𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐁𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐍 ᯓ outer banks

chapter ninety-two

"WHEN WOULD YOU of been able to even see Kiara?" Brooklyn asks as she paces aimlessly up and down his living room. "I mean, we've literally been around each other all the time, I don't understand when you went or why you would even go, JJ."

JJ is sat on the sofa, his eyes not meeting hers from across the room. He's hiding something and Brooklyn desperately wishes to find out.

"JJ, what's going on?" she asks, her feet taking her towards him. "Can you just talk to me, please?"

His eyes meet hers and he finally speaks, "Is there something going on with you and Kiara?"

She wasn't expecting that one.

"No," she responds but JJ just scoffs and rises from the sofa to step away from her. "Why would you even think that?"

"Did you not see how close you two were on the boat or was that just me?" Before Brooklyn even opens her mouth, JJ is already talking again, "You want to know what's wrong with me, Brooke, right?" she nods, afraid of what he's about to say. "What's wrong with me is that I think my girlfriend— hell, my wife isn't telling me the truth about something that should've ended long ago."

She watches JJ start to walk off down the hall to his own room but she stops him, her words dry in her throat, "JJ, you know there isn't anything going on, okay? I married you, I want to be with you, I don't want to be with Kiara or anyone else. How do you not—"

He cuts her off, and now he's closer than he was before, "Oh, I know you want to be with me, that's not the issue here, Brooklyn. The issue is that you and Kiara clearly have some unresolved tension from the past."

She wants to speak, she wants to tell him it's all wrong but he continues to talk, "I went to Kiara's to talk, to talk about the fact that she's still in love with you after all this time, even after we got married on that island, okay?" Brooklyn nods, and steps towards him but he steps back. "Her parents don't like me and her father called me a thief or whatever and said I was like my father so I stole some money, okay?"

"I'm sorry, I just—"

He's cutting her off again and she's about to lose her mind, "Yeah, maybe I was stealing it for the wrong reasons but if they wanna call me a thief I might as well give them a reason," he replies, his voice harsh.

She wishes she could close the gap between them and hold him but she fights against it and says, "JJ, me and Kie have some unresolved tension, yes, okay? I'm not going to stand and lie to you but nothing will ever happen with me and Kiara."

She reaches her hands up to cup his face and says, "You're the only person I want, okay? It's you forever. It's nobody else, I swear to you. I love you and only you, I mean that."

He pulls her hands off his face to speak, "Brooklyn, whatever this unresolved tension is, it needs to be resolved, okay? If you can't give me a hundred percent right now because you still feel something for Kiara, we need to take a break."

She never thought she'd hear those words and just as she's about to respond her phone buzzes with a call from John B.

Finally, she thinks. It's only been days since he last contacted her.

She apologises to JJ and answers the phone, "You are so dead when I next see you, JB. Where the hell are you?"

JJ and her walk to the Chateau shortly after in complete silence.

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Brooklyn is angry when she sees her father, talking and laughing with everyone while she sits, arms crossed and foot hitting the grass. Her brother checks in on her every now and then but she shrugs whatever anger she is feeling towards her family.