ruthless; jj m.

19

I walked off the dock over to Kie's car, leaning my back against the passenger's side door. JJ noticed this and made his way over to me. "You all right?" He asked me. I nodded and put on a fake smile. 

He shook his head with a light laugh. "Come on, don't give me that bullshit. What's wrong?" JJ asked. He grabbed my hand and caressed the back of it, giving me a sense of comfort. "I just can't believe he did that to me," I said.

JJ looked confused for a moment, then understand I was talking about Rafe. He looked at the cut Rafe gave me on my arm and shook his head. "You were right, the guy does have a fucked up idea of what love is," JJ said. 

I sighed as I looked down at JJ holding my hand. "His definition of love is all I've ever known. That doesn't make me much better than him." I admitted. "Don't say that." JJ quickly stated. "What he did to you today, that isn't love. You deserve better than him. You always have." He said as he inched closer to me.

He put his hands around my waist as I place my arms around his neck. "You're right. Now I finally found better." I said. He smiled as leaned in and kissed me. He placed a hand on the back of my neck to pull me in deeper, and I placed a hand on his cheek to pull him in deeper. 

Every time he touched me, it felt like my skin was on fire. When I catch him looking at me, a shot was sent down my spine. Whenever he says my name, I get butterflies. 

But whenever he kisses me, it's a package deal. 

He pulled away and pressed his forehead against mine. I smiled but was quickly distracted when I saw movement on my right from Pope and Kie. "JJ... look," I whispered as I pointed and the pair. 

Kie had hugged Pope, then the two shared a kiss. I smiled at the sight in front of me. I was really happy for them, and JJ was too. However, the sound of sirens distracted us. JJ and I walked over to the pair. 

"Hey, guys, I'm sorry to ruin the party, but, uh, we gotta go right now," JJ said to the two then made his way over to the car. "Come on," I said to them and they followed, but we were too late. Several police cars showed up and many more cops hopped out of their cars.

Kie put her hands up and Pope stood there, not moving a muscle. The cops had their weapons drawn and were telling us all to put our hands up, so we did. Shoupe cursed at himself when he realized John B was nowhere to be seen, and that he was already gone.

Shoupe told everyone to stand down. "Let me talk to these kids. All right, where the hell is he?" Shoupe asked us. "Where the hell is he?!" Shoupe yelled. "JJ? I see you're livin' up to your name." He said to him.

He looked over at Pope. "Pope, how about you? This isn't a fucking game! You can do the right thing right now! Where'd he go?" Shoupe shouted at Pope. Agent Bratcher from the SBI called in over the radio that the suspect left station 26 in a small boat.

"Real classy, Shoupe. Do you always shit on teenagers to get answers out of them?" I asked him. He looked at me with a surprised expression. "Oh no, sorry. You take bribes from rich men to lock up said teenagers. My apologies, I almost forgot."  I said as I pointed at my head.

I don't know if Ward was paying off Shoupe in this instance, but I know that Ward has before, and Shoupe knew exactly what I was talking about. He grabbed my right hand and brought it down. I turned around as he took his handcuffs out of their case.

"You don't know what the hell you're talkin' about, young lady." He said as he put one cuff tightly around my left wrist. "Hey! Get the hell off of her!" JJ shouted at Shoupe, resulting in him being put in the cop car first.

He put the other handcuff around my right wrist. "You'd be surprised, the things I know about your momma and daddy," Shoupe said as he tightened the cuff. I looked over my shoulder at him in shock. 

He laughed lightly. "Yeah, that's right. You're not the only one in this town who knows everything." He said while making both cuffs unbearably tight. I grunted at the pain. He threw me, Pope, and Kie in the car with JJ and drove us to the SBI set up.

∴∴∴∴∴

Shoupe took all of us out of the car. "Follow Plumb to that tent," Shoupe said. We followed the officer as a crowd of reporters and cameramen snapped pictures of us and shouted questions at us.

