Rafe

by Amy Davies

  “It’s fine, Kyle. I can walk. It’s a nice night I’ll be fine.” He shakes his head.

  “Oh I don’t think so, Missy. I will call you a cab. You live too far away to walk by yourself, especially at night” I smile and look at the floor.

  “Fine, call me a cab.” I roll my eyes and Kyle smiles at me.

  Twenty minutes later I’m at my apartment door. My phone dings and I retrieve it from my back pocket, look at the screen and see it’s Maisey.

  Monty: U home yet? U didn’t text me!!

  Me: Home. Going 2 bed. Luvs u xx

  Monty: Just remember you love me BIG TIME

  Even though I haven’t known Maisey that long I can read her like a book and her me. We have a true connection.

  Me: What did you do Maise?

  Monty: I gave Rafe your number. You love me right????

  Me: No I don’t love you right now. Ask me again tomorrow. He had better not contact me. Night babe

  Monty: Night babe xx

  I put my phone on my bedside table and go into my bathroom for a quick shower. I wipe myself and get into my bed shorts and cami. I love bedtime slogans on my pjs. On tonight’s cami it says, “Keep Calm and Snuggle.” Tru bought me a pair a year ago and it’s now a small addiction, just like my Peace sign addiction. Every day I have to wear a peace sign, whether it’s clothing or accessories. I brush my hair and blow-dry it. I climb into bed with my Kindle and get back to the book I was reading this afternoon. It’s a great book, mommy porn they are sometimes described as, but to me they are love stories with some sex or a lot of sex. Sometimes though, I like the really mushy love stories. Tonight I’m reading ‘The Boys Who Sneaks in My Bedroom Window by Kirsty Moseley. Liam is freaking hot and so damn sweet. He loves his Angel. I need me a Liam. My phone dings with a text message. I really hope that it’s Maisey telling me that she is staying over at Gunners tonight. Oh. My. God. Gunner lives with Rafe, Reeve and Ryder. Fuck, that means Monty has stayed over there with them. Shit. How the hell has this never some up before now? We have known each other for a while.

  I reach for my phone to check who has texted me. Damn it, unknown number. I bet its Rafe. I slide the bar across the screen to open the text.

  Unknown: Hi. Can I explain please?

  Me: Explain what? Who is this?

  Unknown: It’s Rafe. Maise gave me your number. That okay?

  Me: Didn’t have a choice did I? What do you want Rafe?? I have an early shift tomorrow I need sleep.

  Hopefully that will make him leave me alone. Ping. Great, no such luck. Before I read the text I add his number to my contacts.

  Rafe: I want to explain about tonight. I was a dick. Can we meet up and have a chat? Where do you work, I can come see you?

  Me: Rafe just leave it okay. Yes you were a dick, but that’s just you. Good night Rafe.

  I go to turn my phone day off and then realize that I need an alarm. Do Not Disturb setting it is then.

  I place my iPhone and Kindle on my bedside table and snuggle down to sleep.

  I wake before my alarm this morning, but it isn’t anything unusual. My nightmares were getting better until seeing Rafe last night. Seeing him has brought him back to my dreams. I always have the same dream where I’m sitting on a bench watching the waves roll in and I hear a little boy with curly blonde hair calling me. I look over to him and he is calling me ‘Mommy’. He looks just like Dallas, besides the hair color. I shiver and stand to walk to him but he stops just out of reach and tilts his head to one side and looks so sad. “You lost me mommy, why did you lose me?” I start to cry and reach for him but Dallas always appears and takes him from me. Dallas is always laughing in my dream. He tells me, “I took something from you, Lucy and you will never forget what I did.” Then I wake up, sweating and crying. He is right though, I will always grieve for my baby boy and I will always link him to Dallas. I was fourteen weeks pregnant when I miscarried. The doctors told me it was a boy. My parents wanted to know if I wanted to name him and we had a little memorial for him at our house. I named him Shane.

  I shower and get ready for work. I work in a small clothing and shoe store called ‘Imagine.’ It sells vintage and second hand clothes. My parents still give me a weekly allowance while I’m here but I was brought up learning that even though I came from money I was to earn it as well. Plus, it helps with my experience. I’m pulling my white Converse on when there is a knock on my front door; I glance over at my clock and see it’s only eight-fifteen. Who can be here this early? I pull my hair up into a messy ponytail and head for the door. I look through the peephole.

