─☼☼☼─

𝘽𝙔 𝙈𝙄𝘿𝘿𝘼𝙔 𝙏𝙃𝙀 next day, so much had happened that the fact that Charlotte had completely lost her mind and kissed JJ the night before was the last thing she was worried about. 

John B had showed up at the Chateau in the early morning, apparently he had been freed on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence. Obviously, the Pogues were ecstatic that he was back, it was like their world was slowly healing. 

Sarah showed up a few hours after that, delivered on boat by none other than Topper Thornton. Why, you ask? Well, that would be because her brother tried to kill her the night before. Her attempt to right all wrongs by speaking to Wheezie clearly had not gone according to plan. 

Charlotte hadn't really said a word to anyone since the revelation had been made. They had all split up, John B and Sarah having a much needed conversation, Kie and Pope were working on the mysterious key he had found, which had left Charlotte and JJ. 

The two of them sat on the porch, Charlotte staring at the same brick pattern she had been for the past ten minutes. 

"Hey, Charley?" JJ wondered, taking a long drink of his beer. 

She pulled her eyes away from the wall, blinking for a moment to refocus her attention. "Yeah?" She whispered, voice hoarse.

It was now JJ who seemed to focus his gaze somewhere far away for a moment. "I don't think you should be alone with him anymore. No matter what."

He continued to avoid her gaze for a few more seconds, but when he turned to look at her, his eyes were full of genuine worry. 

Charlotte was silent as she pushed the lump down in her throat, not really knowing what to say. 

"I'm not scared of him." She finally answered, but she wasn't even sure she believed her own words. 

JJ shook his head. "Yeah, well maybe you should be. If he was willing to do that to his own sister then ─"

"Then he'd be more than willing to do it to me." She finished his thought, not totally impressed with the sentiment. 

"Exactly." He nodded, grateful that she was on the same wavelength as him. 

But Charlotte wasn't, not really. 

Without saying another word, she stood, heading for the screen door. JJ sat up, setting his beer down before regarding her with a confused expression. "Where are you going?"

Charlotte turned to face him, preparing to be met with his wrath. "To talk to Rafe."

JJ's jaw slacked as an incredulous look covered his face. "Are you fucking kidding me? Did you not hear a word that I just said."

"I heard you." Charlotte answered, turning back toward the door. "But I'm done with this bullshit."

JJ threw his arms up, looking for backup from someone who wasn't there. "You're done with this bullshit." He mocked. "So you're gonna go talk to the murdering psychopath who tried to kill his sister last night?"

"He's not going to ─"

"Don't you dare say he's not going to hurt you, because I know you're not that stupid, Charlotte." His incredulous expression had turned to one of anger. 

The door to the Chateau flung open, John B stepping out onto the porch. By the expression on his face, Charlotte figured the conversation between him and Sarah hadn't gone as he was hoping. "What's going on?" He wondered, looking between his two friends. 

JJ pointed toward Charlotte like he was a toddler telling on his sibling. "She wants to go have a conversation with psycho killer."

She shot him a look. "Don't call him that."

He promptly returned the look. "Charlotte, why can't you just give up on him?"

She recalled their conversation from the night before, and it was clear he did too by the look in his eyes. "You know why."

"Okay, calm down." John B instructed, looking between the two of them. "Charley, you know what he did to Sarah last night...do you really think this is the best idea?"

"Yes." She answered instantly. "I do."

"Well then you are stupider than I thought." JJ retorted, giving her a raised-brow expression. 

Charlotte rolled her eyes, "Well, if you don't hear from me by tonight, then you'll know you were right and you can include a 'told you so' in my eulogy. How does that sound?"

JJ bit down on his lip, clearly trying to stop himself from snapping back at her. "That's not funny."

Harshly pulling open the screen door, Charlotte stepped down onto the grass. "I'll call you when I get home." She promised, knowing she at least owed JJ that with how reckless she was currently being. 

He held her gaze for a moment, jaw locked before finally turning away. John B watched her as she went, he too stunned by the way she was acting. 

As Charlotte climbed into her car, her phone was already to her ear, dialling the number she knew by heart. 

He picked up on the first ring. 

"I need to talk to you."

─☼☼☼─

Visiting Barry Valdez's trailer twice in one week was something Charlotte never wanted to be able to say she had done...but here she was. 

At least this time she was here by her own volition and wasn't quasi kidnapped. 

Barry was the one who opened the door when she knocked, and shockingly, he didn't looked repulsed to see her. In fact, he looked somewhat relieved. 

"Country Clubette, nice to see you."

Charlotte glared at him as she stepped into the trailer. "Wish I could say the same."

He ignored her snipe, nodding toward what could be deemed as the living room in his run-down trailer. "He's over there."

Rafe lifted his head from where it had been resting in his hands, the gesture revealing the splotchy bruise that painted his jaw. A feeling clenched at Charlotte's heart as she took a step toward him.

"Courtesy of Topper?" She wondered, reaching out to lightly run her finger along his jawline. 

