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JJ HADN'T LET GO OF CASSIDY SINCE THEY HAD GOTTEN BACK TO HER HOUSE. He walked besides her as Pope and Kiara made their way to the bathroom to clean him up. The brunette had insisted that they go to her own house but knowing how her father would look at them, they figured Cassidy's empty home was the best choice.
"Do you have any bandaids? Rubbing alcohol?"
Cassidy nodded in response to Kiara's question and opened up the cabinet under the sink, handing the girl the first aid kit with a small frown. She saw JJ disappear up the stairs and squeezed Pope's shoulder in reassurance before making her way after him.
He hadn't said a word to her after his proclamation of love. He'd simply fallen silent and she knew that what Rafe had said to him had to be the answer to his lack of words.
Cassidy gently pushed open the door to her bedroom and admired JJ from his spot on her bed, his eyes locked on the moon that shown through the open windows. She hesitated for a moment before taking a seat next to him, his attention never leaving the window even when she grabbed his hand softly.
"JJ.."
The blonde boy whipped around and winced, tenderly holding his stomach as she felt her own twist. She lifted his shirt to observe the growing bruises, tracing her fingertips over the tainted skin as lightly as she could without causing him pain.
"Did you do it?"
She was taken aback by his question but she knew that the only reasonable answer was telling the truth. She didn't want any secrets between the two of them due to the fear she felt should they come to light later on.
"Yes."
JJ flinched at the words and turned to look out the window again, his head held high. He wanted to scream at her; tell her she was stupid for ever relying on Rafe to make her feel anything that JJ could do himself. He simply couldn't find the effort to raise his voice, exhausted from the beating he had just took.
He was silent for a moment, still focused on the moon and nothing more, and then, quietly, he finally asked the only thing that had been eating away at him since he had found out what had gone down between them. "Did it mean anything to you?"
Cassidy grabbed gently grabbed his jaw, twisting it so that he would look at her again and shook her head. Sleeping with Rafe had been nothing but a lapse of judgement and if she could go back, she would have kicked him to the door without a second thought.
The blonde boy felt the familiar sting of tears and tried to turn away, closing his eyes when she didn't allow him to do so. She knew that she had made an awful choice but she wasn't willing to let JJ go. Not now and not ever.
JJ wiped at his eyes and pulled her into his chest, surprising both himself and her. She had expected him to get up and leave after she had admitted what she had done. She had already prepared herself for the lonely night to come and now here she was, clinging to him as he held her.
