𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚍𝚘𝚎𝚜𝚗'𝚝 𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 - jj x kiara

- chapter twenty six -

"JJ!" I cried out.

I refused to lose him again.

"JJ, I swear to God, if you don't answer me, I will find you and hurt you - !" I knew (and he probably did too) I wouldn't actually ever do that, but I couldn't think of anything else.

For a moment, I stood and planted myself in the sand, closing my eyes and trying to hear something - anything - besides the crashing of waves on the shore and sounds of birds in the distance.

I opened my eyes a minute later and looked around.

Suddenly, I sensed movement out of the corner of my eye and I turned to look.

There he was.

JJ was making his way to me... which was completely and utterly unexpected.

"Kiara," He breathed once he came up to me, towering over me.

I looked up at him and tipped my head, "I didn't think you would listen."

He chuckled throatily, "Well, you did threaten to hurt me,"

"True,"

"I'm sorry, Kie."

I smiled gently and shook my head, "Why are you sorry? It's my fault."

"Sorry for leaving without a note or anything. I just wanted to walk around and clear my head once before we leave."

"Understandable,"

"Did I hear you talking to... Rafe?" JJ asked, his voice clipped.

"I - yeah. But we can't let that stop us!"

"Of course not, but we have to consider it. I wonder how he got here... don't worry, Kie." I could tell he wanted to say more but restrained himself after looking at the expression I held.

I nodded and sighed. His words reassured me the way no one else's words did.

"So should we get back to them?" He questioned.

"Um, yeah, I actually wanted to tell you something. About... us?" There was a nervous edge creeping into my voice, and I wasn't able to control it.

"Us? What about us?"

I was taken aback at the tone of his voice. It was quick and harsh, unlike what I thought it might have been.

"Uh - you know. Like, how... we're mixed into different things and how it's complicated and - ?"

"Kie, I've liked you for the longest time, and I think I've accepted that you won't ever feel the same way. Should we head back now?"

Something about the way he had said it made me want to scream and punch and cry all at the same time. JJ was all business; his voice was flat without a trace of emotion. Like he was stating the facts and nothing more.

"But - I..."

JJ didn't give me any time to say anything else.

He just took my hand and began leading me back to our friends.