𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞〚𝚙𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚢𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚍 〛

Chapter 20

To her surprise, she found Pope with JJ, holding the blond boy's face in his hands with a worried expression.

"Hey..." she hesitantly said, startling them both.

JJ didn't turn to look at her. She frowned, grabbing his shoulder and forcing him to face her. Delilah gasped. A cut streaked his lips, bruises peppering his cheekbones, and it was fresher than ever. He had gone home to his father.

"That's it," she growled. "I'm going to commit a murder."

Where the hell was the gun when she needed it?

"It's my fault," said Pope, running a hand through his hair. "JJ, I'll tell the truth and go to the cops..."

"Shut up, Pope!" snapped JJ. "For once in your life, trust someone else. John B and I got it all sorted out. We're gonna be filthy rich, man! We're back in the G-game, baby."

"G-game?" frowned Pope. "I thought we lost the gold game."

JJ shrugged. "Yeah, well, we're in overtime now. Fourth and one, baby."

"Fourth and one?" she echoed, feeling lost.

They hadn't found the gold, and all of a sudden, they were back into the game? John B must have found something interesting.

"I'll explain later," promised JJ, walking backwards in order to talk to them. "Be right back!"

Delilah spun around towards Pope, questions written plainly on her face as she raised her eyebrow. The boy opened his mouth, but closed it, at a loss for words.

"What in the world is he doing here?" she whispered, her eyes following JJ through the window of the club house.

"He had a note to give Sarah, I think," frowned Pope, busying himself with the barbecue.

"Sarah Cameron?" she asked, surprised. Then, she frowned. "Wait, where was John B yesterday?"

"On the mainland, looking through the archives I think. Why?"

She groaned, the puzzle pieces clicking together in her brain at the thought of Sarah's argument with Topper. "Oh, the fool. John B is getting himself into a heck load of trouble."

"Don't tell me he got himself mixed up with some Kook business?" sighed Pope.

"He's getting himself into some Kook drama, anyways."

The dark skinned boy froze, eyes darting to something behind her. "Lilah...."

Her head snapped back, watching as JJ caused a commotion, people crying out complaints as he pushed through the crowd, followed close behind by Rafe and his gang.

"Stay here," she instructed to Pope, muttering a few curse words under her breath. "I'm going to deal with this."

She ran for the beach club, following the sounds of gasps and curses until they led her to the source of chaos at the party. Slipping through the crowd, she turned through the halls, trying to remember exactly what passage led outside. 

Her ankles were hurting. She knew she should have worn sneakers.

"Cute outfit, man," noted a snide voice she recognized as JJ's.

Sticking to the wall, she peeked around the corner, just enough so JJ would know that some backup was coming. Kelce held him back, while Rafe stood in front of him. She didn't recognize the other boys, but they were all focused on JJ, so she was safe from attention.

"If you could please stop talking?" said Rafe, sounding annoyed. "It's very disrespectful of you, I'm trying to hit a ball."

The sense of humour that once had her smiling only sent shivers of disgust down her spine. What was he thinking? Something wasn't right, she wasn't understanding something. At least, that was what she kept telling herself.