CHAPTER SIX
we fucked our way into this, we'll fuck our way out
I never thought I would hate a trip to Barbados. Yet, here I am.
We've been walking for hours, following Cleo to a place apparently she knows where we can shelter for the night.
The sun is long gone, and the defeat in our bodies is noticeable. Sarah can't take a step without grimacing. Me, I'm way meaner and smarter than her, and I made JJ carry me for half the way.
"Cleo, do you actually know where you're going?" JJ asks for the seventh time.
We're walking by the shore, sharp rocks on our side creating a barrier. Cleo finally stops and points at the other side of the rocks, where an abandoned building towers over the deserted beach.
"We can hole up here." She explains. "It ain't the Taj Mahal, but..."
"It'll do."
"It's not like we can afford a five star hotel so, come on." I sigh.
"I get the biggest room." Cleo croons, and leads the way through a path between the rocks.
The place is completely abandoned, and apparently it didn't even get to a finished stage of the construction. There are no windows, just massive holes that let through the chill air of the evening. The soles of my shoes scrape the ground, little stones and gravel all around.
We hide behind the thick walls of the guards that drive by still looking for us. When the coast is clear, we hurry up the stairs to the upper levels, where we hope we can get some rest and sleep at least for a few hours.
Cleo takes us to what I think was the main floor, where a beautiful balcony with stone arches takes all the limelight. There are folding-chairs, drums with rests of someone else's campfire and pieces of broken furniture.
"We can stay here. It's an old hotel. Terrance and I squatted here before."
"Five stars." JJ says ironically.
Still, the Pogues scatter around the place, looking for a place to rest. Blondie and I stay behind, and we share a look. With a sigh, I take a step forward, and for some reason I lose my balance.
I feel myself falling forward and down, but luckily a strong grip in my arm pulls me back. Sarah is holding my arm as hard as she can with wide eyes.
I'm not sure what happened. I frown and look down, and I see that I had been seconds away to fall through a massive sinkhole in the middle of the floor.
"Watch your step."
"Could've worn me five seconds earlier, C."
"Oh, home sweet home." Blondie says, letting go of my arm.
We walk around the hole, careful not to fall. The boys are watching the road, I assume checking there's no guards looking for us around.
I find one folding-chair that's sitting alone next to one of the windows JJ is standing by, and I choose to sit there. As soon as my butt touches the fabric, my legs give up and a groan escapes my lips.
I can feel my pulse in my feet, and the aching pain in my calf muscles. I'm almost sure that if you give me five more minutes, I could start crying.
"We gotta get Kiara out, guys. Does anyone have anything?"
"I do." I raise my hand, "I have multiple limbs in pain, a headache and absolutely zero will to move until morning."
"Babe, you're not helping." JJ bites down his lower lip, trying not to smile.
"Listen, I want to get Kiara out as much as you. But there's nothing we can do right now."
"Brizo's right." Pope agrees, "We can't storm the fort. We can't call the cops. We can't negotiate. We don't know what they want."
"Well, if Jimmy knows about the San Jose, I bet he also knows about the Merchant." I shrug. "This has to be related in some way."
"Yeah, it's got to be about the cross or the gold."
"Mmh-mhh," Cleo clicks her tongue, "Guys like Singh, it's always about money."
"All right, selling the cross and the gold gets you money." I raise my eyebrows while the corners of my mouth tug down for a second, "That counts, right?"
"Doesn't matter what they want." John B cuts us off. "We get Kiara and we get out of here. We're gonna get killed otherwise."
"Well, if I die, bury me with both middle fingers up." I say, sighing getting myself comfortable, putting my feet up on a broken table.
"No one is dying." Sarah points at me with her right eyebrow raised.
"Blondie, we've been shot, strangled and almost drowned. I'll be surprised if we get to next week."
"Do people actually think you're funny?" Cleo asks with a playful side smile.
