This was one of my favorite chapter to write, only because this is the scene and the scenario that drove this whole story and started the whole thing.
I did do some quick math when it came to the gold so roughly the 25 bars would be maybe 1.2 million approximately, but like i said super rough estimate.
Anyway all errors are mine :)
We had found gold… not just gold nuggets that you pan for in the mines… freaking gold bars.
After debating on what to do next, I found myself the next day sitting outside the pawn shop with Sarah as the others went in to 'pawn the gold'. There was no way we would be able to take all the gold in anywhere on the island, and with the wheat symbol on it we were pretty sure it wouldn't be easily cashed in. I still had questions about where the gold came from and what the symbol meant, but the boys were so excited to see what they were worth that the decision to go to the shop was already made.
That morning they had taken a few of the gold bars and decided to melt them down. Kie had taken a blowtorch to the bars and melted them into a heap. I choose to stay in the van, too many people in the shop would make the whole situation more suspicious then it needed to be.
"So how is John B doing… like really?" I was sitting on the floor of the van, my legs sticking out the side door.
"I don't know, he says he's fine, but I can tell the unknown is really bugging him." Sarah answered behind me, and I turned slightly to look at her. "I mean before it was just Big John was missing, but now with the compass, and the gold, he has more questions and even less answers then before."
"I can see that… I remember when Big John went 'missing'" I sighed leaning my head against the frame of the door. "I am pretty sure the John B went through all the stages of grief other than acceptance, and if there is any chance he ever will accept this…he needs to know how this is all connected and what happened."
"Yeah… What the hell was Grubs doing with over half a million in gold bars, on a brand new Grady White in the middle of a freaking hurricane?" Sarah questioned and all I could do was shake my head and shrug. "What about JJ? How are you and him?" she asked, and I laughed looking out the car towards the Pawn shop.
"Funny thing, its like nothings changed." I said with a small smile, "I mean it has but, how I am with him, how he is with me, that hasn't changed."
"That's good though right?" Sarah asked and I turned back to her nodding.
"My biggest fear when I started to crush on him was that he would change, or I would, we wouldn't be able to still be so… I don't know casual." I looked down at the rug of the Twinkie.
"If its consolation…. He seems happier, and so do you." She nudged me with her foot and I rolled my eyes feeling my cheeks warm with a slight blush. The group was exiting the pawnshop, all dawning huge smiles.
"What happened?" I asked moving to sit in one of the back seats, the others slowly filing into the car. Sarah took her place in the passenger seat beside John B who was starting the van up. "Did they buy it?"
"Yes… and no." Pope said and I scowled at him looking and Kie then JJ.
"Lady said they don't keep the money here. At least not the amount that we are gonna get for that." Kie explained pointing to the gold in JJ's hands. I moved to the floor beside JJ back to his seat. I stretched my legs out in front of me and reached up pulling the gold from his hand to look at it. I brushed my fingers over the smooth metal, even melted and oddly shaped it was amazing.
"How much she say we would get?" Sarah asked as I passed the gold back to JJ.
"70." John B, " Its worth 140 at least but here on the cut I don't think we are going to get better then that."
"70 is still a lot of money." I stated, "And what its kept…"
"In a warehouse, out on Resurrection Drive." Pope explained and we fell into silence as we drove out in the direction they were given. "They really keep money out here?" Pope asked when we had been driving for a while and all we could see were trees and weeds surrounding the road.
"That's what she said." JJ responded.
"I've never even heard of Resurrection Drive." Sarah commented from the front seat.
"That's cause your rich." JJ said snidely.
"You've never heard of it either." I stated smacking his leg.
"There is nothing but weeds out here." Kie said looking out the window gesturing to all the foliage around them. I sat up a bit more taking in our surroundings and I started to get a pit in my stomach. This wasn't right, there wasn't anything out here.
"Well, just because it's weed's, doesn't mean its like …" he was interrupted by a siren and the flashing of lights coming from behind us. Sitting up I saw a black car lights flashing rushing towards us.
"Is that a cop? Out here?" I asked turning to JJ.
"God! Are you kidding me!" he stated angrily.
"Why are they pulling us over... what did we do?" Sarah asked as we all broke into a panic trying to stash everything away that was in sight.
"The owner of the shop… she told you to go this way." I said and pointed to the gold in JJ's hand. "Stash that."
"I hate cops," JJ hissed as he stood up throwing his backpack under his seat.
