( CHAPTER TWENTY )
WHEN EVERYTHING GO DOWN
✧
THE EVENTS OF LAST NIGHT still flashed in Eden's eyes as she prepared herself a perfect breakfast for a first victory. It was hard for her to believe that a piece of gold from the Royal Merchant was in the hands of the Pogues. Having always had to fight to succeed in life, and never having everything for free like the Kooks, the Pogues without a goal in life had managed to find a treasure that gave life another chance. The ten-year-old Eden would have been even more joyful than now because of having found gold, but the Eden of now was only happy because her friends would finally be able to have their life dream. Well. . . Let's be clear on something. Their life dream was not to be rich as fuck, but to finally be able to have what they wanted without having to complicate their lives, without having to get three jobs at the same time for eating. Success does not come without having been through hell. They had finally passed that, so now it was time to see the new colors flow over their heads.
Eden already had a rich life, but not the one she wanted. She lived in the bad rich world. Where money, parties, clothes and reputation were the most important to live. She remained where she hated to be. All these people with a future already planned with their husbands making money, she sent them go fuck themselves. Eden wanted to live the cool life of the rich. When Thomas Perez was alive, he knew how to live rich but actually care about people. He helped, he cared. She wanted to live like that, to help and just not think about her money dripping from her fingers. And she wanted to experience it with the Pogues, not with her family, because they're just selfish people. She wanted to destroy the family she was in. A mother who abuses her daughter, a father presumed dead, a brother who only helps when he feels like it, and a suspicious stepfather. Nothing was worth keeping.
"Where were you last night?" Yasmina, the mother who abuses her daughter, said while standing in the kitchen hallway with her arms crossed. Eden didn't even bother to answer her, and simply sat at the table with her jam toasts. How dare she speak to her after almost a week without speaking a single word to her. It was arrogant, and hateful as hell. She wished she could yell at her to leave, to say the same words that came out in Midsummers, but nothing came out. "You and John B weren't in your rooms. Where were you, Eden?" She asked with more confidence, and a firm face.
Eden took a bite of her toast, shrugging. She looked up at her for the first time, and that face made her freeze. She thought she was strong enough to stand up to her, but seeing her with that same expression as Midsummers night made her almost want to throw up her toast. So she only decided, with shame inside her, to explain, "We went out to the beach. We came back around midnight."
Yasmina remained there without moving a finger, while Eden returned her eyes to her plate. She knew she was looking at her, and she knew with that expression. A disappointed expression, and without concern. She simply didn't care what she had done last night, until she hadn't talked to someone about what she had done to her daughter all her life.
Eden slowly finished her breakfast as her mother walked around the kitchen, sighing with every step she took. When the young woman stood up from her chair, making a high-pitched noise, attracting the attention of Yasmina who looked up sent stings straight to her heart. Eden let her do it, not even rolling her eyes, and just putting her plate in the sink to leave as quickly as possible towards her room.
The house was oddly quiet. Noah had already left with the boys, Bella was still lying in Eden's room, John B was probably dreaming of gold, and Fred was. . . In fact, Eden had no idea where he was until she heard voices not far from her. She frowned, looking around as if examining her entire house, until her eyes fell on the room to her left. It was Yasmina's office, what was he doing in there? She swallowed, narrowed her eyes a little, and tiptoed to the half-open door. She peered through the hole, seeing Fred pacing with a phone to his ear.
"Look, Ward. The kid looks good, and he's being well taken care of. He don't ne—" Fred paused in his words, and Eden waited impatiently for more without even knowing what he was talking about. But what was it about Ward that made him call the Winslow family? John Booker Routledge.
"What are you doing?" A voice asked from behind Eden, startling her.
"I'm flying a plane, see," she said with sarcastic clucking on her tongue as John B looked at her in disbelief. "What do you think I'm doing, John B?"
