MIDSUMMERS WAS PACKED.

emery, john b, jj, and mara all walked in together, emery immediately spotting levi standing off to the side by himself, the girl excusing herself from her friends to go see him while they went to find pope and kie.

"lee!" emery called, the boy looking up and smiling as his younger sister jogged up to him.

"what's up?" he asked, emery shrugging.

"you didn't stick around to get ready with us, i didn't know if you were still pissed off at me for yesterday." levi shook his head, leaning against the beam outside the country club.

"i was never pissed at you, i was pissed at ainsley and took it out on you." levi explained. "have you heard anything out of her?"

"apparently she tried to beat up mara at the movie night, full on cat-launched herself at her." emery said, levi fighting back a laugh at the thought.

"honestly, i don't even know what i saw in her." he wondered out loud. as though she was summoned, ainsley and the camerons walked through the door, the girls pale pink gown tight on her skin- what of it it covered- and she was latched to rafe.

"speaking of local sluts." emery voiced, point at sarah and ainsley both. "they're just destined to be sister-in-laws."

"you're not far off." levi mumbled, john b walking over to the two and kissing the crown of emery's head.

"hey, baby." he mumbled, emery smiling up at him.

"i love being the third wheel." levi said flatly, taking a sip of his drink and smiling at john b. "how're you, john?"

"i'm doing good, good." he said, putting an arm around emery and placing his other hand in his pocket, levi looking between the two of them.

"you hurt her and i'll kill you." levi said, nodding towards emery, john b nodding.

it was typical for levi to play the overprotective, fatherly roles when it came to emery. their own father had left when the girl was so young, levi was the only rolemodeling male figure she had. sure, big john was there a lot, but he wasn't someone emery wanted to look up to.

the girl had always wanted to be just like her big brother. she thought of him as the coolest person on the planet, right next to harry styles. levi had always watched over emery, and stuck his neck out for his younger sister many times, be it when he beat the shit out of rafe for her or when he took the blame for her misbehavior as children.

it was unfair to them that their dad had left, they hadn't done anything, and jackson had never been the type to walk away from his life. even worse was the fact he had blamed the family's split on emery, the girl only being a child herself when the split happened, no being aware of how her parents not loving each other could be the cause of her actions.

but then again, neither of her parents had ever spoken on why they had divorced. they had simply sat levi and emery down one night, saying they wouldn't be together anymore, that daddy was moving out. and then, when levi had stormed out of the room in anger, and amelia had followed behind to comfort him, was when jackson told emery that everything was her fault. that their family was falling apart because of her. and that if she hadn't been born, none of this would've happened. then, without explanation, he went up to his and amelia's room, and was never seen by the family again.

"i know you will, you've told me every time you've thought we were dating since i've known you." john b told levi, who nodded to his little sister.

"make good choices." he whispered, emery rolling her eyes.

"i'm not you, of course i will." she assured, levi smacking her shoulder and walking off to talk with mara and jj.

"you wanna dance?" john b asked emery, who nodded as the boy pulled her out to the dance floor. 'head over heels' by tears for fears, a personal favorite band of emery had just started, the two teens beginning to two-step while both trying to lead.

"i'm supposed to lead, i'm the guy!" john b exclaimed, emery shaking her head.

"no, i have to lead!" she said with a laugh.

"oh yeah, why's that?" john b asked, emery smiling up at his and shaking her head.

"because you can't dance." she deadpanned, john b's jaw dropping in offense, emery laughing as it did. she felt a tap on her shoulder and noticed john b's face fall slightly, the girl turning to see none other than ainsley standing behind her, looking... scared?

"what do you what?" emery asked, ainsley looking at the front door and back at emery.

"i just saw rafe and topper pull jj into the club, he wasn't with anyone when it happened and you were the first person i saw- i don't know what's going on, rafe hasn't mentioned jj since the movie." ainsley said, emery looking over to see that jj was no longer with mara and levi, the two sitting beside the dance floor together.

"thanks for telling me, ainsley." emery said, motioning for john b to go in the club while she speed-walked over to mara and levi.

"we have a situation." she said, cutting off levi's rant about how unfair it was they couldn't drink at midsummers since amelia couldn't watch them the whole time.

"what's up?" mara asked.

"your boyfriend has been abducted by the goon squad, ainsley just came and told me and john b. he's inside right now looking for him, now come on!" emery said to mara, she and levi following her into the club.

"lee, go check the bathrooms." mara hissed, levi hurrying off to the opposite end of the club with john b right behind him. after checking the bar, and jj being nowhere in sight, mara and emery hurried to the other side of the club to the men's bathroom and locker rooms, where an audible struggle could be heard.

"what the hell are you guys doing?" emery yelled when she got to the locker room. john b, levi, and jj were all in headlocks while topper, rafe, and kelce stood in front of them, trying to line up punches.

"i would just like to point out rafe needs his victims still, but emery broke your nose just down the hall while you had the power to move." mara deadpanned, rafe faltering slightly at the comment.

