restricted ~ JJ Maybank

1.45

John B and Sarah decided to stay at the Cameron's house for a while, so I grabbed my own car and got to the chateau myself, a big with some clothes with me.

When I got there, it was already dark out. The light in the chateau weren't on but when I walked around. I saw Kie and Pope walk into a circle of lights.

Christmas lights, lanterns in all different colors, the whole yard was lit.

And it the middle was a hot tub, where JJ sat with a pair of sunglasses lazily pushed onto the bridge of his nose and a bottle of champagne.

My eyes widened at the sight as I walked closer, only to see flamingo floaties with the champagne glasses in them floating in the water.

I kept walking until I stood beside Pope and Kie, my eyes flickering between my boyfriend and lights around us.

"What did you do, JJ?" Pope asked, he sounded rather mad. JJ pushed down the sunglasses to look his best friend in the eye, his slightly damp hair falling over his eyes.

"I got a jet going straight up my but right now." JJ laughed, brushing off Pope's question. "Y'all should get in immediately, you hear me?" He continued. I looked beside me, only to see Kie's and Pope's expressions match mine, we were in complete and utter shock at the sight.

JJ held up two of the glasses and clumsily filled them with champagne. He was already drunk, and hoping we would get on his level, but I couldn't move.

"There's beer in the cooler, I know you don't like champagne, gorgeous." He said, pointing at the blue cooler before holding up the glasses. "Salud!"

"How much did this cost?" Pope tried again.

"Uh..." he started after he took another sip from the bottle of champagne. "Well, with the generator, the petrol, and oh, hey, express delivery... pretty much all of it, yeah." JJ shrugged.

"All of it?" Pope asked in shock as pinched the bridge of my nose trying to process this.

"Yeah, all of it."

"You spent all the money in one day?" Pope asked, just to reassure what we just heard.

"Yeah, burned a whole right through my pocket." JJ said. "But I mean like," his voice cracked. "Come one, guys, like, look at this? Finest in jet-based massage therapy, that's what they told me."

I pressed my eyes closed until I heard him talk again. "Kie, what?" He asked the brunette, whose look had not changed since we got here. "Can't anman have a little luxury in life?" His voice got raspy as if a lump in his throat held back his words. He pulled the glasses off of his nose. "Come on, all thus scripting and scrapin'." He said before his voice got low, as if he was crying. "I mean like..." he snapped back out of the sad state as soon as it came and his voice became loud again. "Guys, we- you only live once, right? Enough of this emotional shit. Get in the Cat's Ass. Come on."

"In the what?" Kie asked, her voice was low.

"The Cat's Ass." He said with a smile. "That's what I named her." He finished. "Oh, hey, yo, I almost forgot." He said before flipping a switch.

A discoball hang above the hot tub, a new source of light hung over the hot tub as water came from the sides of the hot tub, giving it a fountain kind of effect. "Yeah, I know. Disco mode." JJ said, sounding a bit too excited about all this. "That right, baby-" his voice cut off at the end and his smile turned into more of a sad one than a happy one.

"Are you kidding me? You could have paid for restitution!" Pope snapped.

"Or literally given it to any charity!" Kie joined him.

I couldn't open my mouth, a pit in my stomach as u recognized his behavior. I recognized it as my own, maybe not the reckless spending of money. But his sad smile and his voice cracking with every word. I felt sick.

"Or better yet, you could have helped us buy supplies to get the rest of the gold out of the well!" Pope started up again.

JJ rubbed his fingers against his eyes in frustration. Until he snapped. "Okay, well, you know what? I didn't do that!" JJ snapped back, standing up from the water, revealing his torso and my earlier speculations.

Numerous purple bruises covered his ribs, his whole body was covered with them. I covered my mouth with my hand, tears prickling in my eyes as I took in his appearance. My breath got stuck in my lungs and I felt sick to my stomach, I hated myself for not doing anything earlier.

"I got a hot tub! For my friends. I got a hot tub for my friends." He spoke as if we weren't standing there. "You know what? No, you know what? Screw friends. I got a hot tub for my family!"

"JJ." I spoke for the first time since we got here. My voice slightly muffled from my retreating hand.

"JJ, what the hell?" Kie immediately added.

"I got this for you. Guys, look what I did for you! All right? Look at this!" He turned around, not realising he was only showing us more of the bruises that covered his body.

"JJ." I repeated.

"No, you stop being emotional. It's fine, okay?" For the first time that night, JJ looked me right in the eye. He took a deep breath and let his head hang, as if he had to prepare before saying anything else. "I mean, it's sweet, right? Everything-" he stopped talking as he voice broke again.

I didn't hesitate to step into the hot tub, the hot water immediately warming me up. "Just get in!" He said again before I put my arms around his neck, carefully, not wanting to hurt him more in any way.

I pressed my eyes closed as I put my head on his shoulder, trying to hold in my tears, so he knew it was okay, but I couldn't hold it back anymore when a soft sob escaped my lips.

JJ stayed still as I rubbed circles on his back with my thumb. "I just couldn't do it." He said, his voice small.

When he gave in, he wrapped one arm around my waist, with his other hand he held the loops on shorts, as if he was pulled my closer. He put his head against the inside of my arm as my finger tangled up in his hair in the hopes it would calm him down a bit.

It took him one loud sob before he put his second around my waist, pulling my body against him.

In frustration, he hit the water once before immediately putting his arm back around my waist. "I can't take him anymore!" He said with a loud sob, his whole body shaking with it. "I was gonna kill him." He said with a high-pitched voice.

I stayed still, rubbing his back. He adjusted his arm multiple times, from my waist to my neck and around my chest. But I stayed still, pressing small kisses against his shoulder and head.

After a bit, Pope and Kie joined us, wrapping their arms around us. "I just wanna do the right thing."

"I know." Kie repeated a few times to let him know it was all okay.

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Brb I'm crying...

I know I know, I've been gone for like a month, but I took a little break from writing so I could start school well and now that I've been at school for a little while, I've decided to pick up writing again, at least a bit more than this past month.

Also I know this is very short but I didn't wanna add another scene to this since it just felt wrong for some reason.
Please let me know what you think and I'll start working on the next chapter.

-me