Forbidden // OBX - JJ Maybank

Enough 6

He cares about me, I know he does. He's just not thinking straight. I kept repeating these terms as JB walked towards the lighthouse with Pope and Kie. Once they reached the entrance, he didn't turn back or even hesitate for a moment before walking inside. As he escaped from view I saw an image of my dad. He was slowly becoming my father.

-Flashback-

"Where's Dad JB?" I asked well standing awkwardly on the back porch after searching the house. Dad was supposed to be driving me to work down at the wharf.

John B peered up from his board repairs to reply, "Haven't seen him since this morning, you going somewhere?" He asked, looking me up and down. Hy disapproved of my outfit choice. 

I huffed at my dad's unreliability. It had become normal for him to disappear for days on end with zero explanation. He would return with truckloads of research on the Royal Merchant and a bad attitude towards us. "Could you drive me to work please?" I asked with a hint of disbelief in my voice. 

He nodded an unspoken understanding. Dad had gotten harder on John B, just as he had on me, during the recent months. Constantly telling him to 'leave him be' when JB would ask to spend time with him. Big John had always been a driven man. He always made a point of not letting people get in the way of what he wanted; sometimes that included me and John B. 

During the drive to Howie's, JB stayed deep in thought. I gazed out the window, not focusing on anything important. We both felt abandoned. Dad was getting progressively less involved in our lives and it was starting to sting. 

"He cares about us, right?" I questioned, barely breaking a whisper. 

John B looked away from the road for a moment to reply, "Yes he cares about us. He's just distracted right now."

I huffed beside him, not convinced. 

 "Let me put it in a way you can understand..." He turned to the road and laughed now, plotting what insult would be the underlying punch line of this 'joke'. "You like working at Howie's? with all the fish guts and old men," He spoke straight-faced.

"I guess so," I replied.

"But you still like school for some reason?" He smiled slightly. 

"Yeah because it's important to me." a slight edge was finding its way to my voice, warning my brother to not insult that part of my life. 

"See you value that differently to work. You care about it selfishly and that's totally fine. Just like Dad does with the Royal Merchant. You do the same thing you know, close yourself off to the world when you study or read a book for school." His voice lifted in joy that his plan had worked.

"I guess. It just bothers me that it's been going on for so long now. He's starting to forget about his other priorities." My voice hung low.

"He'll be back soon." He replied. 

But he wasn't. He never came back. 

- 

Barely ten minutes went by before security showed up. Pope had made a run for it to the van and JJ drove us away, leaving Kie and JB to defend themselves. JJ and Pope argued about where we should head well I sat there silently. The stress was visible on JJ's face. His eyes were overly concentrated on the road and his fingertips had turned white from gripping the wheel so tightly. Pope had retreated after losing the argument, still panting from his thirty feet sprint to the van."You alright?" I asked JJ in a half-whispered voice. I needed to ease the tension; create some sort of distraction. 

He turned for a moment, shocked I had even said a word. "Yeah, you?" His voice uneasy,

"I'm moving out" I spoke clearly. Pope looked up, shocked and proud at the same time. He put his hand on my shoulder without a word. Pope usually takes things like this seriously, always seeing the worst reasons before an explanation. 

"Fair enough, that place is a shit hole." JJ laughed, not taking his eyes off the road. 

"Charming as always JJ," I smiled. "You guys wanna drop me off at Kie's?" 

"Already planned your escape then?" Pope remarked innocently, unaware of my brother's decision. 

I turned around, placing my back against the dash of the van. "Oh no, John B has already made the arrangements. They'll be expecting me any day now." I smiled again. It was exciting in a way; living on the cut with Kie, away from all this chaos. I wanted a fresh start and this was as close as I was gonna get, for now at least. 

"My spider senses are tingling. Lucy is gonna hate it there." JJ smirked. 

"Well just have to see about that." I laughed. 

The rest of the drive was filled with me bragging about my surfing trip with Kie. I hadn't gotten an opportunity to gloat about the swell yet and needed to rub it in JJ's face. Pope enjoyed listening to my recollection of those types of things, "Your exaggerating again Lou, let's be honest here." JJ would remark jokingly. 

"Shut up JJ, she isn't even at the best part yet." Pope would defend me on my behalf.  

-

The moment we arrived at Kie's house I knew something had gone wrong. We caught Kie's dad just in time to find out, John B had been arrested for assault. I rode with him to the police station as Pope and JJ didn't want to face trespassing charges. Mr. C was a kind man but if you cross him, he was a force to be reckoned with. During the drive, we talked about the arrangement for me to move in. "I want Kiara safe Lucy," He said in a very fatherly tone. "Your brother and his friends aren't good for her." 

"I know. John B is definitely an idiot, and not much better can be said about the other two..." I was gazing out the window as I spoke, "This will be a wake-up call for him."

"I hope so, for his and your sake." He replied.