"do you bitches ever stay out of anything?" topper spat, the three boys immediately beginning to struggle against their holders, wanting to take a shot at topper more than anything.

"what happened on the golf course, top?" mara shot, topper rolling his eyes.

"is that really what this is about?" he scoffed, mara slowly nodding.

"i knew you were slow but i had no idea it was this bad." she exclaimed. "yes, topper, you beating the shit out of pope is why we're here. you shouldn't have done it if you didn't want jj and pope to fight back."

"power move, honestly." emery added. "rafe's almost as delusional as his girlfriend."

"hey, don't talk about her." rafe spat, shoving past the boys and standing directly in front of emery, but the girl didn't flinch.

"you gonna try and kill me again?" emery fired, all the kook boys behind rafe gaping at the boy. "or do your boyfriends not know about that?"

"watch your mouth." rafe spat, grabbing the girl's wrist tightly, but emery didn't fight him.

"let go of her!" john b yelled, emery shaking her head.

"no, let him." emery replied. "my wrist's already gonna bruise from this, i'd love to see him play off a broken nose when all his little bitch boys are under oath."

"watch your mouth." rafe repeated, more stern this time, holding emery's wrist to tight the girl was beginning to wonder if it would break.

"i know you think all these boys look up to you, they don't." emery muttered. "they'd have you fry if you touched me, not that anyone would believe you didn't. more people know about what happened two years ago than you think."

rafe shoved the girl to the ground, emery smirking
up at him and pointing to the security camera in the hallway, waving at it as she did so. the door to the locker room had been opened the whole time, and it faced directly into the room.

"smile, you're on camera." mara taunted, the kook boys immediately releasing jj, john b, and levi. john b pulled emery up, the girl still smiling at rafe, who's cocky demeanor had vanished.

"you'll be hearing from my lawyer." she assured. "but have a good night, rafael."

"dude, i thought he was going to kill you!" jj whisper-shouted to emery, who nodded.

"he wouldn't have had the balls, not with all the witnesses." emery said. "he had no problem hitting me in my basement with a locked door and no one else there, he knows topper would have him turned in faster than he could snap if he really did something wrong."

pope and kie were standing next to the oyster grill, john b walking over and muttering something to the two before rushing back onto his friends.

"has anyone seen ainsley?" mara wondered, looking around only to find that the girl had vanished. like, completely gone. nowhere to be seen at the club.

"no, but i see a pissed off rafe." levi said, the pogues all looking up to see rafe yelling at someone and pointing for them to go somewhere in front of him, the group slowly moving towards him, but picking up the pace when rafe stormed in the direction he was pointing.

"who the hell did you tell?" he was yelling when emery rounded the corner, ainsley standing, back against a wall with tears in her eyes.

"i'm sorry, rafe, please." she cried, rafe biting his lips and pointing to the club.

"i may get sued because you couldn't keep your mouth shut." rafe spat, ainsley trembling.

"what do we do?" jj whispered from above emery, all five teens were peering around the corner.

"just watch, be witnesses. don't step in unless he hits her." mara muttered.

ainsley had her body pressed impossibly close to the wall as rafe looked down at her, spitting insults and curses at the girl.

"y'know, everyone said you were a backstabbing whore, but i didn't think you cared about that melville kid that much." rafe added. "i mean, you ran your mouth to his sister over him and i getting into it?"

"i didn't tell emery about you and levi, i told her there were five of you beating up jj!" ainsley exclaimed.

"oh, so you admit it?" rafe asked, now more upset than ever. "you admit that you're the one who told them what was happening- ainsley, i might end up in jail because of you, did you even stop and think about how this is going to effect me?"

"this isn't about you!" ainsley yelled.

"no, it is about me, because of you, i'm going to get in trouble."

"you're going to get in trouble because your insane- rafe, this isn't my fault!" ainsley yelled. the girl was beginning to breath heavily, tears streaming down her face and leaving black trails of her mascara.

rafe didn't reply, he only smacked ainsley harshly across the face, the girl gasping. before the others could process it, levi had ran around the corner and pulled rafe off of ainsley, the choking on a
breath as she fell against the wall, mara and emery rushing over to help her.

levi, on the other hand, was seeing nothing but red, landing punches and kicks to rafe.

"lee, stop!" emery yelled. "he's had enough, you're scaring her!"

levi stopped suddenly, turning to ainsley who was breathing heavily and trembling. levi slowly wrapped his arms around the girl, who leaning into him, crying into the boy's chest.

"it's okay." levi mumbled. "it's okay, he's not gonna hurt you anymore."

emery remembered the boy telling her the same thing when she had nightmares after her encounter with rafe. the truth was that a nasty encounter with the boy would shake you to the core.

but deep down, emery knew it wasn't the last time they'd have issues with rafe.

kens speaks 🪐

this was so chaotic but rafe is so delulu it's funny

this is actually the worst chapter i have and will ever write for this book, it's so all over the place and i hate it