Pay Them Back
Rafe x angel!reader
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word count: 1.2k a/n: angel!reader’s mom wants to meet with her and Rafe is there to comfort her afterwards. Just be warned there’s some toxic family stuff in this, otherwise enjoy!
You were incredibly confused, you didn’t know why you were here, and you weren’t sure if you wanted to be here. Rafe had been driven you over and he was waiting in his car for you. He had offered to come inside with you, but you’d turned him down, you wanted to do this by yourself.
Earlier that day, you answered a call from an unknown number to your mother’s voice. She’d asked you to come over, had said that she wanted to see you. You didn’t understand why, neither of your parents had spoken to you in a couple of years and you’d told yourself that they’d probably never talk to you again, and yet here you were, following your mother into the large living room. You’d barely been sat down for even a minute before she began speaking, her voice condescending like always.
“So, you and Rafe Cameron?” It came out like she was asking a question, but you knew she wasn’t. You also knew that she had no interest in you, but that didn’t stop the glimmer of hope that sparked inside of you as she spoke.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s only been like a month and a half but,” you shrugged, the smile on your face was bright, your eyes sparkling when you spoke about him.
“Yes, he’s a nice boy,” she nodded, sipping from her glass of wine despite it being the middle of the day. You smiled, her seeming approval still filling the gaping hole in your heart from when you were a kid. “So, of course you felt the need to go and ruin another respectable family’s image, tainting their name. Destroying my family wasn’t enough for you, was it?”
“I am your family,” your voice was small, your eyes already burning with tears that you wanted to will away.
“No, you’re not. You were sent here to plague me. I wanted a son, not you.” You sniffled and nodded to yourself, your mascara beginning to gather under your eyes.
You looked down into your lap, looking at your hands before meeting her gaze again. “So what, you just invited me here to what? To hurt me? To insult me?”
“No, I asked you here because we need you to pay us back the money we spent on that house of yours.”
“What?” your voice broke, you couldn’t afford to pay them back, surely she knew that.
She scoffed, “You didn’t think you’d get it keep it for free did you?”
“You’re my mom, I thought that, I thought that you and dad got it for me as a present.” You wiped some of the tears that began to stain your cheeks only for more to fall.
“So naïve,” she said softly, “but no. You pay us back or we take it from you.”
“I can’t afford to do that,” you tried to seek reason.
“The Cameron boy will help you, I’m sure. That’s why you’re dating him after all, isn’t it? Offering yourself up in return for his money.” She left no room for disagreeing as she spoke.
“No, it’s not like that w-“
But she only scoffed once again, “Of course it is, why else would he want you.”
Your bottom lip trembled, your breath shuddering as you tried to pull yourself together. “I think I’m gonna go.”
“You do that, just make sure we have that money back by next month.”
You only nodded before you practically ran out of your childhood home. Rafe who was waiting in the car with the windows open, instantly got out as he saw the distress on your face and gathered you in his arms. “Hey, hey,” he spoke softly, trying to soothe you, “what happened, angel?”
“Just wanna go home,” you said, your voice muffled by the fabric of his shirt.
“Okay,” he nodded, pressing a kiss to tour head. “We can do that.”
Neither of you spoke on the drive back to your house, the radio just playing quietly in the background. As soon as you got home you went straight to your bedroom, hiding yourself under the layers and layers of blankets you had. Rafe just followed behind you with a glass of water in hand, knowing that your throat would grow sore if you cried more. He placed the glass on your bedside table, the mattress dipping as he sat on the edge of the bed next to your legs. He just sat there quietly, running his fingers through your unruly hair.
“I need to get a job,” you croaked.
“Yeah?” his hand stilled in your hair, just resting lightly on your head. “Why’s that, sweet girl?”
“My mom wants me to pay back what they bought this for.” You whispered, finally pulling your face out of your pillows to look at him.
“I can help you wi-“
“No.” Your voice was hard and it took him slightly off guard, which you caught. “Sorry, I um. She said you’d say that. Said I’m only with you for your money.”
“It doesn’t matter what she thinks,” you opened your mouth to speak but he kept going anyway, “I know ‘s not true, that’s all that matters.”
“Can’t ask that of you.” You mumbled, avoiding eye contact, “Besides, I should get a job anyway.”
“If that’s what y’wanna do, then okay.” He nodded, “but please let me help with this, please?”
“I do-“
“Sweetheart, please. If y’want, when you’ve got a job y’can pay me back, yeah?” He said, knowing that he likely wouldn’t let you pay him back, but he just wanted to make you feel better.
“Okay,” you whispered, feeling really grateful, a weight lifted off of your shoulders for the moment.
“ ‘s gonna be alright, you know that, yeah?” He reassured again, his hand leaving your head to cup your cheek, his thumb running against your cheekbone. You nodded, leaning into his hand and giving him a small smile. “Let’s get that make up off you, hm?”
He stood up, getting all the things to remove your make up, knowing exactly where they were considering he spent more time at your house than his own. He came back with everything in hand, and sat back down to wipe your make up off of you. When he was done, he left again to get something for the two of you to eat. But when he came back, food in hand, you could see a glint of something behind his eyes, and you knew exactly why when you received a text from your mom that read, ‘that was fast’.
Despite the stress of the day, when Rafe finally coaxed you to sleep, it was probably the best sleep you’d had in days. He waited until you were in a deep sleep before he let himself drift off, the weight of your head on his chest bringing him comfort like no other. Everytime you shifted in your sleep, his grip subconsciously tightened on you, not wanting to ever let you go.
requests are open so lmk what else you’d like to see from Rafe and angel!reader <3