  Fuck. Shit. Dammit.

  It’s Rafe fucking Phoenix. I swing the door open and look at him, looking all sexy rock-star like. I’m in so much trouble. He is leaning across the hall from my door, arms folded across his not overly build chest, one leg is bent so that his foot is resting flat on the wall. He is wearing faded blue jeans with a black v-neck t-shirt, his aviator glasses hooked into the V. God, he looks freaking delicious. I mentally shake myself from my wayward thoughts of Rafe.

  “What are you doing here, Rafe? It’s like eight-fifteen, shouldn’t you still be wrapped up in some groupie slut from last night?” I smirk at my boldness. If the summer taught me anything it’s that I needed to toughen up and not take shit from anyone.

  “Groupie slut? That’s a new one. I like it, baby.” Baby? Did he just call me baby? Like, what the fuck. It pisses me off.

  “I’m not your baby, Rafe. I’m not one of your sluts that you can call ‘Baby’ so you don’t have to remember her name while you fuck her.” Go Lucy. God, I’m on a roll this morning. He smirks at me and lets out a little laugh. I shiver from the sound. Why did he have to be so damned hot? “What Rafe? What is so funny?” He points to me.

  “You are bab...Lucy. I don’t fuck groupies.” I raise an eyebrow and cross my arms across my chest “Okay, I used to but I don’t anymore. It gets old. Not knowing the names of half the girls I have sex with. I need more.” He shrugs his beautiful shoulders.

  “Well, good for you bud. But I have to get to work, so if you’ll excuse me…” I go to close the door but Rafe puts his hand on my door.

  “Can I walk with you? Please, babe.” He shakes his head, “Shit sorry ... Lucy. We can talk on the way” He gives me a pleading look, so I nod yes.

  “Let me just get my bag and phone.” I stroll back to my bedroom, grabbing my bag and picking up my iPhone and Kindle off my bedside table. Yes, my Kindle comes everywhere with me.

  Don’t judge me.

  I come out of my room only to find Rafe in my kitchen drinking a can of soda. Rude much? “Help yourself, why don’t you.” I shake my head. I head for the door and he follows. We head down the sidewalk towards my store. Lucky for me it’s only a twenty-minute walk. I enjoy walking and running. I took up running during the summer. It helps me clear my head. I turn to Rafe and study his profile. His jet-black hair is shorter than before that summer. Still hot though and just long enough for me to run my fingers through it. Where the hell did that come from? His green eyes still look like emeralds. He is clean-shaven today. I like it. As if he senses me looking at him, he turns to me.

  “Still like what you see, Snowflake?” I laugh out loud. God, I hope he doesn’t know I have had a crush on him for years.

  “Still? Snowflake?” I laugh and look at the stores we are passing by.

  “Yeah, I know you had a huge school girl crush on me in high school.” I laugh, I can’t believe how cocky he is, but then again he is a Phoenix.

  “In your dreams bud, I have grown up since then, Rafe. Plus I wasn’t the only girl who was crushing on you.” I give him my best girly smile. He throws his head back laughing and I can’t help but chuckle with him.

  “Baby, I know you wanted me. I was told by a little pixie one night at a party.” Fucking Kenzie. I stop and look at him.

  “Okay I will admit I kind of liked you for a while but that was over before we left.” I shrug and start walking
again. I hear him laugh again. He catches up to me and puts his arms around my shoulder and pulls me into his side. Wow, I can feel the heat flowing off his arm around me. Okay, it can’t be normal to get turned on just touching like this, surely. As I’m about to shrug his arms off we collide with someone walking out of a store.

  “Whoa dude, watch where you’re going.” I look up at the guy who walked into us and smile.

  “Hey, sweetness. How you doing this morning?” I smile and go to step to him when Rafe tightens his grip on my shoulder.

  “Who the fuck are you? You don’t hit on a girl who is out with her man.” I look up at Rafe and back to Jack. Jack is one of my best friends here at Cali but Jack is as gay as they come. I smile at Jack and he looks shocked.

  “Boyfriend? Last time I saw you, you were single.” Rafe stiffens even more.

  “And when was the last time you saw Lucy, exactly?” I look from Jack to Rafe and go to explain but Jack opens his mouth.

