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𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻: 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘄

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Pope had taken Heyward's truck back to the Château with Cassie and Kiara since John B and Sarah had left to go back to Tannyhill. That meant the former three would have to set up their supplies in advance of retrieving the gold down in the well.

"So we gotta be done before my scholarship interview in the morning," Pope told them before he parked the truck at the Château.

"Oh, yeah. The Lucas T. Vanderhorst Scholarship," Cassie recalled with a nod.

Pope looked over Kiara at Cassie since she had been closest to the passenger side door. "You remembered?" He asked, his eyes glimmering.

"Well, yeah. I was sober when you told me, right?" She replied, titling her head.

"Cece, that's not funny," Kiara told her, shaking her head. "We gotta focus."

"Sheesh, I thought it was funny," Cassie muttered, slinking down in the car seat.

Pope shook his head, getting back on track. "I know, I know. It's gonna be fine. We got John B and JJ inside the well, and me up top," Pope said as Cassie opened the door to get out. "You both and Sarah will be outside transporting."

"Yeah, we got this," Kiara responded as Cassie hopped out of the car followed by the former.

"Back in the G-game," Cassie gushed with a smile as she and Kiara made their way towards the back of the truck. "Oh, hey, Pope. I meant to ask you something."

"Yeah?" He replied as he got of the truck, closing the door.

"It's kind of a weird question, but does adrenaline, like...cause arousal? Or like, make you think you're aroused when you're not?" She questioned, still wanting to know the answer to that.

Kiara and Pope both gave her a super weird look. "What?" They both breathed out, looking at each other like she was crazy.

"I told you, it was a weird question," Cassie shrugged casually, her eyes going wide.

"Why do you want to know this?" Pope asked, blinking his head at her.

"Uh, you know, I was thinking about taking psych next school year. Thought it would be important to know," she lied, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Girl..." Kiara trailed off, letting out a short laugh.

"Look, just tell me the damn answer," Cassie deadpanned.

"Google is free, but..." Pope muttered and Cassie glared at him, making him stammer, "B-b-but, yeah, adrenaline can do that. It can make you feel arousal, not necessarily romantic though."

Cassie grinned. "Okay, perfect. That's all I needed to know. Cool."

"Cool," Pope repeated as he shared another look with Kiara before they all walked to the back of the truck. "Uh, I got a winch," he changed the subject back onto the gold retrieval.

"Yeah."

"That tin can hold over like... 200, 300 pounds," Pope told them as Kiara opened up the back of the truck.

Kiara grinned at him before she randomly said, "Thanks."

"Uh...what for?" Pope asked in confusion.

"Stranding us. You know, making us all make up," Kiara told him and Cassie raised her brows a bit. "Right, Cece?"

She shrugged nonchalantly, not wanting to make it seem like a big deal since she had already talked with John B about this. "Yeah, yeah. Good plan."

"What makes you think that was me?" Pope inquired before a machine whirred around them, making random neon lights shine all around the Château on the trees and on the ground. "What the hell?"

"I thought the Cut had no power," Cassie voiced, furrowing her brows.

"Maybe it just got turned on?" Pope guessed with a slight shrug. "These were never here before though..."

Kiara looked around before her eyes landed on something in the short distance. "Who the hell is that?" She questioned before the three of them carefully made their way over to what seemed to be a hot tub.

Once they got closer, they realized that it was actually a hot tub and sitting inside had been none other than JJ Maybank. He had been wearing sunglasses and a gold necklace with a lion head at the end of it, holding up a bottle of champagne with swan floaties all around him.

Cassie furrowed her brows at him, unsure of where he had even gotten all of this. Is this where he disappeared off to? To buy all of this?

"What did you do, JJ?" Pope asked in shock.

"I got a jet going straight in my butt right now," he told them all with a chuckle and Cassie reared her head back at him. "Y'all should get in immediately, you hear me?" He suggested before he poured himself some champagne. "Salud!" He shouted before he began to take a huge swig of champagne out of the bottle even though he had already poured some into the cup.

