𝘈𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘥𝘦'𝘴 𝘗𝘖𝘝
"Okay, maybe we can walk from here" Pope suggests as we all stand knee deep in swamp water.
"What? And leave the Twinkie?" John B asks in disbelief "The- the tide's coming in"
"So then what are we supposed to do?" Sarah questions.
"Not stay here" JJ answers.
"I second that" I agree.
"I can take my dad's truck" Kiara blurts out and we all look at her in surprise.
"Kie, are you sure?" John B asks in concern.
"How much worse can it get, you know?" The Carrera girl shrugs.
"We need something to pull her out with" JJ adds, changing the subject "There's the winch at the Chateau. That's, like, two miles"
"Yeah, that's a good idea" Sarah agrees.
"If you're gonna do it, let's go, okay?" John B declares.
"All right" Kiara nods.
"Tide's coming in. Twinkie's going underwater" John B adds.
"Double time, Kie. We gotta move" JJ tells the girl.
"Wait up!" I shout, racing after the pair who look back at me in curiosity "I'm not waiting around in a swamp for you to get back"
"Ah, I forgot your new Kook self is too good for dirt now" JJ comments sarcastically as we walk.
"Shut up, JJ" Kiara warns him.
"It's fine, Kie. Let him get it all out" I wave her off.
"How's living with the Camerons?" JJ asks me.
"It's really great. None of them beat on me or verbally attack me at any given chance" I answer simply, sending him a pointed look.
"That's what you think I'm doing? Attacking you?" JJ scoffs in disbelief.
"I don't think you are, I know you are" I correct him matter of factly.
"You know what? I'll show you attacking" JJ mutters out before I'm tackled to the ground.
"JJ, what the hell?!" Kiara shrieks.
I immediately kick my brother off of me and he groans in pain, holding his stomach. As I pull myself to my feet and try to walk away, he grabs my ankle and yanks it so hard that I hit the ground again with a loud thud.
"Oh, you wanna play?" I growl out in anger "Let's play then, bitch"
I lunge at him and throw a punch at him, my knuckles connecting with his jaw. JJ grabs my ponytail roughly, pulling me off of him and flipping our positions to return the favour by socking me in the cheek.
"Guys, stop it!" Kiara demands.
The girl rips JJ off of me and he pries himself out of her hold, looking down at me to spit blood onto the leaves by his feet.
"Do you want to know how I really feel?" He speaks up, his voice raspy and I nod "I fucking miss you, Addy"
"You have a funny way of showing it" I respond, spitting out blood next to me.
"We always have" He smiles softly, reaching down to offer me his hand.
"Yeah, we have" I sigh, grabbing onto him and letting him help me up.
"Are you two done now?" Kiara huffs out in annoyance.
"We're done" JJ grins, throwing an arm around me as I pull my messy hair out of the ponytail he ruined.
"Idiots" She mutters.
☼ ☼ ☼
"He's not in there. We're good" JJ tells us after looking into Mike Carrera's truck.
"You don't say?" I retort sarcastically.
The three of us duck down at the gate and JJ turns to Kiara curiously.
"Are you sure you wanna do this, a little Dad Theft Auto?" He asks her.
"No" She answers honestly.
"Fair enough" I shrug.
"All right, here we go. Go, go, go, go, go" JJ whisper yells, opening the gate and waving Kiara inside.
The Carrera girl disappears onto the property and I wait with my brother, crossing my fingers that she doesn't get caught.
It's a long five minutes of tense silence before she reappears with the keys and throws them at JJ who catches them with ease. We all jump into the truck and JJ starts up the engine, immediately driving towards the chateau before anyone can stop us.
"This'll only take a sec. I think it's in the surf shack" JJ tells us as we pull up outside the chateau "Yeah. It's in the surf shack. I'll be right back. Got it"
"Be right out!" He hollers as he exits the car.
The blonde boy jumps to avoid branches but doesn't quite stick the landing, falling flat on his face in the dirt and scrambling back up to his feet before running again.
"I'm okay!" He yells at us, Kiara and I letting out amused laughs.
We wait patiently for my brother to get what he needs to get but our patience runs thin pretty quickly when he's not right back like he said he'd be. I lean forward and honk the horn loudly but there is no answer, causing a bad feeling to grow in my gut.
"JJ!" Kiara shouts, honking the horn again.
JJ abruptly appears, pushing our father along with him and my heart drops to my stomach as I practically throw myself out of the truck.
"What the fuck? No. Immediately, no" Kiara snaps, jumping out of the truck behind me "What is this?"
"Just get in the truck" JJ demands as I check him over for possible injuries.
Our father climbs into the back seat and JJ throws his stuff into the bed of the truck.
"I'm sorry. The Twinkie's drowning right now, JJ" Kiara argues "What is the plan? What is this?"
"JJ, this is a bad fucking idea, bro" I warn him.
"Listen to me. Listen to me, okay?" JJ pleads, grabbing Kiara and I by the arm "I need to get into the marina at the Island Club. There's a boat there he can take. You got the sticker on your truck"
"Twenty minutes, that's all I need" He adds, walking around the truck.
"The Twinkie's gonna be a submarine in 20 minutes!" Kiara protests.
"I know, Kie" JJ huffs, leaning on the hood.
"Leave him, and we can come back!" Kiara bargains.
"The cops are after him!" JJ yells and looks at me "If we do this now, maybe we will never have to do it again"
"He's right" I finally agree.
"Thank you" JJ groans, slipping into the back seat with our father.
"Don't look at me" Kiara snaps at the older man in disgust as she climbs into the driver seat and I snort, jumping into the passenger seat.