As promised because my last chapter was short and not really my favorite i figured i would upload another to make up for it :)
Here is some Kie and Rowyn friendship and some JJ and Rowyn light fluff.
All errors are my own.
Thanks for reading :)
Hope to see you back here for the next chapter.
We were nowhere near answering all questions we had after the revelation of Denmark Tanny and his gold. After a day of scratching our heads, it was clear that the world wouldn't stop for us to figure out a mystery that people had been trying to solve for over a hundred years, and thus we were left with returning to the monotony of our lives.
The crazy adventure of the last few weeks seemed to slow and we were left with the regular mundane monotony of our lives. Working, fishing and having a good time, the way summer was supposed to be. The gold remained in the lock box in the chicken coop out back, because who would look there, at least that was what John B and JJ had decided. We still weren't sure how we would pawn the rest of the gold, or even where we would go so it just sat.
I hadn't seen or heard from Rafe since I punched him which was a relief and a reason for concern. Topper had called me halfway through the week to let me know he had spoken to his grandfather and the charges were going to be dropped, JJ was going to get a call in the next few day from the DA claiming such as well. I had thanked him and I could tell, just by the tone in his voice he didn't have a dark cloud hovering over him anymore.
A few days after the phone call with Topper, JJ came into The Wreck with John B, his face lit up with a huge smile.
"What's got you so happy?" I asked from behind the counter filling some glasses for a table.
"We are heading to Rixon's to celebrate." He said leaning on the counter grabbing a fry from the basket I was placing on a tray and I playfully smacked his hand away picking the tray up and walking away. Coming back to them I set the tray down and stood between them.
"What are we celebrating?" I questioned.
"Charges have officially been dropped." He replied with a smile.
"Are you serious!" I exclaimed and wrapped my arms around him. His hands wrapped around my waist picking me up spinning me around. "JJ that's amazing!"
"I wasn't sure Topper was serious when he told me the other day, but Shoupe called me to the station this morning… its legit." He explained setting me back down he put his lips to mine and when he broke away, I sighed in relief.
"So what do you say Roe, surfing down at Rixons?" John B asked.
"I can't, I close tonight." I said with a disappointed sigh looking away from the pout JJ was giving me.
"Come on Roe, dip out early." JJ said and I rolled my eyes.
"Rowyn your foods up!" Mike yelled from the window and I could see the scowl he was giving the two boys leaning on the counter.
"I can't… I kinda need the money," I shook my head. "But hey we close at 10 tonight so… I will just come down after that and I will drink to your freedom then."
"Ugh…" JJ groaned but I could hear the playfulness in his tone as him and John B headed towards the door. "Oh shit, I saw your dad today by the way."
"What?" I froze pulling the food out of the window almost dropping it to the floor.
"Yeah, as I was leaving today he was heading into the club." He nodded. "Don't think he saw me but figured I'd let you know he was in town."
"Oh.. Okay…" I said quietly nodding. I pursed my lips together as I brought the food to the table and walked back to the kitchen distracted.
"Hey, you good?" JJ stopped me before I could go into the back. He pulled me back around the counter and put one hand on the side of my face his eyes searching mine.
"Yeah." I nodded giving him a smile, I could see he wasn't buying it and I sighed closing my eyes.
"What's going on?" he asked quietly.
"He usually isn't in town today, I… I was just surprised." I answered taking a deep breath. He scowled searching for what I was talking about, I could see when the reality set in, and he slowly nodded.
"Your mom." he whispered.
"Yeah, I didn't even realize it was today." I nodded. Eleven years ago, my mom left without a word, without a glance back and since that day my dad made a point to avoid the island and anything that could possibly remind him of her… which meant me.
"Look, I can hang out here with you if…"
"Don't… I'm fine I honestly forgot about today, and you deserve to go celebrate." I interrupted stepping away from him. "I promise, I am fine, and I am not lying… this time." I said this time with a genuine smile and I put my hands on the sides of his face putting my lips to his.
"Call me when your off." He said as I pulled away and went back to work. I nodded and waved as he walked out with John B. I went through the rest of my shift on autopilot, my mind continuing to wander. Kie had come by around 9:30 to help me close so we could get out and head to Rixon's together. I was grateful for the distraction. I knew JJ had employed her to come get me, concerned I would fall into old habits and spend the night alone as I have in the past.
"We're heading out!" Kie called into the back to her dad who just told us to behave and make good choices. Walking down the steps, she flung her arm over my shoulder and I laid my head on hers. "What do you say we forget today and regret it tomorrow."
