Start the music when '**' symbol is given.
[Rory's outfit]
Rory~
HERE we were, out in the ocean, once again. We had taken Pope's boat as it was bigger than the HMS pouge to sail out here. The morning sun and breeze weren't too hard as we glided over the salty waters to the exact coordinates we found on the map from FedEx parcel.
In search of the missing wreck of the Royal Merchant and the four hundred million in gold that went down with the ship. The only thing that can help John B and I with DCS and Foster care right now.
We have distributed the tasks amongst ourselves. Pope would controlling the drone/ROV. John B handling the camera and instructing the proper coordinates. JJ at the wheel, keeping the boat steady. While I will be helping Kie with lowering the tether and the drone into the water, making sure it won't get thrown around or get lost.
"Alright, guys, pin it here.." John B spoke as he took hold of the drone from its place on the floor of the boat and handing it to me and Kiara.
"Roger that, 'X' mark's the spot," JJ nodded from inside the cabine, making the boat halt on the proper location.
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen...to going full kook," John B says before helping us put the deceive into the water as Kie grabs the tether and we watch as the drone goes underneath, the waves taking it as Kie and I roll the long tether, letting it down loose.
"Alright, JJ we are right over it...ten seconds northwest," John B instructs as he checks the camera and the Ipad thing, the drone is connected to.
"Got it, ten seconds northwest," JJ assures.
"One hundred feet," Kie says and I quickly grab the chalk we'd brought along to measure the depth. I draw a single line on the side of the boat to keep record of how deep the tether has gone.
Suddenly Pope gasps, horrifyingly loud that all of us turn to look at him.
"What the hell?"
"What, what, what, what?" JOhn B rushes to the boy's side.
"Sorry, it was nothing...I just thought--" Pope replies as we all groaned at his sudden gasp.
"Don't that to me, man," JJ whines from inside the cabin, going back to handle the boat.
"Sorry, my bad, I thought I saw---"He mutters. "And to quote the Hobbit, 'Down, down, to goblin town. Down, down you go my lad'" He recites.
I frowned, looking at Kie to see if she understood whatever that was as we still continued to lower the tether. I rolled my eyes, shaking my head as I focus on the task at hand when she just chuckles and shakes her head at me, slightly.
"Four hundred feet," I informed as I draw the lines in the tally mark to keep track.
"The tide's turning!" Kie spoke as I watched the tether now getting pulled around in the slightly heavy waves, while I heard thunder booming in the sky above.
"Hey, JJ?" John B calls.
"Yup?"
"Ten seconds easy. Right, south-southeast," He instructs.
"Copy that!" JJ does as he's told, the waves getting stronger.
"JJ, twenty second, mid-speed, alright? Mid-south," John B persists.
"Copy that, aye, aye!" JJ does exactly that as the boat turns slightly, moving effortlessly even though the waves getting strong. The weather was starting to turn bad, as the waves rocked the boat and the tide would make the tether push around a lot if not handles properly.
"Keep the tether out of the prop," John B looks at Kie and me, while w tried to hold it in our grip properly.
"We're trying!" Kie shouts over the thunder and howling wind.
"JJ, keep going!"
"John B is that good?" JJ yells.
"We're good. We're good," he confirms.
"700 feet," I shouted as droplets of water started to pour down from the sky above, the thunder rumbling and clasping hard.
The boat was rocking hard as I almost slipped while trying to keep the hair out of my face, the grip on the tether loosening as Kie grabs me, balancing me and preventing me from falling. I grabbed the tether again, properly as we both struggle to keep safe.
"JJ, hold it steady!" John B shouts.
"Okay, we're at 900 feet!" Kie yells over the chaos of the wind.
"JJ, we're gonna turtle in this storm, man!" John B says as the bpoopat rocks violently while try to keep focus on our tasks.
"920 feet!" I informed, Kie and I still lowering the tether, trying to keep our grip on it tight.
"Crank it north by Northwest! Ten seconds!"
The waves hit the side of the boat, the water splashing Kie and I as we struggle to keep the hold on the tether. One huge wave rocks the boat and I hit my side on the edge of the boat, gasping as I feel the impact on my ribs.
