MERCEDES, jj maybank

55.

GETTING CLEAN

John B was not happy in the slightest and it had affected the whole group dynamic. They were supposed to be out celebrating John B's freedom and just meant to be doing Pogue things but no. Everyone knew it was best to stay clear from John B and probably Sarah for now.

Over at Barry's, Rafe had been crashing there a lot recently. Probably because of the easy access to drugs and just because he didn't want to be around his Dad.

Barry heard a car pulling up and reached for his gun but Rafe quickly went over and stopped him "It's fine, it's Trinity,"

Barry's mouth fell open, "Bro you tweakin', she's long gone remember?"

"She's alive and she said she needed to talk to me, so I told her to come here, alright? So please, put the gun down!" Rafe raised his voice towards the end of the sentence but Barry didn't argue anymore and watched a girl step out of the black Mercedes.

"Well, I'll be damned," He mumbles, "I'll give you two space."

Rafe waited patiently for Trinity to come to join him and when she did, she didn't sit down and stayed standing with her arms crossed in front of him, "You say all this shit about how you're trying to be better and you try and kill your sister, again!" She storms in and shouts.

"The first time was an accident!" Rafe defends himself.

"That isn't the point! Rafe you're just making it worse for yourself--"

"No, I was getting rid of someone who was a witness,"

Trinity paused. She was the only other eyewitness and that meant if it came down to it would he try to kill her too. Rafe's phone went off stopping their conversation. "Oh shit," He whispers and flips the table. "Shit!"

Trinity quickly backs up and Barry comes rushing in, "Goddamn, what's going on, bro?"

Rafe leaves the room holding the phone up to his ear, "Just give me a sec', alright?"

Barry looks to Trinity and chuckles, "Damn, what you tell him?"

"That he's an idiot."

Barry laughs, "He's country club killer now, you got some balls,"

"What happened to his face?" The bruises on Rafe's face did not go unnoticed by Trinity.

Barry shrugged, "Dustup with Topper,"

Rafe heads back into the room and is clearly freaking out. He stands directly in front of Trinity and shouts, "The cops are raiding my house, so you or Sarah said something,"

She shakes her head, "No, but Rafe, it was you!"

Rafe grabs Trinity by the arms and pins her to the wall, "I was protecting my Dad! But it was John B's fault - all of this! Why are you still hanging out with him?!"

"Bro--"

"Shut up Barry!" Rafe snaps, "Trin, listen, I'll take care of you and nothing will happen I promise, stop hanging around the Pogues, please!"

"Rafe look at yourself!" Trinity used all her might to shove him back, "I want you to get better but you have to stop throwing the blame around!"

"I was planning on getting clean, and then you died! And it threw everything off balance,"

Barry saw it was his cue to leave so he excused himself and left the two in the room alone, "Rafe look at me, I'm fine, see? And you should be getting clean for yourself, not for me!"

Rafe closed his eyes to stop himself from crying, "I don't know what to do," He whispered.

She wanted to help him, "You need to think about your actions, you can't go on a killing spree because you're digging yourself a hole,"

It wasn't fair on Trinity to be the one looking out for Rafe since he was so out of control and would spiral at the smallest incident.

After sitting together in since for a while Trinity knew she had to leave Rafe. "I'll be here if you need," She meant what she said. Even after everything he did, that didn't change the fact that he was still important to the girl and yes, she hated how he was.

Rafe's heart started to beat faster but he remained still and stared into the wall. Trinity didn't know what else she could say and wanted to give him alone time so she leans forward with one arm out and hugged him, rubbing his back and quietly left the room and got in her car.

Her phone started to ring, making her jump. It was John B.

"Hey,"

"Hi - where are you?"

"I went to get some food, I was hungry." She lied, "What's wrong? Has something happened?"

"Yeah, Heyward got jumped, Tyler's here taking care of him - come to the docks!"

"Yeah, okay, see you soon,"

The Pogues seemed to clock onto Trinity's random disappearances every so often but never questioned it yet. Pulling up the docks, Tyler was placing a bandaid on Heyward's forehead and the Pogues were all watching closely.

Trinity ran over, "What happened?"

"Someone came just as I was about to lock up, caught me by surprise. Once he had me down, he put his knee in my chest and he asked me about that, that key from that drawing. And in case you were wondering, I ain't tell him anything. Now did you track it down?"

Pope nods and takes it out of his pocket, handing it to his Dad, "I found it in Mee-maw's old apartment, above the pharmacy just like you said,"

"Shit, boy," Heyward looked at the key closely, "Should've given this thing to me and I wouldn't have had to take a beating. What's the big deal it ain't worth anything, why they want it so bad?"

But Pope doesn't have an answer to give his Dad, "I don't know. First I got a letter telling me to go to Charleston, and then I met a rich lady who wants me to give her a key that I didn't even know was in my family,"

"None of it makes any sense," Kiara points out.

"Well, don't y'all just sit here whining about it." Heyward encourages the group to continue their new quest, "Figure it out!"

"No, I'm just gonna give the key to that lady. It's not worth it--"

"No, no, no. Did I raise you to back down from a fight, boy?" Heyward asks him, hoping that Pope would come to terms with what he was saying. "Now, I didn't think about it before. I admit that. But now, I'm interested," He points to the gash in his forehead.

"Did they say why they wanted it?" Tyler asks.

"Something about an old cross. I think it might be some kind of lost treasure,"

Trinity has just gotten flashbacks to when they were searching for the gold and how the butterfly effect caused her to basically get lost at sea. "Here we go again," She whispered.

"You know who you should talk to?" Heyward starts, "Your great-grandmother." Heyward hands his son the key and get's up, "Now I must finish locking up so you kids get the hell out of here."

They all smile and stand up too, walking off from the docks but Trinity feels a hand grab her shoulder and pull her back. "Where were you?" Tyler whispers.

"Getting food?"

Tyler wasn't dumb, "Liar. Where were you really?"

"I was getting food!"

He shook his head and asked again, "Tee, I can tell when you're lying but I'm not a mind reader, so where were you."

She shook his hand off of her, "Tyler, leave me alone."

"Make sure you aren't being fucking stupid, Trinity."