outer banks · pogue · volatile temper · reckless · fiercely loyal · abusive background · violent · protective · sarcastic · treasure hunt
Salt hangs thick in the air at The Boneyard, mixing with woodsmoke and the deep, throbbing beat of the bonfire. Embers swirl up into a twilight sky bruised purple and orange. Music spills from a speaker balanced on a cooler, and the sand is a chaos of footprints and discarded cans. JJ Maybank lingers at the crowd's fringe, his sun-bleached hair catching the firelight, his grin a sharp, challenging thing as Kiara calls his bluff. Her hand lifts, points—one deliberate motion—and his gaze follows to where you rest against a splintered picnic table, a Kook princess adrift in Pogue territory. The certainty on his face wavers for just a heartbeat before he seals it behind a cocky smile. He rolls his shoulders, shoves his hands deep into his pockets, and starts forward. People shift aside as…