✸⁎⋆✶⭒✭ 𝐁𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 ✸⁎⋆✶⭒✭

𝐢. 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐖𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐓– Lord Huron

"I had all, and then most of you. Some, and now none of you."

✸⁎⋆✶⭒✭ 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎 ✸⁎⋆✶⭒✭

        "Where are the back-up generators? I gave you money for the back-up generators, and you said you would take care of it. Did you take care of it? Huh? Where are they?"

The Outer Banks had been hit by a rough hurricane, and yet the most dangerous currents involved a conversation between the two men sitting outside on the Cameron porch of the Tannyhill estate. Rafe Cameron sat across from Ward Cameron after his lunch had been abruptly interrupted when his father took a seat down in front of him. The anxiety was building in the nineteen-year-old boy's chest the longer his father glared at him. He avoided eye contact, his hands rubbing the blue braided bracelet on his wrist to try and ease some of the tension.

"They're on back order."

"Yeah, of course they are."

"There was a hurricane," he replied almost instantly, finally looking up at his father. Unsurprisingly, the only sight waiting for him was disappointment.

Ward stared at him, unimpressed by his excuses. "I'll tell you what―that pogue I just fired? Way more reliable than you―"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. You need to get it together, Rafe, or you can go live on the Cut," and almost instantly, a scoff came out of Rafe Cameron's mouth at the unlikely threat. Ward raised his eyebrows, leaning forward. "Is that funny? You know, I thought you were getting better. She's been dead almost a year―"

The last sentence ended all emotion on Rafe's face in a split second. The laugh that had been building in his chest was murdered like a bullet to his lungs, and he was empty back staring at his father, any trace of humor gone. Ward didn't seem to care about the physical reaction of Rafe's distress. He never did. If anyone was going to be bringing up the sensitive topic of her death, it was Ward, and he did it because he knew the reaction it would cause his son.

Raising his eyebrows and taking another drink of his whiskey, he continued. "How long are you going to be like this for, huh, Rafe? Forever? Because if that's the case―"

"Don't," was all that Rafe managed to get out through clenched teeth. Forever felt like too much time without her. "Don't."

"Then get it together. Get up and get out of here. I'm sick of looking at you."

Rafe didn't need to be told twice. He was up in an instant, his hands shaking so much that he had to shove them into his shorts, going quickly through the front door where he noticed his younger sister standing there. Sarah looked at him with a pity in her eyes that he hated seeing nowadays, and just when she opened her mouth to say something, Rafe scoffed and turned around to go through the back hallway and out the door. Grabbing the keys to the dirt bike he'd purchased only a few days ago, the dangerous thoughts in his mind crept back up―and with them, so did the ones of her.

✸⁎⋆✶⭒✭ 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖 ✸⁎⋆✶⭒✭

     Leonie Maybank was pulled from sleep when she heard the loud slam of a screen door. Immediately, she glanced to her right to see an empty bed. Within seconds, the teenage girl untangled herself from the sheets and stumbled out of the bedroom door to get to the living room of the house. In her daze, she noticed her father, Luke Maybank, with that look on his face and his eyes set directly on his only son in the kitchen, eating breakfast. JJ lost all color and caught his older sister's gaze for a split second, halfway out of his seat, when Leo darted directly in her father's path to the kitchen.

"Morning, Dad," she greeted, smiling brightly and holding one hand out in front of her. The gesture looked more like she was reaching for a hug, but JJ knew that she was putting a physical distance between them. Luke glanced down at her, the stench of beer coating every inch of him from his clothes to his hair. "Did you have a good night? I made dinner last night. There's some left-overs in the fridge."

Luke stared at her for a long moment, obviously still drunk, until finally a conclusion of disgust was drawn. "Where are your clothes?"

Leo didn't even glance down at herself. She was wearing a sports bra and the most breathable pair of shorts she could find that night. Their AC stopped working again, and being the start of the summer in Outer Banks, the temperature stayed in the high eighties throughout the night. Before she could explain the situation, Luke's lip twisted down into a glower and he towered over her."

"You have another boy over here while I wasn't home?" he questioned, and his hand latched tightly onto the wrist she held out in front of him to pull her closer. There was a scuffle of a chair being pushed up behind her, and Leo's free hand fell behind her back to get JJ to stay. That didn't help. Luke's attention was on JJ now, his hazy blue eyes glaring at the middle child. "You just gonna let her whore around my house again? Should start putting a price on y—"

Leo could feel the heat coming from behind her as JJ tried to swallow the comment down and not say something he would regret. "No one was over last night, Dad. Our AC went out again. I'm gonna fix it as soon as I get off work today."

