ONLY ANGEL | JJ MAYBANK

ELEVEN... first cut is the deepest

CHAPTER ELEVEN

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When Kie pulled her car up to Collins's house after they'd been caught up in a fist-fight with Topper, Rafe, and Kelce and they'd pretty much committed arson, Collins had totally forgotten to worry about Charlie and what he was going to think of all this.

So when she saw him in their front yard with a guitar in his hands, sitting next to a bonfire of all the wood they'd collected from their yard, a panicked, "oh shoot" had been uttered.

JJ, Pope, and Kie all turned to look at her for confirmation to get out of the car. It wasn't like she was going to deny them of medical care. She was going to have to face Charlie with the gash on her face eventually, and just suffer his wrath sooner than later. Except, she was going to try and get him to hold off on it until at least morning.

"It's alright, guys. Charlie's cool." He's just gonna be really upset at first.

Opening the doors and climbing out of the vehicle, Collins walked up first while everyone else followed behind her. She knew her brother, he was going to see her face and freak out, demand for answers, and lecture her about the same things he always did, but he was still going to be a safe space for them to come to. They just had to get through the rough parts first before they reached smoother waters.

"Hey, how was the movie?" Charlie was too busy looking at his guitar strings to look up at her at first, but once he did and she had approached closer, he turned his head and his eyes immediately landed on the red blood smeared across her face which was originating from the cut along the edge of her cheekbone.

Charlie's smile faded and he looked past her to examine everyone else's damage from where he sat in the dim lighting. Even from his chair he could see JJ's split lip, Pope's bloody teeth, and Kie's dirt and grass stained clothes. They all looked a mess.

"I promise, that there is a perfectly good explanation for all of this, which I will be happy to tell you after we get cleaned up." Collins told him, maintaining her composure because if she didn't, then Charlie wouldn't either, even though it was clear that he wasn't even trying.

"Well, you can start by telling me who the fuck did that to your face." Charlie's brows were knit tightly and his jaw was clenched angrily, standing up to inspect his sister's wound more closely, and realizing that it looked worse nearby. His hands were twitching murderously at his sides, no one would ever want to be responsible for committing an act as stupid as messing with Charlie Jacobson's little sister.

As Collins began to open her mouth to answer, JJ quickly stepped in and stopped her, shaking his head. "I don't think you wanna know that."

If Charlie found out that it was Rafe Cameron that caused the dark painting of blood on Collins's face, they'd probably become witnesses to a murder. JJ couldn't let that happen, especially not when those Kooks were after them because of something he and Pope did. Even if he did hate Rafe with a burning passion and would be more than happy for the guy to get a taste of his own medicine, he wasn't going to let it happen at the expense of Collins.

"Do your lip a favor, and stop talking, Maybank."

"Charlie," Collins scolded sharply, "it doesn't matter who did it, what matters is that it's over now." Turning to her friends behind her, Collins spoke more calmly. "There's a first aid kit inside, you guys can come in and I'll get everyone checked out."

Leading everyone into the house, Collins normally would've been more self-conscious about that fact that this was Kie and Pope's first time being in her home and she probably would've been more embarrassed about everything. But she had so many other things on her mind that it all felt so trivial, and had been promptly pushed to the back of her mind.