Rafes arrest spread as fast as Wildfire. Before Aria even made it home, the radio in the car was speaking of it. Panic set in her chest, hitting the gas and speeding home. She knew her dad would know something, anything maybe. He had too, there wasn't a thing that Ward did that Gage didn't know about.

Though when the girl jumped out of the car and ran inside, she was met with a empty house, "Dad? Where are you? Rafe got arrested and-"

Her shouts stopped when she saw the note taped onto the kitchen table. Her eyes darted around as she read the few words, dropping it immediately before speeding like hell over the Figure Eight.

"Dad! What the fuck! Dad!" Aria hollered as she sprinted across the back lawn of the Cameron house. Her fathers words were clear in the note, though it still came to a shock to her when she ran out and saw him and Ward on the boat. Sarah, JJ, John B, Pope, and Kie were there, standing near the docks. Aria was suddenly met with force, hitting the ground as one of the police tackled her, "Get me go! They-"

But Aria was cut off by exactly what the note said what would happen. The boat exploded, fire setting in the air while objects from the boat blew. Gage and Ward, inside and now dead. Aria breathed shaky suddenly, her heart clinching, arms shaky. The officer let her go, running off toward Shoupe. Aria laid on the lawn in shock, staring.

Sarah's sobs echoed in the air, boats swarming the explosion in no time. A almost squeak left Arias lips, not a cry but not a form of happiness either. She stared in shock, thinking she'd gotten here in time, thinking it was a way to just scare her. Aria hated her dad, she'd thought about him dying so many times. But at the end of the day, he was still her dad, and he was still the one to stay.

"Get off." Aria tried to shove Rose off when the blonde kneeled next to her to hug her, "Let me go!"

Rose fought against her, holding her in her arms. Aria gave up on the fight as she leaned into Rose, finally starting to sob. Her hands gripped the blondes arms tightly, crying as Rose attempted to comfort her in the best way she could.

Aria wanted to be there for Rafe. She really did. She knew it was gonna hit him hard. Especially with the two of them finally seeming to get along, Ward for once seeing him, and now he's dead. Aria truly did want to be there, as a form of comfort.

But every time she walked toward the door, she froze.

Gage was just here a few hours ago. He was seated at the table, talking to Aria and burning her with his cigarette. Then he leaves a suicide note, hopes on a boat with Ward, and kills himself. All of it was bad for her, all of it was killing her so slowly that she didn't even realize what all she'd done. All of it was causing a wave of horrible thoughts that even scared her.

JJ saw it though. When he walked into the Whitlock house, the door swung open with every window open, he saw what she'd done. The house was destroyed, things torn and shot at. Picture broken on the floor, knives sticking out of the walls and empty guns laying across the floor. The good thing about being a Whitlock is the land they inherited so long along, no one around for a while so no one heard a single thing.

"Yo." JJ called as he looked around the destroyed living room, his eyes looking at the holes in the wall. Some from Gage punching the wall when Aria wasn't around, but most from the Whitlock girl herself, "Aria? You here, dude?"

They weren't close, like, at all. JJ and Aria played together once when she was six and he was four. He'd been spending some time with his uncle while his dad did time in jail. Jade brought Aria to Denny's houses behind her fathers back. The adults disappeared into a back room while Aria and JJ were left in the backyard. She asked if he wanted to catch lizards and hang them on their ears like earring, he said yes.

When they got older though, they never spoke unless she'd throw a insult his way and he'd come back with one just as rude. Or, once, when her and Kie fought hard on the beach. Aria living on Kook territory, and JJ being a Pogue didn't mix as was. But the fact that her mother left her alone with her dad, to go with his uncle made it so much worse. JJ didn't feel much different. It pissed him off that his uncle, his only safe space away from his dad, took off with her mother.

"What the hell are you doing here?" her voice made him jumped, turning around with a fist up.

"Jesus!" he explained, not seeing her before , "I almost went karate kid on you. Like complete-"

He stopped talking and instead showed a form of karate chop movement.

Aria didn't look impressed, staring at him in disbelief with a pocket knife in her hand. She's just cut into her dads bed, stabbing the pillows. There was a feather in her hair from it. It was impossible for Aria to be ugly, she's been too beautiful to be considered ugly, but she looked rough and bad right now. With her tear stained face, dark circles under her eyes, blotchy cheeks, red eyes, and chapped lips.

"Saw what happened to your dad." he spoke to her, shoving his hands into his pocket. The knife made a loud noise when she tossed it into the table, moving past him. Her feet were loud on the floor, he wondered how he hadn't heard her before, "Just wanted to pop in and be, like, 'yo, sorry bout your old man.' and all that."

Aria turned around to look at him again, leaning against the sink. For a second she wanted to lay a good one at him, knock her knuckles into his face. He looked so much like his dad, and his dad looked just like his brother. Seeing JJ made her think of her mom. And her mom made her think of her dad, "Right, thanks."

JJ gave a shrug, "So, whatchu gonna do now?"

"Why is it any of your concern at all?" her words were snappy, but he didn't take any offense by it. Her freaking dad was dead, her mom was gone, her uncle was doing life in jail, her aunt fleed the state as soon as she could, her grandfather was dead, and her grandmother was a psycho killer cooped up in a house.

"It's not." JJ shrugged his shoulders, looking into her cabinets, "Just spitballing here."

"Well, don't." she rolled her eyes, grabbing the bottle of vodka and two shot glasses, "I'll be nineteen in October. I'm already considered a adult. There's nothing I have to do."

But she wondered how she could ever afford to keep the little house. It wasn't much at all and barley cost anything, but the land was what drained her dad. Not to mention she didn't have a job, because not many people were gonna hire a high school drop out. Not to mention how shitty her record looked with multiple DWI's, in and out of county, and a ridiculous number of Disturbing The Peace.

"You gonna keep this junker?" JJ hummed as she passed him one of the shots, looking around at the absolutely trashed shack.

"Probably just gonna let the bank take it." Aria explained with a wince, the vodka hurting her throat as she coughed. JJ took it fine, but she'd never been to good with alcohol. Molly and weed were always her choice of poison, "Put my crazy ass grandma into a home, take over her house since it's already paid for."

"Yeah, about time." JJ agreed, pulling out a joint from his pocket and lighting the end, "Blind bitch is possessed."

Aria gave a snort, "Yeah, I know. My dad never wanted to send her away or anything. But I don't care, it's not like she is gonna last for more then a year and then the house will go to stupid Hollis or be waiting for stupid Leon . But fuck them, I deserve the house."

"Haunted house." he pointed out, passing her the joint before standing up, "You keep that, with your depressing self and all."

Aria hummed as she gave him a nod, exhaling the smoke as it hit him in the face, "What are you doing? Your dads in county, isn't he?"

"Yeah, not sure how long." he gave a shrug her way, "I don't think no one cares where i'm staying though."

"Rarely do on The Cut." Aria hummed.

"Peterkin cares." JJ spoke, because he knew she was around Rafe so much more. Because he saw her choose his side, fuel his psycho ways just as he did hers. Aria stared at him, "She cared what's happened to John B when he had no family."

Aria nose twitched, "You know where the door is, don't you?"

And he took it as his cue to leave.

•

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