They took us to the tent and sat us down in chairs. "Sit down. Don't move. We got a lot to talk about." Shoupe said. "Especially you, Miss. Black." He uncuffed me and I sat down next to JJ as I massaged my wrists that now have indents from the handcuffs on them.

Shoupe put an SBI agent in front of us with a rifle. "Oh Jesus Christ, Shoupe. Does he really need to hold a rifle?" I asked him. "Keep talkin' and you get the cuffs again." He said. I sighed as I leaned back in the chair. 

The Sheriff's Department and SBI agents were working together to develop a plan to find John B. Suddenly, the power came back and all the lights were turning on, including the light from the lighthouse, exposing John B and Sarah on the boat. 

"That's them! There they are!" An agent shouted. We all looked over at the boat and saw John B and Sarah speeding away, heading into the storm that had now made its way to the island. 

Agent Bratcher played his last card to try to get John B and Sarah to come back to land. He brought Ward into the room to talk to John B over the radio and I immediately tensed up. JJ intertwined his fingers with mine in an effort to calm me down. 

An agent then brought the four of us into another tent so we couldn't hear their conversation. 

A while later, Shoupe came into our tent with two other law enforcement officers and we all stood up. "Did you find them?" Pope asked Shoupe. He shook his head. "No." He said. We all looked at each other. "So they got away?" Kie asked him. 

Shoupe looked down at the ground. "Shoupe, what are you not telling us?" I asked him. He looked up at me. "We, uh... we lost them." He said. "I'm sorry." He said. "You lost them?" Pope asked him. 

JJ looked down at the ground and Kie stood in shock. "What do you mean you lost them? Like, they're gone? What are you talking about?" Pope asked. "They took an open boat into a tropical depression, Pope."

"So, they're dead?" I asked Shoupe. "We don't know." He answered. Kie started to tear up and I froze. "You drove them straight through the storm, man!" JJ shouted at Shoupe. "Are you kidding me? Come here!" JJ shouted and grabbed Shoupe by his jacket. 

"JJ, stop!" Kie begged. "I'm gonna kill you, you bastard!" JJ said to Shoupe. An officer was holding JJ back and now Pope was screaming at Shoupe. "You killed him!" Shouted Pope. "He didn't kill anyone and you know it!" Pope shouted at Shoupe. 

"It was Rafe! Rafe Cameron killed Peterkin. I was there!" I shouted at Shoupe. He looked at me in shock as Officer Plumb held me back from him. "It was Rafe fucking Cameron! I saw him do it, I'm covered in her blood! I was there!" I shouted as tears fell from my eyes.

Kie pulled Pope away from Shoupe. "Let go of me!" I shouted at Officer Plumb. "You killed my best friend! Not enough money in the world could make me forget this, Shoupe!" I shouted at him as I wept. 

JJ pushed the officer off of him and ran over to me, telling Plumb to let go of me. He held me in his arms while I cried. Kiara's parents and Pope's parents arrived, making their way over to their children. 

My Uncle Gary and Aunt Nora made their way into the tent to see me, but I didn't want to be held by anyone else. I didn't trust anyone else anymore, except for JJ, Pope, and Kie. JJ let me go and kissed my forehead, walking me over to my Uncle and Aunt. 

I fell into their arms as I cried. Sarah was my best friend. Ever since I moved to OBX when I was five, she took me in with open arms.  She wasn't just my best friend. She was my sister. 

The pain of my parents leaving me, any breakup I've ever had, and anytime I had ever been hurt all added together, still wouldn't hurt this much.

Pope's dad put his hand on JJ's back, then made his way over to his son, hugging him and his wife. Mr. and Mrs. Heyward turned around to look at JJ and they quickly took him into their embrace, as both Pope and JJ sobbed.

Kie's parents were holding her as she wept into her father's chest. She turned around to look at Pope, and the two shared a long hug. I looked over at JJ and made my way over to him again. 

He held me so tightly, almost as if he were to let go, he would lose me too.