Cassie blinked at him, suddenly forgetting she was mad at him for what he said to her before. It was clear that he was drunk, but Cassie didn't know why. Had he been going through something? Had something happened other than him leaving them at Barry's?

"How much did this cost?" Pope quickly queried.

After JJ swallowed the alcohol, he began to say, "Uh...Well, with the generator, the petrol, and, oh, hey, express delivery..." He chuckled.

"...Pretty much all of it, yeah."

Cassie sucked in a breath as Pope's mouth dropped in shock. "All of it?" Pope repeated.

"Yeah, all of it."

"You spent all the money in one day?"

"Yeah, burned a hole right through my pocket. But, I-I, mean, like, come on, guys, like, look at this! Finest in jet-based massage therapy, that's what they told me," JJ said with a slur in his words before he noticed the way Kiara had been looking at him in disbelief. "Kie, what? Can't a man have a little luxury in life?" He asked. "Cassie, come on, I know you want this," he said, shaking the bottle of champagne in front of her.

Cassie swallowed hard at him, but surprisingly...she hadn't been mad by his comment. Maybe it was because she saw her reflection in JJ in how he had been holding the champagne bottle, drinking right out of it just like she had been doing with the Vodka bottle at Midsummers.

Had this been how she looked when she got drunk? When she drank her sorrows away? Had that been what he was doing? What sorrows did he have to drown?

JJ whipped his glasses off. "Come on, all this scrimpin' and scrapin'...I mean, like..." He whimpered a bit. "Guys, we — You only live once, right? Enough of this emotional shit. Get in the Cat's Ass. Come on," he urged, waving for them to get in the hot tub with him.

"In the what?" Kiara uttered quietly.

"The Cat's Ass. That's what I named her," he told them with a proud smile and Cassie's face twisted. "Oh, hey, yo, I almost forgot." JJ leaned over and tapped a button, making the disco ball drop above him and the hot tub jets to grow stronger as they sprayed him. "Uh-huh? Yeah, that's right, I know. Disco mode. That's right, baby!"

"Are you kidding me? You could have paid for restitution!" Pope exclaimed angrily.

"Or literally given it to any charity!" Kiara added, her voice growing loud as well.

"Or better yet, you could have helped us buy supplies to get the rest of the gold out of the well!" Pope shouted.

Surprisingly, again, Cassie didn't add onto their yelling. She had a feeling that JJ hadn't done this just because he was reckless and impulsive. And he sure as hell wouldn't do this just to spite them for not going along with him. Cassie knew how much JJ had cared about his friends, placing them above himself most of the time.

There had to have been more to the story.

"Okay, well, you know what? I didn't do that!" JJ yelled as he stood up, revealing all of the cuts and the large bruises on his torso and stomach area that they hadn't seen before.

That was what was more to the story.

Cassie had released a quiet gasp once she had seen the way his torso had been purple and blue in some portions. The last time she had seen the boy shirtless, they definitely weren't there before. Where had they even come from? Did he get jumped by Rafe and Topper again? Did Barry find him and—

Oh.

Cassie had started to put all the pieces together. JJ's story about his father hitting him to the security guard at the impound yard, the way he reacted when she asked about it, the way the others kept reacting when she asked about it, the cuts and bruises on his face at Midsummers that weren't from Rafe...

They were from his father.

"I got a hot tub! For my friends. I got a hot tub for my friends. You know what? No, you know what? Screw friends. I got a hot tub for my family!" He cried.

"JJ, what the hell?" Kiara said in disbelief.

"I got this for you. Guys, look what I did for you! All right? Look at this! Look at this!" He continued.

Cassie just continued to stare at him, not knowing what to say. She had never seen the boy act like this. He had been the least emotional out of all them and yet, here he was breaking down in front of them. The Blake girl couldn't help but think back to herself at Midsummers and how she had broken down in front of the boy. It was like everything had been reversed.

Kiara shook her head sadly and said, "JJ."

"No, you stop being emotional. It's fine, okay?" JJ told them, even though his voice had become shaky and his eyes had started to form tears. He looked down, sucking in a breath to try to compose himself. "I mean, it's sweet, right?"

