"Yep, that's the police," JJ pointed out the nearing boat. Mer stared at where John B disappeared minutes ago, she turned her head at the sound of JJ's voice and looked to where everyone else was looking.
"Just act freaking normal," Kie said as she pushed her hair behind her shoulders and leaned back on her hands.
The siren whooped as Mer quickly went to stand beside Pope in hopes that Shoupe wouldn't tell her father that she was out on the marsh when he told her not to go to the marsh anymore, especially with JB and JJ.
"Evening officers," the teenagers greeted the deputy and officer.
"Evening," they responded as they attempted to get their boat parallel to the HMS Pogue. Shoupe handed Pope a rope to keep their boats from drifting off.
"JJ, tie this off," Pope asked as Mer and Kie exchanged a look as Mer came to sit beside Kie, trying to calm down. Mer looked over her shoulder where she last saw John B and hoped he didn't come up any time soon.
"How you kids doing?" Shoupe asked as he had one foot propped up on the teens' boat. "You know the marsh is closed?"
"No," Mer and Kie said in unison and acted confused and surprised.
"Why is it closed?" Pope asked as he sat on the chair, trying to keep his cool.
"Well, we're conducting a search out here. Boat went down," Shoupe said as he eyed Mer knowing his old friend wouldn't like that his only daughter was hanging out on a closed marsh.
"Oh," the teens looked at each other in faux confusion.
"Seen anything?"
"No."
"No. No boats," the boys spoke up while Kie and Mer kept quiet, silently praying John B was okay.
"What about you Miss Smith?" Shoupe turned the attention to Mer who was chewing on her bottom lip, hoping he wouldn't talk to her. "Have you seen anything?"
"No, sir."
"Does your dad know you're out here?" he asked as everyone watched Mer's reaction.
"I don't know, sir. I don't remember the last time I saw him," Mer said as she moved her hair to one side of her neck. JJ looked her and admired her beauty. The way the sun hit her eyes, that created a honey color shining from behind her dark and long eyelashes.
"Next time I see Owen, I'll be sure to ask him," Shoupe said as he looked back over to JJ and Pope. "Where's your friend you always hang with? He here?"
"He's working," Kie spoke up causing the officers to look between the teenagers, trying to read their faces. Mer looked over to JJ in attempts to calm herself down, but only got even more nervous because JJ looked nervous too. And if JJ gets nervous, that means something's wrong.
"I'm going to check your little boat out," Shoupe said as he stepped on to the HMS Pogue.
"Yeah, hop aboard," Pope said as he got up from his seat to make room for Shoupe. "You wanna check, uh, check her out."
"Thank you," Shoupe said as he looked around the boat hoping to find something wrong. "You got another one of these?" he asked holding up a life jacket.
"Of course, it's in the hold," JJ responded as he and Pope stood together trying to look for John B.
"Show him," Kie said as she got up from her seated and pulled Mer up with her.
"Okay," JJ muttered as he slid past the girls to the hold to get the other life jackets out. He held them up for Shoupe to see. "Yeah, here we go."
"Alright," Shoupe responded as JJ put the jackets back in place. Shoupe stared at Kie and Mer trying to get something out of them that gives the officers a reason to bring in the teens. Shoupe was getting ready to get back on his boat to leave until he looked over the side of the boat. Mer and Pope shared a look, hoping it wasn't John B.
"Be careful," Mer exclaimed.
"Yeah, you don't want to slip," Pope said as they followed Shoupe who stood on top of the hold and looked into the water. Everybody tried to see what he thought he saw. The teens hoping John B stayed put until they got rid of the cops and that he didn't run out of air.
Shoupe finally stepped off and onto his boat. He untied his rope from John B's boat. "Well, let us know if you see anything on your way out."
"Yes sir," Pope and Kie responded.
"Meredith, tell Owen I said hello," Shoupe smiled at the girl before taking off. Mer saulted to the man with squinted eyes and a fake smile.
