We walk up the chateau driveway, I have Ren's cold and frail hand in mine.
I open the door, she hesitated to go in.
"What's wrong?" I turn back at her.
"What if your friends don't want me here?" She asks slowly.
"Don't be silly, they would love to have you!" I smile.
"Darla..." She sighs.
"Ren, I promise you. Everything is going to be just fine. I have your back. And plus, you're going to adore Kiara and Sarah." I nod.
She gulps, feeling the slightest bit better. "Alright."
I walk in with her. "Anyone here?"
"Kie.." I hear a bland voice reply.
"Who's Kie?" Ren whispers.
"Kiara." I grin.
"Yes, I said I'm here!" She calls from the living room.
I walk in with a worried and nervous Ren behind me.
"Woah, who's that?" She asks.
"This is my step sister Ren, if it's okay- can we mind her for a couple nights?" I ask.
She nods quickly. "Of course."
I smile. "You can sleep next to me Ren, okay? Go get comfy."
She nods, anxiously biting her fingernails.
"Ren? Is that a nickname for something?" Kie asks.
"Lauren, But no one calls her that." I tuck my hair behind my ear, huffing as I take Rens back from her back.
"Lauren is a beautiful name, but so is Ren. It's so nice to meet you sweetie." Kie sounds all sweet and caring. It's so sweet.
"Thank you.." Ren quietly stutters.
"Ren how about you go and get fixed in the bathroom, I need to talk to Kiara real quick."
She flicks her hair and turns around, walking towards the open doored bathroom.
She shuts the door behind her.
"So, what's that about?" Kie asks.
"It's only for tonight, or maybe two nights.. but it's because of my dad, he's not treating her well." I explain.
She frowns. "I know, I see that in your face, Darla. I didn't want to say it in front of her."
I remember my busted lip and bruised eye. "Oh, this? Yeah. Nothing that hasn't happened before."
"Darl, let me clean you up." She stands up from the couch bed.
I sigh. "It's fine. But, why are you here?"
"My mom went ape on me because I'm not living the life she wanted for me." She trails off.
I look down at Kies phone on the couch.
Tell Darl to meet me outside Chateau in ten pls - From Jj Maybank.
"And my dads all like 'Oh yeah! Your moms right!'. Like shut up!"
"Hey, Kie. I have to meet Jj soon, it says on your phone." I interrupt.
"Oh, damn it. Here just let me put a plaster on your lip. If you keep annoying it it'll flare up and hurt even more." She walks over.
I let her wrap the plaster in my bottom lip. "Kie, can you just reassure Ren that you don't mind her being here? She's really nervous."
She nods, smoothing out the plaster. "Go, I'll take care of her."
I grin. "Thank you."
_______________________________
I walk out the door to see Jj, i pull a few strands of hair over my eye to make sure he doesn't notice yet.
He's on his motorbike. I walk over.
"Where have you been?" He asked. "I called you like 3 million times."
"Well, my phones probably somewhere across the Atlantic ocean." I shrug, fixing my self up on the back of the bike.
He laughs before immediately stopping and pushing my hair out of the way.
I take his hand off. "J.."
"No- I told you if it happened again I'd fucking slaughter him." I see his fists tense up.
"Yeah, but right now is like.. seriously not the time." I frown.
"Why, what." He asks.
"Look, we need to take Ren in for a few nights. He's been.. he's been hurting her while I was gone." I hesitate to say, because right now I'm just in a state of blaming myself.
"That's fucked up, Darla." He shakes his head.
"Mhm. But- anyways, that's not the main issue right now. Where are we going?" I ask.
"To go bust JB outta jail, where else?" He smirks.
I roll my eyes. "Do you even have a solid plan?"
"Mmm.. yeah, It's pretty sturdy." He shrugs.
I smile. "You're the messiest guy I've met."
"Okay, We're just gonna go visit him, let him know what's about to go down.. Then I'll explain it all to you after." He explains, revving up the bike.
I huff. "Yeah, okay. This better work Maybank."
"Relax, honey. It'll work."
