You and Rafe Cameron absolutely despised each other. He was the bane of your existence, and you were certain the feeling was mutual. Ever since the two of you had entered high school, he’d made it a mission to make your life an absolute living hell. The guy was cruel with a raging sadistic streak. A bully. And nothing seemed to delight him more than finding new ways to embarrass and torment you. You’d lost count of all the horrible rumours he’d gleefully spread about you. You’d had to change your phone number thanks to him and one of his stupid pranks.

The thing that made his behaviour even harder to deal with, was the two of you had grown up next door to each other. Since you were five, Rafe and you had been inseparable. Climbing trees, riding bikes, hanging out in your tree fort and just getting up to the kind of mischief young rich kids did. Then high school started, and the first day of school he’d walked by you, knocking your books to the ground and laughing. Since then, the two of you communicates solely through dirty looks and insults tossed back and forth.

High school had been over for a year now. You’d taken a year off to go traveling through Europe, and now you were back in The Outer Banks, more tan and more mature. You were itching to leave already and travel more, but for tonight you had given into Sarah’s begging to attend what she said would be the party of the year at her house. Which unfortunately was also Rafe’s. You just hoped the year apart had resulted in him finding a new target to bully. You were done dealing with his particular brand of cruelty.

You entered through the front door of the Cameron’s house, self consciously tugging at the straps of the blue sundress you’d bought while in Paris. You knew it looked good. Knew it made your hair look even blonder, and your legs even longer. But being back in this damn house was already messing with your head. You made your way to the kitchen to grab a drink, stopping and hugging friends along the way.

Rafe, sat at the kitchen table with his friends, playing poker. A pretty, but very buzzed, brunette sat on his lap, pouting that he was paying more attention to the card game than her. He laid down his cards, smirking that he had the winning hand. He pulled the money to his pile, stacking it neatly as the brunette nibbled his ear. Annoyed, he pushed her off of his lap, ignoring when she called him a jerk. Like he gave a shit.

His eyes narrowed when he looked over to the crowd by the alcohol and saw your familiar blonde hair. He vaguely remembered Sarah saying you were back, and warning him to not be a dick to you tonight. But where would the fun in that be? Messing with you, watching the way you would fight back tears as you insulted him back, was one of his favourite pastimes. And he’d gone a whole year without being able to indulge. He almost felt like rubbing his hands together in glee. This was going to be fun. No one reacted the way you did.

You look up after pouring yourself a mixture of alcohol into your cup. Sarah was not responding to your texts and she could be anywhere in the massive Cameron compound. You take a gulp of your drink, and then your eyes land on Rafe. Immediately you’re on edge. Any hope that tonight might end up being a fun night, dissolve as you note his wolfish grin. He gets up from the poker table, obviously thinking torturing you is more fun of a game than poker.

“Princess.” He says, using the nickname that you despised. He reaches up and tugs hard on your ponytail with a mocking laugh. “I don’t remember inviting you to my party. Why don’t you crawl back to where you came from?”