'she's kook fuckin' royalty, man.'
✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄♔⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧
a lot of things go unnoticed in the outer banks. things like missing millions in gold, underage drinking, and the bruises that litter the skin of the kook princess.
✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄♔⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
( the stupid thing )
✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄♔⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧
THEIR BLANKETS DISCARDED, JJ AND LUCY LAY SIDE BY SIDE ON THE CHATEAU'S DOCK, BASKING IN THE WARMTH OF THE MORNING SUN.
Lucy knew the sunrise was ushering in her reckoning, but she couldn't bring herself to care.
Maybe JJ hadn't been making things sound too simple after all — perhaps she could avoid Rafe, and her parents, and the Figure Eight, and she could run with the Pogues for the rest of her days. Would that really be so bad?
Yes, Lucy reasoned. Yes it would.
It was a heady sensation, this taste of supposed freedom, but Lucy knew it wouldn't, and couldn't, last much beyond this sunrise. She would have to see Sarah — no, she wanted to see Sarah — and so she would need to see Rafe. She would need to face the music.
JJ let out a soft sigh, the noise startling Lucy out of her own thoughts. She turned to face him, and watched as he stretched out his arms before positioning them underneath his head. Tanned muscles flexed as she studied him, taking in the way his sun-bleached hair fell across his forehead. A smirk tugged at one corner of his mouth.
Either he was about to make some smart-ass comment, or that was just his usual expression.
"What?" Lucy asked, suspicious. "Why are you smiling like that?" He shifted his gaze slowly until his eyes met hers.
"Just thinking," JJ drawled, "The Pogue lifestyle seems to be growing on you, princess. I mean— sunrise on a janky dock with a casual pothead, running away from the country club, sinking a yacht..." His voice trailed off, interrupted by her laughter.
"A 'casual' pothead?" Lucy's voice dripped with sarcasm, and JJ's smile widened.
"Guilty as charged," he laughed, "And the rest of it?"
Lucy shrugged (as well as she could, given she was lying down). "Guilty as charged."
A beat passed.
"Are you worried?" Lucy said, without really thinking. She rushed to clarify. "About John B, I mean." JJ sighed, but it didn't hide the tension in his shoulders.
"It's classic JB shit," he quipped, but the sarcasm didn't quite hit home, "He'll be fine. Always is. Hell, he's probably planning our next treasure hunt right now, drugged out of his mind." Though he was trying to joke, Lucy could see through it.
"You're scared," she said, softly. It wasn't a question. JJ's jaw clenched, and he nodded. Once. Very final.
"I mean..." He trailed off, then tried again. "He's basically my brother. Seeing him like that last night, all banged up and out cold... yeah, I'd be lying if I said it hadn't messed with me."