"Hm."

Luke gave his oldest child one last look before he let go of Leo's wrist, shoving her back in the process. When he made a move past her, she inhaled sharply and met eyes with JJ. Thankfully, their dad went past him completely and rooted through the fridge until he found another beer and the left-overs that Leo mentioned. JJ paid the electric. By that point, Leo had all but ushered JJ over to her, her fingers latching on to his wrist like a shackle to keep him behind her. The difference between her grip and the one Luke had on her was that JJ knew it was his sister keeping him away from their father. The difference was she wouldn't leave a bruise.

There was no secret in the household that Luke took the brunt of his bad days out on JJ. It started when they were little, only a few months after Poppy ended up on their doorstep fresh out of some random woman's womb. At first, it wasn't physical. JJ and Leo knew that their dad's words stung, even from an early age, after their mother up and left them all behind. They used to blame it on her. Then blamed it on the alcohol for a while. Then, they blamed it on themselves. Then eventually they stopped finding ways to blame it on other things when Leo was fourteen, and JJ twelve, and Luke threw a beer bottle at Leo's head when Poppy wouldn't stop crying because she was hungry. JJ got angry, and he ended up with a bruise on his face that day.

The siblings stayed in place, standing like statues to the side of the kitchen while their dad walked past them again, flopping down on the couch and turning the television on without a care in the world. Leo paid for that cable. Both of them felt nauseous when they saw him pull a bag out of his pockets, meaning he'd made a stop at Barry's on the way home. Leo felt JJ's hand tighten into a fist around her hold, and she took that as their cue to leave. Without another word, she urged JJ to walk in front of her down the hallway. He did with reluctance, his hands now free from her to clench and unclench into fists every two seconds. The moment that they were through the threshold of their shared bedroom, they paused.

On Leo's bed, curled up into a small ball with her back against the wall and her favorite stuffed dolphin in her hands, was their baby sister. All tension fell from JJ's shoulders the second he saw her, and Poppy's gentle blue eyes wandered between the two of them. Leo turned to close their bedroom door, making sure to lock it, while JJ moved to fit into the space between Poppy and the wall. Leo had a queen bed, donated from Amy after her eldest daughter moved out, and JJ refused to take it since he loved his twin mattress. She knew that was a lie.

But the bed size made it easy for the oldest Maybank to move onto the other side of Poppy, lacing her arms around her small frame and pulling her to her chest so that both girls were facing JJ. No one spoke a word as they listened to the TV on the other side of the wall. Leo just ran her hands through Poppy's hair, kissing it every so often until her sister slowly lulled back to sleep before she had to be at daycare later. JJ and Leo didn't fall back asleep, their senses heightened, staring at one another and waiting for the moment they heard their father's loud snores down the hallway.

Good morning.

✸⁎⋆✶⭒✭✸⁎⋆✶⭒✭

      The Wreck was packed when Leo showed up there for lunch with Eli Jennings, the two of them being lucky enough to get a half-day at the Marina with the hurricane coming soon. Hurricane Wilfred was likely to be as ugly as its name, so everyone around the Outer Banks started scrambling around with preparations for the disaster that would come in a few nights. It also meant that everyone on the Cut was trying to throw a big party tonight before they inevitably spent the next few weeks cleaning shit up. Big bummer. Big bucks.

Thankfully, she'd seen Mike Carrera the moment she walked in, and he grinned at her and gestured out back on the patio. She'd worked for him a few summers ago before she picked up full-time jobs on the beach and the Marina, and every so often she would help cover shifts if he asked. She had a feeling she'd be doing that here soon. Eli and her got around back to see who they would be sitting with, and Leo gagged dramatically when she saw them.

"Hurricane must've washed some swamp monsters in early," JJ yelped dramatically, throwing his head back when he noticed his older sister coming over to their table. "Hey Pope, your dad still got that big net? Maybe we can catch it and get some green for the rare species―"

Leo purposefully took a seat between her brother and John B, scraping the metal chairs between them while Eli sat next to Pope and did a usual handshake in greeting. "―not a net big enough for my ass...or so I was told a few nights ago."

"And you ruined it," JJ grumbled in disgust, giving his sister a mournful expression as he pushed his water to the side.

"You ruined it when you were born," she said, grabbing a hold of his water and swatting his hand away when he tried to take it back. After taking a drink of it, she glanced at the other two boys at the table. "JoBo. How's life treating you?"

"Dad came out of the cave last night," was all that John B said in reply, shrugging. "Day's looking promising now that you're here."

