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chapter three
! sage boat expert winterwood !
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Sage knew a thing or two about boats, when I first brought the HMS Pouge she gushed to me about it for weeks, everything about it: engine, type, etc. It was nice though, watching her talk about something she was interested in. She didn't do it a lot, she was always more of a listener than a speaker, weird though, I'd love to listen to her all day so I don't know how I got the speaker job in the friendship.
She sucked in a breath as she watched the boys jump into the water to search the unknown boat they had spotted, Kiara didn't want to get into the water with her scarred knee so Sage volunteered to stay on the boat with her, she didn't feel like jumping in anyways.
They weren't under long before they popped up and turned to the girls "Holy shit! Sage, you won't believe what's down here" JJ spoke excitedly, as he swam towards the boat and pushing himself up, just enough for his upper body to be seen. "You gotta come in here"
She crosses her arms, glancing between the blonde and the boat as Pope and John B went under again, she shakes her head standing up and peering at the boat beside JJ, he smirked at her as she rolled her eyes. "Do you know what type of boat it is?"
His smirk widens as he points at it "A damn Grady white" She can't stop the smile that takes over her lips as she glances back at Kiara who nods her head, Sage reminds her of a child that wants to go out with her friends and asking for her mother's approval. She slips out of the shorts since her top was discarded long ago. She watched JJ get completely on the boat as he held his hand out for her. "How much does a Grady white go for anyways, Sage boat expert Winterwood?"
"My prince charming" She hums lightly before answering his question "500Gs new at least, let's say it's not the boat you let rot underwater unless you dead" Her thoughts freeze at the theory. A dead body, possibly someone she knew she could throw up.
But she didn't get time to until JJ was pulling her into the water as he jumped. They're both under for a couple of seconds before they break the surface, only to get a breath or two and then their back under with the two other boys as Kiara watches, making sure nothing goes wrong.
By the time her legs kicked enough to reach the surface, the boys were climbing back into the boat. Kiara helped her back in, holding her hand and pulling with ease as the blonde girl rose from the water and landed on the seat.
"That's a primo rig" JJ comments as she catches her breath from being underwater so long.
"Yeah. That's the boat I saw when I surfed the surge" John informs them, she remembers him telling her that Pope and he decided to go, at the time she was fuzzy in the head, that day everything was out of sort for her. Now that she was better, the thought of John surfing the surge scared her.
"Maybe it hit the jetty or something?"
"You surfed the surge?" Kiara asks, shocked at his actions.
"That's my boy. Pogue style" Sage narrows her eyes at JJ, who apologises quickly before he quickly darts at her and kisses her cheek causing her to groan, shoving him, he laughs lightly before bumping into Pope, smirking at him.
John B's words get caught in his throat as he notices the pair, he clears his throat before bending down to get the anchor out, he wasn't sure what the anger built inside him was based on, but he needed it gone. Distract yourself, he thinks so he does, he notices the point on the end of the anchor, the other voices drown out and it's just a slight ringing. His eyes move as slow as he could, until they reached his hand, going back to the anchor. He had an idea for a distraction.
Sage laughed as JJ tried to wrap Pope in a headlock after mocking JJ almost to a T. Obviously JJ felt quite attacked, but Sage didn't realise how close they got to the edge until they finally toppled over straight back into the water, this time Pope's hat came with him. She knew he'd be mad about that later.
"Nice one boys, really nailed that" Kiara speaks with a smile on her face as she looks at Sage and they break out into laughter until Kiara notices something in the water "Oh my god! Grab it!"
JJ and Pope both yell in fear, unsure of what she was pointing at "What!?"
"Kie! Jesus, what is it? Is it near me! Does it bite!?" JJ rambled as he paddled backwards awkwardly--same as Pope-- before she points at the plastic wrap that laid floating on the sea. JJ flops in the water and looks over at the brunette girl "Kiara, you've got to be kidding me" JJ swims over quickly, she squeals before he yanks her into the water. Sage was smart and backed up whilst laughing, ending with her bumping into John B lightly. Her laughter stops short but her smile continues.
"John, you okay?" She asks as he sits in a crouched position looking down, he was meant to be getting the anchor but that was a bit ago and she doubted it would take him this long, she smiled lightly as she nudged his shoulder, he jumped to his left revealing what was in front of him for a second. "Jesus, Christ. John, you're hand!" She exclaimed, dropping to her knees before grabbing his hand lightly.
He was in a daze, watching her yell at their friends as her eyes stayed on him like he was her sole purpose. He liked this stare of hers. She was so delicate with him even though she looked like she wanted to rip it into shreds. JJ was the first at the scene, he placed his hand on Sage's shoulder before looking at John B. She looked up at him, smiling before back at John whose eyes were locked onto JJ's hand. She nudges his hand off before helping John up as Kiara and Pope appeared.