"Just be chill guys." Kie commented and moved myself to sit in the seat beside JJ, my back against the vans wall.
"Did you bring the gun?" John B asked pulling the car to the side of the road and putting it in park.
"No, okay? Everbody told me to leave it back at the place," JJ replied from the spot beside me irritated. Kie made a comment and JJ started to snap at her, Pope coming to add his own panic filled rants.
"Shut up!" I whispered loudly, I could hear footsteps coming around the van and my heart felt as if it was about to beat from my chest.
"Sir…" John B started but his sentence was cut short with the cocking of a shotgun, and we all froze turning to the driver side window. The barrel of the gun was in the window and pointed directly at John B.
"Why don't I go ahead and see them hands up in the air." The voice came from the man holding the gun. He wore a bandana over half of his face so all we could see was the top of his head and his dark eyes focused solely on John B right now. "All y'all hands in the air!" the guy yelled again looking at all of us, and I instantly put my hands up slowly followed by the others.
"You out of the car, lets go!" the man went to yelling at John B again. Slowly John B reached out the window to open his door, being sure to keep his hands up. "Out of the car, lets go, hurry…. Let them out!" The man was getting impatient and his voice was getting more and more aggressive. "What you waitin' on? Let them out!"
Slowly John B walked around to the other side of the van, the man pointing the gun to his back. Sarah moved around to the back when John B opened the door. The man pushed him to the side a bit pointing the gun at us as we slowly got out. Sarah got out first followed by Kie and then Pope. I looked over my shoulder at JJ as I walked out and the guy lightly pulled my arm as I got out. "There you go pretty girl. Lets go." He said and I could almost picture the wicked smile under the bandana. I tensed in his grasp thankful when he released me and pushed me towards Kie.
JJ was the last one out and I couldn't tell if he was more angry or scared at this point. His teeth were clenched as well as his fist.
"Dude, we're broke…" he started to say trying to move forward but the man with the gun was not going to listen.
"Shut the hell up!" the guy yelled lifting the gun higher.
"Alright! Alright! Just relax!" JJ yelled back and I grabbed at his shirt pulling further away from the gun. The way the man was yelling and shaking the gun around there was a real fear that the trigger could be accidentally pulled.
"Lay down in the ditch! Lay down in the ditch, now!" The yelling continued as he pointed the gun at all of us. "On your goddamn knees!" with shaking hands we all slowly knelt to the ground.
Closing my eyes I tried to take a deep breath but I couldn't seem to get enough air. "Don't let me see you look up alright! That's all y'all gotta do." I listened as the man seemed to move a little bit away from us. The voice seemed to be lingering in my mind as I tried to put a face to it. I knew the voice… why the hell did I know that voice. I felt JJ's arm brush mine and I looked up enough to see him have his own eyes closed.
"It was a setup guys," Kie whispered.
"That old bat shanked us!" JJ stated punching the ground angrily. "Fuck!" Pulling my eyes from him I hear leaves moving beside me and whimpering from Sarah. Looking over John B was standing up and slowly moving to the 'cop' car a few feet away.
"Don't go…don't." Sarah was whispering, tears streaming down her face as she reached for him.
"What the hell are you doing." I whispered looking from him to the man in the car. JJ was doing the same moving so he could leap up if he had to. Watching you saw when the man found the gold and cursed looking back to John B who had disappeared into the back of the other vehicle.
"Alright you stay just like that… don't move your goddamn heads," the man came out still holding the gun towards us, but one hand had the gold wrapped up in a cloth. I watched as he made his way to his car and I could feel JJ start to lift himself slightly. The man was getting in his car and I could see a shadow from the back seat sit up and reach over. I couldn't tell what was going on but then I heard John B yell out.
"I got the gun!" and without a second thought I was standing running behind JJ towards the car. I grabbed the gun from John B as JJ ran up punching the guy. The man reacted quickly and landed his own fist knocking JJ back. My response was to use the butt of the gun and slam it into his stomach pushing him to the ground.
"I got the Gold!" Pope yelled having ran to the car and grabbed it from the passenger seat. Sarah grabbed the door and pulled it towards her so it hit our assailant in the head followed by Kie kicking him in the side. He was groaning on the ground as I handed the gun to JJ, crouching in front of him I glared at him his eyes meeting mine, and I finally realized who it was.
"You son of a bitch." I spat pulling the bandana off his face. "Barry…"
"I know this piece of shit." JJ said furiously behind me. "He's a basehead."
