¥showing a willingness to take surprisingly bold risks¥
In which Jackie Routledge and her group of friends from the south side of Outer Banks try to have the summer of their lives, but end up it being filled with mystery, tragedy, risks, adventure...
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{Nothing else matters, except you}
'So we gotta be done before my scholarship interview the day after tomorrow.' Pope informs Kie and I as we pull up to the Chateau. 'Okay, well, we gotta focus.' Pope says. 'I know. It's gonna be fine.' Kie assures Pope as we hop out of the truck. 'I can't believe your interview for your scholarship tomorrow, bro. I'm so freaking proud of you, right now.' I smile pulling Pope in for a hug. 'I might not even get it.' He sighs and I roll my eyes. 'You're like the smartest person in our school, Pope, you've got a lot of potential. They'd be stupid to not give it to you.' I say tapping him on the shoulder.
'So, what's the plan?' Kie asks. 'We got John b and JJ inside the well, Jackie and I are up top. You and Sarah will be outside transporting.' Pope explains. 'We got this.' I assure them with a smile and they nod in agreement. I quickly looked around the chateau , it's completely dark and JJ was nowhere to be seen, all I could think about was him. I couldn't even hear what Kie and Pope were talking about. I hope he is okay and he'll come home soon. All of a sudden a bunch of multi coloured lights turn on from the trees, surrounding a gigantic hot tub. 'What the hell?' I whisper as I walk around the side of the chateau, Kie and Pope follow behind me.
JJ's sitting there in a freaking hotub, with a bottle of champagne in his hand. My eyes widen in shock and I freeze in my spot just looking at him. 'What did you do, JJ?' Pope asks as we walk over to the hotub. 'I got a jet going straight in my butt right now.' He slurs with a smirk. 'Y'all should get in immediately, you hear me? Come on, baby, join me.' He says pointing at me. 'Salud.' He says raising the champagne bottle before drinking it. 'How much did this cost?' Pope questions. 'Uh, well, with the generator, the petrol, and oh, hey, express delivery, pretty much all of it, yeah.' He answers and all our eyes widen. 'All of it?' Pope shouts. 'Yeah, all of it.' JJ shrugs before taking another sip. 'You spent all the money in one day?' Kie asks annoyedly and he nods. 'Yeah, burned a hole right through my pocket.' He states. 'But, I mean, like, come on, guys, like, look at this!' He says excitedly pointing around the place.
'Finest in jet based massage therapy, that's what they told me.' He states as I look at him with my eyes widen and tears threatening to break through the surface. 'Jackie, what?' He asks and I sigh. 'Can't a man have a little luxury in life? Come on, all this scrimping and scraping, I mean, like..guys, we—you only live once, right?' He tries to get the words out as I step closer to the hot tub. 'Enough of this emotional shit. Get in the Cat's ass. Come on.' JJ says, urging us to hop into the hot tub. 'In the what?' Kie asks and he snickers. 'In the Cat's ass. That's what I named her.' He smiles at us before chuckling. 'Oh, hey, yo! I almost forgot.' He says clicking a button, sending streaks of water flying in all different directions and a giant disco ball comes down. 'Yeah, that's right disco mode. That's right baby.' JJ says excitedly and I sigh rubbing my temples.
'Are you kidding me?' Pope shouts at him. 'Pope..' I mumble trying to stop him from yelling at JJ, but he just ignores me. 'You could have paid for restitution!' Pope yells. 'Or literally given it to any charity!' Kie adds and I let out a sigh as I see JJs smile disappear. 'Or better yet, you could have helped us buy supplies to get the rest of the gold out of the well!' Pope continues to argue. 'Okay, well you know what? I didn't do that. I got a hot tub!' He yells standing up and my eyes widen in shock as I see the dark purple and red bruises scattered across his abdomen and rib cage. Tears start falling from my eyes and he looks over at me as his face softens. 'I got a hot tub! For my friends! For my girlfriend!' He states pointing at me. 'You know what? No, you know what? Screw friends. I got a hot tub for my family!' He states as tears fall from his eyes. 'What the hell, JJ?' Pope asks. 'I got this for you. Guys, look what I did for you! All right?' He points out.
'JJ..' I mutter and he looks over at me. 'No, Jackie stop crying. It's fine, okay?' He says choking back a sob. I run over to the hot tub and climb in, immediately wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him in for a hug as he rests his head on my shoulders and places his arms around my waist and starts crying. 'I just couldn't do it.' He cries into my neck as I stroke my hand through his hair. 'Ssh, it's okay, baby, I'm here.' I whisper to him as I pull him closer to me. 'I can't take him anymore! I was gonna kill him.' JJ sobs, tears roll down my face as I watch the man I love crumble before my eyes all because of his father. All he ever wanted was to be loved by his dad and make him proud. 'I just wanna do the right thing.' He whispers. 'I know, I know, I love you so much, JJ, I love you so fucking much.' I cry as I continue to stroke my hands through his hair to calm him.
***
After a while, Kie and Pope went home and JJ started to calm down as the two of us sit on the edge of the hot tub. I hold his hand and rest my head on his shoulder as we sit here in silence. 'You want to go inside?' I ask and he looks at me before nodding. He grabs my hand as we walk inside the chateau. 'You want food?' I ask and he nods his head. 'Okay, you go into our bedroom and get changed, I'll make us something.' I say and he walks into our room and closes the door. I take out bread and make us a peanut butter sandwich as I walk back into our room, I see him standing at the mirror looking at all his bruises and I let out a sigh, placing the sandwiches on the night stand and walk over to him. 'I love you, Jackie.' He speaks up as I walk over to him. 'I love you too, JJ.' I reply as he turns around and cups his hands on my face and pulls me in for a kiss. This kiss was heated for a few minutes, until JJ lays me on the bed and hovers over me. He lifts up my top and starts trailing kisses down my body.
'JJ?' I whisper and he comes back up to meet my face. 'Are you sure you're okay?' I ask him and he nods. 'As long as I have you, baby. Nothing else matters, except you.' He says with a smile before I pull him back into our kiss.
The one thing I have ever done right in my life so far, is letting this man have my heart. He owns it and he will forever own it. I love him more than life its self. One day, you will find your soulmate too. It will be a feeling beyond your imagination. You just can't help it but to adore them. You will feel your whole heart melt for this person. Your soulmate will bring joy, laughter, calmness and so much inspiration, that you will finally see hope in front of you. For once I can actually say. I'm in love. I can see a future with JJ Maybank. And I plan to share my whole life with him.
I choose him. And I'll choose him, over and over and over agin. Without a doubt, without a pause, in a heart beat. I'll keep choosing him. Because that is what you do for the person you love, no matter how many times you fight or what life throws at you, if it's true love, it'll always find a way back and I know, nothing could ever possibly tear JJ and I apart. His soul and mine were always meant to be.
