I WAS SURPRISED my dad had allowed JJ to stop with me, knowing my feelings towards him. He normally bunked at the chateau but I think my dad saw that JJ needed comfort tonight and I did too, that was his deciding factor into offering him to stay with us tonight. His only condition was that JJ slept on the floor but he didn't even last a minute down there before he crawled into my bed with me. He laid on his back and I rested my head against his bare chest, my leg over his as he tickled my arm slowly — holding me.

It was a strange feeling being this close and personal with someone, especially someone you'd known for so long. JJ and I only ever shared a bed if we passed out on it, like the futon after one too many joints for something. We'd never been this close before and as foreign as it felt I loved it.

Here we both were, battered and bruised but at least we had each other. He had a hearing in two weeks and I'd already pleaded my mom to be his attorney. The woman was skilled and she could get anyone out of virtually anything. As long as we could pay the restitution JJ could avoid prison.

"Mal?"

"Mhm?" I hummed and I leaned my chin on his chest, looking at him.

"What does this mean for us?" He asked me, his voice was quiet and soft.

I paused to think. There was a lot he could be talking about, "You mean this?" I asked, pointing to him and I. He nodded in response and I bit my lip, "I don't know." I replied honestly, "I guess it means we're not friends anymore."

He nodded, a graze of a smile on his lips, "You know I like you." He told me, "I think you're this amazing, super hot, badass, daredevil.. and you drive me crazy."

I smiled at him, slotting my fingers in his, "I like you too, a lot more than a friend, and I have done for months now. I just..
I was too scared to say anything incase you didn't feel the same way."

"I wish you did." He told me honestly, "And then maybe you wouldn't of slept with John B."

I chewed my lip, "The only reason I went for John B that night was because we were flirting all night and you left to go and meet Melanie fucking Kleeton. I was jealous that you were interested in her and not me."

"Yeah well you're a thousand times better than Melanie Kleeton." He told me.

I arched a brow at him, "Really?"

Instead of replying JJ sat up slightly and he dipped his head to mine and pressed his lips against mine. He caught my bottom lip in between his, his hand going into my hair while he looped his arm around my lower back. He pulled away but rested his forehead against mine, "Really."

I kissed him back and slowly I sat up, pulling away from him an inch. Our noses were still touching and I hooked my leg around his, straddling him.

"That's hot." He muttered against my lips and I opened my eyes to see him looking at me. His gaze was consuming, it was like he was trapping me with his eyes and I found myself getting lost.

"You're hot." I replied, slowly dragging my hands down his chest.

He leaned in again, kissing me firmer this time. The pressure was perfect and slowly I traced my hands up to behind his neck, my hands tangling up in the back of his hair. I felt high and I'd never once felt like this when I'd kissed a boy. It was like his touch was intoxicating, I wanted more of it, I wanted it to last forever.

My mind was running away as we continued to kiss. The way JJ kissed was quick and firm, he didn't let me catch up to his pattern before he change it up kissed me differently again and I was all right with that.

He slid his hand under my tank top and over the bend in my back that pushed me further into him and then slowly he laid back, never once breaking away from me. I put my arms out to take my weight as he laid against my pillows and his hand slid down my back, over my ass and to my thigh where he squeezed it. I put my weight into him fully and I pulled away from his lips, kissing down his neck.

He squeezed my thigh again as I kissed his neck and when I returned back to his mouth I opened my eyes, hovering over his face. He was looking at me and his eyes glimmered mischievously, "Mally.." He breathed out. I knew straight away what he was asking me. He wanted to know if I wanted this, if I wanted to do this with him.

I nodded and pressed my lips to his before pulling back, "Yes."

JJ flipped us over and I found my head trapped in between his arms as he smirked at me. I couldn't take it anymore and I reached up, grabbing his face and lowering his head back down to me and kissing him.

• • •

I didn't want to part with JJ the next morning but I had to. If I wasn't over at my moms by a decent time she'd come for me and I'd rather her not do that. I didn't want to get on her bad side today, it was going to be a painful day as it was, and I didn't want to argue with her. Midsummers was going to be rough as it was and fighting with my mom would just make it worse.

He left me in bed with a kiss before telling me he was going to hang out with John B all day and once I was ready my dad dropped me off at my moms house.

I walked into the overly large house, looking around in the entrance hall while waiting. My mom usually was here waiting for me when she knew I was coming over.