He didn't have time to respond, as Fred continued in his dialogue, "Okay, no need to do that. It's okay, I'll talk to him about it. Yeah, bye." He said quickly almost with stress ringing in his words.
Eden and John B opened their eyes wide as Fred closed the call, and headed for the door. She hastened to push John B a little further and began to act as if they were talking about nothing, exchanging a few laughs. Fred finally went out, coming across the two teenagers who were talking about Stanley.
"Oh, hi, you two," Fred called, approaching them with a smile. "What are you talking about? Who is Stanley?"
Eden often had a habit of lying to avoid trouble, but what could be wrong with finding a half-dead lost cat? "A cat we saved."
Fred nodded, pursing his lips without really caring about it. "Uh, look. . . John B." He began, drawing the Routledge boy's attention to him. "Ward would like to take take a day with you to apologize for how he fired you. He would like to offer you, or if you prefer, give you back your job. Don't worry, you're still stay here. It's just to get a job. He would like a little fishing day between men. Are you in?"
John B shifted his eyes to Eden, seeing her questioning wander across her face as well. Tomorrow was the day he was supposed to go dig the gold out of the hole, but if John B goes with Ward, they'll have to postpone their plan until the next day.
"He can't." Eden hissed suddenly, looking at Fred. "We have things planned."
"Yeah, of course. I'm sorry, but Ward is very insistent. Just one day. He feels terrible, and he knows how John B doesn't have an easy life. Everyone has the right to a second chance, right?" Eden continued to follow his words, insisting forcefully. But it didn't seem to flash in John B's brain, but Eden could see that something was wrong. He was too pushy and rushed.
"I. . ." John B stuttered. "Okay. Ye—Yeah."
Fred clapped his hands together, smiling. "Great. He's coming to pick you up tomorrow morning. If that's perfect?"
Eden played between John B's gaze and Fred's. John B understood immediately what it meant if he went tomorrow, but if he didn't go it would be suspicious. And between possibly losing the gold forever, or just waiting another day, they were going to have to wait.
"Okay." Eden replied. Fred nodded without saying anything more, and turned back to the living room. She sighed, running her hand through her fresh-from-the-shower brunette hair. "Okay. . . That changes everything."
"Yeah. That's going to screw up everything," John B pointed out, looking around, starting to get stressed.
"Okay, um, we do what was planned for today, and for tomorrow we just have to postpone it for another day, okay? Anyway, no one knows. It's ours, John." He smiled at the word, catching a smile from Eden too.
A knock at the door caught their attention, turning inwardly. Eden went to open the door, coming across people she hadn't expected to see. Josie, Drea and Caden stood in front of her with beach bags in their hands. Eden gaped, looking at them in turn. But the one who earned a cold look from her was Caden. She still hadn't forgotten the night she saw him in the Camerons' garden.
"Hey, guys. What— What are you all doing here?" she asked with an awkward laugh, not really knowing what to say.
Drea was the first to walk towards her friend, wrapping her arms around her, leaving Eden to freeze in place. She surrounded her arms in turn. Even though Eden had just spent a great few weeks with the Pogues, Drea was probably the one that she missed the most.
"We haven't seen each other in at least two weeks! We were bored, and we thought a day at the beach would be cool, right?" Drea explained, moving away from Eden to point at the other two people behind them. Drea awkwardly looked over Eden's shoulder, finding a Pogue nearby on the wall with his phone in his hands. She frowned. "John B?"
At his name being pronounced, he looked up at Drea, sending her a warm smile. Eden had told them he was moving here, right? No, she never told them about it. In fact, it had been since Midsummers they last spoke to each other.
"Long story, anyway. I can't today. I have to help John B with some leftover stuff to bring here. I'm sorry," she finished, putting on an apologetic face. Drea was probably one of the people Eden hated to lie to, but she had no choice.
