𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐲－𝐬𝐢𝐱
"𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭...𝐒𝐥𝐚𝐩 𝐦𝐞?"
We were now at the wreck, Kiara's parent's restaurant. But we were alone since the restaurant was closed for the day. We sat on the steel black chairs around a circular table.
Even though the others cheered me up and told me not to worry about JJ and his angry exit, I couldn't paste a fake smile anymore.
He was my boyfriend, my best friend. I couldn't just sit around knowing he'd be okay. Barry could roll up on him at any second, and so can Rafe. Andrew could dig under JJ's thick skin enough to make him furious and do something else that can put his life at stake.
But not only that he had an abusive father. It didn't matter if JJ would come back to his house sad, furious, cheerful, exhausted, or bored. His father would still hit him. JJ once told me it was because Luke; JJ's father, sees JJ's mother in him.
I accidentally let out a huff and I knew that I attracted the others. I didn't want the attention to be put on me since I just wanted to be left alone. I slowly looked up and made eye contact with Sarah and Kiara while I fidgeted with my gold rings.
"Madalyn, it's okay. He's gonna be okay." Kiara soothed before I rolled my eyes. "I didn't say anything that made me think that." I snapped, feeling the boy's eyes look at me, in concern.
"Oh yeah?" she asked, walking towards me and crossing her arms over her chest. "Yeah," I lowly confirmed.
"So why are your rings twisted?" Kiara questioned, unfolding her arms and grabbing my hands, lifting them.
"Just leave me alone, Kie." I sighed, snatching my hand from her grip, getting up from the chair, and walking to the back of the restaurant.
"Look, he'll come around, alright. He's doing a JJ thing." John b spoke up. "You think he'll go home?" I questioned, looking out the huge window and thinking about the trouble he'll get into if he ran into his father.
"There's about a zero percent chance JJ goes home," Pope mumbled. "He only goes home if he got into a fight with one of us. Which clearly happened with all of us." I whispered, stroking my brown hair behind my ear.
What is a "JJ thing" few of you may ask? It's when JJ comes across his idiotic abusive dad, and he abuses JJ for no reason. But part of the reason Luke hits his son is because he's drunk, and high and apparently he sees JJ's mother who left them in him. And then after the beating, JJ just isolates himself from us. And if he doesn't. He's just very quiet.
Stupid, I know right?
I pulled out my phone and pulled up me and JJ's text messages to try to get a hold of him before it was too late.
I'm sorry please answer. : Mads
Please answer Jay. : Mads
I'm really sorry: Mads
please don't go home. : Mads
Delivered
"Now he's not answering!" I shouted, stopping my feet on the tiled ground, beneath me. "I mean JJ always has his phone on silent..." John b pointed out, but that was completely false.
"He never has that shit on silent. In class, all I hear is his hookups texting and calling him." I raised my voice, making me full even more stressed. "That's true." Pope huffed.
"John b you're seriously not helping," Sarah whispered, feeling bad for me. "Well, JJ always comes back." John b whispered, not making eye contact with me.
"Sarah if you ever need comfort, come to me since John b will not do a great job, clearly," I spoke up while she instantly nodded. "Noted," she whispered, turning her head to John b, shooting a rude glare.
"Now you're turning Sarah against me?" he questioned, crossing his arms over his chest, in jealousy.
"Well, no."
"Can you guys stop arguing?" Pope asked, looking over his shoulder to look at me and then turned back around to John b.
"Agree. Let's talk about our crisis at the moment and if we want to keep getting gold and get rich, we have to stay focused." Kiara scolded, walking back to the others.
"Madalyn, get your depressed ass over here." John b called out, while I raised my middle finger and walked over to the others.
"Okay. It's way too dangerous to pawn this thing off piecemeal, so our best bet is to go down there and get the rest of it." Pope explained.
I sat down on the steel chair while Pope explained his plan. I slowly lowered my head down against the cold table, not wanting anybody to notice me ignoring their plan.
"Bring it all up at once. Put it in- in a safe or a vault or something. I- I don't know." Pope explained while I let out a small huff.
"Just until we can find someone who won't rip us off. I can figure it out tonight, get it done, and we can be out there tomorrow morning." Pope explained.
"Alright let's do it." John b cheered. "Demie, did you pick up on this?" Pope asked, kicking my foot under the table.
"Huh-yeah- of course." I stammered, lifting my head to meet all of their stares. "What did I say?" Pope questioned, while I just stared at him trying to remember what the hell he said.
Nothing came to my head.
