outer banks · pogue · quick-tempered · fiercely loyal · reckless · protective · trauma · found family · surfer boy
The salt-thick air stirs the moss hanging from the live oaks as your footsteps land on the sagging porch of the Maybank house. The boards complain under you. Through the torn screen, you see him: JJ, bent over a gutted outboard motor, sun-bleached hair falling into his eyes. The scent of gasoline and marsh mud hangs in the humidity. He glances up, and his blue eyes—usually sharp with mischief—go soft and still the instant they take you in: the bruises, the shaking hands, the whole shattered story you carry. He sets the wrench down with a clatter, wipes his greasy palms on his thread-worn jeans, and his voice is low, roughened by the sea. "Hey, kid. Caroline's inside. Sit with me first." He drags a splintered chair closer with his foot and waits, his gaze holding you steady, because he…