CHAPTER EIGHT
VIII. FOUR STAR HOTELS
JOHN B DROVE STRAIGHT BACK TO THE CHATEAU AFTER LEAVING THE GRAVEYARD THAT NIGHT. He didn't even ask if anyone wanted to be dropped off home, he was desperate to open the envelope that Kiara had found. Everyone was silent on the drive back, all of them praying that whatever was in the envelope was going to give John B some answers.
Juliet hated to think what John B was feeling. She knew it was hard loosing a parent but loosing her father was completely different. Juliet knew what was happening with her father, she'd watched him get weaker and weaker with her own eyes, watch him change into someone she didn't even recognise anymore. John B's father left and he expected him to return and he didn't. Juliet knew her father was dying, she knew he wasn't getting any better and she was going to loose him. It was two completely different situations. All Juliet knew was that she needed to be there for him. John B was there for her when her father passed away so she needed to do the same.
When they arrived at John B's, JJ made a beeline to the kitchen to make something to eat. Unfortunately for him, the only food in John B's kitchen he could have was some mouldy bread and a jar of peanut butter. The bread didn't bother him so he used it anyway. Juliet shook her head as she watched JJ use the bread that had green patches all over it. "That bread had mould on it three days ago." She told him. She remembered seeing it when she'd visited the morning of the day before the storm. Juliet had been standing behind John B with her arms crossed watching JJ.
"I'll just pull off the bad parts." JJ shrugged, he didn't really care. "Plus, mould is good for you. It's just a natural organism." JJ said as he continued to spread the peanut butter. Juliet rolled her eyes and shook her head. She wasn't surprised that was his response.
"JJ." Kiara called JJ over when John B finally sat down and picked up the envelope.
"Yep. Yep. Yep. Hot damn! Let's do this." JJ ran over to the table, mouldy sandwich in hand. Juliet watched him take a bite and immediately spit it back out. She almost took pleasure in watching it. It wasn't like she didn't warn him.
Juliet's eyes then focused back onto John B, who had pulled out a piece of paper from the envelope. He unfolded it and placed it on the table. It was a map. "Holy shit."
"Oh. X marks the spot." Pope leaned over the table and placed his finger on the X that was on the left side of the map.
"Longitude, latitude." John B said to himself, running his fingers along the page. "Wait, there's somethin' else in there." He then reached back in the envelope and pulled out a tape recorder.
"What's that?" JJ asked, not knowing what John B was holding.
"It's a tape recorder, dumbass." Juliet muttered loud enough for JJ to hear. John B then pushed the button on the side of the tape recorder.
"Dear Bird." The voice was deep and Juliet immediately recognised it as John B's fathers.
JJ looked confused. "Who's Bird?"
"That's what my dad called me." John B told him, his eyes fixed on the tape recorder.
"I hate to say 'I told you so' but I told you so. And you doubted your old man. I suspect at this moment you're filled with guilt and self-loathing over our last fight, but don't kill yourself just yet, kid. I didn't expect to find the Merchant either." Everyone's eyes darted up to meet each other's. Did they hear that correctly? Did John B's father actually find the Royal Merchant? "You were probably right to call me out. Wasn't exactly father of the decade. What can I say, kid? I could smell the barn. And hopefully, we're listening to this in our brand new sugar-shack down in Costa Rica, livin' off passive investments and pulling on permits. If not, and you find this for less than optimal reasons, well, that's what the map is for. There she is, the wreck of the Merchant. If somethin' happens to me, finish what I started. Go for the gold, kid. I love you Bird, even if I didn't always act like it. I'll see you on the other side." John B waited for it to finish before he stood up. His friends watched him as he walked over to the doorway and leaned against it. Sobs racked through him and Juliet felt like her heart had broken right there and then. John B knew now that his father was dead and she knew that was the worst feeling in the world.
"Holy shit. He did it. Big John, he found the Merchant." JJ then said as he stared down at the map. JJ never really did know when the right time was to say things.