Someone cleared their throat behind me and I turned on my heel to see Michael Thornton stood behind me — or my stepdad. I'd only shared four or five words with the man in the eight years he'd been screwing my mom and I stood awkwardly.

"Your mother is upstairs.. in our room. She's waiting for you."

I nodded and I looked anywhere but at him. I couldn't believe I was going to have to spend the evening with him, "Thanks."

I turned around and made a dash for the stairs, taking two at a time to get out of the awkward situation. I found my moms room and inside I didn't like what I saw. There were two dress carriers hung up on the wardrobe and two chairs set up in front of a large vanity table with a huge mirror attached to it. There were ring lights facing the chairs, makeup set out on the vanity table..

It was just a life I was not used to at all.

"Hey, Mal." My mom smiled at me.

I could imagine my face, eyes wide and jaw dropped as I hung in the doorway, "What is all this?"

"Please." She started by saying, "Just let me give you the full experience, all right?"

I hesitated before sighing apprehensively and nodding, "I'm going to regret this."

She closed the file she was reading and put it on to the table, standing up from the chair and and walking over to me by the wardrobe. She held the dress carrier closest to me and looked over, "Do you want to see?"

"Is it mine?" I asked her.

She pressed her lips together and nodded, "I hope you like it." She opened the carrier and pushed it behind the coat hanger, pulling the dress out. I rose both my brows in surprise, it was definitely something I'd never seen before and I couldn't imagine myself ever wearing it.

I grabbed the fabric, running my fingers over the silk lightly. It looked low-ish, thin straps for the shoulders and had a slit up the side. What shocked me the most though was the colour. I'd never seen myself as a girl who wore red but here I was, running my fingers over the deep colour.

"So what do you think?" My mom asked me and I looked back to her.

"Gotta admit, it is quite nice." I replied, "I just hope it fits."

She nodded at me, "I'm sure it will." She said, "Now come on, this is going to take a while and we can't be late."

I groaned softly and walked over to the black chair, sitting down in it and looking at my face. The bruise on my cheek and under my eye was deep red and then you had where I'd split my head open, "Good luck to whoever gets to do my makeup."

"Oh, I'm sure I won't be needing it." A woman said and I turned to see her stood next to another woman. They both looked like they were in their twenties and I assumed my mom was paying them to do our makeup, "You've already given me a head start."

I nodded, pressing my lips together and smiling. I couldn't tell if she was being nice or sarky but I opted on not saying anything to her. The two women came over and started on mine and my moms hair and I looked at my mom through the mirror before looking at the file on the table, "What's that?"

My mom looked down to the file before meeting my gaze through the mirror, "It's JJ's case."

I bit my lip, the tone of her voice didn't give me much hope at all. She sounded apprehensive and it made my stomach twist, "That doesn't sound good."

"Honey I know he's your friend and all..." He's a little more than a friend now, I thought to myself, "It's not just destruction of property, it's possession of a firearm and trespassing."

"He wasn't the only one trespassing." I grumbled and I watched the two women doing our hair make eye contact.

"Well I won't be mentioning that you were there, that isn't going to help his case." My mom told me, "Look, while there's three charges Peterkin wants to keep him out of juvie, I want to keep him out of juvie. I heard she gave him an ultimatum and if JJ can pay the restitution I think we could get away with a community sentence."

I sighed, "Don't kid with me mom."

"I'm not." She told me, "I'm very confident in my abilities.. but—"

I groaned, "—Christ there's a but."

"It's Topper's boat." My mom told me, "And it was Topper's mom who pressed charges against JJ. Not Topper, not Micheal."

"So." I said holding my finger up, an idea sparking in my head, "I speak to Topper's mom tonight and—"

"—That's not how it works, Mal." She shot me down.

"I know." I told her, rolling my eyes, "So we have two options, find the 25K restitution money or convince Topper's mom to drop the charges."

My mom pressed her lips together, "I think either way — even if we did convince Cynthia to drop the charges — JJ would still have to pay for the damage caused to the boat."

I looked over to her with a hopeful look as the woman doing my hair dropped a curl over my shoulder, "What if—"

"—Mally." My mom shook her head, "I don't think I could give you 25 thousand dollars for you to give to JJ for JJ's dad to give to either the station or Cynthia."

