wanna bet?

Otto had attended countless parties at the boneyard, being a touron - a gorgeous one at that - she was always invited. And not ever being able to turn down the opportunity to escape life, she always accepted.

JJ and Otto didn't really talk much, neither of them had ever acknowledged what happened between them both a few weeks ago. They almost acted like the time Kie "introduced" them to each other was the first time they'd actually met each other.

Kie and Maria went off with one another, and Pope and Belly blew the group off in favour of some disgustingly cute date.

So, JJ and Otto hung out with each other.

"You look genuinely disgusted." JJ observed with an amused grin. He wasn't lying, it still should be considered an Olympic sport to get a read on Otto because she gave next to nothing away. But right now she couldn't hide the absolute disgust she had for the alcohol she was forcing herself to drink.

Otto looked down at the plastic cup in her hand which held her drink, it was something she poured for herself and was absolutely vile. "Let's just say I don't drink because I like the taste." She grumbled.

"I've got a little Mary Jane if you catch my drift and it tickles your fancy?"

"The last time I smoked I made quite possibly the worst decision of my entire life."

"Gee, I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you through that. Next time you're struggling feel free to reach out for help."

"Go suck a dick."

"Not really my thing, but, you know what is my thing is having you suc--" Otto slapped the cup he was holding up so the drink splashed in his face, hair and shirt.

JJ nodded and wiped the drink from his eyes, "I kind of deserved that."

She ignored him and her eyes began to scan through the throng of teenagers, all the tourons had long since returned to the mainland so it was just the Outer Banks residence in attendance.

She recognised a majority of the people from school, only vaguely but she still counted it. The rest of the people where either drop-outs or graduates. Neither of which she was familiar with.

Someone stuck out to her.

He stood a head taller than the rest of the crowd, dressed in the least obnoxious Hawaiian shirt imaginable his wavy brunette hair was pushed back off his face. He was good looking, there was no way around that fact. Tall, tan and from what she could see, chiselled.

She narrowed her eyes at the man who seemed to be a little older than her.

"That's Wesley Harrington. He's a rich arsehole." JJ takes a guess at who she's looking at.

As if he could hear his name being called over the loud conversation and crashing waves Wes' head turns toward the duo. His eyes lock in on the dark haired girl, his lips curve into a smile, showing off a row of near perfect teeth.

Otto downed the last few mouthfuls of her drink and turned to JJ, "Looks like I need to go fill up, I'll see you later." She smiled, not waiting for him to say anything before she walked away.

She walked over to the table which had bottles upon bottles of every cheap alcoholic beverage imaginable, picking up the first tequila she seaw, she poured in a generous serving before grabbing a mixer and pouring that in. The drink was way too dirty to be anywhere close to enjoyable, but the hint of mixer took the edge off. Or at least that's what she told herself.

Otto wasn't stupid, she knew how to present a man with an opportunity, and her leaving JJ and walking to the drinks table was her presenting Wes with an opportunity.

An opportunity he gladly accepted.

When she turned around with her newly poured drink she saw Wes, "Figured you were a tequila girl." He smirked.

"I'm not a tequila girl, I'm an anything-that'll-get-me-drunk girl." She corrected him.

He nodded, "I've seen you around before, I thought you were a touron." He began a conversation.

"I was a touron, I just moved here this summer." She explained.

He nodded, "I'd offer you a tour around the island but considering how many times I've seen you on this island before I doubt you'd need one."

Otto shook her head, "I don't need one, but I can always pretend to be clueless if that makes you feel better?" She offered sarcastically.

"That would make me feel better. I can take you to all my favourite places on the island. I can promise you you won't have seen them all." He leans down and brushes a lock of her dark hair off her face, she raised a judgemental eyebrow.

There was something about Otto that had the men of the Outer Banks flocking to her in droves.

She wasn't overly popular in her hometown, she had had a few boyfriends before, only two of those being serious relationships. Shockingly, none of them were successful. They both managed to fuck her up in different ways.