"You said something about... Pawning it off...in Charleston?" I replied, watching him close his eyes and pinch the bridge of his nose.
"No-no- Madalyn this is serious. This is not a damn joke." I heard him scold me. "Cut me some slack, please!" I shouted, throwing my hands up in the air.
"Why should I!" he shouted back. "I have a boyfriend with an abusive father and he can get rolled up by Barry at any moment and kill JJ!" I yelled.
"He chose to do that stupid shit!" Pope yelled back, pointing a finger at me. "I'm done Pope, you don't even care. He's your best friend and you don't even fucking care." I spat, harshly getting off the chair and walking away from them.
I heard him immediately get up from his chair and follow after me in a hurry. "How! I also care about him!" Pope shouted, swerving himself right in front of me.
"You don't even show it. It's only about gold. I also care about finding the gold, but family comes first."
"He decided to do it. We all told him to not do it but he still did." Pope whispered lowly. "So why don't we go out and look for him, then?" I asked.
"We're not gonna find him!" Pope yelled, while the others quickly ran over to us to try to break up whatever was going on.
"Why don't we at least give it a try?" I questioned, watching him roll his eyes in frustration. "He's a dumbass, anyways so what's the point-" I cut Pope off with a hard slap to the face.
"Madalyn!" I heard the others gasp, quickly clamping their hand over their mouths, in shock. I let out a gasp as well now realizing what just happened.
I slapped my best friend in the face for no fucking reason. Sometimes I really do let my anger get the best of me. The pouges always told me to learn how to control it but I never could've.
"Did you just... Slap me?" Pope asked, now turning his face towards me in shock. "I- uh- I'm-shit!" I stuttered while his facial expressions slowly turned to anger.
"Why would you do that Madalyn?" I heard John b whisper, and I started feeling uneasy. "I- umm- oh my God. This looks bad."
"What's wrong with you..." I heard Pope whisper lowly, as I let out stressed breaths. "Seriously, Madalyn, what the fuck is wrong with you?" Pope whispered, now in full anger.
I took one more deep breath before I quickly turned around, and sprinted towards the front door of the restaurant.
"Madalyn, where are you going?" I heard Sarah call out, while I kept sprinting and ignoring their other call-outs, but Pope stayed quiet.
"I gotta go." was the last thing I said before I left the restaurant. I ran off the property ashamed of the anger I let out onto Pope. I felt so bad that I did that to him. He's the loveliest one in the group and I just let my anger get the best of me.
The pouges have always told me about my anger issues that I often let out towards them. They always told me I needed to learn how to control it since sometimes I would do what I just did to Pope.
I kept running and I never took a single small break, just in case Barry would find me before he found JJ and, roll up on me.
I knew what I did to Pope was extremely wrong, but I was just so fucking angry at that moment. I had no control over my actions. I mean I did feel bad but I couldn't go back in there. Not after that.
❀
I flopped on my bed, now feeling embarrassed, upset, lonely, angry, and exhausted from my run with not one single break.
Large and heavy breaths slipped from my lips while my chest raised up and down. My lips were dry from all the breathing but I couldn't stop. I felt like at any moment I was going to lose oxygen.
After a few more loud and heavy breaths, I heard my room door open and I looked up to see my mother standing there with a huge grin and holding a large box of donuts.
"Howdy gal, Outer Banks said Maddies back at home." she wiggled her eyebrows, earning me to let out a slight giggle and a huge smile.
"I know there's some tea. So spill while we eat some donuts!" she cheered, carefully getting on my bed next to me and placing the box on her lap.
"Why are you out of breath, you okay?" my mother asked, placing her hand on my shoulder before I nodded.
"I ran from the Wreck to here. But, overall I think I'm good." I sarcastically said as my breaths began getting slower and I threw a thumbs-up.
"Oh...okay."
"Well, today didn't go great, at all." I huffed while she opened the box to reveal dozens of glazed donuts. "So then tell me worst to best," she instructed, as I nodded my head.
"Then, tell me where the fuck you've been for the last three years because I was not liking it," she demanded sternly. "Yeah...sure," I muttered, grabbing a donut.
"So when I went to fix something on the boat, that one day you made me chug coffee in front of you. JJ, Pope, and John b trapped me and Kiara in the boat with Sarah, while we weren't friends."
"I bet I can imagine what happened." she giggled, taking a bite from her glazed donut. "You pulled hair, huh?" she asked, with a shit-eating grin. "I don't pull hair mom..." I whispered, looking at her with an unimpressed look.
