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𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗧𝗬 𝗧𝗪𝗢
vulnerable

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・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

Rafe sailed the boat through the water and they ended up passing Poguelandia, causing them to think of the memories they shared together in that home.

Despite Kyla not being there as much as the others since she only had time to come back and visit during breaks, she had thought over the fun times they had there.

From the cooking dinner together, to the praying at the dinner table, to the Just Dance battles, to the parties. Everything had been perfect.

Until it wasn't.

"Goodbye, island paradise," Kiara waved in a sad voice, distracting them from their thoughts of their home to the future events that were about to take place. "So, what, we're just on our way to Africa now? Quick little weekend trip?"

"What about Rafe? We know what he did to the cross," Pope reminded them, thinking about how Rafe stole it and melted it down. "And now we want to go after the crown with him? That makes zero sense."

"Doesn't take Pope to figure that part out," Cleo commented.

"Sarah, you're his family. How do we deal with Rafe?" John B asked.

"I don't know. I really have no idea," she answered truthfully.

"All right, well, it seems like we're stuck on this boat with him so we gotta talk to him," John B pointed out.

"Talk to Rafe?" JJ spoke up in disbelief as he sat on the ground.

"Well, you're definitely not talking to him," John B shut him down.

"Oh, I'm not doing it, right. Okay, what did I do now?" The blonde questioned.

"Look, it just might be easier if we handle it, okay?" Kiara tried to reason. "You might trigger him and that's, like, the last thing we need."

"Trigger him?!" JJ exclaimed. "Yeah, I trigger him because I get shit done, all right?"

"Yeah, like felonies and forcing us out of the country for potentially the rest of our lives," John B deadpanned. "So why don't you park your ass right there and just sit this one out?"

"Could you ask him if he's got any blow for me then? That would really do the trick right now," JJ spoke sardonically.

"JJ, are you for real right now?" Kyla said to her boyfriend, completely offended by his words.

He knew how she had felt about Rafe doing cocaine. He had seen her walk into The Wreck that one time she had stormed out of Topper's party because Rafe was doing coke and he had been begging her to have sex with him.

JJ just shrugged, downing some more alcohol he had found. "You know what? No. I'm not gonna deal with this. Let's just go talk to Rafe," she said, shaking her head as she gave up trying to speak with the boy since it was clear he wasn't in the right mindset to have a meaningful conversation.

"Come on, JJ," John B whispered to him in disappointment as he walked by him before he knocked on the door to the control room. "Hey. I just wanna talk."

"All right, let's talk," Rafe replied as all the Pogues began to file into the room slowly.

"We're on a long trek. So let's just—"

"Right, just so you know..." Rafe lifted up his shirt, taking out his gun from underneath his belt loop and holding it up for them all to see. "See this? It's a peacemaker, all right? You guys be cool, I'll be cool."

"Why does everyone always have a gun?" Rhi muttered under her breath in frustration and Kiara shut her eyes, shaking her head.

"So now you want peace?" Pope asked, not forgetting about the times he and Rafe had fought.

"I just saved all your asses," Rafe said, looking around at them with his face scrunched up. "How about a 'thank you'? You know, no good deed goes unpunished. It'll be just like in Barbados. Right, Ky? You remember?" He said, looking over his shoulder at her with a hint of a smirk on his face.

"I think Kie can back me up in saying that we had a truce," Kyla replied to him, crossing her arms as Kiara nodded next to her.

Rafe's smirk fell. "Okay, here's the situation, all right? I don't want any part of your little fairy tale treasure hunt bullshit, all right? I'm just looking for Groff. I get you to North Africa, you get me to Groff. Deal?"

"We want the same thing," John B told him.

All of a sudden, JJ came barging into the room, clearing his throat, "Hey, Rafe." He then punched Rafe across the face, knocking him unconscious onto the ground.

"Oh, shit," Pope breathed out.

"Jesus, JJ!" John B yelled.

