jj maybank fanfics

the seventh

Kiara turns off the shower and grabs a towel, wrapping it around her. She brushes her teeth and wash her face before drying herself and putting on her pyjamas. She goes in to her bedroom and crawls in to bed. The feeling of softness and warmth makes her body instantly relax and drift away in sleep.

The next morning she wakes up with a pain in her arm. She doesn't think much of it, she's probably just slept on it. But the pain gets worse, it feels like the skin is burning. Kiara goes to the bathroom and looks at her arm in the mirror. She pulls her sleeve up and it's like it clicks in her. The pain and the mark on her arm triggers the memory. Rafe.

"Shit."

Her arm is bruised, there's a big purple and blue bruise just where Rafe grabbed her. She gently touches the bruise but immediately flinch in pain. It's really sore and painful. The memory suddenly hits Kiara with a wave of anxiety and tears starts to fall down her face. She gently pulls down her sleeve again, winching in pain when her hand touches the bruise.

She walks back to her bed, crawling in to it, covering herself with her duvet. She starts to sob, letting all of her emotions out. She feels weak, confused and frustrated.
Weak for letting Rafe say and do those things to her, she knows that he is violent, that he gets into fights with pouges and does everything to keep his kook "legacy". She should've said or done something but in that moment it was like she froze. When Rafe grabbed her arm, all she could think of was how he could know about her and the boy.
She feels confused about her emotions towards the boy, about his feelings and thoughts. There's so much undiscovered territory between the two, things that's been left unsaid for too long, things that they don't know about each other yet.
She feels frustrated that he left, in such a vulnerable and intimate moment he just decided to leave. Why? All Kiara wants to know is what's going through the boys head, why he took her hand and suddenly opened up for her. But the least thing she wants is to scare him away again, or pressure him to say or do anything he doesn't want to. Which is why she can't ask, how do you even ask someone that? A complete stranger, or is he still that?

Kiara lays in bed for a while, thinking and crying. Clinging on to her pillow, feeling like she'll feel like this forever. Until she hears the doorbell ring.

"Mom? Dad? Can you get the door?!"

No answer, they're probably outside or already at work. It only takes a few second until she hears it again, twice. She gets out of bed and goes downstairs to open the door.

It's the boy.

"What are you doing here?"

"I got groceries."

He says it so casually, like it's the most  common and normal thing.

"What?"

"I uh.. I'm helping Pope and his dad deliver groceries and there wasn't anyone at the docks so I- Have you been crying?"

Kiara backs away from the door, avoiding eye contact. She quickly wipes her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. Kiara then looks up at the boy.

"I can take those."

"Yeah sure, here."

The boy gives her the bags and she's just about to close the door when he speaks.

"Can we talk?"

Kiara looks at him confused but quickly notices that he's nervous. The boy runs his hand through his hair, looking everywhere but at her. It's like he just realised where he is and what he's said. Kiara sighs and smiles at him.

"Yeah, sure. Wanna come in?"

He nods, walking after her and closing the door behind him. They walk to the kitchen and Kiara starts unpacking the bags. It's silence while she unpacks them, putting away groceries in the fridge, freezer and cupboards. When she's done she turns around, facing the boy.