MUTT
— 3. Deny, Deny, Deny
"Why are all these mattresses out here?" John B asked they walked up to the second level of the motel room.
"After a hurricane, they ditch 'em when they're moldy," JJ informed him in a calm tone.
JJ wrapped an arm around John B, beginning to get touchy feely with him. "Just be so careful, John," He moaned, clearly taunting John B about Kiara as he stroked his friend's face.
"God, you're so weird," John B complained, pushing JJ off of him.
"What the heck was that about?" JJ asked, exchanging a look with Rory, who smiled in amusement.
"I don't know," John B shrugged, not seeing anything weird about it, "Maybe she wants us to be careful."
"Since she heard you're being threatened with exile, she's just been, like..." He trailed off, beginning to imitate Kiara in a whiny tone as he began to massage John B's shoulders, "'Oh! Be so careful, John B.'"
"Get off!" John B shoved JJ off once more as Rory laughed.
"'Oh, give me that John D already.'" JJ continued on and Rory smiled in amusement.
"JJ's got a point, though. When are you gonna get at that, John B? I don't see what's stopping you," Rory found herself asking John B out of curiosity.
"Dude, you know the rule," John B reminded Rory in a calm tone, "No Pogue-on-Pogue macking."
"A rule made in middle school to stop you idiots from fighting back when you both had a crush on me," Rory complained in an aggravated tone, "We're in high school, man. That rule doesn't apply anymore."
"If anyone's trying to hit on Kie, it's JJ," John B complained, purposely trying to change the subject, "He's the one always hitting on her."
"Of course I'm hitting on her. She's a super-hot, rich, hippie chick slumming with us," JJ replied without a care in the world and Rory nodded, knowing he had a point, "Why? I can't figure it out either, but who cares, bro? I know that door's locked because I've tried it."
"The real question is, has he?" Rory spoke up, pointing toward John B.
"Exactly, Rory," JJ agreed with John B, the two of them turning to look at their friend.
"You two need help," John B complained, glancing between the two, "Not a little help, you need a lot of help. JJ, it's like every girl who just has a heartbeat, you're like...Uhh!" He explained before pointing toward Rory, "Same goes for you, just with boys and girls."
"What?" Rory complained, giving John B a weird look, "It's not a big deal."
"Is that us?" John B asked as he stopped in front of the door that had the same number as the key he grasped in his hand, "Twenty-nine. That is it."
"Okay, then. Open it," She encouraged her friend in a persistent tone.
JJ pushed past both of his friends, wasting no time knocking on the door. "Housekeeping," He announced in a high-pitched tone and Rory face palmed herself.
He knocked again and when he got no answer, he walked over to the window. He knocked on it while John B went to put the key in the door. "Should we try it?"
"What do you think?" Rory retorted as JJ began to speak in Spanish.
"No power. No security cameras. No one's gonna know," JJ added in, agreeing with Rory as he always did.
John B uneasily unlocked the door and when he did so, JJ and Rory were the first to walk into the room.
"Huh," John B stated as he closed the door behind them, "Check the bag. See if there's a name on there somewhere."
While John B checked one bag, JJ and Rory checked the other.
"A jacket."
"Denim slides."
"No name on the jacket."
"Gotta admit, though. It's a nice jacket," Rory spoke up and JJ nodded in agreement.
"Definitely over fifty," John B told his two friends as he lifted a shoe out of the bag, "He's got New Balances."
"Ew," Rory muttered under her breath, a disgusted look on her face.
The trio began to search around and JJ stopped in front of the nightstand. He shined his light on it, the map placed on top of the surface gaining interest. "Maybe this is where they were fishing."
Rory walked over to JJ alongside John B. "No, that's off the continental shelf. That's Big Swell. Nobody fishes there."
"What's that?" John B asked, a curious look on his face as he picked a piece of paper off the nightstand. It had a cluster of numbers on it.
"Coffee?" He jokingly questioned his friends as they began to search around the hotel room.
"Standard," JJ replied with a British Accent, "Tissues for when you get lonely—" He paused, looking at the disgusted look Rory was giving him.
