Home|Outer Banks (JJ)

NINE.

JJ

I wake up to see I'm in a room that's not mine. My face hurts and I have a headache. I then feel small arms wrapped around me and see Azi laying on my chest. I pull her closer to me and rest my head back on the pillow.

We kissed.

We fucking kissed.

Holy shit we fucking kissed!

So what, we kissed. Not a big dead.  Just kidding, it's a very big dead.

I look back down a Azi and admire her. Her hair is pulled up into a bun. She's has a small smile on her face. She's probably thinking about me.

I look at the clock and see it's 9:32. I slowly remove Azi's head from on my chest and slide off her bed. I grab a pillow and put it where I was laying.

I wrote Azi a note before I hopped on my bike and headed to John B's house.

When I get to his house I see a black car posted right outside his house.

Shit.

A few minutes later I see John B walking up to his house and I run up behind him. He throws a punch at my stomach and tackles me to the ground.

"It's me, JJ. Stop, stop, stop." I whisper yell. He stops hitting me and lets out a deep breath.
"What are you doing?" He yells. I immediately put my hands over his mouth. "Shut up." I whisper. I grab him by the collar and pull him behind some canoes that are stacked up.

"See that. They're watching us." I say pointing at the black car. "Who?" He ask. "I don't know. Let's sneak around to the dock." I say pushing him.

"Wait, wait, wait. You got the keys to the Pogue?" I stoped walking. We were sneaking around the back in the water.

"Yeah." He says and we continue walking.

We made our way to the Pogue and quietly climbed into it. John B started the boat and the house got farther and farther.

"First I almost get strangled to death by Kooks and now I'm on the hook for 30 grand." I go off. We had finally come to a stoping point after ridding for 15 minutes.

"We should just dip." I say. "Okay where do you wanna go?" John B ask.

"Yucatan." I randomly say.

"Yucatan." He laughs.

"No i'm dead serious right now. Surf all day and then we can just live off lobster we catch with our bare hands." I say trying to convince him. "You just wanna leave because you got your ass beat?" He ask.

"You didn't see the photos." I say, thinking back to want Peterskin showed me.

"Think about it. They're willing to kill for the gold then it's gotta be out there JJ." He says. "Have you lost your mind?" I ask yanking my hat off. "One hundred years man. One hundred years people have been trying to find this Royal Merchant, and no one succeeded. And you think you are gonna be the one to find it?"

"I can't give up on the hunt man. I don't care who's out there, who's gonna try and kill us. Do you understand that?" He ask.

I don't answer him and he walks away.

"Look, I've got a plan. You coming or what?" He ask.

Azlie

I wake and feel JJ's not best to me, just a pillow.

I throw the cover off me and walk over to my bathroom. A piece of paper catches my eye and I walk over to my dresser. It was a note.