𝐂𝐑𝐔𝐄𝐋 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑, jj maybank¹ (discontinued)

𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗋𝗍𝗒-𝗍𝗁𝗋𝖾𝖾

𝐂𝐑𝐔𝐄𝐋 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑 / 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗋𝗍𝗒-𝗍𝗁𝗋𝖾𝖾
❛ ward knows about the gold. ❜

STELLA LISTENED TO John B. She didn't go to the Cameron's that morning like she intended. She stayed entwined with JJ in her bed. She didn't want to push John B more, the least he deserved was a stress free bonding trip with his girlfriend's dad.

Her eyes fluttered open with the sight of the sun's bright rays filling her room. JJ's arm was wrapped securely around her waist and his sleeping face was facing hers. She smiled to herself slightly. At least she still had him.

JJ awoke a few moments later. "Mmm, Good morning, Stellie."

Stella smiles lightly at him, "Good morning, J."

"You doin' all right?" he hums in questions.

Stella didn't know how she felt. It hurt her knowing that John B was as mad as he was, but she'd be lying if she said she didn't see it coming. She knew the minute he saw her and JJ together it would all fall apart. She just wished there was more she could do.

Stella places the palm of her hand to JJ's cheek and bites her lip before looking at his. Leaning in, she places a delicate kiss to his lip, which he happily returns. They pull away and he looks at her for a moment before leaning back in, returning with a deeper kiss.

He rolls onto of her while and she holds her face in his hands while their lips move together. JJ's hand finds the dip of her waist while he adjusts his legs in between hers. Breathlessly, he moves his kisses down to her jaw and then to the crook of her neck. He returns them back to her lips before Stella's bedroom door flies open.

Pope quickly turns away after seeing the two onto pof each other. With his back to the couple, he clears his throat them awkwardly mumbles, "we gotta get this winch set up."

JJ falls off Stella's body. "Relax, man. It's not like we were having sex."

Pope's face scrunches up before clearing his throat. "Just get up and meet us outside."

Stella shoves her face into her hands when Pope leaves. "Oh, my God."

JJ shakes his head with laughter. "We need to get my man laid."

Stella sat beside JJ with her feet dangling in the hot tub not long after, watching as Kie sat inside the bucket, testing the weight barrier for their pulley. "How's it feeling?" Pope asks her.

"Feels good."

JJ pops open a beer bottle and takes a sig before offering it Stella. She shakes her head. He takes another. "John B pullin' a Houdini."

"Yeah, where is he?" Pope questions. "I got my scholarship interview tomorrow. We gotta get this done."

John B walks past the two, toward the Château seconds after. "Speak of the devil. Hey!" Stella's head pops up to see her brother high-tailing it toward their house, his head hung low. "Dude, I set up the entire winch to pull up the gold and everything."

"No, he did not. I did that."

Stella and JJ look at each other as the boy ignores his friends. "Okay, that's it?"

"Uh..." Pope looks at the two, "what's that all about?"

Stella ignores her friend's question because she thought she knew the exact answer. She pushed legs over the hot tub and climbed out, sliding on a pair of flip-flops and jogging into the house. She furrows her brows when she sees him rifling around for something. "John B, what are you looking for?"

The three walk in shortly after. "You all right, man?" Pope asks. "What— what's up?"

"What are you looking for?" Kie questions.

John B moves to the pull-out, not saying a word. "What's going on, man?"

John B pulls the cover the the mattress and his hands wrap around JJ's gun. The Pogues' eyes widen when they see it. JJ steps forward, "John B, what do you need the gun for? Talk to us!"

John B spins around and grabs his friend's shoulders, throwing him onto the couch. "John B!"

Pope holds his arms out, attempting to block John B in before he pushes him into a table. "What, are you JJ now?"

Stella looks back at JJ as he's picking himself from the bed before she races out to her brother. "John B, what the hell? What is going on?"

She races over to him as he climbs on JJ's dirtbike, revving the engine. "John B! Look at me!"

"Ward knows about the gold." He pauses for a moment then looks over his shoulder to Stella. "He killed our dad."

Stella's feet feel like they have a hundred pound weights on them while she watches John B ride off. Her heart sinks down into her stomach and she feels like she can't breath.

The Pogues have the same shocked expression on their faces for a moment before they race forward, chasing after John B. They pause and face Stella. Her face is distraught and tears are brimming in her eyes.

"Come here." JJ's arm twist around Stella's body, pulling her into him as she clutches onto him. He kisses the top of her head. "It's okay, Stell. I got you."

"He— He..." She couldn't finish her sentence before sobs escaped from her mouth.

JJ hugged her tighter. "I know. I know."

Two more sets of arms warp around Stella's body and she feels herself growing weaker and weaker. Her knees start to buckle and JJ lowers her down to the ground, still holding onto her.

She couldn't wrap her mind around it. She couldn't even think about it. Ward Cameron killed her father. She didn't want to believe it, not after she just welcomed Sarah Cameron into her life as her friend. She didn't even want to believe her father was dead.

Every day, Stella Routledge went to sleep hoping and praying he was still alive—he was out there and he was trying to get back to his children. He was planning and plotting a way back to them. Now she knew that wasn't the case.

He had been dead this whole time. Her father, Big John Rutledge, had been dead for nine months.

Her best friend, once upon a time. Gone.