Heated Lies (Jiara)

Payback

When he came back to reality, she was pulling away, warmth leaving him quickly. He turned to lay beside her, losing his balance and making them both flip out of the hammock.

"Shit-" He popped back up to find her laughing on the ground. "Kie, you alright?"

"Yes, you're such a clown." He helped her up, dusting the sand off her clothes.

Looking at him now, his hair was completely messed up, his shirt was wrinkled, and he wasn't even trying to hide his blush. She fucking giggled.

"Come on, I'll drop you off before I go home. It's past 5:30."

"Seriously?" He was shocked at the passed time, hurrying to catch up with her and her black jean shorts.

The feeling didn't end when Kiara dropped him off. He made it all the way to the kitchen, his fluttering feeling still intact. His father's snores echoed throughout the house, and he still didn't change a single thing, practically skipping to his room.

At least, until he saw Rafe leaning against the kitchen counter. Then he made a double take, nearly tripping on thin air.

"Man, what the fuck are you doing here?" He blurted out, stopping dead in his tracks.

Rafe held a finger over his own lips. "Daddy's sleeping."

What was once a completely civil being became enraged. This was a nightmare.

"Shut your trap." His hands were at his sides, ready to throw a punch at any given moment.

"There's a lot of beer bottles around here, JJ. What have you been up to?" Rafe was laughing at his aggression. "Spicy, are we? We've only been here thirty seconds!"

Well, that was more than enough to send him over the edge. He swung at Rafe, knocking over a small metallic mug that was resting near the sink. It clattered to the floor, making his heart drop.

They both waited a beat, as the snoring had stopped. Standing like statues welcomed the tension back into the air. Seconds later, the snoring resumed, and Rafe let out another chuckle.

"Outside. Now." JJ gritted through his teeth.

Rafe held his hands up in mock surrender but he followed anyway. He knew what an addict looked like. Back outside, it was beginning to turn dark. Kelce, Topper, and Barry were waiting for him near his dad's truck.

That's when he noticed a key in Toppers hand. He played with it, biting his lip in anticipation.

"It was my idea." Barry spoke up. "Country club suggested we just rough you up, but daddy's gonna do more harm than we can, won't he?"

JJ began to sweat. Kelce had a shit eating grin lighting up his revolting features.

"What do you want?" If he could've stopped the waver in his voice, he would've.

"Aww, that's just sad." Rafe clicked his tongue.

"Embarrassing." Topper added.

JJ had to take a deep breath to calm down. The back his throat was threatening to close on him.

"Seriously, don't fuck up the truck, he just bought it." He bit his tongue, but it didn't stop the snarky comment from leaving him lips. "Don't you have any sympathy or are you just fucking stupid?"

A small scrape was heard, hurting both his ears and his soul. "Okay!" He pleaded, hands flying up. His voice lowered when Topper retracted the metallic object. "I get it. Whatever you want, I swear."

"Why'd you lie?" He was smiling, enjoying this a little too much. "You're ugly mug was fucked up and I never touched you. Now I owe over a thousand dollars in fucking golf clubs."

Kelce glanced at him and back at JJ. "I know as a Pogue, you've never seen that kind of money before, but it's a shit ton."

JJ's chest was beginning to tighten. His hands were in fists, loosening and resuming every few seconds. His feet shifted in the leaves outside his house, trying to keep himself moving despite feeling absolutely frozen.

"You guys know why. You j-just said it." He ran a tanned hand through this hair. "I didn't think they'd go after you. It was just the first thing that came to mind."

Barry marched up to him, landing a punch right on his jaw. The Maybank stumbled backward, gasping for several seconds. He could feel the blood beginning to run.

"Fucking say it, blondie."

"My d-dad, alright?!" He spit the crimson liquid out on Barry's shoes, suppressing every instinct he had to fight back.

It was his only defense at the time, but it earned a kick to the stomach and then more scraping was heard. JJ was really thinking about making a run for it at this point, but he was outnumbered.

"Please, okay, I didn't mean for it to go that far! You guys don't get it!" The more he begged, the more they laughed at him.

He didn't know what the damage already was, but he did know things could only get worse. He had to do something.

"We're just fucking with you, dude." Rafe suddenly said, pulling him up by the shirt. The glare on JJ's face could've pierced through a brick.

"Fucking with me?" He said in between breaths. His irregular heaving made Barry stifle his laughter. "What's that mean?"

"That truck's been totaled since way before you got here." Kelce said. The way he spoke so proudly like he'd just sold the best punchline in history, it was sickening.

"Yeah. But I'm sure a replacement won't be so hard to come by. Should be over a thousand bucks, though."

A silence passed over them. The smiles on their faces, the slight rustle as the wind made the leaves around them tumble and turn, the way he was 95% sure he'd heard the lights click on in the house behind him. It was all too much.

Again, all he saw was red. Except this time, it was on his hands.