He flinched, dropping his head with a sigh. "You heard about that?"

His voice was laced with something, and Charlotte couldn't tell if it was regret for what he did, or regret that she had found out. What she could tell, what she had known since she had spoken to him on the phone, was that he was high. 

Typically, she'd have nothing to do with him when he was like this, but this conversation couldn't wait, she needed to get it off her chest. 

Not answering his question, Charlotte lowered herself onto the couch next to him. Barry sat on his bed, watching the two of them with curiosity. Ignoring him, Charlotte addressed Rafe. "Would you have actually done it if Topper didn't show up...would you have killed your own sister?"

He looked up at her once again, eyes distant but also staring right into her at the same time. "I don't know."

Silence fell between them for a moment, Charlotte trying to decide what she wanted to say next. 

It wasn't Rafe or Charlotte who spoke first, but the drug dealer in the corner of the room. "Well one of you has got to say something."

Turning to face him with a less- than pleased expression, Charlotte spoke. "Butt out, Barry."

He narrowed his eyes at her, "You're in my house, princess. Remember that."

Flipping him off, Charlotte returned her attention to Rafe, noting the way he almost refused to meet her eye. 

"I know what you're gonna say, Lottie." He whispered, defeat dripping from his every word. 

Letting out a deep sigh, Charlotte spoke words that went against everything she had originally stood for. 

"You need to get out of here." 

As the words left her mouth, Rafe finally met her gaze, his eyes clouding in confusion. "What?"

"Get out." She repeated, shocked at her own words. "Leave the Outer Banks. Go somewhere far from here and don't look back."

Rafe glanced toward Barry for a moment, as if to double check that he was actually hearing what Charlotte was saying properly and not in some drug-induced haze. "But─" He shook his head, "Why are you saying this now?"

"John B's free." She answered, voice calm. "He's not going down for this...they know he didn't do it."

He closed his eyes for a moment, letting out a breath. "So they're coming for me next."

Resisting the urge to reach out and take his hand, Charlotte nodded. "I know that you pulled the trigger...but I don't think this is all your fault, Rafe. I think there's someone else who's responsible for this...all of this."

"My dad." His answer was almost instant, and his voice was small. 

Charlotte nodded. "He made his bed...he can lay in it."

Rafe's head dipped forward slightly as he shook it. "I'm─I'm not leaving you."

"You have to."

He looked at her once again. "You want me to just leave and never come back?"

She didn't. Not at all. 

"I want you to leave this place, get clean, build a life, and forget all about me. Find someone who isn't involved in all of this. Do better." It physically hurt her to say those words, and that much was obvious by the way her voice cracked. 

As Charlotte spoke, Rafe vehemently shook his head. "Come with me." He pleaded, genuine desperation in his tone. "Come with me and we can start over, away from all of this."

"You know I can't do that."

Rafe reached out, wiping one of the tears that had fallen from her eyes. "We can be happy...just the two of us."

But they couldn't. Not really. 

"I'm going to get clean for you." He promised for what felt like the fiftieth time. "I'll take care of you...wherever we are."

A sad smile came to Charlotte's face as she shook her head. "I can't, Rafe."

He sniffled, his own eyes glossy. "You have to."

"You'll find someone else." She promised, giving him the best smile she could muster. "Work on yourself, and when you're least expecting it, the love of your life will save you from some creep in the basement of a high school party."

Rafe couldn't help but let out a choked laugh at the reference of the first night the two of them began to realize how they truly felt for each other. Neither of them ever could have thought that their lives would have ended up like this. 

Leaning forward to press a kiss to his cheek, Charlotte felt more warm tears spill from her eyes. "Do better." She whispered, her kiss lingering for a moment. "For me."

Rafe was ready to respond, but before any words could leave his mouth, Barry, who had exited the trailer at some point, re-entered. "Yo Country Club, your dad's here."

Charlotte felt her body tense as she turned toward the window, watching as Ward Cameron marched up toward the door. Her blood had run cold, fear gripping onto her. 

Rafe squeezed her hand, trying to tell her to calm down as his father entered the trailer. His eyes were wild, meaning something was going on. 

As they landed on Charlotte, anger overtook his expression. "What the hell are you doing here?"

She stood, trying to put on a brave face. "I was just leaving." She answered, sending him a look that could kill. "Not that it's any of your business."

Barry let out a snort as Ward ignored her, shoving past to get to his son. He dropped his voice, but it was loud enough that Charlotte could still hear as she moved toward the door. "Rafe, you need to listen to me."

But Rafe wasn't listening to his father, he was watching as the girl he loved walked away from him for maybe the last time...at least the last time for a while. 

If he left, there was no telling what would happened. He was sure she would find someone else, and that destroyed him. 

Before she made it to the door, Charlotte turned one last time, giving Rafe one of the saddest smiles he had ever seen. 

In that moment he hated himself. Not for what he did to Peterkin, or John B, or even Sarah, but for what he did to Charlotte. 

He would never forgive himself. 

─☼☼☼─