UNTOLD | JJ Maybank

Chapter 21

"Are you sure this is the right house?", Malou asked, after they had stopped in front of a huge, fancy house with a garden so big, that it seemed like a maze.

"Positive.", Pope replied, after he compared the street name and the number of the house with the address on his letter once again. In their dirty and sweaty clothes, the pogues got out of the truck and walked up to the front door. Pope knocked on it a few times, while Malou nervously looked around the big garden.

"Can I help?", a strange voice suddenly pulled Malou back to reality. A man with dirty blonde hair and a dark leather jacket had opened the door and eyed the pogues up and down. Malou returned the gesture. She thought that his eyes looked sly. The stubbles on his cheeks and chin looked freshly shaven and Malou thought, that his dirty outfit didn't fit the rest of his appearance.

"You're a day late.", he said, after Pope had shown him the letter, saying that a woman was awaiting him.

"Yeah, sorry. Our car broke down last night.", Pope apologised and the man nodded his head slowly as he weirdly clicked with his tongue.

"Alright, come in.", he eventually said and stepped back a little to let Pope inside. Malou and Kiara were fast to follow, when the man suddenly stepped forward again.

"I'm sorry kids, only your friend was invited.", he said and looked down on the girls.

"Yeah, no. You only get us in one pack.", JJ immediately answered, letting Malou know, that she wasn't the only one who felt deep mistrust towards the stranger.

"It's him or no one.", the man answered and the pogues shared a quick look.

"I'll be fine. It's our last chance.", Pope said and tried to sound as convincing as he could. To be honest, he wasn't even convinced by himself. But did he have another choice? With a dirty look, the man closed the door in front of the pogues.

"Great, now what?", Kiara sighed and turned around to leave.

"Well, we wait.", JJ replied and followed her back to the truck. Kiara hopped onto the load area and made some space for Malou to sit next to her. JJ went up to the front of the car to lean against it and pulled out his cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket. Lighting a cigarette, he let his head fall back against the car, before he blew out the smoke again. Malou watched him silently from where she sat and she enjoyed the silence of her thoughts as she did so.

"Are you good?", Kiara suddenly asked and carefully tipped Malous feet with her own. Quickly, Malou turned her head to look at Kiara who sat right across from her. They both leant against the barricade of the truck and had their knees pulled up while their arms rested on them.

"Yeah, I'm sorry for how I acted yesterday.", Malou apologised and Kiara nodded.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Do you think we will ever be this close again, like we were before? You and me, I mean?", Kiara asked and suddenly, she didn't sound so confident anymore.

"What do you mean?", Malou asked quietly, probably just to waste some time as she thought of an answer.

"I mean, you don't talk to me. And I mean, I get it. I let you down. More than once. I wasn't there, when your dad went missing and I wasn't there for you during the hunt. I knew, that you didn't want any of that and I just ignored it and even worse, when the thing with Ward happened, I turned my back to you. And I'm really so sorry for that, Malou, I really am, but it's just... I don't know. You forgave JJ, right? So, why can't you forgive me?", Kiara tried to express her feelings and Malou stared at her at loss of words.