John Booker Routledge was a sweetheart, except for when he got together with her brother, then the two of them became Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Given that they'd known each other half their lives, that meant that Leo also knew him half her life―and for a good portion of that, John B crushed hard on Leo, doing all of the annoying things that JJ hated like inviting Leo to everything they did. He got older and the crush disappeared, but both of them learned that casual flirting made JJ want to die—so, they did it for fun. Well, Leo did it for fun with everyone, but John B wasn't complaining.

"Tell him I'm still waiting on the marriage proposal. I'm trying to be a Kook when he finds this stupid boat. I'll be your mommy, JB," Leo said with a smirk, grinning at the boy who wiggled his eyebrows suggestively in response. To her right, JJ groaned and made an audible gagging noise that some other customers looked up at. "Pope, what's your big brain cooking up now? Why are you doing homework? It's summer."

Pope Heyward had easily the best heart Leo had ever met, and she said plenty of times since meeting him that she was open to adopting him. His father had accepted the offer multiple times, turning into a long-standing joke now, but she still stood by her statement. In front of him was a slew of papers, Leo having to lean forward and squint to see absolutely anything with the amount of words thrown up on them in Times New Roman.

"Looking into some scholarships," he replied, squinting back at her with one eye shut as the sun hit his eyes. "I might need your help with it later on this summer. Have you heard back about the Merit Scholarship yet?"

Leo shook her head. "Not yet. There's some voice of democracy scholarship as a part of it that Kildare told me to apply for too which is like, thirty-thousand, so that'll cover a lot of what FAFSA doesn't...but they said my application looked really good. Told me not to worry, so I'm not. I got the paper in early so I could enjoy the summer. Are you going to apply? You've got, what, two years?"

"That's the hope."

"You'll get it. I'll help you out."

"Think you'll have time between all the new nursing classes?" Eli asked suddenly, leant back in his chair and looking at his best friend with raised eyebrows. Leo scowled at him. "With your overachieving ass? Did she tell you guys that she's trying to add a minor whenever she gets in?"

JJ's face twisted in disgust. "Okay. Stop with the school talk. I just ordered my food and now I'm nauseous."

"Speaking of food..." the new voice made Leo lean her head back when she heard Kiara Carrera come up from behind her, the younger girl wrapping her arms around Leo's shoulders and putting her chin on her head. "Hey, guys. Whatcha want to drink? I think Sarah's showing up with her boyfriend Danny in a few minutes if you can spare a few nice words with them. Not enough tables."

"Aw, come on, Kie. Why do you have to let them sit with us? This is pogue territory―"

"Is it written on the table?" Kie asked, raising her eyebrows at JJ. He instantly went to grab one of the pencils set up in the middle for the powerball, and Leo reached forward, ripping it out of his hand. "That's what I thought. Besides, Sarah's my best friend, and you guys are my friends. You need to get along."

"Tell that to Leo after she nearly caved Sarah's brother's face in."

Leo shot a sharp look at her brother. "Wasn't Sarah who hit my car. Tell them we'll pull up some chairs, Kie. I want a water, please, by the way. No lemon."

"You want a coke or lemonade, Eli?" Kie asked, standing up off Leo and letting her arms fall back to her sides.

"Lemonade. Thanks, Kie," he sent her a smile before she disappeared, and then his eyes immediately set on Leo, who was still glaring at her brother. Pope and John B were quiet, clearing their throats and looking past them at the lining of the beach in the distance. "Lee, cut the shit with Cameron. He's an ass who deserves to be shit on by a bird, but he payed for the damages within a day. You gotta let go of it."

"It's not the damage that's the problem. It's the entitlement he thinks he has because his dad shits bricks of gold for a living," she said, looking away from JJ to Eli. "If he wasn't an ass about the situation and apologized, maybe I wouldn't have given a shit, and until he does, I'm dead set on fucking up his fuel injector so his engine explodes."

JJ rolled his eyes. "That's a Kook for you―"

"No, it's a personality trait that no one has given him a reality check on, and he's just pissed off that I'm not going to kiss his ass like everyone else does," Leo dismissed, shrugging off the subject. "Can we talk about something else? Eli's fucking a new girl. She showed up to work today to say hi to him―"

"―can we change the subject again?" Eli interjected, scowling at Leo at the mention of his latest hook-up.

"Is she hot?" JJ asked, turning to Eli curiously.

"Is it the redhead from the Boneyard last night?" John B questioned.

Pope's eyes lightened. "Oh! She's the one I was talking to about the mortuary class I wanted to take―"

"Pope, what?"