  “Mmmm. Let me think.” He taps his finger on his chin and gives Rafe and me a full mega-watt smile. “I believe it was Wednesday night, am I right, babe? I believe it was a hot and sweaty night.” I try to hold in my laugh but Rafe seems to be getting angry and I think I need to put a stop to it.

  “OK, Jack that’s enough, babe. I don’t fancy spending my day in the ER after Rafe beats your cute little ass down.” I look up at Rafe again and see total confusion on his beautiful face. I laugh. “Jack, meet Rafe Phoenix, not my boyfriend by the way. Rafe meet my best friend, Jack Taylor. My very gay best friend.” Jack’s mouth hits the floor with shock. It dawns on me that I have talked to Jack about Rafe.

  “THE Rafe Phoenix? Like from back home, like the guy that...” I don’t let him finish.

  “Yes, Jack, that Rafe.”

  I hug Jack and Rafe relaxes next to me. He lifts his hand to Jack and they do the whole manly handshake thing. Lucky for me, Jack is an awesome guy. He shakes Rafe’s hand. “Listen, Jack. I really have to get to work. Give me a text later and we will meet up, yeah?” He hugs me and kisses my cheek and this time Rafe doesn’t tense up.

  “Okay sweetie, catch you later. Bye, Rafe, it was nice to finally meet you.” He nods and walks down the street. The awkwardness is back between us, but not for long.

  “So, what did you and Jack do to get all hot and sweaty the other night?” I laugh at his question.

  “We run; we can do up to ten miles a night. We sometimes run in the mornings as well. It helps clear my head, you know?” I walk off towards work. Again, Rafe watches up with me, and we walk in silence for a few steps. It’s like I can hear my mind working, and I can also feel that Rafe wants to ask me something. Even though Jack is never a threat, I kind of like Rafe being all alpha male over me. As I see my workplace come into view, my stomach knots a little. Just the thought of not spending some more time with Rafe makes me feel a little sad.

  “So, how’s the band going? Inside Noise has quite the following.” He turns and smiles at me; I can see the pride in his eyes when I ask about the band.

  “We are doing really well. We toured up and down the California coast over the summer and we do gigs here and there. It was nice to get out and about. Our name is building and we have a decent following now. ‘Groupie Sluts,’ I believe you call them, but not all of them are like that.”

  I can’t help but laugh at his face, which is filled with amusement. “Well, for all us normal fans who don’t want to get in your rather low riding jeans, we can be called ‘Insiders.’ What do you think of that?” I give him my biggest smile I can. Rafe smiles back places his arm around my shoulders and pulls me tight to him.

  “Fucking love it. I have to tell Reeve and Ryder about this. We are going to have to get some merchandise made up for the ‘normal fans’, as you say. But, baby, I don’t want you to be a ‘Groupie Slut’ or an ‘Insider.” I look up confused.

  “What do you mean?” I frown and Rafe raises his eyebrows once and smiles.

  “I want you to be a ‘Rafer.’” Okay, even more confused now.

  “Huh?” He stops in front of me and places his hands on my shoulders. I look into his emerald eyes and feel my stomach tighten.

  “You weren’t the only one in high school to have a crush, Lucy. I have liked you for God knows how long but the timing was all wrong. Before Dallas….” I wince at his name. Rafe slides his hands from my shoulders up to brace my face. He gently rubs his thumb over my bottom lip, “I’m sorry for what he did you to. He was a grade A-prick and we all knew it. But before him you used to ignore people like me, the wrong crowd and all. You were all preppy, you know. Both parents with high-end jobs, you were Queen Bee at some point. Am I right?” I look down at my feet and nod. I feel shame for the way I used to be.

  I was a Grade A upper class bitch.

  Chapter 4

  Rafe

  I tell Lucy that I also had a crush on her in high school but she isn’t saying anything, she is just staring at the floor. She won’t even look at me after I tell her what she was like back then. By the look on her face, she is totally ashamed of what she used to be like. “Baby, look at me” I tell her. I raise her chin to my face after a beat because she still won’t look at me. “Lucy, I liked you a lot and yes, things got in the way but I still like you and I think that you still like me.” I give her a little smile. She nods her head but still looks unsure and bites her bottom lip. Fuck me; I so want to bite that for her.