He quietly laughed and entered the bathroom. "Ooh!" He exclaimed after finding something that caught his eye.
"Did you find anything?" Rory asked eagerly, making her way over to the boy.
"A really awesome Dopp kit John B won't let us steal," JJ informed Rory, who smiled as she walked to stand beside him.
"Yeah, 'cause we're not stealing shit," John B argued, but as he said so, JJ stole two items from the Dopp Kit. He handed one to Rory before taking the one he stole for himself and placed it in his pocket. Rory smiled, doing the same with hers.
John B ended up opening a cabinet, revealing a locked safe. He attempted to put in a code, but it seemed as though none of his guesses were working.
"Punching shit at random. That will definitely work," JJ sarcastically commented as Rory walked over to the nightstand, her eyes locking on the piece of paper they had found earlier.
"Uh, maybe this will work?" She asked and John B's eyes lit up at the suggestion. She immediately walked over to him and handed him the piece of paper.
JJ continued to talk about the map as if John B and Rory were listening while the duo knelt in front of the safe. John B punched in the codes, which ended up working. He opened it and he and Rory were stunned speechless by what was inside.
"What the fuck," She muttered under her breath, her eyes widening at the sight of the large stacks of money and the gun.
"Holy shit," John B chuckled softly as he picked up one of the stacks of money.
"Uh, JJ?" Rory called out and JJ hummed in response, "Get your ass over here. You're gonna wanna see this."
JJ's eyes lit up at the sight of the stack of bills Rory held up and wasted no time making his way over to her.
John B and Rory stepped out of the way to allow JJ to see what was inside. However, instead of just looking at it, JJ picked up the gun and stared down at it in amazement.
"You grabbed the gun," Rory muttered under her breath, "Of course you did."
"Put the gun back, JJ!" John B shouted at JJ, but as he went to take it, JJ jumped out of the way.
"Dude, this is a SIG Sauer. This is a fucking spendy gate, man. Just..." He trailed off excitedly, mimicking the sounds of a gun, "Bam! Bam!"
"We're not stealing anything!" John B growled at his friend in a stern tone, growing frustrated with him.
"Just take a pic of me. Right here," JJ insisted, trying to find the perfect pose for John B to take a picture of him.
"You want me to take a picture of you?" John B asked, staring at JJ like he was crazy.
"Yeah. Rory sucks at taking photos," JJ replied, earning an annoyed look from Rory.
"You want me to make our own discrimination evidence? Is that what you're talking about?" John B complained, causing JJ to sigh in defeat as he lowered the gun but still grasped it in his hand.
"He got a point, JJ," Rory informed JJ as they all heard something hit the window.
"Wait, what was that?" John B asked, being the only one in the room to walk over to the window to investigate.
"Shit," John B suddenly exclaimed, an alarmed look on his face as he rushed over to the other window.
"What is it?" Rory asked, a concerned look on her face.
"Cops," John B suddenly whispered and as if on cue, there was a knock on the door.
While John B rushed over to the window, JJ grabbed Rory's arm and brought her over to the safe. He grabbed two wads of money, stuffing them in his pocket before he shoved two more in Rory's direction.
"Kildare Sheriff's Department!" A man announced loudly from outside the door.
She quickly grabbed them, shoving them in the waistband of her shorts before they both ran over to the window.
By the time the door opened, the trio made their way outside. And while JJ hid off to the right side, John B and Rory hid off to the left side.
John B pressed his back against the wall, grabbing Rory before pulling her close to him.
John B leaned closer to the window, peeking in while JJ and Rory turned their heads to see Pope mouthing to them, "What are you doing?"
JJ simply smiled, waving at them while Rory and John B rolled their eyes at their friend.
John B and Rory peaked inside the motel room, watching as the two deputies searched through the safe before the male deputy handed the female one a wad of cash to take.
Rory turned her head, exchanging a shocked look with JJ. "What the fuck?" He whispered to her, his eyes widen, "Do you believe—"
Before JJ could finish his sentence, the gun ended up slipping from his pocket. It hit the roof with a loud thud, just before falling straight to the ground.
