p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Arriving at the dump of a house that Barry called home, or as others liked to call it, the coke den, Elle took in a deep breath, holding it for a second or two before letting it out. Hopping out of the car, she stormed up the driveway past the overgrown lawn and random pieces of furniture stewed around the yard./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The door swung on its hinges and Elle entered, Barry rising to his feet as if he was used to this kind of entrance, "Yo, what're you doing!"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Where's JJ, Barry?", she demanded, acting much tougher than she felt./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"She watched his mouth turn up into a slimy smirk, "Oh here for Maybank. What a lucky guy, coming here to rescue him,", he paused, dragging his eyes up her body, resting on her chest for a moment before continuing. "He must have your sweet body on demand any time he likes to repay you for all the times you save his ass, huh? Tell me I'm right."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"A chill ran down her back, disgusted by his demeanor. "You're a pig." she scoffed, looking around the house before finding the back door. She wasted no time in pushing past him, bumping his shoulder on the way out the door./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Like always, her eyes found him immediately, in the corner of the garden pulling out weeds. His grey shirt billowed out behind him in the wind, his hair held back by his blue hat as his dirt covered hands worked on manoeuvering the weed out of the ground. She made her way over to him, trying to keep her strong attitude in his presence, "Come on Jay, you don't need to be here anymore, let's go"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"His head shot up, recognising her voice before seeing her. Oh god what was she doing here. JJ's seen the way people act around here, and even worse, how they get treated by Barry. Turning to look at her, he took in her crossed arms, and pursed lips. He always thought she looked adorable when she was trying to act tough but right now, he was too concerned about the fact that she was actually standing in front of him, in the coke den's yard, with Barry watching her from the deck with narrowed eyes and a creepy grin. He stood to her height, wiping his hands on his soiled shorts and reaching out to her with his hand, "Elle, please leave, you shouldn't be here"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Brushing off his hand, she let out a short chuckle, "Yeah and neither should you"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"For the first time in too long, JJ's eyes connected with Elle's, pleading her to leave. It usually didn't take much for either of them to give in when looking into each other's eyes, but his cerulean eyes weren't going to make her surrender this time./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I've payed him back. Get your shit and let's go."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"JJ did a double take, "You did what?", he asked, taking a step closer to her, his face heating up, "I don't need you to pay off my debts Elle", he said, placing emphasis on her name./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Elle rolled her eyes, she shouldn't really be surprised though, after all, she knew how much he hated her fighting his battles for him."You really think he's going to let you leave once you've paid him back JJ? I know you like to play dumb but come on, give yourself some credit"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"They held eye contact as her words sunk in. She was right. Of course she was. She was always right. And JJ hated that. He hated how she knew what to say and exactly when to say it, how she could calm him down just with a few words, and rile him up with even less. For pretty much any situation, she was right, unless it was about anything to do with cars or boats or fishing./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Barry broke up staring contest butting in, "Yo JJ, it's alright, you can leave now. Your girl gave it all back", holding up the bag of cash in one hand, "and then some", he added, throwing in a slimy wink./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"In a split second JJ was in his face, holding him with two hands by the fabric of his shirt. "Look at her like that ever again and I'll make sure she's the last thing you see with those eyes, you piece of shit!", he spat, shoving Barry away from him. "And stop selling coke to my Dad, he's reselling it for more than you're charging", he added, trying to rile him up. His Dad would never sell his coke, unless it was for a larger amount. But JJ knew the only way to get Barry to stop selling it was if he thought that Luke was profiting off it more than Barry was./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He felt Elle's presence behind him, turning to her and signalling with a nod to follow him out. They thought they were in the clear as they made their way up the driveway to her car, until they heard him yell out with a teasing tone, "Hey, Rafe told me about your little rendez vous the other night Elle! If I were you, I'd be careful there sweetheart!"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"She flipped him off with both hands, feeling her stomach flip, god Rafe has a big mouth. JJ didn't seem to react until they had both hopped into her car and began heading out of Barry's, onto the road back to Figure Eight./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""You've been hanging out with Rafe?", he asked incredulously, a slight tone of accusation slipping through./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"She sighed, fed up with their constant back and forth arguing lately, "No, I haven't", she replied, hoping to cut this conversation topic short./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Then what was he was talking about?", he pressed, eager to know the truth./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Elle's eyes remained on the roach but she could feel him staring at her side profile. "It's nothing JJ! I bumped into him the other night and we had a conversation, that's it"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He let out a sarcastic chuckle, not believing her blatant lie, "Yeah that's great Elle, fraternizing with the enemy"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""He's not the enemy JJ, he's a fucked up kid who just lost his sister, one of our best friends might I add", she responded quickly, the reality of the situation being apparently lost on him./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Yeah who almost tried to kill us Elle!", his voice raised, becoming more frustrated with what he was hearing, "Did you forget about that huh? When he had his hands wrapped around Kie's throat, or when he pushed you into a wall and bruised your entire fucking body? Do you not remember that? Or do you just not care?"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"She tried to remain calm but her voice was rising too, "Of course I fucking remember it JJ!"