happy place || jj maybank ON HOLD

chapter eight

John's the only one who understands that. I make a mental note to thank him later.

"Concussions can leave you with memory loss" Pope says, "it's also common to lose consciousness after one, recovery is usually about a week or two." Pope says, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Glad you're okay, Vienna. You scared us all." Kie adds, smiling down to me. I return her smile.

"So what was in the package?" I ask, looking at John, hoping to change the subject.

"They found it." He responds.

My eyes widen, "what?" I say, getting up and walking toward him, "they found it? The-the-400 million? They actually found it?" I say.

"Well no." He chuckles at my excitement, "But they found the merchant." He clarifies, smiling at me. I can see the happiness and excitement radiating off his face. He jumps off the ledge of the pier where he was sitting, and takes me into a hug.

I hug him back and whisper to him, "They did it. They did it, John. All those years, they did it." I say, crying into his shoulder.

"I know, V, I know." He says, attempting to give me some consolation, though I can tell he needed this hug too. "He mentioned you. There was a recording. My dad left a message for you in it." He says, pulling out of the hug, wiping the tears off my cheeks with his thumbs, then kissing my forehead, where the bandaids is.

"I want to hear it." I say, collecting myself.

"Well first let's talk split." JJ interrupts, "and before we say "evenly," may I remind you that I am the only one that can properly defend us from those groupers who were after us." He says, holding up the gun.

"Protection? Not cheap, okay?" I chuckle at him and go to take my seat. JJ always knew how to lighten up heavy moments.

"You haven't trained." Pope says. "You have done zero training."

"YouTube, bro! That's at least a five percent bump right there."

"You haven't-"

"Any objections? Didn't think so."

"Yeah." Pope says. "I object." Kie nods her head and raises her hand.

"I don't hear any, so..." JJ says, ignoring them.

I smile at their interaction. As crazy as everything has been, I can't deny how happy I am. There is never a dull moment. The group's banter never gets old and it makes me happy to feel like I have finally found people I can truly enjoy and trust.

"What are you gonna do with your 80 mil, Pope?" Kie questions.

"80 mil?" JJ asks.

"400 mil divided by the 5 of us." Kie clarifies.

"Probably pay for college in advance. And also, textbooks. Those are expensive." I smile at his response, loving how serious he is about school. The others get annoyed with him when he goes on rants about forensic pathology. I listen though, he's only ranted to me once about it in the short time I've known him. But there's something about people talking about their greatest passions that comforts me, I could listen all day.

"What would you do, Kie?"

"Yeah, what does a socialist do when she's rich?"

She giggles at Pope's comment before responding, "Start a wildlife preservation here." She says, looking out to the marsh. "Or something to help the ecosystems. Put all the money back into the Outer Banks."

"Well, that's a classic Kie answer." JJ says, smirking as he takes a tip from his beer. "What about you, Enna?" JJ asks, tapping my back with his foot.