Life on the cut (JJxReader) OuterBanks Fanfic

The Night After.

(A/N: HEYYYYYYYYYYYY ily guys :D ALSO i had to take a covid test today but one of the fancy ones. So if i get it with symptoms i might take a writing break sorry xx)

Ward angrily unpacked a duffle bag on the table, pulling out an orange box and slamming it down. He was talking to Rafe who was relaying the tale of today. They stood under a sheltered corner of their private pier.
Rafe looked close to tears, "I looked everywhere I swear to god."
"I know I know, I'm not mad at you... I just--" Ward dropped his hands from his head hitting his legs loudly as he lent against the balcony fence.
"Listen," Rafe began, "If those Pogues got the gun we can just say John B stole it. Yeah?"
Ward looked at him in surprise.
"Yeah..?"
"Yeah... He lived at the house. He's... he's a known thief! Absolutely, Yes."
"Yeah... what about the car? I left the car at the airstrip."
To Rafe's surprise, Ward smiled, "That's perfect." He lent on a table opposite Rafe. "Thank you Rafe, thank you."
Ward shook the rest of the contents of the duffle bag on the table, and went to walk back to the boat. Then he paused, and turned. "Listen Buddy I uh.."
Rafe looked up, at full attention. 
"I have to fly to the Bahamas tomorrow, and I... Would you come with me?"
Rafe nodded slightly, "Yes sir." He felt pride.
"All right... It'll be good to get you out of here. Honestly I, I feel like I just need someone to have my back."
"We're family dad. I'll always have your back. I got that."
"You got that?"
"All day." He rushed over to him, eager to please his father.
Ward nodded ever so slightly and a smile drifted across his lips, "You do, don't you."
Rafe finally got that approval he sought after for so long. The pair of them had the ghost of tears in the eyes as they shared this tender moment, Ward patting Rafe gently on the shoulder.
"Thank you bud."
"Yeah."
And Ward wandered off to the boat. Rafe going back to the house.

The pogues however, were wandering to the police station in the dead of night. They wandered up to Shoupe's office with insane confidence.
"Shoupe!" Kie shouted as she jogged into his office.
"Yo Shoupie." JJ followed her. Pope came in after him.
"We have an insane piece of evidence here man." JJ grinned.
"It's the gun." Kie said excitedly.
"The one that RAFE used... To shoot and kill Peterkin." Pope nodded. Kie sat down infront of Shoupe and the three of them stared at him.
JJ wandered over to the table and shook a piece of fabric he had wrapped the gun up in. It fell out and clattered onto the table. 
He looked at it silently for a moment.
"So... y'all telling me this is the firearm Rafe Cameron killed Peterkin with."
JJ nodded, "That's exactly what we're telling you."
"And," Pope added, "The exact firearm Ward just used to kill Gavin."
 "I--" Shoupe didn't really know how to reply. What was he supposed to say? "Kids... where's that corpse again?"
"Didn't you look?" Kie asked.
"I checked the hospital. I went by his house. He was out."
"He was out?" Kie raised her voice.
"No shit 'cause he was dead!" JJ shouted.
"Listen to yourself It makes sense!" Kie shouted too, overlapping JJ. Pope pushed his arm in front of JJ, who tends to talk with his hands a lot, and looked like he was edging closer to Shoupe.
"JUST BECUAUSE..." Shoupe shouted loudly, silencing them, "Just because he wasn't in his house doesn't mean he's dead."
"You gotta be kidding." JJ hissed, ripping his hat off.
"What are you talking about!!" Kie complained from her chair. "Aren't you tat least gunna send it in for ballistics and stuff?" she asked, bringing the topic back to the gun. "Or are you just gunna sit on your ass!?"
JJ got angry, "He's just gunna sit there and wax his moustache, Is that even real?"
Shoupe shot up, "I'll wax this-"
"JJ shut up!" Pope cut them all off. Shoupe went to the door.
"Oh I'm sorry did I hurt his feelings?" JJ shot Shoupe a look, throwing his hat back on.
"It's not fair!" Kie called after him.
"Shut up!" Pope said again, exasperated by his friends.
Shoupe stopped at his door and held it open. "Get out. I got work to do."
"Are you serious." JJ sighed.
"Y'all are smelling up my damn office." He growled.
Kie looked like she was about to cry, and all Pope could say was "Shit."
Kie finally gave up on yelling. It took her way to long to realize that wasn't going to help. She looked all muddy and smelt like sewage, a real state. Tears in her eyes mingling with disappointment. "Did Ward bribe you...? It... doesn't make ant sense." She spoke to him in a sad and gentle tone. 
"You ain't gunna do shit." JJ mumbled as he walked out past her, followed by Kie.
"Out!" He shouted at them. Then he turned to Pope and sighed. He was leaning on Shoupe's table and staring down blankly. He stood up and walked up slowly and went up to Shoupe. "We brought the murder weapon, TO you. There's no logical reason for you to not send it in." 
"...Go with your friends."
Pope glared at him, "This is bullshit." And went after his friends.
Shoupe watched them leave and then slammed his door, retreating to his chair. He pulled his wheeled chair into his desk and looked over the cold, heavy, metal gun. It was a Colt rail gun, with the serial number, 18J13170. He sighed, knowing the right thing to do was to use this against Ward. He typed the number into gun-identification - but he already knew who it belonged to.
He pressed 'Trace', and the name "Cameron, Ward." Flashed up. 6'1 in height, Male.
"Son of a bitch."
He shut his laptop and slid the gun into the bottom draw of his desk, buried under some files.  Hidden.

