PARADISE LOST | JJ Maybank VS Rafe Cameron

FOURTEEN

     "Oh, they dropped me off here at the cut like thirty minutes ago." Juliette furrowed her eyebrows and frowned. "Where'd you see them?"

     "At Heyward's, they had this look on their faces. You should've seen it, they mad dogged me. I know they know."

     JJ strode forward to meet his best friend directly in front of him. "All right, chill, bro. All right? They don't know shit."

     "Topper knows I sunk his boat."

     JJ pursed his lips, leaning against another cut log, crossing his arms as he watched the way Juliette was deep in thought at what Pope said. "How do you know they know?"

     Pope threw his hands in the air. "Did you not hear a word I just said, bro?"

     JJ sighed. "Will you calm down and get a grip, man? They don't know shit."

     Juliette was biting the nail on her pinkie as Pope paced up and down, the most stressed out she's ever seen him be. "They have cameras — they could've seen me."

"There was no power, Pope," JJ said again. "How could they have seen you?"

"It's Figure Eight! They got generators." Pope's nostrils flared as a muscle feathered on his jaw.

     Juliette winced at the anger in Pope's voice as she said, "Hey, no, I'm sorry, please don't feel guilty. That was my plan in the first place — "

     "Yeah, but I was the one who went through with it, Julie. I was the one who took action. I sank the boat. They don't give scholarships to kids who vengefully sink boats. It's not a good look on my transcript — "

     "Enough with the regret, bro!" JJ cut Pope's ramblings off. Silence followed as Juliette watched the blond rise to his feet, coming to stand directly in front of Pope. "They caved your face in. They hit us — we hit them. It's the law of the jungle."

     Pope said nothing, neither did Juliette. Both transfixed at the words spilling out of JJ and the firmness of his voice. With JJ, everything just sounded like reassurance — Juliette knew it gave Pope comfort.

     "Now, if any Kooks come up to you and ask if you had anything to do with it, you walk up to 'em — " JJ took a step forward, " — look 'em right in the eye — " he grabbed the back of Pope's neck as he gestured his own his eyes with two fingers, "and . . . ?"

     Pope mumbled, "Deny the living shit out of it."

     "That's right," JJ said, and then stepped forward so he was now in front of Juliette. Her breath caught in her throat when he placed a hand on the crevice where her neck met her shoulder. She was wearing a tank top — she could feel the cool metal of his rings as he lowered his head to meet her gaze. "If Rafe or Topper ask you about the boat, what do you do?"

     For a moment, Juliette didn't say anything because she was suddenly dizzy at the close proximity between her and JJ. She was distracted with the way his fingers were pressed against her skin. She found her voice a second later, "Deny it."

     "Good girl," he said again, a corner of his lips tugging up to a devilish smirk. He turned to face Pope again, his hand slipped down to casually rest on the small of Juliette's back. "Deny — deny — deny."

     JJ opened his palm for Juliette, jerking his chin to the direction of the gun that was next to her as she picked it up and handed it to him.

     "But just for safety," he said, "we don't go anywhere without protection. Right?"

     Pope nodded and JJ reached over to give him a pat on the cheek.

     "All right, Julie — get back in position. Let's do one more, and try to aim closer to the bear's body."