Leo settled when the boys attention was directed to Eli, much to his dismay as he begrudgingly talked about his experience with the girl. Eli always ended up in sticky situations when he hooked up with people, and Leo had turned it into a joke by now. First time he had sex, the girl threw up on him right after because they were drunk. Second time, the girl told him she had a boyfriend and cried to him for an hour about cheating. The rest were all messy stories, but ones that she was able to use pretty easily against him. Not that all of hers were picture perfect―she'd literally lost her virginity on a rock, and it was the most uncomfortable experience of her life for that reason alone.

She had been looking around the crowded Wreck when she noticed a new group of people coming outside of the back. The bright blonde hair of Sarah Cameron was a dead give-away, Kiara's best friend always one to have a giddy smile on her face. She was sweet, and all of the times she'd met her, Leo liked her. Leo wasn't close with Kiara, but when she happened to be in a crowd with JJ, the girl was usually there and they became friends―with Sarah and her being attached at the hip, she'd been introduced to the Cameron girl a few times. Her boyfriend, Danny, was by her side, so in love with Sarah that he looked like he would vomit hearts any second.

Then, Leo's stare caught behind Sarah's head and noticed a tall boy following behind with a shorter blonde girl at his side. Almost immediately, Leo's chair was scraping hard against the cement ground and she caught the attention of half the patio, including the tall boy in question. The group of Pogues at the table looked up in confusion, but Leo was already grabbing her phone and keys and getting out of her seat.

JJ's eyebrows furrowed up at his sister. "What―"

"Hey, Leo!" Sarah's voice caught her behind her shoulder, and Leo turned around to give the blonde a forced smile. When she noticed that Leo was leaving, her smile fell. "Are you leaving?"

"Yeah, you can take my seat. I've got to get back to work. Had a lunch break," Leo lied easily, giving her a nod.

By now, the boys noticed the person lingering behind Sarah and made the connection on Leo's quick get-away. Sarah seemed upset but nodded, moving to take the chair that was empty while Danny pulled himself up to a very uncomfortable-looking John B. Leo made her way past Danny, and when she ended up going in the direct-path of Rafe Cameron, she paused, her eyes staring at the ugly pink polo he had on for a moment before she trailed her eyes up to his face. The smirk was enough to send a twinge of residual rage from a few weeks ago when he'd hit her car.

"Leaving so soon?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at her.

She rubbed her nose, looking around for a moment and feigning confusion. "Do you smell that?"

"What?"

"It's..." Leo stepped closer to him, her brows stitched together as she leant up. Rafe fell back when she reached up to grab the collar of his polo, surprising him for a moment with her actions. She'd barely made it to his chin when she fell back flat on her converse, nodding in confirmation. "Yeah, it's what I thought. Your cologne smells a lot like privilege, Cameron. I'd find a better scent. Doesn't smell too good."

Leo patted him in the center of his chest before she went in her direction past him. She managed to run into Kiara with their drinks on her way out, giving the girl a small shrug in apology when she saw the disappointment that she was leaving so soon. Just as she made her exit out the door, she heard the sound of boots on the ground behind her, and she didn't even need to turn around to know that it was JJ who threw his arm over her shoulder. She sighed and grabbed his waist to hug him as they walked out the back to get to her SUV, the cause of the tension in her life right now.

"Wanna go pick up Pops from Amy's and surf for a bit?" he asked, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

Leo's mood changed almost immediately at the idea of spending the rest of her afternoon with her favorite people doing her favorite thing. "Yeah. Are you going to the party tonight? I might ask Amy if she can watch Poppy tonight."

"Yeah, but I probably won't stay all night. I have to be at work early tomorrow morning. Can't get wasted. I'll swing by and pick her up when I leave."

"She is not getting on your bike."

"C'mon, she loves it―"

"Yeah, she'll love it 'til you give her brain damage."

"Whatever. I'll get John B to take me."

"No better," she made a face. "He barely has a permit."

"Barely, but still has one―"

"Get the fuck in my car before I run you over with it."

"And you're worried about me behind a wheel?"

✸⁎⋆✶⭒✭✸⁎⋆✶⭒✭

       The party at Chaz Wilson's house, a kid in the between of the Cut and Figure Eight, ended up being a lot bigger than Leo was expecting when her and Eli arrived that night. Even though he went to Kildare, it was clear that he'd made enough friends on the other end of town because half of the place was overrun with Kooks looking for some free alcohol and a good time with school ending. She'd seen enough at the party within the first five minutes―some Kook kids doing hard drugs in the corner with Barry, Sarah Cameron running away from Danny and him shouting at her that he loved her, JJ with his tongue halfway in some girl's mouth, and Pope shooting his shot with another girl by talking about death. Safe to say Leo didn't take too long to get to the kitchen and find her choice of a drink.

