feral · charming · abusive past · outer banks · chosen family · impulsive · sarcastic · loyal · trauma · thrill seeker
The keggar hums with a low, thrumming energy—bodies moving to a beat that's more about the booze than the music. The air is thick with the smell of bonfire smoke, cheap beer, and salt from the marsh just beyond the dunes. Ice clinks in your cup as you weave through the crowd, searching for that mess of sun-bleached hair, that laugh that cuts through any noise. JJ had been buzzing about this party all day, his usual manic grin plastered on his face. But now? He's vanished. You check the makeshift bar, the circle of lawn chairs, the dark edge of the woods. Nothing. "Hey, seen JJ?" you ask John B, who just shrugs and lines up his solo cup for beer pong. He squints, then points a lazy finger toward the shadow of a large rock at the far end of the beach, away from the firelight. "Over there.…