Holy crap, the time it took me to get this chapter was not supposed to take as long as it did... i am so sorry. Life started real quick, with school, sports, work...
Anyways, this is shorter than the others but atleasts i can post something instead of leaving you all wondering where i went or if i would post.
As it has always been the errors are all mine, and i embrace them... being perfect is overrated.
There was nothing we could do. The fire took the Chateau so quickly that by the time we collected our thoughts and barring's there was no saving any of it. We had all collapsed on the ground under the memorial tree watching the old fish shack turn to ash. Sitting between JJ's legs and I leaned against his chest. My eyes burned from smoke and sleep, but I couldn't take my eyes away from the carnage in front of us.
"Could have been a faulty electrical wire." Pope suggested quietly.
"Place was all wood." Kie added. "A tinder boxes."
"Just took one spark and..." I continued her sentiment nodding.
"Thing just went up." Cleo finished. "Boom."
"Verdicts in bro." JJ sighed behind me. "Whosever up there does not like you..." Sarah lifted her head from John B's shoulder to look at JJ.
"Not helpful." I whispered shaking my head against JJ.
"Sorry." he shrugged, reaching for an empty bottle beside us tossing it into the pile of burning wood. John B dropped his head onto his arms, and I reached my injured arm to his shoulder lightly squeezing it. As the sun rose higher, we moved to the dock leaving the rubble of the once lively home behind us. Sarah had found a first aid kit in the Pogue and sat beside me slowly unwrapping the shirt that had been around my arm. I cringed as the fabric stuck to the raw area of my arm.
"Sorry." she said, and I gave her a small smile shaking my head. I turned my head away looking up at JJ and then John B. I could feel Sarah clean the broken skin before placing gauze and then wrapping a bandage around my hand and arm. Standing up I moved to sit on the railing beside JJ.
"Sarah, when did you say the pilot was getting in?" John B. asked finally.
"Probably like an hour." Sarah answered. "I mean once he's here, my dad says we can leave whenever we want."
"Okay, well as much as I would love to ghost my parents again... I can't." Pope sighed moving to stand and look around.
"Pope we're talking about El Dorado here. Can't you just slip out the back maybe?" JJ asked.
"Great advice." Kie said sarcastically.
"It always worked for me." JJ shrugged.
"You were avoiding an angry drunk parent." I pointed out. "Pope's parents don't compare."
"I'm just saying, how to avoid unpleasant circumstances 101. If there is a problem, you don't want to face it, turn that face and keister around and walk the other way." JJ continued turning to look at Pope squinting into the sun.
"I'm not doing that okay?" Pope stated firmly.
"I just want you to be there, dog." JJ sighed.
"I'm gonna be there." Pope insisted reassuringly. "I'll meet you at the airstrip in an hour."
"Yeah, we'll see you there." John B. nodded.
"One hour Pope! Not a second later!" JJ called as Pope turned to head down the dock.
"Think you should let me talk Pope, think your mom kinda likes me." Cleo stated, following after him making me giggle and shake my head.
I'm gonna take a stroll back to the shack." JJ sighed looking at me and I jumped down from the railing. "For old time's sake and all. Always wanted to go to South America." he added turning to leave. "Great surf, cheap weed. See you guys on the tarmac."
"JJ hold on." I called after him waving to John B. and Sarah. JJ stood at the end of the dock with his hands in his pockets squinting at me as I walked towards him. "I'll come with you." He nodded and put his arm over my shoulders. Footsteps behind me made me turn my head and I saw Kie heading towards us.
"You going home?" I asked.
"Yeah, guess I gotta break it to them." she nodded.
"Be careful, I know you're on, like, thin ice with them." I gave her a small smile before I walked with JJ in the opposite direction. We didn't say anything as we walked. I know JJ's mind was running at top speed and the thought of leaving his home, even one that had such bad memories was hard. When we got to his house, I followed him to his room and watched as he looked through the mess on the floor for a backpack and slowly started to throw stuff into it. I sat cross-legged on his bed and watched him quietly, not sure what to say to help him.
After a few minutes of him actively searching through his room, he finally dropped his bag onto the floor and moved towards me.
"You know we never finished our conversation last night." He said playing with a lighter in his hands.
"Yeah, you were in the middle of saying something..." I trailed off.
"The last few days I have been..."
"Stressed." I finished, keeping him from saying anything else. "Jay, we were all trying to find our footing."