"John B, there's too much current!" I worry as I look down at the water, while rubbing m side with one hand.
"Yeah, we're gonna lose it," Kie adds.
"South, southwest JJ, hard!" John ignores what Kie and I said as he instructs JJ at the wheel. "Half-speed! Steady at this bearing, JJ!" he then turns to Pope. "What do you see, Pope? We should be right above it,"
"Nothin'. A whole lot of nothing'" Pope replies.
"C'mon, we are right above it, brother!" John B insists.
"Rory, Kiara!" Pope calls to us, as we keep informing the feet that we reach with the tether.
"960, 970...980," Kie counts as I noticed the end was nearing of the tether.
"Did we get there yet?" I asked, worried.
"I'm at the bottom! I'm at the bottom!" Pope yells excitedly as he checks the camera at the drone control system.
"Okay, steady here, JJ!" John B says as he rushes to Pope's side. "Steady here, quarter speed, alright?" he adds, watching the screen on the drone control system anxiously. "You should be seeing something, man..."
"I know, I know...wait, wait, wait--"Pope nods.
"Go, help them," Kie says to me and I smiled at her before going to the other side of Pope, the boat still rocking as rain poured down. Then, I see it.
The wreck of the Royal Merchant on the ocean floor.
Wind howling past, the rain hitting us, the thunder clasping as the waves rock the boat. But none of that matters to us right now. Pope, John B and I, were all staring at the screen of the drone.
"Oh, good god," Pope mutters.
"Holy shit!" I smiled, my eyes peeled on the screen, watching the wreck like a hawk as though it was gonna vanish any second if I look away.
"See anything?" JJ yells from inside the cabin.
"Guys, what is it?" Kie yells at the same time.
"It's the Royal Merchant," John B stated, a small smile creeping up his face.
----
So, there's a moment in every kid's life when you feel like anything's possible. You feel like you've got the total mojo.
You could, I don't know, free-climb El Capitan, land on Mars, or...uh, get elected president. The whole world's there for the taking if you have got the sack to go for it.
And then, when you least expect it, some kook shows up and tells you there's no eternal mystery. And then, all that talk about free-climbing and Mars and the president...bullshit.
Magic gets cancer and dies.
"It's not there. Look, just--just pull the drone up," John B sighs as my delighted hopes flying with finding the wreck of the Royal Merchant, deflates when we find no gold on board.
The thunder still clasping in the background, the waves still rocking the boat as I gasped and stepped back, running a hand through my messy, wet hair. "Shit," I cursed.
"Look, we can do another pass. Recharge the battery. We can--we can go back down," Pope suggest trying to console both John and I.
"We've done it three time, there's nothing there!" JJ says.
"Shut up!" Kie yells at him, angry.
"What? it's true!" JJ shouts over to us as I pace in the back open space, looking out at the sea.
"The gold could be buried. We don't know," Kie suggested, shrugging as I turned to look at them.
"If it was there, it would've been found on the metal detector, Okay?" John B spoke up, his tone disappointed and deflated. "Somebody beat us to it," He added, shoulders slumping.
"Or, it was never there," JJ adds in as he starts the boat and with all hopes and dreams crushed, we start to drive back towards the Island.
John B gets into the Pouge which we had left Pope's dock, as we arrived.
"Alright, I'm taking this with me, we can return it later on, c'mon, Ro," John B said, grabbing the drone system.
"I need a detour...this is all bullshit, I am going down to the beach, you go home, I'll see you there," I tell him as he nods, kissing me on the forehead quickly with a hug before I watch him drive away.
"Shit, I need to get home," Kie says as she watches the time on the watch on her wrist. "See you at the Wreck?" She looks at me.
"Hmm mm...yep," I nodded, giving her tip-lipped smile as she walks away.
"I gotta help pops at the shop," Pope said next. "See y'all later," he added, waving JJ and I goodbye as he too walks away and into the shop.
"Just you and me, now," I say, looking at JJ beside me.
"I don't mind it at all," He smiled at me. "Down to the beach?" he adds.
