chapter forty two
"blackmail"

      "I'M GETTING MORE BEERS, ANYONE want one?"

      Lynn beamed in the direction of her newfound friends, perking her eyebrows in question. Most, already ten feet deep in other conversations, mumbled a no as a reply, two girls bobbed their heads warmly.

      Rafe traced his fingers up Lynn's waist and stopped over her shirt as he placed two under her chin, forcing her to make eye contact with the boy. Lynn exhaled out a deep breath — whether or not she was considerably too drunk to make an accurate estimation of how much she genuinely liked Rafe. But whatever she was feeling now, she never wanted for it to go away.

      "See you in a sec," Lynn grinned as flashed a wink in the boys direction, his tongue tracing the inside of his cheek as his eyes scanned her body uncontrollably again. "You gonna keep undressing me with your eyes, pretty boy?"

      "It's not my fault you're hypnotic, love," Rafe purred softly, making it quite obvious that he was eyeing her again. "I can't help it."

     Lynn dramatically shook her head, rolling her blue eyes as she backed a few feet away — making Rafe's arm fall to his side with a groan rolling off his tongue. A crooked smile creaked on her lips, "Oh, you're good. But I'm not that easy, love."

      "Oh, trust me, I know."

Lynn scrunched her nose as a reply while walking a few steps backwards, but then fully swinging on her hips. There was a little bounce to her steps, more than anything else it was from how buzzed she was. A broad and peaceful smile was tugging on her lips, her shoulders didn't feel like they were carrying the world anymore.

She waved at a nearby passing friend, a girl that had briefly talked to Lynn while Rafe was in the bathroom about how good Rafe's shit was — awkwardness fluttered from the girl as she explained she did a lot, but she had never attempted the white powdery substance. Maybe it was because of how she viewed her father, or perhaps it was because she had never needed to.

Paying her attention to the cooler, this time it was a light and used shade of red, she pitched four beers from their icy state. She figured both her and Rafe could use a refill, not to forget the two cute girls who had asked for one too. With two in each hand, the cold glass had startled her at first but she quickly adjusted, her eyes fluttered forward.

The blatant uninterested stare quickly shuffled into recognization, her eyes furrowing in curiosity as annoyance flared in her eyes — Lauren hadn't been fucking wrong. Both she and JJ were standing only a foot away from each other, Lauren had managed a snort escaped her nostrils, then she had beamed forward while placing a hand on JJ's arm. Didn't he see the game she was so obviously playing at? Her acting was awful, anyone could see how she was practically begging for the blonde boy to stay.

Did Evelynn mean anything to him?

Lynn dropped her gaze to the ground — no, she wasn't going to get upset at her favorite party of the year. She deserved better than that. Her brows pinched together, shaking her shoulders while pulling them backwards, then letting them sink again.

"Wow, Lynn, got some balls."

Not having a second to untense her body, Lynn swore heavily under her breath as she crossed over her shoulders to glare at the voice — Kelce. It wasn't very hard to realize who it was, Kelce has always had this annoying high-pitched tone of voice when trying to be intense and imitating.

"Kelce, how fucking annoying it is to see your face today," Lynn spread a wide smile on her tan face, but it faded within a second as he tried passing the boy body, but he didn't budge on blocking the other exit path. "Move, before I take one of these beers and shove it—"

"—Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. What, JJ snore?" Kelce slickly smirked in Lynn's direction, but she mimicked with annoyance. Wrong, Kelce, I slept in no bed. "Oh, wait, you stopped sleeping in his bed and you're in Rafe's now, aren't you? Or did you really like me and actually want to be in my bed?"

Lynn's eyes stung in Kelce's direction, but that was until her eyes floated down to a white object on Kelce's left arm. A loud and teasing laugh echoed from the girl, where she genuinely had to hold her stomach to try to control some of it, "I really did fucking break your wrist, didn't I?"

"I was asking for an answer, not a question," Kelce retorted.

"And I was asking for a cowardly piece of shit with mommy issues and a little dick to leave me the fuck alone," Lynn snapped, the words slipping off her tongue with ease — she had always thought of the nicknames for Kelce the many times they had fought. "Guess we don't all get what we want."

"You're a slut, you know that, Evelynn?" Kelce growled back, but the words had snaked through one ear and out the other. She couldn't give a flying shit. "Rafe's using you just as much as you're using him as a rebound."

"Kelce, I see you lips moving, but unfortunately I don't speak bullshit," Lynn grinned, patting the boys shoulder teasingly, but he jerked it away from her touch with anger burning in his eyes.

"And so what if I tell him, hm? Tell him you just broke up with JJ yesterday, not all those weeks ago," Kelce countered, and Lynn's expression of pure mischief disappeared into seriousness. How the hell did he find that out? "Wonder how he'd take it."

