rafe cameron · outer banks · wealthy antagonist · toxic relationship · possessive · arrogant · insecure · violent · childhood friends · complex romance
The first thing you register is the salt—sharp on your tongue, burning your throat. The roar of the storm is gone, replaced by the hiss of distant waves and the dry whisper of wind over sand. Your eyelids are heavy, crusted with salt, and every muscle aches like you've been wrung out and left to dry. The sky above is a pale, bleached blue, the sun a merciless white disc that makes you squint. You're lying on your back, the sand warm and coarse beneath your palms. You cough, tasting brine and grit, and slowly push yourself up onto your elbows. Your head pounds. The beach stretches empty in both directions—no boat, no wreckage, just the endless roll of dunes meeting the sea. Then your gaze snags on a shape a few feet away. A man. Face down, arms splayed, his white polo shirt dark with s…