WILDFLOWER ↳ JJ MAYBANK | 5

four.

"I said it. I said it again and again. I said don't touch the last of our nugget. That was it. That was the last of our savings. Do you not care?" Pope was shouting, has hand gesturing angrily towards JJ who was leaning against his bike, the weight of the loss weighing heavily on all of them. It was silent, apart from Popes scolding.

"Pope you saw what happened, man! He stole it. Okay? He cheated and he stole it. That's not my fault, Pope!" JJ argued back, his mind clouded by Rafe, by what Rafe had done, by how much he hated Rafe, by the fact that it was Rafes fault.

"Do you know how selfish you sound?" Pope shouted back, shaking his head at JJs delusion. It was no one's fault but his own.

"You shouldn't have bet it in the first place." June said, shaking her head as he gestured towards him, knowing he needed to be given the reality of the situation. It was his fault.

"I sound selfish? I was trying to help us out." JJ shouted, turning away from Pope and pointing to June who had put her input in. "I don't need you on me too."

"You helped us. You just cost us everything. Thank you." Pope said, scoffing at how crazy he  sounded. He was trying to help? He never thought before he acted.

"JJ, why are you making it sound like you had nothing to do with it?" Kie said next, gesturing to him , her vice filled with a bit of sympathy, trying to give him some relief from the yelling he was getting but still needing to get a point across .

"Okay. Kie...Kie. You know me. Okay? I was gonna bet it all. That's who I am." JJ said, gesturing to himself as everyone started to give him the third degree.

"You should've talked to us first. It too risky this time." Kie said, shaking her head as the reality of the situation started to sink in on everyone. He fucked them all over. They had no money, and they had bills to pay. They were fucked.

"And what were you doing?! You knew he had it and you just let him race?" Popes attention turned to John B, the boy looking downcast and  defeated on the stairs.

"He told me last minute, alright?" John B said, his tone defensive as he gestured towards JJ. John Bs inclusion set JJ off, his voice raising to yell at John B.

"John B, look, man. You were supposed to cover—"

"I did cover!"

"You were supposed to—" They all started to shout over each other, the three boys arguing before Cleo shouted to get them to stop.

"How bad is it, Pope?"

"How bad is it? We have a $13,000 property tax payment due in seven days. And we have zero working capital. There is nothing. And you took the last of our savings. So thank you." Pope said, shaking his head at JJ. It went silent for a moment before June couldn't help but to talk, her eyes closing briefly before us spoke.

"I can cover it, Pope. I already told you I could—" June was cut off by Pope, shaking his head and  crossing his arms over his chest. He wasn't going to budge on this decision.

"No! No...we're not taking money from you. I told you before...it's not happening." They all looked at each other, but Pope was the decider here, and they all knew that taking money from June as snot something they wanted to do. She had worked hard for her money, for her job, for her store. They couldn't even accept it.

"You guys are going to lose everything. You're going to—" Pope cut her off again, not wanting to hear anymore of it.

"Good. Let us lose everything. Maybe it'll give him some sense, and make him realize he can't just do whatever the hell he wants!" Pope said, gesturing angrily towards JJ before he stalked off, leaving the rest of them all looking after him. June ran a hand over her face the remnants of alcohol still in her system as she shook her head, letting out a sigh.

"I'll cover it guys." June said, looking towards JJ, really only needing his validation.

"June...Popes right. We're not taking your money. JJ got us into this mess..now he needs to figure his way out of it."  Sarah said, shaking her head at Junes offer, all of them agreeing with nods or yeahs other then JJ, who was seething. This was a hard loss for him, a bruise on his ego, on his reputation, and it was personal. Being bested by Rafe again was more personal than anything else he could think of.  Rafe... the only person that got under his skin, the only person who got under Junes skin. The only guy who has been on Junes skin.  It made him sick to even sit in the failure, to even think about it. Out of everyone...it was always Rafe.

He shook his head, taking off in the opposite direction of Pope, needing a moment alone, hoping and praying that June wouldn't follow him. However he knew she loved him, and she did follow him after a few minutes, the boy leaning against the dock and looking out at the water as her hand pressed to his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" She asked softly, her eyebrows furrowed in concern as she looked to him with a sympathetic look. He clenched his jaw, trying not to let too much emotion on his face.

"I'm fine."

"Baby, you're not fine..." She said, her arms wrapping slowly around his torso, her cheek pressing to his back as she pulled herself against him.  He stayed in the same position, leaning against the railing of the dock, his fingers digging into the wood. "We're gonna figure it out. They'll get over it."

"It was stupid. I know...I know I never think. But I just—I thought I could win. I was sure I could win." He said, finally revealing a little bit of his thought profess. "I thought there was no way I would lose. That they were all going to be  appreciative when I tripled out money and got us out of debt. I fucked it up."

"I know...I know thats what you were thinking. You should've won. You were right...he cheated. But you can't blame others for everything." She knew not to say his name, to mention who he was. Rafe was the antagonist in JJs story, there was no one that JJ hated more than Rafe. There was no one who had caused him more strife than Rafe. And now he'd cost them the rest of everything. At least that's how JJ saw it in his eyes.

"Did he say anything to you? Before or after the race?" This was exactly where June hadn't wanted the conversation to go, JJ turning in her arms and looking down at her, his eyes holding a questioning look. He tried to sift through the memories of the day, trying to remember if he had seen them interact.

"No...not really. But when you crashed I tried to run over to you. He grabbed me because Topper almost ran me over."  June said, her eyes tracing over his face as she told him the truth. Time to lie was in the past. She knew lying about anything pertaining to Rafe was a bad idea. JJs jaw clenched again, his head shaking as he let go of her arms.

"He grabbed you? How did he grab you?"

"He just kind of pulled me. And then he told me he saved my life after I pushed him away."  June said, anger burning in her at the memory. JJ nodded a little, looking towards the water and then back down to her.

"They're right...you're not covering that money. I made this mess...I'm gonna have to figure out how to fix it. And taking money from my girlfriend isn't the right thing to do." JJ said, June feeling dread in her body as he said it. Of course he didn't want to take her money, of course he agreed with Pope. All of this meant one thing, one thing that June knew was going to keep her up at night...they were back in the game.