"Uh...Anyways." I huffed, taking a bite of my glazed donut and attempting to switch the subject.
"We made up and Sarah apologized for not inviting us and we apologized for calling the cops, blah, blah, blah."
"Then after the boys picked us up, I... uh. Fell...And tripped on some...glass." I mumbled, not wanting to expose our trip to Ms. Crain's house.
"Oh, I was gonna ask about that cut. It looks gnarly," she whispered, pushing my head to the side and examining it. "You sound like Sarah," I muttered, looking down at my glossy donuts.
"Then, when we went on...a stroll with the group, JJ got into an argument with everyone and he asked if I was on his side," I explained, trying to cover anything that would get my ass grounded.
"What'd you say?"
"He was in the wrong and I pulled him away to talk to him about it... in private. Then he went off on me asking why I'm treating him like a dog and he stormed off." I whined, wanting to forget about that awful argument me and my boyfriend had earlier.
"It's not you're fault. You were trying to help." she soothed while I let out a small smile. "Yeah. I guess he just took it the wrong way."
"Then, Pope and I got into an argument. He called JJ a dumbass and then...I..." I whispered, slowly looking up at my mom while she took a small bite from her donut.
"Uh-oh. What'd you do?" she asked, now placing her full attention on me, making me feel suffocated.
"I...I might've slapped him." I whispered, watching her dark brown eyes widen. "You slapped Pope?" she gasped.
"I feel so bad. And I let my anger get the best of me like always." I sighed, watching her put the donut back in the box.
"It's okay, sometimes you can't control it. Nothing wrong with you, you just handle anger the wrong way."
"Good news...I need you to say the good news." I huffed out, closing my brown eyes before opening them back up again.
"Are you ready? You might need to brace yourself." I warned, as she quickly nodded. "I'm sure it can't be that bad that I have to brace myself." my mother replied before I softly scoffed.
"JJ might've...went down on me."
I heard her choke on her donut and immediately chuck her donut back in the box. I heard a few more coughs while I just watched her in disbelief.
"You done, mom?" I asked, pausing for her to stop. "Yeah- wow." she stuttered. "Was it good? Was he good?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrows.
"The best. I'm glad he was my first time receiving that since he knew what he was doing, so it felt so much better." I explained, feeling my cheeks flush with pink.
"Did you guys do anything else?" she questioned before I shook my head. "I wanted to return the favor but he said I was too tired so we cuddled until we both fell asleep."
"Keeper. 100% keeper. Keep JJ for as long as you can, Madalyn." she chuckled. "It was great. Awesome." I mumbled, taking a small bite from my donut.
"Way too much information," she warned, nudging my shoulder, playfully. "Well, I told you to brace yourself. Didn't I." I giggled. "True."
"Were you completely naked?" she asked, looking over at me. "No, I had my bra on. He said he didn't wanna make me feel uncomfortable." I explained, watching a huge smile grow on her thin pink lips.
"I just keep falling in love with JJ, more and more" she whispered, letting out a small sigh while I looked at her confused.
"You've got a husband and three kids. Maybe don't fall in love with your daughter's boyfriend." I slightly cringed.
"Okay, I'm crazy but not that fucking crazy, Madalyn." she shoved my shoulder playfully. "Surprisingly," I whispered.
"I can cut that phone bill and tv bill. Don't play with me Madalyn Demie Frame." she scolded. "One, the full name is outrageous. Two, I don't need a phone when I got Jay Maybank in my corner." I grinned.
"Are you sure he's in your corner right now?" she questioned, corking a brow and getting a death stare from me.
"Too soon?"
"Yeah."
"My bad."
After I heard the doorbell ring downstairs and she looked at me in confusion. "Are you expecting someone?" she asked while I shook my head no.
"I'll go see who that is and ill be back," I spoke up, hearing her hum and I walked out of my room.
I hurried downstairs trying not to almost fall down the stairs like always, and I ran toward the front door.
I didn't bother to look through the peephole since we lived on the peaceful side of the cut and it was only five pm. I opened the white wooden door with a small friendly smile to whoever stood on the other side of the door.
My smile slightly faded but I tried to not make it awkward when it was revealed to be my ex-boyfriend, Andrew.
"Oh-hi Andrew. I didn't expect to see you here." I gasped, looking down at his hands and seeing him hold white tulips which were my absolute favorite.
"Hello, can I talk to you real quick?" he questioned, giving me a tiny smile, while I just stood there and thought about it.
I really didn't want to go outside with him. What if JJ was on his way to my house and he just saw me talking to my ex-boyfriend? That would seem very suspicious on his end.