"Oh, that felt good. Whoo!" JJ said with a smile while all the girls just shook their heads, not wanting to be a part of it so they left the room except for Kyla, who's nose had been flared in anger at her boyfriend. "I didn't see that coming either."

"What the hell are you doing?!" John B shouted, kneeling down next to Rafe.

"You weren't seriously going to trust what he was saying, were you?" JJ slurred.

"I mean, honestly, if he didn't do it, I was gonna do it," Pope admitted and John B just sent him a look that read, 'You're not helping.'

"I seriously can't believe you right now, JJ. He was helping us!" Kyla voiced, gesturing to Rafe passed out on the floor with her hand.

JJ turned to the girl, scoffing. "Like I just said, you weren't gonna seriously trust him, were you?"

"Well, he's a hell of a lot more trustworthy than you right now," Kyla bit back, narrowing her eyes at the boy.

JJ stepped forward. "You take that back," he seethed, pointing a finger at her. Not only did JJ hate Rafe for the fact that he had gotten in the way of their hunt for gold many times, but he also hated him for how he had treated Kyla in the past. And now he had to hear that she had trusted Rafe more than himself? He wasn't going to stand for it.

"JJ, stop," John B warned, slowly getting up from his crouch.

Kyla looked down at his finger before she pushed it down aggressively, baring her teeth. "No! You've been fucking drinking ever since last night and you clearly can't make any good decisions since you just knocked Rafe out who was steering this damn thing!"

"So what I'm hearing is that you trust your psycho ex boyfriend who's a murderer over your current boyfriend who's only trying to make sure we don't get swindled?" JJ assumed, shaking his head in disbelief. "Yeah, okay, I get it."

"That's not what I'm saying! I'm saying, you're not making coherent decisions right now! How am I supposed to trust you to make good decisions when you're drunk off your ass most of the time?" She argued.

JJ let out a sardonic laugh. "Oh, oh, sorry, babe. You want me to be like you two years ago when you were too scared to even go near a damn White Claw? Is that what you want me to do? Be a little goody two shoes so I can get into college only for me to be suspended anyway?"

Kyla's body tensed up in anger, staring the boy down with a look on her face that he had never seen before. "Go fuck yourself, JJ," she spat at him, which was something she had never said to him before. "I'm only trying to help you not fall down the same hole your fake father went down. Sorry that I actually care about you. Clearly, you don't care how I feel or else you wouldn't have been saying the things you've been saying recently. Thanks for being such a great boyfriend."

And with that, she spun around and turned on her heel, feeling the tears start to form in her eyes that she was trying to hold back.

"JJ, what the hell, man? Why would you say that to her?" John B questioned him once Kyla left.

JJ shook his head at himself, immediately regretting his words but not knowing how to take them back now. "I don't know...I don't know."

"Well, you better fucking fix it because I'm not about to let you treat her like that," John B demanded.

"Yeah, man, you've been really shitty to her lately," Pope added.

"I know, all right?! I don't need y'all telling me what I already know!" JJ exclaimed, and Pope and John B shared a glance. "I'll fucking fix it myself, you don't need to tell me how to fix my relationship, John B."

"We're just trying to help yo—"

"I don't need your help," JJ muttered as he walked off, leaving Pope and John B to deal with the Rafe issue.

・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

They ended up tying Rafe up in the ship's bathroom so that when he woke up, he wouldn't have anywhere to go while the rest of them tried to make what was best of the current situation.

Pope and John B tried to fish for food while Kiara, Rhi, Cleo, and Sarah tried to talk about positive things and and played some card games.

JJ and Kyla had been the only two who were secluding themselves from the group, and it had been for the same and different reasons. On the one hand, JJ had been drinking away his feelings because of his father and for the fact that he had severely screwed things up with Kyla. On the other hand, Kyla didn't even want to speak with JJ after everything he had been saying to her lately and the fact he had still been drinking even though she was completely against him doing so.