"Do you remember that one time we got drunk here and I ended up passed out on the lawn?" Eli asked, looking over at her for a second. She sat on the counter, people watching, simultaneously checking out a few guys of interest that nodded their drink in her direction when they noticed.

Leo turned to Eli for a second to see him handing her a cup, and one sniff told her that it was a mix of all the horrible things she'd regret in the morning. Her favorite. "Uh huh. I also remember having to drag your ass out of the pool because you almost drowned right before that."

"Nah, just did that for the mouth-to-mouth."

"As if we don't make out enough at these parties," Leo scoffed, giving him a look.

Her and Eli usually always ended up playing some game that led to them making out with one another. Not that either one of them were phased by it anymore considering they'd also kissed half of the junior (now senior) class collectively, girls and boys included. For a while, a lot of people thought that they were dating, but after seeing the two of them at enough parties with other people up against a wall, everyone knew they were just best friends. It wasn't weird for them, and they didn't ever talk about it as anything but a joke, but they knew that it was weird sometimes when others brought it up in conversation.

"Speaking of the pool..." Eli started, his eyes catching the subject of interest outside.

"If you drown, I'm not saving you this time."

"Really makes me confident knowing you have a job as a lifeguard."

She sent him a sardonic smile and clanked her cup with him before the two went outside, even more people there with music loud enough that the neighbors probably hated them. No one would call the cops, though. This area of the neighborhood, people learned to expect it and buy some earplugs at night. Her and Eli got into the pool after stripping, her best friend giving her a once-over with a suggestive look at the sight of her blue bikini underneath her jean shorts and tank top.

They'd only been in the pool for ten minutes, drinking and talking shit about their classmates, before something caught their attention. Leo raised her eyebrows when she heard the sound of her name being called. Eli turned in the same direction next to her, the two of them separating to see what was going on. On the side of the pool was a group of teens gathered around―the usual suspects being a few of their senior classmates from Kildare High―and a few seniors from the Academy on the other end of town too. Veronica, or Ronni, was the one who called out for her, clearly tipsy and grinning, waving her over with one hand. The other hand held a beer bottle, and Leo already knew where she was going with things.

When they were sophomores, the Pogues came up with a new game when the usual tirades of Never Have I Ever, Spin the Bottle, and Truth or Dare got old. Well. It was basically a drunk shit-show of all three games put together that they named PARTY FOUL.

Rules went as such:

Oldest in the circle spins the bottle to start the game.

Whoever it lands on has three (3) options: a dare, to kiss the person spinning the bottle, or they can try and save themselves from both with a Never-Have-I-Ever (i.e. Leo and Eli were terrible playing together because they always targeted each other). The Never-Have-I-Ever option usually never ended well because everyone had to have not done it but one person...as in, Eli saying Never-Have-I-Ever lost my virginity on a rock...and Leonie Maybank would be the loser because she was the only one in the group. As the loser, Leo would do Eli's dare and kiss the person who spun the bottle that landed on Eli―so, they call it: DAREDEVIL.

Most people never got a Daredevil because targeting one person with a Never-Have-I-Ever, especially when the crowd got big, was very hard. It was a dangerous game when you put together a bunch of drunk teenagers, half who knew each other and half who didn't. Leo did a quick scan of the people sitting around, sizing up whether or not she could use the Daredevil option before nodding. Eli let out a muffled groan in front of her before the two of them went to the side of the pool to get out, neither one of them caring that they were dripping wet as they placed themselves on one of the pool chairs, sharing a towel.

"Alright, people. Everyone know the rules of Party Foul?" Ronni asked the current players, raising her eyebrows at the crowd of about ten or so. Leo knew about seven of them. They usually tried to have fifteen players to make the Daredevil option harder. "Alright, well, we need―hey, Cameron! Bring your kids over here and play with us!"

Rafe Cameron came from the inside of the house with his children, Kelce and Topper, behind him. All of them were shirtless and had clearly been in the pool earlier, considering Rafe's hair was not slicked back with an obscene amount of gel but inching close to his eyes every other second. The sound of his name made both him and Leo look at Ronni, one in confusion and the other in disbelief.

Just as he started to make his way over to them, Leo shot up like she had earlier that afternoon, going to move around Eli's long legs. She'd not gotten two inches before a hand was latching around her wrist and forcing her back down on the chair. Ronni, of course, who didn't notice the way Leo winced for a moment at the pressure on the same wrist her dad grabbed earlier.

