Low Tide \\ JJ Maybank

Ch 30

The car ride is silent. Anyone could sense JJ fuming silently. I figured he wouldn't talk to me so I didn't even try. We pull up to a random house in the more sketchy part of town.

"Welcome to Crackhead Wasteland." Sarah cuts the silence.

"I don't know about this, man." Pope cautions.

JJ stops the car, double checking the address on the ID.

"Dude, why are we at Barry's?" Pope asks nervously.

JJ ignores the question, climbing out of the drivers seat. "This'll only take a second." He makes his way up to the house.

"You know, somebody should.." Kie says.

"I got it." I say climbing out of the car.

I open the front door to JJ going through everything in Barry's house, making a mess.

"J, what are you doing?" I ask.

"Well, as thou stealeth from us, we shall stealeth from ye."

"I'm sorry, what?" I ask confused.

"An eye for an eye, Kat."

"Okay, well this is really dangerous. You're robbing a drug dealer, JJ. That's a terrible idea, he knows who we are."

"I'm not scared of this guy." JJ says ignoring my protests. He walks into another room, I wait in the kitchen waiting for him to come back. He comes back a couple minutes later. "Alright, took care of business."

I step in front of him, finally getting him to stop. "JJ, what are you doing?" I say softly.

"Getting even." He says looking me directly in the eye.

"This is something your dad would do, you know that? Going down this path, you could end up like him."

He pushes me by my shoulder, my lower back smacking the countertop, hard, making me wince. "Watch your mouth!" He yells at me. "Aren't you tired of being messed with?"

"JJ.."

"Cause I am." He says, his hot breath fans across my face. He spoke just inches from my face.

"Fuck you." I say simply.

He ignores me, walking out the front door. Tears burned in my eyes. I hated when he acted like this because I knew he was better. My back aches from when it hit the counter, it would definitely bruise. I give myself a couple minutes, wiping at the tears angrily. I compose myself before walking out of the house.

"How'd you like getting a gun pulled on you, huh?" JJ asks the group irritated.

John B steps toward him, getting in his face. "Relax."

"He had it right here on you, bro." JJ points at my brothers temple.

"Look," John B stops him. "We've gotta get the gold, okay? Just give me that shit." He takes the duffel bag from JJ, setting him off even more.

JJ slams my brother against the van. Pope looks over to me, expecting me to react. I don't. I watch completely stone faced. I was too angry to react anymore. And I was hurt, physically and emotionally.

"Do you feel like a tough guy? Huh? What are you gonna do when he comes for us?" John B asks angrily.

"We punch him in the throat." JJ's voice comes out low and threatening.

"Yeah, good fuckin' idea, JJ."

"I'm not putting it back." JJ climbs into the van. "You guys getting in or what?" We all stay quiet looking at him. "Kat?" He connects eyes with me but I don't move, my face doesn't change. JJ gets annoyed and climbs back out of the car. "What?"

"We're sick of your shit." John B says.

"Oh, my shit?"

"Yes, yeah, your shit."

"Yes." Kiara agrees. "Your pulling guns on people shit."

"You acting like a fricken maniac-" Pope starts but is cut off by JJ.

"Pope, I took the fall for you, man! Know how much money I owe because of you?"

"I'm gonna pay you back, and I didn't ask you to do that!"

"I just did! Pay it back." JJ says in Pope's face. "Right here, right now, by myself." JJ looks around at the rest of us. "Yeah. You know what?" He grabs the bag from the car. "That's exactly what I'm gonna do. Go off, by myself." He walks away from us.

"JJ!" Pope tries but John B stops him.

I stand and watch as he walks away. Tears rolling down my cheeks. John B wraps an arm across my shoulders. I turn into his chest, allowing my brother to comfort me. This was his apology for everything.

"You okay?" He asks gently. I just shake my head against his chest. He pulls me in for a real hug before we get into the car together.

"Are you limping?" Kiara asks me, catching everyone's attention.

"No."

"You are too, did he hurt you?" John B whips around, looking at me.

"No! He wouldn't." I lie. "It's from fighting Barry."

John B starts the car, heading back into our part of town. We end up at the Wreck. We wander inside, claiming a table. We all sit around in awkward silence, nobody really sure what to say. I sit in a chair, with my head resting in my arms on the table.

I worry about JJ. I knew exactly where JJ was going. He would go home and show his dad he had gotten the money. I feared how that was gonna go. I was so angry with him but I never ever wanted him to get hurt.

"Look," John B says catching our attention. "He'll come around, all right? It's.. He's doing a JJ thing."

"Do you think he'll go home?" Kie asks.

"There's about a zero percent chance that JJ goes home."

"He will." I correct, picking my head up. "He still wants validation from his dad. Anyone would."

Everyone looks at me, that was my first time speaking since we'd left Barry's place.

"Okay, it's too dangerous to pawn this thing off piecemeal. So, our best bet is to go down there and get the rest of it. Bring it all up at once. Put it in- in a safe or vault or something. I don't know. Just until we can find someone who won't rip us off. I can figure it out tonight, get it done, and we can be out there in the morning." Pope says changing the subject completely.

"All right, let's do it." John B agrees. "Let's go."

"What about the thing with my dad?" Sarah asks my brother.

"What thing?" Pope asks.

"I have to go fishing with Ward."

"You can't get 400 mil because you're gonna go kill fish?" Kie quipped.

"Look, I have to go."

"Blow it off." Pope says. "It's 400 mil in gold!"

"Make something up." Kie agrees.

"I have to, okay? He saved me, alright? If it weren't for Ward I'd be in Foster care. So, I have to go. Plus it'll be better to do it at night. Right?" John B looks between all of us.

"He's right," I say. "Plus now he's dating Sarah so might as well impress her dad."

"Fine, go fishing." Pope says.

"And at least JJ will have washed up by then." Kiara points out.