To Kyla, it had felt like JJ wasn't even listening to her. And to JJ, it felt like Kyla wasn't even listening to him.

It was one big mess that neither of them knew how to fix.

After John B and Pope caught a big fish, Kiara had cooked it up for everyone to eat. Sarah got Rafe's plate ready since he still needed to eat, but before she could go deliver it to him, Kyla stood in front of her.

"Can I go deliver this to him?" Kyla asked the girl.

Sarah gave her an odd look. "Uh, are you sure, Ky?"

Kyla nodded. "Yeah. Think I should talk to him. Clear the air with some things if we're gonna be working together."

"What about JJ?" Sarah asked, knowing that JJ would not be happy if he found out Kyla was talking to Rafe alone.

"What about JJ?" Kyla countered.

Sarah sighed. "You're gonna need to talk to JJ at some point, Ky. You can't be doing this with him when we're about to be in a different country avoiding mercenaries and trying to find the crown."

"I know, Sarah, I've tried. He doesn't wanna listen," Kyla shook her head. "He keeps drinking away his feelings instead of opening up to me like I told him he could. I'm done trying unless he comes to me first."

Sarah sucked in a breath before she nodded, understanding why Kyla had meant. If JJ wasn't going to put in the effort in trying to talk to her, why should she keep on reaching out?

"Okay, well, if anything happens with Rafe, don't hesitate to tell me. I'll make sure to put him in his place," Sarah told the girl, handing her the plate of food.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he knows not to try anything when he's the one tied up," Kyla assured the girl. She also didn't want to say how Rafe never seemed to try anything with her period. Every time they were alone, he could have had the chance to hurt her and he just...never did. It was almost like he still had a soft spot for her two years later, but Kyla wasn't sure if she wanted to know if that was true.

Kyla went down to the deliver the food for him, opening the door up to see him leaning his head against the wall. He then looked over, expecting to see Sarah but when he saw Kyla instead, his eyes widened slightly.

"Hey," she greeted, going over and setting the plate down next to him.

"Hey," he said back slowly, not sure why she had been the one to give him the food. He was sure that JJ would have protested against it. "Sarah didn't want to see me?"

"No, I asked her if I could give you your food," she told him truthfully.

He knitted his brows together. "Why?"

"I think we should talk," she began.

"What is there to talk about? Your friends locked me in here even after I helped you all. I could have easily let Shoupe take you in and arrest your boyfriend for a murder he didn't commit. But instead, I got a punch to the face for helping him," Rafe detailed, sick of the bullshit.

Kyla released a breath. "I'm sorry he did that. I didn't know he was gonna do that. We told him to stay outside," she said, even though she didn't want to be the one to apologize, it should've been JJ. She honestly didn't even know why she was apologizing since Rafe kind of did deserve that punch after everything, but the timing of it just wasn't great.

"Clearly, he needs a leash, then," Rafe muttered and Kyla rolled her eyes before she decided to sit down across from him, earning a curious look from the boy. "You seriously wanna talk?" He said and she nodded. "Okay, let's talk."

Kyla scratched the back of her neck, not knowing where to begin with this. "I just want to make sure you're really on our side here, Rafe. I know we've had a...history and you have more than enough reason to betray us, so...I just need to know that you won't."

Rafe looked at her as she spoke and when she mentioned the history between the two of them, he couldn't help the corners of his mouth from twitching up a bit before he quickly forced himself not to smile.

Before he had started using coke and hooking up with Tara again, his relationship with Kyla had been...great. He loved every bit of it and even in the moments where had been chasing after the Pogues or had been promising Tara he wouldn't let Kyla stop them...he had never wanted to hurt the girl. The love he had her for was real and he just fucked it up like he always did with his life.

"I'm not sure what I can say to make sure you trust me. I've done enough shit to make you guys hate me. I don't deserve your trust," Rafe pointed out, somehow becoming a bit more vulnerable in the moment.