"Hell no! You're not leaving. You're the best at this game. It's no fun if no one goes for Daredevil," Ronni quickly interjected, ushering her back down. Leo's jaw clenched when she saw Rafe sit down on the ground with Kelce and Topper on either side, meeting her eyes for a second and smirking. "He paid for the damage, Leo―"

Leo scowled, scooting back and getting closer to Eli. "Yeah, everyone keeps reminding me. One of you better dare me to run him over."

"Sounds fun to watch," Eli cheered over to her side, grinning as he pulled Leo's legs up on his lap, sitting back so that they could get comfortable before the game started. Leo finally looked away from Rafe and to her best friend with a scowl. "C'mon, Lee. Think about it this way. Now you have someone else to go after besides me."

Leo didn't say anything, wrapping the towel around her shoulders more so she could wring out some of her blonde hair. She'd be unsurprised if it was green in the morning from the chlorine. Ronni quickly explained the rules of the game to the Kooks present, all of whom seemed properly excited about playing for the first time―probably because their only games at parties consisted of beer pong. The Pogues had funner alternatives to that one, too.

"Alright, birthdays," Ronni started, looking at the new faces. "Who's oldest? Leo's oldest for us."

Topper nudged Rafe's shoulder. "You for us."

The thought made Leo's mood drop even more, and she picked up the red solo cup in front of her that belonged to Ronni, not even caring what it was. Probably the spiked punch JJ 'spiked again' because it wasn't strong enough. The reminder that her brother and his friends were lingering somewhere around and she hadn't seen him in a few hours made her wonder if they'd been arrested or if he'd gone off to get Poppy already―she, for the sake of her sanity, prayed for the second option.

"Birthday?" was all that came out of Rafe's mouth and interrupted the blonde's thoughts on her little brother. His voice was raspy from the alcohol and made Leo's eyes narrow on him. He couldn't stop the smug look on his face from growing, knowing she hated him. "All right...I'll go first then. November twentieth."

Leo's birthday being April 4th made her lean forward and turn the empty bottle on the table around for the boy without a word. The tension between the two of them was potent in the air. Everyone on the island knew about the car-incident between Rafe and Leo. Those who weren't in attendance to see it had heard about the girl being literally dragged away from punching the Kook, and with the looks she was giving him now, they were all quietly waiting for the moment she lunged over the table and finished the job.

"Well, okay then..." Ronni pursed her lips and then nodded toward Rafe. "Alright, Scorpio. All you. Spin the bottle."

The game went with only a few hiccups. Some of the newbies got lost a few times when it came to the Daredevil option, which ended up with a lot of them having to take random ass on-the-spot dares and kiss the spinner. Leo had gone twice and ended up kissing Ronni and some random Kook, who looked slightly nervous when she grinned and grabbed his shirt to kiss him. One thing noticeably different was the ease in which the Pogue boys would kiss each other, and the hesitancy when the Kooks landed on another guy, one even protesting and exiting the game.

With only a few players left, their circle had gotten a lot smaller and they all moved in closer to the bottle. Ironically, there was a pretty even circle made around the side table, with most of the Kooks on one side and the Pogues on the other. Leo's eyes shifted when she watched the bottle Rafe had just spun land on his intended target for the first time that night. His mouth raised when he noticed the same thing, his eyes hot on her skin. Pretty much everyone had been anticipating for that to happen, every single turn an almost but never hitting the target for Rafe or Leo.

"You're up, baby," he slurred with just enough ego to piss her off, bringing the nickname from that day back to add to it. He raised his eyebrows and leant forward with a grin. It was anything but friendly. "What's it gonna be?"

Leo spent the entire game coming up with more than enough ways to get Rafe out with a Daredevil. The obvious, and what she would have used if she felt confident the other Kooks hadn't done it either, was: "Never-Have-I-Ever hit a person's car and had my daddy pay for it," but she decided against that halfway in. So, she made the play that Rafe Cameron wasn't expecting.

Without giving her decision much thought, Leo moved up and over the table, grabbing a firm hold of Rafe Cameron's jaw. She'd only had a moment to see the shock on his face before she kissed him, not braving anything chaste as she let her tongue wander on his bottom lip. There were a few comments going around, most of them "oh shit!" and gasps, making Leo smirk against the boy's lips. He'd only just gotten out of his state of shock when she pulled away, falling back down in her chair and grabbing the bottle, spinning it to continue the game.