"Can you.... please." Kiara said to JJ, glaring at him. JJ mumbled a 'sorry' as he realised he should've waited. Juliet was about to follow after John B but Kiara beat her to it. Kiara approached John B and wrapped her arms around him from behind.
Everyone had just stood there for a while, waiting till John B calmed down. When he did, he didn't really want to talk about it so no one asked any questions or said anything else to him. Juliet had made John B give her a hug though, even if he didn't want to. She needed him to know that she was here for him. "You'll be okay. Everything will be okay." Juliet had whispered in his ear before letting him go.
A little while later, the group had decided to sit out on the dock. Kiara had taken out her ukulele and was playing while they all sat around enjoying each other's company. Juliet was sat beside Pope with a can of beer in her hand.
"How much was it again?" JJ had decided to break the silence. He hadn't stopped thinking about how much it was, the amount of money they could all end up with. That kind of money could change his life, for good.
"Four hundred mil." Pope told him. That kind of money was a big deal to all of them, even to Juliet.
"Alright, let's talk the split. Now before we say evenly may I remind you that I am the only one that can properly defend us from those groupers that were after us. Protection, not cheap, okay?" JJ told them and at first, Juliet didn't think he was being serious but when she looked over at him and saw his straight face, she realised he was.
"You haven't trained. You've done zero training." Pope told him, not thinking JJ even deserved an increase. And he wasn't the only one either, Juliet thought he was being ridiculous. He'd been nothing but reckless with the gun. He hadn't protected them at all.
"YouTube, bro! That's at least a five percent bump right there." JJ argued back. Juliet rolled her eyes, yet again.
"You haven't—"
"Any objections? Didn't think so." JJ cut Pope off before he could finish and didn't even pause for anyone to even object. But none of the others were in the mood to argue with JJ anyway. "I don't hear any, so...." Juliet scoffed and Kiara looked at him baffled.
"What are you gonna do with your eighty mil, Pope?" Kiara diverted the conversation. She couldn't sit there and listen to JJ any longer.
Pope thought about it for a few seconds before he answered. "Pay for college in advance. And also, textbooks. Those are expensive." He told Kiara. Juliet admired him for still wanting an education.
"What about you, Kie?" JJ then asked Kiara the same question.
"Yeah, what does a socialist do when she's rich?" Pope questioned.
Kiara laughed. "Just wanna make a double album. About OBX, the Pogues. You know, the way Catch a Fire is about Kingston. Record it at Marley Studio, Peter Tosh producing." Kiara told them, a smile on her face.
"Peter Tosh is dead." Pope interrupted.
"Peter Tosh is dead. I know that, Pope. The spirit of Peter Tosh will never die." Kiara told him, lifting her beer can up.
"Actually, I know what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna get a big ass house on Figure Eight and go full Kook." JJ told them, imagining it in his mind.
"You're gonna go full kook?" Pope almost laughed.
"Yup. Gonna get a marble statue of myself, and then I'm gonna get a koi pond. Put a bunch of those fish—" Pope, Kiara and Juliet all laughed at JJ.
"I'm never visiting." Kiara told him, still laughing.
Pope then turned to look at Juliet. "And what does a Kook do with eighty million dollars?" He asked, making Juliet roll her eyes. She hated being called a Kook. But she smiled anyway.
"Probably travel for a while then move to LA or New York, start my own business. As long as I'm far away from this place as possible." Juliet told them. She'd dreamt of moving away for as long as she could remember, growing up a Pogue didn't exactly make anyone love the Outer Banks that much. Juliet's friends were the only thing that would keep her there but she just craved seeing the world so much and with that much money, she could do whatever she wanted. No one answered her, Juliet assumed everyone was a little shocked by her answer. Juliet had never expressed her desire to move away to any of them. "What are you gonna do, John B?" Juliet asked the silent boy. He hadn't said a word the whole time and Juliet didn't really blame him.