Sage looked between the anchor-- now with John B's blood on it-- and John, she knew what she was doing with boats, maybe it would've been better for her to go anyways. As the four were distracted, she grabbed the anchor and held it close to her chest, careful not to poke herself.
"Sage!" John B called out, noticing the girl before anyone else but she just winks and says "Diver down" She falls backwards into the water, they all rush over besides John who gets stopped by Kiara.
"John, they've got it. Your arm is more important right now" She speaks softly, noticing the tears that build up in his eyes as his gaze stays on the water.
"It's too deep, Kie. She can't- She won't" She places her hands on his shoulders, pushing closer to him but not too close.
"She's got this. You've got to worry about you right now" He sighs, finally looking at her before he sits and nods, but the minute she's tending to him, his eyes glance at the water in which she fell in. "John B, don't act like you weren't about to jump in there yourself, you're just mad at how alike you two are"
He doesn't respond, eyes training on the water around them. Watching and waiting for his best friend. He was going to go down, this was the same risk that he was going to take. But he hated how much more worried the minute he saw her fall, he would've dove in after her.
Once she broke the surface of the water and she was underneath, she didn't open her eyes straight away. She let herself sink, as she felt light as a feather, the thought of sinking for eternity seemed magical to her until she opens her eyes, slipped quickly from under the anchor, she lets it hit the ground before swimming towards the boat.
She knows she has time but that doesn't mean she can waste it, she searches through every compartment until she runs into what looks like a motel key, she doesn't have time to read it before she's heading back up, upset that her underwater experience was over. She really thought about taking up diving.
JJ and Pope were basically blocking John's view of the water, but Kiara's arm wrapped around his kept him seated, the mark on his arm wasn't even that bad, it was just a lot of blood. He regretted it now, knowing he upset his friends.
"Should we go in and get her?" Pope asked JJ quietly, unsure if he wanted John to hear or not. Before he could even respond, Sage, what looked like jump out of the water surprising JJ and Pope. Kiara's arm seemed temporary as John discarded it quickly rushing over to her, Kiara close behind him but she doesn't seem affected by John's actions at all.
"Oh my god, you were in there forever" Kiara exclaims, helping the girl up and pulling her into a hug.
"Any dead bodies?"
"No."
"Looting potential?"
"No."
She glares at the pair before shaking her head, grateful when John slips a towel around her shoulders to keep her warm. Her lips upturn "I found this motel key though"
"A key," Pope says disappointedly as he runs his hands over his face, sitting down in the driver's seat. Sage doesn't see the problem.
"Yes, a key, Pope" Sage mocks him as he flips her off causing her to smile, he hates how she smiles so much.
"Great! We salvaged a motel key" JJ announces sarcastically as Pope starts the boat up, letting out a rumble as the boat shakes to life, she closes her eyes before breathing in and enjoying the peace until the boat jolts lightly and soon their heading back the way they came.
She's put her shorts back on as she laid on the seat, head in John B's lap as he fiddled with the strands of her blonde hair, so golden in the rays of the sun. He also had a perfect view of her, her eyebrows are crunched down--still arched-- with the sunlight hitting her close eyelids, his eyes moved down to her button nose that he wanted to kiss so bad, her lips also got that thought from him so pink and soft, if only they were alone. And her neck was slender and furrowed, suited her perfectly.
"Guys, we should report the wreck to the coast guard," Kiara says, John B looks away the minute he sees her eyes begin to flutter"Maybe we'll get a finder free." Kiara continued, Sage agreed. This was worth telling someone at least
"Yeah and not work all summer" JJ smirks glancing at his friends "Thanks, Agatha, you betch!"
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Kiara and Sage had scowls on their faces while glaring at each other, they were about three minutes into a very intense chopsticks game, although it didn't look intense. Sage swore she could hear music that changed every time something happened in the game swirling around her head. It was incredibly one of the most intense moments of her life.
That was until Kiara hit her one with a four and she was out "Dammit!" She crosses her arms as Kiara cheers, hugging her as she tries to rid of the brunette, she unlatches as the boys walk out but keep her arm around Sage's shoulder, the girl doesn't mind though.
"Well, that went well" Pope speaks sarcastically, his hands slapping against his legs as he brings his arms down.
"They did nothing?" Sage asks, confused.
"There were heaps of people in there from the hurricane, didn't even bother to listen to us" JJ informs them but he doesn't look happy at all. Sage is surprised he didn't go back in there and slam someone's head against the table.