Kiara began to climb in the hot tub, going towards the boy. "Everything — Just get in!" His voiced cracked before Kiara wrapped her arms around him, enveloping him into a hug where he started to sob. "I just couldn't do it," he cried into her shoulder, his hands hovering over her body. "I can't take him anymore! I was gonna kill him," he admitted and Kiara began to rub his back comfortingly.

Pope watched them embrace before he decided to go into hot tub as well, wrapping his arms around his best friend. "I just wanna do the right thing," JJ admitted.

"I know. I know," Kiara assured him in a high voice.

Cassie continued to watch the three embrace as she stood outside the hot tub, her lips parted with a slight tremble to them. She had no idea what to do. She didn't know whether or not to climb into the hot tub with them or stay out of it. She knew JJ hadn't liked her, he probably didn't even want her to see this side of him. But would he appreciate her trying to comfort him?

Cassie wasn't sure.

So she just stood there and watched him sob in their arms, his body hunched. She pursed her lips to try to stop the trembling to them. However, that had only made her eyes start to form tears as she continued to watch JJ break down.

She had no idea that JJ had been going through this, but she should have. All the signs were there and yet, she had been completely blindsided to them because of her hatred for the boy. She had no idea that a boy as tough and fearless as JJ Maybank would be going through something as horrible as this. Maybe that had been why he had been so brave, because he had to be whenever he went home.

All of a sudden she began to think back to all the times she had hit the boy for annoying her, wondering if he had secretly gotten triggered by it. If he had, she would have never even realized it because it was clear he was good at suppressing his emotions. Just like she had been.

Perhaps that was why the two had been the most angry out of all the Pogues. They had bottled up all of their emotions too much that it had transformed into anger instead of sadness. And maybe that's why when they drank too much, they both broke down, unable to hold it in anymore.

Cassie watched as JJ opened his eyes, slightly lifting his head off of Kiara's shoulder. She met his teary blue ones and that's when she was no longer able to keep her own tears from falling. She quickly wiped them away so he wouldn't see, staring down at her feet as shut her eyes.

But he did see.

He had seen Cassandra Blake crying over him.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

Cassie had found her way inside John B's house to compose herself. She had gone into the bathroom, making sure it hadn't looked like she'd been crying only to step out and see Kiara and Pope helping JJ inside and on the couch with a towel underneath him so he didn't get the couch wet.

"We're gonna need to clean these up," Kiara told him, referring to some of the cuts that had been left on his body and face.

"I can do it," Cassie blurted out, making them all peer over her with surprised looks. Especially JJ himself, who was still a bit drunk and whose eyes had been glossy from crying.

She didn't know why she had said it, but she did. Maybe because she felt guilty for not embracing him like the others had and she wanted to do something to fix it. "I'm right by the bathroom anyway. That's where JB keeps his medical stuff, right?"

"Yeah. If he has any," Pope shrugged, looking back down at his best friend pitifully.

Cassie retreated back into the bathroom, searching through the cabinet until she found a small medical kit. This is gonna have to do, she thought to herself before she walked back out.

She carried the kit over to the three before Kiara tried to take it from her. "No, no, I can do it. You and Pope go set up for tomorrow. We can't waste any time," she told them.

Kiara and Pope exchanged a glance. "Are you sure?" Kiara asked, not knowing if keeping Cassie and JJ alone together was a good idea. Especially in the state the latter was in.

Cassie nodded, glancing back down at JJ swiftly. "Positive."

Kiara sucked in a breath, "O-Kay." She then nodded to Pope and the both of them walked out of the house, just leaving the two blondes there alone.

Cassie looked down at JJ, who had already been looking up at her with puzzlement still written on his face. She slowly sat down next to him on the couch, opening up the medical kit to see what had been inside. Some rubbing alcohol, cotton rounds, bandages, and bandaids. It would work.

"Okay, this might hurt," she warned him as she poured some rubbing alcohol down on a cotton round.

"Nothin' I'm not used to," he muttered and Cassie glanced back up at his face, sending him a sad look that he seemed to be avoiding. Either out of embarrassment or he just didn't see it, she didn't know.

