CHAPTER TEN
( it's coming down )
The next morning came and the Pogues at the chateau were rushing out of the home as soon as they heard the boat make their way back to the dock. Since they had no way to leave without being caught with John B last night, they took their chances and decided to wait until Pope and Kie had made their way back. As they made their way to the Pogue, John B helping Sarah who was limping from her still healing bullet wound that Thea had redressed for her, Kie and Pope were just getting off the boat.
"Hey! Guys!" JJ called to them, "Don't tie up. Stop it!"
"What?" Kie questioned him.
"We're dipping." JJ answered her.
"Yeah, we gotta get out of here." Thea told them, running down the dock after JJ.
"Wait why?" Pope asked him.
Kie's brows knit in confusion, "What? What are you talking about?"
John B came down with Sarah's arm slung aroud his shoulder, "What happened last night?"
"We slept on the break." Pope replied, his brows furrowed. "What's up?"
JJ scoffed, "Slept, right. Yeah." He pats Pope's shoulder as he walked past and climbed on the boat. He turns back to Thea, holding his hand out to her. "All aboard, shortcake."
"Thanks." She murmured, taking his hand and hopping onto the boat. "We didn't get any sleep. We were waiting for you guys."
"We gotta get the hell outta here." John B stated in warning.
"Rafe knows we're here, so we have to leave, like, now." Sarah informed the two of them.
"Okay." Kie nodded, pulling the rope from the dock where she had begun to tie it before.
Once Sarah is safely on the boat, Kie, Pope and John B climb on as well. JJ quickly starts up the Pogue and soon they're making a quick and speedy escape, leaving the chateau behind them before Rafe comes back and tells someone that they had been there. That night was supposed to be their one night of freedom, and while they did have a carefree couple hours, she knew that reality eventually would hit them.
She just didn't think it would be in the form of Rafe fucking Cameron nearly blowing her boyfriend's brains out while they hid in a tree from both him and Barry.
And now, they were back on the run, right where they started.
Kie was airing out her frustrations as they were sitting around in a clearing, it was just far enough from the chateau for them to not be found by the police if Rafe had called and exposed them. "Look, if Rafe and Barry know, it's only a matter of time."
Pope nodded at her statement, "Before everyone knows."
JJ scoffed in frustration as he paced in place, "I told you." He referred to John B, "We should've just gone south, man."
John B shakes his head at him, "Just stop it."
"No!" JJ cries in exasperation, "Why does no one ever listen?"
"I get it." John B tells him, "I get it. I understand."
"I have an idea." Sarah spoke up, all the Pogues heads whip to her in curiosity of her plan. "With me back, my dad's going to have to choose between me and Rafe."
Thea's brows knit in worry, she could already feel a knot forming in her stomach. "I'm not sure that I like the sound of that plan, blondie."
"Yeah, me neither." John B agreed, "Sarah-"
"He's gonna choose me." She insisted.
"Sarah, just please listen." John B pleaded to her, "Ward keeps lying to you, Sarah." Her eyes lower at his words.
Kie tries to reason with her, "He won't agree after all that's happened."
Sarah shakes her head, refusing to hear her out. "No. I... I know it sounds crazy."
Kie nodded, "Yeah, it does." She half-snaps at her, her voice raising just a smidge.
"I know!" Sarah replies, falling silent for a few moments. "But he's my dad. And I know him, and I know he loves me." Her dark eyes linger over the group pleadingly, "I'm just asking for two hours."
Nobody dares to utter a word after she tells them that, she takes that as a sign to go as she rose to her feet and walks away. John B walks over to her, leaving the others with nothing but their thoughts
Thea understands what Sarah was trying to say and what she thinks that she could possibly achieve with a visit to see her dad, but she feels like the blonde girl is really underestimating just how far gone her father is and probably always has been. She can't even begin to imagine and the amount of emotional turmoil that must be raging inside of her.
The two sides of the man who raised her practically pulling at her arms from two different directions. Should she believe that her dad is still the same man who she grew up knowing who she thinks will choose her? Or is he this maniacal and manipulative murderer who will choose her psycho brother who nearly killed her back in Nassau?
For Sarah, it was a toss up, but for Thea and the Pogues, there was only one thing that they all knew. Ward Cameron could not be trusted, Sarah was hoping for too much from a man who isn't the same person who she grew up knowing.
Thea sighed heavily, watching as Sarah climbed aboard the HMS Pogues and was sailing away to go and see her dad. "So, what the hell do we do for two hours?"
"I mean, I guess since we can't go back to chateau we might just low here so..." John B's gaze moved to she and JJ, "Firewood duty?"
"Yep, sure." JJ nodded, "We're on it." He holds his hand out to Thea who was sitting on the ground, "Come on, shortcake."
