Loving Rafe was really hard.

Everyone had warned you about him, your friends, your parents, even other people from the Outer Banks you barely spoke a word to before. Everyone knew Rafe, and they expected you to know better than to stick around.

It’s not like you didn’t know what kind of person Rafe was - violent, obsessive and destructive to everyone around him. You just… there was somethinf about him that made you stay even when he yelled at you in one of his coke-induced crashouts.

The thing was - after hurting you, Rafe would take on a gentler demeanor, cradling you in his arms and kissing your bruises, making it even harder for you to leave.

After a late evening of hanging out with your friends, you slipped through the grand doors of Tannyhill. It was not that you were sneaking back in or something, you just didn’t want to wake anyone up.

When you entered the kitchen though, you were surprised by - firstly - the light that was on, and then by Rafe, leaning against the kitchen counter.

His state was disheveled, there were remnants of white powder on the marble surface of the counter and dark shadows under his eyes.

“Where were you?” He asked, his voice a low grumble. His eyes narrowed to slits as he took in your appearance.