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𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗘𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗬 𝗘𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧
❝ up all night thinking about my girl? ❞

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・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

"No, they're, like, definitely not from here, but the guy — the guy that we saw down at the wreck, he has something to do with them, too," JJ finished up explaining what went down with the mercenaries once he and Kyla were alone. They had gone outside, hearing the chirps of the crickets and the sound of the ocean as they spoke. It was kind of relaxing to Kyla, after spending the last day and a half running around and then getting shot on top of it all.

"And they didn't hurt you, right?" Kyla asked just to make sure.

"No. No, no. I mean, they tried, but they were, like, mainly after Groff. He pissed them off. He did something to 'em," he told her.

"So they knew each other?"

"Oh yeah. They definitely know each other," he  confirmed as he sat down next to her.

"Do you think Groff knew Tara?" Kyla inquired, raising her brows. She was still skeptical about Groff since he had come out of nowhere saying he was JJ's dad and if Tara had also been a part of the same group as him...she didn't want him to get anywhere near JJ or herself.

JJ thought about it for a moment before he shook his head. "Nah, she made it seem like she only recently joined their...death squad or whatever the hell they are when she explained how she got here. And Groff didn't seem to know her as well as the others by the way he was talking to 'em."

"Well, that's good, I guess. He's never worked with her," Kyla pointed out and JJ nodded, running a hand through his hair. The Carrera girl then looked over at him. "And you really...You believe he's your dad?" She slowly asked.

JJ hesitated before answering, clearly uncomfortable with the whole situation since he was lied to his whole life. "I mean, like the portrait of Larissa, a-and, like, we-we do things...si-similarly. I can't really explain it. But yeah, I think he is."

Kyla nodded slowly before she leaned onto the boy, knowing the both of them needed each other's touch at the moment. "J...I want you to know, if there's anything bothering you, you can talk to me. I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you, you know that," she told him after a second, looking up at him through her eyelashes. She didn't want him to pent up all these feelings just for him to break down like he did at the courthouse. She wanted him to be safe.

She felt the boy sigh. "I know, Ky. It's just...this whole thing is crazy. I-I feel like my whole life was just...a lie. I mean, how-how could Luke not be my real dad and then all of a sudden we get asked by my real dad who knew the whole time to find some amulet 19 years later? It doesn't make sense."

"I know it doesn't. Nothing ever does," she shook her head, blowing out a breath. She really wanted to help him, but she just didn't know how. The whole situation was uncanny. "But we can figure out on the way. That's what you're best at. Spontaneity."

JJ laughed softly. "Yeah, but you're not. You always need a plan," he pointed out.

"When I'm with you, I don't," she whispered and he looked at her on his shoulder, his eyes the color of the ocean filled with deep affection.

"I love you, Ky. And I'm so glad I got you before someone else came along. I don't think I would've been able to see you with another jerk," he admitted, always feeling so vulnerable around the girl. She was truly the only girl he could feel comfortable opening up to. He knew she was the one.

Kyla smiled at his admittance before she remembered her conversation with Alex. Even though she had completely rejected him, she just had to tell JJ about it. "I don't want to ruin the moment, but speaking of someone else..." she trailed off, lifting her head up from his shoulder to see his brows furrow, "...Alex told me that he liked me."

JJ's face contorted to one of anger, immediately getting up from his seat. "Where the fuck is that son of a bitch?" He seethed.

"JJ, stop!" Kyla reprimanded, pulling him back down. "You yelling at him isn't gonna do anything good right now. And besides, I already yelled at him before about it. He knows I don't want him. He's just being delusional about the whole thing.

"I don't want him around you if he's thinking of you in that way. He should've never even been a part of this in the first place," JJ snarled.

"I know, I know. The timing of it all is just...not great. I just don't know how to get them both to leave. Especially Rhi," she told him.

"Why Rhi?"

"I think her and Kie are becoming a thing," she revealed to the boy. "Which I'm happy about because I kinda wanted that to happen, but not when we're getting hunted by mercenaries and they may be in danger." JJ scoffed quietly, shaking his head. "Look, I'll figure out some way to get them uninvolved. Especially Alex."