Well, we always have a choice. Always at least two choices that we have to bend over backwards to decide which is better, and it's going to hurt someone no matter what decision we make. Eden had finally found a little peace by joining the Pogues, and leaving her life as a Kook aside. She wasn't going to spend a day with Drea and Josie, because she had already given her place to the people who helped her get out of her dark hole.
"Oh, okay. Yeah, that— that's okay. Perfectly fine, don't worry," Drea grumbled, stuttering as she backed away from the house. She smiled awkwardly at Eden. "See you soon, okay?"
"Yeah," she replied, nodding.
Drea looked back at her one last time with a smile that was falling, while Josie had remained silent throughout this visit. Eden tried to send her a semblance of lips curling into a smiling line, but she completely ignored it. As for Caden, he seemed to be paying attention to the glances exchanged between John B and Eden, which she noticed.
She frowned, stepping aside to hide the view of John B. "Is everything okay, Caden?"
He blinked suddenly, crushing them on Eden's face. There was a weird glow in them, she could see it clearly. Something was wrong.
"Fine. I mean, I'm fine. Bye, Eden."
She watched him cross into her backyard, joining the two girls who were getting into the Jeep. Eden hastened to close the door behind her, no longer wanting to look at these two beautiful faces to whom she had just lied once again. Life is made of lies, no truth is told to avoid problems for others. But sometimes, Eden would like to think about her problems just once before the others. The problems that lies inflict are not physical, but more mental. Just mental. Because by lying conditionally like Eden Winslow did, it created a lack of trust, and she often asked herself the question: Is the truth really a choice, or just a lie to ourselves?
She fixed her eyes on those of John B who had his hands in his pockets, his gaze pulling upwards to illuminate hers.
"We gotta do this shit as soon as possible. Everything will go down either way," she admitted, walking past him to climb the steps.
John B frowned, following her, sweeping his hand over the railing to steady himself. Back in her room, he finally asked the question.
"What do you mean by everything will go down either way? No one knows, and things are going. . . Good. Right?" He asked to be sure, sitting on Eden's bed, next to Bella who rubbed against him for caresses.
She nodded, grabbing a bikini, heading to her bathroom, linking to her bedroom. "What I'm saying," she began, locking herself in the bathroom. "We have to do it discreetly, okay? People know us, they know that you are, sorry for the word, but you are poor. And. . . If they see you with pure gold , it's going to get people talking. And, well, we're just dead if it gets out."
He smiled to himself, turning to Bella. "That's why we're not going to go to a well-known place."
"Where do you wanna go? There's not much place we can sell gold."
"You know, Eden, for a girl called the smartest, I beat you," he teased, laughing to himself.
Eden rolled her eyes, pulling her bikini top over her head. "So, go ahead, little genius, where are we going to sell this gold?"
"JJ knows a place not far from the Chateau. On the sign it says something, like. . . Pawn? I don't know, but they accept gold there," he explained, now standing, exploring Eden's room. "Just have to trust us for once."
She finally poked her head out of the bathroom, holding the strings of her bikini. She walked towards him, clearing her throat to get his attention. John B turned, falling facing Eden's back who was holding the strings with her fingers.
"Do you really think we can trust JJ? And is this place really safe for that? I don't want everything to go down, John B." Eden said quickly, stress ringing in her voice.
After all, if she had embarked on this adventure, it was to get news from her father, right? She still didn't have anything really interesting apart from a few dates, and this Violeta, but she couldn't stop in the middle. She had to have answers.
She felt like she was just going around in circles, and never achieving her goals. Did this story really had an end, or was it the beginning of a new life?
"I just think that we have nothing to lose. And if we get cheated, well, we have plenty of other gold. And no one knows where it is, so we're safe, Eden," he admitted with sincerity, wanting to relieve her by feeling her contracted muscles. "What's wrong, pretty girl?" He asked, turning her towards him then finished tying her bikini.
How could he always read her thoughts, know her emotions without her showing them? How could this man know her so well, more than she knew herself?