"To going full Kook."
"To going full Kook!" The other four had chorused back to him.
The Pogues stayed together at the Chateau that night, keeping John B company while he processed the information he'd gotten that day about his father. The information that his father wasn't coming home and that he was gone. They all felt for their friend, they really did but had all known for a while that Big John wasn't coming home and they had been trying to get John B to realise that so when the day came that he found out his father was gone, it wasn't such a hard thing to hear.
The next day, Juliet found herself back on the HMS Pogue with the Pogues. She had hoped there had been no more sunken boats for them to find and steal from and that they could just relax for the morning. Juliet was lying up at the front of the boat next to JJ, not that she'd spoken to him the whole time they'd been out on the water, which made a change. Juliet had her eyes closed as she sunbathed, her skin glistening from sweat. She may have only been wearing a bikini but she was still roasting hot. The days in the Outer Banks were getting longer and warmer.
A whistle from JJ had made Juliet open her eyes after having not opened them for a while. "You guys see that? That's the Malibu 24-MXZ. The world's finest wakesetter. Number one in luxury, quality and performance. 200k easy." Juliet sat up on her elbows to see what JJ had spotted. It was a fancy looking boat.
"We picked the wrong parents." Pope said and as the boats got closer, Juliet recognised who was driving it.
"I hate to break it to you guys but that's Topper and Sarah." Juliet said just before they passed them on the water. Topper didn't even glance in their direction and Sarah had watched them but acted like she didn't even know who they were. The least she could've done was acknowledge that it was them. She didn't usually ignore Juliet like that but she was obviously still upset about the night of the Kegger.
"You don't have to act like you don't see us, bitch." Kiara said out loud as they watched them get further away, making Juliet snicker.
Later on in the day, the Pogues had driven all the way to the hotel in Figure Eight that JJ worked at. They needed internet access and most people still didn't have it back yet, not even Juliet did. Paul had been so busy that he hadn't had time to get someone over to fix what the hurricane had damaged. But for the hotel, that had been one of their main priorities, getting their internet access back. Around 2pm that afternoon, John B had pulled up outside the hotel in the van as Juliet glanced out of the back window. She didn't think she'd actually been inside the hotel before. "All right, keep a look out. We're behind enemy lines." JJ had said as he picked the gun up off the floor.
"Come on, man. Just put it back." John B said, glancing at him in the passenger seat. He had to stop bringing the gun with him before he got in trouble for it or before he hurt someone. It wasn't a toy.
"What?"
"JJ." John B said sternly.
"You can never be too careful." JJ shrugged as he checked how many bullets he had. Pope had gotten out the van and walked up to JJ's window.
"Hey, I predict that bringing a weapon to a four-star hotel will likely cause more problems than they solve." He said to JJ, also not thinking that bringing the gun inside was a good idea. Juliet had also gotten out the van as she listened to Pope.
Kiara had then lent in between John B and JJ. "I swear to God, I'm going to throw that thing in the ocean, JJ. Put it back." Kiara sternly told JJ.
"Not if I do it first." Juliet said as she stood by the front of the van with her arms crossed. John B had then grabbed the gun forcefully and put it back to where it had was before, right by JJ's feet.
"There you go." Pope patted JJ on the shoulder. But JJ didn't look impressed with John B's actions.
"You can't just grab a gun like that." He said as he looked at John B. He then lent forward and grabbed something from the glove compartment. "Can't forget my badge." JJ pulled out his badge before getting out the van. "Professional busboy."
John B and Kiara had gotten out after JJ. "So where are we going now?" Pope asked as they all started following JJ up to the hotel. Truth was, JJ and John B hadn't said much to why they'd travelled all the way to Figure Eight to the hotel.
"We're getting on the internet because only rich people have electricity right now." JJ told Pope. "This way!" JJ lead them through a back entrance, through the kitchens and into the main part of the hotel. "See, they got the backup generators going? Kooks don't miss a beat." The passed the reception and JJ snuck them all into the computer room. Luckily it was empty.
