─☼☼☼─

"𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙀," 𝙍𝘼𝙁𝙀 𝙈𝙐𝙈𝘽𝙇𝙀𝘿, taking the bag from Charlotte's hands, "I've got it."

Releasing her grip on the bag, Charlotte gave him a small smile, "Wow, such a gentleman."

Rafe grinned, shooting her a wink. "Only for you, baby."

"Okay, have you two even thought about what you're doing?" Rose called from the living room, revisiting the same discussion the three of them had been having since Rafe and Charlotte had filled her in on their meeting that had occurred the day prior. "How do we know this is safe?"

With an eye roll, Rafe shuttled the bag out to the upstairs landing, piling it on top of the other bags that the pair had pack for their little trip. They had decided to stay in Barbados for at least a few days. If they made the deal then they'd have time to celebrate, just the two of them. If the deal fell through, then they'd have time to drown their sorrows before returning to Guadeloupe.

"Look, Rose. We don't have time for this, okay? We gotta get to Bridgetown and we're taking the boat." Rafe argued, unbothered as he returned to the bedroom to retrieve the rest of the bags. Charlotte was watching him with some uncertainty, beginning to think that just maybe Rose was right. 

"Don't look at me like that." He warned quietly, catching the look on her face. "I've got this okay. We've got this."

"Rafe─"

Charlotte's words fell silent as Rafe pressed a kiss to her lips. Pulling back, he gave her an assuring look. "I'm not gonna let anything bad happen, alright? Just trust me."

She wanted to, she really did. But the two didn't have the best track record as of late when it came to running into conflict. 

Rafe didn't wait for an answer from her as he made his way back out to the landing, facing Rose who was still standing down below. "Come on, Rafe." Rose pleaded. "You don't even know this guy!"

Trying to push down the fatalist thoughts that were clawing through her, Charlotte grabbed her purse, one of the many belongings that Rafe had purchased for her since they arrived on the island. She didn't ask for half of the stuff, nor did she want it. But buying her stuff made Rafe happy, so Charlotte did her best to grin and bear the unnecessary amount of clothing and jewellery she was handed on a weekly basis. 

"You can't just go out and try to make a deal, Rafe!" Rose continued. As Charlotte stepped out onto the landing, Rose fixed her eyes on the younger girl. "And Charlotte, come on, hunny. You're smarter than this."

"Don't bring her into this." Rafe ordered, glancing up from the business card he had been examining. "She's being a supportive girlfriend and trying to help me make a deal. Maybe you should take a page from her book, Rose."

Charlotte had to actively work not to have her face contort at Rafe's use of the word girlfriend. Last she checked they weren't actually back together. But maybe that was a discussion for another time. 

Rose pursed her lips, trying to ignore Rafe's insult. "I know you think you know what you're doing, but people out there know that your dad's alive. No─not just people, Pogues."

Fiddling with the frayed ends of her shorts, Charlotte's eyes swivelled toward Rose at the mention of the Pogues. The whole family had done a pretty damn good job at pretending the Pogues weren't missing at sea because of what they had done that day on the Coastal Venture. Or at least they avoided the topic when Charlotte was around...until now. 

"Pogues. Pogues." Rafe muttered the word, double checking that they had all the bags. "Listen, they can't prove it, alright? They don't know where we are."

"Sarah does!" Rose argued, clutching onto her drink just a bit tighter, face begin to crumble with anxiety. 

Rafe shook his head, "Sarah's not gonna do shit, Rose. She's too afraid, okay? And if the Pogues show up, I'm just gonna handle it."

This piqued Charlotte's interest, prompting her to speak for the first time since leaving the bedroom. "Handle it?" She prompted, raising her brows. "How do you propose you're gonna do that?"

He gave her a tight smile. "By sittin' down and havin' a nice discussion with them."

Charlotte rolled her eyes, reaching down to pick up one of her bags, "Sure, Rafe."

"Charlotte's right," Rose agreed. "When have you actually ever handled something for us? Rafe, everything you touch turns to─"

"Hey!" 

Rafe's outburst startled both Charlotte and Rose, each of them jumping slightly as he slapped his hand down against the bannister before raising it and jabbing his finger in Rose's direction. "Listen, I'm gonna sell the cross that I found. Okay, that I saved. "

"That you stole." Charlotte corrected under her breath. 

Ignoring her, Rafe continued, "And when dad wakes up, he's gonna see that I took care of it. Not you."

Rose sipped on her drink, unable to hide the displeased expression on her face. "Okay. Sure, Rafe."

Rafe rose his brows, leaning against the railing nonchalantly. "So, why don't you go have yourself another Tom Collins while Lottie and I go make this family a shit ton of money. Okay?"

Charlotte could visibly see the anger spread across Rose's face. The blonde woman was silent for a moment before her glass was being thrown toward the wall, shattering to pieces. "Fuck you!"