"I'd be okay with that." I laughed as we reached her car. Opening the door to get in the passenger side my phone went off and I figured it was JJ or John B. Looking at my screen the number was listed as 'Unknown' and I frowned selecting the answer button sitting on the seat with my feet out the door.
"Um, Hi. Is this Rowyn Daniels?" The male voice on the other end asked. I didn't recognize the voice, and by the sounds of it he had no idea who I was.
"Yeah this is her." I answered. I could feel Kie's gaze burning a hole in my back as I turned away from her.
"Hey, um Hi, this is Anthony from the Country Club." He replied and I closed my eyes pinching the bridge of my nose listening to him ramble on. "Look we wouldn't normally do this but, we have your dad here and well… he's… we can't let him drive himself back to your house tonight. Usually to keep a low profile about incidents like this I have one of my guy's drive them home, but your dad… he insisted I call you."
"He did?" I lifted my head my face contorted in confusion. My dad had never requested me for anything, if anything, he had requested everyone but me to do things or be places.
"Yeah, pretty insistently actually. Look is there any way you could come and pick him up?"
Looking over my shoulder at Kie who was staring at me mouthing 'what' to me.
"Ummm…" I hesitated looking at Kie before giving a heavy sigh and leaned my head back looking at the car roof. "Yeah, yeah sure give me like 10 minutes?" Anthony thanked me and said he would keep an eye on my dad until then. Putting my phone down, "I'm going to be late."
"What does that mean?" She asked as I went to stand out of her car. "Rowyn."
"I have to go get my dad from the club." I stated.
"What… Why?"
"He's drunk." I said flatly shutting the door and leaned on the window. "Any other day Kie I would ignore him, but today… I can't. Just… I will meet you down there, give me an hour max."
"Do you want me to come with you?" She asked chewing on her bottom lip, I could see the concern in her eyes and I shook my head.
"No, its fine… I'll be fine."
"Roe, what if he knows…"
"He's drunk, chances of him remembering anything right now is slim to none. And remembering me tomorrow is probably going to be a hard no." I sighed standing up straight pushing off her car.
"Call me when you get home and when you leave Roe… or I send a search party out." She threatened and it made me laughed as I nodded moving towards my parked car at the other end of the lot. This was already shaping up to be a long night.
JJ POV
From the moment Shoupe had told me the charges were dropped and gave me the warrant stating it was erased from my record I was on cloud 9. A huge weight lifted off my shoulder. I never regretted my decision to step in for Pope, and I would do it again in a heartbeat, but for once something was working out for me and I wasn't going to complain. Spending the day on the water was one of the best therapy's out there and today it was a way to celebrate. Pope and Sarah had joined us well into the afternoon and Kie had said she was going to help Rowyn close up before heading our way.
However, The Wreck had closed thirty minutes ago, and I hadn't seen either of them pull into the cove yet. I was not one to hover, I wasn't one of those guys… Rowyn was free to do whatever she wanted, but I knew her, and after everything that happened, what I had said I didn't want her to be alone.
I knew what I had said hurt her, more then she let on. Waking up that morning without her there… the guilt from what I had said, after everything we'd been through, I was pretty sure she wasn't coming back. We still hadn't talked about it, not really, I still had no clue where she went or why and I could tell she was holding something back.
After an hour, I was slowly losing my shit. Kie and Rowyn still hadn't shown up and I couldn't help the rising dread I felt the longer we waited. Pope was rambling about something to do with dead bodies, a conversation I would have easily made fun of him for if I hadn't been so tightly wound. I saw John B stand up and move away as he answered his phone. I watched his reaction as he spoke to whoever was on the phone and took note of the tension he got and how tight he squeeze his phone, looking over his shoulder at us several times. Something had happened.
He turned around hanging the phone up and came back to us a stoic look on his face. "Kie and Rowyn are at the Chateau right now." He stated and I tried to read his expression.
"Why? Weren't they meeting us here?" Sarah asked.
"Uh yeah… something came up." He said, his hand running through his hair as he started to separate the wood in the fire to kill it.
"Whats going on?" I asked standing up moving over to him keeping my voice low. He just shook his head and kept staring at the embers of the fire. Once we had the cleaned the beach, we headed back to John B's. My hands anxiously fidgeting with my lighter. The tension in the Twinkie grew as we got closer and even Pope and Sarah sat silently. Pulling into the Chateau Kie's car was already there and there was a small bit of relief knowing they were actually there and John B hadn't been lying about that.