I hit him for calling me honey, even though I literally fucking adored that to its fullest.. but he doesn't need to know that.
______________________________
We walk in the County Jail, strolling up to the guy at the desk.
"We're here to see John Booker Routledge." I smile, a toothpick in my mouth.
He rolls his eyes when he sees Jj with blasting music. He also has a pick in his mouth.
"No music, and get rid of the toothpicks." He tells us.
I slowly remove my toothpick.
"I can't hear what you're saying, mam, alright?" Jj yells. "These things are on full blast! We're here to see John b Routledge."
He looks at me, unimpressed and getting annoyed.
I sigh before pulling the headphones off of his head.
"Ohh, music?" He looks at me.
"Mhm." The guy nods.
"Well, I thought this was a free country and all but I guess you- don't like freedom very much now, do you cupcake?" He smiles.
I cross my arms as the guy grabs him and throws him up against the wall.
"Uh, not worth it." I hear a bitchy ass voice call from down the hallway.
The man let's go of Jj.
Jj smirks, taking out his pick and looking over at Officer Plumb. "Good to see you, Plumb. Just nice to have something in your mouth." He holds up the pick.
She sarcastically smiles before looking at me. "Darla, still hanging 'round with the wrong crowd?"
I also smile sarcastically. "Is it really wrong when I was born into it?"
"Mhm, what's with the mess on your face?" She tilts her head.
I clench my jaw. "Now that would be an invasion of my privacy, wouldn't it, J?"
Jj nods. "Her personal bubble."
"So therefore, I obligate the right to not tell you, classified information." I tell her.
She rolls her eyes. "If you weren't taken off of that suspects list I would've had you locked up with your friend in no time."
I pause. "Who took me off the list?"
"Classified information." She mocks me before leading us down the hall.
________________________________
She stops at the door of the visiting room, holding John b inside. "Five minutes."
I frown as she unlocks the door.
We walk in together, seeing John b in that orange jumpsuit.
I go to sit down in front of him, so does Jj.
I sigh, John b looks up slowly at us.
The room in complete silence.
I cant hold my laughter much longer, I let out a tiny chuckle.
The others start laughing with me.
"Thought it was gonna be me." Jj laughs.
"I did too." John b nods. "Welcome to my humble abode."
"Yeah, when you said you got a new apartment.. I had no idea." I look around.
"Yeahs, it's, uh.." John b tries to find a way to explain it.
"It's cozy!" Jj says high pitched.
"Yeah, you could say that."
"A little aluminium theme." I shrug.
"Yeah. I like to go for the cold, dark.." He explains.
"Alone kinda theme." Jj nods.
"Depressing, yeah." I add.
We breath in.
"Look, I'd love to sit here and chitchat, but were on the clock." Jj leans in closer to John b. "And we're here for one reason only."
I try to go along with it, having no idea how this is gonna go about.
"Operation liberation, baby."
"Oh boy. Here we go." John b rolls his eyes.
"I know. I know. Hear me out, though. Hear me out." He puts his hand down on the table. "Step one, piss off the cops so badly they don't see what's coming."
I look up at a cop walking by, and wave aggressively at him, making him roll his eyes.
"Check." I say.
"Right, step two, at exactly 11 p.m. this evening, you're gonna have a attack of acute appendicitis." Jj says to him.
I widen my eyes.
"Do you even know what appendicitis is?" John b asks.
"Yeah." Jj quickly says.
"No, he doesn't." I sigh.
"No, remember eighth grade, algebra final?" He asks us.
"Oh my god."
"Jesus Christ." John b and I groan, remembering how badly he went about it.
"Worked like a charm, okay? Now, to sell it, you gotta actually look sick, though, okay?" He tells John b."You got some of that ghost face sunblock in here?"
"Jj it's a jail, why the fuck would they have sunblock." I shake my head.
"Right, shit." He groans.
"Jj, I am locked up, okay? I have.. what.. a block of soap." John b says.
"What colour is it? Is it white?" Jj asks quickly.
"Yes.." John b hesitantly says.
