"GOOD MORNING!"
Affinity jolted awake, almost kicking John B off the couch. Her groggy yet frantic eyes zipped around the room until she found her father grinning mischievously in the kitchen. She knew she was in for it. John B immediately stood up and distanced himself from where he had fallen asleep next to Affinity on the couch.
"So," Mr. McCormick sang with a smirk. "How'd you two sleep?"
"Um- fine?" Affinity answered as she cleared her throat.
John B rocked back and forth on his heels as he stumbled on his words. "Yeah, uh- yeah I slept- fine."
Mr. McCormick hummed as he finished getting ready for work. "Good, good."
"So uh- Dad, how has work been?" Affinity asked, trying to change the subject. "Anything new with that homicide case?"
"Homicide?" John B questioned.
"Fin, you know I can't give away details. All I can say is that we are rather stumped," he answered. "These people just showed up out of nowhere. Nobody knew them, so how could anyone have any clue as to why they ended up dead."
Affinity gave him a closed-lipped smile. "Don't worry, you'll figure it out. You always did."
Her father stopped next to her on his way out the door to give her a kiss on the forehead. "Thank you, Fin. Now, you two stay out of trouble. I'll see you two later!" He called out as he walked out the door and shut it behind him.
Affinity let out the breath she didn't even know she was holding as she let herself sink deeper into the cushions. "Well, that was awkward."
"You took the words right out of my mouth," John B huffed. "Are you going to tell him?"
Affinity nodded. "Yeah, but not yet. I just don't want him to worry- or something like that. You can see how protective he can get. I'm just trying to protect him for once."
Affinity's smile faded away as her glance fell to the floor.
"That's not it, is it?" John B asked in a comforting tone.
"We told each other we'd be 100% honest, but I'm still not telling him the full truth. I guess I feel guilty, and I know for sure that he isn't being completely honest with me about work. He claims everything is going well but he never tells me about his day or how being back on the force is. I worry about him a lot, that's all."
John B stood to his feet and started into the kitchen. "Fin, you tend to worry about a lot of people, and anyway, none of us will have to worry about a damn thing when we're rich."
Affinity smiled and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're right."
John B bowed playfully. "I always am."
John B's phone buzzed on the table next to Affinity.
"Hey, Fin, can you check that."
Affinity reached over to check that message on John B's phone, but what she found caused her heart to sink slightly.
She swallowed the lump in her throat as she said, "Uh- It's Ward."
John B snapped his attention to her as he hurried over to sit next to her to look at the message. "Ward? Ward Cameron?"
Affinity handed the phone over to him so he could look at the message.
"He says he says that he's sorry for being too harsh on me and has a job for me and that it'll pay good money. He wants me to go to Figure 8 to talk to him." John B furrowed his brows. "Why would he suddenly just offer me a job."
"Well, what are you going to do?" Affinity asked.
"Tell him I'm not going to take it," John B answered as if it were obvious. "Affinity, we're about to have our hands on 400 million dollars."
"I think that's a terrible idea. Wouldn't Ward become suspicious? The John B he knows needs all the money he can get."
John B slouched back into his seat. "Yeah, you're probably right," he groaned.
"Want me to go with you?" Affinity asked as she took in a shaky breath.
John B sent her a concerned look. "No, no, no, Fin, you don't have to go. I can't imagine how hard it would be to be around that man."
Affinity stood to her feet and shrugged. "I'm going to have to make peace with this matter one way or another. Maybe this is a chance to not forgive, but forget."
John B stared up at her with a look of concern. "Are you sure?"
Affinity pursed her lips and nodded. "I'll be okay. I got nothing else better to do."
"If you insist."
John B grabbed his keys off the table and walked towards the door with Affinity right behind him. The two got into the van and drove off towards Figure 8 and soon enough John B pulled into the gravel driveway of Ward Cameron's house. Affinity saw no sign of Jen's car, so hopefully, that meant she hadn't moved in yet or she was gone.
Thank God.
John B put the car in park and looked over at the girl who sat nervously in the passenger's seat, staring at the colossal house that stood before the van. After much internal contemplation, he reached out and grabbed her hand. Affinity was surprised by his touch, but nonetheless, she intertwined her fingers with his and squeezed his hand.
"You can stay here, Affinity. You don't have to prove anything to anyone," John B said in a soft and reassuring tone.
Affinity smiled as her thumb rubbed circles on the top of his hand. "I have to prove it to myself. I can't let these family issues constantly weigh me down. Just keep me distracted, I don't know."
