I'll Come Running

Chapter 5

"Alright so, you remember years ago when my dad went looking for the Royal Merchant treasure?" John B asked Jessie after they made their way back into the Chateau.

"How could I not?" Jessie scoffed, never forgetting Big John's obsession with treasure hunting.

"So, my dad died looking for that treasure-"

"Ward Cameron killed him." JJ butted in quickly as he stuck his pointer finger up in the air matter-of-factly.

"What the-" Jessie proclaimed, only to be interrupted by John B once more.

"Yeah, yeah, anyways. We found the gold." John B finished with hope in his eyes as he laid all their evidence out on the table in front of Jessie. The map of Tanny Hill, the pictures of the archives, etc.

"But when we found the gold, my dad got wind of it, bought the property that housed the gold and seized it for himself." Sarah said with defeat in her voice, as if to say she was ashamed of her father's actions.

Jessie scoffed "Not surprising" was all she could say as she leaned back in her chair and rested her chin on her hand. "So what does this have to do with me?"

"Well," John B began with a much softer tone. "Ward... killed himself after he realized he was caught for the murder of Sheriff Peterkin."

"Wait.. what? Sheriff Peterkin-"

"Is dead, yes. Minor detail." JJ answered swiftly as if to say that they need to move on.

However, this was anything but a minor detail to Jessie, she couldn't believe Sheriff Peterkin was dead-- she had a long history with that woman. Peterkin was the only person on that island that believed in Jessie, believed that she could be something more than the troubled daughter of a dead beat drug addict. Peterkin got Jessie her first job as a waitress at the country club when she was only sixteen. Peterkin always bailed Jessie out of trouble in anyway she could. Jessie couldn't believe it.

"Except it wasn't actually Ward that killed Peterkin... it was Rafe" Sarah said with even more guilt in her voice, so much guilt she couldn't even look at Jessie.

Jessie popped her head up. Just the mention of his name again sent shivers down her spine. Her look was no longer a look of confusion, but one of stone-cold annoyance. Yet she still had nothing to say to that, letting the rest of the Pogues continue.

"So Ward took the blame for Peterkin's murder and Rafe is now the sole proprietor of Cameron construction... and the gold." Kiara exclaimed.

"Are you kidding?" Jessie scoffed with a smirk. "Ward took the blame for something Rafe did? No, no, there's gotta be more to that. Ward hates Rafe-"

"Hated... Rafe." Sarah interrupted, now the one who was annoyed with Jessie. "Rafe changed after you left." Sarah sassed.

"Oh and you think that's my fault? Look here little miss kook princess, I don't owe you or-" Jessie said defiantly as she stood up and made her way over to Sarah. She dreamed of the moment where she could tell off a Cameron, any Cameron would do.

"Woah, woah, woah. Calm down! She is not the enemy here." John B butted in as he got in between the two girls, clearly saving Sarah in the situation.

"So again... what does this have to do with me?" Jessie said sharply as she looked around the room demanding an answer.

The room went quiet. JJ finally moved closer to Jessie, knowing that this had to come from him.

"Jessie," he sighed, "You're the only person that can do this." He looked down at his lap. Jessie sat back down motionless with her eyes fixed on JJ waiting for him to say more. "You have to convince him to give up the gold." JJ said as he looked up with a stone-cold expression of determination.

"No way." Jessie said angrily as she stood up from her chair and started pacing around the porch. "I left because of him JJ and you know that!"

JJ knew this was going to happen. He knew she wouldn't go for this and he knew she would be angry at him. He already regretted his decision. He knew he was now picking at old wounds that Jessie never asked to be opened. Still, he persisted.

"Jessie, I know this is really hard for you. But what's happening it's, it's... injustice!" JJ replied with conviction in his voice.

"Injustice? You wanna know what's injustice? Asking me to fly thousands of miles to see my baby brother thinking he was this close to being dead or in prison for the rest of his life, only to find out that he wants to me to be some ploy in a plot to steal back some gold?!" Jessie yelled with a look of both confusion and anger. "I vowed the day I left to never be a pawn in Rafe's game ever again, and I'll be damned if I-"

"Jessie, please... for me." JJ begged with a look of desperation in his face. It looked as if JJ was about to get down on his knees next and beg with his hat in his hands.

Jessie breathed out a long, angry breath and looked out at the water for a moment to collect her thoughts.

"What if he doesn't give in." Jessie said as she threw her hands up in the air. She wondered if they had even thought of that possibility. After all, it had been four years, surely he had moved on. Jessie hadn't, but that wasn't the point.

"He will." Sarah said with a confident, stolid look on her face. Sarah knew what Jessie meant to Rafe. Even after years of time apart and plenty of random hook ups and drugs to make him forget about her. Sarah knew there was no one like Jessie. "It will work, Jessie. He will always come running back to you." Sarah proclaimed.

"Oh please." Jessie scoffed with a disgusted look on her face as she looked out into the water again, possibly to throw up. "You guys can't be serious?" She asked.

"Trust me, we've tried everything else, Jess." JJ said softly as he walked up to her and put his hand on her back. "You are our last chance."

"You just have to seduce him long enough to convince him to do the right thing." Kiara added.

"I won't have to seduce him." Jessie said as she stared at the ground, as if she had just remembered something that could change the whole narrative. This statement only confused everyone, but finally JJ spoke up.

"W-what do you mean?" he asked with furrowed brows.

"I said, I won't have to seduce him." Jessie replied looking up and back at JJ with annoyance in her voice as if to say that JJ should not have questioned her.

"....oooookayyyy." JJ replied in only a way that he can, with confusion and yet with sass.

Jessie had to take this all in. What about her daughter? How long would this take? What all was involved? Could she even bare to see Rafe again? Would it fill her with too much rage, sadness... joy? Jessie put it all out of her mind, trying to get back to her teenage state of mind, where she would have thought and acted out of impulse. What does she have to lose right? Only everything this time. Now that she's an adult, she has a family, a life worth living, a steady income, a purpose, all things she didn't have before she left. And now she's going to throw it all away? For JJ? Yes, for JJ.

"What do you need me to do first." She sassed with a clear look of disapproval on her face. They all sighed with relief and a smile came to their faces, but JJ's smile was no doubt the biggest.

"He's taken the gold to the Bahamas at their summer home. We need you to meet him there. You'll get a cut of the-" Pope said frantically, as if at any moment she would change her mind.

"I don't want a damn cut." She said coldly. "I want this done, and over with. As soon as my job is done, it's over."

JJ didn't expect that, not even from Jessie. Sure she was calloused and guarded but... she doesn't want to share in the reward? She doesn't want to spend any extra time with her brother? The thought hurt him, but he put it aside as they calculated their next move. The awkward silence finally faded.

"We've gotta get you to the Bahamas." Pope said.