𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐂𝐀𝐓 / / 𝐉𝐉 𝐌𝐀𝐘𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐊

CHAPTER 8

"You've got to be fucking kidding me, Barry."

After the dramatic ordeal of being shot at and finding out that all they had found was Big John's compass, Stella had returned home and went straight to bed. Still in a bit of a mood with JJ, she had left him at the chateau, though she was unsure if he had gone home after that. After spending most of the morning sleeping, she woke up on the afternoon to find Barry home from the pawn shop and told him what had happened in the marshes, out of luck that maybe he might of had an idea as to who the strange men where. After all, he was affiliated with some bad people, the type of people that chased kids whilst pointing (and shooting) shotguns at them. However, he hadn't the slightest idea who the two mysterious strangers could have been and instead became incredibly worried when his sister had returned home and rattled off the tale. He disappeared into his room and moments later placed a Glock 43 in front of her.

"I'm being deadly fucking serious, Stella."

She placed her hands on her hips, staring at him with an open mouth. "Dude, I'm not walking around town with a fucking gun!"

"And what if those weirdos come back, huh?" He said sternly. "Then what you gonna do? It's a dog eat dog world, sis."

"Barry," she pressed the palms of her hands into her eye sockets, not believing what she was hearing. "I'm 16 years old it is not legal for me to carry a gun."

Her brother snorted as he leaned against the counter. "When did you ever care about obeying the law?"

"I'm a petty thief and I do drugs, man! I don't wanna shoot some asshole!"

Behind the siblings, someone laughed whilst choking on a joint. "Hey, Stel, what if we paint it pink? Will you carry it then?"

"Stay out of this Danny." The blonde snapped.

"Look," he sucked in his bottom lip, and Stel could tell he was loosing his patience. "You get pulled with this, you blame it on me. I made you carry it, alright? I'll pay the bail money, I'll deal with the problems it causes, aight?"

Her blue eyes bore into metal weapon on the counter, as though if she stared hard enough it might disintergrate into dust. JJ already carried that stupid gun he found at the motel, what harm would it be to add another to the collection, right? No, it wasn't right, she knew it wasn't, but Barry was right too. What if those two mysterious boot leggers did show up again? What if they showed up when she was by herself? Stella sighed, "I'll think about it, okay? Meet me half way for now, Barry. I'll keep it in my room and maybe pick up some target practice, but I'm not carrying this unless it's absolutely necessary."

"I'm serious on that offer you know, Stella. I've got a nice baby pink shade in my mom's gara—"

"Seriously Danny, shut up."

With his back to the counter he held onto the edges, his grip loosened slightly as he shook his head. "No maybe about target practice, you go back to shooting cans in the backyard. Richy can help you."

Richy had been in the army with her brother, and lasted a lot longer than Barry did. He had a great shot, but was discharged because of the leg injury he had sustained in battle. His family owned the ammo shop in town, and he sometimes helped out there when he wasn't getting stoned as a way to deal with his chronic pain. With a groan she said, "Fine."

"And one more situation like that then you will carry this," his fingers tapped lightly against the metal. "I'm not fucking around. You won't get into trouble. I know people."

"I know you know people, Barry, though they're not always good people." She picked up the gun, inspecting the weapon and ensuring the safety was firmly on. "That's why I told you in the fuckin' first place."