any gathering. 7. Prefers a Monogamy. If Beebs' kind and society is expected for the males to have a harem of females, I do not think Beebs vibes that same way. Beebs come off to me as someone who has a lot of people in life he cares and love for, but only one he would treat as a partner. As in Beebs is someone I see who would take a LONG time to develop a romantic relationship with just one person. That one partner is his everything and he cannot think to divide that affection to another. Here's an ask from the MW official server about Walarians having a harem of females.

I think that's all I got for now! Hope you enjoy!]

[drive360]

Reliable Power Solutions: Honda Generator

In today’s fast-paced world, having a dependable power source is essential. Whether you're working on a project, camping outdoors, or facing a power outage, the Honda generator is here to ensure you never run out of electricity. Designed for versatility, efficiency, and portability, Honda generators are a trusted companion for countless situations.

Why Choose a Honda Generator?

Honda is renowned for its engineering excellence, and their generators are no exception. With superior build quality and innovative features, these devices are built to last. Here’s why the Honda generator stands out:

Durable Performance: Equipped with high-quality engines, Honda generators deliver consistent power output, ensuring your devices run smoothly.

Fuel Efficiency: Honda’s advanced engineering ensures maximum power with minimum fuel consumption.

Portability: With compact designs and lightweight models, Honda generators are easy to transport.

Eco-Friendly: These generators are designed to meet stringent emission standards, making them environmentally responsible choices.

Popular Uses of Honda Generators

Outdoor Adventures: Camping, tailgating, or RV trips are made easier with a portable power supply.

Home Backup Power: Ensure your essential appliances keep running during unexpected outages.

Worksites: From power tools to lighting, Honda generators are perfect for construction sites.

Tips for Maintaining Your Honda Generator

Regularly clean and inspect the generator.

Use high-quality fuel and oil.

Check the air filter and spark plug periodically.

Store the generator in a dry, safe place when not in use.

Disclaimer:

Always follow the manufacturer’s guidelines for operating and maintaining your generator. Use responsibly to avoid damage or accidents.

[trainsinanime]

ASF!

That's not a short key smash, but my newest model railroad locomotive. Well, sort of.

ASF stands for "Akkuschleppfahrzeug", "Battery tractor vehicle". More than 500 of these little guys were built in the GDR as shunting tools between 1966 and 1990, both for the railroads there and industry, plus quite a few got sold to other eastern bloc countries (in particular Poland) as well. Nowadays they've spread around more, with some even appearing in Italy and Sweden.

The ASF is designed to push and pull single rail cars or sometimes entire locomotives within workshops and industrial sites, a job that it has been doing well for decades now. The diminutive size (about 3 meters long, wide and tall) means it'll fit anywhere, and in places where daily journeys are often measured in hundreds of meters at most, its 6 kilometres per hour top speed (4 mph) is not really an issue.

Technically, it's not a locomotive but a "device", which means it's subject to far less strict requirements for maintenance and for operator training. With all of that, it should be no surprise that it will never be seen on the mainline; even shunting in stations is an extreme rarity. The job is more to pull something into or out of a workshop. Modern devices for that are typically all remote controlled, but plenty of places also just use an old ASF.

And now it's also available in N scale. And it's just incomprehensibly tiny.

This is produced by Arnold, a brand name of Hornby's, and it actually came with DCC preinstalled. It's adorable and I love it.

But how does it run? Actually way better than you'd think.

The loop of track is a "JokeTrack", hand-made from Japan, that I want to use for something eventually one of these days. As you can see, minimum radius is not really a concern for this locomotive.

Two axles really close together and almost no weight means that electricity pickup isn't great; it'll basically only run on freshly cleaned tracks. But it's way better than it has any right to be, since the decoder comes with two relatively beefy buffer capacitors that are stored in the top of the cab. Still, it's really great at finding whatever particles you have on your tracks and stopping for them.

The top with factory decoder settings is really, really low. Probably exactly the 6 km/h walking pace translated to 1:160 scale. I may bump that up, because realism is one thing, but it takes forever to get anywhere.

The weird hooks are the end are what Arnold has given it instead of normal N scale couplings. They look horrible against a white background, but visually disappear entirely once you're on the actual layout.

If you don't like them, purely decorative replacements that look like the original weird coupler thingies are included in the tiny box. I suppose you could install one of them on one end, and have the other end to haul a car if you want. For me that's too much planning.