The relief ended the moment we go out and Kie's angry voice could be heard from the porch.
"Don't give me that bull… you did not fall down the fucking stairs and you know it." Kie was stating pretty loudly. "I was on the phone with you, I heard what happened Rowyn."
"Kie its not that bad…" That was Rowyn, but her voice was strained.
"Not that bad…" Kie shouted. Rowyn was on the couch when we made our way over and Kie had her arms crossed standing in front of her.
"He was drunk…"
"That's not a fucking excuse Roe, shit." Kie stated exasperated her arms dropping as she turned just as we made our way onto the porch further. As she moved, I was finally able to make out Rowyn appearance and quickly realized why Kie was angry.
"What the hell!" I stated moving towards them passing Kie and bending down so I was squatting in front of Rowyn. I didn't wait for permission I grabbed the towel she had firmly placed at her hairline, pulling it away slightly to see a cut still oozing blood slowly. Replacing the towel, I held it there and she winced slightly as I applied pressure before turning to Kie for some sort of explanation.
"Will someone tell us what the freak happened?" John B asked coming around. I turned back to Rowyn who averted her eyes away from mine and tried to shift uncomfortably only to grimace and close her eyes with a pained expression. She opened her mouth to answer but was quickly interrupted by Kie.
"If you say you fell I swear to God…" Kie said firmly and Rowyn quickly closed her mouth pursing them together. "It was her dad." Kie finally spoke when she realized Rowyn had started to close down. Roe looked up quickly at Kie and glared.
Rowyn POV
Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. From the moment Kie barged into my house and threw my dad off me to her driving to the Chateau everything was jumbled. My head hurt, my muscles ached, and my throat was on fire… I should have listened to Kie before picking my dad up, and she was going to remind me of that fact.
Despite her anger, she was gentle as she helped me up the porch and got a towel for my head. I sat with my eyes closed still trying to pull enough air into my lungs. As soon as her adrenaline seemed to fade her, anger was right there yelling at me for my stupidity. I tried to brush it off, tried to tell her it was no big deal, but she was not going to let it slide this time. I couldn't blame her though; I had called her the moment I thought I got my dad into his room and was headed towards the door. She had barged in, as he was scream at me, his hands around my throat… Now all the fear she had built up was coming out.
Then JJ was there and he was looking at me his eyes filled with confusion and concern as he pulled the towel away from my head and l searched between Kie and myself for an answer. Then she had said it, she answered their question with four words, and I couldn't help but glare at her a bit of betrayal felt, it wasn't her place to say anything, I mean not really.
"Your dad?" Sarah asked, and I looked past JJ and Kie to see Sarah and Pope beside John B. I wanted to shrink and disappear in that moment, wanted all the attention to be somewhere other than me.
"I got a call from the club as I was leaving The Wreck." I mumbled looking at my hands. "My dad was piss ass drunk and they needed me to give him a ride."
"They couldn't call a cab?" Pope asked.
"He asked for me, gave the host his phone and my number." I sighed.
"Why didn't you go with her?" JJ turned to look at Kie who looked at him in disbelief.
"Oh no. Don't you dare turn this on me. She made the decision to go alone." Kie pointed to me. This was going to be a fight, something I wanted avoid.
"He's my problem, not hers or any of yours so I didn't it alone. That's not a crime." I defended Kie sitting up straighter. JJ turned to look at me and his expression was a mixture now of concern and anger. His hand had fallen from the side of my head and he was bracing himself on the couch. He was waiting for me to continue to justify why I looked like I had gone a few rounds in a cage fight. Taking as much air in that my throat would allow I closed my eyes and bowed my head. "I got him home without a problem, I had him in his bed and I was heading out the door. I had called Kie cause I told her I would, while I was on the phone with her he just freaking showed up behind me and we both kind of just fell down the stairs." Kie made a sound of frustration because she knew I had sugar coated it, but I wasn't going to change my story now. "He was pissed. That's it."
"You were blue Roe, his hands were around your neck and you were blue. That's not just pissed." Kie said and I cringed as she described what she had walked into not too long ago. I remember the feeling as the black started to converge on my every thought, but the moment I lost all strength my dad was thrown off me, and Kie was there pulling me up towards her. It wasn't something I'm sure either of us would forget anytime soon.
"Tell them why Roe..." Kie said. It was a demand but it was soft, almost encouraging. She wasn't telling me to tell them out of malice or hatred but because what had happened… it had scared her and me and I couldn't run away from it this time. "They need to know… he deserves to know." Her eyes moved to JJ who just scowled and looked between us.
