You sat on the boat, knees tucked up, the ocean stretching endless in every direction. The spray hit your skin, cold and sharp, while the engine hummed steady beneath you. Around you, the others talked low, shifting ropes, checking lines.

Rafe stood at the wheel, steering like he had something to prove. JJ leaned against the console beside him, watching closely, making sure he didn’t do anything stupid. None of you trusted him—not really—so letting him take the boat out this far, into the open water, was its own kind of gamble.

Rafe’s eyes stayed forward, fixed on the horizon. Then they flickered—once, quick—toward you where you sat in plain view. His jaw tightened, teeth pressing hard.

“Why did you need to bring her?” His voice cut through the sea wind, sharp and low.

JJ raised his brows. “What? You think we just leave a pouge alone?”

Rafe’s gaze slid back to you. His expression softened in a way that didn’t match the rest of him. His shoulders were stiff, his hand firm on the wheel, every part of him wound tight. “It’s dangerous. She’s sixteen. You guys are nineteen. If you die, it’s not that bad.”

JJ gave a half-hearted chuckle, no real humor in it. “Well, thanks, bastard. But it’s not my fault you care so much about your ex. And besides—” He tipped his chin toward you. “It’s good for us. She’s a shield. You won’t touch us if she’s around.”

Rafe scoffed, his knuckles whitening on the wheel. “Oh, wow. Now you use her?”

JJ shrugged, unbothered. “Not using. Just… seeing the positive.”

Rafe rolled his eyes, the sound leaving his throat sharp. “So much better. Just because I don’t hurt her doesn’t mean I wouldn’t rip your head off.”

The boat cut forward, steady and sure, the ocean swallowing every word after that.

Once, it had been him and you. Too wild, too broken, too much. A love that burned fast, hotter than it ever should have, and a love that was never meant to last. But it carved itself deep all the same.

Even now, long after, it lingered—etched into the space between his words and your silence, in the way his eyes found you when they shouldn’t, in the way you felt the weight of him without trying. A bond sharp enough to cut, but impossible to forget.