"shit, girl-you sure you wanna fuck around with him again?" barry asked as cleo pushed open the truck door. 

"just...don't tell anyone." she pleaded. she knew he would keep her secrets. she knew it the second he had protected her when she was half unconscious and he had protected her from a deviant. although she had danced back and forth into the arms of another deviant when she ran to rafe cameron on and off. 

the front door of the camerons house was huge. the camerons didn't actually live far from cleo, but she didn't come to rafe's house often. last summer they had snuck into his home a couple of times in the middle of the night, but mostly they would find places around the island to meet up. never, ever had rafe been inside cleo's house. if her father so much as sniffed a boy's scent in the house, there would be hell to pay; it was too risky. 

it only took a few knocks until rose cameron opened the door. 

"cleo. what a surprise! what are you doing here, sweetheart?" the cameron woman held a glass of wine in hand, and a bead of sweat dripped down the lip of the drink. cleo knew rose from annual kook events, and not much more-but the woman had always been sweet to cleo. she didn't know what to say to rose now-she hadn't thought of what she would even say when she arrived. she had acted on impulse, and now she had to play the game carefully. rose was married to ward, ward was one of her fathers friends. if word got back that was coming around for a boy...she sucked in a breath, painting on a smile.

"i was looking for sarah." she lied through her teeth, clasping her sweaty palms behind her back, digging her fingers into her palms. she had already bandaged them from last night, but she longed to rip off the band aids and reopen the wounds. her mother hadn't even noticed them before cleo left with kiara, and if barry had noticed, he hadn't said anything. she was grateful that he hadn't. she wouldn't know how to explain it if he asked. besides-he was her drug dealer, he knew she was fucked up. 

"sarah? oh, well...i admit i don't know where that girl is most of the time. she's probably with topper." rose answered with a laugh, turning to call up the stairs. 

"wheezie!" she raised her voice, summoning the youngest of the cameron siblings down the steps. 

cleo stood awkwardly on the stoop, regretting the decision to come here. she suddenly wished she had a bottle of water, her throat feeling dry. steps thundered down the stairs, and the dark haired young cameron girl appeared next to rose in the doorway. 

"cleo!" wheezie greeted, waving a hand and exhaling deeply. it was apparent that she had run down the stairs-leaving behind pop music and a half opened bracelet making kit and all things pre teen girlhood. cleo wished desperately that she could have had a semblance of such a thing, and she couldn't help the twinge of jealousy in her chest for a stolen childhood. 

instead of wallowing in the sorrow, she gulped it down, moving past it. 

"is sarah here?" rose asked, sounding as if she were growing bored of this conversation. wheezie nodded, reaching for cleo's hand and pulling her inside the home. 

"follow me!" she said, her pinkie finger linking with cleo's as she led the older girl up the stairwell. 

rose had decorated the railing banister of the stairs with flowers, and it looked so cozy and homey that cleo had to clear her throat of a lump. 

sarah cameron sat just outside her window, and it was there that wheezie abandoned cleo to stand in sarah's room alone-watching the blonde girl lean back on the hot shingles, laughing. 

cleo walked up to the window, knocking lightly. sarah's head jerked around, and her smile faded. she shoved her window all the way open, shimmying back inside. 

"cleo. what's...what are you doing here?" her brows knit together, a question written on her face. they didn't talk to each other much. there was commotion behind her, and a flash of orange later, topper thornton crawled inside the room behind his girlfriend. 

𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵.

cleo did not account for him being here. he looked just as surprised to see her. 

"cleo! you're back!" he grinned, but it was tense and fake as shit, and he clapped his hands together loudly, causing cleo to flinch. sarah noticed it immediately, and cleo tried to play it off cool.  

"i came to ask you for the homework i missed out on." 

without saying a word to topper, cleo stood-keeping her eyes averted from the tall boy, watching as sarah dug around in her backpack to find her computer, pulling up copies of schoolwork to email to cleo. 

after, cleo ran down the stairs, her hands clenched into fists, almost slamming into rafe. 

"woah, now." he steadied her, a hand gripping her upper arm-and for a moment she forgot it was him, and was transported to a memory. 

  𝓫𝓮𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓮: 

"do you have any idea how embarrassing, how disgraceful this has been for your mother and i? you have jeopardized this family, and i will not tolerate this disrespect!" her father yelled, his voice hard as stone.  his brows were set in a line, as was his mouth. his jaw was hard. after he had told her she would be going to rehab, and he had stalked out of the room, she had brought it up again before she actually left-and to this day she regretted it. he rarely yelled-he normally didn't have to. his low, cold tone of voice meant enough warning. but he had been angry she was trying to change his mind about sending her to the rehabilitation facility. he had been angry that she was 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 

"i'm sorry." her voice was small, and she felt so ashamed that she wanted to shrink inside of herself. 

"as i've said before, sorry isn't enough. you're going to prove to me that you regret what you've done. do you understand?" he said, his eyes not moving from his daughter. 

cleo nodded, resigned. 

she moved to walk past him, to the hospital rooms restroom-but he gripped her arm suddenly, surprising her so that she flinched. 

"i trust any family secrets will remain a secret. or else we will have a completely different dilemma on our hands." he said tightly, not looking at her this time. he looked past her, out the hallway door-making sure nobody saw the way he grabbed her arm in a tight hold. 

cleo didn't have to say anything. her lowered head and silence was enough an answer for him to let her go. 

𝓷𝓸𝔀: 

"rafe." cleo stepped backward, blinking at him in surprise. 

she rubbed her arm where he had caught her, as if the ghost of her fathers presence lingered in the room. 

sometimes, she had to remind herself that he didn't have magical powers-he couldn't see her from the dark corners of every room. he didn't have eyes in the back of his head, and he couldn't possibly be anywhere near her right now when he was at work.  

rafe smirked down at her, snapping his fingers in front of her face. 

"hello, earth to cleo. you on something?" he asked, wondering if she had already snapped and broken her oath to stay clean. 

she jerked away from him. she didn't know what she had expected him to say but...it wasn't that. 

"no. i...just needed to see you." she let out quietly. she twisted her hands together, looking up at him. 

who was she kidding? why did she always run to rafe of all people, when shit got bad? 

deep down she knew the answer; 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘺. 

"you still on that 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯 bullshit?" he drew his lips back, looking disgusted and distracted, as if right now his mind was far away thinking about narcotics. 

cleo shrunk into herself, wrapping her arms around her own waist as if looking for comfort from herself. instantly, rafe regretted what he said, and he reached for her arm-gentle this time. 

his fingers were cool around her wrist, and he pulled her into a corner of the hallway-farther from the open kitchen area. she wondered briefly if she should pull away from him, but she didn't. 

"you know you can't just show up here. why don't you meet me later? at the boneyard?" 

she only wished she could. 

"i can't. i already snuck out the other night, and it's too risky. maybe another time." cleo hated the grip of control her father had on her, and rafe himself had her in his grasp-in an entirely different way of course, but still. 

sometimes she felt like a marionette, with rafe pulling her hear strings, while her father yanked on the being of her soul and mind. 

her phone chimed, and rafe didn't miss the way her breath hitched when it did. 

he licked his lips, brushing her arm lightly. 

"you need to get away from him, lo." he said, his nickname for her sweet in his mouth. 

she shook her head, smiling sadly. 

"he'll never let me. and you don't know the half of it." she wanted to cry as she pushed past him to walk out the door. 

"wait! what does that mean?" rafe called after her, fists clenching. 

he was met with silence.