"It's not an excuse." he shook his head. "I am sorry, I am so sorry I turned my back, I was reckless trying to do what everyone expected, and I didn't care about the result... but I wasn't the only one affected." He was standing in front of me now, and I had to strain my neck up to look at him. "Everyone tells me I'm a thief and just like my dad, but you always see through that, you make me feel like I am better."
"You are Jay." I said quietly as he leaned down, his lips touching mine. Slowly and gently, he pushed me further back until I was laying on my back and he was laying over top of me, one arm bracing himself on his bed by my head, his other hand on the side of my face. The nip of his teeth on my lower lip and the glide of his tongue over it pleading with my mouth to let him in. Parting my lips, he quickly deepened the kiss his hand on my face gliding down to my hip, his fingers trailing the hem of my shirt and wait of my jeans. My own hands trailed down his chest until they reached the bottom of his shirt. His calloused hand trailed under my shirt as my uninjured hand did the same as the other moving to the side of his face to pull him closer to me. Through our heavy breathing I heard the sound of a car engine revving as it got closer.
"JJ," I breathed out, pushing him back slightly. He didn't immediately stop, instead his lips trailed down my jaw, nipping at my ear, his hands still caressing me. "JJ, I think someone is outside." I said again as the engine got louder. As soon as the engine was right outside, JJ's head snapped up and he turned towards his window. Everything that had just started ended abruptly as he got up off the bed and I followed him.
"What the hell?" JJ whispered looking out the window. Scowling I waited for him to tell me what was happening, but he turned quickly, cursing as he did so, reaching for his bag and my hand. "Shit... shit, shit."
"JJ what's going on?" I hissed, both of us freezing as we heard the door to the car slam shut.
"JJ!" I heard a male voice call from the front of the house. "Your ol' buddy Mike!"
"Mike?... Barracuda Mike?" I questioned, turning to JJ who just pursed his lips and nodded.
"You lost my load! Time to pay up!" Mike shouted from outside and his voice was slowly getting closer. "All right we're gonna do this your way, I'm coming in JJ!"
"Shit." I cursed and quickly followed JJ towards the back of his house.
"I know you're in there, we're gonna do this your way." He called, and I heard the front door get kicked in just as we exited the house out the back and ran towards the tree line. "It's gonna be a lot easier if you do it now. JJ! Damn it. Where are you!" JJ stopped and turned around to look back at his house. Standing next to him, I knew he was looking at his childhood home for the last time, and despite all the shit that had happened to him in, what he was feeling right now wasn't something I had been through. I watched as he gave the old shack a peace sign before turning towards me, giving me a sad smile before we both started taking off running away from it.
Once we felt like we were far enough away we slowed our pace and headed towards the airstrip. The Twinkie was already sitting on the tarmac when we got there, and a plane was a few yards away from it. Sarah was sitting on the steps of the airplane and John B. was pacing in front of her.
"Dude!" JJ called as we got closer getting his friends attention. "Where is everybody?"
"I don't know?" John B. stated with a shrug of his shoulders.
"We should get them!" JJ said getting worked up. "We should get in the Twinkie, and we should just get 'em."
"Five minutes." John B said simply. "Just give 'em five minutes, all right?"
"Guys, there's Pope and Cleo." Sarah said standing up and pointing to a motorcycle moving towards us.
"You guys waiting for us?" Cleo asked with a smile.
"Yes, we were." JJ said. "You're late. Now did you actually convince your pop this time or..."
"Cleo convinced him." Pope shrugged.
"Really?" I turned to Cleo who just smirked before laughing.
"My girl." JJ praised doing the Pogue handshake with her. "That's what I'm talking about. I thank you for being a part of thy crew."
"Anytime." she responded.
"Hey where's... uh, where's Kie?" Pope asked. My heart dropped as I looked around the airstrip for any sign of Kiara.
"I don't know." Sarah shook her head. "It's gotta be her parent's dude, they've been up her ass."
"They must've said she couldn't come." Pope agreed and I instantly knew there was something else going on. Her parents couldn't keep her from coming, I knew Kie... there was something else going on. "We're gonna have to do this without her."
"Give me your keys." I said quickly holding my hand out to John B.
"What?" JJ and John B. questioned.
"Her parents have threatening her with that stupid fucking wilderness school. Give me your freaking keys." I stated, firmly again looking John B in the eyes and daring him to test my patients.
"It doesn't seem like a good idea." he said, and I glared at him again, but I heard him fumbling in his pocket for his keys, placing them gently in the bandaged palm of my hand.
