𝐒𝐄𝐗 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐌𝐘 𝐄𝐗, ˢᵃʳᵃʰ ᶜᵃᵐᵉʳᵒⁿ

viii. more money more problems

ONCE AGAIN THE crew was on a dock, a body was being pulled from the water. Emma looked away, shaking her head in disgust. A girl they knew was sitting on the railing next to them. "Check out this pic I got." She held out her phone, a picture of the lifeless body shoved in their faces. "Dead bod-ay."

Emma fought the urge to throw up. John B looked at the picture then back to where the body was. "Who is that?" He asked the girl.

"Scooter Grubbs." She shrugged it off. "He was out during the storm." She explained.

JJ bit his lip in though for a second, sliding over next to Emma and slinging an arm around her shoulders. "What kinda boat did he have?" The boy asked nonchalantly, an eyebrow raised.

"Somehow that dirtbag copped a brand new Grady-White. Everyone's out lookin' for it." She explained, unknowingly giving the Pouges a seriously needed piece of information.

___

EMMA WALKED INTO her home with a small frown, the first thing she did was walk into the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror, the bags under her eyes were prominent, she was fucking exhausted. The girl shook her head, opening the medicine cabinet and grabbing a bottle of ibuprofen, she popped a few before walking back into the living room, noticing only JJ. "Where is everyone?" She asked.

"Porch." He simply replied, making his way to the kitchen, opening the cupboard and pulling out two shot glasses. "Want one?" JJ's eyebrow raised in question, glancing toward the girl.

"Fuck it. Why not?" She shrugged her shoulders, making her way toward the boy who was pouring shots. They picked up their shots, clicking the small cups together before downing the alcohol. "Hmm, one more?" Emma asked, looking up at the boy.

He smirked. "Fuck it. Why not?" He repeated her words and she rolled her eyes as he poured two more shots. They took the shots then headed out to the porch. Emma took a seat in between Kie and her brother.

Pope came charging up the steps. "Okay, so um. We didn't see anything. We don't know anything. We need to have complete and total amnesia." He told the group. No one could find out about them knowing where the sunken Grady-White is, or the fact that JJ and John B ransacked his motel room.

"Actually." JJ spoke from the arm chair he was laid up in, flicking his zippo open and closed. "Pope's right for once." He stood up. "See, I agree with you sometimes. Deny, deny, deny."

Kie shook her head. "Guys, we can't keep that money."

Emma sighed, biting her lip, her head falling back on the couch as she leaned back. "Okay, not all of us can afford unlimited data plans Kiara." JJ rolled his eyes. Sure, he was right, Kie was a Kook by blood, but there was nothing she could really do about that.

"We have to pass it off to Lana Grubbs, otherwise, it's bad karma." Kie said, running her finger through her hair.

Pope slightly nodded in agreement. "Bad karma to be implicated into a felony too. We gotta go dark."

"If that means we get to keep the money, I agree." JJ shrugged, looking over at John B, then Emma, wondering why they were being so quiet at the moment.

John B, looked up from the ground, placing a hand on JJ's shoulder. "I don't agree."

Emma's face scrunched up in confusion. She figured that maybe John B would want to keep the money as well.

"What? Why?" JJ asked.

"Just think about it." John B replied quickly. "This is Scooter Grubbs, we're talking about, right? Same dude who's buying individual cigarettes at the Porthole. Shit one time I saw this dude begging for change in a Save-A-Lot parking lot because he needed gas." He explained. "We're talking about a dirtbag marina rat who's never had more than forty bucks in his pocket. And all of a sudden he's got a Grady-White?" John B shook his head. "Just sayin'."

___

WELL INTO THE afternoon, The Pouges sat fishing off the dock in John B and Emma's backyard, technically the only ones fishing were Pope and JJ seeing as they were the only ones with poles in the water. Emma was sat below JJ on the dock, her feet dangling in the water, he was leaned up against the railing above her head.

"Alright, so think about it, Pope." John B continued on. "How does a marina rat get a Grady-White?" He asked his friend.

Pope inhaled sharply for a second, pretending to think. "Prostitution." He deadpanned, looking forward. Emma laughed a bit at the joke, she took a hit of the joint she had rolled earlier then handed it up to JJ.

"Square groupers, bro." John B said more seriously. "Okay? Flying under the radar, no aerial surveillance. They don't do that stuff during a hurricane. What does that mean?" He asked then pointed in his friend's direction. "JJ?"

"They were straight smugglin'." JJ answered.

"Smugglin'." John B repeated to Pope, with his hands lifted into the air. "And I guarantee there's a serious amount of contraband in the wreck."

"Hell yeah." JJ agreed before his line went tight. He lifted up on his pole quickly to set the hook. "Fish on!"

___

BACK INSIDE, THE group was in John B's room, more of the situation being discussed among themselves. "For the record," Pope started, grabbing the stack of money from JJ. "If that is a smuggling ship with illegal contraband on the inside of it, it could belong to someone else."

"Minor details." Kie spoke.

"They could come looking for it, taking it would be catastrophically stupid."

Emma smiled. "I love when you use SAT kinda words around me. It makes me happy to have such a smart best friend like you, Pope."

"Yeah, because I tutor you for free." Pope responded with a fake smile.

"Listen, like I say," JJ stood from his spot to take the money back from Pope. "Stupid things have good outcomes all the time." He fanned out the money to prove his point. "All we need to do right now is figure out how to get into the cargo hold of that wreck. Until then we lay low. Just act normal."

"Right, and how exactly do we do that?" Pope asked JJ.

Kie looked over at Emma, nudging the girl with her foot. "Kegger?" She suggested.

"Oh hell yes. Absolutely." Emma immediately agreed, quickly convincing the boys to go along with it.

___

(author's note)
– a short filler chapter.
gotta love that.
<3