The sound of laughter was as loud as the music echoing throughout the mansion. Most people were drunk or under the influence of some illicit substance, something common at any party on the Kook side of the island, perhaps for status, for appearances, or simply for the distorted way they enjoyed their youth.

You had been away from the party for a while, too immersed in the fact that JJ had risked coming all the way there to see you. The encounter on the pier had been quick, almost innocent, a subtle touch, a silly shared laugh, a brief moment before someone caught you.

The music now sounded muffled by the distance, replaced by the low murmur of the ocean and the irregular sound of your own breathing.

Everything seemed perfectly normal, but he would miss you. Of course he would. Rafe seemed to notice your absence shortly after you disappeared into the crowd of young people.

And when you turned around, he was there. As if he had watched every second. As if he had tortured himself watching the slightest interaction between you and JJ.

Something was wrong with him that night. Different from his usual strangeness. As if the noise, the people, the stares had finally reopened an old wound. And you had been the final push.

His eyes were fixed on you. The look made it clear: you weren't the problem.

You were the trigger.

He gripped a glass too tightly, his free hand running through his hair in a nervous gesture you knew well, his head bobbing slightly, as if the scene were stuck on a loop in his mind.

“You shouldn’t be here.” he finally said, his voice harsh. The low tone didn’t soften anything, it only made the threat more intimate.