"Yep--oh wait a sec," I pulled out my when it's alarm went off. I click the snooze on it as I remember what I had put this alarm for. "Shit, I forgot..." I cursed at myself.
"Something wrong?" JJ asks worriedly.
"Nope. Just-- I gotta go, I forgot something," I tell him with a smile, feeling bad about turning down the opportunity to hang out with it.
"What's up, what's happening?"
"I need to get back to the Chateau... I forgot my pills, nothing serious." I tell him.
"What pills?" JJ frowns
I inhales sharply, "Just the anti-depressants, anxiety pills... the foster care doctor prescribed them to me, because of you know..." I shrugged. "I don't wanna take them, but JB's forcing me to. And I keep forgetting to take them on time so he made set up an alarm," I added further in explanation.
"It's important for you to take them, if they are helping," JJ states as we walk down the dock.
"I doubt if they are working, cause I ended up having two anxiety attacks in two consecutive days," I pointed.
"Just-- give them a try. John B's right," JJ insists.
"I am trying too..." I nodded. "Alright, I'll see you later, J," I smiled at him.
"Later, princess," He pulled me into a hug, kissing my cheek before letting go of me. I blushed furiously as I stepped back and turned around to walk towards the Chateau with my heart fluttering inside my chest.
----
John B~
I entered the Chateau after, my shoulders slumped and head hung low with deep disappointment at not finding the gold with the shipwreck. I sighed heavily as I throw the bag down on the pull out sofa in the hall and laid down for a second. Only to jump up in startled-ness when I see Cheryl; Mine and Rory's DCS worker.
"Hey, Buddy," she greets in her business-like voice. "Where's your sister?"
"You know, Cheryl, this is kinda like, a bad time for a check-in," I sighed as I sit up and look at the woman. I get up and go to the kitchen to get out some food for myself, feeling hungry.
"Not a check-in. We are here to take you...now, where is your sister?" She asks.
I sighed heavily for what felt like the hundredth time as I looked at her. "Really? Toady?" I ignore her question about Rory. It's better if only I am here, so it'd be easy for me to escape. I'll find Rory later on.
"It's just for a few weeks until your hearing," She assures, trying to polite and kind. "Now, please be kind enough to tell us where Aurora is?" she adds.
"No, no, no, no. Cheryl, look, neither I nor my sister are getting into foster care, okay?" I shake my head. "We are not gonna be a part of your little system!" I added.
Then suddenly, the beeping of radio made me look behind me as I saw a cop walk through. "John B, that is deputy Thomas," Cheryl speaks. "He works for the Juveniles for the sheriff's department," and now I started to pray to god that Rory would not get home any time soon. "Look, I know uncle T's down in Mississippi working at a casino. He hasn't been here for months," Cheryl stated the truth I already knew.
"What?" I scoffed, rolling my eyes. I tried to take my chances as I ran but the cop grabbed me faster and before I could make it past him. I grit my teeth, running a hand through my hair as I turned to look at the woman. "No, see that's my nightmare, right there...Look, I--I, I want emancipation," I stuttered, walking over to Cheryl again. "Rory and I both want emancipation," I added.
"Emancipation from whom? There's nobody here but you and your sister....who I still don't know where she is?"
"Uh...asylum, then," I shrugged, again dodging her question about Rory's whereabouts.
"On what grounds?"
"On--on solid grounds. On holy grounds," I replied. "Look, I feel real--real prosecuted right now, by you and...especially Mr. Big head over here," I turn to point at the scary cop in my living room.
The cop sends me a threatening look as he steps closer. "What are lookin' at, bro? What are you gonna do? You gonna tase me?" I taunt him. Before I tried to run of again, but the cop starts to walk in my direction. The small round table in between us as I go the other side.
"Oh yeah, you wanna dance, huh?" The deputy taunts.
I throw the box of cereals from the table at him, trying to run past as he catches me, holding my by my shirt. "Come here, you little--"
"No, no, no, no..." He puts me in a headlock. "I didn't do anything! Cheryl get your dog off of me!" I shout.