After the cops turned their backs to them, they all ran to the side of the boat John B disappeared from. Mer tried to fight the glare from the sun off of the water to see where her friend was.
"He's definetly out of air," Pope said.
"Really?" Mer asked as she stared at Pope wishing he was joking. And at that time, John B rose out of the water and tried to take the scuba stuff off.
"There he is," JJ said as Mer laughed at the sight of her friend in the water. "How'd it go down there?"
John B mumbled as he tried to make his way to the side of the boat with the ladder. JJ rushed down to the same side to help John B up.
"Did you find anything down there?" JJ asked again as Mer came to stand behind JJ.
"Did I find anything?" John B breathlessly laughed as he brought up a wet bag onto the ladder.
"There we go, big boy."
"Woah," Mer laughed as JJ struggled to move the wet bag.
"You okay?" Kie asked John B who was still in the water.
"Yeah, I ran out of air," John B said as he tried to get the water out of his eye.
"You scared the shit out of me," Kie said as Mer watched the two talk.
"Yeah, me too, JB," Mer added as she moved to put her frizzy hair into a half assed low bun to get it out of her face.
"Yeah, the cops were out here but we took care of them," JJ said as he show cased his biceps in a "strong man" way. Mer looked at her friend and rolled her eyes at him, confused why anyone would think he was funny.
"My bad," John B said still out of breathe and struggling to catch it. Mer rubbed his back in a motherly way.
"It's okay, JB. As long as you're okay," Mer said trying to comfort not only John B but herself.
"Yeah, you kinda missed the show, brother," JJ said looking down at John B from beside Mer.
"Hey, guys?" Kie started while looking back towards the direction Deputy Shoupe left in. "Guys, boogey, two o'clock."
Mer looked back to the direction Kie was and saw a small boat with two men dressed in black speeding their way towards the teens.
"Do you even recognize the boat?" Pope asked as John B stood up beside Mer who was hugging her arms to herself.
"Nope."
"What are they even doing here? The marsh is closed," Mer said nervously wondering why the two strange men where making their way towards them.
"Let's not stick around to find out," JJ said as he got ready to get the boat ready to drive off.
"Yeah, JJ get the bowline." JJ followed his orders and Mer sat down on the side of the boat not wanting to be in the way of the frantic boys.
"Should we wait on them?" Mer quietly asked while chewing on her cuticles, a habit she started when her parents would fight.
"No, no, we're not," John B said to Mer and grabbed her hand from her mouth, attempting to get her to stop. "Go to the stern, J. Hurry."
JJ was struggling to bring up the anchor from the bottom of the marsh. Mer got up and tried to go help the boy pull up the anchor.
"Go, guys!" Mer shouted as her and JJ began to see the anchor through the murky water. "Don't wait for us!" John B listened to her and began to move the boat while the strange boat continued to move towards them, now head forward. The two finally got the anchor up while John B, Pope, and Kie all asked each other questions about the boat wondering if the men on the boat were just fishing.
"Just go to the marsh, JB," Mer shouted as her and JJ carefully laid the anchor down, watching each others hands and feet. John B listened to her once again and began to slowly move into the marsh. Mer moved to stand in between Pope and John B, trying to find comfort.
"Uh, guys," Kie's worried voice started. "They're following us." Mer looked back to the boat behind them and grabbed onto John B's shoulder.
"That can't be good," Pope said while John B drove the boat.
"Dude, you gotta go faster," JJ urged from the other side of John B, causing Mer to look back at the boat and seeing them gaining on the teens' boat. She moved her hand down from John B's shoulder to his bicep and squeezed.
"I'm going," John B repeated as he tried to go as fast as he could while still being mindful of the girl holding onto him. JJ and Pope yelled at John B to make the boat go any faster. Mer looked back to the strange boat with a hand still on John B's arm and saw one of the men grab a gun from out of no where. He shot at the teens before Mer could get out a warning to her friends. Pope grabbed Mer's shoulder and pulled her down with him when the gunshot flew right past them.
