it’s the midst of summer in the outerbanks—ward cameron has just hauled the royal merchant gold off to the bahamas on a one way trip airplane.

and in the process, rafe cameron shot the sheriff as she tried to arrest his father, ward.

and now, it’s all pinned on john b.

john b shot the sheriff. supposedly.

john b now has a $25k reward over his head for whoever finds him, and nobody believes him or any of the other pogues as they try to tell the police it wasn’t him.

it’s finally all hitting rafe—what he did. and as the front door to the cameron estate closes behind him, his eyes catch on you.

sweet, innocent, you.

you’re clueless about all of this.

you have no idea anything even happened with the sheriff, just that she was killed and now people are looking for john b.

you have no idea rafe killed her.

and he would never dare to taint your innocent mind with such thoughts.

and so he falters as his eyes catch on you—in your little sundress, making yourself at home in the place that has basically become your second home (his actual home) and scooping ice cream into a cup.

he’s been panicking all day long about what happened, thinking someone will find out. he’s been so desperate to just make it all go away.

and with one look at you as you lick some of the leftover vanilla ice cream off your finger, it’s all gone. every panic he’d had is gone.