"That's perfect, just smear that all over your face, rub it in really well." Jj nods. "You don't want that shit rubbing off when they check your vitals."
They look at me for any other help.
I sigh, not wanting to help but.. helping anyway. "Uh, just run your hands under cold water for five minutes. If you're warm, they're not gonna help you."
"Yeah. That's good, yeah. Cold water. And after that, showtime, baby. Stumble out and collapse, all right?" Jj quickly explains. "Once you're down on the ground squealing they'll rush you to the infirmary."
"There, you just gotta convince the nurse that that suckers about to burst, all right?" I add, helping out a bit more because the plan isn't the worst.
Jj explains the rest of the plan slowly to him, I listen in, nodding.
Plumb walks up to the door. "Hey, times up. Let's go."
I act natural.
"You gotta trust us on this one, nothin' to lose." J whispers.
I clear my throat, raising from the seat. "Good to see you, man."
Jj and I walk out, passing Plumb.
She walks after us and buzzes the door open.
We walk through, I look to the side and see inmates outside in the yard. I notice one.
It's jjs dad.
Jj spots him, and walks quickly up to the window, banging rapidly on the glass. "Dad! Hey Dad!"
I look disgustedly at Officer Plumb as I see her smirk a little before dragging Jj away from the window.
"See what you did there, Plumb." Jj sighs as we walk.
"Hey, you good?" I look over at Jj.
"Mm." He nods.
She opens the main door and leads us out.
"I just have once question before we leave, how much are you splitting with Shoupe?" J.j. asks her.
She shoves both of us down the steps aggressively.
I turn around to her.
"You'll be back here one day, both of you. It's in your blood." She snarls.
I look over at Jj, he has a little heartbreak in his face.
"Come on, J." I mumble.
We walk back to the bike.
"Where to?" I ask.
"Getting the Ambulance off of Ricky." He sighs.
I hop on the back again and we zoom off..
_______________________________
We're sat in the front of the ambulance, it's 11 pm and we're waiting on a call to the station.
We have hospital uniform on, prepared for the getaway.
"What if this shit just throws us downhill, Jj." I ask.
"Just- don't have a negative attitude and it won't." He says, clearly stressed.
"I'm finding that hard." I mutter.
"That's what she said." He whispers.
I hit him in the side of the head.
We suddenly see a police car pull up beside us.
I try not to look at it.
"Just be normal." Jj whispers.
"Hmm." I hear the officer hum.
I squint my eyes, tapping the dashboard. We're fucked.
"I hate when it's slow like this, you know?" He says.
I feel a sense of relief flow through my veins, looking over at Jj.
He takes a breath in. "Tell me about it, man."
"Hey, what happened to Ricky?" He asks. "He bang out?"
He exhales. "Pffff, something like that."
A woman on the radio begins calling out. One three Eddie. We got an unknown at KC detention.
I fumble the radio. "Uh- yeah, ten-four. Be right there. Thank you so much. Over." I struggle to blurt out.
Why the hell did I say thank you.
I put it back on the dashboard. "Duty calls, we'll see you later Officer."
"You have a good night, though." Jj waves, starting the engine.
"Hold up." The officer says.
I gulp.
"I got nothing to do. I'll pace you."
He starts blaring his sirens.
I stare at him, not knowing what to do.
Jj looks at me.
"Just- just go." I mumble.
______________________________
We back up beside the opening of the station.
"Load him up!" Jj calls out the open window.
"Oh my god." I mutter.
"What?" He asks.
"You gonna get your patient here, cheif?" The woman asks.
"Yes! We're on it!" I call out. "Jj just let me do the talking."
We walk around the ambulance and the woman sees us. "Where's Ricky?"
"Ricky? Oh.. Rick-"
"Food poisoning, you know ming dynasty off of Highway 25? Yeah, then egg rolls will do you good." Jj interrupts me.
"Mhm, so where's the patient at?" I ask.
"Patient fell out, No LOC, but he's orthostatic." She says. "Stage 4 in a Coma."
My heart drops.