John B smiled at her strength. "Of course, and hey, I'll be here the whole time."
Affinity took in a deep inhale as she opened the passenger door. John B got out after her and the two started towards the front door. Affinity could feel her heart gradually beat a little faster as they got closer to the house.
"Okay, so what's the plan?" Affinity asked, trying to redirect her thoughts.
"After we take care of this, we're going to the pawnshop so we can pay off JJ's restitution for sinking Topper's boat." John B suddenly couldn't stop smiling. "And Pope has a plan for us to go back down there to get the rest."
"How much was down there?" Affinity asked as excitement bubbled within her.
"500, 600 bars of gold? It's all down there!"
"Unreal. 400 million dollars," she mumbled to herself.
"I know," John B sighed. "I can't believe it."
Just as those words exited John B's mouth, Ward Cameron appeared on the front porch and started to approach the two of them. Affinity and John B immediately fell silent in order to keep their secret. A lump formed in Affinity's throat at the sight of the man, but the feeling slowly dissipated once John B grabbed her hand.
"Good morning, you two!" Ward called out happily.
Affinity simply rolled her eyes as she trailed behind John B. John B stopped his advance once he reached Ward.
"Good morning, Mr. Cameron," John B answered. "You said something about having a job for me to work?"
"Ah, yes. I need you to come on a fishing trip with me, John B."
"A fishing trip?"
"Yes, we are having a lot of family over tomorrow and need a main course for dinner. I need all hands on deck."
John B hesitated, every ounce of him wanted to say no and just leave to go get the rest of the gold, but he reluctantly said yes after earning a nudge from Affinity.
"Perfect! I will see you bright and early tomorrow morning. Four o'clock sharp?"
"Yep, sounds great, Mr. Cameron," John B nodded.
Ward turned his attention to Affinity, who stared down at where her feet shuffled around in the gravel below.
"It was great to see you again, Affinity! Have a good one guys!"
Affinity looked up at him but couldn't muster a smile. John B turned around and wrapped his arm around Affinity's shoulders to lead her back to the van. He shook her slightly and brought her in closer.
"You did it!" He cheered quietly.
Affinity tried to hide her smile as she crossed her arms. "I didn't do anything."
John B looked down at her. "No, you didn't give him shit...as that should be. You just can't let them see that they get to you because that's how you hurt them more than they hurt you. By doing nothing, you do everything."
Affinity grinned and leaned closer to him. "Thank you, JB."
"Honestly, don't get used to that kind of advice because I usually suck at that. Cherish those words... that will most likely never happen again," he laughed as he got into the van.
"Noted."
Now that they had taken care of everything with Ward, they drove off to pick up JJ, Kiara, and Pope, who had been waiting on them so they could go pawn off the gold. The three of them had worked to melt down the gold bars in order to reduce as much suspicion as possible. After gathering their friends, John B drove deeper into the Cut until he cruised by an old, run-down looking shop with a sign that hung above it reading: Cash for Gold.
"You really did a hell of a job melting this down, Kie," JJ complained while he got out of the car with the gold.
"Like you could've done anything better!" Kiara snapped back.
"I could've, I took a welding class!"
John B wedged himself between the two to try to stop their bickering. "Hey, just- chill out."
JJ groaned and walked away. "You're not the one that has to pawn this piece of shit off. How'd I get stuck with this job anyway?"
"Because you're the best liar," Pope answered instantly.
The rest of the four scattered themselves amongst the store while JJ approached the lady at the front desk. After a few moments of conversation, JJ revealed the lump of gold to the woman and immediately received a look of disbelief. JJ continued on in convincing her that the gold was real, having the woman run the gold through all the possible tests to prove that it was indeed 100% gold while he made up a story along the way. Slowly but surely, she started to believe him. While keeping her eye on JJ, the woman made her way to the back of the store to a small room in order to contemplate with her boss about what to do with the kids' findings.
The group of five waited in silence for her to return but when she did, she didn't offer them the full amount of money for the gold. JJ retaliated, claiming that the gold was worth much more than what she had offered them and despite JJ arguing for a larger payment, he was still stuck with half of what it was worth. Affinity could overhear the woman saying that she didn't have the money here and that it was stashed in some type of warehouse on the other side of the Cut. It was easy to tell that JJ was skeptical but at this point, they couldn't be picky.
All of them filed out of the store and got back into the van while JJ read off the directions to John B. No one had ever heard of such a place and once they approached the area that had been described, no one had ever seen that part of the island. It looked completely desolate other than the few crumbling houses that were scattered around every few miles.