Speaking of, it can haul more cars than you'd think in a straight line, but once you get to a curve, it quickly drops down to just one, if at all (also heavily dependent on the car). Sadly the tiny coreless motor in it can and will stall at times, which can damage it if you keep it going for too long, so it's better to keep an eye on it while in motion.

There is no sound, the only function is the marker light. Historically locomotives engaged in shunting were supposed to only turn on the right headlight in every direction as a marker. Nowadays mainline locomotives will turn on all three lights on both ends while shunting, but the ASF was built before that, and since all it can do is shunt, it just received the marker light. F0 turns it on in the direction travel, F1 turns on the opposite end.

Anyway, a really great fun little toy that makes me happy whenever I see it, because it just looks so goofy, and it runs way better than it has any right to.

[stevebattle]

Hexy – A real sexy homing device, by G. Draper, in Radio Control Models & Electronics (1965). This novel light-seeking robot drives forwards towards a light source, but turns & scans for light when the drive motor is reversed. The left wheel has a ratchet so it can only be driven forwards. The top two photos show David Buckley's 1990 build of Hexy, made using parts contemporary with the original article.

"The method of scanning by reversing the drive motor seems quite novel. The model was built to fill in the last week of the school holidays, and since cost had to be kept to a minimum, it was designed to be as simple as possible, using only equipment to hand. Externally, it is in the form of a regular hexagon, in black and silver. … When there is no light falling on the photocell, the relay armature rests on the back contact, and the model scans. When a light is "seen", the relay pulls in, reverses the electric motor, and the model moves forward, towards the light. All the mechanical parts used are "Meccano" … As soon as the light is switched off, or lost, the model automatically starts scanning again, and the cycle is repeated. The model was very successful, and would follow a torch at a distance of up to 5 yards, and would "see" windows, electric lights, etc., at much greater distances." – 'HEXY' A real sexy homing device by G. Draper, RCM&E, March 1965.

[darsynia]

Momentary (Bucky/f!Reader)

MCU MASTERLIST | BUCKY BARNES MASTERLIST | lmk for tags!

Summary: Your paths cross, intertwine, and separate again

WC/Warnings: 1,400 | Explicit Sex

Written for Essie's 300 Follower 'Summer Lovin' Celebration! Thanks for hosting, @bigtreefest, dear, I hope you like it! Prompts used were overstimulation, a hotel, and public sex

Excerpt:

“Please,” you breathe. His actions have slowed, turning from tempestuous to tender, a honeyed slowness designed to prolong your agony. His low, sexy chuckle is a live wire connected directly to his electric fingers as they dip and swirl. 

“I want to hear you, doll,” he rumbles, lips grazing your ear in purposeful provocation. “Louder than the sunset, for me.”

You’re both still clothed, but the arch of your back and cant of his hips make clear what’s happening, visible to anyone with the fortitude to look away from the sun-painted sky. It’s exhilarating.

MOMENTARY

Your panties are puddled at your feet, and your mind is equally liquid. With your head thrown back against the balcony wall, you can only see the sunset over the water through slitted eyes, but its beauty is rivaled by the pleasure melting through your body. Yesterday you didn’t even know this man existed, but now his clever hand is moving under your white silk dress doing things that threaten your current and future stability.

He thrusts two thick fingers inside you, his thumb dancing light touches on your clit. It’s the perfect representation of his odd duality. This secretive stranger is intimately touching you in a semi-public place. He claims to be a businessman, yet he prowls around a luxury hotel with ruthless malice, clearly stalking more elusive prey than you’ve proven to be. The filthy threat you’d overheard him make to another guest had been vicious and incisive.

He is the opposite of everything you left behind at home.

“Please,” you breathe. His actions have slowed, turning from tempestuous to tender, a honeyed slowness designed to prolong your agony. His low, sexy chuckle is a live wire connected directly to his electric fingers as they dip and swirl. 

“I want to hear you, doll,” he rumbles, lips grazing your ear in purposeful provocation. “Louder than the sunset, for me.”

You’re both still clothed, but the arch of your back and cant of his hips make clear what’s happening, visible to anyone with the fortitude to look away from the sun-painted sky. It’s exhilarating.

“Make me, then,” you say, drawing on adrenaline for confidence.