"John B!" Mer yelled from the floor of the boat laying beside Pope and John B's feet. John B crouched down dodging the bullets while still driving the boat and trying not to crash. Kie shot up to quickly grab a fishing net from beside Mer and Pope.
"Kie, get down," John B yelled still trying to loose the groupies in the back. Kie ignored him and threw the fishing net behind their boat so it could stop the men following and shooting at them. Luckily, the fishing net got caught into the boats engine and stopped the boat. John B continued to push the small fishing boat until the small boat got out of the men's line of sight.
Mer stood up from her fetal position and flipped them off while yelling, "Fuck off!" One more shot ripped through the air causing Mer to quickly duck down hoping to not get shot. She quickly checked over herself while patting each portion of her upper body and finally stood up.
"Good job, JB," Mer said as she slung her arm over her friend's shoulder and grinned at him.
Rafe !!: Can you come over?
Mer was laying in bed trying to recover from the boat incident when she felt her phone vibrate on the table beside her bed. She pulled down the covers from over her head and felt for her phone with her eyes still closed. She looked at the time on her phone and saw that it was almost 10 at night.
mer: i don't have my car. owen took it to work
Rafe !!: Can I come over then?
mer: yes baby. the door is unlocked
Before Mer could even send the text, she heard Rafe's truck pull up the outside her house. She didn't even bother getting up to open the door for him. Mer went through and checked her messages before he walked in.
jj: come to jbs!
Kie: where u at
pope: are you okay?
JB: just so you know I can see Rafe's truck lights from my living room
dad: Won't be home tonight, say with John B
"Shit," Mer cursed under her breath as Rafe walked into her room. "You need to stop parking your truck right there. John B texted that he can see your truck from his house." She sent her dad back a quick 'ok' before throwing her phone on the bed beside her.
Rafe pulled back Mer's gray sheets to expose Mer's bare legs. He took off his shoes and left them beside her bed. He climbed into her bed and pulled his shirt off. "I don't care."
"They can't know. Kie and JJ would murder me," Mer said as Rafe got comfortable in her bed. He put one arm behind his head and opened the other for Mer. She scooted closer to him and draped her leg over his and put her head on his bare chest.
"I do not care, Mer. Kelce and Topper know," Rafe responded and pulled her closer to him. He ran his fingers down her neck and gave her a kiss on top of her head.
"Why do you stink?" Mer said as she pulled her head up from his chest. "And why are your legs sticky?" She pulled her body off his in disgust.
"I just got out of the gym," he responded as he tried to pull her back to his body.
"And you didn't shower before coming here?" She asked shocked, trying to fight him back.
"Why would I when I'm just gonna get sweaty again?" Rafe said as he finally got her back on top of his body.
"I just washed my sheets, Rafe Cameron," she said as she laid on top of his body and propped her chin up on her arms on his chest.
"I'll go take a shower then, fuck," he dragged out the last word and threw Mer back on to her bed, playfully. He got out of her bed and stood to his full 6'2 height. He reached down on the bed to grab his phone from beside her. Mer giggled before grabbing his toned and muscular arms and tried to pull him back on top of her. "Do you want me to shower or not?"
"Yes, I do," she smiled and ran her fingertips down his arms. "Now, do you want to smell like coconuts or would you like me to go get my dad's soap?" Rafe looked down on her from his position. Her blonde hair in a braid laying peacefully on her chest, her eyes light, and her smile bright.
"All up to you, baby. I'll smell however you want me to," Rafe said as he picked her braid up from off her. Mer looked up at the man standing above her. His hair not gelled back, but somewhat messy. His face not sporting the usual hard and cold stare, but soft and loving. His eyes not black, but the beautiful blue Mer only gets to see when he's fully at peace.
"Come on, baby. I'll show you what I want."
.