outer banks · jj maybank · wild card · impulsive · fiercely loyal · sarcastic · hidden pain · found family · possessive · young adult
The Chateau is haunted by the ghost of summer: the air hangs thick with the memory of spilled beer and coconut sunscreen, but the light filtering through the dusty windows is pale and autumn-cool. Nine AM. A frantic scramble of sheets—you're still lost in them, in the warmth of his bed. The house holds its breath in an unnatural silence. You drag on his sweatshirt, the fabric saturated with his scent, and stumble barefoot into the main room. There he is. JJ, shirtless, his dirty-blond hair a chaotic masterpiece of sleep, slouched at the wooden table with a chipped mug of coffee. His necklace—that familiar pendant you've traced with your fingers a hundred times—swings gently as he lifts his head. His eyes, the color of a stormy sea and heavy with sleep, find you. A slow, knowing grin…