Your lover’s expression sharpens, eyes glittering with anticipation. He pushes off the wall with his free hand, expertly opening his belt and shoving his clothes aside, all while maintaining the delicate devastation of his fingertips. Suddenly he stops, and you clutch at the wall behind you to maintain your balance as you watch him pull out a condom and apply it, his full attention on his task. Then he fixes his gaze on you and you practically stop breathing, your entire being focused on the slow movement of his hand as he slides it from your knee along your thigh, inch by glorious inch.

The urge to moan, to plead is intense, but you valiantly hold back.

He seems pleased by this, which is almost as sexy as this deliberate dismantling of your dignity.

When he finally touches you again, it's brief, but enough to make you dizzy, a supernova of erotic culmination for the few seconds before he lifts you up and lances into you. The resolution to hold back is obliterated by the aching cry that tears through your throat. Any other time you’d have crammed a fist in your mouth, mortified by the very idea of making your happiness audible. With every sensuous movement this man has destroyed all of that, and you’re a willing wreck.

He’d told you to keep touching to the minimum, so you limit yourself to clinging to his open collar, barely able to think against the purity of this pleasure. Eyes tightly shut, you keen through each powerful, rocking glide. You’re so distracted by the sensory overload that you don’t notice he’s only holding you up with one arm until he caresses your sleeve down your shoulder and fixes a hot, sucking kiss on your skin.

The unexpected, personal contact sends you fluttering around him, and you feel rather than see the way he’s affected by that--his free hand slams against the wall as his hips stutter the two of you impossibly closer. It’s as if the whole wall is moving with his desperate cadence, as caught up as you are in the mind-numbing pleasure.

“Your name,” you suddenly beg, clawing for coherence under the onslaught of your pending climax. You open your eyes and bite your lip, wishing you’d asked for a kiss instead. Knowing his name is far too much to ask from a man like this.

Your lover lifts his head. His blue eyes are dilated with desire, sending a heat flush across your body that pools at the place the two of you are joined. He opens his mouth, and somehow you know he wants to lie, which feels like a sin in a moment like this.

If he can break the rules, then so can you.

Before you lose your nerve, you move to caress his cheek with one hand as you nuzzle your nose against his neck, grazing your lips across the sensitive skin of his earlobe in a conscious mirroring of his own earlier action. “Please?” you whisper. His hips still.

“Jam--” he starts, then grunts when your surprise causes you to tighten around him intimately. “Bucky,” he admits, and you repeat the name in stunned triumph, more a breathy prayer than anything else. It’s a turning point, a sentence enhancer, and the the two of you follow it with fierce, frantic fucking in search of absolution.

You can hear yourself moan-gasping as you both come, the exquisite high tumbling and rising until you’re left breathlessly repeating words of gratitude interspersed with his name, your throat raw. For some reason, this causes him to slow his final thrusts, as if reluctant for the moment to pass. It’s almost shatteringly erotic, and you wonder if it’s a glimpse of the true him, or a sign that he’s donning another disguise--the picture of a wealthy, considerate lover. Certainly his groan sounds just as joy-ravaged as you feel, by the time he slides you down onto your unsteady feet.

The possessive sting on your shoulder pulsates in opposition to your body’s resonance, and you have to focus all of your attention on staying upright. Taking a few long, careful breaths, you open your eyes to see that Bucky is already perfectly put back together, his skilled fingers refastening the wrist buttons of his dress shirt from where he’d rolled it back up to touch you.

Without speaking, he respectfully tips his head in your direction and walks inside, crossing the dimly-lit suite without pausing at the bathroom to wash his hands.

It’s the realization that he could just wordlessly leave after such a defining moment that has you finally collapsing into a chair.

It’s fully dark by the time you get up to go inside.

You’d fled halfway across the world to India with the fortune your ex had tried to wrest from you, finally giving yourself the honeymoon you’d always dreamed you’d share with him. It’s hard not to feel like you’ve just fulfilled one of his ugliest insults during that sudden breakup, but at least you hadn’t been in a relationship when you’d had sex with a stranger. 

At least you won’t head to bed still sweet with the buzz of someone else’s nectar.

There’s something mournful about showering after such an experience, washing away the fleeting remnants of a connection never meant to last. You’re torn between a light touch of soap to skin and scrubbing until you’ve excised both ex and rebound, but settle on something in between. Neither will release with ease, you realize. How strange that you’ve heard both men speak in anger in the past month, but in that time only one, the wrong one, used an endearment towards you. 

“Go to sleep,” you murmur to yourself. The sound is sultry thanks to all the noises you’d made. A mix of mortification and memories sends you scurrying to the softest sheets and most heavenly mattress you’ve ever slept on.

