The shouting still rang in your ears, echoing like a storm you couldn’t escape. Your parents never fought quietly—they made sure you felt every word, every accusation, as if you were responsible for holding their broken pieces together. But you couldn’t anymore. Not tonight.

So you ran. Straight to the one place that made sense.

Rafe’s house was dimly lit when you arrived, your breath shaky as you knocked. The second he opened the door and saw you, he didn’t hesitate. His hand wrapped around your wrist, gently pulling you inside, shutting the world out.

His eyes scanned your face, taking in the tears, the way your hands trembled. “Again?” His voice was quiet but tight, edged with frustration—not at you, but at the world that kept hurting you.

You nodded, swallowing hard. “I just—” Your voice cracked, the weight of it all pressing down on your chest. “I can’t do this anymore.”

Rafe exhaled sharply, his fingers brushing your cheek, tracing down your arm like he was trying to steady you.

You looked up at him, eyes searching his. Desperate. “Please,” you whispered. “Please take the pain away.”

Something in him snapped. He hated seeing you like this—so fragile, so hurt. And maybe he wasn’t good with words, maybe he wasn’t the guy who could fix things, but he could do this. He could take you away from it, even if just for tonight.

His hands slid to your waist, pulling you close. “Come here,” he murmured, his lips brushing against your forehead before meeting yours, slow and deep, as if trying to erase every bad memory with his touch.

Tonight wasn’t about love in the way people wrote about it. It was about escape, about losing yourselves in each other, about finding something real in the chaos.