She sighed quietly before she began to dab the saturated cotton round on his torso that had some scrapes, making him groan quietly and for his abs to noticeably tense up.

She blinked a bit before looking back up at his face, seeing the way his teeth had been clenched because of the pain. "Sorry," she whispered.

He looked back over at her, finally meeting her blue eyes. It had only been brief eye contact between them because she had looked back down, continuing to clean his wounds. They had been sitting there in silence as she did so, not daring to say anything.

A million thoughts raced through JJ's mind. Why had she been helping him? She didn't like him. Sure, she was probably upset about the fact that his father did that to him but anyone would be. That didn't mean she should have been willing to clean his cuts for him.

He then thought back to how she had just been crying over him at the hot tub, but when he glanced over at her face, it hadn't even looked like it. Had he just been imagining it in his drunken state or did she have some type of skill to cover up her emotions so fast? Well, JJ thought, if she could cover up the bruise marks on her neck by Rafe than she could probably cover up her tears.

He suddenly started to feel like an absolute dick to what he had said to her back at Barry's. She shouldn't have been helping him after that but here she was, doing just that.

She had been an enigma to him. One second, she acted all tough and didn't seem to care about what others said to her. But then the next, she was caring and wanted to help her friends around her. He started to think he didn't even really know her despite priding himself on the fact he thought he knew everything about her.

He glanced back over at her face, seeing the way her cheek had been sucked in as she focused on cleaning up his cuts the best that she had could. "I'm sorry," he unexpectedly said, causing her glance up at his ocean blue eyes with a confused expression. "I'm sorry," he repeated again but quieter, shaking his head.

"For what?" She replied, honestly not knowing. She had completely forgotten about all of the stuff he had said to her at Barry's, her sole focus being on helping the boy in front of her.

"For what I said to you. Back at Barry's," he clarified and she sucked in breath, beginning to remember. "You know what? I'm sorry for what I said back at Midsummers, too."

Now that she really hadn't remembered. It was all a bit hazy given the fact she was drunk out of her mind when she revealed to JJ she had slept with Rafe. "Honestly, I don't fully remember Midsummers apart from some things and what Kie filled me in on."

"Okay, well, it doesn't matter because what I said wasn't true," he quickly responded. "It's just, you know, I-I get so mad and I can't stop myself from..." He trailed off, looking down.

"Blowing up?" She guessed.

JJ clicked his tongue. "Yeah."

She dropped her hands from his torso, focusing now on his face. "JJ, it's okay. I get it because...because I do the same thing. I mean, you saw me at Midsummers and-and with Sarah before we made up. I blew up." JJ looked back at her face, seeing the genuineness written on it. "And I understand why you were mad. I went into Barry's with you and came out not on your side. I would've been mad at me, too."

"Yeah, but I shouldn't have said what I said," he scolded himself. "You clearly don't care about fitting in because if you did...you wouldn't be with us Pogues. You would still...you would still be a Kook."

If Cassie had been an enigma, JJ had been a paradox. Always going back and forth from saying and doing one thing, and then saying and doing another. There was no rhyme or reason about what JJ Maybank would do next. And that confused the fuck out of her.

Cassie chewed on her lip. "Are you saying I'm not? A-A Kook?"

He let out a soft sigh. "No, Cassie. You're not a Kook...You're a Pogue," he confirmed and a small smile formed on her lips. She never thought she would hear the day that JJ Maybank would be calling her a Pogue but here that day was. Maybe it had been because JJ had still had alcohol in his system and he had accidentally let it slip out he thought she was a Pogue, but it definitely wasn't a lie.

Her smile slowly faltered, however, when she thought back to his father. "JJ, I'm sorry, too. I-I should've known what was going on with your father. I shouldn't have let him bail you out of jail, I should've fought harder against my mom and—"

"Hey, hey, hey," he cut off her sudden rambling, grabbing the side of her arm softly. "Cass, it's okay."

Cass? That's new, she noted. She then glanced down at his hand placed gently on her arm. That's also new.