"Look...her parents have made it very clear they don't care about their daughter's feelings. Nothing we do or she does will ever be okay... so I am going to go get our friend." I explained.
"John B. just give us an hour." JJ said and I looked at him confused. "Oh, I'm going to, it'll be like a black ops mission... in and out."
"You gotta be."
"Surgical removal type shit." JJ nodded. I was already walking towards the Twinkie and heard JJ running behind me before jumping through the passenger window.
"That door opens bro." Pope called, and as I got into the van, I scowled at him waiting for him to right himself.
"Was that necissary?" I asked trying to keep from giggling.
"It went smoother in my head." He smiled at me, and I rolled my eyes amused pulling away from the airstrip. Pulling into the Carrera's driveway I saw the two adults sitting on the front stairs both looking utterly defeated and the bit in my stomach grew. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath turning to look at JJ who just raised his eyebrows to me and nodded. Opening the door, I slowly stood and took a step forward.
"Kie was supposed to meet us, where is she?" I asked watching the two's reactions as is poke.
"She's not here." Anne answered standing up, her voice breaking slightly as she spoke.
"All right, then where is she?" JJ asked from the other side of the van.
"Let's just say you're not gonna see her for a while, all right?" Mike answered, his eyes focused on JJ.
"What does that mean?" I questioned looking at JJ as he shrugged. "Where the hell is she?"
"We sent her some place where she can try and rebuild what you and your friends destroyed?" Anna said putting her hands on her hips.
"Destroyed..." I rolled my eyes and laughed shaking my head. "You have tried to destroy everything that makes Kie, Kie... we never destroyed anything."
"You sent her to that wilderness camp?" JJ asked behind me.
"Yep." Mike answered easily and I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Was it voluntary?" I tilted my head looking at him.
"She is our daughter; we get to decide what is right for her. To help her grow." Anne defended.
"By taking away everything that makes her, her?" I scowled. "You are willing to strip everything unique about Kie away just to what... finally get a Kook daughter that does everything you say. That doesn't fight for what's right, doesn't stand up for what she believes in? Doesn't defend the defenseless? Tell me, what did she actually do wrong?"
"God..." JJ laughed sarcastically. "Ya'll really are some Kooks." Then he turned and got back in the van just as Mike stood up threateningly walking towards us. I took a step forward, looking between the two people that had taken care of me, given me a job, but I didn't recognize either of them at this moment.
"I used to be so jealous." I said quietly, feeling the sting of tears in my eyes as I looked at them. The tears weren't because I was sad, I was pissed, scared for my friend and disappointed. "You were the parents I wanted, I would stay up and wonder why I couldn't have that but... this, how could you? Since we have been back, she has told you everything. All of it, despite how you would react, she was trying and you... you couldn't even try to trust her, believe her. Everything she had fought you on she has been right about, and have you ever apologized for being wrong?"
"Roe..." Anne tried stepping forward, but I just took a step back.
"You talk all this shit about Kooks and Pogues, Figure 8 and the Cut, but it doesn't mean anything does it?" I asked rhetorically. "You are Kooks, and you just proved it, by sending your only daughter away, expecting her to be 'fixed'. There was nothing to 'fix' not with her... you... you need to be fixed." I turned away from them and got back into the van pulling out of their driveway angrily and speeding down the road.
"Okay so regroup." JJ said as I drove. "Do you know what the name of the camp is?"
"What?" I turned briefly to look at him. "No, she never said what the name was."
"Okay, I have an idea." He said, reaching towards me and pulling my phone from my front pocket. I scowled as he scrolled through it and then put it to his ear. The phone rang for only a second before JJ started talking to whoever was on the other end. "What was the name of that wilderness camp that Uncle Larry sent you to? You know the one I'm talking about? ...Ricky, screw your chickens right now, I need to know the name of the wilderness camp you got sent to in nineth grade for being a perv..?" I looked at JJ confused trying to figure out what was going on. "Alright. My bad. All I need to know is what's the name? ...Kitty Hawk Camp... Funny all right, that's all I need. Thank you for the information, cuz. I'll talk to you soon."
"Kitty Hawk? Jay there is no way we're getting back to the airstrip in the next hour." I shook my head.
"Yeah, I gotta call John B." he nodded sighing. He put the phone back up to his ear and I listened as he spoke to John B. "A little change of plans. They did it. They sent Kiara to the wilderness camp. So, um... I'm gonna need about eight hours for liberation... I know dog, I know the clock is ticking. All right. Just hold out as long as you can. And if you gotta go, we'll meet you there... I know I'm working on it dude. Luckily, I'm a problem solver. Just stay in the matrix, okay? I repeat..." Before he could say anything further there was a loud pop behind us, and the Twinkie started to rattle and pull across the road.
