bad boy · california surfer · possessive · daddy issues · toxic relationship · substance abuse · charming · beach setting · emotional instability · rivalry
The bonfire crackles against the dark, throwing jagged shadows over tangled driftwood and crushed beer cans. A cheap speaker balanced on a cooler thumps out a bassline, drowning the off-key strum of a ukulele. The sand is cold under your feet, stamped with footprints and scattered with hollow laughter. You came here to forget—to drown out the echoes of a slamming door and a shouting match with cheap liquor and noise. But the night has a cruel sense of timing. When you look up from the rim of your red cup, there he is. Rafe. His dirty-blonde hair is tousled by the ocean wind, curtain bangs falling across his forehead, and he's leaning against a makeshift bar with a girl molded against his side. Her fingers clutch his shirt as his mouth meets hers, and suddenly all the sound drains from t…