She takes his hand, allowing herself to be pulled to her feet. "We'll be back in a bit."
John B nods at them as they make their way down the clearing, their hands clasped as they look for good pieces of wood to use to start a fire. As they walk and pick up stranded and tossed about planks, Thea's thoughts begins to eat at her. She wasn't in Sarah's position, she didn't have not an ounce of faith in Ward Cameron. What if he sees her and calls Shoupe and the other cops on them? Then what would they do?
They couldn't run anymore, they just didn't have to time nor the supplies to just leave OBX. And even if they tried, eventually John B would get caught and he would be arrested and tried in court for a murder that he didn't even commit. Because there was no way that Rafe was keeping him still being alive a secret.
There would be nothing that they could do to help him, especially since the only evidence they had to prove his innocence was that Limbrey chick who tried to kidnap Pope, and Sarah's word. But she wasn't sure that her word would be worth anything if her dad had anything to do with it.
As she picked up another piece of timber to add to her growing pile in her arms, JJ lightly nudged her. "Hey, you're a little quiet over there." His eyes lingered on her, scanning her features to figure out how she's really feeling. He knew her too well, whenever she was quiet she was most likely overthinking. "You okay?"
Thea meets his eyes, her head shakes as her lips curved down. "I'm worried about John B." Her breath quickened slightly as she continued, "Rafe is gonna tell the police, they're gonna come for us, they're gonna find John B and then he's gonna go to prison, and since he's being tried for killing a cop which is the worst of all things to fucking do, they might not even give him a jail sentence."
JJ's eyes widen in alarm as he realizes how erratic her breathing gets as she rambles, "Dosia, hey!" He paused and leaned down to drop the wood in his arms, then he stood infront of her. "Baby, slow down!"
But she doesn't slow down, infact, her word's almost slur together from the attack that's unknowingly consuming her. "Jay, fuck, they might..." She struggled to breath between her words as he gently grabbed ahold of her shoulders, "they might just give him the death penalty. They could- they could kill him!"
"Dosia, look at me!" JJ told her, his raised voice managed to snap her out of her panicked state, but her erratic breathing stayed the same, only now she realized what was happening.
"Jay, I can't-" She drops the wood to the ground as she clutches a hand over her chest, "I-I can't breathe."
"I know, I know." He nods softly, then he takes his hand and places it over her chest. "I need you to do something for me, okay? Can you do that for me, shortcake?" She nods at him, her eyes fill with unshed tears that threaten to fall as she feels a tight and painful squeezing sensation in her chest. "You feel my hand? Can you feel it there on your chest?"
She nods shakily, "Yes."
"Okay, good." JJ nods at her, looking into her eyes intently. "Now, I need you to push my hand forward using your chest, okay? But slowly, try and do that for me, okay? You can do this, baby, I know you can. Come on."
She nods at him, trying to do what he asked of her. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to focus, then she lifted a trembling hand and placed it over his as she slowly tried to push his hand with her chest. She hadn't realized what she was doing in the meantime as she did what he told her, but eventually she realized that he was helping her breathe normally again. And after a few more minutes of lifting her chest, with each breath, in and out, she was breathing fine.
She felt her body sinking into his, and he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. She slowly slinked her arms around his waist and tucked her face into his chest, her skin flushed maroon from what she had come to realize just happened, "I'm so sorry." She whispered, a huff of humiliation leaving her lips.
"Sorry?" JJ gently dropped his chin on her head, "For what?"
She pulled back, looking him in the eyes. "For freaking out like that. That was..." She shakes her head, not knowing how to even explain what it was. "It was weird. I just... lost it."
"No." JJ shakes his head, taking his hands from her waist and instead cupping her face. "It wasn't weird. And you didn't lose it. You had a panic attack, which is completely understandable with everything that's going on. Honestly, I'm surprised I haven't had one yet."
He shakes his head, brushing off the topic. "But what I'm trying to say is, I get it, okay? This is some heavy shit, and things do look a little bleak, but I will tell you right now, John B is not gonna die. I personally, will not let that shit happen, okay? Even if I have to break him out of that damn prison myself."
He presses a kiss to her temples, and she holds onto his wrist as she closed her eyes and melts from the sweet sentiment. "No matter how this whole thing goes down, I just want you to know. Everything is gonna be okay." He dips down as he captures her lips in lingering kiss, she notices that he tastes like the juicy melon fruit they both had shared for breakfast before they left as their two shared breaths mingled. Then slowly their lips part, and their noses gently brush. "Trust me, okay?"
She nods, her thumb gently rubbing the soft skin of his wrist as she whispers, "With my life, Jay."
A genuine smile graces his features, "The feeling is mutual, shortcake. Now," He drops his hands from her and looks down at the ground, "Shall we pick these up and get back to the others? I'm sure we have enough for firewood, don't you think?"