"That's enough, that's enough!" Cheryl shouts as I struggle in the cop's grip.
"Okay, okay, okay...," I sighed, as I go still on the floor and he takes his hands off of me.
"Relax, John," Cheryl said.
"Okay, Okay, I give up," I sighed, getting off the floor.
"Now, where is your sister?" she asked.
"I don't know..she didn't really tell me where she was going," I sighed, lying, hoping to god that she stays down at the beach longer.
"You know what, we'll take her later...let's go, go and pack your things, John," Cheryls says before I defeatedly sighed and went to my room.
----
[⚠ T/W: panic attack, aggression and self medication]
Rory~
There were too many thoughts running through my mind. I was nothing but disappointed, having lost all hope there could be for me and my brother.
Everything that has happened since the start of the summer has been fantastically fucked up and can potentially screw us all up if something were to blow up.
The deal with Rafe, the incident that occured and---yes, I'm calling it an incident. I am aware of the fact that what happened was against my consent. But then again, when did I ever give my consent to him apart from that one night at the very first party, where we hooked up? This was part of the deal, I have to do it with him, whenever, wherever he wanted.
I owe him a shit ton of money, that is correct. And slowly I keep losing my dignity everyday I let him do that myself. I feel a piece of my soul die everytime I let him in and then break apart after we are done.
And on top of that, this new thing that I started with Kiara...I don't even know what to do there. I don't wanna hurt her. I like her, I really do. But everything is too complicated right now. With what is happening behind closed doors with Rafe... and then what almost happened with JJ...I don't exactly know what I want from Kie here.
But I do know, one thing. I need to finish off the chapter of Rafe, before I can move forwards, whether it's with Kie or JJ.
And then, to top all of this amazingly fucked up shit, we were snatched on the hunt for the gold. Four hundred million in gold. We found the most famous shipwreck of all time, but we couldn't find the gold.
That has to be a new low. A new disappointment and a newly found hope crushed.
The world feels like it's about blow up, after everything has let us down, and here I am worrying about my medications. It has not helped. But my brother insists I still take them.
When I first got diagnosed with anxiety, I had a seizure and JB had rush me to the hospital. Where the DCS and foster care ensured that the doctors gave me medication that could help. They even suggested therapy and shit, which I denied the very instant.
Since then, I try to keep track of the medication, if I have taken them or not. But mostly I forget them and the past few months, my brother has been more and more observant and persistent with it. Making me set up an alarm.
I don't really see what help these pills have been, though. I still end up having my nightmares, the anxiety attacks and my depression surely shows up after I leave Rafe's place.
The pills have done nothing for me. But for the sake of my brother's satisfaction, I take them. So he knows I care about myself and want to live.
Not that I want to kill myself off.
I sighed, rolling my eyes at the weird, absurd thoughts running through my mind as I walk through the dirt-road, having taken the scenic route back home. As I arrive at the house and walk down the dirt-road driveway, I see a grey SUV and instantly see the car's number plate. I have seen this car before.
Cheryl's here!
"Well, shit!" I cursed as I halted, ducking behind the huge tree nearby as I saw Cheryl walk out from the house. John B at her trail with his backpack with a cop behind him. "Great! Fucking fantastic!" I muttered.
"C'mon, let's get going," Cheryl speaks as they all walk towards the car.
"Cheryl, I hope you understand that you are taking me away from my home and my family, my dad wanted me and my sister to stay here, safe and sound...and what are you doing? You taking me away," I heard John B argue. "And you are do the same to Rory," he added.
"Just get in the car, John," Cheryl orders before sliding in the passenger seat. "After we've got you settled down, we'll come back and look for you sister," she added.
I gasped as I heard her plan, mistakenly stepping on a large twig, breaking it. The cop and John B both look in my direction as I smack my back into the tree.
"What was that?" The cop spoke and I heard heavy footsteps.
"It was probably nothing," My brother tries to stall, probably knowing it was me. As slowly as I possibly could, I hunch down and walk away from behind the tree, going towards the house and staying doubled over. "What are you doing? You're wasting time! I thought you were super excited to take me away from here, that you got me in a headlock--" John B rambles.