She blew out a puff of air, relaxing so as not to let her annoyance show. She was fine, well, she was trying. But the urge to get one of those stupid letters from Big John was distracting her, and now she was thinking about it for lunch. She wanted to know how it ended. But perhaps she would have to find out by her own means and leave the others aside, to succeed on her own. It was, after all, her story, her father. Nothing to do with the Pogues, nothing to do with gold. It was just her, her story and her father who disappeared at sea.
"Nothing. I'm cool. It's just that. . . Nothing," she repeated, smiling to give him some hope that she was really good. "Can we go now?"
"Are you still pissed?"
"Since when I'm piss—"
"Then we're not going," he cut her off, making her frown. Questioning reigned on her features.
She wasn't pissed, right?
"What games are you playing? I'm not pissed, John B. And I'm not in the mood to be pissed because you said I was when I'm not. So. . . Can we go now?" She spoke in a calm voice, to which he tried to hide his astonishment.
"Yes, ma'am. Right behind you," he agreed, signaling the passage with his hand.
She rolled her brown eyes. Eden made a quick run to the bathroom to grab her t-shirt, put it on herself, and was downstairs in less than a minute with John B following her.
Today's plan was simple: Try to sell the gold, or just get confirmation, come home and search Thomas' office again, and go to her room. Here's the plan for the day, it was very well anticipated and nothing could go wrong.
Well, that's what she thought.
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AN HOUR LATER, EDEN WAS IN THE TWINKIE with Stanley on her lap, surrounded by Sarah and Kiara who was studying the plan to get the gold out. Eden ran her nails through the white fur on his back while small black circles were drawn on it. Eden needed a distraction to reduce the anxiety that was brewing inside her. She just had a bad feeling. Ward's request, Caden seeming weirder than usual, the gold they found a little too easily, right? It all seemed too good to be true. But yet, none of the people she was with at the moment seemed to really worry about this.
On the contrary, everyone seemed to be living a dream. And she understood them very well. John B had just found the gold that his father had searched for all his life, Kie and Sarah were happy for their friends as well as for themselves, JJ was going to be able to live his rich life, and Pope was going to be able to go to a prestigious school like he wanted to. Then there was Eden. She was very happy to have found this gold which was the reason for the success in her family so that they could have a life on Figure Eight. But still, nothing made her completely happy. Because it led her to no goal. Still no signal from Thomas, nothing on Violeta, and she was still living with her family blowing her up. Maybe that was the point. Nothing should come to her in the end, she just had to find people to count on at all times. And she did that. But after this, what happened?
She would surely find out more in the coming days, months or years. . . Or maybe never.
This is what annoyed Eden. She wasn't able to accept just the fact that it was happening like this, something else was needed. She always lived in truths that made her unhappy in the end. So, was it really the truth that was happening or was everything going to turn into a tragedy again like every moment of happiness that she can finally enjoy? She didn't know anything about it, she couldn't predict the future. But what she knew was that nothing turned out for good when she was around.
"Kie! This better work," JJ said as he walked up to them, throwing three pieces of gold right in front of their feet. "We can't pawn this if there's a giant wheat symbol on it."
Kiara took the blowtorch, pointing at JJ, then grumbled confidently, "It's gonna work."
Eden smiled stupidly, seeing her get out of the van to get ready. JJ smirked, taking the pieces of gold in his hands and when he went to leave, he noticed Stanley almost asleep in Eden's arms. He made a cute noise, approaching the cat but she pushed him away with her foot.
"You forget it's my cat too, Winslow," JJ hastened to justify, looking at her with fake sad eyes. "We said Stanley Mayba—"
"Uh, no. You agreed it was Stanley Winslow. Don't try to go back on your words, Maybank," she replied, making him roll his eyes as he left to join Kiara. She snickered as she heard a groan from him as he complained to John B that she had everything.
