Waves

t h i r t y - t w o

~PRESENT~

"JJ, I don't know if this is a good idea." Sarah whispered to JJ as he lead them through the grass and down towards the shore, Luke's boat in their vision straightahead. They were tiptoeing as quietly as they could, ducked down so that they weren't easily seeable, and Amelia's eyes shifted over and over again to the large crowd of cops that were gathered under a tent just across the beach from them.

All of the police officers were scrambling around underneath the tent, bringing in different people from the area to ask them about John B's possible whereabouts. They knew that John B was out on the HMS Pogue, and Amelia assumed that it was because they realized that the boat was gone when they went to scope out John B's house. As much as Amelia wanted to find John B and know that he was safe, the risk of being caught by all of the cops only a few yards away from them was scaring her to death.

"I told you, I'm finding my best friend."

Amelia reached out to grab JJ's hand, and he stopped dead in his tracks to turn and face her. "What if they see us?" She asked him, looking at him with fear in her eyes. Her breathing was heavy.

JJ's eyes glanced over to the tent, and he shook his head with a sigh. "They won't. We just have to get on the boat without being seen. Once we're on and heading out, there's nothing they can do about it."

JJ laced his fingers through Amelia's, looking back to Pope, Sarah and Kiara. With one sideways nod of his head, he crept on with Amelia by his side, the rest of the Pogues following closely behind. Amelia had never snuck around like this before, and while she always felt like these kinds of things with JJ were an adventure, right now she was terrified. JJ could tell as he continually gave Amelia's hand small squeezes. They reached Luke's boat, and JJ helped Amelia step onto the boat, making sure that she didn't fall while stepping over.

"The rain is starting to get pretty hard. I really don't think that this is safe." Sarah said again, taking JJ's hand as he helped her step onto the boat with Amelia. "We already have John B out there. I don't think we all need to be out there too."

"Sarah, if you want to go back then go. But I'm staying here." JJ spat. "You would think you'd want to find your own boyfriend."

"JJ, c'mon. Stop." Amelia said, shooting him a small frown.

Amelia sighed as Sarah sat down on the bench next to her. Pope scrambled onto the boat, and JJ quickly jumped over onto the ledge of the boat after him. She could tell how worried JJ was about John B. And even though the storm was picking up, she knew that nothing was going to change his mind right now. Amelia stood, stepping closer to JJ and wrapping her arms around his waist. "I love you, J."

"Hands up!"

Amelia's head shot to the side to look beside them, catching a glimpse of Officer Shoupe raising his gun before JJ pushed her behind him. In unison, Pope, Sarah and Kiara stood and raised up their hands, all of their eyes wide as scared looks took over their faces.

"Where the hell is he going?" Shoupe asked roughly, his eyes scanning over each of them. "Where the hell is he going!" Amelia could see the anger forming on his face as none of them said anything, knowing better than to open their mouths right now and tell him that John B was headed to the Bahamas. "JJ. I see you're living up to your name. Pope? How about you? This isn't a fucking game!" Shoupe's eyes shifted to Amelia's. "Your father would be really disappointed in you, young lady."

"Leave my dad out of this." Amelia quickly stepped from behind JJ, one of JJ's arms dropping to grasp her waist, but immediately pulled it back as Shoupe pointed the gun towards him. Amelia swallowed, raising her hands back in the air as her eyes stayed fixed on the gun that was pointed at JJ.