  I really want to kiss her right now but from the look on her face I’m thinking I need to take things with Lucy very slow. Dallas has really done a number on her. I need to step up and take care of Lucy before we take our relationship any further. I wrap my arm around her shoulder and pull her along to her work place. We stop outside and I can’t stop myself from kissing her hair softly. Good God, she smells amazing, like lavender and vanilla. Okay, I now love lavender and vanilla. She tenses a little from the kiss but I needed it. “Can I see you tonight? Maybe after you finish work we can go get a drink or something?”

  Lucy pulls out of my hold and turns to face me full on. The look on her face makes my stomach fall a few inches. “Rafe, listen I’m not into dating right now. I need to just concentrate on me okay. Maybe we can be friends though. I know what I said last night and I know I was harsh but it was a shock seeing you and Reeve and Ryder. I know that they know about the baby, I saw the way they were looking at me. I’m fine with that because I know that they respect you enough not to tell anyone. I will tell, Maisey and Gunner...soon. Besides, you still have not apologized for your part in last night’s fiasco” I really don’t know what to say to that. I did tell the boys but that’s because like Lucy said they won’t say a thing. She is right about the apology part though, it did kind of slip my mind. All I wanted to do was see her and be with her today and all thoughts of last night were far from the front of my mind.

  “Luce, you are right. I do still owe you the apology of my life. I was a total dick and had no excuse. Seeing you again threw me for a complete one-eighty and I did not know what to do or say when you acted as though you hated me being there. What I said and what I did are inexcusable and all I can do is hope that you can forgive me”

  I take a breath “I hate what Dallas did to you, Snowflake, but I understand where you’re coming from and I respect that. So friends?” I say, offering my hand. She smiles her full beautiful smile that makes my heart melt that much more for her. Dammit. Not too fast Rafe, I scold myself.

  “Okay friends and I accept your apology. We both could have handled seeing one another again better. I finish at five-thirty, maybe we can grab something to eat then?” She tells me.

  “Okay, sounds like a plan.” I raise my eyebrows again and she laughs. I look towards the store and see two young looking girls watching us through the front window. I have seen them at Inside Noise’s gigs along the coast and a few times at Max Point. They scare me.

  Right, I need a plan. Think, Phoenix, think. “Snowflake, can I ask a huge favor? Yo
u know, because you love me” I tilt my head and give her the puppy eyes.

  “What, Rafe?” I look back at the girls who have now stepped closer to the window.

  “Those two girls who you work with, they scare me. They are Inside Noise fans and they follow us everywhere and try to get in our pants. If I kiss you maybe they will leave me alone. Pleeeeease, Lucy, it’s the least you could do after what you and Jack did.” She bursts out laughing.

  “Oh my God, that is so damned funny. Milly and Mia are sisters. I have now put two and two together. Oh my God. Funny as fuck!” She bends over laughing so the girls must have said something to her. She straightens up and I snake my arm around her waist and pull her flush against my body. She stops laughing and looks up at me. “One kiss, Rafe. And only because I now know who they are talking about and you need saving. They freaking stalk you, dude.”

  “Thank You, Snowflake.” Fuck! I’m actually going to fucking kiss Lucy Cooper! I have been dying to do this for so long. All those other girls don’t seem to count anymore.

  I look into Lucy’s eyes and take a deep breath. I lower my forehead to hers and breathe her scent in. Freaking lavender. She licks her lips and I can’t help but follow suit. I gently brush my lips across hers… damn, so soft. I hope I can control myself. I pull back to look at Lucy and she is looking me right in the eye.

  She surprises me by putting her hands around my neck and pulling me back to her, and just as our lips are about to touch, Lucy speaks. “Make it look good, Phoenix. You never know when you might be able to do this again,” she smirks at me. Okay girly, I’m game. I kiss her again with more force, but not enough to hurt her. I lick her bottom lip to ask for entry with my tongue and lucky for me Lucy opens her mouth and her tongue meets mine in a wet and hot dance.

  My heart is beating so fast it’s all I can hear. I tilt my head to gain better access to her mouth and Lucy moans; that’s all the answer I need. I walk her backwards a little and lean her against the store window. She wants to give them a show, so let’s do this. I glide both of my hands down her body and cup her amazingly curvy ass, pulling her tight to my body. I can’t stop the moan that escapes my throat. I’m not a moaner but fuck me, Lucy is dragging all kind of sounds out of me. If I don’t stop now I think I will take her here against the window. I pull back and rest my forehead against hers. We are both breathing heavy and the swell of her breasts rise and fall in a steady rhythm against her tight white tee.