riptide- outer banks

sixty-eight | exile

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Millions of thoughts raced through Logan's brain as he slammed on the brakes, barely able to stop as the colossal, weighty cross fell out of the back of the truck. The box splintered, wood caving in on any of the four sides as Topper's truck screeched to a halt on the asphalt.

"Holy frickin' shit." Logan breathed out, instinctively getting off his bike.

"You guys told me to go faster!" Topper yelled as everyone got out of the vehicle.

Everyone except Kori. She remained in the front seat, having shared it with Sarah. And she remained there, not bothering to get out of the truck. She honestly had no shits left to give.

As their eyes fell on the exposed box, lid having slid off in the fall, an aura of disappointment and shock settled in the air. Because the cross wasn't inside. No, three tires filled with cement had been placed inside. It was fake. The entire thing had been faked.

"What the hell?" Kie voiced, breath falling from her lips.

"It's fake." Pope murmured, dropping into a crouched position. "We stole a freakin' fake."

"Of course we did." JJ remarked, head frustratingly nodding. "Of course we stole a fake."

"Shit." Logan said, curling his hand into a fist. "Shit!" He repeated, angered laugh coming next.

Sarah's gaze shifted down to the one person who'd been screwed over time and time again, features softening. "Pope, I'm sorry."

Sirens wailed through the air, causing Topper to finally just lose it. "Y'all hear that? Okay, I can't be here. My grandfather's a judge."

JJ turned to him. "Dog, would you relax? They're not gonna think some dude in flip-flops is part of a robbery, okay?"

"Oh yeah, with the crate sitting right next to my truck?!"

As JJ climbed into the backseat, all of his irritation subsided into nothing. His focus was on his baby sister and on her alone. She hadn't said a word since getting into the truck. Not a word to him or anyone else. And she remained silent as Sarah climbed up next to her and the engine started.

She said nothing as they drove down the road. She didn't even move, a deep sense of dread burrowing underneath his skin. As they neared the ferry, he couldn't help but feel like they'd been here before. Like they'd done this all before. He knew how it ended and he hated it. She was angry. She was so angry, he probably couldn't even comprehend just how bad he'd screwed things up. Again.

He could still remember that night as if it were yesterday. The way she hadn't even looked at him. As if looking at him was repulsive to her. He had been the one to do that though. He had been the one to scare her so damn bad and make her think she'd lost him. He'd done that and then she hadn't talked to him for an entire week.

But that's who Kori was. For as long as he could remember, his baby sister had always been scared that the people closest to her would leave. Everyone who had ever been in her life that she should've been able to trust, that should've stayed, had left. Whether it was their mom or their dad, it didn't matter. It was the fact that she was terrified to be abandoned.

It was poignantly rooted in her veins, entangled deep within her DNA. It's what made her cling onto the few people she still had. It's why she was so afraid to lose the people she cared about.

A heavy silence enveloped the group as they pulled up to the ferry. Everyone had noticed the shift between the Maybank siblings, but they were all filled with disappointment for another reason. They'd been played. They'd lost the cross. Everything they'd done, it was all for nothing.