"Know what?" He asked and I just looked away from him feeling my eyes start to burn. "Rowyn, what do I need to know?" He asked again but this time his voice was harder.
"I…" I started and my voice cracked. I cleared my throat painfully before taking another deep breath before continuing. "I was the one that talked Topper into dropping the charges."
"What?" JJ sounded confused for a second.
"That morning, when I wasn't… I went to the club and told him to grow a pair and stand up to his mom. He never wanted to press the charges but his mom is a control freak and he just went with it." JJ stood up and moved away turning his back to me. He leaned heavily on the railing as he let the information sink in.
"Why didn't you tell us?" John B asked moving so he was now sitting by me.
"I wasn't sure if he was really going to go through with it." I shrugged. "I mean he call out his mom at the club in the middle of the lunch rush, but that didn't mean anything so I figured in case it didn't turn out in our favor I wouldn't say anything."
"You paid the restitution." JJ commented. His back was still to me but he had put the pieces together. His shoulders were tense and I could see him gripping the railing like it was the only thing holding him up.
"Wait what?" Pope questioned looking at me. "Did you?"
"No." I said flatly and with that, JJ turned his eyes staring at me as if he dared me to lie. "I gave the money to Topper." JJ threw his arms up and cursed as he walked away a few steps before coming back.
"Are you fucking kidding me!" He exclaimed and I tried not to flinch but after the night I had I could help that my body reacted slightly. "Why the hell would you…"
"Because Topper is stuck in the middle of a war between Rafe and us. He didn't deserve his boat drowning any more than Pope deserve to get a warrant out for him or you deserved to take the rap for him." I exclaimed, this time I stood disregarding the pain I felt in my back as I did so. I stood so I could size him up, he could be mad at me that was fine, but I wasn't going to have him yell at me. Not right now. "I know what its like to not be good enough even though you try your hardest. So yes I gave Topper the fucking money so that he could fix his boat and I could make everybody happy."
"Guys…" John B was standing now trying to get between us, but I didn't look at him I kept my eyes glued on JJ's. Kie came behind me trying to pull me back but I pulled my shoulder out from her grasp.
"I didn't want you to do that!"
"You know what JJ. I didn't care what you wanted. When I made the decision it wasn't about what you wanted." I stated and his hard glared softens surprised by my response. "This is what I wanted to do, what I chose to do. You were going down a dark road because of the whole thing and I wasn't going to watch you spiral. Pope had guilt coming out his ears. So, I decided I need to do something. That's what I did, for once I fucking did something, I wanted and I didn't think twice about it." By the time I was done, I was out of breath and the tears that had been threatening to spill earlier were now rolling down my bruised cheek.
"I would do it again in a heartbeat." I said softer, "Even if it meant the same outcome."
"Okay I think we all need to take a step back." Sarah said coming up behind me. "Are you okay? Like do you need a doctor or something?"
I kept my eyes on JJ waiting for him to react or say anything, but he stayed jaw clenched in front of me. Looking away I shook my head. "No, no I'm fine." I stated and she brought her hand to the side of my face her eyebrow knitting together as she looked at the scrapes and cut along my face. "I… um, I think I just need a second okay." I pulled her hand away and walked past the silent group still comprehending what had happened. I didn't wait for any of them to follow and went inside to the bathroom locking the door behind me.
Avoiding the mirror, I sat on the ground my back against the bathtub. I wasn't sure how long I had sat there but my butt was asleep, and my tears had long dried up. There was a soft knock on the door but no words, when I didn't respond right away the knocks continued a little more forceful. Sighing I crawled towards the door and unlocked it sliding back to my placed on the floor. Someone walked in and shut the door again. I kept my eyes on the floor until black boots came into view. The owner of them sat down on the edge of the tub beside me and we sat there, both of us waiting for the other.
With a sigh I gave into the silence. "This wasn't how you were supposed to find out." I said quietly.
"Would you have told me?" he asked his voice seemed strained.
"Eventually." I sighed. I felt him shift beside me until he lightly pushed me forward so he could sit behind me. Slowly and gingerly he folded his arms around me and pulled me back into his chest. I felt my wall that was already broken after tonight crumble further and a new set of tears threatened to fall. "I just wanted to help." He nodded against me and laid my head on his bicep as he just held me there. Closing my eyes, I just embraced feeling his arm around me. His traced up my arm and slowly up my neck. I heard him take a sharp breath as his fingers traced the bruise, I am sure was forming.
"Thank you." He whispered after a moment pause bury his head in my hair.