John B looked up at her as he listened to his friend speak, and she just shrugged as she stared at him. He smiled like an idiot, then told JJ to go melt that gold before he does it himself. Eden tore her chocolate eyes away from him, and pressed them against the sight in front of her. The sun came to her face, easily blinding her. She put her hand in front of it, and turned to the left, once again finding the face that had been staring at her ten seconds ago. Eden had done everything she could to try never to look at him for too long, but the rapprochement that had been between them in recent weeks had made her doubt her ability to keep her eyes away from him. His half-tied shirts were probably the thing that obsessed her the most.
Sarah, who was still sitting next to her, suddenly turned around, finding her friend with her mouth parted staring at something. The blonde frowned, and followed her friend's eyes until they finally landed on John B talking to Pope. Sarah giggling, "Be careful there's some drool falling, Ed'." Eden jerked her head up, checking the sides of her mouth. "Don't worry, I already knew there was something between you two. The jokes you send each other, as well as the not-so-discreet glances. Discretion doesn't really suit you."
Eden replied immediately, "No need for discretion for two people who have nothing to hide. We're just friends, Sar'." The blonde nodded with a smirk filled with weird thoughts. Eden lowered her head to hide her pink cheeks, while she still heard Sarah laughing. She quickly changed the subject. "Hey. Did you know that Ward wants to be forgiven by John B? Because he fired him, you know."
Sarah remained silent for a few seconds before finally confessing. "Yeah, he talked to me about it last night. He thinks he was too harsh. Also, he's convinced that I only joined the Pogues because your handsome brown-haired guy would force me to give me a hard time. In short, he wants to fix things and give John B a second chance."
"But don't you think it's weird that he asks to do that, a month later? He could have done it well before," said Eden, very certain of what she was insinuating. Something didn't work in this story.
Sarah shrugged. "He has a very big ego. It probably took him a long time to convince himself that he had made a mistake."
Eden said nothing more, and focused on what JJ and Kiara were doing. She gently lifted Stanley, placed him on the seat, and walked towards John B and Pope who watched from afar as the gold melted in the jar. She positioned herself next to the handsome brown-haired guy, and let the wind blow through her free hair. John B turned his head towards her, looked down at her sunlit face but said nothing.
Pope broke the silence quickly, starting to talk about how much the gold could be worth and how they were going to go about selling it. Eden sometimes interrupted him to ask questions that weren't really important, but she knew Pope was going to have the answer so she asked of course. John B remained as silent as ever, but let his head turn towards Eden to catch every laugh and smile that formed on her lips.
"And you're counting on JJ to sell this piece of gold?" she asked, pointing at the blond guy who was clapping his hands as he saw the gold melt. "Him?"
Pope nodded. "Technically, it was supposed to be you because according to Kiara, we needed a person. . ." He cleared his throat in the meantime. ". . .Hot and good liar for doing that. But JJ won saying he was in the Top 3 of OBX's hottest men."
She rolled her eyes. "And who voted for him?" John B and Pope shared a laugh, and she understood straight away. "Only him, obviously."
"And Stanley," John B added, making her eyes widen. "Your son betrayed you, Winslow."
She pinched her heart, truly hurt, as John B put his arm over her shoulders. "Don't worry. We all voted for you."
Eden chuckled, while John B left his arm still around her shoulders. She froze for a moment. He had his arm around her shoulders, and compared to a month ago when she would have pushed him away without thinking, well, she let herself be surrounded by his body. She caught Sarah's eyes as she gave her a thumbs up, and Eden gave her a middle finger in return.
A few minutes later, Kiara was running towards Eden and Sarah, pointing out the melted pieces of gold. Eden hurried towards her, analyzing every detail of this gold. Sarah and Kie started hopping, seeing what a dream it was to have real gold right now with them in their own hands. As for Eden, she felt footsteps approaching behind her but did not move. John B reached over her head and grabbed the piece without her stopping him. She turned quickly, reaching up to grab it again.
