She was the first person he trusted with his secret. His safe place.
He was the first guy she let all the way in. He could ground her when nobody else could.
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"𝐓𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, �...
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I climb out of the truck with Pope and Kie. They talk amongst themselves as I wander towards my house. Rows of lights flick on, that's new.
"What the hell?" Pope says.
I walk towards my house slowly, unsure of who was in my yard. The yard was decorated with tons of colorful lights that were wrapped around trees. The sound of water catches my attention as I walk around a bush, revealing JJ in a hot tub.
I was still upset with him for earlier in the day but I knew something was wrong. I walk toward the hot tub.
"Baby! What's going on?" He exclaims. His speech slurred from the alcohol he'd obviously been consuming.
"JJ.." My voice cracks.
"What the hell did you do, JJ?" Pope asks.
"I have a jet going straight up my butt right now." JJ giggles. "Y'all should get in immediately, you hear me? Especially you Babydoll, you look real good in a bikini." He hold up a glass of champagne. "Salud!"
I see Pope and Kie glance at each other, picking up on my nicknames.
"How much did this cost?" Pope asks.
"Uh, well with the generator, the petrol.. and, oh hey, the express delivery." He laughs. "Pretty much all of it, yeah."
"All of it?" Pope asks incredulously. "In one day?"
"Yeah," JJ answers. "Burned a whole right through my pocket. But I mean come on guys! Look at this!"
Kie just stares at him, shock written across her face.
"Kie, what? Can't a man have a little luxury in life? All this scrimpin' and scrapin'. I mean, like.. you only live once, right? Enough of this emotional shit. Get in the Cat's Ass."
Tears burned in my eyes at the sight of him like this. I blinked them back, trying not to cry. All I could do was watch as the scene played out. I was speechless.
"In the what?" Kiara asks quietly.
"The Cats Ass, that's what I named her. Oh, hey! Look." JJ presses a button. More lights come on. "Disco mode! That's right baby!"
"Are you kidding me?" Pope seethes.
I connect eyes with JJ. "Come on, Baby. Not you too." His eyes search mine.
"You could've payed for restitution." I say emotional.
"Or literally given it to any charity." Kie adds.
"Or better yet, you could've helped by supplies to get the rest of the gold out of the well." Pope says.
I roll my eyes, neither of the things they said were that important right now. All I could focus on was the broken boy in front of me.