You dream of wandering the hotel, checking doors one by one and finding a different version of Bucky in each--dashing and debonair in a vintage military uniform, cocky and confident in a leather jacket, sleek and sophisticated in a bespoke suit. For some reason, you step back from that particular door despite its familiarity, and decide to try one more. The Bucky you find there is long-haired and wild, dressed for war, but not a war any government would recognize. His black tactical jacket is missing a sleeve, showing off the metal of a mechanical arm that stretches from  shoulder to fingertip.

He turns his head and catches sight of you in the doorway, and that’s when your dream-self sees the mask covering his mouth and nose, the dark facepaint shadowing his eye sockets. This strange yet exciting version of Bucky strides toward you, metal hand reaching--

--and you wake up.

In my mind, I picture him with the used condom folded into a handkerchief in his pocket, but I could not elegantly place that in the story lol. Hotel in the pictures is the Leela Kovalam, a five star hotel in India (loook! it's soooooo pretty!!!)

[touhoutunes]

Title: Tea Leaves (とある紅茶と非日常2.22) (Tea Leaves (Certain Black Tea and Extraordinaire 2.22))

Arrangement: 松井庸

Vocals: ルミコルミヲ

Album: 続少女は電気河童の夢を見る

Circle: minimum electric design

Original: Septette for the Dead Princess

[despair-tea]

minimum electric design — Ghost in the Noise ～ feat. mineko

[shima-draws]

POKEMON FUSION GIJINKA ADOPTS 2 ELECTRIC BOOGALOO!!

Just like last time this is an auction! So please read the rules below so you know how to bid <3

Also these are on DeviantART as well! Might be easier to go over there and bid under the comment chain.

Everything is under the cut ;)

RULES

◆ Please make sure you have money before placing a bid! You can’t back out once you’ve bid so please be aware of that. Bid responsibly <3

◆ Going off of that, if you win the auction, payment must be sent within 24 hours. Otherwise, I will release the adopt to the next person in line.

◆ Payment is through PayPal only. If you don’t have a PayPal account and want to buy one of these adopts, I suggest you get one!

◆ The auction will run for 48 hours from the time an adopt is first bid on. In the case of an AB, the auction will end for the specific adopt immediately.

◆ I do not do holds. This is a first come first serve auction.

◆ You will receive the full-sized image without the watermark once payment is confirmed.

◆ I will not give refunds! Once it’s bought, it’s yours!

TERMS OF USE

◆ These adopts are for personal use only. Since they’re based off of Pokemon, I cannot sell them for commercial use.

◆ The design is yours to change/do whatever you’d like with once you purchase it! However, please DO NOT STEAL OR RESELL it. If you didn’t buy the design it’s not yours!

◆ If you buy one and would like to repost the art elsewhere, that’s fine. Just please, if you can, credit me! (This blog specifically if you’re not sure what to credit.)

◆ Using my artwork to train AI is NOT permitted.

SB (Starting bid): $35

MI (Minimum increase): $5

AB (Automatic buy): $100

Shiinotic + Polteageist (SP): OPEN

Roselia + Drampa (RD): OPEN

Togekiss + Xurkitree (TX): OPEN

Cobalion + Volcarona (CV): CLOSED

Ralts + Bewear (RB): CLOSED

Please reply on this post to bid! (I'll also be replying with updates on the bids.)

i.e. RD SB, CV $45, SP AB, etc.

If you have any questions feel free to DM me <3

[bluecatwriter]

I watched the Wildhorn/Black/Hampton Dracula rock opera!

Okay, okay, okay. As some of you know, one of the guys in my theater troupe got me comp tickets to see him in Dracula: The Musical. You guys. It was an EGREGIOUS adaptation that didn't even make narrative sense on its own terms. I also had a TOTAL BLAST. 

If you like the musical, no shade to you— please just keep scrolling and like what you like! However, I had so many thoughts about this that I had to word-vomit about it, and thought some of you might have fun reading my thoughts on the good, the bad, and ugly for 3,000 words.

TL:DR: Very fun experience, so glad I went, the play's narrative choices make me want to throw hands in a Denny's parking lot, much dunking/adaptation-hate ahead, my friends are amazing, I'm writing my own play now.

(CW discussion of rape, ableism, drug use, suicide)

-First of all, everyone take a moment to appreciate my eyeliner. I do not usually draw eyeliner that well so I was very proud of myself.