Rory cringed at the loud noise and John B pulled her closer to him as they were forced to hide even further away from the window as the deputies peaked out of it.
Rory's back pressed John B's chest and she placed a hand over her mouth, trying to remain as quiet as possible.
Her eyes suddenly widened, feeling something hard poking into her lower back. John B silently cursed under his breath and tried to shift himself as best as possible, but it only made matters worse.
Rory turned to John B, giving him an aggravated look. He sighed, giving her an apologetic look in return.
"All right. Let's go," One of the deputies stated, causing Rory to sigh in utter relief, "No one's here."
Moments later, the group returned to the boat, scared out of their minds. "Are you guys okay?" Kiara asked the trio worriedly while Rory smiled.
As she climbed onto the boat, she turned to look at John B, who was awkwardly trying to edge his pants. "I know John B is," She spoke up tauntingly, causing John B to sigh in annoyance, "Aren't you, John B?"
"Shut up," He muttered under his breath as he sighed in defeat.
"Well, that was fun," JJ announced, a large smile on his face as Pope started the boat up and began to drive it away, "Could have warned us sooner, though."
"We would have, except Pope was on the math team," Kiara informed the group, causing them all to turn to Pope in shock.
"You were on the math team?" John B questioned, a frown on his face.
"Are you really surprised?" Rory asked, seeing as though it wasn't really a surprise to her that someone as smart as Pope was on the math team.
"The cops took everything like it was a crime scene," John B complained in a frustrated tone.
"Did you guys find anything?" Pope asked, curiously glancing between JJ, John B, and Rory.
"Did we find anything? No, I don't think so," JJ jokingly asked, glancing over to Rory as they both slowly lifted their wads of money while JJ lifted up his gun as well, "Oh, yeah, we did."
"What the hell!" Pope exclaimed in shock while John B facepalmed himself. He wasn't all that surprised. It was very much like the duo to do something like that.
"Dude, what?" Kiara complained, annoyed with JJ and Rory for doing something.
"Why would you take that from a crime scene?" Pope scolded the duo, who didn't seem to care for their friends' reactions in the slightest.
"What did you expect, man?" Rory argued in an annoyed tone, "Leave all the money there to be taken by those grimey cops? If they were going to take some for themselves, we might as well do it, too. We'd make some better use of it, anyway."
Rory turned to JJ, both of them smiling at the last part of her sentence.
"I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship," Pope complained, causing JJ to sigh as he turned to his friend.
"Hey, hey, hey. Sh, sh," JJ tried to comfort his friend, wrapping an arm around Pope and he placed the gun close to him without meaning to, "At least you have us, right?"
"You're a dick," Rory spoke up, shaking her head at JJ as she quietly laughed.
"I'm living the nightmare," Pope admitted, aggravated with JJ's behavior and the way Rory always joined in on it.
_____
Once arriving back to the harbor, the group ended up making conversation with a girl. They had been informed that a dead body had been found belonging to Scooter Grubbs, who had been out during the storm. The girl had even shown them a picture of the dead body, much to Rory's annoyance.
The moment they had been told by her though, that the man had owned a Grady-White, the group of friends found themselves tensing up in concern.
When they returned to John B's home, the group sat on the porch, trying to process what they had learned.
Rory sat on the arm of JJ's chairs, watching as he flipped around a lighter.
Just then, Pope had arrived, panting for breath after running all the way there. "Okay. So, um..." He trailed off uneasily, "We didn't see anything. We don't know anything. We need to have total amnesia."
"About what?" She asked him dumbly.
Pope turned to her and gave Rory a weird look, only to realize what she was doing. "Oh, good, good," He replied and Rory smiled in response.
"Pope's right for once," JJ spoke up as he stood up from his seat, "See, I agree with you sometimes. Deny, deny, deny."
"Guys, we can't keep that money," Kiara complained, referring to the money JJ and Rory had stolen.
