CHAPTER FOUR
[4]
song: let it happen by tame impala

Summer and Camila walked to The Wreck together the next morning. She was determined not to let some bored Pogue ruin her last summer break before college. And that started with getting her life back to normal.

Camila, on the other hand, was still shaken up. And probably would be for several more months. She was completely dumbfounded as to how Summer wasn't a complete mess. Camila knew she had always been the more sensitive of the two, but it seemed like Summer was just totally and completely fine with it all.

"Come on," Summer spoke, as Camila slowly followed behind. "You're making us late."

"We could've just driven." Camila says annoyedly.

"I'm trying to get you active and out of the house." Summer says, an encouraging smile on her face.

"You tried that last night and we almost got shot." Camila says, annoyed.

The commotion of last night hadn't hit the town yet. Usually, if a Pogue brought a gun to a party and held it to someone's head, police would be swarming the streets looking for them. But instead, everything just seemed peaceful, and quiet, as it should be.

The sound of seagulls and waves, the smell of seafood from down the road, the feeling of the warm sun on their faces as they made their way into the docks.

The rest of the group looked like they'd been sitting and waiting for the pair for a while. It was common that they spent their summer mornings here at The Wreck— it was refreshing to see everyone back together like this again. Tyler and Holly's usual spots were left open.

"Have you guys heard from Noah?" Sarah asks, before Summer and Camila could even get a hello out.

Summer shakes her head, sitting down on the wooden bench besides Kelce and grabbing a menu. "Not since last night. Summer says, then looks over to Topper, who sat beside his girlfriend. "You think you're gonna press charges?" She asks, disregarding Sarah's question.

Sarah glances around to the at the rest of the group, all of them wearing the same anxious look on their face.

Camila immediately knew something was off. "What?"

Sarah clenches her jaw. "He just hasn't been answering in the group chat. And Rafe didn't come home last night. My dad's kind of freaking out."

"Noah ran off with everyone else." Camila says, then glances over to Summer. "Did you see where Rafe went?" She asked softly, not trying to sound like she was accusing her of anything, but still needing an answer.

"No. I left him at his car. I assumed he just went home." Summer shrugs, then looks around to gage everyone's expressions. Anxious, quiet, too afraid to look up and make eye contact with one another. Summer clenched her jaw, "What a lively crowd we have this morning." She says frustratedly, putting the menu down and leaning back in her seat.

"I just have a bad feeling." Sarah says, biting the inside of her cheek.

"Then call the cops." Summer says impatiently, raising her eyebrows. "You all need to stop worrying about nothing, and move on."

"Cool it, Summer." Topper snaps at her.

Summer looks at him with heated eyes, then to everyone else, who all looked like they've just died and come back to life. Suddenly, Summer stands up from her spot at the table, grabbing her purse, "Call me when you're done with the dramatics." She says annoyedly, leaving

"Summer—" Camila frowns.

She turns back around. "No, I'm so— I came here to have fun, and just be with my friends, and instead you're all moping around over nothing."

The blonde spins around to leave, a heated knot in her throat, so unbelievably fed up with their useless worrying. She pulls her phone from her pocket, heels clicking on the wooden boards of the docks as she walks away.

She clicks Rafe's name in her contact list and puts the phone to her ear. Letting it ring. No answer.

She wasn't going to let herself get freaked out like everyone else. She was smarter than that. She wasn't going to give in to everyone else's pathetic superstitions.

She keeps walking, farther and farther from the rest of the group, and calls him again. It rings three times.

He picks up this time, and with it, her heart skips a beat. "Hello?" Summer asks annoyedly, after he doesn't say it first.

"What?" He responds on the other line, his voice coarse.

He sounds like he'd just woken up. "Where the hell are you?" She asks impatiently.

Rafe huffs, or scoffs, she couldn't tell. He doesn't answer for a moment. "I'm on the boat." He eventually says.

Summer flails her arms out annoyedly, glancing behind her to make sure the group wasn't watching her from their table. "Your sister's freaking out. She thinks you've been murdered or something."

Rafe let's out a soft laugh. "What are you doing right now?"

Summer rubs the bridge of her nose. "Nothing, now. Are you not coming to—"

"I'll pick you up. Where are you?"

Summer's mouth gaps open, and with it a scoff. "You need to call Sarah. Or your dad— or something. Everyone's just on edge."

"They'll be fine. Just let me play dead for a couple hours."

Summer weighs her options, glancing around with the phone to her ear. "Have you heard from Noah?" She asks.

"Summerrr." He whines.

She smiles, and he could practically hear it on the other line. "I can meet you at the docks off of 47th. Everyone's at The Wreck right now so they'll see us if you go there."

There was a stillness in the air that made Summer uncomfortable as she walked across town. On any other weekend morning like this, the streets would be flooded with people, but everyone was too wigged out to leave their homes.

Summer examined her surroundings, eyeing the beaches she passed. Empty. Restaurants and shops all closed, and besides a couple fisherman loading their trucks, she was the only person out on the streets.