-I went with my sister, since we both knew people in the cast. (I thought we knew three, but we actually knew four: the actors who played Dracula, Mina, Lucy, and Quincey.) My sister didn't know anything about Dracula except what she'd picked up from my incoherent ramblings (which I generally keep to a minimum around her). 

-It was a black-box theater, which I didn't expect: six or so rows of chairs on each side of the theater, facing each other across the relatively small room, with the stage in the middle and a live orchestra (!!!) on one end. The set was a minimalist Gothic castle design, with windows, a freestanding moving wall, and a large platform that, throughout the play, served as Dracula's coffin, a table, Lucy's bed, Lucy's coffin, and just a general place to stand and sing in a badass way. I absolutely LOVE black box shows because they're so intimate: you can almost reach out and touch the actors, and you can see every minute facial expression and gesture, the light glittering in their eyes, and so on. (Acting in a black box theater is much more like movie acting because the audience can see what you're doing with your eyes in a way that regular theater doesn't allow, meaning that things like eye contact between characters is much more electric and effective.)

-The sound design and lighting effects were doing a lot of heavy lifting in this show, and they nailed it. Very spooky!

-The play began with the weird sisters, and they were consistently my favorite part of the play— the actresses killed it (ha), bringing an intense, spooky energy to the story, often serving as narrators, background singers, extras, special effects handlers (such as portraying the wreck of the Demeter), and the physical manifestation of Dracula's will/presence. They were AWESOME.

-I had decided in advance that this play was a fanfiction written by Dracula about himself, and nothing about the show dissuaded me from this idea. The guy who played Dracula served major cunt from the moment he stepped onstage, wearing leather pants with laces up the side and a big sweeping coat and a huge amount of eyeliner that really brought out his unnervingly blue eyes. ("All guys should wear eyeliner and leather pants," I joked to my sister after the show, and she responded, with the most haunted look I've ever seen, "I agree about the eyeliner, but not the pants. I lived in San Francisco for three years, and you know not what you speak of. There are things I cannot unsee.")

-Actually, to be honest I liked Dracula's characterization (until the end; see below); whether because of the director or the actor or both, this version really did not downplay what a bastard he is. He was incredibly ruthless, in all senses of the word: focused on a single goal and not caring who got mowed down in the process. Anytime his sung lines talked about him being lonely or sad or whatever, the actor played it off as him trying to garner sympathy from his listener, rather than expressing his true feelings, which was a directing/acting choice I really appreciated.

-When Jonathan came on stage (from the door just a few feet away) I nearly squealed with delight! He just RADIATED "biggest sweetheart you've ever met" energy: tall and lanky and with a scruffy lil beard and clothes that didn't quite fit. I was in love with him from the beginning. Also he got to mention his Kodak camera, and I remembered that I could not actually cheer at moments like that because that would be weird.

-The Dracula-Mina "romance" was introduced very early, which I appreciated; from a storytelling perspective, it was good to have that continuous thread. Dracula looks at a picture of Mina, mentions how young she is, asks Jonathan if she is "pure," and then decides that they're soulmates. It was SO PERVY. Once again, I loved the Dracula characterization. If only it had stayed one-sided…

-I was fortunately warned that in this version Jonathan takes the crucifix off so the weird sisters can continue attacking him, but I still had to suppress a "BOOOOO!" (I did whisper "NOT CANON!" to my sister, and later she said that when that happened in the play she was like, "Oh, okay, I don't care what happens to this guy now.") But I guess it did have the effect of making him less sympathetic, which served the story the play was trying to tell.

-I was pleased that there was a Drac-drinking-from-Jonathan scene, and consistent with the storytelling, Drac had a whole song about how he needs Jonathan's blood so he can be young and hot and go seduce Mina (which, again, fits with the story they were telling). They decided not to have any sexual tension between Dracula and Jonathan, so the blood-drinking scene was pretty brutal (complimentary)— Jonathan laid out on the platform with Drac just. gnawing on his neck while Jonathan writhed and convulsed. It was still kinda hot though not gonna lie

-Lucy's characterization at first was pretty interesting, because her song about the three suitors (and the directing/acting) made it seem like she was just kinda stuck with three mediocre choices, and chose the least offensive one (Arthur, who she describes as boring and can't even think of one nice thing to say about him) and tried to convince herself that she would be happy. This was honestly the biggest moment where I had to just squirm in my seat to keep from actively booing. Don't be so mean 2 my boy! From a storytelling perspective, it wasn't clear at all why she chose Arthur, because Quincey was the only one of the suitors who had any personality at all (even Jack was bland. JACK. WAS BLAND. YOU COULDN'T HAVE HIM SIT ON HIS HAT OR AT LEAST FIDDLE WITH HIS LANCET? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU???). Anyway, Arthur was actually totally fine after that song (and had some nice lines in the group songs).