The rest of it went pretty fast before everyone got tired of it, Rafe glowering like a child in his seat about the fact that he'd gotten beaten by Leo at the little game they were playing. Eli and Leo ended up making out again to no one's surprise, Ronni rolling her eyes and telling them to get a room, before they called it for the night. Everyone went their separate ways after that, the Kooks muttering about how they wanted to play it at their next party, and the Pogues laughing at it. Leo and Eli decided to go back into the house, the music even louder in there and making them adjust their ears to the noise.

"I can't believe you kissed him," Eli said when they returned back to the kitchen. Leo was hitting a dab pen she'd gotten from one of the Pogues, not her preference but it did the job, blowing smoke to the side as she looked over at Eli. "No, like, seriously. I thought you were gonna go for Daredevil."

Leo passed the pen to him. "So did he. Purpose was to win. I won. He lost."

"I mean, I guess—"

"Your shadow is here," Leo told him when she noticed a familiar face across the room. Eli turned around immediately to find her, and his eyebrows raised in interest. The action made her snort. "Go. She won't be here much longer. I bet she'll leave tomorrow morning before the hurricane hits. Just don't give her your number and you're all set. Don't want a repeat of Alexis."

"God, stop," Eli whined, taking one last hit before he handed it back to her. "I'll see you in a bit."

"I hope not. You better not finish that fast."

Eli scowled back at her. "Shut up. Go fuck a touron."

"Speaking of finishing fast..." she trailed off in her words with that suggestion and sighed. "I'll find someone. I've got options. Regroup here at one?"

Eli didn't doubt that and nodded, nudging her shoulder before he walked away to go find the girl in question. Leo smirked and kept herself on the counter, glancing down at the dab pen in her hand for a second then hit it again when she still hadn't felt anything. It hadn't taken long before a blonde boy came up to her with shaggy hair and a desperate need for attention; a beer bottle in one hand and his hopes to get with her in the other. She raised her eyebrows when he stopped in front of her, placing both of his hands on either side of where her legs were resting. At least he was respectful not to touch.

"Finally get away from the boyfriend?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at where Eli was disappearing.

Leo raised her eyebrows at him. "Not bold enough to come over while he was still here?"

The boy shrugged and stepped closer, his hands going to her waist and lips instantly moving to her neck. So much for respect. Leo didn't protest, tilting her head to the side and wrapping her legs around him. The action didn't impress her as he trailed sloppy movements on her skin, obviously drunk. She paused for a brief moment to lean her head back when he hit a certain spot, her eyes still open and the high from the dab pen finally felt in her system. Just when she was about to close them, she caught a certain pair of eyes leant up against the wall where the living room divided the kitchen. Rafe Cameron's stare burned her skin as he took another drink from his bottle, watching her body react to the boy moving dangerously close to the skin showing from her bikini top.

With the touron still leaving marks on her and her eyes on Rafe's shirtless body, she lent all the way back against the cabinet and arched her back, a muffled sound coming out of her mouth as she bit her lip. Leo noticed the way that Rafe's tongue darted to his bottom lip, the same place hers had been a few minutes ago when she kissed him. Before Leo could care, she tilted her head all the way back and pulled away from the boy in front of her, unhooking her legs from his waist.

He glanced up, his eyes lustful and in a daze. "Wanna get a room?"

"Give me a minute," she muttered back, not even catching his eye as she jumped down in front of him, her front brushing his and showing his interest in her immediately. "Be back in a few."

Leo walked away from him and exited the kitchen without another word to the baffled boy, who watched as she went away from him and into the living room. Rafe's gaze never left her the whole way, trained on her skin until she was close enough for him to touch. He'd just went to reach out for her bare waist when she walked past him completely. A glower settled on his face instantly, his face flush and red at the action. Not even caring who it was, he knocked his beer bottle in the chest of a guy passing by and went after the girl.

He'd just made it into the dark hallway near the bathroom when he felt someone push roughly against his chest. The action surprised him, knocking him back into the wall behind him, and he stared down to see the blonde in question look up at him with raised eyebrows. He scoffed at her, but not even he could hide the smirk stretching along his face as he bit down on his bottom lip.

"Been here before, baby," he muttered under his breath, letting his eyes travel dangerously over the places on her body. He noticed the faint marks left on her exposed neck, childsplay really, and they wouldn't even show up the next day. "You like shoving me, huh? You like it r—"

"God, just shut the fuck up."