"I know how we're gonna find the guy that who owns the boat" John B faintly says as he stares at the keys in his hand then back up at his friends with a smirk. The occurrence had been forgotten by the group, they weren't ones to dwell. Except for that one time.
"We don't know whose room that is. It could be anyone" Pope exclaims, using hand gestures to get his point across but JJ ignores him, saying he's in.
Kiara removes her arm from Sage and caught the keys as JJ threw them her way "Come on. I'll be lookout"
Sage smirks at them as she watches John approach her, she turns her back on him before feeling him come to her side and softly place his arm around her shoulders, a maneuver they always pulled, he'd approach, she turns and then clicks her locked around his arm. He stops by Pope
"Finder fee. Just saying" John says before Sage tries to tug him along but he stops and turns to Pope "And, hey you'll only be an accomplice" She smacks his chest, finally dragging him after the hours. "Come on, bubba" He lastly says to Pope, looking down at Sage smiling. She can't help but smile while she speaks
"You are an ass, John Booker"
"Don't act like you don't like my ass" She laughs before shoving him slightly, almost sending him into the water before she raced to catch up with the others, he didn't attempt to go after her before he smiled to himself. He felt like him again.
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The boat slowed down as they arrived at the motel, it was just about how you'd expect an already crappy motel would look after a hurricane, a word for definition, crappier. Sage grimaced at the sight of the mattress laying around the place.
There was a discarded boat by the shore which didn't help the already eerie effect that the motel had on the atmosphere around them, the sigh was fallen and didn't look like it would be fixed any time soon, she felt like this would be a turning point for the group. She swore to herself that if she died here, she'd haunt them for letting her die in a place like this
JJ whistles "I thought the Château looked bad," He says
"This place is a shitshow," John B says gazing at the motel with a disgusted look on his face. It even smelt bad.
"Motel or meth lab"
"Doesn't look like a place somebody with a Grady-White stays" John B speaks up again as the teens watched the eerie motel before them, Sage could feel her insides chill.
"No. Looks like a place someone with a Grady-White would get killed" Pope retorts, still not happy about the plan.
"All right, here we go" John mutters as gets the boat as close to shore as he can for JJ to jump over so he could pull the boat onto land.
JJ says in a static voice "This is your captain speaking. HMS Pogue comin' for landing" He leaps onto the shore, yelling 'Whoo!' before tying the boat up and looking back at John, "We good"
"All right. Let's go" John said turning from Pope and Kiara but he doesn't get far before Pope speaks up.
"Hey," Sage glances up, watching Pope as he spoke to her and John "Don't let him do anything stupid" Motioning at JJ
"Oh, we will" JJ speaks on behalf of the two causing her to chuckle before turning and hopping off the boat, ruffling JJ's hair as she passed him.
"I'm not making promises" John shrugs
"Yeah. I know" Pope sighs, sitting down in the driver's seat
"Uh, be careful" Kiara speaks softly to John but loud enough for the others to hear. Sage watches in confusion, were they together? They couldn't be she was with him the other night, maybe she was just imagining things, this was Kiara. John was a brother to her, she'd told Sage herself. Why'd she felt so betrayed and angry with the two? "I mean it."
John smiles at her before turning towards the blondes, one of them looking slightly agitated by the pair of them. "Let's go"
The three begin their journey to the motel"Why are all these mattresses out?"
Sage sighed, moving under a fallen branch that hadn't been cleaned yet finally reaching the stairs "After a hurricane, they ditch 'em 'cause they're mouldy, I'm pretty sure anyways" She says, shrugging before following the other two of the steps.
"Just be so careful, John." JJ mocks Kiara as he holds himself against John, who shoves him off and complains that he's so weird "Dude, what the heck was that about?" JJ asked the question playing on both his and Sage's mind. She's for an entirely different reason.
"I don't know. Maybe she wants us to be careful" John B exclaimed, he honestly had no idea why Kiara was acting this way with him, but he didn't mind the scowl that took over Sage's face whenever it happened, made him feel like he was hers. Not like that was something he wanted, just something he wouldn't mind.
"Since she's heard you've been threatened with exile, she's just been, like" JJ raises his hands to massage John B's shoulders "'Oh! Be careful, John B" JJ mocks Kiara once again.
"Stop" He shrugs JJ off of him, glancing at Sage who seems to be paying attention to the door numbers, unlike JJ who couldn't care less.
"'Oh, give me that John D already' Like when are you gonna swoop on that man?" JJ tries to pull information out of John B but it's like pulling teeth, at least it feels that way with Sage. She can't stand hearing their conversation, she hates and likes the conversation. It didn't seem like John B was interested, it gave her relief for a reason she didn't want to explore yet.