"Sweet Lord, the internet." Pope made a beeline to a computer. "I've missed you." Pope immediately turned the computer and the monitor on.
JJ walked up behind Pope, trying to get onto the computer first. "Let me get in there. Gotta check out my Insta models." He said but Juliet, who was sitting beside Pope, pushed him back.
"I'm sure your Insta models can wait. We don't have time." She told him, almost vomiting at her own words. John B had placed his bag on the other side of Pope and was rummaging around for the map inside.
When he finally found it, he placed it in front of Pope. "Hey, hey, hey. My dad's map."
"Coordinates, please?"
"34° 57' 30" north. 75° 55' 42" west." John B read out the coordinates that were written on the map. They all then watched as the globe on the screen moved to exactly where the 'X' was on the map they had. "Boom, continental shelf right there."
"Well, if it's off the deep end, it's not gonna be much of a treasure hunt, is it?" Pope said to John B, who sighed in response. Their eyes then focused back on the computer screen to see where exactly it was.
"Shit, it's only on the high side. It's only 900 feet." John B said.
"That's not too deep." JJ added. Juliet wasn't really sure what he meant, she was sure 900 feet was still pretty deep. How the hell were they supposed to get that far down?
"Is that doable or something?" Kiara asked, obviously being as confused as Juliet was.
"Yeah, totally doable." JJ told her.
"Will we be taking your personal submarine?" Pope asked, sarcasm clear in his voice. It was clear to Juliet that the boys were also confused at JJ's words.
"How do you know this, Mr. Dive Master?"
"The salvage yard. They got a drone that can drop a thousand. It has a 360 camera and everything. It's for like deep dives and stuff. It's exactly what we need." JJ told them. The salvage yard was where JJ's dad worked. Juliet knew that, but she also knew that if they ended up stealing it and JJ's dad found out or got in trouble for it, JJ would be in a whole lot of trouble.
"Can your dad get his grimy hands on that?" John B had asked JJ, but Juliet didn't think it was a good idea.
"Well, my dad's grimy little hands got his ass fired." JJ told them and Juliet instantly turned her head to look at JJ. It was the first she'd heard about his dad loosing his job. Not that she expected him to tell her, obviously, but she expected him to at least let John B know. "I guess the salvage captain frowns on showing up shitfaced, turns out. But the drone's there. It's in the impound yard out back." He said, not wanting to talk more about his dad. Juliet could see he was getting uncomfortable.
"How much did you say was on the Royal Merchant again?" Kiara asked. Juliet didn't understand how she could forget such a large amount of money.
"Four hundred mill." The boys all said in unison.
"Four hundred million dollars?" Kiara's eyes widened in shock. There was no way they couldn't even try. Kiara then made a beeline to the door but Pope was quicker than Kiara.
"No. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. No!" Pope stood at the door with his arms spread out. His aim was to stop Kiara from leaving, to stop them all from leaving. They were not about to become thefts.
"Pope! Move." Kiara walked up to Pope and pushed passed him. He wasn't exactly putting up a fight. She opened the door and left. JJ followed after her as John B started putting the map away. Him and Juliet were next to leave the room.
"Guys, that's too—" Pope began but Juliet cut him off when she walked past him and out of the double doors.
"Come on!" Juliet followed JJ and Kiara out as John B pushed Pope out the room and shut the door behind him.
"Can't we do anything legal for money?"
NOTE
･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ ﾟ
okay so my plan was to have the next chapter as revealing what happened between jj and juliet but i didn't wanna add them stealing the drone to this chapter so that'll be next chapter and the one after that will hopefully be the reveal. if it fits in with the storyline
SO ITS VERY VERY SOON I PROMISE
anyway. hope you just enjoyed the chapter
it was kinda of boring so sorry about that, not much juliet x jj interaction but things are about to get good. i promise
and don't forget to vote and comment!