"Shut up, shut up! Get in the car, you little prick,"The cop snaps at him as I round the back of the house and I climb inside my bedroom through the open window, staying as quiet as I could. I heard the engine of the car pur to life and then the car driving away.
"Shit! Fucking hell! Great!" I cursed, anger pulsating through me as I grab the nearest thing and smack it across the room. The pencil case breaking.
What the fuck am I supposed to do now?
The DCS took my brother away from me. We both knew this day would come but it caught me off guard. This wasn't supposed to happen this early. We were supposed to find the gold, become rich and then have nothing to worry about.
I groan in anger as I pace through the room, they took him. But they are still looking for me. And once they get a hold of me, they are gonna separate me and John B and send us to different homes, away from each other.
I can't--I can't lose my brother. I'll die if I lose him. He's all I've got.
"What do I do? What do I do?" I chant as I pace around the room, running a hand through my tangled up hair as I start to have a mental breakdown. "Why is this happening!? Like-what did we ever do to deserve this?! God! I hate this!" I growl as I start to trash my room.
Throwing off pillows, pulling off the sheets, smashing everything from my desk. Throwing the chair away, I flip off the mattress.
God. This is new.
I have never done shit like this before.
What the hell?
Why am I so angry?
I sighed, panting heavily, my chest rising and falling rapidly as I stand there in the middle of my room that I just trashed. Everything was strewn and fallen and broken.
My hands start to shake as my eyes well up with tears.
"No, no, no, no... not again... not this soon, stop please..." I shake my head as my knees buckled and I fell to the floor.
No. No, please.
Oh god! Rory, you can do this. Think of the ocean. Think of how free and at peace you feel when you are in the water.
Think of how perfect your life will be one day. Going on that surf trip, travelling the world.
Just keep thinking of the ocean, Aurora!
I can't keep my mind on good things. No matter how hard I try to. It slips back into the darkness. The pain. The stress.
Dad's disappearance. The anxiety. The gold. And now... John B taken by the DCS.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" I cursed as feel myself shake, my nails digging into the palms, the half-moon cuts still fresh from a few days ago. "No, please, stop..." I cried to myself as I gasped for air, my chest hurting and my head pounding.
I need help. I know, I admit, I need help. I need my brother to come back and take care of me. Help me through this attack.
I need JJ. His eyes; my oceans, those waves, they help me everytime I go through this. That is my medicine.
Medicine!
I just need my medication. I can pop in a few pills and they will start their work, right? That's the only reason I even came back here. I wanted to go down to the beach, but I came back here for my pills.
Maybe, they will be good for something this time.
I scramble to my feet, my legs shaking as I search for the small yellow bottles that I put in the desk drawer of my dresser.
"Where are you? Where are you?" I muttered, panicking as my breathing shallows and my chest starts to hurt really badly.
I finally find the two bottles and I slide down to the floor, unscrewing the lids to let the pills from inside fall out and scatter. I collect them in my hands and I put two pills of each in my mouth, swallowing them whole without water.
I have swallowed pills dry before, for hangovers. This doesn't really make me gag or want to vomit.
I slump against the leg of my bed, breathing heavily as tears fell from my eyes.
Think of the ocean. You are perfectly fine!
I remember the breathing practices that John B and I did at the beginning of this steep slope that is my anxiety. I inhale deeply, hold my breath for a two seconds, before exhaling. My head still hurting and my body aching from the muscle tension and stress of the situation. My chest still hurting as my hands were in a fist, nails digging into the cuts, slight blood oozing from them.
Why am I so fucked up?
Like--why me? What did I ever do to have to suffer like this?
This is so much more worse than what meets the eye.
I sighed, my mind only seeing one option as I pick up one pill and look at it. I clenched my jaw, hating myself to even think about it. I should just leave.
But my body won't comply. I am rigid and frozen, staring at the pill in my hand. I grab a few more, and scramble up to my feet grabbing the chair and placing it upright as I sit down at the desk.
I break the pills and then crush them into powder with the heel of my palm. The white powder falling to the wooden desk as I push it all in a straight line with my finger.