"So they keep money out here?" Kiara asked skeptically.
"Who would keep money way out here?" Affinity added.
"That's what she said," JJ answered. "Ha. That's what she s-"
"Stop."
"There's nothing but weeds back here," John B mumbled.
"Alright, just because it's just weeds, doesn't mean it's-"
The sound of police sirens cut JJ off mid-sentence as each of their glances trailed to the car that followed them from behind. Affinity shot John B a look as he glanced in the rearview mirror.
"Cops? Out here?"
"God!" John B groaned out of frustration. Are you kidding me?"
"We didn't do anything wrong. Why the hell are we getting pulled over."
John B turned around towards JJ and said, "Stash that."
"I hate cops," JJ muttered as he frantically wrapped up the lump of gold.
"Did you bring the gun?" John B asked JJ harshly.
"No, everyone told me to leave it back at the place so I did."
"Thank God."
"Check everything in your bag, please, JJ."
"I am, I am, alright?"
"How much weed do you have on you, bro?" Pope pried.
Just as JJ stuffed the gold and his belongings away under the seat, a man wearing a skull bandana over the bottom half of his face cocked a gun and pointed it right at John B's face. Everyone in the car stopped moving.
"Why don't I go ahead and see them hands in the air?" The man said gruffly.
John B didn't move, completely frozen in fear.
"All y'all's hands in the air right now!" He waved his gun at John B, who now had his hands raised, and motioned for him to get out of the car. John B got out slowly, being sure to keep his hands up while he stepped out of the van.
"Let them out now!"
John B gradually shuffled over to the other side of the van while the man yelled at him to hurry. He reached Affinity first, who had pressed herself against the seat as if she were trying to just simply disappear. Affinity carefully stepped down out onto the ground, hands raised in the air, and moved next to John B. Pope, Kiara, and JJ each got out of the van after John B had slid the door open. The masked man continued to yell at them and tried to hurry them along so his business could be done.
"Look, we're broke, man," JJ argued, but it only made everyone's thoughts become even more frantic and it made their robber even more angry.
"Shut the hell up!"
"Alright."
"Shut the hell up!"
"Alright, alright! Just relax!"
"Shut the hell up! Or I'll blow your damn head off!" The man moved the gun downward and pointed it near the ground. "Lay down in the ditch! On your goddamn hands and knees. Down! Put your face on the ground!" His hand shoved JJ to the ground as the others' trembling hands reached up to their heads. "Don't let me see y'all look up! That's all you gotta do!"
Now that the threat had been made, the gunman moved along to the van and started to dig along inside of it, tossing their belongings across the interior of the car, not giving anything he was doing a second thought.
"This was a setup," Kiara mumbled.
"That old bat shanked us," JJ spoke through gritted teeth while he punched the ground and continued to mumble curses.
To Affinity's left, she could see John B slowly push himself up to his feet. Affinity desperately tried to grab his hand and pleaded for him not to go. She couldn't tell if her heart was beating so fast she couldn't feel it or it had just stopped beating entirely. She reached out and grabbed his arm, but it was no use, the boy continued to move away from the rest of the group despite Affinity's desperation.
"John B, don't be a hero, man," Pope whispered.
John B raised a finger to his lips and silently moved to the car of the man that was robbing them. Affinity watched with a heavy heart as John B got inside the backseat of the black car that was only yards behind them. Affinity tried to keep from staring at where John B had disappeared and moved her sight to the ground. And just after that, the man reappeared after stepping out of the van.
"Yeah, y'all lay nice and still unless you want your brains blown out all over this road! Don't move your goddamn heads, okay?"
With that, the man took off into a jog towards his car and scrambled to look for his keys to make his getaway. But he didn't get too far before John B appeared out from the backseat, first landing a punch on the man's jaw and then going for the gun. They both struggled for the gun but John B had ripped it back hard enough to claim it. JJ had already sprinted off from where he had laid in the ditch.
"Get the gun!"
But JJ had already run past the gun, his first target being the robber. After dodging the initial punch, JJ threw a side punch first that collided with the guy's cheek, then plunging another punch through his gut. Affinity was right behind JJ and got a firm hand on the defeated man's shoulder so that she was able to drive her knee through his chest. She felt two hands shove her to the side but John B had been waiting for the retaliation so he could jam the butt of the gun into his back.
Just as he hit the ground, Pope called out that he had found the gold. Kiara then grabbed the open car door to slam it into him twice before Pope finished him off with a kick to the jaw. That final blow had put their enemy upright against the side of the car. JJ stomped over to the man who gasped for breaths and ripped down his mask to reveal his face.
