The Deep End » Outer Banks [JJ Maybank] BOOK ONE

XIII: Misstay

misstay
adj. to be "in irons"—i.e., to lose forward momentum—when changing tack.

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The next morning, Lee awoke to a knock at her bedroom door. Rubbing her eyes frantically to try to push away her exhaustion, Lee slowly stood up, cracking her joints from the stiffness that came with falling asleep on the floor. She didn't want to see her mom. She didn't want to see Kiara or Pope or John B. She didn't want to see Cole or Macy. She only wanted to see—

"JJ?" she exhaled softly, opening the door to see a shock of blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

He didn't have a chance to respond before Lee had flung her arms tightly around his neck. All of her anger and her hurt faded as she held him, coiling her fingers in his hair as his arms held her close. For a moment, Lee squeezed her eyes shut, afraid that she was dreaming, but when she opened them again it was all real. She pressed a kiss to his cheek, his nose, his jaw, his forehead, everywhere. His face was littered with bruises and she littered kisses across those, hoping that she could make them better even for a moment.

"I couldn't do it," he whispered hoarsely. "I couldn't do it."

Lee didn't ask what he meant, instead kissing away the salty tears that fell down his cheeks. He cried quietly into her shoulder, gripping the back of her shirt as if it was the only thing keeping him grounded.

"I'm sorry," Lee murmured, letting her forehead fall against JJ's, her eyes squeezed shut. "I'm sorry."

They slowly released each other and Lee scanned JJ's face, taking in the full extent of his bruises. She let her thumb run across his cheekbone and he didn't flinch as it brushed over a cut, his eyes lingering on her. JJ grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips, pressing a kiss against her knuckles. She met his eyes. Instead of their usual bright blue they were stormy, betraying the otherwise neutral expression on JJ's face.

"Are you okay?" she asked softly.

He shrugged slightly, grimacing. "It's no worse than what's happened before."

Lee frowned. "Okay, well, I can get you ice—"

"No," JJ said, cutting Lee off sharply. "We need to get John B."

"What?" Lee asked, her face distorted with confusion. "Why?"

JJ bit his lip nervously. He glanced over his shoulder to the hallway and, once he was sure that there was no one else around, looked back to Lee. "Peterkin talked to me while I was at the station. She showed me pictures of the groupers. Told me what happened to them and said that they're probably after John B."

Lee's mouth fell open in surprise. "That's what I was afraid of," she murmured, shaking her head.

"You were right about them," JJ confirmed, placing his hands on Lee's shoulders. "We gotta get John B before he gets himself hurt."

Lee nodded in agreement. "Okay, yeah," she said, stretching her arms. "Just let me tell my mom I'm leaving."

JJ smiled as Lee walked downstairs to talk to her mother. She knocked on her mom's door and entered slowly.

"Mom?" she said, eyeing her mother reading in a chair by the window. "Hey, JJ and I are going to John B's, okay?"

Her mother raised a skeptical eyebrow at her. "That's fine, honeybee, just be careful, okay? I know that boy means a lot to you, but it's okay to place yourself first sometimes, too. If he hurts you, remind him that we still have your father's old handgun lying around somewhere and that I'm still able to shoot."