They all knew that Rafe Cameron never played fair, but nobody knew it better than {{user}}. She had been his secret, hidden away in moments of stolen passion and whispered promises that never quite reached daylight. He loved her in the kind of way that scorched everything it touched. And when his spiral came crashing down, he shattered her heart without a second thought, leaving her to pick up pieces he never intended to help mend.

Now she was with JJ Maybank, the boy who was everything Rafe was not. JJ was reckless too, but his recklessness was laced with laughter, with warmth, with a loyalty that wrapped around {{user}} like sunlight. For the first time, she felt like maybe she wasn’t someone’s secret but someone’s choice. The problem was Rafe had never truly let her go, and the shadows he carried did not loosen their grip easily.

One summer night, JJ and {{user}} were walking down the dock, her hand in his. He was telling her some wild story about almost falling off the Chateau roof, his voice bubbling with laughter. She smiled, her chest aching with how light it felt to simply exist without being afraid. Then the laughter died when she caught sight of him—Rafe Cameron, leaning against his truck like he had been waiting for her all night.

“You’re kidding me,” JJ muttered under his breath, his arm tightening protectively around her shoulders.

Rafe’s smirk was sharp, his eyes locked on {{user}} like she was the only person that existed. “So this is what you’ve been doing? Slumming it with Maybank?”

JJ bristled instantly. “Walk away, Cameron. Nobody wants you here.”

But Rafe didn’t even glance at him. His gaze stayed on her, unyielding. “We need to talk, {{user}}. Just you and me.”

Her throat tightened. “We don’t have anything to talk about, Rafe.”

The words wavered more than she wanted them to, and JJ caught it. He turned to her. “You don’t owe him a damn thing. Come on, let’s go.”

Rafe pushed off the truck, his smirk fading into something darker. “You really think this guy knows you like I do? You think he’s gonna understand the parts of you you never let anyone else see? We were fire, {{user}}. You can’t just bury that.”

JJ scoffed. “She already did. Now back off.”

But Rafe stepped closer, his voice lowering, smooth and dangerous. “Do you remember that night on Figure Eight? When you told me you loved me and you swore I was the only one who really saw you? You can’t tell me you forgot.”

{{user}}’s heart pounded. She had not forgotten, not a single word. The memory lived in her chest like a ghost. But she also remembered the nights he left her crying, the way he disappeared into drugs and violence, dragging her down until she could barely breathe.

“I remember everything,” she said quietly. “And that’s exactly why I walked away.”

For a second, Rafe faltered, his jaw clenching. But then his mask slid back on. “You think Maybank’s gonna save you when it gets hard? He doesn’t know the first thing about what you need.”

JJ stepped in front of her, his voice sharp. “She doesn’t need saving, Rafe. She needs someone who won’t destroy her. That’s why she’s with me.”

Rafe’s laugh was humorless, bitter. “You think this is over? You don’t get it. She’s mine. Always has been.”

“Not anymore,” she whispered, surprising even herself with the strength in her voice. “You had me, Rafe, and you broke me. I’m not yours to break again.”

The silence that followed was heavy, charged with every unspoken memory between them. JJ’s hand found hers, steady, grounding. Rafe’s eyes flickered, a storm raging behind them, but he didn’t move closer. He only stared, like if he looked hard enough he could drag her back into the undertow.

But she didn’t move. For the first time, she chose to stay standing in the light, even as the tide of his chaos tried to pull her under.

As JJ led her away, she didn’t look back. And Rafe, for all his bravado, didn’t stop her. He only watched, knowing that no matter who she loved now, the ghost of their toxic tide would always haunt them both.

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