First, there was Dante, he was a baseball player and thus wildly popular. A good one too. As her first real boyfriend she was obsessed with him. And from the surface it looked like he was too. She liked him enough to attend all his games, which was impressive considering she fucking hated baseball. The entire time she had to try not to doze off, how anyone could ever enjoy it was beyond her.

She should've seen the red flags from the beginning, his phone constantly blowing up with notifications. He wasn't even subtle, he'd text girls right in front of her, and when she asked he'd gaslight her into thinking she was crazy.

She wasn't crazy.

He was cheating on her.

Her second boyfriend was Kieran, he was the opposite of Dante in every way. He wasn't cool, or athletic (he did know how to skateboard though, which as teenager was very attractive) he had a few close friends but that was really it. He was a few years older than her. Too many years older than her. At sixteen he was almost twenty-two, their relationship was straight up illegal, which meant they kept it under wraps.

He never laid a hand on Otto, and he reminded her of that fact all the time. He would always tell her "you're so lucky it's not okay to hit women." He liked the idea of Otto, the young naive girl, and when she proved to not be as naive and easy to manipulate as he had thought he began to increase the pressure for her to conform.

She looked back on that relationship with a lot more heartbreak.

He was the straw that broke the camels back. After him she vowed not to trust anyone.

"I just might take you up on that."

A smile spread across his lips. As the night went of they both drank, he encouraged her every step of the way. JJ watched them like a hawk, he didn't trust Wes, he was far too much like Rafe for him to consider that.

And when Wes began dragging a stumping Otto back to his car JJ finally stepped in.

"Otto. Your phone is in the Twinkie." He lied through his teeth.

Otto's brows furrowed, she could've sworn she was just checking the time. But she was wasted beyond the point of reason so she just nodded, "I'll see you 'round." She bid her slurred goodbye to Wes before leaving with JJ.

After she turned her back to walk over to JJ, Wes shot the blonde the dirtiest look he could muster which only made JJ more confident in his decision to intervene.

The next morning she awoke with a text, a text from an unknown number. Yanking the phone off the cord she unlocked the phone, clicking on the unread message her lips curved up into a smile.

I'm willing to bet fifty dollars that I can show you somewhere you haven't been on the island.

I should probably add that this is Wes.

She knew who it was from the first text but the second one made her smile wider. Her thumbs hovered over the keys on the phone as she flicked through different responses to the text.

I'll take you up on that bet.

She responded. It only took a few minutes for him to get back to her, and in that time she got out of bed and began getting ready for the day.

Are you free today?

I am.

I can come pick you up and we could start the tour right now?

She waited a second, her frothy toothbrush hanging out the side of her mouth as she thought.

There was something inside of her, something so very, very small, that didn't want her to go. It tried in vain to remind her of the other men in her life that had made her feel this way. About what they did to her. About how they hurt her.

But she didn't listen.

After all it was one day, she wasn't getting married to the guy.

After sending her addresss as a response she got changed into a comfortable outfit, making sure to add a bathing suit underneath because she was willing to bet there would be water involved in some way or another. They lived on an island.

He didn't keep her waiting, she walked out the house, waving goodbye to her parents who were eating brunch.

They were always the laid back type, as long as she communicated if she was going far away or if she'd be out late they trusted her. She hadn't done anything to make them think differently.

There was Kieran, but she chose to ignore that. They still had no clue, it was better that way.

The car that Wes pulled up in screamed rich, it was sleek and stripped back, not even that flashy. But as someone wealthy you can spot someone else wealthy a mile off. And to say Wesley was wealthy would be an obscene understatement.

Not really thinking much of, having been around obscenely rich people quite a lot, she got in the car.

It smelled like leather and luxe cologne. Wes was dressed nicely, a loose short sleeved button up with a few buttons undone and some dark shorts. He gave the younger girl an award winning smile.

