PRINCESS | JJ MAYBANK

FIFTY ONE

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ACCOMPLICE
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"Why does she get to tickle?" JJ questioned, wrapping his arms around Atalanta's waist and pulling her onto his lap.

"She's the best." Pope shrugged.

They had all decided that Kie was the best to call Gavin, mainly because Atlanta had told them that he would recognise her voice since Gavin knew her father well. They all decided that JJ wasn't the right fit for calling because he was too hot headed and Pope simply didn't want to do it.

"Should I do an accent?" Kie questioned curiously.

"Definitely disguise your voice." Atlanta nodded in confirmation, even though Gavin didn't know Kie well, there was still a chance that he knew what she sounded like.

"Disguise my voice how? Like how would you like me to talk? Like this?" Kie asked as she put on a Bristish accent, which made Atlanta let go of a small giggle.

It warmed JJ's heart to hear her laugh like that. Even in situations as tense as this one, she still managed to crack a smile or let go of a giggle.

He couldn't help but cup her cheek and press his lips against hers. It was only a quick kiss but still it made Atlanta feel the cliche butterflies that she usually got.

"Not like that." JJ pointed to Kie, although he never took his eyes off of Atlanta.

"Like Batman." Pope nodded. 

"Batman." Kie lowered her voice to make it sound more inconspicuous. Atlanta scrunched her nose up as her fingers tangled themselves in JJ's hair, making him close his eyes in absolute bliss.

"There you go." Pope clapped as she dialled the number.

"Hello?" Gavin answered the phone in a calm manner, which made Atlanta more nervous.

The brunette began to fiddle with the end of her dress, wondering how the phone call was going to go down. She wondered if they would be able to get a confession out of Gavin or not.

"Hello." Kie spoke lowly and then grimaced at how she sounded. "I can't." She quickly shook her head.

"Hello?" Gavin questioned impatiently since nobody had responded.

"Is Gavin there?" Kie questioned, talking in her usual voice.

"This is Gavin. Who's this?" Gavin responded. The group all shared an anxious look. "Hello?"

"I know what happened on the tarmac." Kie confessed, looking back towards Atlanta.

The girl gulped, she witnessed everything that happened on the tarmac. She watched Peterkin get shot by Rafe, she watched as Gavin flew the plane with the gold away. She watched as Ward covered for Rafe and Peterkin died.

JJ noticed the way the girl tensed, so he pressed his lips onto her shoulder, placing his hands on her thighs and tracing patterns, hoping to ease her anxieties.

"Um... who's this?" Gavin questioned confused, he let go of an anxious laugh.

"It was Rafe Cameron. But you already knew that, and you lied about it." Kie spoke with determination and anger.

They all wanted Gavin to confess. One confession was all that they needed to bring John B and Sarah home. One confession was all that Atlanta needed for her father to actually believe what she had told him.

"Okay, who is this?" Gavin questioned, getting angrier and angrier every time he spoke.

"We're gonna prove it, you're guilty. You could have saved her, Gavin, and you didn't." Kie took another glance at Atlanta, who had now buried her head into the crook of JJ's neck.

Kie couldn't imagine how the girl felt. After all she had lost her biological mother and now her surrogate mother. Peterkin stepped up for the Shoupe siblings after their mother died, now they didn't have a mother figure in their lives and it was all thanks to Rafe and Ward Cameron.

"And you're not getting away with this." Kie seethed. She had taken a liking to Atalanta, the two had become close.

"Listen to me! Who is this?" Gavin shouted, causing Kie to end the call on the man.

"How was that?" Kie questioned with raise brows as she looked between the trio.

Atlanta turned slightly to face the girl and gave her a small head nod and smile. Hopefully the phone call would get Gavin to confess or at least arrange to meet Ward in order to talk about their next steps.

"Yeah, I was scared. Good job." JJ shrugged, pulling Atlanta closer.

"All right. We tickled them wire." Pope nodded in confirmation.

He looked towards Atlanta sympathetically, he couldn't imagine how hard this must have been for her. She lost Peterkin and her own father didn't believe that she witnessed Rafe shoot her. It can't have been easy for her.

"Phase two complete. Now we wait and listen."

"Oh the joys of waiting for an accomplice to a murder to have a guilty conscience." Atlanta chuckled, although she was only trying to hide how she truly felt. "Shouldn't take long at all."