She clung her purse to her body, keeping her head on a swivel. She wasn't scared. There was nothing to be scared over.

As she turned the corner down towards the docks, to see a police car parked in an alleyway right in front of her. Sheriff Peterkin leaning against the side, staring directly toward Summer.

Summer glances behind her, then back to Sheriff Peterkin, unsure if it was her she was waiting on. "Miss Sullivan?" She eventually spoke, crossing her arms in front of her.

She swallowed harshly. "Yeah?"

"Do you have a moment to speak?"

Summer glanced past Sheriff Peterkin, glancing around at the rows of boats for the Cameron's. "I'm actually meeting someone." She says, turning back to Sheriff Peterkin.

"Have you seen or heard from Noah Holland since last night, when you were all breaking curfew?" She asks, raising her eyebrows.

Summer couldn't hide the annoyance on her face. "Noah sleeps in until like three o'clock sometimes. Have you asked his moms?"

"They're the one's who called me." Sheriff Peterkin says.

Summer didn't like the way her heart skipped a beat. She shook her head. "Well—"

"Noah didn't come home last night, did you see where he went? Did he tell you anything?"

"Why don't you ask the Pogue who held a gun to Topper Thornton's head last night?" Summer says back.

"We're handling that situation right now. But we believe them to be unrelated—"

"You're joking, right?" Summer looked at the woman like she was an idiot. "How unrelated could it be? The kid tried to kill Topper in front of us— just lock him up already so everyone can stop freaking out over it."

"Miss Sullivan, this is a very serious matter at hand— your friend could be in danger—"

"He's not." Summer snaps, loudly. She takes a breath. "Noah's fine. He's probably just— there's no reason for any of this." She says. "Can I go now?"

Sheriff Peterkin leans off the car, sending Summer a nod that she took as a yes. "You need to be careful, Miss Sullivan. It could be anyone."

"Yeah, sure." Summer shrugs it off, walking around the cop car to continue down the sidewalk.

The blonde glances behind her, still feeling Sheriff Peterkin's eyes on her as she leaves. Was this some sort of threat? Some way of telling Summer that she's onto her? She had every reason to believe Summer was a suspect. The whole town now knew Tyler was cheating on her with Holly. Why wouldn't she had gone crazy and murdered them both?

The Cameron's yacht was pulled into one of the far spots, Summer held her hand over her eyes, squinting over at it past the sun to look for Rafe. She kept forward, listening to the sound of the dock creaking against the crash of every wave.

She felt like she had just stumbled across a ghost-town, everything left abandoned and empty. Not a sign of life on any of these boats.

She pulled out her phone, keeping her eyes up and alert as she clicked on Rafe's name again. She had this sudden sense of unease in her gut that was telling her not to get on that yacht.

She held it to her ear, trying to peak in the windows of the boat for any sign of him. It just rang over and over, to no answer.

"Rafe?" Summer yelled over the sound of the waves.

Carefully, she up and onto the edge of the boat to get better look inside. Was she walking into a trap? Had someone gotten to him and was now luring her to a similar fate?

Panic took over her body as she crept onto the boat, she held on the silver railing as she slowly made her way to the sundeck. "Rafe?" She yelled again.

She glanced behind her and out to the other boats, hoping someone was nearby enough to hear her if she screamed. She glanced inside, the sliding doors open to the living room area.

If he was anywhere, he was upstairs in the cockpit. She glanced up to the windows one more time, before entered the living room toward the stairs. She held her purse to her, like that would do anything if she was in danger.

"Hello?" She yelled impatiently, as she crept up the stairs to the top floor.

Getting to the top, she barely had a chance to process that he wasn't there before she felt someone grab onto her from behind. One hand clasped around her mouth, the other wrapped around her torso.

Her blood ran cold, and adrenaline rushed into her veins as she flailed and kicked, trying to scream despite the strong hand against her mouth.

As they pulled her deeper into the room, she dug her fingernails into the skin of their arm, ripping at their flesh until they let go.

She leapt forward out of their grip, panting as she spun back around quickly to see that it was Rafe standing there, examining his newly scratched up arm with an amused look on his face.

"Dammit, Sully." He scoffs, glancing up at her.

Summer breathed heavily, still in fight mode. Her heart felt like it was beating a mile a minute, her head throbbing from the sheer terror that took over her body.

She didn't say anything for a moment, her eyebrows just furrowed together as she caught her breath. And then she charged forward, pushing hard against his chest. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!" She yelled.

Rafe laughed, holding his arms up to protect himself from her pointless attacks. She balled her hands into fists and pounded them against his arms over and over, the more he laughed the harder she hit.

He eventually grabbed onto her wrists, forcing her to stop. He towered over her, his eyebrows raised as if to scold her. "Chill out." He said, the remnants of the laughter still lingering in his voice.