I groaned and I brought my hand up to my head. Every solution I was coming up with here just wasn't applicable. I was wracking my brain to help JJ, I wasn't going to just sit and watch his hearing swing either way. I wanted him to have a firm chance of avoiding juvie or jail — which ever the judge decided on, "I can't fucking believe this is actually happening."

My mom chose to ignore the curse word that came out of my mouth as she reached over and patted my hand, "Mally I promise you I'm going to do everything I can for JJ, all right?"

I pressed my lips together and succumbed to my thoughts. Last night was so easy, JJ and I talked about our feelings, we opened up. It was like our lives hadn't gone to shit in the past couple of days and now here I was, listening to my mom building a defence case for him with one thought lingering in the back of my head.

What if everything she had wasn't enough?

• • •

The weather held out despite the forecast predictions for a storm and it turned out to be a nice night for Midsummers. My dress fit perfectly, almost like it had been made for me and my hair had been curled loosely and the front of us pulled lightly off my face and twisted into a braid at the back. I was surprised that the woman who did my makeup managed to conceal the bruise under my eye and my face looked completely normal. I'd never really seen myself with makeup on before and it was so weird looking at myself, I couldn't tell if I liked the concealer and the eyeshadow and the highlight.

It was so weird.

I thought the car ride over to Midsummers was going to be extremely uncomfortable but it wasn't that bad. I'll admit I felt extremely out of my comfort zone when a car pulled up outside the Thornton house and a chauffeur got out and opened the doors for us but I swallowed my discomfort with a smile. The car — while it looked small — was big enough on the inside for there to be a decent amount of space between Topper and I, not that we were on bad terms.

The ride was only five or so minutes to the island club and I entertained myself in staring out of the window.

It was weird having the door opened for me when we arrived but I accepted it and the hand the busboy offered me when I climbed out the car. I recognised him from the Keggers, his name was Drew and he was a year older than me. It seemed he recognised me too because while he smiled at me his wide eyes gave him away.

I followed my mom and step-father inside as Topper waited at the doors for Sarah. They were supposed to be walking in together and while my mom went to mingle with some of her rich friends I headed out the back and on to the porch where I watched the beginning of the event start.

I clocked a waiter passing me with a tray of glasses, full with liquid and I stepped in front of him with a smile to stop him, "What's in the glass?" I asked.

"Champagne." He replied to me politely, he looked like a Pogue.

I rose my brows and grabbed two flutes, knocking one back immediately and setting it back on the tray. I kept the full one in my hand, "Thanks."

He walked away and I carried on people watching. I was yet to find Kiara which made me think she wasn't here yet but I saw Pope with Heyward cooking the food on a barbecue for tonight.

Someone cleared their throat behind me and I turned to see Topper stood there, walking to my side and leaning on the fence. I thought he was waiting for Sarah but perhaps not, "Hate to admit it but you scrub up well."

I cocked my head, "For a Pogue you mean?"

"Didn't mean it like that." He sighed, "How, uh, how are you?"

He didn't speak a word to me in the car but now here he was.

"Not good." I told him honestly, "I'm stressed about JJ's restitution and his hearing—"

"—I'm sorry." He apologised to me and I found myself shocked, "I didn't want my mom to press charges on Pope."

"Can't you.." I shrugged knowingly while turning to him, "..change her mind?"

"I want to, I'm trying to, but she doesn't listen to me." He sighed, "She said it was my fault in the first place."

I scoffed under my breath and sipped the champagne, "Well.. she's not wrong."

"Yeah I know." Topper replied, his tone was slightly snappy like he'd been told over and over again that it was his fault.

I looked at him, ignoring the way he snapped, "Would your mom drop the charges if we could pay you back?"

Topper met my eyes, "You'd help JJ find the money?"

I scoffed, "I'd pay every dime." I told him, "I'm almost certain I'm in love with him."

My eyes widened and so did his. Was I in love with JJ? I could feel my face heating up and suddenly I was glad for all this makeup I was wearing, "You're in love with him?" Topper asked me.

I shrugged, "I don't know what love feels like."

He took a deep breath, "It feels like.. like you'd do anything for the person, like giving something up doesn't matter as long as their happy."

I nodded slowly and I looked back to people dancing on the makeshift dance floor, a band playing softly. It wasn't long before I saw Rafe Cameron and Kelce along with a few other boys I didn't recognise, "You know Topper, you need new friends."

Topper pressed his lips together, "I didn't know what Rafe was capable of."