Don't do this. This will only worsen things, Rory.
I could hear her; my subconscious. She was trying to stall me, make me see reason.
But when you have been fucked over again and again, you start to believe the problem is you. The pain is caused because of your own actions and now you are not strong enough to face the consequences.
I know, I'm not.
My value is nothing in this world. I let perverted coke addict psychos like Rafe Cameron use me to his pleasure. I am stringing along Kiara; the most loveliest person I;ve ever met who I'm sure I'll end up hurting in the end, when I knew clearly I had stronger feelings for JJ.
Then everything that has happened since the start of the summer, including the wreck of the Grady-white, Scooter Grubbs, Lana Grubbs and the compass. Then the FedEx envelope, dad's voice on the tape. The wreck of the Royal Merchant.
All leading us to nothing.
And now, I got DCS on my back and they have already taken my brother away.
"Fuck it... it can't get any worse than this," I muttered to myself before leaning down and snorting up the entire line of the powdered pills.
-----
**
I giggled as I skipped down the dirt-road to JJ's place. I wasn't all fucked up. I feel free and light and I was skipping again, like a little five year old.
Everything's so much nicer, when I am high.
"JJ..." I called out to him, taking in a drag of the blunt I rolled earlier from the weed I found in JJ's acclaimed room at Chateau, and puffing out the smoke as I see him walking out from his house with beer bottle in his hand.
"Lili? What are you doing here?" he smiles as I break into a run and jump into his arms. "Woah!" He chuckles, his arms wrapping around my waist securely as he catches me, my legs around his waist and arms tight around his neck.
"Hii..." I smiled at him, our faces close, smoke escaping from my mouth.
"Hii, baby," he greets me, with a sparkling glint in his eyes. "Wait, wait, why are your eyes so dilated?" He asks, worriedly as he puts me down on my feet and I stumbled and looked up at him, frowning and pouting.
"What? I don't know..."I shrugged as I took another drag from the roll.
"Seriously, how high are you, Lili?" he laughs, shaking his head.
"Nope, I am not high," I giggled. "I just smoked three blunts!"
"Oh, shit, you are high!" He says, shaking his head.
"I found your weed at the Chateau," I nodded as I came to stand closer, my arms encircling his neck as his hands went to my waist to keep me stable on my feet. "This is the fourth roll... you want?" I say, bringing the roll to his lips.
"I thought you went back to get your meds," He frowns as he takes a drag and puffs out the smoke after a second. "Oh, you rolled a hard blunt there, baby," he adds, drawing patterns with his fingers on my bare waist as I wore a cropped white tank.
"I took my meds, then I got high..." I shrugged at him. "Because I was sad, they took John B," I pouted, my shoulder slumping as my hands fall down to my side and I look down at the ground.
"What do you mean?" JJ brings his hand to my chin softly, his fingers lifting my face up so he could look at me. "Who took John B, princess?" he asks, worriedly.
"The DCS." I pouted. "They took him away, and I hid behind the tree--went around the back after they all left...Cheryl said, they'd come back for me, after they got him settled," I explained, tears welling up in my eyes. "And then, they will separate me from John B and send me away to some kook's house," I sighed heavily as my voice broke at the end.
"Hey, hey hey... you are not going anywhere, okay? I am not letting anyone take my girl away from me, Lili... John B will be fine. You and I both know that he'll escape from them, and he'll come back for you," JJ says, wiping away my tears as he smiled down at me. "You will never be separated from your brother, okay? I promise, I'll protect you when they come to look for you," He adds, kissing my cheek, so so so near the corner of my lips.
I sighed, my arms going around him again. "How do you do that?" I muttered out, without thinking.
"Do what?" JJ frowns as he looks down at me.
"Calm me down, make me feel okay?" I counted out. "Say exactly what I wanna hear?"
"I don't know..." he shrugs, a slight red tint creeping up his beautiful face.
"You don't know..." I rolled my eyes.
"I don't know, I swear... I just want to see your perfect smile again when you are like this... so, it just comes naturally, I guess?" He replies back, shrugging.