"Probably know my brother." Sarah commented
"He definitely knows your brother." I said looking at Sarah standing up to move out of the way.
"He sells coke to my dad," JJ seethed.
"Listen, I couldn't hurt any single one of y'all…" Barry tried to say but JJ wasn't listening and using the gun hit him across the face.
"Hey!" I said pulling him back trying to get him to calm down. He wasn't interest in listening and pulled away from me leaning down to search Barry's pockets until he pulled back holding his wallet.
"JJ, what the hell are you doing?" John B asked coming up to him.
"We got one last stop." He said pulling an ID from the wallet before dropping it back down at Barry who was leaning heavily on his arm. JJ didn't wait to see if we followed, he just started walking towards the van getting into the driver seat.
"I'm gonna remember this shit!" Barry yelled as we all filed back into the van. "You can't hide from me!"
No one spoke as JJ drove through the cut to a rundown area filled with trailers that were falling apart, had already fallen apart, or were torn apart. This was nowhere any of us wanted to be, but JJ pulled up to a trailer looking at the ID in his hand and up to the house.
"Welcome to Crackhead Wasteland." Sarah commented beside me and I set my jaw watching JJ as he looked ahead of him. I couldn't figure out what he was thinking but, I knew he was not in a good mind set right now.
"JJ this is a bad idea." I said, but he didn't respond, just opened the door
"Dude, why are we at Barry's?" Pope asked.
"This'll only take a second," was the only response JJ gave as he left towards the house.
"Where are you going?" I exclaimed leaning between the driver and passenger seat watching him move towards the house.
"Yo soy justicia," he called back walking up the steps of Barry's trailer. I let my head fall on John B's shoulder with a groan.
"You know one of us should…" I sighed quietly from my place next to John B, my head still resting on his shoulder.
"Yeah, no I got it." John B said groaning a little as he moved to get out. We opened the side of the van sitting on edge waiting for the chance to leave. It was only a few minutes later JJ came bouncing out of the house a black duffle in his hand. I looked at John B as he followed and the look I saw had me instantly concerned.
"Alright, so we're looking at five grand each for reparations for putting us through this bullshit," JJ said, he had yet to look up at us but was pulling cash from the bag. "Sorry about that y'all."
"That's what we're doing? Stealing from drug dealers?" Kie asked in disbelief turning around her hands going to her head.
"Really J?" I asked my eyes wide.
"This Barry guy is gonna find out…" Sarah said, "And he's gonna come after us."
"With everything else going on man now is not the time to start wilin out." Pope stated.
"How'd you guys like having a gun pulled on you?" JJ asked instantly looking at us his expression hard.
"Relax," John B said getting closer trying to size him up.
"He had it…" using his fingers to imitate the gun and put them to his forehead, "Right here bro."
"Look we have the gold, and we have men looking for it with guns of their own." John B said grabbing for the bag. "Now give me that shit." JJ wasn't backing down this time and he turn pushing John B into the can getting in his face.
"JJ stop!" I stated moving closer to them.
"You feel like a tough guy, huh?" John B asked, he didn't seem at all concerned about JJ's outburst. "What are you gonna do when he come for us, huh?"
"We punch him…" He answered simply, his hands still gripping John B's shirt. "In the throat."
"Yeah good fucking idea JJ." John B said rolling his eyes.
"I'm not putting it back." He stated releasing John B's shirt and picking the bag up, looking around at us, his eyes finally settling on mine. I shook my head closing my eyes taking a deep breath. This was not good, tension was way to high, and someone was going to say something they didn't mean. "What?" He asked turning to look at everyone.
"We're sick of your shit." John B stated, and all I could do was cringe. There is was… there was the thing that shouldn't be been said.
"Oh my shit?"
"Yes your shit… you're acting like a freaking maniac." Pope said
"Okay Pope… you know I took the fall for you man!" JJ turned to him angrily. "Know how much money I owe because of you?"
"I'm gonna pay you back, and I didn't ask you to do that." Pope defended. I felt like this was a dream. We were supposed to all be friend, but right now its like it was a game of may the best man win.
"I just did… paid it back, right here, right now, by myself." He said holding up the back and looked around. "You know what? That's exactly what I'm gonna do. Go off by myself." He ended turning away and headed down the road.
"JJ!" Pope called and I grabbed his arm keeping him from chasing after him.
"Just give me a sec." I said. I had to run to catch up to him as he stalked off down the road. "Hey wait a minute."
