Exhale, Outer Banks [ 1 ]

009. AFTERMATH

After a while, Luke finally stops, backing up from his even more beaten daughter, breathing heavily.

"I have to go get your shithead brother out of jail. Better be here when I get back." Luke says, getting up and getting a button up shirt and his keys. The front door slams shut, letting Cordelia know she's completely alone.

The young teen whines in pain and rolls onto her front, using her arms to support herself. She spits some blood out, not caring that it's going to dry and stain the floor.

Cordelia starts to quietly sob, the pain she feels only making her want to cry more. She knows she should honestly be used to this, but she still hates it. Also, it rarely gets this bad because JJ is usually there to get Luke's attention from her to him.

Ever since Luke started being abusive, JJ would do anything to protect Cordelia from their father whenever he could. He'd take the blame for everything, even if it was completely her fault. He would get in the way when Luke started hitting her, making sure JJ was the one hit instead.

JJ didn't care what Luke did to him -- as long as Cordelia was okay, JJ was okay.

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Cordelia would've gone back to the chateau first chance, but she knew that JJ would be back home with Luke picking him up. So, she grabbed the baseball in her closet and went into JJ's room, hiding in the corner of his closet as well as she could, the bat up and ready to protect herself in case Luke came in.

After a while, Cordelia hears yelling and then the front door harshly open.

JJ does his best to tune his father out as he yells, walking away from the older man as fast as possible. Slamming the front door open, JJ heads for his room, faltering a bit when he sees Cordelia's bedroom door on the floor.

He doesn't want to drag attention to her so he quickly scans the house for her as Luke stopped yelling and is angrily trying to find a beer can that hasn't been drank yet.

JJ doesn't find his sister and goes to his room.

"Hey, get out here!" Luke yells as JJ slams the door shut and locks it. Luke bangs on the door. "Get your ass out here!"

"Shut up!" JJ yells back, hitting the door a couple times.

Luke continues to yell as JJ buries his head in his hands, pacing a small part of his room. He stops, hearing a noise from his closet and watches the door slide open, revealing Cordelia on the floor with the baseball bat next to her.

"Shit." JJ whispers to himself, quickly seeing the injuries on her. He kneels in front of her and cups her head, inspecting the injuries caused by Luke. "Fuck."

"He-He was r-really mad wh-when he f-found out." Cordelia mumbles, feeling tears start to sting at her eyes again. "An-And then I-I started stuttering and tha-that made him wo-worse." She starts crying.

"I am so sorry, Delia." JJ mutters, internally cussing out Luke. "What are you doing here anyway? I told you to never come here alone." He says, gently wiping her tears away.

"I-I know, but I needed cl-clothes and shit. And I-I had some money, but h-he stole it." Cordelia says, starting to cry more.

"Hey, hey, shh. I'm here now. It's okay." JJ comforts, pulling her into a hug, cradling her head with one hand, keeping his other arm wrapped around her protectively.

They hear rock music start to blare and Cordelia lets out a quiet whine, knowing the verbal part of Luke's abuse is about to get worse and go on for a while.

"Hang on." JJ mumbles, going to his dresser and digging through a drawer. He pulls out an old iPod and a pair of headphones, along with the headphones he uses when practicing with the gun.