"Maybe it's better that he stays so he gets knocked out by these mercenaries," the blonde boy muttered under his breath and Kyla whacked him. "Hey!"

"Don't say that shit. He may like me, but that doesn't make him a horrible person," she told him. She was upset at Alex for thinking this whole time she wanted him back, but that didn't mean she wanted to see him get beat up. She knew firsthand that you don't choose who you fall for.

"Yeah, yeah," JJ grumbled.

The next morning, JJ woke up in his bed with Kyla sound asleep next to him. The blonde looked down at her with a soft smile, studying her features and the way her chest slowly rose and fell as she breathed. Even asleep, she looked ethereal to him. He couldn't believe the girl that was once just "Kie's older sister" was now his girlfriend. All those years of trying to flirt with her paid off, he guessed.

He carefully got up from the bed, being careful not to wake her up and walked out to the kitchen area to see Alex sitting alone. JJ hummed quietly, narrowing his eyes at the boy before he walked over. "Hey, Al. I see you're up bright and early," he acknowledged in a mocking manner, opening the fridge to pull out a water bottle.

Alex looked over and resisted the urge to roll his eyes at him. "Couldn't sleep," he answered briefly.

"Why? Up all night thinking about my girl?" JJ confronted, turning around to face the boy with raised boys. "Hm?"

Alex hesitated before answering, knowing that nothing good was going to come out of this conversation. "No...no. Just didn't want to get murdered in my sleep by those mercenaries," he tried to deflect.

"I don't think it's the mercenaries you gotta worry about," the Maybank boy retorted.

"Excuse me?" Alex replied, getting up from his seat and narrowing his eyes at the blonde in front of him.

JJ neared him, stopping just a few inches away. "Look, Kyla told me not to yell at you so instead I'm just gonna tell you. If you just so happen to look in her direction in any way other than just being friendly, you got something coming your way, okay?" JJ threatened.

Alex didn't want to fight. Hell, he didn't know how to fight! He just couldn't believe that he had gotten himself into this situation just because he liked a girl who had a boyfriend. It wasn't even like he tried anything with her! JJ tilted his head at him, waiting for his answer impatiently. "I got it, man," the Craft boy responded, nodding his head. "I'm sorry."

"You should be. You made her think you were her friend when you really just wanted to get in her pants."

"No, that's not—"

"Don't even deny it, man!" JJ cut him off, holding his hand up. "I could tell the whole damn time. And luckily for you, Ky is nice enough to make sure I don't fuck you up. But honestly, it's getting kinda hard to restrain myself so I think you should just leave."

Alex's nose flared angrily. "Fine. I'll fucking go. I've wanted to since the start. Have fun getting chased around by killers," he said to the boy, grabbing his phone off the counter aggressively and storming out of the house. He had completely forgot that his sister was still there inside, too wrapped up in his own jealousy and rage.

JJ nodded to himself, placing his hands his hips. "Okay, good talk."

・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

"Hey, has anyone seen Alex?" Rhi questioned no in particular as they all got ready for the day. The others all looked at one another, shaking their heads.

"Oh, I saw him this morning. Said he needed to go back to your rental because the landlord stopped by. He said be should be back soon," JJ lied to the girl.

"Oh, okay," Rhi nodded. Kyla looked at her boyfriend, wondering if he truly did listen to her and they did have a normal conversation. She didn't want to think too much of it though, having bigger things to worry about.

JJ and John B then made their way outside, packing up the Twinkie. "Hey, did you speak to JJ at all last night?" Kiara asked once they left.

"Yeah, last night we were worried about him with the whole dad thing," Rhi added.

"Oh, you two were talking to each other last night?" Kyla teased and both girls' face burned, making Kyla smirk. "But yeah, we spoke. He's going through it right now, but I told him we all had his back."

"Yeah, that's good."

Sarah then came out of her room, wearing a white dress with her hair and makeup done nice. "Hey, girls," she giggled giddily.

They all looked at her, their eyebrows raised. "What's with the dress?" Kiara asked. "I mean, you look great but..."

