In Deep Water || JJ Maybank

five

*Popping in for a trigger warning in this chapter.*

"Princess kook, it's time to wake up," a voice whispered in my ear.

I opened my eyes slightly, noticing it was still dark outside. Turning my head, I saw JJ's face staring back at me.

"JJ it's still dark out. What time is it? Why are you waking me up?" I groaned.

"Just come with me. I wanna show you something," he said, grabbing my hand.

"If you're planning on walking downstairs in my house you need to put more clothes on," I said.

"Getting dressed as we speak," he said, smiling at me.

Once he had a shirt and shorts on again, he grabbed my hand and led me down the stairs. We went to the backyard, and he pulled me onto our boat.

"JJ, the keys to this are inside," I said, pulling him back.

"No, they aren't. I swiped them when we walked out here," he smiled.

"You dirty thief!" I said, wrapping my arms around him.

"Time is of the essence baby, and it's not stealing. It's borrowing. Now c'mon," he said, picking me up and putting me on the boat.

He climbed up after me and headed to the wheel. I sat in the cabin with him, watching him steer the boat away from my house.

"When are you going to tell me what's going on? We left Pope and Kie in my house alone," I said.

"I told you already. I want to show you something. Telling you now would ruin the surprise. Live in the suspense," he said.

I could almost hear the smirk on his face as he told me to be patient. I sunk back in my seat, sighing. A few minutes of silence passed before JJ stopped the boat.

"We're here," he said, walking out to drop the anchor.

"We're in the middle of nowhere, how is this," I said, motioning to the water, "here?"

"Come out here and sit with me," he said, patting the spot next to him.

I walked over to him and took a seat. He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his side. I looked around and noticed we were in the marsh. It was still dark, so I couldn't tell exactly where in the marsh we were.

"I wanted to take you to watch the sunrise on the marsh. It's something John B and I used to do when life was simpler and we needed to escape from our fucked-up lives. It always made me happy, and I wanted to make you happy," he said, bringing his Juul between his lips.

"Who would've known tough guy JJ could be such a sweetheart," I said, smiling, "but it means a lot that you wanted to share this with me."

"I haven't been able to bring myself to do this since what happened. It didn't feel right without him. I would've brought Kie and Pope, but that felt wrong too," he said, "Something about you though, it just felt like I should bring you here."

I grabbed the Juul from his hand, taking a long hit. I lowered it from my lips and looked at him. He was staring out at the water, and he looked lost in thought.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked.

"John B would've liked you. If he were here right now, he probably would give me this big ass lecture about being careful not to fuck up the best thing I've got going for me. He'd bring up all the dumb shit I did in the past and do everything he could to drill it in my thick skull that this was a good thing I had going," he said.