She was the first person he trusted with his secret. His safe place.
He was the first guy she let all the way in. He could ground her when nobody else could.
-
"𝐓𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, �...
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I wake up with my head on JJ's chest. He still slept soundly underneath me. It was late in the morning, I could tell by how hot it had already gotten in the house.
I press a soft kiss to JJ's cheek, making him stir in his sleep. I kiss him again, closer to his mouth. He stirs again, rolling over this time. I climb on top of him, straddling him. I lean down and pepper his cheek with kisses until he wakes up.
"Kat.." He groans groggily.
"Good morning, baby." I whisper.
He looks up at me, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He shakes his head with a smile before pulling me down to kiss him. He presses his soft lips to mine in a lingering kiss.
"What time is it?" He asks.
"Late, we slept in." I tell him.
"Oh." He says sitting up. He kisses me again before standing up with me still wrapped around him. I let out a giggle as he struggles to stand. I drop my feet to the ground once's he's standing.
I pull a swimsuit on before pulling a pair of shorts over the bottoms.
~~~
That evening we all hung out outside. Kie and Pope were working on how to get the large amount of gold out of the well.
"How's it feeling?" Pope asks Kie, who was testing out the pulley system in one of my trees. They had thrown a rope over one of the thick branches in the tree. Kie sat in a bucket to see how sturdy it was.
"Feels good."
"Alright I'm taking you down."
JJ sat on the edge of the hot tub while I stood in the hot tub between his legs. I had my hands on his thighs, facing him. He had one on the small of my back and a beer in the other.
"John B pulling a Houdini." JJ notices my brother's absence.
"Yeah, where is he?" Pope agrees. "I got my scholarship interview tomorrow. We gotta get this done."
"Speak of the devil. Hey!" I follow to where JJ was looking and spot my brother. "Dude, I set up the entire winch to pull up the gold and everything."
"No he did not. I did that." Pope corrects.
John B ignores everything said to him and just trudges across the yard, into the house.
"Okay, that's it?" JJ asks.
"Uhh, What was that all about?" Pope questions, walking up the stairs to the house.
"I was gonna ask you the same question." JJ says climbing out of the tub. I follow and walk toward the house.
Inside John B was going through everything in our house, evidently looking for something. Objects clatter as he scatters them across the house.
"You alright, man? What- what's up?" Pope asks
"What are you looking for?" Kie calls out.
"John B, talk to us!" I plead.
"Bro, what's going on?" JJ questions.
John B reaches under the cushion of the couch and pulls out the gun.
"John B, what do you need the gun for?" JJ steps toward him. "Talk to us!"
John B grabs JJ and throws him on the pullout, moving him out of the way. Anger sparks in me.
"John B, get off him! What the hell is wrong with you?" I step in front of him trying to get him to stop. He shoulder bumps me, hard, sending me into the wall.
He continues to walk toward the door. This time Pope gets in the way.
"What are you doing?" Kie yells.
John B pushes Pope against the dining table. Dishes clatter to the ground, being knocked off the table.
I move toward JJ, checking to see if he was okay. I grab his forearm getting him to look at me. "I'm okay." He says answering my unspoken question. "You?" I nod rubbing the shoulder that had collided with the wall.
We all focus back on John B, chasing him out of the house.
"John B, what the fuck?" I yell. "You need to tell me what the hell is going on!"
He ignores me, getting on the dirt bike and starting the engine.
"John B, what the hell?" Kie asks running after him.
"Ward knows about the gold." John B finally says. He turns back to look at us, he connects eyes with me. "He killed our dad."
Kie still chased after him. "John B!" Pope and JJ follow.
A gasp escapes my lips. I stop running, shocked. It felt like someone knocked the wind out of me. I felt tears well up in my eyes. I knew he was dead but I didn't think he was murdered.
JJ stops running after John B and turns back to look at me. "Kat?"
I reach up to wipe the tears that were rolling down my cheeks. I walk toward him, wrapping my arms around his waist as I let out a sob. His hand moves into my hair, pulling me into his chest. "I know baby, I know."
