She hated him. She hated him more than she ever thought possible. He was a kook- her natural born enemy.
He didn't hate her at all. Not one bit. It couldn't have been farther from the truth. Did she know that? No- and she never would.
-
"You and I...
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〰⋅〰⋅〰
Kie lightly tapped her palms against the hide of the bongos situated in her lap. John B hadn't said anything in what felt like hours, only causing the group to become more apprehensive. Sheriff Peterkin had visited him this morning, more or less giving him an ultimatum— either help her and stay out of foster care or disobey her and end up on the mainland.
After another moment, the brunette pushed off the table, facing the four of them. "Look, I'm callin' it off. All right? Peterkin said, if I stay out of the marsh—"
"Yeah, she'll help you with your case. We get it." Kori rolled her eyes.
"I'm sorry. Do you have something you wanna say?" John B asked, shrugging his shoulders at her.
The blonde raised her brow, doubt crossing her features. "Yeah, I mean, she's a cop. Does that not at all worry you? There could be something down on that wreck and you wanna back off because a cop promised they'd help you."
"She is gonna help me." John B countered.
"An actual cop—" JJ spoke up. "Help you? You really believe that load of bull?"
"Yeah, I do, guys!" He threw his arms up. "All I gotta do is stay out of the marsh for a couple of days and she'll help me out. And it doesn't help that your ass was the one that was shooting the gun!"
"You know what I should have done, man? I should've just let Topper drown your ass."
"Yeah, because Topper was gonna drown me?"
"He was holding you face-down in the water!" Kori pointed out, skeptically shaking her head at him. "You looked pretty damn close to drowning to me."
"Yeah, I mean, have you looked in the mirror recently?" JJ added, standing up and walking over to him.
"Come on, man. Tell me some more. Tell me some more." John B raved.
"They always win, don't they, man? Kooks versus Pogues. They always–always win, just–dammit!" JJ exclaimed, slamming his hand into the post.
"Look, it's okay!" Kie interjected.
JJ whirled back around to face her. "No, it's not okay! It is not! If they don't want us to go down into the marsh, then that means there's something valuable down there and you know it, man. I know you do." He repeated, pointing his finger at John B. He redirected his attention to Pope, all eyes on him. "And I understand why you don't wanna go. You're the golden boy. You got way too much to risk. And you—" He turned to Kiara. "You're already rich as shit anyway. Why would you bother?" JJ shook his head, returning his gaze to John B as he gestured to Kori. "But you and us, man, we got nothin' to lose! We really don't, all right?"
"JJ," John B sighed.
"And I know it didn't used to be that way for you."
"I don't wanna talk about this. I don't want to talk about it." He repeated, pushing past JJ. "Just get out of my way, bro."
