BRIZO | 𝐉𝐉 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤

TWENTY-SIX (II)

CHAPTER SEVENTY - SPYGLASS

I've been sitting on the dirt ground for twenty minutes now, watching JJ cover up the casket. He took off his jacket a while ago, and tossed it to me, while wiping off the sweat on his forehead with his hand. In the meantime, my brother drove the Twinkie closer, and then sat down on the ground just like I was.

JJ gasps, finally finishing and pats the ground one last time with the shovel, before walking back to leave it leaned on our car.

"I just don't get it." Pope starts to sputter. "I mean, you guys saw the map. He hides his gold so no one finds it for 170 years...!"

JJ reaches out his hand, asking me to give him his jacket back. He puts it on, and bites the inside on his cheek, hearing Pope rumbling about the cross. He stays standing next to me, I feel his eyes staring at me.

The rest of the group is in complete silence, letting Pope get it all out, and not feeling so sure anymore that the cross even exists.

"And then he sends a message to his son Robert to come here to his mother's grave, but the message never gets to him. Denmark wanted him to find the cross. I know we're in the right spot." Pope starts to pace around. "It just feels like-"

"Like we missed something?" I hear JJ's voice behind me, and I turn to look up at him.

He's not looking at me anymore, instead, he's staring at the tree, and he starts walking closer to it, not taking his eyes off it with a slight frown. I get up from my spot, and I follow him.

"Guys." He calls for us, and the rest come closer, too.

JJ doesn't say anything, he starts climbing the car, until he's standing on the roof of the Twinkie. He glances at me for a second, and motions his hand for me to climb to. "Come here." He says, and I do.

Kiara helps me climb, and when I'm next to him, he turns his head to me, with a slight side-smile, and his hand pointing at a hole in the tree. "That looks like-"

My eyes widen, looking between him and the hole in the tree. " The painting in the island room."

We look down at our friends, and JJ smirks for a second, already raising his hand while he says, "It's worth a shot, right?"

"Let's do it." John B agrees.

JJ smacks my ass softly, and points with his chin at the hole. "Go for it." He nods his head slowly.

I frown, folding my arms on my chest and taking a step back. "I'm not sticking my hand in there."

"You do it!" I hear Blondie say, and I glance down to give her a thumbs up and blow her a kiss that she catches midair with a smile.

"I went in the storm drain with Kie and got shot so..." I pat my boyfriend's shoulder. "This one is yours."

"They did go in the storm drain." Pope agrees.