JJ didn't even realize he had called her that, but he did see how she had looked at his hand so he slowly took it away, making him look back over at his face. "There was no way you could have known. I never told you and I know the others probably didn't want to tell you to make me upset. Don't work yourself up about it. I'm good. I'm fine."

"But you're not fine," she countered before she gestured to the bruises and cuts littered all over him. "This could've been stopped."

JJ inhaled sharply which had made his body start to hurt. He ignored it. "I am fine. I've been dealing with it for a while now. If I wasn't fine, then..." He trailed off as he looked away from her, not finishing his sentence. "You don't care. You shouldn't care," he muttered.

"JJ, I do care," she admitted, making his eyes flit back to her. "Look, I know it may seem like I didn't care about any of you and that's why you were so hesitant to allow me into the group, but...but I do. I really do. And yeah, we've had our fair share of problems—"

"Understatement," JJ grumbled since he couldn't help himself.

She chuckled shortly, but continued, "But that doesn't mean I don't care that your father hurt you. That would make me a terrible person." She didn't know why she kept talking. "I mean, maybe I am a terrible person but—"

"You're not a terrible person," he whispered, making her slowly close her mouth as she swallowed hard. "You're not," he repeated, shaking his head. "If you were, what would that make me?" He pointed out and she gave him a lopsided frown.

"You're not either."

JJ blinked at that, not expecting her to return the favor. He then questioned out of nowhere, "Why are you doing this?"

She knitted her brows together. "Doing what?"

"This." He gestured to the medical kit in her lap and the cotton round in her hand. "Why?"

"Didn't I just say I cared?" She answered back with a question. JJ looked a bit taken aback at her answer, not really knowing what to say in response. Cassie took that as a sign to grab a new cotton round, putting some more alcohol on it. "Now let me fix your face."

JJ arched a brow, his original spark he had to him slowly coming back. "Fix my face? Are you implying that there's something wrong with it?"

She gave a him a look, but didn't answer since she knew it had been a trap. If she had said yes, he would've gotten annoyed. And if she had said no, he would've been teasing her saying how she found him attractive.

"Just don't move, Maybank," she told him with an eye roll, carefully bringing up the cotton round to his face. However, in order to keep her hand gentle enough, she had to bring her other hand up to softly grab his chin.

Cassie avoided his eyes as she dabbed lightly on his cheekbone, trying to distract herself from the fact they had been so close. However, JJ had kept his eyes on her face, his eyes flitting up and down every now and again as he studied it.

Her hand with the cotton round then traveled down to his lip, where his cut from last time had reopened. She swallowed hard, her mouth suddenly going dry before she carefully dabbed his lip. She felt his jaw clench due to her other hand still being on his chin which had caused her to accidentally make eye contact with him.

Her breath had caught in her throat when she saw he had already been looking at her, but for some reason, she didn't tear her gaze away. She continued to hold eye contact with him, gazing into his cerulean eyes as he gazed back into hers.

She didn't even realize that she had let her hand with the cotton round fall away, only her hand on his chin staying there. JJ hadn't realized either before he subconsciously glanced down at her lips and then back up at her eyes quickly once he realized what he had done.

That's new, too.

Cassie immediately darted her eyes away once she realized, going back to reality. Had she just imagined that or had JJ looked at her lips? She tried to look anywhere but at his face before landing on his neck, realizing that his shark tooth necklace hadn't been hanging there.

She cleared her throat and blurted out, "Where's your necklace?" JJ blinked, pulling his eyes away from her's as he looked down. He furrowed his brows since the gold lion one he had was there. "No, your other one. The shark tooth one."

"Oh," JJ said, licking his lips. "Uh, probably lying around somewhere."

"I'll go find it," Cassie quickly said as she closed the medical kit and stood up, placing it on the table. "Yeah, I'll find it," she nodded at herself before she turned away, walking away and grimacing as she tried to process what had just happened.

"Wait, Cass..." JJ tried calling out to her, but his voice hadn't been loud enough. He then ran a hand through his damp hair, scoffing at himself. "What the fuck just happened?"

authors note!
this is a long ass chapter but i
hope it was worth the read bc...
things are definitely changing 😈