𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗲𝗹 𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿.

nineteen.

I comb my fingers through Wheezy's hair, "I feel like I need to talk to him."

Sarah sighs, looking up from her book for the umpteenth time, "for the last time Lia! He'll come around. He can't stay mad, especially not at you."

Wheezy turns to me, messing up the braid I was doing in her hair, "It sounds to me like you like him."

Sarah drops her book, "oh my gosh! How did I not notice?"

I grin, "you girls are delusional, how are we related?"

Sarah takes a seat beside Wheezy on the bed, "no she's so right! I've seen the way you look at him- the way he looks at you-"

"Goodbye," I stand from the bed, grabbing my shoes from the floor.

Both the Cameron sisters wiggle their brows at me, "you going to find JJ?" they ask in sync (scarily) and I sigh.

"Yes I am, because he is my best friend, now goodbye."

I hear them laughing as I make my way downstairs. By the time I'm in the car I know exactly where I'm heading.

And it only takes me 20 minutes to get there.

"JJ! JJ you here?!"

I walk around the screen porch, finding Luke at a table, a cooler of beers next to him. He's working on something that I don't care about enough to look at.

I knock on the wood of the house, "Luke, have you seen JJ?"

He turns to me with a scowl and I notice his black eye. Who on earth would want to fight Luke Maybanks?

He scoffs, "Seen JJ- Yeah that ungrateful ass kid won't leave me the fuck alone."

I roll my eyes, "he still here?"

"Why do you care? Go away."

I grin, "fuck you Luke."

I turn to walk away but not before hearing him mumble, "stupid fucking kid- should've got the bastard."

I frown, climbing into my car. I wish JJ never had to come back here. I pull away from the house, mentally flipping it off in my rearview.

Okay, there's only one place left he could be.

* * *

I pull up to the Chateau at the same time as Pope and Kiara, the two standing outside of his pick up. I wave at them, as they're having a private conversation, and make my way around the side of the house and-

Holy shit.

"Holy shit!"

At the sound of my shout Kie and Pope come running and we stare at JJ together, the blonde boy sitting in a hot tub full of floaties holding wine glasses. He's wearing his sunglasses (despite it being dark) and holding a bottle of beer.

"What're you doing?" Pope asks in disbelief.

"I got a jet going straight in my butt right now," is JJ's response. "Y'all should get in immediately, you hear me?"

I stare at him, my lips curving into a frown.

"How much did this cost?"

"Uh...well with the generator, the petrol, and- oh, hey, express delivery...pretty much all of it, yeah."

"All of it?"

"Yeah."

"You spent all the money in one day?"

"Yeah, burned a hole right through my pocket."

JJ chuckles, "but, come on guys! Look at this! Finest in jet-based massage therapy, that's what they told me."

He looks at the face Kiara is making, "Kie what? Can't have a little luxury in life? All this scrimping and scraping...guys, you only live once."

The eagerness and excitement in his voice has died down now and he sounds more sober. More like a JJ who just got back from his dad's house.

"Enough of this emotional shit, get in alright!"

He grins, "oh hey yo, I almost forgot." He flips a switch and suddenly jets shoot across the tub and the disco ball above it lights and begins to spin. "Right I know, disco mode baby!"

"Are you kidding me? You could've paid for restitution!"

"Or literally given it to any charity!"

"Better yet! You could've helped us buy supplies to get the rest of the gold out of the well!"

He stands, "okay well you know what, I didn't do that!"

My eyes widen as they rest on the bruises littering his torso. They're worse than ever before and I know exactly where they came from.

"I got a hot tub! For my friends! You know what? Screw friends, I got a hot tub for my family! Guys look what I did for you!"

I hear Kie mutter something behind me as I kick off my shoes, JJ continuing to ramble. I step onto the stairs and into the boiling hot water, ignoring the slight stinging it causes.

Almost immediately JJ falls into me and I wrap my arms around him.

He coils into himself, "I just couldn't do it! I can't take him anymore! I was gonna kill him!"

I run a hand through his hair and he pulls me closer to him. As I feel him whimper against my body a tear runs down my cheek.

Why does JJ have to be punished just for being born?

Kie climbs into the hottub, Pope right behind her as they wrap their arms around us as well, JJ fully sobbing.

"I just wanna do the right thing."

I rub his back, "I know."

* * *

I sit next to JJ in bed, his head resting on my shoulder as we share wired headphones. A song from some band he likes blasting in our ears. He seems to be half in and out of sleep, jolting awake every few minutes.

After everyone had calmed down I drove me and JJ back to my place, I wanted to give him somewhere safe and comforting to stay.

He showered and my dad gave him some clothes along with a nice bowl of pasta to eat while I bandaged his wounds.

And now he was beside me in my dad's sweatshirt, smelling just like my body wash.

I smile, "JJ come on, let's go to sleep."

He shakes his head, rubbing his eyes, "nah I'm still awake, turn on a movie or something."

I shake my head, slipping under the covers, "we can go to sleep it's okay. Honestly the quicker this day ends the better."

He smiles, "can't argue with that."

He tucks a pillow beneath him, smiling lazily at me from beneath his mop of blonde (and actually clean) hair.

I see his eyes drift closed and reach a hand over to him, tracing the sun freckles on his cheek. "I wish you could know how loved you are JJ."

He doesn't respond and I frown, something in my stomach telling me that things were only gonna get worse. "I wish we could just run from here," I whisper. "Roadtrip with my dad, bring John B. Just fishing and surfing."

I close my eyes, "goodnight J."