"Bro, you know the rule. No pogue-on-pogue macking" He glances to the blonde, who smirks at him from behind JJ, like a taunt that she knew that rule didn't mean shit to him. He glances back at JJ "Besides, you're the one that's always hitting on her"
"Of course I'm hitting on her, same reason I hit on Sage. They're hot and for some reason slumming with us. Why? I can't figure it out either, but who cares" JJ winks at Sage who pretends to gag causing him to roll his eyes "Kiara is a super-hot, rich, hippie chick who showing interest in you and you're telling me you're going to explore that"
"She might have not even meant anything by it" Sage speaks up for the first time since this conversation had started, John felt bad pulling her through this.
"Alright, Winterwood, maybe she didn't but maybe she did" JJ taps his temple before turning to John B slightly, Sage continues and get a bit of distance between them as she reached the door up ahead and waited for them, she couldn't hear what was being said now. "I know that doors locked because I've tried it. Have you?"
John turns to him, back to Sage as he speaks "You need help" He turns again "Not like a little help. A lot of help" They begin to walk back to Sage, who begins to slowly hear where they're saying "It's like every girl who just has a heartbeat, you're like... 'Uhhh!" John B groans in fake pleasure causing Sage to sigh, slapping her hand lightly to her face
"Is this us? Twenty-nine?" He asks Sage, who dazedly nods, John looks behind him to see that JJ is distracted by looking in the window, he reaches for Sage's hand "Nothing is going on with Kiara and me, I promise" She moves her hand away just as he grazed his fingers along with hers.
"It's not like we're together John. It's just a deal" She shrugs, stepping to the side before walking towards JJ as John kept his eyes on where she left him, he should've known. This was his idea, he shouldn't have feelings. He just had to get in her headspace.
JJ taps a rhythmic knock on the door before saying in a high-pitched voice "Housekeeping!" She stifles a laugh at the voice as John B joins them, the pair act like nothing happened.
"Should we try it?"
JJ looks through the window before back at them "Yeah. No power. No security cameras. No one's gonna know" He says a phrase in Spanish but she doesn't know what it means. John clicks on the flashlight as JJ pushes the door open, the room is dark at first and doesn't look different than any apartment she had seen.
She shuts the door behind her as she approaches the bag on the bed "Open the bag. See if there's a name on there somewhere" She nods, opening the bag and searched through it as JJ searches the one behind, John B looks underneath the beds.
"A jacket" JJ speaks up about his finding
"Denim slides" Sage joined in, grimace on her face.
"No name on the jacket"
"Definitely an old man, He's got New Balances" She picks up a sports shoe from the bag before placing it back in, making sure not to leave evidence that they were here. JJ moves from behind her, past John to a table.
"Yo, guys, come here" The blonde and brunette are at his side in seconds "Maybe this was where they were fishing"
"Let me see" John mumbles, JJ moves slightly so he gets a better view. Sage notices coordinates on a yellow sticky note "No, that's off the continental shelf."
"That's Big Swell. No one fishes there" Sage recalls on the things that 'Big' John had taught her about the ocean that circled them, he wanted to make sure she knew the most so she couldn't get hurt, alongside John.
Sage stepped away from them, moving to the bathroom as they continued the search in the main part of the room. She didn't listen to the boys as she heard JJ pull out a British accent. She notices a Dopp kit, she knew that JJ was low so she quickly grabbed a roll-on and slipped it into her pocket, better just to keep it to herself.
"Sage, JJ. You won't believe this" She stepped out of the bathroom and arrived at John B's side at the same time as JJ, and froze instantly, there in front of the three was a safe with stacks of money and a-
"Is that a handgun" Sage spits out instantly, as JJ reaches in for the said object, both the brunette and blonde watched with wide eyes?
JJ repeats dude multiple times as he looks down at the gun in amazement, Sage isn't even sure what to do at this moment besides try and move from the gun's aim as JJ waves the object around.
"You grabbed the gun," John B says in disbelief as he puts his head into his hands in frustration. "Put the gun back, JJ!
"This is a SIG Sauer. This is a fucking spendy GATT, man. Just..." JJ aims the gun before pretending to shoot the gun, Sage shoves him as he points the gun at her "Jesus, Sage. Watch it before I cap your ass"
She rolls her eyes "Put the gun down before you shoot one of us, most likely yourself." He cocks his eyebrow posing in front of her with his eyebrow cocked
"Sage, take a photo quickly. Right here" He smirks, changing poses and she can't help but smile lightly at his antics.