Stepping back in shock Charlotte watched as Rafe's face twitched in a smile. "You missed." He antagonized, grabbing the rest of his and Charlotte's bags. "You know what? Maybe you don't need another drink."

Watching as Rafe descended the stairs, Charlotte threw the strap of one of the bags over her shoulder, looking down to Rose. "I'm sorry." She apologized, finding that she did that far too often on behalf of Rafe. 

Rose knew it too. "You don't have to apologize for him." She gritted out, still seething in anger. "Just be─be careful, Charlotte." 

With a small nod, Charlotte followed Rafe out of the villa. "I will."

Rafe was already loading up the car with their bags when Charlotte met him outside. "You don't have to be so rude, you know?" She declared, throwing her bag into the back seat. 

Looking up at her, Rafe looked shocked. "What the hell are you talking about, Lottie? I'm not being rude, I'm being realistic. What the hell has she done for this family?"

Something ignited in Charlotte, partly because she saw herself in Rose...she saw herself becoming Rose. "What the hell is she supposed to do, Rafe? Your fucking father has jerked her around so much in the last year she has nothin' left! She's given it all to him just for him to treat her like a fucking pawn in his game in return."

Both of them were silent for a moment, Charlotte's face red in anger, Rafe's blank in shock. 

But instead of addressing what she had said, Rafe's eyes flickered to somewhere behind her. His eyes darkened, but only momentarily before he jerked his head in the direction of whatever had caught his eye. "You have a visitor."

Charlotte turned, tearing her eyes off of Rafe to focus on whoever was here to see her. 

Mateo was making his way up the driveway, raising his hand in a weak wave upon realizing he had been spotted by the two of them. 

A million thoughts raced through Charlotte at the sight of him. 

If he was here, it must have meant that he found something...maybe he found them.

Those were the first words out of her mouth once he was close enough. "Did you find them?"

Dropping his head slightly, Mateo shook it. "No, sorry."

Rafe narrowed his eyes. "Then what are you doing here, man?"

Charlotte wanted to tell him off for being rude, but she too was wondering the same thing. 

Mateo's eyes flickered between the two of them, "Charlotte, can I talk to you for a minute..." He looked at Rafe. "Alone?"

Rafe bit down on his lip and Charlotte knew he was doing his best to avoid saying something he shouldn't. When he finally spoke, it was through a tight voice. "I'm just gonna go check to make sure we got everything from the house. But we gotta get going soon, Lottie."

Nodding, Charlotte gave him a grateful smile, relieved that he was actually respecting her enough to allow her to speak with Mateo privately. 

"I won't be long." Mateo assured, giving Rafe a small nod. "Thanks, man."

Not feeling like being too friendly, Rafe ignored Mateo, disappearing into the villa without another word. 

As she watched the door shut behind him, Charlotte turned to face Mateo with a small smile. "What's up?"

In the month that she had known Mateo, he had never seemed nervous. He always seemed to sure of himself and his surroundings. But now, as he stood in front of her, in front of the Cameron villa, he seemed unnerved. With eyes flickering toward the loaded car, he nodded his head. "Where are you guys going?"

Charlotte watched the way his eyes seemed to flicker around, as if waiting for something to happen. "Barbados." She answered tentatively. "Business trip."

Mateo nodded, biting the inside of his cheek as he finally refocused his eyes on her. His attention caught on the two rings that she was still donning on her left hand. "Those are new."

"Oh." Charlotte muttered, subconsciously fidgeting with the two bands. "They're not...it's just─"

"Let me guess," Mateo smiled knowingly. "It's complicated."

That seemed to be the best word to describe Charlotte Carrera and Rafe Cameron's relationship, and even Mateo knew that.

"Yeah." Charlotte breathed, giving him the best smile she could muster. Mateo didn't return the smile this time, instead, he watched her with a look she couldn't quite decipher.

When Mateo didn't say anything else, didn't give any indication as to why he was here, Charlotte spoke again. "Mateo, is everything okay?" She wondered, taking a small step toward him. "You can tell me if something's wrong...did Rafe do something to you? Did he threaten you?"

It looked like he wanted to say something, but the words that left his mouth did not seem like the ones he wanted to. "No." He finally answered. "Nothing's wrong. I just heard talk that you guys were leaving, so I wanted to come say goodbye."

Charlotte didn't believe a word of that. "We'll be back in like a week..."

"Yeah." Mateo breathed. "Guess I'll see you then. Have a safe trip."

And before Charlotte could even think up a response, he was halfway down the driveway, not turning around once. 

Furrowing her brows, Charlotte watched him go, a nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach. 

"What did he want?" Rafe wondered, rejoining her out by the car. His face was set, but Charlotte could sense a slight sense of nerves in his tone of voice. 