"Okay," JJ sighed in annoyance, turning to look at Kiara, "Not all of us can afford unlimited data plans, Kiara."
"We have to pass that off to Lana Grubbs," Kiara demanded in a stern tone, "Otherwise, it's bad karma."
"Bad karma to be implicated in a felony, too," Pope pointed out, clearly agreeing with Kiara, "We gotta go dark."
"If that means we get to keep the money, then I agree," JJ replied in a calm tone, desperately wanting to keep the money.
"Second that," Rory agreed, raising her hand slightly as Pope and Kiara gave her an annoyed look.
They believed she was only agreeing with JJ because she always did, but it was different this time. Rory needed that money. Her brother was struggling to pay rent and they could barely put food on the table. If they continued to struggle like that, DCS would be on them even more and Rory would either end up in foster care or forced to live with her mother if her mother's husband even allowed such a thing to happen.
Even if meant having food on the table and living in a stable environment, Rory still wouldn't want to go. Not because she'd be living in Kook land, but because it would mean leaving her brother. He'd be forced to fend for himself and Rory refused to let that happen, not after he sacrificed so much to support her their entire lives.
He dropped out of High School for her, just to be able to get a full-time job to support her. He took the blame for something he didn't even do, just to help her. She wasn't just going to abandon him, not when she knew for a fact he wouldn't be taken in alongside her if their mother decided to take her in.
"Well, I don't third that," John B suddenly spoke up, patting JJ on the back as he walked past him.
"Why?" JJ and Rory asked John B in unison, a deeply confused look on both of their faces.
"Just think about it. This is Scooter Grubbs we're talking about, alright? Same dude that's buying individual cigarettes at the Porthole. Shit, one time, I saw this dude begging for change in the Save-A-Lot parking lot because he needed gas," John B explained to the group in a confident tone, "We're talking about a dirtbag marina rat who's never had more than forty bucks in his pocket, and all of a sudden, he's got a Grady-White? Just sayin'."
Moments later, the group found themselves on the docks outside John B's home. John B and Kiara sat near each other. John B continued to speak to the group of it while Pope, JJ, and Rory fished.
"All right, so think about it, Pope," He insisted, seeing as though it was obvious that JJ and Rory weren't really paying attention to him, "How does a marina rat get a Grady-White?"
"Prostitution," Pope replied without hesitation.
"Square groupers, bro," John B responded in a calm tone, "Okay, flying under the radar, no aerial surveillance. They don't do that stuff during a hurricane. What does that mean? JJ?"
"They were straight smugglin'," JJ answered in a calm tone as he and Rory continued to fish.
"Smugglin'," John B repeated after JJ as he pointed his finger at his friend, "And I guarantee there's a serious amount of contraband in that wreck."
"Oop!" JJ exclaimed, both he and Rory finding themselves catching something with their fishing rods.
They both began to reel it in, only to become deeply annoyed when they found it was only their hooks attached together that they had caught.
JJ and Rory turned to each other, looking deeply annoyed.
Not wanting to fish anymore after the incident, the group went back inside, sticking to the conversation about the ship.
"For the record, if that is a smuggling ship with illegal contraband on the inside of it," Pope began to explain and the group hummed in response, "It probably belongs to someone else."
"Minor details," Kiara commented but Pope ignored her and continued on.
"They would come looking for it," He continued, waving around Rory's stolen stack of bills, "Taking it would be catastrophically stupid."
"Well, I happen to like this stupid," Rory replied calmly as she snatched her money back from Pope.
"She's right," JJ spoke up, agreeing with Rory as he showed all of the hundred dollar bills he held, "Stupid things have good outcomes all the time. All we need to do is figure out a way to get into the cargo hold of that wreck. Until then, we just lay low. Just act normal."
Pope sighed, rolling his eyes at JJ's proposal. "Right. And how exactly do we do that?" He asked, clearly not taking JJ seriously.
"Kegger?" Kiara suggested, causing Rory to smile widely.
"Hell yeah," Rory replied, the rest of the group nodding in agreement while she and JJ high-fived.