chapter sixty three
"effing great"

"RAFE, STOP, LET GO!"

EVELYNN gritted her teeth when every single one of her attempts of getting Rafe's sticky fingers off of her, failed. She was practically tugging her entire body away with every ounce of energy and strength she had, but Rafe still somehow had a death grip on her forearm.

She wasn't sure what happened to Sarah — because a few minutes after Rafe disappeared out of the door, he had reappeared (fully clothed) with a beyond angry expression. Lynn had prepared for all hell to be thrown at her, how Rafe would accuse her of only kissing him to give Sarah enough time, does this mean she got away? She didn't hear the truck move, though, so she continued being worried.

After that, Rafe tossed a few clothing items into a deep backpack, swinging it over his shoulder with ease as he glared at Lynn. She gulped, instantly backing away from the boy in a strangled attempt at keeping the distance — Rafe didn't hesitate, though, continuing to stalk his way to Lynn to where she had eventually pressed the small of her back into the wall.

That was when Rafe hooked his fingertips around Lynn's arm, and started thrusting her forward. She almost tripped a few times, that was how fast Rafe was shoving her forward.

The house she once admired for being so utterly beautiful, covered from head to toe with breathtaking pieces of art, expensive looking furniture items, and colorful flowers on almost every open space. But now as Rafe dragged her through the tall ceiling hallways, it felt dull, breathtaking in all the wrong ways.

"Rafe, where are you taking me?" Lynn questioned softly, trying to not appear inflicted as to where he was pinching her skin. "Rafe, please."

"I'm taking you somewhere where we can be together, just us," Rafe replied quickly, and when Lynn switched over her shoulder to steal a glance at his face — it was stone cold, he wasn't even looking down at her, his eyes were steady on whatever was in front of them. "Without the stupid Pogues, without fucking JJ."

Lynn's eyes watered at the way Rafe spoke of such disgust when saying JJ's name, and she couldn't help but feel like she was getting deeper and deeper into a hole she wasn't sure she was going to be able to crawl out of.

Alive, that is.

However frightened Lynn was, she wasn't going to allow herself to show it. Somewhere in his twisted mind, Rafe genuinely cares for her, all she needed to do was stick with that Rafe — not the angered, impulsive, and deadly side of Rafe.

Within a minute, Rafe had slammed open the glass doors that would invite the night inside. It wasn't very dark even though the sun had set hours ago, mostly because of the bright motion censer lights that flickered on the mere second they stepped out.

Lynn felt her heart drop down to her stomach when her blue eyes landed on the same wooden truck, Sarah hadn't made it out. She exhaled while digging her toes into the ground, withholding Rafe from dragging her any further, "Rafe, where's Sarah? Where is she?"

"She's being taken care of," Rafe responded dryly and absently, he finally tore his eyes from staring directly in front of them to glisten into Lynn's eyes. "She's fine, Lynn, she's coming with us. Don't worry, just get in the truck."

"No," Lynn breathed out, shaking her head softly.

Unknown to the arguing teenagers lingering in front of the Tannyhill mansion, was the fact that her Pogue best friends were merely fifty yards away hidden behind some bushes. Their eyes were intently watching the way Lynn was fighting back, pushing Rafe's hands off of her. They could see their lips moving, but were still too far away to actually be able to hear anything.

JJ Maybank had kneeled down in the front of his two best friends, but just as the boy was about to dart forward in some impulsive action of doing whatever it took to protect Lynn, John B wrapped his fingers on his shoulder.

The blonde whipped his head over his shoulder in disbelief, "What the hell?"

By now, Rafe had forced Evelynn into the passenger side once again, this time he knew better than to just allow her the space to slip out with ease, he kept his fingers intertwined with her palm forcibly.

"We need to get back to the van," Pope explained, using his thumb to point over his shoulder. Back towards the wall they were originally caught climbing over, and where the twinkie was parked on the side of the road. "We can follow them in the twinkie. There's no way we can stop him now."

"I'm not just leaving Eve," JJ shook his head repeatedly, then jerked it towards the direction of the truck once he heard the truck engine rumble to life. The vehicle started stretching forward, heading down the cement driveway that was only a few feet away from the bushes they were sneakily hidden in.

John B could read the expression on JJ's face, immediately reaching forward while mumbling a, "JJ, don't even think about—"

It was too late though. JJ had already dashed off after the truck, he jumped onto the back of it where a ladder to the top was stationed. Pope and John B watched in horror, just waiting for Rafe to be able to notice JJ hanging in his rearview mirror — but the truck didn't even stutter. They carried on down the driveway and out onto the road, just barely being able to see their blonde best friend as they disappeared into the night.

"Oh, this is just effing great," Pope muttered with distain. "Lynn's kidnapped, JJ is hanging onto that truck by a thread, and Sarah's disappeared. What else can go wrong?"

a/n: filler chapter bc the next one was way too long xoxo