rylie screamed into the pillow as loudly as she could. why did jj have to be such a dick she thought. why does he care so much. she wasn't used to having someone call her out on her negative behavior and actually follow up with consequences that didn't involve getting beat up. maybe part of her was secretly craving this sort of attention.
———
"you fucking whore" luke called through the house. "leave me alone luke" rylie shouted back "do you know how embarrassing it is to get a call from the school saying that my fucking daughter got caught giving some kid a blow job? what kind of parent do you think that makes me feel like" luke shouted.
"i really don't care" rylie replied "i'm gonna fucking show you what it feels like you little piece of shit" he told her. he took off his belt and started abusing her with it while she was curling up in a ball on the ground. jj walked inside for the first time in a week and saw what his dad was doing to his sister and begged him to stop. "you're fucking hurting her stop!" jj shouted "whatever she did take it out on me just leave her alone" he added.
luke directed his attention to jj for around 15 seconds before turning back to rylie. he grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to his room, locking the door behind him. jj stood outside, pounding, kicking, clawing at the door trying to reach rylie.
inside, luke was telling her that she was only supposed to please his customers for money other wise it was pointless. he berated her until he got his point across. he also warned her that if she ever tried to run to jj to protect her from this, they would both have consequences.
jj finally broke down the door to his fathers room and found him towering over his sister who was sitting in the corner with her knees curled up. he swore he would never leave her alone in this house ever again.
———
"that was a little harsh j don't you think" kie spoke, finally coming out of john b's room. "stay out of it kie" jj hissed. he wasn't trying to hurt her feelings he just really didn't want to be criticized right now. jj flew through the front door and started punching the first tree he found until his knuckles were all bloodied and most of his rage had gone away. meanwhile rylie was still in the guest room taking her anger out on herself with a knife.
about an hour later he walked up to rylies door. "ryles" he knocked quietly "will you let me in" "depends, have you stopped being an asshole" she scoffed. "for now" jj chuckled. rylie unlocked the door and let jj in, closing the door behind them again. "are you okay" he asked "yea.. are you?" she replied. "yea, yea i'm good" he reassured her.
"i don't mean to parent you, it just sort of happens" he admitted "i know, but i don't need it" she assured him. "as much as you'd like to believe that, yes you do need it. i mean i've tried to look out for you but i've never actually wanted to go after you like that" jj continued. "i can take care of my self jj, i don't need your protecting" "i'm not trying to protect you i just want you to understand that what your doing is dangerous! i know you can handle yourself but at some point you gotta realize you're still a little high school girl and there's people out there who are bigger and stronger than you." jj reasoned. "im just gonna say i understand because i don't wanna argue with you anymore" rylie caved, leaning on jjs shoulder.
jj kissed the top of her head sweetly, "for the record i don't think your a whore. i was just saying that to try and get you to listen" he added "i know jage" rylie replied. "good" jj confirmed.
"and also- fuck ryles your bleeding" jj looked down at his sisters leg. "oh yea, i um got a cut a couple days ago and it opened back up on the beach" she lied "do you want a band aide?" jj asked obliviously. "yes please" she accepted.
rylie spend the better part of 10min cleaning herself up. she even changed into a pair of john b's sweat pants since her old shorts had blood on them.
that night she slept in jj's bed which ended up being the guest room. she wouldn't ever say it out loud but she really needed her brother and wanted to be close to him. if pretending that the pull out was too uncomfortable tonight or that popes snoring was too loud was the way to do it, she caved. jj wouldn't admit this either, but he was glad she was staying with him tonight.
———
several days later rylie wrote all of her thoughts about cutting and burning herself in a piece of paper. everything inside was hurting so much worse than it had been and she was scared she was going to take it too far, or that her stitches wouldn't save her again. she couldn't stop hurting herself, but it helped being able to voice it on paper. she crumpled it up and shoved it in her drawer, forgetting about it for the next 3 days.