𝐵𝑅𝑂𝐾𝐸𝑁 𝐷𝑅𝐸𝐴𝑀𝑆 𝐶𝐿𝑈𝐵

Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ 18

"Wait, Bobby!" shouted JJ as he stands up, his hands on the air. Hope did the same. "Don't shoot. It's me, JJ."

The dog continues barking at them.

"Luke's kid? What are you doin'? Who is this?"

JJ puts his hand on Hope's shoulders. "That's my girl. I swear, okay? We didn't want to, okay?"

Bobby yelled at his dog. "Tebow, quiet!"

"My dad made me." JJ lied.

"Don't you lie," warned him, Bobby.

"He told me Captain Leo kept his cutting torch." JJ starts breathing shakily. "You know, after he got fired. He said if I didn't get it for him, he was gonna...he was gonna hit me again."

"So I told him we could sneak in and get it back ourselves, I didn't want JJ to get hurt," Hope said her voice shaking. "I'm sorry, we didn't want to cause trouble," she continued.

The man scoffs. "Son of a bitch!"

"I'm sorry." JJ sobs.

"Come on down. I almost killed you both."

JJ sniffles. "I know."

Hope plays along. "It was scary."

Tebow growls and barks at Hope and JJ. Bobby yells at him. "Here! Come on. Come on."

"I'll just come up with somethin'. Tell him I couldn't find it." JJ informed Bobby.

"Mm-hm. All right."

"Sorry," said JJ again, before they left.

"You're girl?" Hope scoffed at JJ. The boy just shrugged his shoulders a smirk on his face. "JJ...does your dad, does he really hits you?" Hope then asked softly the blonde boy.

JJ chuckled nervously. "Nah, of course not. I had to find some lie ya know."

Hope knew he was lying, she could hear his heartbeat. But she didn't say anything knowing the boy didn't want to talk about it. Hope was furious, she wanted to kill his dad for hurting JJ. She took his hand in hers as they went back towards the twinkie.

☽ ✮ ☾

After John B successfully stole the drone, Kiara proposed to the group of friends to eat at the Wreck. "Stealing drones makes you hungry," Kiara announced as she got out of the car.

"What I would do to a beer and shrimp and grits right now," JJ said dreamily, as they walked into the restaurant.

"Hey, Dad," Kiara said, "How'd we do?"

"Didn't turn it over once." Kiara's father answered.

"It's probably just bad luck because of the storm," Kiara replied as she hugged her father.

"Yeah, I'll be sure to tell the banks that."

The rest of the group walked across a corner of the restaurant, as the father and daughter talked.