"Yeah, is there a special occasion?" Kyla inquired.

Sarah grinned. "I'm going to get married to John B. We're gonna sign the papers," she revealed and Kyla and Kiara squealed happily, running over to the girl and enveloping her in a hug as Rhi just watched with a smile.

"Sarah, we're so happy for you!" Kyla exclaimed before she lowered her voice. "You told him about...?"

Sarah nodded. "Yeah. Everything is great," she confirmed and the girls squealed again.

"This is crazy. I can't believe you guys are gonna officially seal the deal," Kiara spoke in awe. "It feels like yesterday that I was mad at John B for mackin' on you at Chapel Hill."

"Macking?" Rhi repeated in confusion.

"Flirting," Kiara told her quickly and the ginger nodded, holding her finger up and waving it.

"I know, I know. We've been talking about it for so long and I just want to do it already," Sarah told the girls before she ran her hand down her dress. "How do I look?"

"Is that even a question? Sarah, you're beautiful," Kyla told the girl. "Now go tie the knot with your man."

Sarah smiled from ear to ear before the girls walked outside, trying to hide the smiles on their faces. Kyla noticed the look in John B's eyes when he saw Sarah, smiling to herself since she could just tell that he was in love with her.

"Let's make this quick," JJ spoke next to the car. "All right? Gotta keep my head down."

"Hey, we're gonna get out of your hair, actually," John B interrupted as he walked over to Sarah. "Give you guys some space."

"Yeah," Sarah said, taking John B's hand.

"What?" JJ said in confusion.

"Yeah. You know, it's your dad. And-and it's your mom's grave. You should do this with him," Sarah told him.

"So y'all just bailing right now?" JJ cut to the chase.

"No."

"We're not bailing. We're just multitasking," John B corrected.

"Running some quick errands. We'll be back. We just have something to do," Sarah waved goodbye.

"An errand, right now? Are you kidding me, guys?! We could save Poguelandia if we could just—"

"JJ, don't worry about it. You're gonna go with your dad. John B and Sarah are gonna run their errand. And we're gonna stay here, get us packed up 'cause we gotta get out of here," Kiara cut him off, not wanting him to stop the couple's moment.

"Yeah, they'll be back soon, don't worry about it," Kyla tried to assure the boy.

"Just not the right time to be splitting up," JJ pointed out, closing the back of the Twinkie and going over to Kyla.

"JJ!" Groff called out from across the way, giving him a wave.

Kyla looked at the man and sighed quietly, turning to the blonde in front of her. "J, I know he's your...dad. Just be careful."

"If he tries anything, I'll just steal the little lens thing for myself," JJ assured her.

"Remember, you're a wanted man. Keep your head down," Kiara reminded him, shaking his hand encouragingly.

"You know me, Kie. I know how to escape the cops," he told her and she rolled her eyes at him.

"Call me if anything goes wrong, okay?" Kyla said, cupping his face. "Don't need you ghosting me like last time."

"Yeah, I won't. Promise," he said before she leaned in, planting a kiss on his lips. When she pulled away, she nodded at him supportively and he nodded back.

"Good luck," Rhi added with a thumbs up and JJ nodded at her, giving her a tightlipped grin.

He then turned toward his father, who had seen the couple's little interaction take place. "Let's do it!"

"You got it," Groff replied with a smile before he looked at the girls. "Mornin'." They just gave him a forced smile, watching as they got in the car and drove off.

The girls then walked back over to the house before they saw John B and Sarah riding on the HMS Pogue, happy smiles on their faces. "So is everyone just madly in love here or...?" Rhi trailed off, making Kyla giggle.

"Pretty much," Kiara answered.

authors note!
we love protective jj in this house
hehehe. also, since ive seen many
people commenting to change the
ending of this fic, i want to make it
100% clear that i am writing TWO
endings for season 4. i want to be
able to writing season 5 and depending
on how that seasons goes down, i want
i have two endings to choose from (so
one would be canon and one would be
alternative). just wanted to let you guys
know since ive been seeing a lot of comments
about it! remember to vote and comment!