"Nothing." Charlotte answered honestly, still trying to decipher what had just happened. "It was really weird actually."

Rafe nodded, locking his jaw as he watched Mateo disappear down the road. "We should get down to the docks. The boat should be ready."

"Yeah." Charlotte nodded, letting out an exhale. "Okay."

─☼☼☼─

"So, I think we should finish the conversation we were having earlier." Rafe announced, tearing his eyes away from the ocean in front of them to focus on Charlotte who was reading a book on the upper deck, basking in the sun. 

Charlotte lowered her book, lifting her sunglasses from her eyes. "What one?"

Truthfully, she was surprised that Rafe was willing to revisit any conversation. He was notorious for pretending arguments never happened. 

Setting the autopilot, Rafe left the bridge, joining Charlotte on the padded benches. "Why are you so worried about Rose all of a sudden?" He wondered, getting straight to the point. 

Sitting up slightly, Charlotte set her book down on the bench next to her, biting down on her lower lip as she thought about what Rafe said. "I don't wanna talk about it."

"Lottie, please."

Letting out a deep breath, Charlotte shook her head. "Fine," She muttered, locking eyes with him. "I'm terrified of ending up like her."

Rafe's face fell slightly, confusion sweeping across his features. "You're nothing like her."

"Yes I am." Charlotte argued. "And I'm scared that I'm going to end up married to the heir of some family dynasty with no real life of my own." It was harsh, but it was true. Rose had given everything for Ward and that family. And sure, it had its benefits, but none of them were appealing to Charlotte, not if she lost herself in the process. 

Shuffling down the bench, Rafe took Charlotte's hand into his own. "Lottie, you're nothing like her." He assured once again. "And you won't end up like her. Because I love you more than my father has ever loved her. And I respect you more than he ever has her."

Charlotte's eyes flickered toward him, "You barely even know me anymore Rafe."

The truth hung between them, Rafe studying her for a moment. 

"Doesn't matter." He declared. "I've loved you since we were fourteen, Lottie. You're not the same person I first fell in love with, and I'm sure as hell not the same person you fell in love with. But that doesn't mean that I love you any less, in fact, I'm pretty sure I love you more."

Staring back at him, Charlotte's lips twitched for a moment. Forgoing all of her morals, all the walls she had built up, she nodded. "We've really been through it this last year, haven't we?"

A look of guilt flickered across Rafe's face for a moment as he looked down at their hands that were still intertwined. "I'm so sorry, Lottie. For everything I put you through. I was a shitty person, and an even shittier boyfriend."

"Thank you." Charlotte whispered. "For acknowledging that." She waited until he was looking at her to speak again. "But don't think that erases everything that happened...everything you did to me, to my sister, my friends. We have a long way to go, Rafe."

"I know." He accepted, letting out a deep breath. "I don't blame you if you wanna get with that Mateo kid. He's probably a hell of a better person than I am."

Charlotte paused, pulling her hand away slightly. "Is that what this is about? You're jealous of Mateo?"

"Shouldn't I be?"

An incredulous expression covered her face as Charlotte shook her head. "No." She answered confidently. "Rafe, I've kissed one person since we broke up. One. And even when I was kissing him all I could fucking think about was you. It was never about moving on for me...it was about waiting for you to get your shit together. Mateo was never even a possibility for me, not with you living under the same damn roof as me, you idiot. Even if you were a million miles away, it would have always been you."

Rafe nodded slightly, looking as guilty as ever. "I want you to know that none of those girls ever meant anything to me. Not a single thing."

Running a hand through her hair, Charlotte shook her head. "We're not having this conversation again, okay? You sleeping around after we were broken up is literally the least of my worries."

He watched her as she turned to look out at the ocean, the breeze blowing her hair around lightly. "So what do we do now?"

Charlotte shrugged, silent for a moment before she turned back to look at him. "I guess we try to start over on the promise that you'll be better. If, and when, we find my sister and friends, you leave them the hell alone. No more scheming, no more lying. We get rid of this damn cross and then we just live our lives...deal?"

Rafe had never been more elated...he was finally getting her back. "Deal."

The smile that was on Rafe's lips soon transferred onto Charlotte's face, each of them grinning at each other. 

"So," Rafe wondered, pulling Charlotte toward him. "Are you ever going to tell me who I have to kick the shit out of for kissing you? I bet it was Caden Koffer."

Charlotte shoved him away with a small laugh and eye roll. "Please do not ever insult me like that again by insinuating that I would kiss Cade."

"You're avoiding the question." Rafe teased, poking at her side. 

Raising her brows in a taunting manner, Charlotte shrugged. "That's for me to know, and for you to never find out."

─☼☼☼─

-an-

i hope you all enjoyed soft lottie and rafe because we all know that won't last forever. 

there's also going to be some reunions in the next few chapters that i am excited for hehehe

love you all!

-maddy xoxo