Together

104. Operation Closure

I need the memory
In case this fate's forever
Just to be sure these last days are better
And if I have any enemies
Then give me the strength
To look the devil in the face and make it home safe
-Machine Gun Kelly,X Ambassadors &Bebe Rexa

"What are we doing here?" Kie draws out slowly.

They're sitting in Shoupe's truck, parked on the far side of a 7-11 gas station that sits right on the Cut. When she asked JJ what he had been up to she thought he was going to tell her. Looked like he wanted to, for a short second. Then he insisted that she get in the truck with him after her shift and drove her here with no explanation whatsoever.

The trust she has in this boy.

They have a good view of the entire area, backed into the parking space so they can watch a steady flow of cars pulling in and out as they fill up their tanks and purchase cigarettes. No one stays long, and no one pays them any mind. It's not like the parking lot is wanting for space so the attendant inside doesn't indicate he cares about their presumed loitering either.

JJ bites his lip, nervously tapping the steering wheel with his thumb while he keeps an eye on the comings and goings of the patrons. She starts to glance at him and back over the parking lot, feeling like she should be looking for something. They've been sitting in the space for ten minutes and he's not said more than two sentences to her. Neither explaining what they're doing.

"JJ," she repeats. "Why are we here?"

He looks back at her, then back out, and then back to her before answering. "Waiting."

She scrunches her face at the crypticness. "Waiting for what?" She can see he's getting antsy, leg bouncing and shoulders tensing. "JJ, you need to tell me what's going on."

Why was he so anxious about talking to her?

He huffs out a breath. "You gotta promise me you won't freak out."

Doesn't like the sound of that.

She's about to question him when his attention gets drawn back to the parking lot. She wants to roll her eyes at his distractibility, but then she catches that he's not just looking around, but looking at something. Someone.

Kie follows his gaze, an audible gasp leaving her lips, and JJ is quick to shush her, pulling her hand and making them almost duck behind the dashboard. She locks serious eyes with JJ's.

"Why the fuck is Luke here?"

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A familiar knot formed in JJ's stomach the second he tracked Luke down. Wasn't even that hard. Spotted him the first night he camped out at the gas station, figuring that the run down 7-11 was probably the favorite spot for the man, since he'd seen him on Thanksgiving. His instincts were insanely accurate.

He waited outside, hidden in the shadows and protected from view by the deputy's truck as he waited. Felt bad lying to Shoupe about why he needed the vehicle, but the second he saw his ex-father he couldn't bring himself to say it wasn't worth it. Luke bound up to the gas station, sought out his fix of alcohol and headed back to where he came.

It was always the same direction he was coming from and going to. What wasn't consistent was when he would show up. JJ had been watching him since the day after Thanksgiving and couldn't pin point an exact timeframe that Luke would arrive. Just knew that he'd run out of booze eventually and be back.

He thought that he would go straight up to Luke, get in his face like all the times he did it to him and lay into him. Tell him what a shit dad he'd been, cuss at him, maybe take a swing, who knows what would happen. But he hadn't quite had that kind of courage when Luke surprised him in the first hour of him staking out the joint.