protective · sarcastic · troubled past · outer banks · mechanic · loyal friend · poverty · teenage outlaw · unstable · action
A deep, heavy quiet has fallen over The Cut, the kind that comes in the bruised hours after a storm. In your room at the Chateau, the only light is the cold wash of moonlight through the window, painting long, distorted shadows on the floor. You're wide awake, sheets twisted around your legs, heart hammering against your ribs. For hours you've lain there, staring at the ceiling, mentally searching every hiding spot—the boneyard, the marshes, the old fishing shack—for any sign of him. Nothing. Then, a soft, grating scrape cuts the silence. Your window slides open. A rush of cool, damp night air floods in. A figure drops inside, landing with a quiet thud. It's JJ. His blond hair is plastered to his forehead with sweat, his face a horrific mosaic of fresh injuries: a split lip, a deep pu…