salt water | outer banks

7| two divorced parents

"LIKE PABLO ESCOBAR SQUARE grouper?"

Venus sat on the porch of the chateau and watched as JJ tried to explain their encounter at Lana's house to Pope and Kie. The latter looked over to her with a skeptical brow raised, earning a shrug from the Beck.

"I mean, they weren't exactly pretty," she agreed, glancing to JJ. "But—I mean, he's right this time. The way Lana was screaming..." the girl trailed off, shaking her head. "They're definitely not the type of guys to mess with."

"That's just great," Pope commented, "I could lose my scholarship and get killed by unnamed henchman."

"How do you know they're henchman?" Venus wondered.

"I don't know. I'm guessing," he admitted with a huff, nervously picking at the bracelets on his wrists.

"The office," John B suddenly said, making the group's focus turn to him.

Venus' brows furrowed and she leaned off of the porch railing. Was he talking about his dad's office here?

"What?" Pope asked.

"My dad—my dad's office. He always kept it locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his Royal Merchant research," he explained, glancing to the door that led inside. "We used to laugh at him, like he was gonna find it. But now that he's gone, I've kind of just left it how he kept it."

Venus' arms fell to her sides. "I'm sorry," she spoke up, her tone filled with sarcasm. "Are you saying that within all of the months your dad has been gone, you haven't thought to go into his office?"

John B cringed at her words softly, knowing it was something he should've done a long time ago. He fished his keys from his pocket, flipping the one that unlocked the office between his fingers.

"It didn't feel right, okay?" he defended.

The group found themselves following the boy inside as he opened the porch door and began making his way through the chateau.

"Better late than never, I guess," Kie commented, giving him a comforting look. "For when he gets back, right?"

John B nodded. "Yeah. For when he gets back."

At that, the Beck girl frowned at the comment she'd made. She didn't mean it in a way to hurt his feelings or crush the idea of his father returning, the girl just didn't always think before she spoke. This was one of the times she wishes she did, especially considering the sensitivity of the topic.

Venus suddenly felt the vibration of her phone ringing in her pocket. She fished it out without a thought, her eyes quickly skimming over the caller ID. Her cheeks flushed once she'd noticed that Rafe Cameron was the name.

Pope, John, and Kie had already walked inside the room and began making their way around it. JJ still stood in the doorway, holding the door open and waiting for Venus to follow.

"Hey," he spoke, watching as the girl's brows furrowed. "You good? Is it your mom or something?"

"Or something," she replied with a small huff. "I'll meet you in there in a minute."