TELL NOBODY - obx jj maybank x rafe cameron

Part four

The next morning, when Rafe awoke, JJ was gone.

All night, JJ's mind turned to his friends, to how different Rafe's life was to his. How out of depth he felt sleeping on a sofa valued higher than his Dad's restitution bills. The guilt. Sleeping there  felt like a stab in the back to everything he was meant to be. Pogue. Moral. Carefree.

He was determined to make things right.

So at the crack of dawn JJ jumped out Rafe's window onto the conservatory roof, shimmying down the drainpipe onto the lawn. He got onto the street front and ran, barefoot and shirtless away from the obscene wealth and cruelty that resided in Figure Eight.

By the time he reached the Cut, his feet were torn and the sun had risen high into the air.

John B was still asleep when JJ got there.

Sarah Cameron, Kook princess, lay besides him.

Suddenly all the guilt JJ had been holding in his chest turned into resentment, his cheeks flushed red with annoyance. He hadn't known how to approach John B before, how to talk about the gun incident. But clearly John B was okay. Okay enough to fuck Topper's girlfriend.

JJ drunken on his anger, sauntered over to the tin box in which the keys to the Twinkie were kept. In the tin he found a plastic sandwich bag of weed. He pocketed both and left the chateau, slamming the door on his way out.

He paced across the scrappy lawn and unlocked the Twinkie. He kicked his feet up onto the dash and scavenged through the broken compartment draws for a lighter. Hastily, he rolled the blunt on his thigh. Upon the discovery of a box of matches he lit the bud, breathing in the the mixed scent of the burnt out match, weed and sweat.

JJ couldn't quite place his anger. Yes, it was justified, as had he not risked it all two nights ago to defend John B from the girl's boyfriend. A boyfriend who was trying to drown him. A situation that ended up with a bullet in Rafe's shoulder. Yet that wasn't why he was pissed. If anything that would be reason to rejoice. John B, his best friend, Pogue to the core, stealing the heart of the princess of Kooks from Topper. And still he didn't know why he was pissed.

Mid-thought the car door on the passenger side swung open.

"Long time no see!" John B greeted him.

"You slept with Sarah Cameron." JJ stated bluntly, his index finger tapping restlessly on the glovebox shuffling to face John B. His lips were pressed together in a hard line and his brows were furrowed in confusion.

"JJ, she came onto me, ok man? And are you seriously telling me that you wouldn't sleep with a hot Kook if you had the chance?" John B grinned, amused by JJ's seemingly jealous reaction.

JJ huffed, gazing out the window, blankly staring out towards the water.

"But what happened to P4L man? These are the Camerons bro. They're ruthless."

Upon saying that, JJ fleetingly thought of Rafe and the side of him that he'd seen last night, the pity he had for him, the grain of affection he'd momentarily felt, before pushing those emotions beneath the surface. It was irrelevant. He went there out of necessity, nothing more.

John B waved his hand in front of JJ's face.

"Dude, what's this really about?" John B looked now vaguely annoyed at JJ. "Where have you been?"

JJ remained motionless, eyes fixated on the horizon.

"Quick recap, dude, two days ago we discovered a wreck, you stole a gun and god knows how much mint. We all decided to lay low and you fucking shot the place up. And now you've dipped on us. We want you back JJ. I'm not pissed at you for saving my ass, but I've now been visited by Peterkin twice. So where've you been?"

JJ turned to John B. He mind suddenly turned to the wreck. Scooter Grubs, who was dead. The fact was that dirtbag had copped a squeaky new Grady white. And his was out during a hurricane without telling anyone what he was doing. Meaning he was smuggling. Meaning there was going to be absolute dosh on that wreck.

"I slept at mine, okay?" JJ fibbed.

Before John B could call him out on his blatant lie, JJ hopped out the Twinkie, leaving the door hanging open and ran to Kiara and Pope. Kiara hopped off the back of Pope's beat bike whilst Pope attached it to a tree with the bike lock.

Kiara grinned at JJ and went to wrap her arms around him, chuckling as he intercepted her arm and spun her around.

"Where were you yesterday?" Pope enquired.

Ignoring the question Pope asked JJ grabbed Pope by the shoulders, eyes gleaming with excitement, "Dude, listen, we have to go back to the wreck."

"No, fuck no."

"JJ, that's a stupid idea and you know it." Kie warned. "Plus it's bad karma, Scooter is dead."

JJ turned to John B, flashing him pleading eyes paired with a hopeful grin.

"Absolutely not."

JJ tilted his head at John B, eyebrows raised, still grinning boyishly.

"No JJ. Peterkin said she'll help me out if we leave it alone. I don't want to get stuck on the mainland dude. Its a stupid thing to do JJ."

"Stupid ideas have good outcomes all the time." JJ grinned, reaching into his board shorts and flashing them the notes they'd swiped from the motel two days ago.

Kie and Pope shared a look.

"C'mon, aren't you just a little bit curious? There could be stacks down there waiting for us, and we would never know!"

John B steepled his fingers, deep in thought.

"Think about the herb." JJ whisper-shouted.

Pope, ever the voice of reason, broke JJ's trance. "JJ, if we get caught illegally looting a wreck, who knows what'll happen? We might get charged and then I'll lose my merit scholarship!" he stressed.

"But at least you have us, right?" JJ sarcastically comforted him. Pope opened his mouth to retort but JJ continued, "John B, think about it. There's a spanking new Grady-White just sitting there at the bottom of the marsh. If that dirty marina rat managed to cop one of those, who else knows what he's got just chilling on that boat, man! Besides, we've already messed with it once, how much worse could it get?"

There came a prolonged period of silence, the sound of people swimming in their own thoughts.

After a while, JJ broke it.

"What do you actually have left to lose?"

The answer was hanging in the air. Pope had his scholarship. Kie already had it all. But John B?

He had nothing.

"Ok, JJ." he agreed, "Ok."

And at that moment Sarah Cameron stepped outside onto the deck.