When I wake up the next morning, it's complete role reversal. I have myself completely wrapped around JJ; my legs are tangled with his, my head's on his chest, and my arms are clutched tightly around him.

As I start to unwind myself from him, he stirs. "Hey," he says softly, his voice gravelly with sleep. "Where are you going?" he asks as I start to get up.

"The bathroom. I'll be right back," I reply. When I return a few minutes later, he's sitting up against the headboard. He looks at me as I walk in, holding his arms out to me. I climb into his lap and curl up against his chest.

"Are you feeling any better this morning?"

I sigh. "A little, I guess. I think I'm still in shock. I mean, I knew those guys were creeps, but..."

"You should report them. To Peterkin," he says.

"It's no use. Remember what happened the last time I turned a kook in to the police?" I say bitterly.

It's JJ's turn to sigh. "You're probably right. Still think you should tell Peterkin though."

I shrug. "I dunno. Seems like a waste of energy."

"I wonder what happened after we left," he says. "Did you see John B out there?"

"His door was shut when I went to the bathroom. I don't know if he's in there or not, though. It's still kind of early. He might be sleeping."

"I'll see him later. I can ask then." He's quiet for a minute. "Do you work today?"

"No. I don't work again until tomorrow morning."

"I work this afternoon. I wonder if I'll see Rafe or Bradley," he says.

"I hope you don't. I know what'll happen."

"I swear I won't start anything, but if they do, I'll be sure to finish it," he says.

"Just be careful, okay?"

"I'll do my best. You know you don't have to worry about me," he says, reaching for my hand to squeeze it reassuringly.

"I always worry about you."

"I know," he sighs.

We lay around for a bit before I decide to take off. There's still no sign of John B, so I imagine I'll have to hear about what happened last night later.

Against my better judgement, I put on a neutral face when I get to the house so as not to arouse suspicion that something bad went down last night. I'm clearly quite the actress, because the few brief encounters I have with my parents before they head out on to the property for the morning are nothing short of absolutely normal.

The next few days come and go, and no one has any run-ins with the kooks. I'm starting to feel better about the whole situation. I had gone back and forth over going to Peterkin, and ultimately decided it would be a waste of my time to even try. I hate the fact that we had too many crooked cops and a flawed legal system on this island, but there's literally nothing that I could do to better the situation.

I'm sitting on my bed watching tv one afternoon when I get a text from JJ.

JJ🌊
I think my work badge is in your car. Can you bring it to me at the club?

Sure, I'll be there soon

I jam my feet into a pair of Vans, slide my phone in my pocket, and skip down the steps to the front door, grabbing my keys from the hook as I head out. When I climb in the car, I see JJ's badge tucked in the door handle on the passenger side. I had picked him up from work the other day to go surfing, and he must've stuck it there when he climbed in. I reach over and grab it before I take off.

There aren't many patrons at the country club when I arrive. I text JJ as I walk through the entrance to see where he is.

JJ🌊
I'm at the golf counter

On my way back there

I head through the club, waving and saying hello to some of the workers I know as I pass by. I decide to take a short cut through the dining area when I see it's nearly empty.

"Hey Sunny," I hear from behind me, and I turn around, coming face to face with Bradley. He smirks at whatever face I make at him. "What are you doing here?"

"I was bringing JJ his badge. Now get away from me," I say as menacingly as I can.

He laughs. "Why would I want to do that?" he asks, stepping closer. He grabs my wrist.

"Let go of me," I say loudly. The few people scattered amongst the tables turn to look at the source of the noise.

"Aw, come on, gorgeous, let's go finish what we started the other night," he says, yanking me closer to him. I try to pull out of his grasp, but his hand is locked around my wrist.

"Let go, Bradley!" I shout, pulling with all my strength against his hold. I whip my head around to see if the diners are still watching. They are, but they just sit and stare. My phone dings in my pocket.

"Your boyfriend wondering where you are?" he asks, reaching his free hand around my back to snake my phone out of my pocket.

"Hey!" I shout as he holds it up over my head to look at the notification on the screen.

"That's exactly what he's doing," he says with a chuckle.

"He'll come looking for me, and when he finds you, you're in for it," I threaten.

