P4L | Outer Banks | JJ Maybank

The Pogues Find Out

The next morning Cory woke in the corner of her childhood bedroom.

It was a room she hadn't actually spent a night in in a long time. Not since Paris had stopped having sleepovers with her.

Cory woke, her body aching from the cuts and bruises littering her body, but also from the shitty sleeping position she had been contorted into. She glanced at her bed, about 5 feet from her. Why couldn't he have put her in her bed? Or maybe he did, and she was the shitty kid who refused his help. She couldn't remember.

She managed to sit up, wincing multiple times along the way. She glanced down, looking at the state of her body. Clearly, her dad didn't care what people thought. Paris would go crazy, but her dad? Not so much.

Cory had bruises and actively bleeding cuts in places that she couldn't cover up. Not at this time of year. It was mid-summer in the OBX. There was nothing other than shorts and bikinis. Cory groaned, realizing she was either going to have to show off the bruises to the world or ask Kie for some makeup to cover it up. Either way, eyes other than her own would be seeing the damage her father had caused.

She managed to pull herself to her feet, despite the aching and made her way to her closet. She grabbed some clean clothes, something she hadn't had in days and managed to pull them onto her body without hurting herself anymore.

Cory glanced back into the closet, getting a glimpse of something hidden in the back.

She reached for it, pulled it out gently, and realized it was a shell necklace. A homemade necklace that she and her mother had put together when she was young. Real young. Her eyes softened. Her mom had found the very shell on the beach. It was a miniature conch shell, though in perfect condition besides the hole drilled through it to put the string through.

It had a little 'C' pendant next to it as well as an 'M' for 'mom'.

Cory's eyes welled with tears as she pulled it onto her neck.

Then she grabbed a light beach hoodie to cover as many of the bruises as she could before sneaking her way downstairs.

At the bottom, she found her dad, unconscious on the couch, his knuckles littered with bruises. At least he wasn't leaving unscathed.

Cory snuck past him, reaching the door and silently moving through it. She moved away from her childhood home and towards her real home. The Chateau.

When she made it to the Chateau, John B and JJ were waking up from their beauty sleep.

"Hey, boys," Cory said, her throat screaming at her.

"Core," JJ greeted, rubbing his eyes.

"Did I miss anything last night?" Cory asked.

"Oh, did you?" John B chuckled, already making his way to the kitchen. Cory sat down on any chair she could find. "Well, we found a message, from my dad." John B proceeded to explain that Big John left John B a message to finish his work in finding the Royal Merchant. It was out there, and the Pogues were determined to find it.

At this point, JJ was finally letting himself wake up. John B had finished his explanation and he lowered his voice.

"Hey, Cory?" He asked.

"Mhm?" Cory responded through a mouthful of the cereal John B had just fed her.

"What happened last night?" he asked.

Cory slowly stopped chewing. She froze. She swallowed quickly before deciding her answer.

"I–"

"Please tell the truth," John B said.

"I-it was my dad," Cory muttered, playing with the cereal in front of her.

JJ groaned, sitting down in the chair next to Cory. He glanced at her next to him, his eyes widening.

"Core-"

"I know," she said meekly. She looked up at him, finding his eyes looked as if he had been the one beaten up.

"What," JJ said breathlessly. "What happened?"

"My dad," Cory muttered.

"Has he always been like this?" John B asked. Cory nodded without looking at him. "Oh, Cory."

"I know," she muttered. "I didn't wanna tell you guys."

"Why not?"

"I–I just," she shook her head. "I dunno. I just couldn't bring myself to."

They were all silent for a second. Then, JJ spoke.

"So this happened because I took you home yesterday?" he asked.

Cory's head snapped up at the now increasingly saddened JJ. She placed a hand on his arm.

"No," she reassured. "Not at all. It was gonna happen no matter what. Just depended on when I finally went home."

JJ looked up at her, his eyes watering.

Cory held her arms out to him, which he quickly took, pulling himself in for a hug. She winced in pain but allowed him to squeeze her.

Then he pulled away. "Can I clean them?"

Cory smiled lightly and then nodded.

JJ turned to John B, who was already handing him the first aid kit.

JJ lightly grabbed Cory's hand, pulling her to the bathroom. When they got in, JJ gestured for Cory to sit on the counter, and she did as instructed.

She pulled off the hoodie, and her t-shirt and shorts, leaving her in just her swimsuit. JJ's face softened at the sight of even more cuts and bruises.

They spent the next few minutes in silence, as JJ began cleaning her up.

Eventually, JJ just whispered, "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, Jay," Cory whispered back.

"You know how my dad is, right?" he asked after a moment. Cory nodded lightly. "So why wouldn't you tell me?"

Cory shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I just didn't want y'all to think I was weak."

"I would never," JJ said. "If anything, I understand, Cory."

She was silent for a few moments. "I know."

"And now I know," JJ said. Cory finally looked up at him. Their faces were inches apart, JJ's hand resting on her knee. "I won't let it happen again."

Cory rolled her eyes, breaking the tension clean in half. "He's not gonna stop."

"I'll make him stop."

They didn't say anything else until Cory was reclothed and on her way to the HMS Pogue to pick everyone else up.

JJ whistled as they cruised through the marina, clearly feeling much more like his usual self. "You guys see that?" He asked, jutting his head towards a boat. "That's the Malibu 24-MXZ, the world's finest wake setter. Number one in luxury, quality, and performance. 200K, easy."

"We picked the wrong parents," Pope muttered, before apologetically looking at Cory for his poor joke. She lightly smiled in response. Kiara and Pope had both had questions about the bruises littering her body when they picked them up, so now all of the Pogues knew about her home life.

"Well, look who is riding on that thing," Cory commented as they rode by.

Standing on the wake setter was Topper and Sarah Cameron, kook princess. They were standing in an almost comedic sort of pose, Topper's arm snaked around her waist.

"You don't have to act like you don't see us, bitch," Kie said just a little too loudly.

Cory raised an eyebrow at her and Kie made a joking face.

"What?" she asked, chuckling. Cory let out a laugh. She didn't notice, but behind her, JJ was grinning ear to ear, suddenly noticing how much that laugh brightened his day.