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pope quietly turned another page in the book that he was reading, making sure to not disturb jj from where he’d fallen asleep on his shoulder. the blond had shown up at his front door around midnight, not even a full hour ago, his face bloody and bruised. pope’s mom had let him in, calling pope to come downstairs as she did. by the time that pope made it down, his mom had taken jj into the kitchen, sat him down at the table and was using a wet cloth to gently wipe that blood away. as soon as she was finished, she’d pulled jj up and into a hug. jj’s shoulders had shook but he made no audible noise as she’d let him go. jj had turned to pope and the look in his eyes was enough for pope to know that he didn’t want to talk.
pope had nodded silently and wrapped his arm around jj’s waist as they headed back up the staircase and to pope’s room. he helped jj to lie back on his bed before turning off all the lights except for the lamp on his nightstand, leaving the in yellow glow. pope took his spot next to jj, once again tucking his arm under jj and around his waist so that he could pull him closer. jj went willingly, letting his head fall on pope’s shoulder instead of the pillow. not even five minutes later and jj was asleep, his pain and exhaustion catching up to him all at once.
and so here they were now, jj still fast asleep, his breathing slow and even and hitting the side of pope’s neck and pope rereading once of the book that he kept on his nightstand. well, he was trying to anyway but his thoughts kept straying to the boy at his side. at how jj’s bottom lip was split. at how his eyes and nose were bruised an ugly shade purple. at how he had rings of finger prints encircling his neck. he knew that every single mark on jj’s body had come from luke. hell, everyone from pope’s parents to the sheriff knew how luke treated his own son.
pope had brought it up countless times to his parents and he knew that kiara had mentioned it to hers and that even big john knew about it and yet, no one had ever tried to stop it. it drove pope crazy. he felt useless, even knowing that he was already doing the most he could to keep jj away from luke most of the time. this wasn’t the first night that jj had shown up on his doorstep, beaten and bloody but as pope looked down at jj’s sleeping face, tracing the curve of his lips, his cheeks and his fluttering lashes, he promised it would be the last.