"Yeah." She nods at him, then she leans down to picks up her forgotten stacks of wood. "Let's head back."
The two of them make their way back to where Pope, Kie and John B are waiting for them. When they get back to three, they make it just in time for Sarah wash up with the Pogue. Thea realizes it was a little less than the two hours that she had asked them for, but she was just happy to see that she was coming back to them. Pope had almost been kidnapped before, the last thing that they needed was for Ward to pull a fast one and try and take Sarah too.
"Looks like blondie's back." Thea announces, kneeling down and dropping the wood on the ground.
Kie rose to her feet, "Sarah!" She expressed with enthusiasm.
"You made it." Pope observed as he and the Pogues made their way down to Sarah as she approached the shore.
"What happened?" John B asked her once she was back on her feet on land.
"You guys were right." Sarah sighed in defeat, "It didn't work." She sniffs softly, "I'm sorry."
"Welp, then that settles it, guys." JJ says walking towards them, "Now, ya'll need to load up in the paddy waggon and get the heck out of dodge right now."
"Right," Pope agreed, "you'll need suppliers, and you'll have to split as soon as possible."
"Do we even have time to get them supplies, though?"
"Guys, I think it's too late." Kie said, her eyes wide and filled with alarm as they were locked on the sight infront of her.
Thea turned her head and faced the water, then her green eyes widened as her ears caught the wailing of police sirens cutting through the air. There were Kildare County police boats headed right for them, "Oh, shit."
"They followed you here?" John B questioned Sarah, but she just stood there with her lips parted in shock and her eyes wide. "Must've been your father."
"We have to find another way out of here." Pope told them urgently, shifting anxiously on his feet.
"Stay on the beach with your hands in the air!"
"Guys," Thea panicked, getting ready to run. "guys we really need to go."
"Go now!" Pope yelled at them as he started to run, "Go!"
The group took off as they tried to escape the cops that were after them and John B, they got away from the more beach side of the island and made it to the trees. Thea had started to fall behind a little since she had gained a piecing cramp in her side, but JJ wouldn't allow that, he turned around and ran back towards her, grabbing her hand and pulling her along with him and the others.
Eventually they ran out of woods to run through and the only choice that they had was water, so they all rushed into the water and took an unplanned swim through the swamp in order to escape. While Thea and the others would be fine with being in the murky depths, she worried about Sarah who had a bullet wound that was still in the process of healing. She knew that it may have been the least of their worries, but she just hoped that Sarah's wound wouldn't get infected during all of this.
When they made it across the stream, they ran to a tree that was the closest to the shore. Thea dropped down to her knees thinking this was their last ditch effort, hiding behind a godamn tree, because none of them could run any longer. "What do we do now?" She panted, looking over the branch and seeing all the cops coming from the water whence they came.
"There's nothing we can do." Pope gasped, trying to catch his breath as he leant on the tree. "We're trapped. They've got us surrounded."
"There's no getting out of this." JJ stated in a rushed tone, "We gotta take a stand." She noticed he was holding something in his hands, and as she leans forward to see, her eyes grow when she saw him trying to dry off the gun that he always kept with him with a bandanna.
Too much was happening, her heart was slamming against her chest cavity so hard that it was almost painful. The cops were coming for them from every direction, John B was gonna get arrested after all the running he and Sarah had been doing since they survived the high speed chase during the storm that summer, and JJ was possibly gonna be in with him if he got caught with that gun. She felt so helpless, she wanted to do something to help.
But there wasn't very much that she could do for John B, so she turned to JJ, because if she couldn't help keep one friend out of jail, then she could atleast keep the other one from being a martyr and getting himself arrested for something stupid.
"JJ, put the gun down." She told him, practically begged him.
JJ shakes his head, still fumbling to dry off the gun. "No, I told you to trust me, shortcake. I have this."
"Not like this, Jay." She shakes her head frantically, a bout of tears falling freely down her cheeks. "You can't. They'll-They'll take you too, please. Do not do this."
John B looks down at where she's sitting, and he sends her a curt nod, then he quickly walks past her and stands infront of JJ. She watches as he grabs his ahold of the blonde boy's hand, and he looks over his shoulder at the cops. When he turns to face the chestnut haired boy, he doesn't fight him as he takes the gun from his grip, dropping it in the dirt.
She hears him say to JJ as he nods, "It's gonna be alright." Then he lightly cups the boy's cheek affectionately as he shuffles backwards, "Here we go."
Thea quickly moves over to the gun on the ground and she begins to scoop dirt and branches over it, JJ helps her as he kicks some of it for her to cover the firearm with, then once the gun is hidden she climbs to her feet and reaches for JJ's hand. He easily laces their fingers together, and the two of them watch with tears in their eyes as John B walks forward as the cops pull up in their cars with their gun raised and pointed at him.
