RIVER | JJ MAYBANK

EIGHT

KEGGER

"Alright, so think about it's Pope. How does a marina rate get a Grady-white?" John B questioned. The five of them were all down at the dock fishing.

River sat on the ledge beside JJ. They were furthest away from the others. Truth be told he didn't want to be that close to any of them right now, not when they disagreed and didn't support his idea to keep the money. Money that he needed.

Pope took a deep breath, running his tongue over his bottom lip as he said, "Prostitution."

"Square groupers bro. Okay, flying under the radar, no aerial surveillance. They don't do that stuff during a hurricane. What does that mean?" John B questioned. "JJ?" John B pointed to his best friend.

"They were straight smuggling." JJ answered, with a small shrug as if it was obvious. And in most ways, it was completely obvious, to him anyways.

River turned to face JJ, placing her hand gently over his. He offered her a small head nod, silently telling her that he was okay, even though he was putting on a brave face.

"Smuggling. And I guarantee there's a serious amount of contraband in that wreck." John B announced confidentially.

"Hell yeah." JJ said as he caught a fish. "Fish on!"

After a while of fishing, talking about the different kind of drugs that could potentially be on the boat, they all decided to retire inside.

"For the record, if that is a smuggling ship, with illegal contraband on the inside of it, it probably belongs to someone else." Pope said as they say in John B's room.

"Minor details." Kie shrugged.

River rested her head on Pope's shoulder as he spoke. JJ clenched his jaw. He knew the two would be nothing more than friends but he couldn't help but feel jealous.

He preferred when she was sat beside him, when she fiddled with the rings on his hands or her fingers ran through his hair. He preferred it when she was next to him.

"They could come looking for it. Taking it it would be catastrophically stupid." Pope said as he waved around the wad of cash.

"Right. Well, stupid things have good outcomes all the time." JJ said taking the cash from him, his eyes lingered on River's as he did so. "All we need to do is figure out a way to get into the cargo hold of that wreck. Until then, we just lay low. Just act normal."

"Right. And how exactly do we do that?" Pope questioned.

Both the girls turned to face one another, smirks forming on both of their faces. It was like they could read one another's minds.

"Kegger?" Kie suggested, raising her brow towards River, wondering if she was thinking of throwing a kegger too.

"Kegger." River answered simply with a smile.

"Ahh, no drinking for you." JJ said pointing at River. "Remember my promise, angel." River groaned. She wished she'd never made him agree to that with her.

The five were setting up by the bone yard, John B had handed everyone a drink. Excluding River and Pope.

"Johnny." River wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "He's not looking, quick fill me one up." She said with a big grin.

All she wanted was one drink and somehow, JJ had managed to spread word to everyone coming that if they'd give her a drink, he'd kill them.

"R.C. He'd kill me." John B said, looking around for JJ. A few people had heard about the Kegger and started to show up. He saw JJ flirting with some random girl. "Just cause I love you."