"Don't Rowyn." He stated as I was about to put my hand on his shoulder. He didn't stop walking and didn't turn to look at me.
"JJ, talk to me." I said this time I didn't hesitate as I got in front of him forcing him to stop. His eyes were dark, and his body was tense. He gripped the bag of money tightly in his fist. "What is going on, don't just walk away."
"Why not?" he seethed anger dripping with every word. "Maybe its better this way."
"You don't mean that." I shook my head scowling. "They are your family JJ…"
"Family Roe, this is a pretty fucked up family." He scoffed rolling his eyes. "You know I was crazy to think we could do this. We are from two different worlds Rowyn. You should just go back to yours, you never belonged in ours to begin with."
He didn't let me respond just turned shoved past me and continued down the road. I knew he was pissed, I knew he was angry and when he calmed down he may regret what he said, but right now I was trying to wrap my head around what had left his mouth. JJ and I had fought before, but this… this was different, and this hurt so much more than I thought it would. Swallowing the lump in my throat I slowly made my way back to the other still gathered around the van.
"Are you okay?" Sarah asked, but I didn't answer, I didn't trust my answer. Getting in the van, I sat in the back corner and kept my eyes out the window. The rest of the group slowly got in and John B pulled away from Barry's.
I sat at The Wreck later that afternoon, looking out at the Marina from my place at a back table. We had rode in silence the whole way from Barry's back to town, and even when we were inside no one spoke. My mind had come full circle and instead of running 100 miles an hour reliving everything, it was just blank. I was angry, I was sad, I was confused… there was just too many emotions to try and control right now.
"You think he'll go home?" Kie finally spoke looking at all of us. I looked away from the window to look at the group. We all seemed to be sitting with a good distance between each other, aside from Sarah and John B, who were almost too close together.
"There is about a zero percent chance that JJ goes home." Pope said and I made a sound that was like a laugh before I could stop myself. The group turned to look at me.
"You sure about that Pope?" I asked, there was more venom in my words then they were used to hearing. "I'm just curious where else you think he would go. Everyone he would go to is in this room and basically told him to fuck off."
"Rowyn…"
"There more of chance of him going home then you think…. And then the question becomes what's the chance of him getting out and coming back."
"Roe that's not fair…" John B started to say
"Fair… John B seriously." I was not backing down this time. I was furious at everything, between the few near death situations we had been in and everything else I was done just letting it just slide. I turned to Pope first, "You called him a maniac… you sunk Toppers boat…"
"Hey…" Kie tried to interrupt.
"…You were pissed and you sunk Toppers boat, and hey I didn't say a damn thing because I was pissed too but you did it… and yet you called JJ a maniac." I could Pope nervously look away. I then turned to John B, "You said your tired of his shit… but you had us outside the window of Ms. Lana's as we listened to her get the shit beat out of her, didn't give two craps if we were caught there."
I was on a role, so why not just keep going right, I thought turning to Kie, "And what about you, the year you ditched everyone huh?"
They all just stared at me with wide-eyed not expecting the outburst that I had just unleashed.
"Rowyn we never meant…"
"We all have done stupid shit, and its easy to always blame the hot head who is reckless most the time. But the truth is we are all reckless, we have all done something in heat of the moments just to feel like we have some control." I sighed heading to the door.
"Where are you going?" Sarah asked through the silence of the vacant restaurant.
"Home… Maybe he was right, maybe I shouldn't be here." I said without turning around. Opening the door to The Wreck, I made my way down the steps.
"Roe wait!" Kie called after me, running down to meet me just as two motorcycles pulled up right in front of us. Rafe and Topper got off their bikes and I groaned rolling my eyes wishing I could just teleport my way out of the confrontation that was about to happen.
"Fuck." I said under my breath watching Rafe walk up to me. "What do you want?" I asked crossing my arms. At this point I heard the others stop on the steps waiting to see what was going to happen.
"I want the money your boy took." He stated getting right up in my face. I smirked at him crossing my arms.
"Boy?" I questioned.
"This isn't a fucking game Rowyn. Where's the money." He snapped. I rolled my eyes and tried to walk past him, but his hand instantly grabbed my arm pulling me back in front of him. John B and Sarah were yelling for him to let me go but he seemed to ignore them as they started to head down the steps towards us.