"He's been in and out of chemo for the last three months."
I look at Jj, he's scared for his life.
We look down at the patient in a wheelchair, that is not John B.
"Uh, is that the only patient tonight there, ma'am?" Jj asks.
"Why? you wanna take more than one tonight?" She chuckles.
"We will if we have to." I nod.
"Uhh.. shit." Jj whispers.
"I was just thinking that I was called in because my patient has appendicitis." I say.
"This is our only patient." The woman raises an eyebrow.
"Right." Jj nods.
"Where did y'all say you work?" She asks.
"Dare County, ma'am." Jj turns around.
"I've worked over there. Never seen you." She cross her arms.
"That's cause- you know we moved up in the ranks so fast." I nod.
"Look, I'd love to sit an chit-chat but we gotta get moving, right?" J says.
"Mhm, don't wanna keep this guy waiting." I smile.
Jj goes to unlock the doors of the ambulance but can't get them to budge.
"Jj, Darla, that you?" The inmate grunts, barely moving.
I raise an eyebrow. "Yeah, he's delusional as shit."
Jj cant get the doors to open. "They got new keys, sorry."
"That one." I whisper.
"I've already tried it!"
"Try it the fuck again."
It finally unlocks. "Whew! All right, load him on in."
"So, who's gonna drive?" The nurse asks.
"Uh, Me."
"Me."
We say at the same time.
"Oh yeah, her."
"Ah, him."
I kick him. "Me."
"You look to young to be driving." She says.
I raise an eyebrow. "That's ageist."
Jj clears his throat. "She's 24, madam."
"You have your licence with you?" She asks.
I pat my pockets, knowing damn well my mom taught me to drive. Not an instructor.
"Ahh.. Left it back at the.. um.. the workplace." I sigh.
The nurse looks at me funny. "Well, this patient needs two people to look after him, he's very vulnerable."
I look at Jj.
"Right, yeah. Well they told me the officer could drive." He says.
"No, he's an inmate. I gotta be in the back." The officer shakes his head.
"Wait, hold on. Officer you're saying that you're gonna be responsible for us not taking of our patient." Jj asks.
The officer stays silent.
"We will have to do check ups on him, in the back. Uh.. before we reach the hospital so they can start looking into the problem straight away." I lie.
They sigh.
"All right, I'll drive." The officer walks up to the drivers seat.
I hop in the back.
The engine starts up and we slowly drift away from the loading bay.
I watch the woman as she talks on the phone before we leave her sight.
"Fuck, what if that was John B being transmitted?" Jj asks.
I bite my nails. "We just have to get this guy to the hospital and then hope that there's no other ambulance drivers on duty."
Jj rubs his forehead nervously.
We sit down in the back, waiting for the ambulance to just get to our destination.
"Copt that, 10-4." The officer in front says over his radio, before staring in the rear view mirror at us.
"Officer, everything good up there?" Jj calls out.
He doesn't answer.
"Officer?" I ask.
He closes the window between the drivers seat and the back seat.
"Fuck." I whisper.
Jj quickly takes out his phone.
SOS! 4th and Seneca.
I stand up, stressed. "Shit!"
He bangs his hand on the wall. "Damn it!" Before sliding down the wall, holding his hat tightly in his hand.
I look over to see him sobbing quietly.
I walk over to him, sitting against the wall beside him.
He looks at me, tears in his eyes. "Sorry for dragging you into this."
"Shut up, Jj. We don't do shit if we don't do it together." I take his hand and hold it close to me.
He sniffles, weakly resting his head on my shoulder while sobbing.
I hold his head, crying a little too.
Suddenly the ambulance comes to a very abrupt stop.
We bash into the wall next to us.
"Ughh." I groan, why is my head always getting bashed against something?
"Get up, Darl! Get up!" JJ shakes me.
I sit up. "What? What's going on?"
"Sorry!" I hear a familiar voice shout.
"It's Kie." I say.
"Go!" We bust open the ambulance door and bolt the opposite direction.
We swerve around trees and bushes quickly
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