She looks way more worn out than I am. I get up from the chair and leave it to her. She thanks me by bumping my fist. JJ is leaning against one of the windows, his legs stretched out in front of him. I take some remains of fabric and place them next to him. I lay down on it, with my head on his legs.
"People with a sense of humor do." I reply with a satisfied smile making Cleo chuckle.
JJ's hand automatically finds his way through my hair, playing with it and making my eyes shut close enjoying the feeling. His other hand sweetly caresses my arm until he reaches my hand and holds it near my chest.
"Honestly, Brizo, you should be excited." I hear John B commenting on the other side of the room.
I open just one eye, and see him standing next to a window, staring at me with a sly smile.
"Why should I?" I purposely fall into what I know is one of my brother's traps.
"Cause you're practically immortal."
"How?"
"Stupidity lasts forever." He lets out his final blow, laughing under his breath.
I can't help but laugh at it. I have to give it to him, that was a good one. Our friends laugh, too. Even JJ, who is clearly trying to hold back a cackle so I don't get mad at him.
I open my eyes fully and stare back at my brother, biting the inside of my cheek.
"All right, insult me one more time and I swear, Johnny," I smirk, "I'll throw you out of that fucking window you- what are you doing?" I frown.
"Checking how high the drop is, see if it's worth it."
"Oh, fuck off!" I laugh loudly.
"Yo, shut up, Routledges. Go to sleep, already." Pope mumbles between laughs.
"All right, all right." I shift closer to JJ. "Good night, shitheads. Love ya."
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I wake up in the morning with a ray of sun hitting my skin and blinding me. I squint my eyes with a groan. I try sitting straight, and that startles JJ who hadn't noticed that I was awake. Something falls off his hands and it hits me in the forehead.
"Ouch!" I yelp, rubbing the place where it hurts.
"Oh, fuck! Sorry, babe." He apologizes scrunching up his nose.
I finally sit up straight. Cleo is still in the chair I gave her last night. Pope is slouched on a very antihigienic looking couch, and John B and Sarah are laying down on makeshift beds on the ground.
I rub my eyes with the back of my hand. JJ picks up whatever it is that he dropped on my face. It's when he starts tapping that I notice he has an iPhone in his hands. An iPhone.
"What is that?" Sarah asks suddenly awake and sitting up straight.
Her voice wakes up the rest of the group, who stare confused at JJ.
"This is a little souvenir that I plucked from Portis' pocket."
"You have a phone?!" Both Sarah and I say at the same time.
"And you didn't tell us?!" I smack his arm.
"I forgot I had it, it was in my back pocket. That's my bad," He points to himself.
"Oh, my god, dude." Pope groans. "Can we go anywhere without you stealing?"
"You already know the answer, Pope." JJ turns his head to me, just a few inches separating us. "Please, don't be mad?" He squints his eyes and smiles weirdly.
"I'm not mad about the stealing." I shake my head with a chuckle, "I'm mad you didn't tell us."
"Again, I forgot. Sue me." He shrugs.
"Let me see it." Pope groans, getting up from the couch.
"Nice work, rude boy." Cleo adds.
"I steal shit. That's my job."
JJ quickly kisses my cheek before standing up. He takes the phone to Pope, who silently goes through it.
"How'd you get this unlocked?"
"No passcode. Portis keeps it loose."
"What a moron." I snort, stretching out my legs with a yawn. "Is that Carlos Singh in there?"
"No," Pope shakes his head, "I don't see him in the contacts."
"That's just great."
"It's just a bunch of nicknames and shit."
"Wait," Blondie says, "Didn't Portis call him something else?"
"Right!" JJ agrees with her, "Yeah, he called Singh something when Bee was about to slice his neck."
"Yeah... What was it?" I pinch the bridge of my nose, trying to remember.
"It was something like Rockfish..."
"Can't remember." Cleo frowns.
"Catfish?"
"No, no, it's not that."