Kyla frowned a bit. He was right. There would be no way for him to prove that they could trust him. He had done too much to the point where everything he did would be suspicious.

However, she had thought of something she could use as a test. "I don't know if you know this but...Tara's back."

Rafe blinked, not sure if he had heard that correctly. "Uh, what?"

"Tara's back. She's with the mercenaries," she told him.

Rafe scoffed. "How the hell did she get out of Kitty Hawk?"

"According to JJ, she found some way to escape and then she met the mercenaries and joined them," she explained and Rafe just shook his head in disbelief. "Look, the only reason I'm telling you is that...if we ever come across her at any point of this trip...can we trust you not to betray us for her?"

Rafe looked back at Kyla, seeing the pleading look in her eyes. "I don't love Tara like that anymore, Ky," he told her, shaking his head. "I never did."

"What?"

"Look, I was just stupid, okay? I was stupid. I always liked you, Ky, come on, you know that 'cause I told you when we were together. The only reason I slept with Tara right before we got together was because I was trying to get over you because I thought you didn't like me. But then when you came over and confessed...I knew I couldn't tell you what I had just done because it had always been you I wanted. Not Tara," Rafe ranted, causing Kyla to blink in shock at his vulnerability all of a sudden. "And-and then when I started using coke, my-my mind was fucked, all right? I'm not trying to make excuses for myself because yeah, I fucked up. I tried to get you to sleep with me because I thought that would be the only way to know that truly loved me like I loved you and when you didn't, I went right back to Tara. I fucked up. Bad. And then-and then I-I killed Peterkin and did all this shit and God...you have every right to despise me. I was a terrible boyfriend and an even more terrible person."

"Rafe..." Kyla trailed off, going to place her hand on her shoulder before she hesitated, letting her hand fall to her side instead.

Rafe noticed the action and looked away guiltily, knowing how afraid she must have been of him. "I've been trying to get better, Ky. I stopped using coke and-and I found myself a new girl that's nothing like Tara. She doesn't enable me, and she's nice, and she cares about other people...She even kinda reminds me of you, Ky," he said, looking back at her to meet her gaze.

Kyla wasn't sure how to respond to that. She was honestly happy that he found someone that would control him, but hearing that last sentence made her unsure of how to feel.

"I'm sorry, it's just...Nothing I do is gonna get you to trust me, I know that. I know I fucked up in every way possible."

Kyla tried to process all the information that Rafe had just thrown at her, not even knowing half of it until now. "Why...why are you telling me all of us this now? After two years?"

"'Cause I never got the chance to originally. Tara...If I ever so much as mentioned your name without her mentioning you first, she would go crazy. I was afraid that...I was afraid that if I ever said anything, she would try to find and kill you," he told her earnestly.

"She's already tried to kill me," Kyla pointed out. "Rafe, you've tried to kill me. I mean, the storm drain..."

Rafe cursed in his head. "I know, I know. But when I say that it was Tara's idea, it really was. I was so high off-off coke that I was just craving whatever power I could get over the Pogues so I went along with it."

Kyla sighed, searching his eyes to see if he really was telling the truth and it seemed like he was. She could never forgive him for cheating on her, for killing Peterkin, for trying to kill all of them, but...she could respect the fact that it seemed like he was actively trying to get better.

"So, you're saying that if we come across Tara, you won't betray us? You'll stick with us?" Kyla asked, going back to the first question she asked. Rafe nodded slowly, keeping his eye contact with her. "Okay. Okay, good. Thank you."

Kyla went to go get up and leave, but Rafe said, "Wait."

Kyla looked down at him. "Yeah?"

"Can you...not tell the Pogues I said all this?" He asked her after a moment. "You can tell them I won't side with Tara, but everything else...it stays between us?"

Kyla nodded slowly, having a feeling he didn't want the Pogues knowing this side of him. The last time she had seen it was when she was locked up with him in Singh's mansion and that felt like a lifetime ago. "Between us," she responded.