-Meanwhile, Drac is creeping on Mina by entering her thoughts without her consent and being like, "We're soulmates," and she just…. goes along with it???? With literally no rhyme or reason to her decision???? I know some of this is that I hate the whole concept of soulmates, but I expected at least SOME justification for why she was interested in him. There was no indication she was unhappy with Jonathan; there was no hint of any emotional connection; there wasn't even some weird "reincarnated lover" story to try to soften how incredibly strange it felt that Mina was randomly in love with this guy's voice in her head. His baritone is sexy BUT IT IS NOT THAT SEXY. GIRL PLEASE.

-In this version Dracula bites Lucy because he's trying to call Mina to him and Lucy comes by accident and he's like, "Well, nothin' I can do about that. CHOMP." Which, again, I honestly liked this characterization because he's not apologetic about who he is; he is just destroying everyone in his way and not caring about them as people. He just has a goal and he'll do anything to reach it.

-Then of course Lucy's like, "Oooh that was actually so sexy and I never want to wake up from that dream of him chomping on my throat." The directly seemed to imply that being bitten by a vampire just. instantly turns you into something that's not yourself, so I could kinda excuse it if I squinted, but it was still pretty icky.

-Renfield got to stab Jack! My sister felt sorry for Jack (because all his unethical science got shaved off in this adaptation) and I was just like, "YESSS RENFIELD YOU GO!" 

-Jonathan shows up again, in a wheelchair (a really cool old-fashioned one), and Mina goes to marry him, and their marriage is paralleled with Lucy and Arthur's while Drac looms in the background. The double wedding was a nice staging choice, although the optics of Mina somewhat reluctantly marrying disabled Jonathan while abled Dracula is standing by being All Sexy was… uh, it was not great. But on the plus side, maybe it emphasizes the ableism that a lot of people have toward Jonathan's disabilities in the story, bringing them out into the open? (I am grasping at straws here.)

-Van Helsing was perfect! The actor had wild gray hair and forehead bumps and a tenor voice that could shatter your heart into a million pieces. He did a great job of having the "weird professor" vibes even though his lines were more coherent and to-the-point than they are in the book. 

-No blood transfusions, sadly, but I see why they cut that part.

-Lucy turning vamp was very well done. I think I should mention at this point that the actors who played Dracula and Lucy are actually married to each other in real life, and they had really crackling chemistry and it was clear in every scene they were together that they were having just the best time. "Life After Life" was my second-favorite song in the play because it's just Dracula sending Lucy out to eat people— and again, both actors were clearly having SO MUCH FUN performing this song together. At the end of the scene I was all pumped up, like, "Yeah Lucy! Go eat some people!!!"

-Intermission. I told my sister this was like the part in Rashomon where the rapist tells the court his point of view and is like, "Oh, she totally wanted it." My sister shook her head at me and chuckled.

-The graveyard/Bloofer Lady scene was genuinely horrifying; Lucy's actress did an AMAZING job of amping up the horror, beginning the scene by cradling a baby and singing it a lullaby, then just CHOMPING down on it, and throwing it down and hissing like an animal when the Crew of Light approached her. Mina and Jonathan were in that scene, too, and even though Mina didn't have any lines, seeing her reacting to it (rushing to grab the child, dodging out of Bloofer!Lucy's snapping jaws) gave the scene a lot of emotional intensity. 

-Both Bloofer!Lucy's death and Renfield's death were directed beautifully; they were both somewhat quiet, almost slow motion, focused not on the violence but on the emotional weight of both their lives ending.

-Jonathan and Arthur, while both being incredibly bland characters, have I think more dialogue in this play than they do in the book. Every time they spoke I was like, :D :D :D! My blorbos!!!