"Game, really Rafe… isn't that what this is to you?" I shot back raising an eyebrow ripping my arm from his grasp. "Wasn't it a game for you to beat Pope up on the golf course? When did it stop being a game? When we actually started fighting back and not falling for your shit anymore."
"You have no clue what you're getting into." Rafe said through clenched teeth and my eyes traveled to his arm, where a bandage was wrapped around his forearm.
"Maybe you should reconsider who you do business with Rafe." I stated pointing to his arm. "You may want to consider paying back what you owe."
"What I owe!" Rafe exclaimed.
"Yes, because if you weren't such a self-indulging dick we wouldn't be here right now." I called back gesturing with my arms to where we stood. "If you hadn't beat him up," I pointed to Pope before continuing, "His boat wouldn't have been sunk," gesturing now to Topper who had yet to make any comments. "Then his mom wouldn't have demanded to press charges, which would have kept JJ from getting arrested and there would be no fucking restitution."
I turned back to Topper, who met my eyes with a weary scowl. "You really need to consider if the company you have is worth it."
"Figure your own shit out Rafe, you caused the mess, you fix it." I jabbed a finger at his chest. This time I was done, I was done yelling, done ranting, I wanted to just be done and go sleep for a week.
"You really are one of them… just like your mom." Rafe commented as I turned my back to him. I stopped and looked at Kie her eyes wide at his comment. Taking a deep breath I turned and punched him. The pain, as my fist collided with his nose, radiated from my fingers up to my elbow but I wasn't about to let him see it. His response, after he collected himself was to grab both my wrists pulling me again towards him.
"Did I hurt your feelings?" he gave me a sarcastic pathetic look which looked wrong with blood dripping from his nose.
"Rafe, come on let her go." Topper said behind him grabbing his shoulder.
"Bet you're a slut just like her too huh." Rafe taunted, his face less than an inch from mine. "Dirty Pogue whore."
I was already seeing red before then, but as he spoke, it was all I saw and I brought my knee up into his groin hard. He released my wrist and I used the opening to land another punch to his face as he was bent over. I would have done it again but someone grabbed me around my waist and picked me up pulling me back.
"Let me go!" I yelled pulling at the arm.
"He's not worth it Rowyn." It was Topper and I stopped struggling just from the utter surprise of who was pulling me away. He discarded me with Kie who with John B grabbed onto me keeping me from going towards Rafe again. I watched as Topper pulled Rafe back. He looked like he was ready to go to war with me and all I could do was smirk at him. They went back to their bikes, before he put his helmet on he made a rather dramatic show of spitting blood to the ground.
"I'll get the money Roe." He spat before putting the helmet on and revving his bike. I responded by flipping him off and they both turned with a spit of gravel from the back tire and sped off down the road.
"Holy shit Roe." Kie said and I could feel the adrenaline start to leave me as my hand began to throb.
"Dude, I think you broke his nose." Pope added with a laugh.
"I think I broke a few fingers," I cringed. Grimacing I grabbed my hand shaking it trying to get the pain to stop.
"Shit, let's get ice on that." John B said leading me back into The Wreck. John B pushed me into a chair back at the far corner of the restaurant and Kie went behind the bar coming back with a bag of ice gently placing it on my hand. I flinched as the cold met my skin but slowly the pain started to ease.
"For as long as I have known you, I don't think I have ever seen you go off like that." Sarah said taking a seat next to me. "And he totally deserved it." I smiled still eyeing everyone warily.
"You were right." John B said after we sat quietly together. "Our reaction wasn't fair, and its no excuse to blame it on the pressure we were all under." I nodded looking away from him and down at my hand, now numb from the cold. "Look, I know JJ and he needs to cool off, just like us. If we don't hear from him by tonight I will go look for him."
"I probably overreacted." I shrugged my voice small.
"Maybe a little, but it was warranted." Kie nudged my shoulder and I gave her a small smile. "We all needed the wake up I think." The conversation became lighter after that, and we stayed at The Wreck it started getting dark and the Carrera's kicked us out. Sarah and John B headed back to Tannyhill and Kie, Pope and I filed into Pope's dads truck to head back to the Chateau for the night. John B had told me he would let me know if he heard from JJ and I told him the same before we pulled away. I checked my phone several times on the drive to the old fish shack but there was no missed calls or messages and the pit in my stomach grew bigger.
Just as we got out of the truck light immediately illuminated the yard. Looking up, there were strings of lights filling the large trees outside of John B's house, following each branch. The once dark area was now completely lit up.
