Chapter Eighteen

Rafe

H e moves far enough away from me that you'd wonder if we were even friends and looks down at the floor. I can't help it and sigh deeply, making him look up at me.

He sees my expression, and regret instantly flashes across his features as he swallows thickly.

Opening his mouth as his to say something, he instead frowns, "Fuck."

He puts his hands on the back of his neck and interlaces them there; I know now is not the time, but the move pulls his black shirt tight across his chest and leaves a strip of tanned and toned abs visible just above his jeans. This time, it's my turn to look away. Now is not the time to be getting distracted.

"Stop looking at me like that," Riot suddenly says, his voice husky.

I glance back at him to see heat in his eyes, and I shrug as I reply simply and sign, "No."

His eyebrows raise, and he takes a step toward me before he growls and looks away again. "I, er, I think you're probably going to have to drive me home."

Again, my eyebrows raise; we both know he's had two beers at most, and that is nowhere near enough to get him too drunk to drive. I nod, this time not bothering to hide the disappointment on my face.

"No problem, man," I reply.

I'd point out that we only brought two cars here anyway and that Cash and Trick are driving, so I can't actually take him home, but I don't bother. We both know that it's just an excuse so that he doesn't have to talk to me about what he really wanted to.

He smiles, although it doesn't quite reach his eyes, and starts to walk past me. I can't help it; I feel like he was so close to really talking to me this time. Closer than he has ever gotten before. So before he can get too far away from me, I catch his hand, making him stop and look back at me.

Signing with one hand, I ask him, "Are you sure that's what you wanted to say?"

His eyes fill with uncertainty as he looks back at me, and I see the exact moment that he makes up his mind, and he smiles, "Yeah, I'm sure."

He squeezes my hand before he lets go and turns back around to head back to the guys and, hopefully, where they've sorted the situation with the girl out.

I watch him go. I just need to take a moment. That's the closest he's gotten to telling me how he really feels, and I know that he must feel something because even the guys have picked up on it. But it's starting to wear on me, the constant switching between thinking that he's going to say something and then him going distant. I know that he's going to go distant after this, and I'm not sure how long I can carry this on.

Maybe it's time for me just to take a step back, just a bit. I'll always be there if he actually wants to have the conversation, but I'm not going to let myself carry on waiting and hoping for something that could take years for him to do if he ever feels comfortable talking to me about it. His so-called parents really fucked him over, and he's not okay. It doesn't help that his aunt is working so much, so he has no one around to help him through anything.

That's not true; he's got us, but clearly, there's only so much that he's happy to talk to us about. This is one of the many times that I wish Ever were with us; if any of us weren't comfortable talking to the others about something, then we'd talk to her, and she'd somehow make it better and convince us that it was okay to talk to the others too. She is definitely responsible for making us closer, in more ways than one.

"Rafe!" I hear Trick call, "We need to head over to the fight."

I sigh and shake the tension out of my shoulders before I head back through the trees to find the guys all waiting for me and Riot looking guilty. I smile at him to let him know we're good because we will always be good no matter what happens.

"You managed to get rid of crazy then?" I sign.

Trick smirks, "Yeah, her boyfriend hadn't actually abandoned her but gone to find her friends, and they came and dragged her away."

"They even apologized to us," Cash chuckles.

"I guess that their friend usually does shit like this, and they have to step in to stop her," Luc adds as we start to walk through the crowd to the fight ring.

"She sounds like a pretty high-maintenance friend to me," Jensen adds, his face a mask.

"Yeah, but they obviously care about her; otherwise, they wouldn't come and rescue her." Trick replies, although he frowns at Jensen, no doubt because of his blank expression.

I keep my eyes peeled as we walk through the crowd. There are a lot of kids still here, which I guess I shouldn't be surprised about because a lot of them most likely have money on the fight, and unfortunately, none of them are surprised when shit goes wrong, and a stabbing at the Pit is nothing that's too far out of the ordinary.

Still, with the unsanctioned fight earlier and the stabbing, I want to keep an extra close eye on everyone.

Tapping Trick on the shoulder so he looks at me, I ask, "Have we heard anything from Trev?"

Trick nods, "Yeah, apparently, the slice was deeper than he thought. It took a while for them to stitch it, and he's still at the hospital. His moms freaking out and has banned him from working late in the lab from now on. I don't know how he managed to convince her that's where he got it from."

"Or how he managed to convince the doctors that it happened in the lab," Cash agrees and then adds with a concerned frown, "do we need to be concerned that they're going to look further into the cause of his injury?"

Trick shakes his head, "No, you know Trev, he sold it perfectly, and he's got that good guy, innocent thing down to a fucking T I mean, no one would believe that he was capable of the shit he is if they hadn't seen him do it."

"Yeah, that's for sure. But then, I guess in any other school, he probably would have just stayed at the top of the class, being the ultimate nerd he is, and that's it," Luc grins, "he should be thanking us, really."

I chuckle, "I don't think he'll be thanking us for getting him stabbed."

"That wasn't really our fault, was it," Cash replies.

"Not technically, no, but he wouldn't be involved if it weren't for us," Riot says.

I chuckle, "Actually, thinking about it, I think he would've found some way to do it, even if it wasn't for us; I mean, he fucking loves it."

"Yeah, that's true." Trick agrees.

"Do you guys want to take bets on how long you think he'll last before he wants back in?" Cash asks with a smirk.

I grin but reply, "I would, but I think he's out for good this time. He doesn't want to risk messing up his future. He wants to get a good job so he can help take care of his mom. She's sick, and they're struggling with the medical bills."

Trick frowns, "I didn't know Trev's mom was sick."

I nod, "Yeah, he told me. I'm not sure he wants it to be common knowledge. I tried to offer to help, but he refused. He pointed out that it would be really difficult to explain to his mom where the money came from."

Before anyone can reply to me, Jensen speaks for the first time since this conversation started.

"I'll sort it," he says, "I can make it look like a donation specifically for her from an anonymous source. Do you have her name?"

He's got his phone in his hand, and I honestly think he's about to just send something over right now. We're literally standing at the edge of the ring.

"Yeah, Sandy Lincoln," I reply, as I share a look with everyone.

We watch as he taps out a few things on his phone and then looks up; he says, "Done. The donation should be there in the morning at the latest."

"Seriously, just like that?" Luc questions.

Jensen nods, "Yeah, it's not that difficult. I have a few things set up just in case, anyway."

"Wow, that's really impressive, man," Riot says.

"Thanks, here, take this," he replies and hands Riot his phone for safekeeping as he steps into the ring.