HEARTLESS─── RAFE CAMERON [1]

chapter eleven

Sunlight breaks through a crack in the curtains. I squint, staring up at the ceiling and then around me. For a moment, my body is thrown into a fit of panic, not remembering where I am, before I relax under the covers. Tannyhill.

Quietly, I crane my head over the bed and peer below me. My body feels better than yesterday, but obviously not up to standard yet. I am still weak.

To my surprise, Rafe isn't there, and the blankets and pillow he used are folded neatly and tucked into a corner. It could've been the maid, or maybe him— but I presume the latter.

I am surprised. Rafe never struck me as someone to wake up early. In the last few years, he'd gave me the impression that he was someone completely wild, reckless and out of control.

Maybe he was. Or maybe looks were just deceiving.

It takes me a few minutes, but I eventually peel the covers off me. But instead of heading straight outside the room, I take a moment to look around. I've never been inside his room— at least for a few years. Sure, there was the time I asked him to be my fake-boyfriend, but in that moment, I wasn't exactly paying that much attention to the interior design of Rafe Cameron's bedroom.

I immediately make a move to the door, lock it, and then begin looking around. I open drawers, cabinets, whatever I lay my eyes on. I'm not even looking for anything specific. I'm just trying to get an idea of who Rafe Cameron really is.

I find many things. A few books, rings, finances, and polo shirt after polo shirt after polo shirt.

I even find some things I didn't need to see. Petroleum jelly, a few magazines I don't dare flip past the cover, but I'm not judging. He's a teenage boy. What else can you expect?

I finally find something of use buried away behind his shelved books. A shoebox. At first, I didn't think much of it, but its location in his room made me think it might be able to tell me something.

And it did. I opened the box, anticipation pumping through my veins as to what it may be.

The first thing that I saw was a picture of his family. It looked familiar, and digging deeper through my brain, I realized that the picture was from last years' Midsummers. I hadn't even realized the entire family had gone together in matching colors before I saw the picture.

My eye was drawn to Rafe, who wore a frosty purple suit that only looked purple when it shone under a strong light. In the picture, it seemed to illuminate his entire body.

And he was smiling. Wide, the type of smile I hadn't seen on him in years. Or maybe I just hadn't looked at him enough.

But when he smiled, his face lit up. Especially his eyes. I hated to admit it, but he looked good smiling.

I pulled the photo out and placed it carefully back in the box before continuing to dig through the box. The next one was of him and Topper with their arms around each other.

There were many pictures— but not many that really caught my attention. Pictures of parties, of Sarah, of him on his birthday, blowing out candles.

And then, a picture of Cassie. She was standing right outside the pool, a towel wrapped around her lean body. She was smiling, but covering her face in embarrassment. I wonder if this was taken before she started cheating on him with Aaron. Was it during?

What secrets was her smile holding?

I lingered on the photo for a few more seconds before looking at the next one. And I visibly felt and heard my breath hitch.