"Now, I'm going to start with places I think you've probably been to and build up to the one's I don't think you've been to." He let her know, driving away from the house the second her seatbelt clicked into place.

They drove to a place on the island far away, she had been there before. A few summers ago.

He parked the car and looked over at her expectantly.

"Been here." She said with sass.

They still got out the car and made the rest of the walk up to the top of large rock.

The view was stunning, the last time she'd been there it was sunset, gorgeous colours painted the sky. Although she wasn't really paying attention to that, and was instead focused on making out with some other touron named Anna. Or Anita? Something like that.

Taking a seat clumsily she pulled the sunglasses that she put on her forehead down onto the dip in her nose.

"I, uh, once fell off this." Wes said, kicking his legs out and sitting next to her. Otto turned to him and raised an eyebrow for him to continue the story. He poked his tongue against his cheek in thought and looked back out at the water.

"I was a little drunk - that's a lie, I was very drunk. Me and a friend ventured up here and I made a bet I could do a handstand on that little lump over there." He pointed to a small upward jut in the stone. "Normally I'm halfway decent at handstands, but I don't think I have to be the one to tell you that both your judgement and coordination are impaired, so I kicked up and came tumbling straight back down. I slipped right off the side, fell all the way down to the beach." He cringed.

"Stupid games win stupid prizes." Otto smirks.

Wes rolled his eyes, "Seven staples in my head and some glorified scaffolding in my collarbone is an impressively stupid prize. What's your most stupid drunk mistake? Make me feel a little better."

Otto sucks her bottom lip into her mouth, mulling over the question.

Saying the first answer that came to the girl's mind wasn't the best thing to tell a guy your half interested in. She still had no clue how life altering the night in question was.

"I went through an angsty phase a little over a year ago, I had a strip of blue hair and everything. But I had these steel capped boots, and whenever I was drunk and angry I'd kick things; I want to be clear it was always things like poles and brick walls. But one night they gave me a blister and I took them off, then I got angry and kicked a brick wall. Broke two toes." She explained.

"I'd kill to see a picture." He laughed.

"Of my toes or the hair?" She grinned.

"Both." He joked. Or half joked.

She rolled her eyes and clambered to her feet, "You'd have to kill me, because the only way you'd get to them is if I'm dead."

"I'd never hurt you, Otto."

He drove her to a few more places, all of which she'd been to. Each time he seemed to get a little more excited for the final destination.

Once she got into the car for the journey to the final place the sun was beginning to set. He drove all the way back to the suburb she lived in, but instead of turning into her street he continued straight ahead.

A few minutes later they went through dense bushland, occasionally the side of the car would be smacked with a tree branch. It took a while, and there were a few lefts and rights but when it cleared out there was a small gap in all the trees. It was probably only big enough for four normal sized cars to park in.

Just like he did every time he turned expectantly toward her, when he did she shrugged.

"Been here thousands of times." She lied through her teeth. It was crystal clear she was lying.

It amused him. She amused him.

He got out the car and she followed suit, he didn't bother to lock it as he tucked the keys into his pocket. She watched him walk over the base of a tree, she hadn't noticed before but it had a ladder nailed dodgily against it.

"OHS would have a field day here." She muttered.

She flowed him up it and when she made it to the took she had to stop her jaw from dropping. It was just above the treeline and overlooked the island. It was only second to her spot.

"For someone who's been here hundreds of times you sure have a visceral reaction." He teases.

"Thousands of times. But it's still just as stunning as the first time." She said quickly.

They stayed there for hours, watching the sun lazily slip beneath the waterline. She texted her mum that she'd be back late and she just responded telling her that dinner was in the fridge if she wanted it.

Wes put his hand on Otto's forearm, the touch warmed up her insides, she looked over at him.

He took the opportunity by the horns and leaned in without warning. He pushed his lips against hers, she responded instantly.

The went back and forth, kissing hard and fast until Otto pulled away breathlessly.

"You owe me fifty bucks."

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