"Good, let him find us; I'll drag you to the kitchen and bend you over the counter while he watches," he sneers. I try again to get out of his hold, but he wraps his arm around my back and holds me against him. I shove against his chest with the heels of my hands, but he's so much stronger than me that I can't loosen his grip.

The back entrance to the dining room opens, and I sigh with relief when I see JJ standing there. "JJ, help me!" I cry out. He looks surprised for a moment, then his eyes darken as he sees me struggling against Bradley.

"Get your fucking hands off of her!" he shouts as he takes off sprinting across the dining room, dodging tables and chairs nimbly. Bradley lets go of me just as JJ gets to us. "Move, Sunny!" he growls, slamming his fist into Bradley's face.

"Fuck!" I quickly move out of the way as they go at it, both swinging at one another. JJ manages to get Bradley wrestled to the ground as the diners flee their table. I'm at a loss for what to do.

Suddenly, one of the managers of the club bursts through the kitchen doors, shouting at both boys as they roll around in the floor. "Hey! Hey!" Another man comes out to help the manager get the boys separated.

Both boys are slightly bloodied, their work uniforms wrinkled and disheveled from the short but intense fight. They both breathe hard as the two men hold them apart.

"What the hell? Fighting? And on the clock?" the manager huffs. "I can overlook a lot of things, but this is grounds for immediate termination. For both of you," he says, pointing at both boys.

Bradley shakes out of the other man's grasp and rolls his eyes. "Fine, I don't need this job anyway." He takes a step toward me and I step back. "You'll be mine eventually, Sunny," he says before turning and stalking out of the place.

I look back at JJ, who is still seething with rage. I open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes out.

"Go on, Maybank. Get out," the manager says to him, giving him a light shove. "Leave before I have to escort you out."

JJ's jaw tightens for a moment, his expression hardened, before he turns on his heel and starts to walk out of the club. It takes my body a few minutes to catch up with my mind, and by the time I get my feet to start moving, he's managed to get a good head start out of the building.

"JJ, wait!" I call to him as I jog towards him. He doesn't stop. "JJ!" I keep following him, out the front entrance and into the parking lot. I watch as he climbs onto his bike and starts it up. He takes off towards the cut without so much as a backwards glance at me.

"Shit," I mutter to myself, hurrying to get into my Jeep and following his dust trail towards John B's.

He must've gone way over the speed limit, because his bike is already parked in the grass out front of the chateau when I arrive. I shut off the Jeep and head inside, not bothering to knock or wait for an invitation to come in. I find JJ pacing the living room as I walk in.

"When does this fucking end?" he says, his loud voice filling the otherwise engulfing silence of the empty house. "Huh? When am I gonna catch a break?"

"I'm sorry," I say softly. "I didn't mean to get you fired."

"You didn't get me fired, Sunny, it was him!"

"You got into the fight because of me," I remind him, and he rolls his eyes dramatically. "Which, in turn, got you fired."

"Dude's a fucking asshole, that's the problem!" he huffs.

"JJ, calm down," I say gently, hoping he'll stop pacing.

"Don't fucking tell me to calm down! Every time I turn around it's something else! We just got past everything with Tyler, now this? Fuck!" He slams his bike keys on the coffee table.

I move to sit on the couch, leaning forward and placing my head in my hands. "It's too much." He stops pacing and looks at me. "I know it's not worth it. Losing your job, getting in fights, getting hurt." I glance at his face, looking at his lip bleeding slightly for what feels like the hundredth time.

"What's not worth it? You?" he asks. He comes to sit beside me on the couch. "Don't start this 'I'm not worth it' shit again, I fucking hate it," he huffs.

"There has been more drama since we started dating than there has been my whole life," I tell him. "I hate constantly being on edge, constantly worrying about what horrible thing will happen to me next—"

"We are not having this conversation again, Sunny. I swear to god. Stop acting like everything is your fault. He assaulted you!"

"Yeah, I fucking remember JJ, I was there! I was there when him and Rafe dragged me to the woods, I was there when he gave me his number despite you fucking marking your territory on me, I'm always there, right in the middle of almost every problem you have! I'm sick of this shit! First Tyler, now fucking Bradley, who's next? Is Rafe going to try something? Is Topper? Kelce? Fucking, some random ass tourist or some shit?"

"Hey, hey," he says, reaching for my hand. I snatch my hand away.