John B left his arm in the air, annoying Eden as she jumped to get it. "You're not tall enough. Too bad," he laughed as he said this before running off with the gold in his hands.
Eden raised her arms in the air in discouragement before also starting to run to catch up with what had been lent to her. "John B!" she shouted, taking everyone's attention.
JJ was the first to get involved in the game. "Hey, John B! Don't break that!"
Eden chased the Routledge boy, seeing him hiding behind a tree. She stopped in front, while he amused himself by poking his head from left to right behind the giant tree. She sighed, "You're such a brat, Routledge."
"But you love me anyway," he replied simply, earning a shake of the head from Eden.
"In your dreams," she breathed in a laugh muffled by the heat. She quickly walked around the tree, which he did too. "You think I'm hot, don't you? Seeing me running after you like that." He shrugged his square shoulders, his gaze meeting hers. "Are you talking about me with your friends and saying I'm hot?"
He froze instantly. "What? No. Of course not. Who sai—" His words were cut off when JJ came up behind him, and snatched the gold from his hands. He went to speak, but Eden's sneer caught him off guard once again. JJ smiled, and walked over to her to slap her hand with his. "Okay. Fine. You won."
"Ah! Never get distracted, John B," she mouthed, slapping his chest in amusement.
"Okay, are we done playing cat and mouse, can we go now?" Kiara exclaimed, clapping her hands to get their full attention. "Come on!"
Eden tried to hide the smile on her face as Kiara stared at her from afar.
John B moved next to her, whispering softly, "Don't hide your smile. It's beautiful." Eden looked up at him, and he smiled before leaving to join the others in the Twinkie.
Eden arched her eyebrows, her smile diminishing a bit but it stayed there nonetheless. She shook her head, then got into the van as well.
The ride in the van to the place where they were going to try to sell was not at all silent. JJ talked with Pope and John B about how he planned to seduce the person in front of him to sell him the gold while Eden played songs from Taylor Swift's album Lover to the girls. Sarah loved it while Kiara admitted she preferred 1989. They had fun debating about the songs until Pope entered the conversation and asked: What's a Taylor Swift? John B was the only one to respond and explain that she was very well known throughout the world. Eden took the opportunity to slip in some information about her best songs according to her, and about her worst ex she had.
Pope listened to her speak even though he had no idea who it was. The discussion quickly turned to everyone's favorite artist. And when they arrived in front of the building which seemed to be where people buy drugs, Eden immediately said to herself that it was probably the worst place on earth to come and sell gold.
They all got out of the van, taking the warm air back on them. Eden ran a hand through her hair, leaning her back on the van as she examined the place.
"Hell of a job melting it down, Dr. Frankenstein," JJ complained, staring at the pretty gold not very melt right, in his hands.
Kiara replied with a sigh, "Like you could've done better."
"I could have. I took welding class."
"When?" Kiara clicked her tongue on the top of her mouth, hissing this response.
John B approached them, telling them to calm down a little, Pope, Eden and Sarah watching the scene without saying anything. "Chill out, okay? We have to be discreet."
"Easy for you to say that. You're not the one who has to pawn this piece of shit off," JJ said, really annoyed, while Kiara sent him a look offended by his words.
"You wanted the job," John B pointed out, leaning next to Eden with his hands in his pockets.
"Yeah, and I'm starting to regret. Let's hope my seductive side will work," the blondie sighed, moving towards the door.
The six teenagers entered the store, smelling cigarettes right away. Eden quickly scanned the store, finding nothing out of the ordinary. Only cheap stuff for people who live around here. She moved forward slowly before rushing straight into JJ's back who was now motionless.
"What are you doing, bro?" she asked suddenly, as Sarah rushed into her back as well. "Ow!" she shouted, grabbing the attention of the person behind the counter.
