nightrunners

xiii.

"What are you doing here?" Cassopeia hissed under her breath. Rafe waved her away and opened his arms for her grandmother.

"Rafe Cameron, oh my goodness," her grandmother spoke softly.

JJ was still in Cassopeia's ear, running his mouth a mile a minute.

"Is Rafe there?" He kept asking, "Cassiopeia answer me."

"I can't talk right now," She mumbled as she took out the earpiece, JJ's protests slowly fading away.

She shoved the earpiece in her pocket and spun around to face the two, the tall boy in deep conversation with her tiny grandmother. He definitely knew how to charm her, his attentive blue eyes poured intently into her grandmother's brown ones. He reached into the fridge and grabbed her the jaw of sauce that she had planned on using. Her grandmother continued to ask him rapid fire questions, to which he had multiple casual responses to. In this setting, he was light and airy, resembling his sister immensely. He was a great fucking actor. Her grandmother had made a comment which caused him chuckle, his low laughter filling the empty kitchen.

She felt a stinging in her chest and finally decided it was time to step in.

"Do you mind?" She walked up to the two of them.

He laughed once more, "Let's have a chat," He wrapped his arm around her shoulders which made her tense.

"Oh, Rafe it was so good to see you," Her grandmother clutched her chest, "I missed Cassiopeia's friends while she was away."

"We were never-."

"It was great to see you," Rafe interrupted Cassiopeia, shooting a look over at her, "I'll tell my father you said hello." His gripped tightened on Cassiopeia's shoulders as he guided her to the stairs.

She shoved him away once they were out of reach, "What the fuck are you doing here?"

Rafe's icy cold eyes made a sudden appearance, "Like I said, I'm here to chat."

"You shouldn't be lurking around here."

"Who said I was lurking?"

"You were never invited," Cassiopeia's eyes narrowed.

"Ah, but that filthy Pogue is right?" Rafe pushed past her and entered her room.

"I didn't think that concerned you," She followed behind him, crossing her arms.

He dusted his hand over the top of her comforter, "Tell me," he pressed his lips into a thin line, "Why you like sleeping with Pogues, yeah?"

She bit down on her lip harshly, "I didn't sleep with him."

"Oh, but you did," He spoke calmly, his fingers collecting a piece of hair off of her pillow and dangling it in the air.

She struggled to swallow, "I didn't have sex with him."

He rolled his eyes and dropped the piece of hair on the ground, "I'm sure he can't keep it up anyways."

"Why do you have a personal vendetta against him, or any of them for that matter?" She snapped. Rafe stood there, examining her bookshelf.

Cassiopeia cracked open her door in response, "Get out."

Rafe lowered his eyebrows and twisted his lips into a half smile. He stepped towards her swiftly and placed his hand above her head, clicking the door behind her.

"I didn't come over here to talk about those filthy Pogues, okay?" His breath was hot in her ear, making the girl shudder.

She crinkled her nose up in disgust, "You smell like weed."