"No, I'm always the fucking problem. I'm the common denominator. All these fucking kooks are all over me all the time now that I'm not dating one of them anymore. I never had to deal with any of this when I was with Tyler."

Confusion takes over JJ's features. "They hate that you're with me, but so what? I don't give two fucks what they think. I just want them to stop messing with you."

"Do you think it would stop if we broke up?" I ask.

He stills beside me. "Are you suggesting we should?"

"I don't know! Maybe." I sigh. "You wouldn't be dragged into something new every week if we weren't together."

"Sunny..." his voice sounds pained. "We've been through this."

"And we'll keep going through this, over, and over, and over, and over... when will it stop? I barely remember what you look like without a black eye or a cut on your face. You've taken too many beatings because of me."

"It's annoying as fuck to have to fight people all the time because they can't respect our relationship, but that's on them. You haven't done anything wrong," he says. He reaches a shaky hand over and places it on my thigh. "Don't do this."

Tears sting my eyes. "I have to do something. I can't keep letting you get into fights because of me."

"So what, you're just going to let any kook who wants it have their way with you?"

"No, I just—"

"Stop trying to be a martyr."

"Stop pretending like you're life wouldn't be different if we weren't together anymore."

"Of course it would be different! But not in a good way! Fuck, I don't even know what I would do without you! I love you!" he says hoarsely. His eyes are growing more red by the minute. "Don't," he pleads.

"I just need a break from all this," I say as a few tears fall down my cheeks. "I need a break."

"From us?" His voice cracks.

"From everything." I swipe my hands across my cheeks to wipe away the tears, but new ones fall. I carefully remove his hand from my thigh and stand up. "I'm gonna go."

"So this is it? You're leaving me? What happened to all that 'I'll never leave you' talk?" he asks, his voice cracking again. If I stay any longer and he loses his composure, I'll lose mine.

I have to do this. It's selfish of me to stay with him and constantly put him through the wringer. It's one thing after another, constantly, with almost no recovery time between incidents. He already deals with way more than anyone should, and I can't keep adding to it. He doesn't deserve it. I have to end this, for him.

"I just need some time, JJ. You need some time," I say softly. I clutch my car keys tightly in my hand as I turn away, willing the flood gates not to open.

"Time? Time for what? I don't need time, I fucking need you!" he says, and I can hear the tears in his voice.

I take a deep breath and walk towards the door, flinging it open quickly and letting it bang shut behind me as I walk to my Jeep. A loud "fuck!" echoes from the house as I climb in and start up the engine.

I manage to make it home with my emotions mostly in check, and I thank the gods above that no one is in the house as I run upstairs and slam my bedroom door. I throw myself onto my bed and let out the sobs that have been choking me for the last hour. I cry and cry, until the sobs turn to whimpers and my head pounds painfully.

I fall into a fitful sleep, clutching my pillow tightly against my chest. The next thing I know, my mom is shaking me awake.

"Sunny? You okay?" she asks. She's sitting on the edge of my bed.

"Mm, yeah. I've just had a migraine," I lie, my voice sounding gravelly. "Been trying to sleep it off."

"Oh," she says, giving me a sympathetic smile. "Well, I made dinner. Why don't you come down and eat and then you can come back to bed?"

"Okay," I answer.

After a quiet dinner, I head back to my room, no longer wanting to sleep, but not feeling like doing anything else. As I lay on my back staring at the ceiling, I think about earlier.

This afternoon, I had been sure that breaking up with JJ was the solution to ending all the drama. In my head, it made sense: no JJ meant no kooks making snide comments to him about being with me; no reason for them to hit on me just to piss him off; I'd removed the "challenge" of them trying to get me away from my boyfriend.

But the more I thought about it, the worse I felt. Would this really put an end to the drama with the kook boys? Did I really believe they would leave me alone now that JJ and I were no longer together? I couldn't answer either of those questions confidently.

It hasn't even been twelve hours since I ended things with JJ, and my heart already aches at the thought of it being over. The boy who had been my best friend for my whole memorable life, the boy I loved with every fiber of my being, was no longer mine. I couldn't even look at him as I left; I knew if I did, I'd never leave.

I keep trying to convince myself that it's better this way, but each passing moment makes it harder to keep my resolve.

What have I done?

AN: Aww this was kind of sad to write; it's also kind of short 😞