JJ rushed to say something so as not to seem weird as they all ran into someone's back. "Afternoon, ma'am!" He waved his hand out of kindness, then whispered to Eden, "She's a grandma, my seduction tricks aren't going to work. You need to come with me." She shook her head, saying nothing. "Come on, Eden. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to do it. And it will be funnier."
She closed her eyes, groaning inside her before sighing and walking past him. JJ nodded to himself and followed her to the counter where the grandmother gave them a small smile.
Eden slowly began the discussion. "Afternoon. Uh. . . I see you buy gold, right?" Well, it wasn't very slow, but the stress of missing her shot made her panic.
"That's what the sign says, don't it?" said the lady on the other side of the counter separating them.
"Well, get ready because we're about to blow your mind, ma'am," she uttered with a smirk, motioning for JJ to open his bag.
The lady made a joke, "I ain't got much mind left to blow, so have at it."
Eden smiled at her. "Huh. You're funny which gives us something in common." The grandmother offered her a smile, almost making her step back in fear that she would eat her.
JJ finally entered the discussion, placing the pieces of gold in front of the lady. "How about them gold apples?"
Suddenly, the face of the person in front of them turned to amusement, a sneer falling on her lips. "That ain't real. It can't be," she hastened to say, discouraging Eden a little while JJ turned his head, not believing it.
"Feel how heavy it is," JJ offered, raising his eyebrows. She narrowed her eyes at him before sliding her hands under the gold, and the two friends immediately noticed her muscles straining.
"Convincing enough?" Eden said, pointing her head to the side, making the lady, who was examining the gold with the light that JJ had just pointed at her, sigh.
"Huh-huh. Spray-painted tungsten," she spoke, still wary of what was before her eyes.
"Spray-painted tungsten? Really? Okay. Why don't you see how, uh, soft it is?" JJ suggested, then she plunged a knife into the gold—she tried anyway—but it didn't do anything. "Wow. Would you look at that?"
"Hold your horses. We ain't got to the aside test yet," she advised, turning to the other side where there was another counter to fetch a small bottle of aside.
"Ooh! The acid test. You heard that, Eden? She's gonna blow our mind with that," the blond joked.
The lady placed a few drops of acid on the pieces of gold, making Eden sigh discreetly. She then leaned her elbows on the counter, and grumbled, "Look, ma'am, I don't think you want to be humiliated when you finally open your eyes and see that it's true. So. . . How about we get to the real business?"
She raised her dark eyes to her, and it took all of Eden's composure to stand there and not scream. She was terrifying, this lady.
"What a pretty girl like you do with this guy, sweetheart? You taking drugs?" the person asked without hesitation, earning a shrug from the Winslow girl. "You should stay on your side of the island, kid."
"The right to freedom is part of our lives. I hang out with who I want and where I want." Eden snapped, causing an arrogant smile to flash across her pink lips. "So, do we get into the real business or do we do knit, ma'am?"
"We're going to get into real business when you explain to me why you melted it down, sweetheart."
Eden turned to JJ, hoping he had something good to say. He finally said, "My mom. She had all this jewelry laying around the house, and she thought it was best to—to melt it down. To "consolidate" it. You know."
Eden cleared her throat. "What my brother is trying to say is that. . . It's very hard to live with a mother who is falling apart with Alzheimer's."
The grandma nodded slowly, not believing anything they were saying. "Just give me a minute."
"Of course," they replied at the same time, looking towards her with a falsely saddened face.
When the little figure of the lady disappeared behind curtains which gave way to another room, Eden turned towards JJ at the same time as him, discovering a smile on his lips exactly like her own. She clapped her hand, then Pope joined them, stopping them in their enthusiasm.
"Okay, now you have to be very strict about the price, all right? Because it's sure she'll give a lot less," Pope informed them with big hand gestures that pointed towards the curtains where the old lady had rather disappeared. "Don't mess anything. . . She's coming out. . ."
"So, I, uh. . . I talked to my boss. And, uh, this is what I can do," she concluded, placing a paper on the counter.