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Then why isn't that enough!", he exclaimed. "Why isn't that enough to keep you away from him?!"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Elle finally turned to look at him before turning her attention back to the road. Leveling out her voice, she calmly responded "Look, I found him drunk on the beach, the night of…", she paused, unsure of how to address it, "the night of our fight. We had a conversation, I called Topper and he came and got him, nothing happened, end of story"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jj nodded his head, looking down at his lap. He wasn't sure if he fully believed her, or if she was telling the truth or not, but JJ could count on one hand how many times they'd lied to each in the past. Sure they lied all the time to get themselves out of trouble or get some time to hang out away from the other Pogues when they'd missed each other. But it wasn't something they did. They'd never had a reason to lie to each other, however, JJ couldn't help the niggling thought that maybe, after everything that's happened, and how much they'd been arguing recently, maybe that had changed./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"They let silence fill the car. They needed to take a breather after the intensity of that emotional outburst. Elle debated in her head on what to say next, settling on "What do you care anyway"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Emotions rised again once JJ let out another chuckle, bewildered at her question, "Really, Elle? Are you really asking me that?"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Elle kept her hands on the wheel, glad that she had something to focus on right now so that she wouldn't have to see his real-time reactions. "Oh I'm sorry Jay, but the last time we talked you made it pretty apparent that you wanted nothing to do with me", she quick fired back, sarcasm levels at an all time high./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""And yet, here you are", he muttered, loud enough for her to hear./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"She tried to contain the burst of anger that shot through her veins after hearing that. Instead deciding to change the topic, "Yeah because I have some information on the police investigation we're involved in, just thought you might like to know about that"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""What information?", he calmly responded, the energy in the car changing drastically from sarcasm to curiosity./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Shoupe is investigating you and Pope further because he doesn't believe Kie and I, and he's pulling up anything you can and will be charged for"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Looking out the window, he removed his hat, playing with it in his hands, "For fuck's sake", he let out a sigh, placing the hat back on, "this isn't going to end well is it?"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Pretty sure you can answer that question by looking at what's already happened"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Elle expected him to say something. Anything. To discuss the investigation further, and ask her everything she knew, or ask him what he should do to get out of this mess. She was secretly hoping he might ask her how she's going, or bring up John B and how much he misses him, or that he can't believe this has happened./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"A ringing sound filled the car as Elle's pocket vibrated, her phone connected to her cars bluetooth interrupting her train of thought. "Topper Thornton calling" displayed clearly on the screen./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Topper? Why the fuck is Topper calling you?"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The door swung on its hinges and Elle entered, Barry rising to his feet as if he was used to this kind of entrance, "Yo, what're you doing!"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Where's JJ, Barry?", she demanded, acting much tougher than she felt./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"She watched his mouth turn up into a slimy smirk, "Oh here for Maybank. What a lucky guy, coming here to rescue him,", he paused, dragging his eyes up her body, resting on her chest for a moment before continuing. "He must have your sweet body on demand any time he likes to repay you for all the times you save his ass, huh? Tell me I'm right."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"A chill ran down her back, disgusted by his demeanor. "You're a pig." she scoffed, looking around the house before finding the back door. She wasted no time in pushing past him, bumping his shoulder on the way out the door./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Like always, her eyes found him immediately, in the corner of the garden pulling out weeds. His grey shirt billowed out behind him in the wind, his hair held back by his blue hat as his dirt covered hands worked on manoeuvering the weed out of the ground. She made her way over to him, trying to keep her strong attitude in his presence, "Come on Jay, you don't need to be here anymore, let's go"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"His head shot up, recognising her voice before seeing her. Oh god what was she doing here. JJ's seen the way people act around here, and even worse, how they get treated by Barry. Turning to look at her, he took in her crossed arms, and pursed lips. He always thought she looked adorable when she was trying to act tough but right now, he was too concerned about the fact that she was actually standing in front of him, in the coke den's yard, with Barry watching her from the deck with narrowed eyes and a creepy grin. He stood to her height, wiping his hands on his soiled shorts and reaching out to her with his hand, "Elle, please leave, you shouldn't be here"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Brushing off his hand, she let out a short chuckle, "Yeah and neither should you"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"For the first time in too long, JJ's eyes connected with Elle's, pleading her to leave. It usually didn't take much for either of them to give in when looking into each other's eyes, but his cerulean eyes weren't going to make her surrender this time./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I've payed him back. Get your shit and let's go."