My heart beats furiously in its cage. I was so free and light a few minutes ago. Now my brain is starting to function again and the only thing on my mind is JJ.
"JJ, I...--thank you, for taking care of me," I quickly change what I was about let slip out of my mouth.
"Always, princess," He chuckles, kissing my cheek again as he pulls me in closer. "Now, you wanna learn how to shoot a gun?" He says, pulling away as he pulls the gun out from his back pocket. "I was about to start practicin'," he added.
"Yes, please," I nodded, happily.
I watch as JJ puts an old teddy bear on a wooden log about a hundred meter away from where we stood. He grabs the noise cancellation earmuffs and walked back to me.
"C'mere, Lili," he holds his hand out to me and I take it, walking towards him as he pulls me in front of him. "Place your index finger here...now, the other hand will go here, for support," He mutters, his arms wrapped around me from behind as I felt his hot minty breath fall on my neck, raising goosebumps.
"Keep your eyes on the target; that's the teddy bear..." He said and I tried to keep my focus on what he was saying, rather than how close we stood. "And plant your feet wide and keep a powerful stance, because the kickback of the gun can be rough," he continues, his hands going down to my waist as he adjusts my foot with his. My back crashing into his chest gently as he does so.
"Okay, yeah," I meek out, nodding. I felt like a putty in his arms. So free and light as he made me stand the proper way. I melt in his arms every single time and my heart palpitates inside it's cage.
"Just relax and focus on the target," he whispered, his face next to mine as his one hand stayed on my waist and the other came up to grab my hair and push them away. I gasp lowly, butterflies erupting in my tummy as chills ran down my spine. I feel JJ's feather-soft lips trail down open-mouthed kisses on my neck. "You got this, baby," He encourages before completel moving away from me.
I frowned and looked at him, exhaling sharply as I catch the mischievous glint in his eyes and the playful smirk on his face. That little fucker--he got me all flustered and blushing from his close proximity and then he pulls that stunt.
"Go on," He smirks.
"Fucker," I rolled my eyes, flipping him off as he hands me the noise-cancellation earmuffs and wears another pair himself while he laughs silently at the playful insult I just threw at him.
I look ahead at the teddy bear once again, planting my feet wide and with strength in the stance, my one hand under for support while I keep looking at the target, pulling the trigger after a second, releasing a deep breath as I did so.
The bullet flies straight through the torso of the teddy bear, as I experience the kickback, my shoulders taking the blow, arms pushed back. I slowly lower the gun, taking off the ear muffs, biting my bottom lip, smiling widely.
I squealed and turned to look at JJ. "Did you see that?!"
JJ laughs as he takes off the ear muffs and comes to me, wrapping me up his arms and spinning me around. "That was so hot! You are so hot!" he stated, putting me back down on my feet as I switch on the safety on the gun and put it on the table nearby.
I laughed, "Oh, is that so?" I raised an eyebrow, a playful smirk on my lips now. "Can I show you something that's even hotter than this?" I asked, stepping closer to him, sensually.
"What?" Slowly silence falls as he watches my movement. I see JJ swallow as he notices me coming in too close to his face.
"Shh..." My arms wrapping around his neck as I pull him closer, my fingers entangling with the soft, fluffy hair at the back of his head.
My heart flutters, races and skips beats so rapidly I don't know what's happening. My breathing slows down as I feel his hands on my waist, pulling me closer, making me crash against his chest as I lean up, standing on my tiptoes.
Just a few inches between our lips as I tilt my head to side, making our lips brush against each other. I hear JJ exhale as I look up at him. My bodily reaction to being this close to this man is certainly something else.
And as much as I want to push my lips against his and kiss him like there's no tomorrow, I pull back slightly, going to his neck, grabbing his jaw. My lips make contact with his jaw as I leave a trail of kisses on his flawless skin. His arms tightening their hold on around my waist as I suck and kiss hard, going down his neck.
He exhales loudly, pulling me so close, my chest pushes up against his as I continue my sweet assault. My sweet delicious revenge. He turned me on, left me flustered.