-Throughout Mina's whole song "Please Don't Make Me Love You" (sung, of course, to Dracula) I focused VERY HARD on my friend's amazing acting, her beautiful voice, the way she was playing this with absolute conviction, while in the back of my head I was screaming. Just a primal, Nazgul-like shriek. GIRL WHY (I think my sister was amused by how much I was squirming)

-Van Helsing has a nice little song about his dead wife, saying that it was a vampire that killed her and that's why he's a vampire hunter now. He was also shooting up with a comically large syringe during this song, but sure, yeah, that's fine. Like I said, his voice was SO BEAUTIFUL, so I was entranced. If only he had gotten a chance to find connection and family ties in order to continue that character arc HINT HINT

-Ah, then we get the Blood Baptism scene. Mina sings a song about how she doesn't want to run away (because of that sexy baritone voice I guess) so she invites Dracula into her room, he knocks out Jonathan, and then they make out over Jonathan's body. Le sigh. The funniest part of this scene is that they had her drink from his chest but they didn't use any fake blood, so he just unbuttons his shirt and she buries her face in his boobs, no context. I asked my sister afterward, "What did you think was going on in that scene?" and she said, "I figured she was drinking from his vampire-milk titties."

-Van Helsing and Dracula got an "I will take you down!"-style song that was actually really cool.

-Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, BOOK-CANON MINA SHOWS UP! She was in a wheelchair now (a great directing choice, I thought), and demanded that Van Helsing hypnotize her, insisted on them keeping the information from her so that Dracula can't get to it, makes them all vow to kill her, and figures out where Dracula is going based on the maps. I was like THERE SHE IS! THERE'S MY GIRL! …But unfortunately this characterization makes no sense in the story the musical is actually telling. Why is Mina leading them to him? Why is she taking such pains to make sure Dracula is not warned of their coming? It didn't fit with any of her characterization in the rest of the play (and especially not with the ending), so it felt really cobbled-together and odd.

-Also Jonathan vows to kill her and there's a whole song about how sad he is that he will have to do that. I was gritting my teeth the whole song being like It's a storytelling choice it's a storytelling choice it's a storytelling choice it's a storytelling choice it's a

-Okay. YOU GUYS. YOU GUYS. The song "Deep in the Darkest Night" WAS AMAZING. It's a song by the Crew of Light (and in this version, sung by all six of them, including Mina) about their quest, and how they must be points of light in the darkness. It was SO BEAUTIFUL and SO THEMATICALLY ON POINT and it was EVERYTHING I WANTED from a Dracula musical and it is a CRIME that the whole play was not built around these themes and motifs!! *chewing on the scenery* Also, holy cow, everyone in the cast could sing like nothing else. Full-body chills. Stunning, incredible, showstopping, no notes.

-In one of the hypnotic sessions, Dracula came to stand behind Mina and they sang a duet, a reprise of "Life After Life" (the song for Bloofer!Lucy), and that was an incredibly effective storytelling choice (also their voices just blended so. well. together that even in the songs I hated, I still got chills because their voices were SO DANG BEAUTIFUL TOGETHER). Again, I am haunted by what this play could've been if the Drac/Mina thing was one-sided.

-In this version, Quincey gives Mina his Bowie knife for protection, which I thought was sweet.

-Drac has a big sad-boy song about how he's actually in love with Mina now. BOOHOO MOTHERFUCKER. NO ONE CARES.

-Quincey got killed by trying to stake Dracula and Drac grabbing the stake and shoving it into his stomach. (My sister gasped and squeaked, "No!" when this happened.)

-Meanwhile, Van Helsing and Mina get separated, and Mina has a whole song about how she's made her final decision: she's gonna become a vampire and live with Dracula forever. At this point in the play I was like, Okay, girl, whatever, you do you…

-But then. BUT THEN. *frothing at the mouth*

-(Don Black and Christopher Hampton meet me in the Denny's parking lot I just want to talk)

-Drac's like, "Ooooh no actually I don't want you to be a vampire so you need to kill me now."

-Mina's like, "Nooooo this makes me so sad I have chosen to be a vampire and it is what I truly want!"

-Drac's like "Nobody cares what you want because the authors couldn't care less about your agency as a person"

-Mina's like "nooooooooo i'm so saaaaaad!"

-(Me: *still frothing at the mouth*)

-Finally, weeping, she takes Quincey's knife and places it over his heart.

