𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐅𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐃─𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬

one hundred sixteen.

─☼☼☼─

FOR WHAT FELT like the fifth day in a row, Charlotte had barely slept.

Between the fact that JJ was still missing, and the fact that she had her lips against Rafe's less than twenty four hours ago, Charlotte's mind was running absolutely rampant. Too many emotions to even begin to decipher how she felt.

The garden was her only current reprieve. But even with her hands covered in soil, her mind was still on Rafe and JJ. She couldn't decide which one was giving her more turmoil.

The sun beat down over head, causing her to swipe at the sweat that had gathered on her brow. She'd been out there since morning, desperately trying to free herself from the prison that was her own mind. It was doing little to help, but it beat sitting at the shop with Kiara who she swore somehow knew what Charlotte had done with Rafe.

Charlotte tried to remind herself that she didn't care what her sister thought, but she knew that was a lie anyway. She cared. A lot. She also tried to remind herself that kissing Rafe was a mistake, but she knew that was a lie too. 

"Hey, Charls."

He said it so casually, Charlotte thought she was dreaming for a second as she looked up from the plants in front of her, squinting beneath the sun. She brought her hand up to shield her eyes, still convinced she was imagining it.

But, sure enough, JJ Maybank came walking across the property, acting as if he hadn't been missing for the past twenty four hours.

Relief flooded through Charlotte, so intense she was forced to bring a hand to her chest to steady her heart. But beneath that relief was an anger that had been clawing to get out.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" She demanded, emotions pulling at her face as she wiped her hands on her pants. "Where the hell have you been, JJ?"

JJ rubbed at the back of his neck, giving her a sheepish look. "Where are the others?"

Charlotte undid the fence latch, stepping out from the garden to come face to face with her best friend. "They'll be here soon," she answered, arms crossed against her chest. "Now answer my question."

He wouldn't meet her eyes as he leaned up against the fence. "Nowhere. It's nothin'."

"Bullshit," Charlotte fired back, immediately calling his bluff. "I know when you're lying to me." She could tell by the way he walked up there that something had happened.

Letting out a deep exhale through is nose, JJ shook his head. "It's just my dad."

Ice ran through Charlotte's veins, coated with a fiery hot anger towards the sorry excuse of a man that was Luke Maybank. There were a million things she wanted to say about JJ's father, a million questions, but only one left her lips. "Are you okay?"

Finally looking up at her, JJ squinted beneath the sunset. "Not really sure how to answer that."

Charlotte's anger facade dropped immediately, replaced with sadness. There was one person on this Earth who could hurt JJ like no other, and that was his own father.

"J, I'm sorry," she said softly. "He's a sorry excuse for a man and an even sorrier excuse for a father. You don't deserve that shit."