She then walked out of the bathroom, hearing Rafe call out after a moment, "I've missed you, Ky."

Kyla paused and shut her eyes, praying he meant it in a friendly way and not in any other way. She really didn't need that on top of everything else and if JJ had found out...she didn't know what he would do. She then kept on walking, letting Rafe shut his eyes and place his head back on the wall behind him.

Meanwhile, a bit prior to that conversation back upstairs, Sarah and Cleo had gone off to their boyfriends which left Kiara and Rhi to converse.

"Can I ask you something?" Kiara asked after a moment since they had been running out of things to talk about.

"Shoot," Rhi said. "Wait, maybe that's not the right word to use right now..."

Kiara chuckled lightly before clearing her throat. "Why are you doing all of this? I know it's not just because of me because, I mean, we did just meet and everything. And I know it's not solely because of Kyla because you could've stayed back like your brother did who's the one who has a crush on her. So there has to be another reason."

Rhi sucked in a breath, not expecting her to ask that. "Honestly? I feel like I...I feel like I don't have a family."

Kiara tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

Rhi sighed, not expecting to get this deep while being here but for some reason, she felt like she could be vulnerable with Kiara. "Growing up with Alex as my older sibling, it always felt like we were competing. He's always been the smarter the one, the more responsible one. And it felt like my parents always favored him. Even when I proved I was just as smart as him by getting into the same college, it still felt like they preferred him. I never blamed Alex for it, though, since he never used their affection for him against me or anything, but it was tough because I never knew where I belonged. Don't get me wrong, I have had a bunch of friends over the years but I always felt out of place. I felt like I always had to be someone I wasn't. But here, with you guys, it's not like that. I've only just met y'all but I can tell that you all have so much unconditional love for each other no matter what happens. I mean, yeah, everyone is kinda pissed at JJ right now but you're all still gonna have his back. I've never seen a friend group like this. It's like you guys are...a family. And I've never felt included in my family so I guess I...I guess I want to be a part of yours."

Kiara's eyes softened at Rhi's explanation for being here, completely understanding since she had once been in her shoes. It felt like she had finally found someone who had gone through the same things as her and could relate to her.

"Sorry, you probably think I'm crazy now," Rhi shook her head, looking away from the girl in embarrassment.

"No, no, of course not. I actually...fully understand you," Kiara told her.

Rhi looked back at her. "You do?"

"Totally. I'm just sorry you had to join us when we're on the way to a completely different continent," Kiara apologized with a soft laugh.

"It's okay. I'm sure my parents will be just fine knowing that Alex is safe."

All of a sudden, Sarah and Cleo joined back with the girls again, so they had to end their little chat. But unknowingly to the girls who had just arrived, they had bonded like never before.

Kyla had joined in a little after once she had finished her conversation with Rafe. "Everything good?" Sarah asked her as the older Carrera girl sat down next to her.

"Yup. Everything's fine," Kyla answered with a tight-lipped grin. "Let's just play some cards."

The other girls all shared a glance, but didn't say anything as they began playing cards. They had been having some fun before John B walked in, picking up a bottle and throwing it angrily. He then punched at something, making the girls stop what they were doing and look at him in concern.

"Dude, you okay?" Kiara asked.

"What's wrong?" Sarah inquired worriedly.

"It's JJ," John B panted and Kyla sucked in a breath, placing her head in her hands since she was so tired of the boy's recent actions. It just seemed like had been ruining relationships left and right.

And if he continued to act like this...Kyla wasn't sure how much else she could take.

authors note!
kyla, jj, and rafe should just
have a challengers moment at
this point bc...LMFAOAOAOA
anyway damn this chapter is
hella long, can you tell im trying
to prolong the end as much as i can
😄😄😄 not ready for that but it's
coming really soon so like just kill me.
also sorry for all the angst with jj and
ky, i just love me some angst okay 😭
LOL remember to vote and comment!!!