I raised my brow and pursed my lips, taking a sip of the champagne. I'd had the odd run in with Rafe but I knew what he was like. I knew his personality.

"Are you all right?" He asked me, "You know.."

"..After that fight over by the movie series?" I asked.

"Yeah." He nodded.

I huffed, "Well JJ made me go back to the hospital, turns out I have concussion now."

Topper furrowed his brows, "You didn't have concussion before?"

"Nope." I told him, "So thank you Rafe."

Topper nodded slowly, "Hey, I see Sarah.."

"You don't need to explain it to me." I responded with a ghost of a smile, "Go on."

He smiled at me, "See you later?"

My lip curved into an amused grin, "Yeah.. maybe Thornton."

Topper walked away and I found myself — once again — surprised from our interaction. I'd never seen this side of him before but before I could ponder over it I heard my friend, "Mal? What the hell are you doing here?"

I turned with a smile to see Kie walking over to me, a lavender dress on and her hair in an updo, "Evening pretty girl."

Her jaw was wide, "You look amazing, Mal.. is that — are you wearing makeup?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I'm just as surprised as you."

"My god, you look so good."

"Thank you Kie." I responded, leaning on the gate, "But you look petty amazing too."

She smiled, "I guess we scrub up well."

I nodded, "This so weird." I told her while looking around, "Where're outcasts around all these rich people.. and look there's Pope."

"I know." Kie replied, "My mom tried convincing me that this was supposed to be a fun night and an opportunity to mix with new people."

"You know my mom said the exact thing." I smiled. 

Kie looked to me, "So.. JJ."

"What about JJ?" I asked her slowly.

"You guys.." She widened her eyes at me knowingly, "You know? He stopped at your place last night, right?"

I nodded and leaned a little closer to her, "Kie?"

She leaned in, "Yeah?"

I pressed my lips together sheepishly before looking around, I lowered my voice, "We had sex."

"You what—!"

I covered her mouth quickly, "Oh my god, shut the fuck up." I hissed — thankfully not many people were staring at us but Pope was and I removed my hand from her mouth.

"What the hell?" She asked me slowly and quietly, "Mal are you serious?"

I shrugged and turned back to the crowd, watching them dance, "We told each other we had feelings and he kissed me and it just.. it went from there."

Kie smiled in disbelief and I sipped the champagne, "Man I can barely believe it."

"Right?" I asked her, "To think last week we were just flirting at the boneyard, blissfully unaware of each other's feelings and now we're at this place."

"I'm happy for you guys." She told me, nudging my arm, "I've only been waiting months for you two to get together."

I shook my head bashfully, "Shut up."

"No I'm serious." She laughed. I joined her and once we stopped her face dropped, "What about the boat?"

I sighed, "My mom's took his case so he should stand a pretty solid chance there."

"Does he know your mom took it?" I pressed my lips together and looked down to my hands. Kie took my silence as a no, "You should tell him."

"I will, of course I will.. and I was speaking to Topper earlier about convincing his mom to drop the charges."

She recoiled in shock, "And he agreed to that?"

"He said he didn't even want to press them in the first place." I told her, "But we've still got the restitution to find which is going to be shit hard."

"Can't your mom borrow you it?"

"I've already asked." I told her, "I think she's thinking about it.. I just wish we found the gold and we'd be able to pay it no problem."

"Yeah." She nodded, "I get you."

"Kiara?" I looked over my friends shoulder to see Kie's mom stood behind her. She gave me a small, warming smile and I returned it before she looked back to her daughter, "Hon, I want you to come meet some friends." She said.

Kie turned to her mom and then looked back to me. I could tell she didn't particularly want to leave me and I nudged her towards Anna, "It's fine, I should probably go and find my mom before she comes to find me."

"Okay." Kie grumbled, "Meet me soon?"

I nodded, "Just text me." I told her, "This side of the island has cell service."

She walked away with her mom and I left in the opposite direction, looking for mine when someone bumped shoulders with me. I turned to apologise to whoever it was but then I caught who it was. I grumbled under my breath and I looked up to see Rafe standing in front of me, a drink in his hands as he looked down at me.

I rolled my eyes, him of all fucking people.

"Wow, Davis." He smirked, "Kook suits you."

"I don't care, Rafe." I sighed uninterested.

He tutted, "That's a shame. I'd love to take you out, how about I go ask your mom if we can go on a date, huh?"