"Wonder how everyone would take it knowing that you got beat the fuck up by the Pogue princess," Lynn opposed, and now it was Kelce's turn to gasp with uncertainty. "C'mon, Kelce, we both know you would've split the beans already if I didn't have some sort of leverage on you too."

      Kelce didn't seem to have much more to say, so Lynn flashed a quick, utterly controlled smirk, "I suggest not threatening to blackmail me again, Kelce, I'd really hate to have to break your other wrist too."

      "Hey, everything good here?"

      Both Lynn and Kelce turned their heads in the direction of Rafe's voice, pretend smiles crossed their lips while equally take a step back from each other. Rafe affectionately wrapped a supportive arm draped over her shoulders, tugging her back to her previous warmth of a spot — tucked neatly underneath his protective grip.

      "Oh, yeah," Lynn nodded, gazing up to meet Rafe's dark blue eyes in the darkness. Her eyes seemed slightly heavy probably from the random blunt she had hit over an hour ago. "I was just asking Kelce what happened to his wrist. God, the worst things happen to the best people, don't they?"

      The previous group of Kooks had traced over to where Kelce and Lynn had residing for the past time — a few of them chiming in with how unfortunate it was about Kelce's accident. He had fallen from his motorbike while swerving to avoid a baby bunny in the road! Wow, it was such a believable story.

      "Yeah, good thing the bunny was okay afterward," Kelce fake smiled in Lynn's direction — and once she was certain that there weren't any eyes on her, the corners of her lips tugged into a grand smirk. "Well, this party is lame as hell this year, I'm headin' home."

      "See ya," Rafe remarked, then his eyes drifted down to the girl as they both swung on their hips — since they hadn't separated from each other. Desperate for more warmth she nudged closer into Rafe's chest as their strokes matched each other, suddenly regretting the fact that she had worn a mesh top with merely a bralette, the cold was eating away at her. "You're shivering, doll."

      Lynn let out a childish whine when Rafe dropped his touch from hers, but then was completely delighted when she saw he had actually been stripping the cozy and wool jacket he had been wearing all night. A blush crossed her cheeks uncontrollably, Lynn was pleased it was dark and no one could actually get a good look at her.

      She shrugged on the jacket with ease, the sleeves still trailed past her own wrists from how long they were — it practically ate her all up, eating a few inches below her thighs. His cologne flooded her nostrils, but the unfamiliar scent was starting to bring some kind of comfort to her.

      "You look good in my clothes," hummed Rafe, simply going back to grasping her waist as their feet mimicked each other. They were pretty good about staying in step with one another. "How are you holding up...with everything, well, I saw JJ earlier."

      "With that back-stabbing bitch," Lynn growled with a tense jaw, but her tone was much too aggressive and she realized that all too suddenly. She cleared her throat, clicking her tongue. "Sorry, I just think I'm going to need something a little stronger than beer."    

      "Did I hear the words stronger than beer?" Raven, that same bouncing ginger-haired girl from earlier that Lynn had a nice conversation about their favorite crystals earlier. The girl dropped a small, plastic bag from her palm, a white powdery substance sticking to the insides. "Now we're really talking about having fun. You in, Eve?"

      Eve? Why had she called her Eve? Lynn's eyes fluttered down towards the ground as the nickname rumbled a grit feeling in the bottom of her stomach, her face had a void of emotion. Why? Why did every little thing JJ had to go out and fucking ruin for her? She couldn't even speak to her friends — her family, she couldn't imagine going out and riding a wave without a ricocheting pain in her heart, so he took away her hobbies too. Hell, Lynn couldn't even hear a fucking nickname without feeling a panic attack stir in her, how pathetic is that?

      "Oh, Lynn doesn't really—"

     "—Yeah, you know what, I think I will," Lynn interrupted, she tried pretending that the smile that was on her face wasn't forced and fake. Couldn't she enjoy herself? Why couldn't she fucking enjoy herself? She was getting herself worked up over nothing, Rafe seemed to notice this. I don't need JJ fucking Maybank, I can do whatever the hell I want. "C'mon, Rafe, let's have some fun."

      Rafe's left eyebrow twitched — he didn't like the idea of Lynn joining alongside in his trouble making actives. It made him a different person sometimes, more angry, more aggressive, and more, well, — horny.

"Are you sure?" Rafe questioned, his eyes were doe-like, curious — Lynn liked his caring eyes. "You don't have to if you don't wanna."

Lynn gave his arm a supportive squeeze, a reassuring smile trudged her face, "Hell yeah."

a/n: (more) drama here we come😋😋😋