"Shit." I cursed, hitting the brakes and pulling over on the side of the road.
"You gotta be kidding me!" JJ exclaimed, hanging up the call he handed me the phone before getting out of the van and walking to the driver's side. I turned the key, shutting off the engine and got out, looking at the now flat tire.
"We blew a tire? Really? Now?" I questioned crossing my arms annoyed. Leaning against the van I watched JJ open the side door of the van around to get the spare tire. As he moved to the flat tire a car revved behind us and my head shot up panic gripping my chest as I watched the vehicle speed towards us.
"Jay." I said standing up straight and JJ nodded.
"Yeah, I know." he said just as the car screeched to a stop and Barracuda Mike and another man stepped out of the car. I watched JJ look down at the flat tire with a scowl before nodding and dropping the tire. "Okay fine." I heard the audible click of the gun the other man was holding, and I met the man's eyes as he pointed it in our direction.
"Really?" JJ called, "After everything you just put me through... and you shoot out my... my friends tire? That's not even my van!" he stated, moving towards them.
"You lost the load JJ." Mike said calmly, leaning on his door smirking. "Now instead of me getting paid, I owe them. Which I guess means that you owe me, right?"
"I know Barr..." JJ started looking away. I glanced at Mike for a second but still kept my focus on the man with the gun.
"Get in the car." Mike said firmly and my attention snapped to JJ nervous.
"As much as I would like to..." JJ started before motioning to me and the Twinkie, "I knda got a date, so..."
"I see that." Mike smirked looking at me. "Greg Daniels's daughter, huh? How you doing sweetheart?"
"Okay, so we're gonna go," JJ said quickly turning and grabbing my arm.
"You heard him! Get in the car." The other guy finally spoke lifting his gun a little higher in our direction.
"Okay, hold up, hold up." JJ said quickly turning and putting a hand up, placing himself protectively in front of me. "Look, Barr... I know you've heard the stories... about me and my friends, a little something called the Royal Merchant, a pile of gold... is that ringing any bells?"
"JJ," I hissed scowling at the back of his head confused.
"I heard some bullshit." Mike answered.
"Well, that bullshit's real." JJ said and despite his back being to me I could hear the smile in his voice.
"Yeah?" Mike asked, amused clearly not buying any of it.
"And yeah... we found it." JJ shrugged.
"Yeah, I saw." Mike scoffed looking at his partner. "Thats why you got a bunch of dudes throwing your furniture in a dumpster out back your house? You're living high off the hog, bro." I could see JJ tense at his words and quickly stepped forward.
"You really think we're gonna flash that kind of money, gold around out in the open by moving to Figure 8 or paying off a mortgage?" I asked, stepping beside JJ, crossing my arms. "All that does is raise questions."
"Number one rule, don't do flashy shit... when you're cashing in." JJ added.
"Let me guess," Mike gruffed, "You, uh... you got that gold. It's buried somewhere in a barn, right?" Mike asked, moving away from his card towards us. "And if I just let you go right now, you'll run right, you'll get it, we'll split it right?"
"No." I shook my head stepping forward, hear JJ take in a breath as I moved away from him. Mike raised an eyebrow at me curiously and I shrugged. "At this point there is no point in lying to you Mike. Your guy there shot out our tire, I'm sure there is no hesitation if you give an order. Look, the gold... forget about it, that was nothing compared to what it led to, now... now we are going after something bigger. It's why JJ needed a ride to South America."
"Mike, come on man, we're trying to help you." JJ said seeing Mike's interest peak. "We are giving you an opportunity to make ten times more, no more skin off your nose... just a lottery ticket. So yea, in this hand you can get the pleasure of beating my ass right here, right now. I honestly get the temptation, I really do, all right? But it this hand, Mike... you got a pile of gold. All we need is a little bit of patents and a flight to South America."
"It's an interesting offer." Mike mused nodding, "But what if it doesn't work."
"You will have your share Mike, and if not... we pay you back in full, with interest." I answered, you run the Cut Mike, we have no reason to lie or play you, you're literally holding our lives in your hands, we are just asking for a ride."
Hope it didnt feel rushed.
I think i have about two more chapters in this before i have to wait for season 4.
Let me know what you think... comment, follow, like, etc.