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"JJ did a double take, "You did what?", he asked, taking a step closer to her, his face heating up, "I don't need you to pay off my debts Elle", he said, placing emphasis on her name./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Elle rolled her eyes, she shouldn't really be surprised though, after all, she knew how much he hated her fighting his battles for him."You really think he's going to let you leave once you've paid him back JJ? I know you like to play dumb but come on, give yourself some credit"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"They held eye contact as her words sunk in. She was right. Of course she was. She was always right. And JJ hated that. He hated how she knew what to say and exactly when to say it, how she could calm him down just with a few words, and rile him up with even less. For pretty much any situation, she was right, unless it was about anything to do with cars or boats or fishing./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Barry broke up staring contest butting in, "Yo JJ, it's alright, you can leave now. Your girl gave it all back", holding up the bag of cash in one hand, "and then some", he added, throwing in a slimy wink./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"In a split second JJ was in his face, holding him with two hands by the fabric of his shirt. "Look at her like that ever again and I'll make sure she's the last thing you see with those eyes, you piece of shit!", he spat, shoving Barry away from him. "And stop selling coke to my Dad, he's reselling it for more than you're charging", he added, trying to rile him up. His Dad would never sell his coke, unless it was for a larger amount. But JJ knew the only way to get Barry to stop selling it was if he thought that Luke was profiting off it more than Barry was./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He felt Elle's presence behind him, turning to her and signalling with a nod to follow him out. They thought they were in the clear as they made their way up the driveway to her car, until they heard him yell out with a teasing tone, "Hey, Rafe told me about your little rendez vous the other night Elle! If I were you, I'd be careful there sweetheart!"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"She flipped him off with both hands, feeling her stomach flip, god Rafe has a big mouth. JJ didn't seem to react until they had both hopped into her car and began heading out of Barry's, onto the road back to Figure Eight./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""You've been hanging out with Rafe?", he asked incredulously, a slight tone of accusation slipping through./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"She sighed, fed up with their constant back and forth arguing lately, "No, I haven't", she replied, hoping to cut this conversation topic short./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Then what was he was talking about?", he pressed, eager to know the truth./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Elle's eyes remained on the roach but she could feel him staring at her side profile. "It's nothing JJ! I bumped into him the other night and we had a conversation, that's it"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He let out a sarcastic chuckle, not believing her blatant lie, "Yeah that's great Elle, fraternizing with the enemy"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""He's not the enemy JJ, he's a fucked up kid who just lost his sister, one of our best friends might I add", she responded quickly, the reality of the situation being apparently lost on him./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Yeah who almost tried to kill us Elle!", his voice raised, becoming more frustrated with what he was hearing, "Did you forget about that huh? When he had his hands wrapped around Kie's throat, or when he pushed you into a wall and bruised your entire fucking body? Do you not remember that? Or do you just not care?"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"She tried to remain calm but her voice was rising too, "Of course I fucking remember it JJ!"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Then why isn't that enough!", he exclaimed. "Why isn't that enough to keep you away from him?!"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Elle finally turned to look at him before turning her attention back to the road. Leveling out her voice, she calmly responded "Look, I found him drunk on the beach, the night of…", she paused, unsure of how to address it, "the night of our fight. We had a conversation, I called Topper and he came and got him, nothing happened, end of story"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jj nodded his head, looking down at his lap. He wasn't sure if he fully believed her, or if she was telling the truth or not, but JJ could count on one hand how many times they'd lied to each in the past. Sure they lied all the time to get themselves out of trouble or get some time to hang out away from the other Pogues when they'd missed each other. But it wasn't something they did. They'd never had a reason to lie to each other, however, JJ couldn't help the niggling thought that maybe, after everything that's happened, and how much they'd been arguing recently, maybe that had changed./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"They let silence fill the car. They needed to take a breather after the intensity of that emotional outburst. Elle debated in her head on what to say next, settling on "What do you care anyway"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Emotions rised again once JJ let out another chuckle, bewildered at her question, "Really, Elle? Are you really asking me that?"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Elle kept her hands on the wheel, glad that she had something to focus on right now so that she wouldn't have to see his real-time reactions. "Oh I'm sorry Jay, but the last time we talked you made it pretty apparent that you wanted nothing to do with me", she quick fired back, sarcasm levels at an all time high./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""And yet, here you are", he muttered, loud enough for her to hear./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"She tried to contain the burst of anger that shot through her veins after hearing that. Instead deciding to change the topic, "Yeah because I have some information on the police investigation we're involved in, just thought you might like to know about that"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""What information?", he calmly responded, the energy in the car changing drastically from sarcasm to curiosity./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Shoupe is investigating you and Pope further because he doesn't believe Kie and I, and he's pulling up anything you can and will be charged for"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Looking out the window, he removed his hat, playing with it in his hands, "For fuck's sake", he let out a sigh, placing the hat back on, "this isn't going to end well is it?"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Pretty sure you can answer that question by looking at what's already happened"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Elle expected him to say something. Anything. To discuss the investigation further, and ask her everything she knew, or ask him what he should do to get out of this mess. She was secretly hoping he might ask her how she's going, or bring up John B and how much he misses him, or that he can't believe this has happened./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"A ringing sound filled the car as Elle's pocket vibrated, her phone connected to her cars bluetooth interrupting her train of thought. "Topper Thornton calling" displayed clearly on the screen./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Topper? Why the fuck is Topper calling you?"./p