"What the hell?" I stated turning in a circle to look around the yard.
"Who the hell is that?" Kie asked and she started to walk around the house to the back area that seemed to be the center of all the lights. Pope and I followed closely behind her and an audible gasp could be heard from each of us as we found the source of the lights. There in the middle of the yard was JJ, inside a hot tub, aviator glasses on and a bottle of Champaign in his hand.
"Oh My God." I whispered putting my hand over my mouth.
"JJ… What did you do?" Pope asked his mouth open in surprise.
"I got a jet going straight up my butt right now." He slurred with a drunk smile. "Y'all should get in immediately, you hear me?" He pulled the glasses that were floating in the tub towards him and started to fill them. "Salud," he lifted the bottle and put it to his mouth taking a drink.
"How much did this cost?" Pope asked, seeming to be the only one of us able to put words together. I slowly moved towards the hot tub still looking at all the lights around us.
"Well… with the generator, the petrol and oh hey… express delivery." He tallied the items off as he explained, "pretty much all of it, yeah."
"All of it?" I asked turning to look at him and he just shrugged.
"Yeah, all of it."
"You spent all of the money in one day?" Pope questioned his face revealing his shock. I looked at Kie who was between shock and disgust.
"Yeah, burned a hole right through my pocket. But, I mean, like, come on guys look at this!" He exclaimed gesturing to the display around him. "Finest in jet based massage therapy. That's what they told me." He met my eyes for a second and I tried to read them through the dark glasses. Something had happened, something had changed from a few hours ago, but I wasn't sure what it was yet. "What? Can't a man have a little luxury in life? Come on, all this scrimping and scraping... I mean, guys, like… we only live once, right? Enough of this emotional shit! Get in the Cat's Ass."
"The what?" Kie asked finally finder her voice. Something he had said stuck with me as Kie questioned him on the name of the Hot Tub. 'You only live once…'
"Shit." I said under my breath looking back to JJ. I knew what happened, I knew why he came back, and what this was.
"Are you kidding me?" Pope stated and JJ's goofy smile changed as he leaned further back.
"Pope…" I said grabbing his arm trying to get him to stop before it went too far.
"You could have paid for restitution!" he ignored me and directed his frustration at JJ.
"Or literally given it to any charity." Kie added.
"Can we hold on a second." I tried to intervene and calm everyone down. JJ had now turned his head and was rubbing the corner of his eyes.
"Well, you know what… I didn't do that!" JJ stated standing up quickly and your fear became reality. Littered on his chest and abdomen were dark purple marks. He had gone home, just like you thought he would, and he didn't leave without consequence. My heart dropped and I could feel tears form in my eyes as his eyes expressed all his pain.
"I got a hot tub! For my friends. I got a hot tub for my friend… wait you know what…." He yelled and then looked at me before continuing, "Screw friends, I got a hot tub for my family."
"What the hell?" Kie said quietly and her voice broke as she tried to process what she was looking at.
"I go this for you… Guys look what I did for you, look at this" he continued and his voice usually strong, was now breaking as well as I could see tears start to fall on his face.
"JJ…" I whispered and I was already moving.
"No, stop being emotional alright. I mean it's sweet right…" but I wasn't going to let him finish. I was in the hot tub before he could complete his statement and my arms were around him. I held him as tight as I felt he could handle with the damage I could see.
His hands immediately wrapped around my waist, his hands clench the back of my shirt as he held on. "I just couldn't do it." He choked out and I moved one hand up to the back of his neck, letting my fingers run through the air on the back of his neck. His face buried into the crook of my neck and my heart shattered as the he let out a sob.
"I got you." I whispered and I let the tears that had been building in my own eyes fall freely.
"I can't take him anymore," he stated and I held him tighter feeling his grip tighten behind me. I heard splashing and felt another set of arms wrap around us as Kie joined.
"I know." I said softly and I ran my fingers through his hair and down his neck.
"I was gonna kill him." He sobbed quietly. "I was gonna…"
"Shh…" I said softly trying to sooth the broken heart he was showing us. Another set of arms embraced us and Pope was there holding us all together as we kept JJ up, kept him with us.
"I just want to do the right thing." He said brokenly and I could feel as his head was heavy on my shoulder. He was finally letting us take his weight, to hold him up, be the strength he needed. This was the family he had, the one he needed.
"I know." I whispered several times, and that's where we stayed holding each other together, the rest of the world disappear for that time. Right now, right here this is where we needed to be.