I downed the champagne and dropped it onto the tray of a waiter who was walking towards me, I gave Rafe a sarcastic smile, "I'd rather throw myself off the lighthouse."

"I could help you with that." He suggested while nodding, "You and that Pogue boyfriend of yours."

"Oh you mean JJ?" I asked him while raising a brow, "Yeah I'm sure he'd love that."

Rafe stepped closer to me, pointing his finger to my chest as he lowered his voice, "I'd watch it if I were you Davis—"

I arched my brow and straightened my back to level up, he wasn't scaring me,
"—What, you gonna finish what we started the other night?"

"I'll do more this just finish it." Rafe threatened, "I'll give you a second black eye to match the one—"

"—Rafe Cameron." My mother's voice interrupted our dispute and I saw her smiling fakely at him out of my peripheral vision, "How nice it is to see you."

Rafe turned to my mom behind him, her brow arched as she stood in her navy blue dress. He stepped back away from me, straightening out his suit jacket nonchalantly — as if my mom hadn't just heard everything he'd said to me, "Yeah." He gritted his teeth, "You too, Mrs. Thornton."

"Now I'd ask if you and Mally were friends but given I've just heard everything you said to her I'm not going to bother." She told him in a sarcastic tone.

Rafe shrugged and he nudged my arm jokingly, "We were just messing around with each other, right Mal?"

"You think I'm stupid." I said to Rafe, chuckling in annoyance.

"Oh, c'mon on Mally." He tried to joke as he laughed. He slung his arm over my shoulders and pulled me into him. It was clear he was scared my mother had heard everything he'd just said, "We were just joking Mrs. Thornton."

I just arched my brow in response and shoved his arm off me, grabbing his drink and tipping it into my mouth. Jack Daniel's and Coke lingered on my lips as I swallowed the mix in one before passing the empty glass back to Rafe, "Thanks, I was feeling a little thirsty."

He narrowed his eyes at me, wanting to say something by my mom did before he even could, "Leave her alone Rafe."

Rafe nodded in annoyance and defeat, his jaw clenched tightly. I moved to step away from him but his cold hand and uncalloused hand wrapped around my wrist tightly. He leaned down to my ear, "Watch your back, Davis." He warned me before walking away.

I turned to watch his retreating figure as he walked over to Kelce and a few other friends, "You know what Rafe? Fuck you!" I shouted after him but my mom pulled my arm and tugged me away from him as he turned back to me.

"I'd love to!" He called, smirking as Kelce clapped his shoulder in favour of the come back.

I tried to lunge for him again but my mom stepped in front of me, the mediator and the only thing standing between me punching Rafe Cameron in the face.

"Stop. Stop." She said to me, wrapping her arm around my shoulders and forcing me away.

"I hate him." I seethed, annoyance lacing my words, "I hate him, I hate him, I hate him." A busboy passed us with a tray of full drinks and I took a shot and a glass of champagne off it. I downed the shot as we walked and put the empty glass on a table, the champagne in my hand.

My mom arched her brow at me in response but she didn't say anything about the drink. She sighed instead, "I know." She said as she guided me through the groups of people, "I don't like him either but I want you to meet some friends of mine." She told me guiding away and to three people, "Mally this is Daniel Rover, his wife Florence and their son Adam."

The family of three smiled at me politely in greeting. I smiled at them and I looked back to my mom and lowered my voice, talking though a smile, "I thought we agreed you weren't going to set me up."

"I'm not setting you up I'm introducing you." She replied as quietly as me also through a smile before talking normally again, "Florence teaches at Chapel Hill college."

I plastered a smile and shook her hand, "It's nice to meet you."

The woman nodded at me, "Your mother tells me you're quite an academic?"

"When I'm in school, yeah." I responded with a breathy and awkward chuckle.

The woman pressed her lips together, unsure of how to respond to what I'd said to her and nodded. I wasn't as bad as JJ and John B but I had the tendency to skip classes I didn't like or enjoy. If my two friends offered me a better alternative like surfing for instance I'd skip in a heart beat.

My mom gestured to their son and she directed my attention to him, "Adam, this is Mally." She introduced and looked to me, "Adam plays football, he's about to be signed."

"That's nice." I smiled and looked to him, "Hi."

"Hey." He responded while grinning. He had black curly hair and quite a tan, green eyes and a big build with freckles dotted across his face from his sun-kissed look. He was cute — nice looking — and maybe if I'd seen him on the boneyard at a kegger five months ago I'd of flirted with him but I wasn't interested now, "You look lovely." He complimented.