"I don't think that's necessary," I whispered, looking over my shoulder to make sure nobody was eavesdropping.
"Please, just for a little second?" he pretty much begged. I gave in just wanting to get it over with and slowly came out of my house.
"You look beautiful," he whispered, looking me up and down, adoring my green jeans and white cropped tank top.
"Thank you, Andrew," I whispered, struggling to even say the words, because of how awkward it would be.
"Look Mads, I know how crazy it sounds, but I'm still in love with you." I just stared at him in utter shock.
I'm with JJ and that was never gonna change. I'm at my happiest with him. Even when we were just friends, JJ treated me way better than Andrew.
"Look, Andrew, I'm with JJ and I'm so happy. I really don't wanna change that." I whispered, watching his smile fade.
"I know that your with JJ but still. I love you and I've always had," he whispered. "Love is a strong word for you if you've never expressed it before."
"I know how to express it, Madalyn."
"I mean look at the sunset behind us. We can go to the beach and watch it if you'll like" he added, placing a hand on my shoulder softly bringing me closer to him, now making me uncomfortable.
"I get that, Andrew. That's cute and all, but he treats me a lot better than you ever did." I pointed out, watching him let out a little sigh.
"I can treat you so much better this time," he whispered, gradually positioning his hand on my waist.
"But, I shouldn't have to ask you to treat me better, Andrew. It should be mandatory in a relationship." I mumbled, watching his smile slowly disappear, while he looked at me in horror.
"Love..." he whispered, slowly moving his hand up to my jaw, pushing my hand to the side to give him a better view.
"Did he do this? Did JJ do this shit?" he whispered, locking eyes with me. "No-Andrew- No." I stuttered, hoping he wouldn't act like a crazy person on my porch.
"Did he fucking hit you?!" he shouted, gripping my jaw much harder. "No, JJ would never." I gasped, trying to get out of his tight grip.
"So what the fuck is this, Madalyn?" he harshly asked, pretty much slamming me into the wall behind me.
"Andrew... My mother is in the house. Can we talk it out somewhere else?" I whimpered, trying to remove his hand from my jaw.
He glanced at me up and down before accepting the idea. He gripped my jaw a lot harder and moved me to the other side of the porch, where there were no windows.
"Stop fucking lying Madalyn. You're always lying to me!" he gritted with his teeth, banging my head against the wall. "I've never lied to you." I whimpered, feeling small tears brim my waterline.
"That's another lie from hell. I always suspected something between you and him. Always."
"We never did anything when we were together. I loved you. And clearly, you didn't love me back." I spat, snatching his hand away from my face.
"I did."
"That was love? Those months were hell!" I yelled, pushing him off of me. "I loved you, baby," he whispered, walking towards me with a slow but scary paste.
"And JJ loves me. He wouldn't lay not one fucking hand on me. Not like you." I whispered, wiping the tears away.
"Maybe one day he should. That would definitely shut you up," he growled getting closer. "I fucking hate you, Andrew," I whispered.
"No, you don't."
"I know you wanna leave JJ. Why are you still even with that pouge, huh?" I furrowed my eyebrows at his stupid statement cause I told him this shit at least a billion times.
"He loves me and he's the sweetest fucking person I've ever met. He needs me and I fucking need him." I whispered, while my lip began to tremble.
"He doesn't need shit. He deserves what his father does to him and he's the reason why his mother-"
Before he could finish that terrible sentence, I slapped him across the face not even caring if that was my second one of the day. When I slapped Pope that was unnecessary. But when I slapped Andrew that was absolutely necessary.
"Slap count, two," I whispered, watching him turn his head back toward me in complete anger. I cracked a slight smirk across my lips, just gazing right at him.
He gazed at my brown eyes in pure irritation, while I looked down at his hands to see his fist clutch. My smirk faded looking at his fist before I slowly looked back up to see a smirk on his face.
Then, I felt his hand grip my jaw and push his soft lips on my fucking lips. I let out an enormous gasp while my eyes widen to see his eyes closed, enjoying the kiss while clearly, I didn't.
I aggressively shoved him off as quickly as possible, staring at him in absolute disbelief. I saw a huge grin form on his face, while a small teardrop slip down my face.
"I have a boyfriend, Andrew. If you didn't fucking remember." I slightly cried, wiping the tear. "I know, I hope I ruined it." he snickers, looking at me one last time before walking away from me.
"Motherfucker." I let out a choked sob watching him walk away, while I slid my back against the wall and buried my face into my knees.