Summer rips her hands away from his grip. "That wasn't funny." She says as she collects herself, trying not to let her face flush red from embarrassment.

"You put up a good fight." He says, bringing his arms back up to examine the scratches.

Summer pushed her purse back up on her shoulder as she took a deep breath. "You're an asshole." She sneers.

Rafe smirked, his hair flopped in front of his eyes. She inhaled sharply, running a tongue over the bottom row of her teeth at the sight of him. "What are you doing? Did you sleep here?" She asks.

Rafe shrugs. "Yeah. She was closer than Tannyhill and I didn't want to drive that far after you blew me off." He wore a look on his face that looked like he knew that'd piss her off.

And he'd be right. "Blew you off?!" Summer scoffed. "You were being a dick— which I'm coming to realize might just be your personality."

He shrugged again. "Yet, here you are."

Summer let out a frustrated laugh, rolling her eyes. "Yeah— I—" she starts shaking her head. "I'm not sure why I even came."

Summer turns to leave, to head back down the stairs she had only just made her way up, but he gently grabs her hand. "I'm sorry, alright? Don't leave." He says, turning her back around.

She was hoping he'd say that.

He looked down on her, admiring the way her eyes looked up at him. The way she pursed her lips together when she was trying to hide a smile. The way she raised her eyebrows to indicate that she was waiting on him to speak next, for him to make the next move.

His hand was still holding hers. He breathed in and out a few times before his expression changed, before she realized just how close they really were.

"Did I really scare you?" He asked quietly.

She felt his thumb rub against hers, and she clenched her jaw. "I don't get scared."

Rafe was amused. "Seemed pretty scared to me." He shrugged slightly.

She loved how much power she held over him. Someone who had such a hard shell, someone who always came off as such an entitled, untouchable asshole, could so easily crumble to nothing in her presence.

She wanted it to happen. She wanted him to lean in and kiss her, to push her up against the wall and devour her like he'd done twice before.

But what came after? She becomes nothing to him again? Just another toy he threw away once he got bored with it? She was going to play her cards right this time.

She blinks up at him, watching his eyes falter as she gets closer. "You're gonna have to try a little bit harder this time." She says, then smiles, and leans away.

Rafe let's out a sigh, closing his eyes before bringing his hands up to run through his hair.

"Come on," Summer says chirpily. "Take me somewhere," she gestured to the cockpit. "You're boring me."

He rolls his eyes before turning around to the cockpit. "Brat." He says.

Summer laughs, coming to sit in front of the steering wheel, where he should be sitting instead. "That's not very nice." She says, leaning back in the seat.

He stood behind her, gesturing to one of the many switches and buttons in front of her. "Switch that on, and then pull that." He directs. Summer sits up and does as he says. "And then scoot over, jesus." He laughs, gently pushing her shoulder over as he came around to take her seat.

Summer happily scoot over, leaning her head on Rafe's shoulder as he sat down to move the boat out of the dock.

She could've fallen asleep right there. She was completely safe in his control. There was a mutual understanding between the two that neither could really put into words. There was no need for a hard exterior, no need to uphold a certain front around one another. Perhaps it was just some sort of unspoken of love that they held for each other.

Sirens.

Summer lifted her head up quickly off his shoulder, looking behind her and out the back windows where the sound was coming from.

Down the street raced two cop cars, lights on, heading south. "Yo, look—" Rafe nudges her arm and redirects her attention back ahead.

A police boat whips through the water, two smaller jet skis right behind it. Heading south.

"What the fuck?" Summer says, standing up to get a better look. "Where are they going? Follow them—" she frantically gestures towards the wheel, listening to the sirens get quieter the further they get.

Rafe doesn't make any moves. "Summer we—"

She whips her head around, a panicked look in her eyes. "Rafe, I'm serious come on!"

Rafe takes a deep breath, pulling on a lever to raise the anchor.

Summer learned to control fear as a child. It came with a cost to her health, but gave her an advantage in this world she lived in. So when she got scared, she was really scared.

There were two types of fear for her. The first is a kind of intense worry that she could override if she wanted to. That's what she's been doing. So she could survive.

The second was worse. The second kind was when her brain was so bombarded by fear that her actions became erratic and frantic, and all touch with reality was gone. She thought the worst.

"Is this as fast as it goes?" Summer asks, as Rafe followed far behind the police boats.

Rafe nodded. His lack of smug comments were really what was throwing her off. He knew something was wrong too.

After following them for several miles off the coast, the police boats slip into the marsh, in between the tall trees, too narrow for Rafe and Summer to continue on.

The two sat on the sundeck in silence for an hour, Summer never taking her eyes off the tree line.

Rafe had gone back to up to the cockpit and laid the anchor, before coming back to sit beside her.

Knowing he needed to be the first to be there for her when they found him.

a/n
omfg i hate this chapter sm there r just some days where my writing feels SO LAME so i'm so sorry if this chapter was completely lacking in any substance lmao

also this isn't edited :)

- jane