"You want me to take a photo of you?" He nods, winking.
"Make our own incriminating evidence? Is that where you're talking about?" John asks, deflating JJ's mood as he glares at the brunette.
Sage glances at the window past JJ as something hits it, John is the first to reach it as the blondes ask him what it was, he lifts the blind and after a couple of seconds he's darting for the window that's beside the front door, JJ and her ask him what's wrong before he turns to them.
"Cops" It's enough to run her blood cold as she mutters curse words under her breath before she looks back at the window that John first looked at, John seems to be thinking the same thing. But before anything, John rushes and shuts the safe. She reached the window first this time, lifting the blind and opening the window, stepping aside for JJ and John to climb out the window. After they do, she does the same, she's now standing on the ledge.
She turns, shutting the window before she feels a hand wrap around her forearm, It's John B. She shuffles to his side of the window before he wraps his arms around her to make sure they're pressed against the wall enough, he has it back against the wall, while Sage's feet are on opposite sides of him and her head is pressed into his neck as she tries to calm her breathing. John B is running his hand up and down her back since he can feel her rushed breathes.
She feels John's arms loosen around her, allowing her to glance inside but as she moves to look his arm instinctively tighten keeping her still, she glances up at him. Their close, not as close as they have been before but closer than they have ever done in public. "John, let me look" She whispers so softly, it's a surprise he hears her.
He shakes his head "No way, they might see you" She sighs, before giving him a look as he groans softly, his arms loosen again but they stay on her waist as she bends sideways, to just glance in. There's a crack in the blind, from it being a one-star motel well the blinds were bent in all different directions but it happened it be in her favour since she could see perfectly in.
She watches an officer that she had seen around before reach into the safe probably before opening it, John must've not locked it again. There's an envelope and he pulls out the insides but she can't see what his findings are before he reaches in again and hands a stack of cash to his partner next to him. She scoffs, noticing that JJ had witnessed the interaction as well, he mouths ' what the fuck ' as she shrugs her shoulders.
She bends back to John, as she shales her head "They took some money" John shakes his head as she bends again to look inside but out of the corner of her eyes she watches JJ accidentally yank his gun out of his pocket it drops onto the low hanging roof below them, making a loud bang as John grabs Sage and yanks her into his chest, as he holds her for dear life, her face is smushed into his chest but she feels safe.
It feels like the longest seconds of her life but when she hears the door shut, she pulls her face from John's chest and looks up at JJ "I'm going to kill you"
"Yeah, yeah. I know. Let's just get out of here"
They soon arrive at the boat with Pope and Kiara still there before they pull away from the motel and try and put some distance between them and it. "Well, that was fun"
"Could have warned us a bit sooner" JJ snickers as he lays at the head of the boat.
"We would've except Pope was on the math team" Kiara explains, this time Sage snickers as Pope nudges her shoulder.
"You were on the math team?" John B asks but now wasn't the time for that.
"The cops took everything like it was a crime scene" Pope ponders, as he looks up at his friends "Did you guys find anything?"
"Did we find anything? No, I don't think so. Oh, yeah. We did!" He holds up in one hand a stack of cash and in the other a gun she finds a bit too familiar and she rolls her eyes as he wears a smile on his face.
"What the hell!"
"Dude, what?"
"Dude, chill. Come on" JJ says to Pope who to put it lightly was freaking the hell out.
"Why would you take that from a crime scene" Pope snaps at the blonde, as Sage notices Kiara giving John a disapproving look, she grimaces at the two not wanting to think back to what John said to her. Her heart warmed thinking that he thought he should clear his name to her, it was a refreshing fact especially with the thoughts she had been having.
"Better than the cops having it"
"I'm going to lose my merit scholarship," Pope says dazedly as he glances into the atmosphere around them.
If there was one thing about Pope, he was incredibly anxious, but another would be that he was crazy smart, that guy was going place and she'd been damned if JJ broke the boys' future with his stupidity.
"Hey, hey, hey. Sh, sh, sh, sh, sh." JJ mutters this as he holds the gun to Pope's lips, Sage is the one that shoves JJ.
"Stop being an asshole, for once. Notice when you're taking things too far, JJ" She snaps at him before sighing, "Those cops knew something, there was this envelope but I couldn't see the contents of it but they looked happy to have it."
"Maybe this is deeper than we think, we should back out now. While we're still alive" Pope says frantically and honestly, Sage agreed with him. Maybe this was bigger than all of them.
"We'll be fine. I'm sure it's nothing but some dirty cops." John says, shrugging his shoulders.
God, he was wrong. Dirty cops had nothing to do with it.