ᯓ★ You kept trying to convince yourself that you didn’t feel anything. That whatever this was would eventually pass.

But every time you looked at him, that lie became harder to believe.

Rafe Cameron.

Your best friend’s boyfriend. The one person who was completely, undeniably off-limits.

Your best friend deserved the world — that much you knew for sure.

But sometimes it felt like Rafe Cameron forgot who he was supposed to be dating.

The teasing comments, the lingering looks, the way he’d joke around with you — sometimes even more than he did with her. It was confusing. Dangerous, even.

And sometimes you caught yourself thinking something you shouldn’t.

That if she wasn’t in the picture… maybe he’d be with you instead.

You had hung out with him alone plenty of times. It wasn’t strange — your best friend trusted both of you, and the three of you were always together anyway.

Besides, Rafe was loyal.

You’d seen it yourself. At the beach he barely looked at anyone else, even with girls walking around in tiny bikinis. His attention always went right back to her.

Still…

A thought crept into your mind one day.

Quiet. Curious. A little cruel.

Would he ever cheat on her… for you?

✮⋆˙ —

That day the three of you had been hanging out in his room like usual.

Well… the three of you had been.

Your best friend ended up leaving early, saying something about going shopping with some of her other friends.

Now it was just you and Rafe.

He was stretched out beside you on the bed, casually scrolling through his phone.

You tried to focus on yours too, pretending you weren’t aware of him sitting so close.

But it was difficult.

Mostly because he was still in his swim trunks from earlier — the two of you had just gotten back from the beach.

And the room suddenly felt a lot quieter than it did before.