All That Glitters

His Father

Tw: child abuse

"You his guardian?"

"Sorry to say it, I'm his father."

"Well, hearing will be in two weeks. If you fail to show up, you will forfeit your bail. The restitution will be based on the average of three outside estimates of the cost of the damaged article."

"Restitution?" Luke's voice made JJ jump. He bit his lip where the scab had formed.

"Pay for what he broke. It's part of the plea." Luke glared at him. That godawful frown made his heart race. He tried his best not to look him in the eye. "Yeah, and, sign here, please." Luke scribbled his signature.

"Aight, let's go. Go, now!" JJ didn't say a word as they walked out of the station.

Luke groveled on their way to his truck. "I wonder what restitution is gonna be on a two-thousand-nineteen Malibu."

JJ held his hands in his pockets. "I'll pay it off, all of it. I swear it, Dad."

"Shit. Thirty-k? When you gonna clear that, big guy? When all you do is smoke weed and hang out on the south side?" JJ bit his lip again. "Huh? Get in the car."

He hesitated. Only because he could feel his claws digging into his palms. And that was a bad sign.

"Now!"

JJ calmly climbed inside the same time as his father. Buckled up too.

"Dad, I swear—" He didn't get to finish when his jaw snapped back and his lip reopened at the force of his father's jab. Blood splattered from his mouth onto the window.

"Thirty thousand dollars! Do you know what you did to me?!" Luke slammed him against the door a few times before laying another punch to his cheek. JJ yelped in surprise. He went to inspect his cheek with his hand but Luke used that moment to continue dealing blows.

JJ wanted to pass out. Anything really. To stop his body from betraying him. Luke stopped when he saw JJ holding his jaw. And JJ used every ounce of his willpower to keep himself from tearing into his father's neck.

Somehow, he made it to his house. Where he barricaded himself in his room while Luke blasted some loud music and berated him from the kitchen.

JJ covered his ears and wept. He needed John B. Or Pope. Or Kie. Any of them really. To get him out of this hell. Too many things were happening. He couldn't control it all like this. Rafe had stolen the ring.

His teeth had already sharpened and grown out in the car on their way over. His cheek stung from the bruises still. It was only a matter of time before all his senses took over. He'd planted a chair underneath his door handle to keep Luke from barging in to finish the job. And to stop himself from going feral on his father.

He wept into a stray blanket on his bed and screamed into his pillow as the changes swept over him. Every instinct in his body told him to get out of there. Eliminate the threat. He wanted desperately to drown them out but they just kept coming. Stronger and more powerful than the last.

His ribs had bruised in the fight the night before. Which made it that much more painful to go through it all. He didn't even want to think about it. Just breathed through it feeling the changes numb every bruise, every scrape but radiate through every bone.

His jaw clicked and he screamed as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Losing consciousness almost immediately.

JJ awoke to the sound of a rooster clucking, the taste of iron raking across his tongue, and the scent of the marsh.

"What...the—?" He brought his hand to his face. "Oh." He felt light headed as the sight drove him to the marsh. Wash it off. Wash it all off.

He hadn't blacked out like that since the seventh grade. A shallow sigh escaped him as he inspected himself. His shirt was in tatters. Obvious claw marks and slashes along the slick fabric. His shorts weren't as badly damaged but it took everything in him to stop himself from throwing up.

There was blood covering everything. Hot tears pulled in his eyes. A whimper and a sob at the thought of what terrors he'd just committed.

When he heard a branch break out on the land, his head snapped up to see John B walking out from the woods. Hanging his head with a smile and an unknown vehicle parked just out of sight maybe a good eight hundred feet behind him. His mind wondered as to how he ended up out there by the Chateau.

JJ washed off as much as he could and went up behind John B. He clasped his hand around John B's mouth. And understandably, John B thought he was being attacked so he fought back and ended up knocking JJ on his ass.

"Hey, stop. It's me, JJ. Stop stop." He said in a hushed tone.

"What're you doing!" JJ covered his mouth again as he shouted and slammed him against the shed's wall.

"Shhhhh." JJ pulled him up and pointed at the car parked off of John B's driveway. "We got people watching us, bro."

"Why are you dressed like a hobo? Is that blood?"

"Shush. It's not about me. Come on. Sneak around to the dock."

"Okay, once we get outta here, you're gonna spill." John B followed him out to the dock through the marsh.

They threaded through some of the tall grass growing out there to give them some cover. "You got the keys to the Pogue?" JJ whispered.

"Yeah. Yeah."

They waded through the water to the dock and pulled themselves onto the Pogue. Carefully setting her free and staying low so no one would see them. John B revved the engine and took off for some open water away from there.

"Alright, JJ. Spill. What's going on with you? Why are you covered in blood? Do I even wanna know?"

JJ brushed his dripping hair out of his face as he sat down.

"I blacked out, John B."