You grimaced, a wave of nausea going through you as Rafe took a sharp turn too quickly. He’d been speeding the whole drive home, his hands white knuckled the steering wheel, a sign that he was barely holding back his anger and was likely to explode soon. He hadn’t said a word to you since he had swooped in and rescued you and Sarah from a kidnapper out to get revenge on the Pogues.

You’d just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The kidnappers had planned on taking Sarah only, but when you’d stupidly blurted out that your boyfriend, Rafe, would make them pay, they’d taken you too. Eyes filled with the prospect of the money they could get from Rafe if he wanted you back. If he’d known you’d said something so stupid, he’d likely be even more mad than he already was. You could hear him grumbling under his breath about having to work with John B, followed by a string of angry curses. He hit the steering wheel with his fist and you flinched. Not because you were scared, Rafe would burn down the world before he ever harmed a hair on your head, but because it reminded you of how furious he was. And for once you were at a loss for how to diffuse the situation. It was easier to calm the beast when your actions hadn’t caused his fury. You sigh, rubbing at the rope burns on your wrist before deciding to open your mouth.

“Technically, I wasn’t really in danger. They were after Sarah to get whatever they wanted from the Pogues. I was just like a bonus kidnapping. And I know you told me to stay away from the Chateau, but Sarah was upset and I just wanted to cheer her up” you explain, trying to downplay the very real danger that you had unwittingly found yourself in. You knew you were lucky that Rafe had worked with John B despite their mutual hatred, and that if he hadn’t used all his resources, things would have likely ended a lot worse.

Rafe turns his head to glare at you. He’s torn between wanting to strangle you for your ability to always end up in trouble, and to kiss you until he could forget how close he had come to losing you. He was furious at you. If you were just less stubborn, if you would just listen to him when he warned you that something was dangerous, if you could get it through your damn head that associating with the Pogues in any capacity was asking for trouble, his life would be much less stressful.

There were certain parts of his life and livelihood that he kept secret from you for your best interests, but it was hard to protect you when you were oblivious to the danger that surrounded you all. He’d been lucky to find you as quickly as he had, even luckier that he had the skill set to take on your kidnappers and make them pay for taking what was his. When he got you home he was going to inspect every inch of you until he was satisfied that you hadn’t sustained any real injuries from this ordeal. He was going to have nightmares of the visual of you tied up and defenceless.

“If you had listened to me, and stayed home instead of sneaking out to see Sarah, you wouldn’t have been in danger at all” he growls at you, thoroughly annoyed.