"Kingfish." John B mumbles, still with his eyes closed and lying down.
Pope searches through the contacts and destiny may be on our side for just one day - he finds a contact under the name Kingfish.
I notice my brother is still lying down, and I frown. I crawl all the way to him and sit next to him. He notices me and opens one eye, checks it's me and then closes it again. I place my hand on his forehead, checking his temperature.
"Are you okay, lil brother?" I whisper so only him can hear me.
"I'm okay." He mumbles. "I just want to go back home." He lets out a defeated sigh.
My heart sinks in my chest. I can't help but feel guilty about not wanting to go back. While I had been enjoying vacations in Poguelandia, my brother had felt miserable. He had wanted to go back to normal ever since we set foot on that island.
I gulp and force a smile for him. I run my hand through his curls and ruffle his hair. That gets a reaction out of him, making him smile sincerely as he pushes my hand away.
"All right, phase two." I hear JJ say. "Text him."
"And say what exactly?"
"You know, you said it. Negotiate, right?" JJ suggests. "Pretend to be Portis, ask him to meet somewhere in private. That was... That's really important. Just solo..."
At this point, John B has gotten up, and is pacing around, letting JJ and his rambling before telling him how bad his plan sounds.
"Bam! We jump his ass, tie him up, and then politely request for Kiara in return for his life. That's the plan."
"That's gonna work." Sarah replies sarcastically.
"Not a bad idea." John B surprises me agreeing with JJ.
"Are you for real?" I raise my eyebrows and my brother just shrugs.
"Not a bad idea? It's terrific!"
"Okay, I'm gonna say it. We should think this through." Pope glances at us.
"What's rule number one?" JJ insists, "Thinking never helps when you already have the idea."
"JJ, that's not-" I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose.
"No, hang on. I agree with Pope." Blondie stands up, making JJ throw his arms in the air, "This could make things ten times worse for us and Kiara."
"How much worse can it actually get?" John B replies.
"We could die." I shrug, tugging the corners of my lips down.
"Okay, great. Just-" John B sighs, "Give JJ the phone."
"Thank you." He says, and takes the phone from Pope's hands.
"Wait, hold on." I say, standing up and running to take the phone out JJ's hands. He pulls away, putting it out of my reach, and frowns. "What are you gonna say? We don't have anything to use as bait."
JJ looks at me knitting his eyebrows. I can tell he is trying to come up with some sort of idea. His eyes shift between me, my brother and Sarah, and then his face lights up with realization.
"I have an idea." He stands up and puts the phone in his back pocket.
He paces around the room looking for something, he doesn't say anything. In a far corner he finds what he's looking for and runs to it, tripping and almost falling to the floor. He picks up bits of rope and then runs back to where I'm standing.
"Come here." He grabs my arm softly and pulls me closer to him.
I frown, not understanding what he is doing. My eyes meet Cleo's and she makes a face, clearly thinking that JJ has lost it.
He picks up one of the bits of rope and starts wrapping it around my body, around my arms and my torso.
I can't help but smirk, "Are you tying me up?"
JJ winks at me, "I know how much you like it."
"Oh, god, no! Please, no!" John B groans and covers his face with both of his hands, crouching down.
"Relax, JB." JJ finishes, and ties a final knot. "Does this hurt?" He looks me in the eyes and I shake my head. "Okay."
He also ties Sarah and John B, and then makes us sit in front of one of the windows. He takes out the phone and snaps a picture of us.
"If he's after the gold, he surely wants you two," JJ points at me and my twin, "And if he's connected to Ward in any way, he'll want you too," Then points at Blondie.
"All right, great plan." I nod my head. "Can you untie us now?"
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just wanted to let yall know that although i'm pretty bad at it, i've made a tiktok and i try to post tiktoks about brizo
the username is stxrrynightx_ so go check it out if you'd like to see some cool edits <3
thank you so much for reading!
i'll see you in the next chapter. x
-circe