Together Again • JJ Maybank

Seven

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Slamming the car door behind me after I climbed in, I let out the agitated groan I was holding while banging my fist to the wheel a few times. I was frustrated to say the least. 

After telling Kiara and Pope about finding Big John's compass mysteriously in Ward Cameron's possession, I decided to do the sensible thing for once and take it to Deputy Shoupe. Naturally, I was hesitant that I was trusting a cop, but after the SBI and the majority of the police department dropped John B's manhunt and didn't care to continue investigating Ward, he was the only one still looking for answers. That had to count for something, right?

But the reaction I got from Shoupe when I revealed the century old antique wasn't what I had been hoping for. It wasn't that he didn't believe my story and its ownership, it was that once again it boiled down to proof. 

I couldn't help my temper flaring, exploding angrily at the unprepared cop as I yelled that surely this was the proof we needed. My heart sank more than I could imagine when he eventually calmed me down and explained how there was no way of proving that the compass ever belonged to Big John in the first place. And even if we could, there were an endless amount of circumstances that Ward could use to explain how it came into his possession and with Big John being gone, there was no way to discredit them.

A bang on my passenger window took me by surprise. My eyes jolted up and a gasp fell from my throat when I looked to see who had interrupted my thoughts. Confusion instantly fell upon my face as my eyebrows furrowed and I instinctively reached for the button to lower the window. 

"What are you doing here?" JJ asked, running a hand through his unruly hair while glancing back at the police station. His voice sounded uncertain and I couldn't help but notice him shuffling from one foot to the other. It was as if he was nervous and knowing how our last interaction ended, I couldn't help but assume that he knocked on my window before fully processing that meant we would have to talk, and now he was regretting it.

His gaze followed mine as I glanced down at the compass that I had flung down on the passenger seat beside me before looking back at him, trying to let my mind catch up that JJ was actually here. "Is that...?" His eyes went wide at the sight of it.

"Shoupe says we can't use it as evidence." My anger had shifted to a sadness that was clear in my voice as I replied with a shrug, answering his question instantly. 

"Where did you even get it?" He probed. 

"Doesn't matter." I brushed it off, not wanting to stay on the topic that had built my hopes up so high, only to disastrously drop them again just as quickly. "What are you doing here?" 

JJ's hair and clothes had their usual unkempt look about them, but his eyes seemed bluer than they had in all the recent times I had seen him. They were clear, not the usual blood-shot framed darkness that I had come to expect from him. Which meant that he was sober.

My heart skipped a beat when a wide smile filled his face. A smile I hadn't seen in so long. "Dropping off this months restitution money." I had to forcefully pull my gaze away from his face to look at the envelope filled with cash he was proudly holding up. His smile faltered as he continued, mumbling under his breath as his eyes flicked away. "Only 28 thousand left to go."

"Wow. Working for your dad pays well, I see." I couldn't control the sarcasm, even if I had matched his infectious smile with my own.

His smile fully dropped in reaction to my words, as he momentarily glared at me. "Abby." His voice warned me not to start.

I couldn't help but laugh out loud, holding my hands up in surrender. "What? Sorry. You set yourself up for that one." 

The corner of JJ's lips twitched, raising into a small smirk as he rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He said, almost playfully. My brain couldn't fathom how only a week ago we had probably our worst interaction yet. How I spent days isolating myself to deal with yet even more heartbreak. Only to be here today, somehow joking around with him as if nothing had ever happened.