𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 ━ 𝐣𝐣 𝐨𝐛𝐱

part twenty nine

trigger warning: (abuse, sadness)

the pogues and sarah filled riley in on everything after that. after making a plan to get the gold the following night, the group split to go separate ways; john b and sarah went off together, and the remaining three were in charge of getting supplies for their mission.

"i still can't believe you guys found it," riley shook her head as she pulled into the chateau, kiara and pope accompanying her in the car.

"not the big idiots you thought we were anymore huh?" kiara joked.

"i've never called you guys idiots," riley replied.

"no i'm pretty sure you have," pope said earning a soft laugh from riley. the three teens climbed out of the car and gathered at the trunk to start carrying in materials.

"what did you call this thing again?" kiara asked pope as she grabbed one of the tools from the bag. "a wench?"

"i feel like that name could be used as an insult," riley said.

"then i'll make sure to remember it." kiara offered her sister a fake smile, not one meant in a cruel way but one meant teasingly.

"i think this is the longest amount of time i've ever seen you two around each other for," pope chuckled and both of the girls scoffed in response. just as kiara was about to open her mouth to make a snarky remark, a whirring sound rang through the air and soon the area around them was illuminated by various lights.

"what is that?" riley questioned, looking between the two in confusion.

"no idea," pope replied, looking just as lost as she was.

"who the hell is that?" kie scoffed, letting her eyes fall on something in the distance. the darkness that had once engulfed the backyard of the chateau was no longer there, and instead a brightly lit hot tub was visible to the three teens.

they all slowly made their way towards the tub that was embellished with hundreds of small bulbs that hung from strings. their eyes simultaneously all landed on jj, who was sitting calmly in the steaming water.

a bottle of champagne in his hand and flashy sunglasses perched upon the bridge of his nose, the boy flashed a small smile to the crew that had just approached him.

riley tore her eyes away from the blonde to look at pope and kiara, but neither of them gave her any hope that this behavior was normal for jj.

"what did you do, jj?" pope breathed out, shaking his head with furrowed brows.

"i got a jet going straight up my butt right now," jj chuckled, gently splashing at the water. "y'all should get in immediately. you hear me? salute!"

the bubbling of the water was the only noise that could be heard within the silent and thick tension that surrounded the backyard. no one knew what to say as their eyes remained on the drunken boy smiling goofily to himself in the tub.

"jj.." riley mumbled under her breath so silently she didn't think anyone would have heard it; it caught jj's attention however. he pulled his shades down to the tip of his nose so he could get a better look at the girl.

"riley? that you?" jj said, almost eagerly. "aw come on, you have to get in!"

"how much did this cost you?" pope asked abruptly.

jj connected his lips straight to the mouth of the champagne bottle and took a long swig. "uh, well... with the generator, the petrol, oh oh and the express delivery... uh pretty much all of it, yeah."

all of the money that he had stolen from that basehead? riley thought to herself. she couldn't even piece together her thoughts at this point because of how little sense this all made.

"all of it? you spent all of the money in one day!" pope yelled.

riley looked over at her sister who was just as silent as she. fear for the boy was evident in her features which only caused the pit in riley's stomach to grow heavier.

"i mean like guys... we- you only live once, right?" jj exclaimed. "enough of this emotional shit, get in the cat's ass, come on."

"in the what?" kiara finally spoke, in a voice so low it could hardly be considered a whisper.

"in the cat's ass," jj chuckled to himself glancing around the water again. "that's what i named her. oh hey, i almost forgot." the boy pushed a button and water began to spurt up from the sides of the tub and colorful lights appeared as well. "disco mode!"

"are you kidding me?" pope screamed. "you could've paid for restitution!"

"or literally given it to any charity!" kie added.

"or better yet you could be helped us buy supplies to get the rest of the gold out of the well!" pope shouted. jj closed his eyes and shook his head, and riley noticed his chest begin to rise and full much faster than it was before.

"okay well, you guys know what? i didn't do that!" jj yelled, climbing up onto his feet in a wobbly manor which left his stomach fully exposed to the teens. their eyes immediately fell upon the bruises that trailed up the boy's ribs.

riley had cleaned up jj after a fight just a couple weeks ago. she knew that he got himself into trouble more often than not; however, she couldn't believe her eyes as she scanned her eyes up and down the blue and purple marks that littered his tan skin. she couldn't even begin to imagine the fight that had caused this, or who had done it for that matter. she hoped it hadn't been one of her friends.

"i got a hot tub! for my friends. i got a hot tub for my friends. you know what, screw friends. i got a hot tub for my family!" jj told them, his eyes beginning to rim red and gloss over.

"jj," kiara choked out which claimed riley's attention. kiara's brows were knitted together and a tear escaped from one of her eyes. this only made it more clear to riley that this behavior was not normal for jj, and whatever had caused the bruises had been more serious then just a simple dust up.

"no stop being emotional. its fine! okay?" jj choked out, trying so hard to keep his tears in but he had no luck. "i mean, it's sweet, right?"

riley's head became fuzzy at the sadness she felt begin to swallow her whole. movement became a blur to riley as she watched her sister climb into the tub and hold jj tightly in her arms. he began to sob into kiara's shoulder, shaking harshly against her body.

"i just couldn't do it," he choked out.

once the first tear escaped from riley's eye she couldn't prevent the other ones from following in its path down her cheeks, pooling underneath her chin and sticking to her neck.

"i can't take him anymore."

him.

riley stood at a distance as pope walked up to kiara and jj. he instantly wrapped his arms around the two as jj continued to weep.

"i was gonna kill him!"

him.

riley stayed frozen in her spot, unable to move as she connected the pieces in her head. she remembered overhearing bits and pieces of conversations between kiara and their mother about jj's rough home life; but, she could have never imagined this.

him,

his dad.

jj's own father had done this to him.

and riley had never known that this was the life jj maybank had to live.