NICKNAMES [1], jj maybank

CHAPTER 10

MY EYES SAW SUN and the first thing I did this morning was contemplate my life as soon as I woke up. No text from Dean even though I was only half expecting one. I'm sitting on the pull out couch with my legs criss-crossed. I stare at Dean's Snap contact. The last message was that he'd be at the beach in ten minutes. I let out a sigh and throw my phone behind me on the bed.

"We bringth the foodth!" Kie and JJ walk into the Chateau with bags of food, half of which JJ probably stole using our techniques.

Self checkout—always. Swipe a random side and stick it in the bag. The people who watch don't get paid enough to care.

His face is really bruised and his eye is not necessarily black but it's definitely not a normal color underneath. Mixes of yellow and purple formed. Thankfully his nose isn't broken but it kept randomly bleeding, something we'd need to figure out later. "Finally! You guys took forever!" Pope exclaims.

"Kie was stuck on chocolate or jelly filled donuts. Blame her." JJ starts to unload the groceries as well as Pope. John B suddenly emerges from his room, "Dad has a lead for the ship. He's on the mainland till Tuesday researching or some shit—I haven't seen him in a week because he was either holed up in his room or gone. This is bullshit." JB runs his hands through his hair in annoyance. I feel so bad for him, when Big John is here, he's a good father and took care of us and his son but him just leaving days at a time is hard on John B. His mom isn't in the picture so he basically only had us.

"I'm sure he has good intentions JB—"

"To get us rich but in the process poor—" He looks around his little fish shack "—well more poor." He aggressively grabs a donut and eats it. He looks even angrier while eating.

I push myself off the bed and walk over to the donuts but suddenly my stomach turns. My face makes a scowl. My eyes look up towards the front door and I swear I can hear the sound of a gun cocking for a second before I snap back into reality. I hold my stomach as I lean against the table.

"Sunshine, you okay?" He lowers his voice when he asks me but when I look up, I remembered what I told myself, that I would distance myself from JJ. We've been in fights for each other before but this was different. There was a gun to his fucking chest.

"Sunshine...?" He grabs my shoulder and shakes me slightly. I blink a few times,"Sorry—zoned out." I force a smile at him.

"You were thinking about last night weren't you?" I hate how well he knows me sometimes. I decide to just try to lie to him,"No—no. Just school and my mom—"

"Bullshit. You can't even look me in the eyes or eat a jelly donut, which Kie bought for you by the way." My eyes divert from my own hands to Kie who is laughing with Pope and JB. "If you don't eat a donut I'm going to force it down your throat, I swear to God." I widen my eyes at his words but still don't look at him,"I'll eat JJ." My words don't convince him because he groans loudly. "It wasn't your fault y'know? He's just crazy—" He stops himself when he uses the word crazy. Even though the word wasn't directed at me so I'm not offended, it did hit a slight nerve but it always does "—I meant fucked in the head."

I giggle at him trying to fix something that isn't even a problem. The small smile quickly fall from my face, "JJ, I feel like he's going to keep coming after you. Maybe it's best if—if we stop talking so he'll think we're not friends—"

JJ punches me at the top of my arm,"Ow!" I yell at him. "Look at me dumbass! You finish any part of that and I'll—I'll, cry." See, that makes me look at him, mostly with concern because I don't believe him at all. "Bullshit. I'm just thinking about everyone's safety—"