Carefree || JJ Maybank

Chapter Ninety-Four

It was a rude awakening when John B came barreling in the room just an hour or two later.

Everleigh and JJ's eyes shot opened untwisting themselves from each other hold. They sat up as John B rushed them.

Everleigh rushed to her dresser as JJ laid in bed with the covers pulled over his face. "JJ, come on." She tells him as she changes into a bikini under a light yellow top and denim shorts.

She walked out of the room lightly fixing her hair as she pulled John B aside. "Hey what's going on?" She asks him. He looks around the chateau and that's when it hit her. "John B, where's dad?"

John B looked like he could've thrown up then and there, but when Everleigh asks him again, he leans on the counter. "He's not here, Ev."

"Yeah, I can see that." She replies sarcastically, furrowing her brows at him while she waits for an answer.

"Ev, he killed two guys in front of me. It was the guys from the Coastal Venture. And I promise he was just trying to protect me and probably you too." He started to ramble and his eyes flickered around the room, not wanting to look at Everleigh.

It caught him by surprise when she pulled him in for a hug, stopping him from talking. "Look, relax." She tells him as he pulls away. "I'm not gonna freak out over this because if I do there won't be any control in this place, so, our dad is a murderer, awesome. Did he get arrested? Like where is he?"

"South America." John B mumbles.

Everleigh's jaw drops. "South America." She repeats him. "So he kills people and runs to South America, alright. Uh, so when is he coming back?"

"He didn't run." John B tells her, finally looking his sister in the eye. "They took him. They took him and now we have to get him before they kill him."

"Wait, stop. Who took him?" Everleigh asks.

John B runs his hand through his hair. "Singh."

"Oh, then we're going to South America." She tells him, not even hesitating. "We're going to get him and then find Singh and put that motherfucker through hell." She smiles, but John B didn't smile back like she thought he might.

"John B, we're gonna get to South America, and we're gonna find your dad." JJ speaks, finally leaving the room.

JJ walked out of the house and into the Twinkie, John B following behind him. Everleigh took a good look at the chateau before she followed them, climbing into the back of the van and taking in the familiar scent. It seemed to be dirtier but still had all of the memories the Pogues shared in it from the dents and scratches on the walls.

"Alright, walk me through it one more time." JJ tells John B. They were a little further into their ride and JJ had a map of the entire world.

"Okay, right there." John B says, pointing at South America on the map. "That's where they're taking him. That's the site of the idol."

"You just... you pointed to just South America, you understand that, right?" JJ asks him, looking for any helpful answers.

John B hesitates and nods, "Yep."

"You're very helpful. That's all you know, just South America." Everleigh chirps from the back, kicking her feet up onto the bench across from her. "Look, we've gotta make this trip quick, I've got Kiara's parents party to attend. Free drinks."

"Ev, shut up." John B tells her. "That's why we're going to the professor's house, alright? Look, he was at the site."

"Okay." JJ lies in agreement, trying to trust his best friend. "So happy we have the map, then." That's when it hit him. "Wait. Woah, woah. We're going to a house right now with a dead body in it? That's where we're going?"

John B hesitates yet again. "Yeah."

"And if the cops show up, you know what that makes us look like?" JJ continues, his first worry of course being the cops. When John B answers yes for a second time, JJ looks at Everleigh then out the window. "Okay, just making sure."

"Make it quick though. Just, in and out." Everleigh tells them.

John B seemed to just ignore the hickeys on the couples necks, knowing exactly what had happened between them, except he which he didn't.

When they pulled up supposedly to the professor's house, John B ran up to the front door. JJ opened the door for Everleigh with an uneasy look, not really wanting to follow John B. But, they did, rushing up the property and sneaking in the front door.

The house seemed to be empty and dark as John B walked into the kitchen, Everleigh and JJ just a step behind. "His body's gone." John B mumbles. "Sowell was right here."

JJ looked at him confused, "And Sowell was the..."

"The professor." John B tells him.

"Right. No, I know what happened. They've already been here, John B." Everleigh tells him, trying to get out before anyone saw them here. "They sent in the sweepers and now probably decontaminated this entire room."

"Right, so there's nothing left. We should get out." JJ also suggests, wanting to get out just as fast as she did.

"Maybe there's something." John B says, looking around for anything that might be helpful.

JJ rolls his eyes, "Okay, what are we looking for then?"

"Anything to do with an archaeological dig." John B argues back.

"Wow, that really narrows it down." Everleigh sarcastically comments.

They spread out around the room. They started to look while JJ announced he was going to the kitchen. She watches John B pull a paper out from beneath a dresser and they immediately locked eye contact. They go to the kitchen to find JJ, and he's eating and scrummaging through the fridge.

"What is it? Snack time?" John B asks him as they both look in disappointment. "What are we doing?"

"You know what? I feel very judged right now." JJ speaks.

"I'm not judging." Everleigh lies simply staring at JJ fighting a cringe off her face. "Not judging at all."

"There's an entire bird in here that'll just go to waste, okay?" JJ argues his point. Trying to defend himself for taking a snack break. "I'm not gonna let that happen. It's not like I'm stealing it. No one else is gonna eat it. I was like, 'I'll take the nutrients that this beautiful bird gives me and fill the tank,' alright? I haven't been able to eat anything..."

Everleigh just looks at him and nods until John B interrupts the one way conversation. "JJ, Ev, hey." He was holding a paper in his hands and they both went over to him to look at it.

"Local expedition team exports from South America..." John B reads.

"One of these guys is Sowell?" JJ questions.

"Right there." John B points to him on the paper with a deep breath. "Holy shit. Neville. Neville, the last things Sowell said before he died was Neville."

"Neville meaning, Neville Persaud, expedition guide..." JJ reads.

That's when everything connect and both Everleigh and JJ start to come to a realization. John B blinks at both of them, trying to draw their attention back to him. "So Sowell said, five people on the expedition, right? Three of those people died. Which leaves us with two."

"Sowell." JJ says. "Neville. He's the last one alive."

"Yeah, I think Sowell was telling me to warn him." John B explains to them.

"We need to find Neville."