"Step out into the clearing!" Shoupe shouted at him as he climed out of his car with his gun in hand. "Get down! Do not move!"
John B walks forward like he was told, "I'm surrendering!"
"Don't move!" Deputy Plumb yelled, with her gun pointed at him.
"Hand up, John B!" Deputy Thomas instructed loudly, even though his hands were already up.
"The rest of yall stay right where you are." Shoupe told them as he walked down to them, "Keep your hands where we can see them." Thea had to drop JJ's hand, even though that was the last thing she wanted to do, and she raised her hands up and walked forward like she was told by Shoupe.
"Don't move." Plumb told them, making them all stop in tracks.
"Hey, listen, Shoupe." John B tried to reason with him, "I wanna testify."
"It's about time." Shoupe responded, "Get down. Do not move a muscle. Everybody else, don't move."
"Don't move." Plumb repeated as John B got down to his knees on the ground.
But once he was fully down, Deputy Thomas crossed over to him and grabbed him. Thea expected him to just pull out his cuffs and arrest him, but no, Thomas did something else entirely. He wrapped his arm around John B's throat and yanked him to his feet in a chokehold of sorts.
Thea's blood boiled as she watched it all happen, "Shoupe, what the hell?! He can't do that!"
"Shoupe, come on!" JJ yelled furiously, "You serious?"
"Hey, Thomas!" Shoupe called to his out of control deputy who was attacking her best friend.
"No!" Sarah screamed, tears spilling from her eyes.
"Stop!" Kie shouts in horror, "Let him go!"
"Do something, Shoupe!" Pope yelled, adding to the chaos. "Stop him!"
"Sheriff, what is that?!" JJ roared in anger as Thomas kicked at John B relentlessly, "You gonna let that happen?"
"Put a fucking leash on your godamn deputy, Shoupe!" Thea spits out venomously, catching the attention of deputy Plumb.
"Don't move!" Plumb shouted, standing infront of both she and JJ and pointing her gun at them, the both of them raise their hands in the air instinctively.
"Stop!" Pope continued to scream as Thomas pulled John B up from the ground and threw his fist at his face. "Get off!"
"Stand down!" Shoupe screamed, but Thomas just wasn't hearing it.
He held onto John B tightly by his neck, "This is for Peterkin." He hisses out viscously, then he takes his fist and reels it back before letting it go. All of the Pogues scream in horror as his fist slams into John B's face, and Thea swears she heard a sickening crack as he stumbled back and hits the ground with a thud.
Thea and the Pogues all want to rush toward him to make sure that he's okay, but when they try they just get guns shoved in their faces and spit flying at their face from the deputies yelling at them to stay back and don't move. After he's been handcuffed, John B's unconscious body is thrown over Deputy Thomas's shoulder carelessly. They tossed him into one of the police trucks, and the door is slammed shut behind him.
Shoupe walks in front of them once all the other deputies are gone, he looks guilty as hell but Thea really doesn't give a shit how he feels at all. "Look, kids. I'm sorry about Thomas, he shouldn't have done that. He will be punished for that."
Kie scoffs angrily, "Yeah, I'm sure he will. Because you guys do such a good job at punishing the actual bad guys."
Shoupe huffs, "Look, I know you kids think that he's innocent—"
"You know, what, Shoupe?" She interrupts him, Thea's just about had enough. "I'm so sick of your shit, okay? We don't think he's innocent, we know he's innocent."
"Just get out of here, Shoupe." JJ told him, wrapping his arm around Thea as tears sprung from her eyes. "You already got what you came for, just leave us alone, man."
Without another word, Shoupe took the hint and he walked away. He hopped into vehicle and sped away, leaving the Pogues stranded with nothing but their thoughts as they tried to piece together everything that had just gone down in the past ten minutes to fifteen minutes.
Thea dropped her head onto JJ's shoulder as she clutched onto his shirt with everything she had, all she could do is sob into his shoulder as he soothingly rubbed her back. She couldn't believe that after all that running, and everything that they tried to do to prove his innocence,
in the end he still ended up getting arrested and taken away from them.
It made her feel like all that they did just didn't matter, whether they tried or not they still would've eventually ended up right at this point. Like it was inevitable, that they had only managed to prolong it all for just a couple days. And JJ may have told her that no matter what everything was gonna be okay, but none of it felt okay. She felt like there was nothing else that they could do... she felt absolutely helpless.
And she hated that feeling more than anything...
—micaela speaks
Yo, so I had a really hard time writing this chapter today but I pushed myself and I'm actually really happy with what I got.
So I hope you guys are too, because my hands are sore because of all of you who read this book lmaoo.
Anyway, I'm gonna end it here for the sake of my hands. I will see you all in the next one.