Chasing Sunshine | JJ Maybank

48 // The Phantom

JJ took a deep breath and threw his weight against the storage unit's door until it gave up any resistance, squealing against the rusting rail until opening and exposing the interior to the three of us. I glanced over my shoulder once to make sure we were alone but the garage yard was empty save for Kie's vehicle and some assorted junk strewn across the ground. Stepping inside, I could see the dust and dirt particles we had disturbed float through the air in the daylight JJ had let flood the space. He lightly jogged up to the racing boat sitting idle on a trailer hitch, running his hand lightly against the side. "There she be...hey girl," he cooed, pulling at the tarp hung loosely at the front of the vessel, "A 1983 Formula 402 SR1. The Phantom."

He looked to Kie and I for approval, a proud smile gracing his expression. Kie nodded with a tight-lipped smile and I shrugged along, neither of us really knowing enough about boats to be impressed. "It's...nice," I commented.

"The first boat to make the run to Bermuda in under 16 hours Sunshine, she's more than nice," he informed us, patting the hull affectionately, "Forty years old! Forty...and still the fastest thing Kildare's ever seen."

"Should we leave you two alone?" I muttered from the corner of my mouth, only loud enough for Kie to hear and she sniggered.

"It's kind of a junker," she deadpanned, also tilting her chin up to take in the full height of the deck.

He whipped around to stare at her. "Really? She's right there Kie, she can hear you," he scolded through his teeth, gesturing over to the boat, "Let's put it this way, you would not be smoking weed right now if she never existed okay?"

"Tell me JJ," I pondered jokingly, tracing a line through the dust coating the vessel's surface before leaning a hip casually against it, "if you had to pick...me or the boat?"

His eyes went a little wider, flashing between my frame and the Phantom and he swallowed once before laughing a little and stammering, "Oh uh...you obviously."

"Yeah see, you hesitated just a little too long for that to be convincing," I teased, flicking his foreheard with a grin and joining Kie where she was taking the hitch cover from the back of her car.

"I just hope it runs," she noted, standing back up from her crouch.

"Oh, no, she'll run all right," JJ reassured us, taking over and cranking the hitch of the boat's trailer upwards so we could back the SUV's under it, "She's faster than any cutter the boys in blue got."

The sound of a motorcycle's engine pulling into the yard alerted us that we were no longer alone and Kie sighed with relief, jogging towards the back door and calling out, "Pope! Finally."

I let her go and collect Pope from outside, bending down to help JJ adjust the aging pins of the trailer pull but my blood ran cold when it wasn't Pope's voice that greeted Kie from around the back of the boat. "Hey there, what's goin' on?"

Both JJ and I stood up quickly, turning around to see Kie frozen in place as Rafe came sauntering confidently around the corner, looking a little less like the privileged Kook he once had been and more the bottom-of-the barrel lowlife he had become. Sweat drenched the front of his gray t-shirt and the pieces of hair that he normally kept gelled back were hanging out of place in front of his eyes. He grabbed the rail of the boat, swinging up himself to walk along the beams of the trailer with shaky movements. "JJ, Meg," he acknowledged and Kie walked briskly back to us, "How you guys doin'?"

A low whistle accompanied Rafe's taunting whoop's, this time originating from behind us and I turned to find Barry rounding from behind Kie's car, staring JJ down specifically like an animal looking at its next meal. My fingers began to tremble as the three of us clustered together, almost back-to-back while our two unwelcome visitors moved forward, caging us in and blocking our exit from both sides.