Kie was back at Heyward's Seafood. She was using the outdoor shower to take a well-needed wash. JJ had walked home a while ago.
"Oh my god. That was disgusting." She slid her hand over the top of the stall, indicating to Pope to give her her clothes and a towel from Pope's house.
"Here."
"Thanks."
Pope wandered away from the bench he was waiting on and over to a table and benches (A/N: V different ik) and waited for Kie to come back from the shower. He started dead forwards and looked into the inky waters. Clouded and reflective. The lights that scattered along the sea-side town turned into little shining dots around him. He was completely zoned out. So much so that when Kie finally did emerge from inside and sit down next to him, the sudden shift in the bench made him jump. She slid up next to him and rubbed her hair with a towel. He looked at her in the moonlight, captivated.
"I feel like an actual human being again." She said as she placed the towel down next to her.
Pope slid closer and put his arm around her. "Yeah well you actually smell like one now."
Kie pushed him off again, wondering why he didn't get it yet. "Stop. Pope for real."
He recoiled, embarrassed. 
"Jus- I'm sorry. I thought. You know a few days ago you were all over me an-"
"Yah. I was super high." She said in a condescending voice.
"Oh."
"Look Pope I still have sewage in my lungs.. and Shoupe pissed me off.." They sat in silence. "Just see what happens..... Okay?"
"Okay." He replied.
And Kie stood to leave.

While Kie and Pope had THAT interaction, JJ was wandering home in the darkness. He felt like he was drowning in his loneliness, but as usual he just tried to suppress it. He kicked the dirt and stones beneath his feet that littered the floor around him. The headlights of passing cars lit up his face as he went from streetlight to streetlight. He followed them until the cars became scarce and the streetlamps became rare. Only occasionally flickering up the land around them in a sudden burst of light. He sighed as he looked at his own house. Remembering to the times he would bring Y/N here with him. He shut his eyes and used muscle memory to wander towards his front door. He could almost feel her in his hand. He could almost hear her giggle and say "Want a late night surf?". He could smell her driftwood hair and salty sea-water aroma. She was perfect to him. He felt her warmth along his cold arm- vest tops take their toll. When Y/N saw him shivering too much she'd jump onto his back and warm him up with her body heat. He missed her. Her jokes her face her voice her body her brain her wit her strength her bravery just, all of it. All of her. The fact he might not see her again ate away at his insides everyday. Now he just felt this pit in his stomach. A slow swirling pit of empty acceptance. His eyes opened as he reached the door. It swung open- unlocked, and JJ locked it up behind him. He went back to his room and thought about John B. He was running out of ideas to clear his name. Legal ones anyway. Pope and Kie wouldn't let him kidnap or threaten or shoot or fight or argue or force the police to give John B his freedom. He needed his best friend back. There was this huge feeling of determination that took up his whole being- ever so slightly easing the pain of losing his girlfriend. It was enough to give him a motivation. JJ held a beer in his hand, tracing its finger along it's cold glass walls. He chugged one, and then another, and another. One more. Until he was stumbling and falling over. His old boom box somewhat quietly playing an old 90s playlist. He lay himself down on his sofa and watched the room spin. He was drunk enough not to notice himself slip and fall down onto the hard floor. Landing with a thud. "Oh- Fuckkkk..." He winced and opened his eyes, finding himself staring into his own reflection, in a piece of a broken mirror. He picked it up, slicing his finger a little bit. He saw his own father in that mirror. Drunken and sad. Hiding his emotions with rage and jokes. God damn it what was he doing... He dropped the mirror slowly and sighed. Slowly bringing himself to his knees. And then to his feet. Slowly wandering to his bed, the bottles at his feet clinking as he kicked them walking past. 
Flopping into his empty, cold bed. JJ lay against his pillow and tried to shut his eyes. Even then the room was spinning. 

He somehow fell asleep, to the sounds of crickets beside his thin walls. Dreaming about Y/N's warmth against him. Waking up to her face and going surfing with her and John B. Sarah and Pope laughing on the shore while Kie crashed around with the waves. It was all he wanted. All he once had. All he lost.


(A/N: Idk why i ended it like that hah,
Until next time x)