What do you think was gonna happen?
"Shit, Lili.." he breathes out as I suck on the spot below his ear, my hand racking through his hair. I bite gently on the skin, lapping my tongue over it after as I suck and kiss on it again as I leave a red hickey on his neck. I kiss back up the neck, to his jaw as he pulls me impossibly close to his body. I look up at him, his eye darkening as I gulped.
Shit!
I might have walked myself into a trap.
That look, right there, can make me crumble to my knees for him. I was just gonna tease him and then leave him flustered, like how he did me.
Does JJ even know what kinda effect he has on me?
Tingling sensation erupt everywhere, chills runing down my spine, goosebumps raising where his fingers touch the skin on my waist. My heart palpitates and I feel flustered.
His dark look fill with lust and desire in his eyes didn't scare me; like how I feel when I'm with Rafe. It felt safe yet exciting, tempting.
"What are you doing to me, princess?" JJ breaks my chain of thoughts, as I see him looking down at my lips. His voice barely above a whisper.
"I should be the one asking you that," I replied, whispering to not ruin the moment.
JJ sighs as he leans down, just a second away from colliding our lips together. I feel their faint brush against mine as my eyes fluttered close at the small touch.
"JJ" I hear a voice yell from somewhere and I frowned, pushing away from him.
"What was that?" I frowned as I stepped away from him, looking around.
"What are you talking about?" JJ frowns.
"JJ!" Pope runs in from the front of the house.
"That--is what I was talking about," I pointed, swallowing as I glanced at the blonde boy.
"Pope?" JJ looks at him, frowning worried but I caught a flash of annoyance as well.
"Pope what happened? Why do you look like you ran a marathon, or something?" I say as I walk over to him.
"Rory, JJ, shit... " He pants. "We are screwed, they know," He spoke.
"What?" my frown hardens.
"Alright, chill bro. Alright? They don't know shit," JJ replied, confidently as he walked towards our friend.
"Topper knows I sunk his boat!" Pope presses.
"Actually, I was the one who pulled out the plug, if anything they should be coming me for," I chimed in.
"They are coming for all of us, Ro!" Pope corrects. "They know, I'm telling you!"
"Okay, how do you know they know?" JJ asked.
"Because Rafe and Topper posted outside of Heyward's and mad-dogged me," Pope answered, his voice full on panic mode.
"Alright, will you calm down and get a grip man? They don't know shit," JJ presses.
"They have cameras. They could have seen me and Rory!" Pope points out.
"But there's no power. Pope, how could they have seen us?" I added another question.
"It's Figure Eight. They got generators!" He states, anxious. "They don't give scholarships to kids who vengefully sink boats. It's not a good look on my transcript!"
"Alright, enough with the regret, bro!" JJ shouts to silence him up. "They caved your face in. And then they manhandled Rory and basically abducted her, only to insult her. I ain;t gonna let them get away with any of that shit, man." JJ stated. "They hit us, we hit them. That's the law of the jungle," JJ continued as he moved to Pope, grabbing his shoulders. "Now, if any kooks come up to you and ask if you had anything to do with it...you walk up to 'em, look 'em right in the eye, and..."
"Deny the living shit outta it," Pope finishes JJ sentence.
"That's right, deny, deny, deny..." JJ nodded. "But just safety, we don't go anywhere without protection," He added, pointing to the gun. "Right?"
"I am back in hell," I nodded to myself, pursing my lips at the plan the two boys made.
~~~~
~Chapter Thirteen~
hello,
hope this update finds you all well. this one was hard to write up as well.
Once again, I do not support self-medicating or using your regular pills as drugs. This shows just how much of big character flaw Rory has. I do not stand with stuff like this. Please always take prescribed medicines given by doctors only.
Anyways, this chapter was also kinda hot to write. The temperature's rising in here! Ooof!
But Pope cockblocking them everytime they get even a lil closer to kissing has me laughing!
hehehehe, not soo soon. This is a slow burn book after all. And I'm gonna give the slowest of slow burns ever.
hope y'all liked this chapter.
enjoy the adventure :)
happy reading!!
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-H.