Never the First || Outer Banks

Chapter 6

Slipping free from their shoulders, JJ raps his knuckles against the door, and knocks in a fun little beat they bob their heads to.

"Housekeeping." He calls out, high-pitched. Toby stifles a laugh.

Nobody's home.

"Should we try it?" John B asks.

"Yeah. No power. No security cameras -"

Toby sticks his middle-finger up at the unmoving camera to prove JJ's point.

"- no one's gonna know."

John B wiggles the key in, and with a click, the door swings open. "Huh. Okay. Check the bag. See if there's a name on there somewhere."

They scatter through the room like fools playing detectives, flipping things over and carefully putting them back in place when searched. A jacket, slides, a map, coffee -

A nice bathroom kit the kleptomaniac named JJ wanted to steal. John B refused. The usual.

"One, one, one, two."

Toby pops out from the hallway and raises a brow at John B's attempt.

"Punching shit at random. That will. . . definitely work." JJ mocks him, the beep-beep of a failed passcode dinging in the small room.

Toby's eyes swing from the map on the bedside table to the sticky note messily stuck to the wood. He rips it away and stares at it.

John B sighs, going to stand until a slender hand blocks his vision.

Taking it from Toby's fingers, he looks the note over, "Huh." And pushes the numbers in.

JJ is muttering something about fishing and coordinates in the background, but their attention remains attached to the opening safe.

Toby's eyes almost pop out of his head.

"Holy shit." John B chuckles lightly, showing Toby the stacks of cash. "Uh. . . JJ?"

"Hm?" JJ doesn't turn around, eyes on the map.

Toby steps back, clasps the back of his neck and tugs him until he's standing within distance.

Eyes find the cash immediately and with a gasp, JJ leans down. Toby's hand slides with him, from the neck to a mess of hair.

Yanking away, he bites the inside of his cheek and flicks at the elastic band on his wrist, forcing his eyes back down past the two boys.

"Dude, dude, dude!" JJ grins, reaching past the money and freeing something metallic from underneath and that's -

"You grabbed the gun." John B hisses in disbelief, repeating himself when JJ bounces from his crouch and knocks into Toby who steadies them both.

"This is a SIG Sauer." JJ's in awe of the violent weapon.

Toby would be lying if he said he wasn't curious, leaning over his arm to drag his fingers across the metal. JJ stays curiously still to watch him, like he wants someone to agree with him.

John B is not in the same boat. At all. "Put the gun back, JJ!"

"This is a fucking spendy gatt, man. Just. . ." JJ jumps across the carpet with the gun in the air, popping it around like a boy playing nerf. "Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Hey, think about it! Bam! Bam!"

The snort of laughter comes out of Toby involuntarily. JJ looks like a kid at Christmas.

"We are not stealing anything."

"Just take a pic of me. Right here." JJ leans back, posing with the gun aimed at the roof.

A stack of cash between his fingers, Toby lifts it in the air and hovers a hand over it, "I'll make it rain on him, JB."

JJ nods emphatically.

"You want me to take a picture of you?"

"Yeah, dude, like. . ."

"Make our own incriminating evidence? Is that what you're talking about?" John B smacks them both up the head, and Toby can't argue with that.

He shrugs, looks at JJ, "He does have a point."

There's a tap at the window.

In a blink, they gather by the blinds, spotting both Kiara and Pope waving their arms frantically over their heads, jabbing fingers towards the stairs.

"Uh oh." Toby dumbly says.

John B scales over the bed, looks out the front window.

"Cops."

Three steady raps of a hand against the door is all it takes for the adrenaline to slam into them. Toby yanks the blinds open for JJ and John B to attack the window latches.

His lips are already parted to breathe quicker, head flicking back and forth between door and window.

One out, two out, standing on the ledge of a lower story roof.

"TK," JJ hisses, holding forth his hand.

Tobias lowers the blinds to their rightful place, slips through the open window, tugs it shut and clutches at JJ's offered arm to keep him on the roof.

They shuffle over, JJ taking the piping in his hand to stay steady. One foot hangs dangerously over the edge.

Toby flattens himself to the wall, pressing his lips tight together. Not because he was trying to remain quiet, but more for the smile threatening to lift when he sees Pope and Kie making disappointed gestures by the boat.

Through folded blinds, they watch the cops get into the same safe.

And split a stack between themselves.

"Holy-" Toby's jaw hangs open.

He flinches when he feels movement against his back, an arm reaching around.

"What?" JJ whispers, struggling to get closer.

Toby presses closer to the wall to allow him space to see through the window. JJ's lips part in shock when he spots Shoupe, and the cash in hand. "Do you believe..." He mouths to them, equal expressions of bitterness.

The cash Toby had taken in a split second decision didn't feel so heavy anymore.

JJ turns to send the same look over to Pope and Kie -

but the gun slips from his pocket, clattering against the story below, then the concrete.

Toby sucks in a sharp breath, and now he's the one grabbing JJ when the boy moves too far to the right, almost falling along with the gun. He presses them closer to the wall, trying to become one with the paint.

They squeeze their eyes shut when Shoupe yanks the blinds open.

Within moments, the cops are gone, walking back out the front door and leaving Toby to slump forward. "Fuck, JJ." He laughs breathlessly, knocking his head against the wall.

"You knocked into me."

"I did not."