-And then SHE DOESN'T EVEN FUCKING KILL HIM HE JUST GRABS HER HAND WITH THE KNIFE IN IT AND KILLS HIMSELF

-Like, I am just so mad that Mina doesn't even get the tiniest bit of agency here at the end. She is just blown about by the whims of the men, and at the end none of her narrative choices are respected in any way. A lot of this is, I'm sure, the directing for this particular performance: if I were trying to make this ending a bit more narratively satisfying, I would give Mina a moment where you can see her agreeing with him and deciding to kill him herself. This ending just felt… cheap. It didn't even form a satisfying closing even based on the rules of its own storytelling. It was so ridiculous that I actually had to cover my mouth to keep from laughing. 

-After the show we got to talk to all our friends who were in it and it was easy to sincerely compliment them because they all did an AMAZING job. I feel so honored to be friends with such amazingly talented people!

-We drove home in a lightning storm while blasting Blondie's song "One Way or Another" (my sister said she was thinking of this song all through the Drac/Mina story arc) and singing loudly along. "ONE WAY OR ANOTHER/I'M GONNA FIND YA/I'M GONNA GETCHA GETCHA GETCHA GETCHA!"

-I asked her which two characters she thought I shipped the most and she guessed Jonathan/Quincey. Not a bad guess.

-Got home, rambled to my very tired spouse, curled up in bed, turned to him and said, "I promise to never leave you for some random dude who speaks in my head and says we're soulmates," and he replied, "And I promise to never leave you for three sexy vampire ladies," and if that's not a wedding vow renewal I don't know what is.

-Laid awake for nearly two hours brainstorming a Dracula play (not a musical, I'm not that talented). And, uh… yeah. A script is gonna happen. I've written plenty of plays (and co-directed/co-produced a few times), so it's definitely in my wheelhouse, and my brain will not shut up with ideas. So! *tosses it onto list of creative projects*

----

(P.S. If you reblog, please don't tag this as the Dracula musical because I don't want any fans to be exposed to the hate. Thanks!)

[kissesandarsenic]

Greetings again Miss. I hope you're having a pleasant weekend.

The last task you gave me was...exhilarating, surprisingly 😳 I actually had to make contact with the flog a couple times so that I could really draw it out, as ordered. Thank you for allowing me to look at that picture of you 🥹

I know your time is in high demand and requesting multiple tasks from you is probably more than I deserve, but my mind keeps wandering back to the creativity of the tasks you design...if you can spare the time, may I have a task involving anal play? Even though my blog is full of it, I've never experienced it or even messed around with it on my own. I have a few different toys I could use if you wish, ranging from vibrating, ice, and electroplay sensations, to a standard dildo. Thank you for your consideration!

I'm having a lovely weekend, pet, I hope you are too!

I'm glad you enjoyed the task, it's always good to hear. Especially seeing you go out of your way to make it more uncomfortable for yourself. Maybe I'm more of a sadist than I thought, as the image of you purposefully shocking your poor balls for my amusement did make me smile.

You've waited a decent length of time before requesting a new one, pet and I'm happy to oblige you.

We're going to go slowly for you, honey. At least when it comes to insertion. No pain when you're doing it at first because it's very important that you be relaxed. So ceasing up by zapping your balls or nipples or whatever will be a hindrance.

Beforehand - don't eat right before, have a shower, wash your ass.

First you're going to jack off, do it however you normally would. I want three hard edges for you. If you go over, stop, and try again tomorrow. This is to make sure you're suitably aroused, which is important for what I'm trying to make you do.

You're going to need a generous amount of lube, to have trimmed nails or a toy that is as thick or only /slightly/ thicker than your index finger, a friend also suggested the end of a toothbrush.

Start by teasing your entrance, I'm sure you'll make some cute little noises in your state and your cheeks will be so flushed. Keep going anyway. Take your time with this step as it's important you feel good here. Five minutes minimum.

When you feel ready, you will gently insert your finger/toy inside yourself. Remember - Lots of Lube.

Your task is to find your prostate so you can become a good little anal loving slut for my amusement. It's about one to two inches inside next to the bladder. It's a small gland that swells the more aroused you get, hence why I want you to edge before starting. According to my friend, you'll know you've found it when where you're touching feels connected to the base of your cock. Also may feel like you need to pee.

Gently massage it, make yourself feel good. I would like you to attempt cumming while you're stimulating yourself and stroking your cock at the same time. If that is too much right now, stop, and you have permission to cum.

If you'd like a little extra, bonus task can be using those toys you suggested earlier (minus the electric play things) and rubbing them along your entrance. Do not put them inside, just imagine Miss is there teasing you with a fake cock she's about to plunge into your hole.