JJ and Eden lowered their eyes at the same time, then quickly raised them again, but this time with a heavier gaze. The blond quickly began, "Fifty thousand? You think I walked in here not knowin' the spot price? Ma'am, I know for a fact this is worth 140, at least."
"Well, sweetie, you in a pawnshop. This ain't Zurich. Do I look Swiss to you?" she asked with raised eyebrows, to which Eden shook her head with a little fear on her face.
JJ added firmly, "Ninety, or I walk."
But the granny replied immediately, not giving them time to continue, "Seventy. Half price. . . And, um. . . I don't ask questions about where you got this."
Eden held her breath, turning her eyes towards John B who was now two meters away, his elbows resting on the counter. The brunette discreetly raised his thumb, giving his agreement.
"We're gonna need that in large denominations, ma'am," Eden said, a smirk forming of its own accord. "In cash, actually. That's what your sign says. Cash for gold. And that's what we want so. . . We're in the real business now, right?"
"Well, sweetheart, I have to send you to the warehouse. I have the money there. Is that all right?"
Eden shared a look with JJ before he turned and calmly asked, "Where's this warehouse?"
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THEY WERE BACK IN THE TWINKIE. After the lady gave the address of her warehouse, the Pogues all jumped into the van with big smiles on their faces and laughter mixing among them. Eden still couldn't believe that they had reached a new stage. Succeeding in selling the gold should have been a little harder, but in fact it was easy. Even though the lady gave her chills. There was just something in her eyes that traumatized her. She was actually debating with Kiara and Sarah about who was scarier, the grandmother from the pawnshop or Ms. Crain.
Eden was more than happy that things had worked out with Kiara and Sarah. It's so much easier to be friends than enemies.
Pope opened the discussion to a new topic of conversation as he looked through the dirty windows of the van, "So they keep money out here?"
JJ shrugged. "That's what she said." A naughty smile came to his lips, showing his teeth. "That's what she said," he repeated, laughing.
"Stop," Pope said seriously, immediately silencing him.
Sarah then continued, "I've never even heard of Resurrection Drive."
"'Cause you're rich," JJ replied, sure of what he was saying, and he earned a blow to the chest from Eden.
Subsequently followed by Kiara who sent, "You've never heard of it either." Sarah thanked them, not even looking at the blond who said nothing in return. "There's nothing but weeds back here." she continued, looking outside to see only old houses without appearance and endless trees.
"All right, just 'cause it's just weeds doesn't mean it's, like. . ." he was cut off in his sentence when cops sirens started coming into their ears.
Eden turned directly to the back window, discovering a blue car with the sirens blaring. She frowned asking more to herself than the others, "Cops here? What did we do?"
John B wasted no time stopping in the middle of the road, figuring it wasn't worth going to the side because no one ever came here. He turned back, patting JJ on the back. "Stash that. Did you bring the gun?"
"No. Okay?" he replied, wrapping a towel around the pieces of gold. "Everybody told me to leave it back at the place."
Kiara sighed in relief, "Thank God. Please, everything else in your bag. How much weed do you have on you, bro?" Kiara continued to ask or order things while Pope leaned down to help JJ pick up any suspicious things the cops might see.
When the policeman reached John B, this one turned to him, gently beginning, "Nothing better to do to, sir—" The gun pointed at him silenced him the second his gaze landed on him.
Eden said nothing more. She was actually almost sure she wasn't breathing as she stared at the gap between the gun and John B. The man loaded the gun, making Eden blink. She knew from the beginning of this day that everything was going too well. This was the exact moment where everything was going to start go down.
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authors note: yayyyyy new chapter!! in the last months i lost inspiration for everything but im back hihiii!! i missed jeden smmmm
a little of everything in this chapter but i really liked writing this one. and i had to split it in two or it would've been like 10k of words and i think it's a little too much for a chapter :))
love you and take of yourself!! <3