Rafe could see her going forward and immediately took over the situation. He grabbed her jaw with one large hand and kissed her, his other going to grab two of the belt loops on her shorts to turn her until she was the one against the wall. Leo's body reacted to the rough contact, arching up against his chest, and he couldn't help but grin against her lips. That only pissed her off and she pulled him down to her height, taking a fistful of his damp hair and tugging on him. The sound she got in reply made her grin this time, their teeth clashing together before he had enough. Rafe let go of her face to grab her by the waist with both hands, pulling her up effortlessly until her bare legs were wrapped around his torso.

No time was wasted before her back was secured to the wall, their mouths inches apart and bodies at the same level now. Rafe licked his lips, taking in the disrespectful sight of her chest pushed up against his bare skin. "Think you're gonna win this game, too?"

"Only a loss if you don't fuck me," she huffed back, darting away from his lips to meet his eyes, noticing the way they got darker at her words. Leo tilted her head back to rest against the wall, but her thighs tightened around his hips. "I don't lose, Rafe."

Rafe got his hands back on her after that, crashing their lips together and pressing his tongue against Leo's swollen mouth until she allowed the win. The sound of a door opening behind them had Rafe pulling her off the wall, moving them blindly down the hallway as her free hand gripped his shoulder, no doubt leaving marks there too from her nails. Now in the bathroom, he took one hand off her waist to slam the door shut behind her, moving forward until she was up on another counter for the second time that night. She felt something digging into her side and quickly took an arm, swiping everything within reach until the items crashed on the floor so she could lean back.

With a desperate need for air, Leo pulled away just to reconnect her mouth to his cheek, leaving a trail down the side of his face until she got to his neck. Rafe's hands only tightened on her hips, working quickly to unbutton her shorts as she found a spot that had him freezing. While she worked to create an unforgivable mark on the boy's neck, he got her zipper down and tugged roughly on the damp jeans from her swim in the pool. She pulled away when she was satisfied with her work, both of them breathing hard enough for fog to start forming on the mirror behind them.

He looked down at her, spilling out of her bikini top and flush against him, and couldn't help but kiss her hard again, loving the sound that came out of her when he did―but before anything else, his lips parted from her briefly so that five words could escape between their moans.

"This is a one-time thing."

✸⁎⋆✶⭒✭ 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎 ✸⁎⋆✶⭒✭

       Rafe Cameron only just started to feel the effects of the drugs in his system, his eyes watering and nose burning as he sat there at the Kook party. He noticed a group sitting off to the side with a beer bottle in front of them, laughing away as they played Party Foul. The sight made him sick to his stomach and he sat back, the girl on his side just now finishing her line and laughing with one hand too far up his thigh. The ecstasy from her touch wasn't hitting him, and neither were the drugs yet. Just when he thought he was going to have to go back for another line, he heard it. The sound brought his head up quickly, eyes blown out into another world; and in the midst of the chaotic noise of the party, Rafe Cameron's attention caught the girl sitting down on the glass table directly in front of him where he'd just gotten done with his line of coke.

"This is disgusting," was all she said, her nose wrinkling the way that he loved. Beautiful.

She glanced to her side and put her ringed-finger directly through the line of coke that the girl next to him went on to take. Then, those dangerous blue eyes of hers crossed with his, and he felt the emptiness in his heart disappear momentarily when he saw the same stars in them he always had. Leo Maybank looked at him, leaning forward so that she was close, and brought a hand to settle on his cheekbone. His eyes watered when she rubbed it, the love in her eyes something that he hadn't seen from her in a while. She gave him a soft smile.

"You've got to stop this, you know?" she muttered, raising her eyebrows at him before she looked back at the table briefly. "It changes you―fucks with your brain and shit, baby...and it's just fucking gross. You know it's not right."

Rafe inched even closer to her, sliding forward up the couch with the tears burning his eyes. "But you're here―"

"Can't keep using that as an excuse," she dismissed, shrugging, patting his cheek softly. "You know I'm always with you."

"Not like this―"

"Rafe, who the fuck are you talking to?"

Rafe's head shot up at the sound of Kelce's voice, turning in the direction of his friend to see the boy looking at him like he'd just lost his damn mind. Leo snorted in front of him, and he turned to look at her with a glare, but all she did was give the shit-eating grin that he hated to see (but not really) because he knew a sarcastic remark was going to come out of her mouth next.

"Gonna tell him you're hallucinating your dead ex-girlfriend, or should we keep that to ourselves for now? Personally, I think it's a pretty good story to tell at parties―don't look at me like that, Rafe. You're the one who misses my smart ass comments―hey, should you go try and fuck me in the bathroom for old time's sake, baby? I wonder what that would look like if someone walked in on it―"

Good night.

✸⁎⋆✶⭒✭ 𝐁𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 ✸⁎⋆✶⭒✭