"I know this piece of shit!" JJ yelled. "He's a basehead! He sells coke to my dad."
"Listen, I couldn't hurt any single one of y'all-"
JJ didn't even give him a chance to finish before punching him in the chest with the butt of the gun again. John B and Pope grabbed both of his arms to pull him away.
"JJ!"
"Come on, let's just get out of here," John B almost begged.
JJ reached down and snatched the wallet that rested on the ground. He opened it and flipped through the cards that had been stashed inside. JJ threw the wallet back down to the ground and pushed his way past John B.
"We got one last stop."
<<<>>>
JJ hadn't said a word the entire drive despite the complaints from the others. He knew where he wanted to go, and he wasn't stopping for no one. It wasn't fear that was racing through his veins like everyone else, it was anger. Affinity had seen JJ angry before, but she had never seen this. JJ finally stopped after he turned onto a gravel road that twisted through a neighborhood of houses that were falling apart at the seams. He parked in front of a house that looked like it had been hit by hurricane Agatha more than once. JJ angrily put the van in park.
"Why are we at Barry's?" Pope groaned impatiently.
JJ quickly got out. "This will only take a second."
"Where are you going," John B asked.
"Yo soy justicia," JJ replied simply.
"Did you glean anything from that?" Pope muttered.
"Someone should probably-"
John B was already half out of the van. "Yeah, I got it."
Affinity rolled her eyes and slouched back in her seat. "He's always like this isn't he." She earned a pair of nods.
"John B can either talk him out of it or it does nothing. So, we'll see how it goes this time," Kiara explained.
A few tedious minutes ticked by before JJ hurried out of the house as his eyes stared down in the duffel bag he carried while John B followed behind, looking defeated. The remaining three immediately got out of the van.
"Alright, so we're looking at about five grand each for reparations for putting us through that bullshit," JJ said, acting as if the entire situation was suddenly normal. "Sorry about that, y'all."
"So that's what we're doing now? Robbing drug dealers?" Kiara complained.
"This Barry guy's going to find out," Affinity added. "He's going to come after us."
"Yes, he will," Pope agreed. "This is not the time to start wilin' out
"Okay, so how'd you like it having a gun pulled out on ya?" JJ defend.
John B took a step towards JJ so that they were inches away from each other. "Relax!"
JJ pointed a stiff finger at John B. "He had right here on you, bro."
John B hit his hand away. "Look. We've gotta go get the gold, okay?" John B reached for the duffel bag. "Just give me that shit. We're putting it back."
JJ grabbed the collar of John B's shirt and shoved him up against the van. John B stared at him incredulously. "What? You feel like a tough guy? Huh? What are you going to do when he comes after us?"
"We punch him in the throat," JJ answered coldly through gritted teeth.
"Yeah, good fuckin' idea, JJ."
JJ simply shook his head. "I'm not putting it back."
JJ grabbed the bag and stepped back inside the van to find his seat, but no one else moved. It was safe to say that everyone was fed up. They shared a few looks of annoyance, then returning their eyes to JJ.
JJ threw his hands up in the air. "Are you getting in or what?"
After receiving no response, JJ's face, which was contorted with frustration, looked back at the group. He let out a heavy exhale as he got out of the van. He put his hands on his hips and shrugged at them.
"What?" He didn't seem to find a problem with any of this.
"We're sick of your shit," John B answered as calmly as possible.
"Oh! My shit?"
Everyone agreed with John B's statement.
"Your pulling guns on people shit," Kiara continued.
Pope sided with the rest. "You're acting like a maniac-"
"Okay, Pope, I took the fall for you, man!" JJ exclaimed. The boy was very close to snapping entirely. "You know how much money I owe because of you?"
"I'm gonna pay you back! I didn't ask you to do it!" Pope shouted back.
JJ stepped closer to him. "Well, I just did! Paid it back. Right here, right now, by myself." He started to circle the group. "You know what? That's exactly what I'm going to do. Go off...by myself."
Pope reached out for the boy but he wasn't quick enough. Kiara rested a hand on Pope's shoulder. "Just let him go."
And as JJ walked away, for the first time ever, the Pogues had been split up.
•••
a/n: not proud of this one but it's done!! okay so the whole situation with ward was hard to do but after racking my brain for hours, that's all i could come up with. please forgive me for the lack of creativity :((
hope you guys enjoyedddd
- ky <3