"Thank you." I smiled awkwardly and the band continued playing in the background.

"So Mally, do you play any sports?" David asked me.

"Uh." I shrugged nonchalantly. I knew what sports consisted of in Figure Eight. It was track, golfing and football, "Only if surfing counts."

"She did track in school last year." My mom said to them, she was trying so hard to talk me up to them.

"You surf?" Adam asked me, completely ignoring that I did track for, like, three months last year, "That's pretty cool."

"Yeah I love it." I nodded with a broad grin, "My, uh, my friend taught me." I responded. I didn't know what to call JJ, he certainly wasn't a friend anymore.

"Hey, maybe you could teach me?" He asked with a smile.

My eyes widened a little in surprise and I opened my mouth, unsure of how to answer but instead I found myself diverted.

"It's okay, everybody! Do not panic."

I cringed a little as I recognised the voice as clear as day and I looked up sheepishly to my mom, "Is that—?"

"—Yep." She nodded, her face stoic, "It's him."

I turned to see JJ stood in between the crowd on the patio as they parted to look at him. He was stood behind a security guard and was dressed like one of the busboys, "What the fuck is he doing?" I muttered to myself.

He looked pretty hot though, I had to admit. 

The security man continued to push him out, "Leave it to the men and women and uniform. Let's here it for them!" He clapped, "Rose, you look like lady liberty it's nice to see you again."

I snorted in amusement as the guard carried on dragging him out and I stepped forwards, "Hey!" I yelled to the man.

"Mally." My mom muttered.

I looked back to her and smiled at her, "I'm sorry mom."

She nodded at me, giving me a small smile and I turned back to see virtually everyone staring at me. I looked at JJ and tried suppressing a smile, he was already grinning broadly at me — awe on his face. I took my gaze to the security guard who still had his hand on JJ's arm, "You can't just kick him out, I invited him!" I told the man and soft whispers broke out.

"Really?" I heard Rafe mutter in disbelief and I turned to see him stood near me.

"Yeah, here that man?" JJ asked, shoving the security guard off him, "Hey Mal, mandatory power hour at Rixon's." He pointed at me and I laughed, nodding in agreement with him, "Kie, Pope you guys as well all right?"

I turned back to my mom and slid my heels off before kissing her cheek, "I'll make it up to you, promise."

She smiled at me and I was quite shocked to see it because I thought she'd be mad at me for creating a scene, "You go and have fun, okay?"

I nodded, holding the heels of my shoes in one hand and walked away backwards, "Thank you! I love you." I said to her.

I passed Rafe on the way to the few steps and took his glass out of his hands again, toasting back to him, "Bye asshole!" I yelled with a smirk and knocked the drink back, watching with satisfaction as he scowled at me.

"C'mon, Mal! Let's go!" JJ called to me and I grabbed Kie's hand, dragging her away with me, "That's it you grab Kie, I'll get Pope! Workers of the world unite!" He yelled.

I jumped down the steps, my bare feet landing on the paved slabs and I put my drink onto a tray of a passing busboy. Kiara and I giggled as I heard her parents calling back to her and I turned to see the couple, "Sorry Mr. and Mrs. Carrera! I'll bring her back in once piece, I swear!"

The both of us laughed as we ran towards our friends. I saw John B stood with JJ — the both of them grinning so brightly — and I let go of Kie's hand, taking an unopened bottle of champagne from a waiter and running with it, "Woooo!" I cheered, running to my friends.

Pope hugged John B and I ran to JJ, smiling and he picked me up in an embrace, spinning me around before putting my feet on the ground. He took my shoes out of my hand, "You look beautiful." He told me, grabbing the fabric, "Wear this in bed tonight?"

I smirked, "Only if you wear this." I told him and held up the champagne, "Drink?"

He grinned in amazement, "I'd fucking love one."

He took my hand and we ran, "Later losers!" John B shouted to the party goers and we followed him to the shore, hopping in the HMS and sailing away from the island club. I popped the cork out of the champagne and we cheered as I put the bottle to my lips and knocked it back, smiling around my friends and feeling JJ's hands on my waist.

• • •

A/N; I haven't even finished this book yet and I already want to write another JJ fanfic. I need help

Also, do you guys like the longer chapters or would you rather they be shorter?