◜ 　　　　　 ◝

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗬 𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗘
𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅

◟ 　　　　　 ◞

・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

"I still can't believe that you're related to Denmark Tanny," John B said to Pope in shock once they made their way back from his great-grandmother's place. He had told them that he was related to Denmark, making this whole thing way more personal.

"Uh-huh!" JJ said excitedly.

"Are we in the presence of a royal?" John B asked and Kyla grinned at Pope, sitting next to Kiara on a container.

"A king?" JJ walked over to Pope and started to pretend to place a crown on him, "We shall crown him. All hail the lord of Tannyhill!" he said in a horrible British accent. "We're not worthy!"

"Bow down," Kiara instructed before they all started to bow down to him, messing around.

"We must praise you, our king," Kyla added playfully, laughing with Kiara and Sarah.

"All right, all right, everybody relax. Can we relax, please?" Pope questioned, not liking the spotlight.

"Relocate the Cat's Ass, question mark?" Sarah asked slowly.

"I'm with that," JJ replied, pointed at her.

"How soon can we move in?" Kiara inquired.

"'Cause I don't have a place to stay, so..." JJ pointed out.

"Us either," Kiara said, pointing at herself and Kyla. "Bunk beds?" she suggested.

"Bunk beds. Cheers to that," JJ said as he held out his beer towards Kiara, who clanked her own on it. He then gestured the can over to Kyla, who was just drinking a water bottle.

She gave him a once-over before she looked back at Pope, ignoring JJ. She noticed that Pope seemed deep in thought. "What's on your mind?" she asked the boy, and JJ nodded to himself, accepting that Kyla was still mad at him as he took a sip of his drink.

"I just keep thinking about the letter, the one that Limbrey sent. It had the wheat symbol on it. Like, that must mean it has something to do with the Royal Merchant," he told them, making them get serious.

"Yeah. Something seems fishy," JJ agreed.

"But if we find that cross, we can split it like we were gonna split the gold," Pope continued.

"Yeah. I'm with that."

"And live happily ever after?" Limbrey asked, walking up them with the man that chased them down behind her. She was holding a black umbrella, as well. Kyla's eyes widened as she looked between the two of them, not knowing what to do. How did they find us?

"You assaulted my father," Pope said angrily, walking up to her before the man started to push him back.

"Oh, I didn't assault anybody," she replied softly, but that made Kyla even more mad.

"He can identify the psycho from a mile away," Kiara pointed out, her eyes narrowed.

"Why would my employee a-a-assault your father?" Limbrey questioned, glancing at the man. "That's absurd." She then chuckled. "Listen, we can keep on negotiating, but the fact is that I want the key—"

The man started to push Pope back aggressively, almost like he was trying to beat it out of him. "Hey!" the sisters exclaimed at the same time.

"—And i won't stop until I have it. I don't have a choice, which means you don't either," she finished, her lips pressed in a thin line.

"It's Limbrey, right? Is that right?" John B spoke up, holding up a key that definitely wasn't the one they had found recently. What is he planning? Kyla asked herself, glancing at Kiara, who noticed the same thing.

"Yes," Limbrey answered breathlessly, looking over at the brunette boy.

"Is this what you're looking for?" John B asked, showing her the key.

"Yes, it is."

"Looking at the tide right now, I'd say it's about 20 feet deep out there. So, if I just threw it in the channel, the probability of you finding it again is slim to none," he said and Kyla started to grin mischievously, before she quickly forced it away when the man glanced at her. "You wanna give it a shot? Let's see what happens. Ready?" John B asked  before he started to walk over to the edge of the dock, getting ready to throw the key.

"No! Hey!" Limbrey shouted and John B froze, showing that he wasn't actually going throw it. "Please don't do that."

"Get him to back the hell up," John B told her, pointing at the man near Pope.

"Of course," she replied sweetly before she looked at the man. "Back up." The man gave her an annoyed look before he slowly walked away from Pope, hitting the black umbrella against his hand. "As I have told you from the beginning, I am willing to be reasonable."

Pope looked over at John B before he answered, "Okay."

"Okay?" Limbrey repeated in confusion.

"I'll give you the key, but I want the tape," Pope told her.

"Of course. Of course," she smiled.

"Pope. Hey, hey, hey, hey," John B said as he walked up to him. "You don't have to do this, okay?" he told him to further the act.

"No, it's okay," Pope said to him before he held out his hand.

"No, dude, this is your family," John B argued.

"Hey, it's fine. It's okay. It's about your dad. That's way more important," Pope said.

John B slowly handed Pope the key, making the sisters glance at each other as they tried to hide their smirks. "Oh, you're a good friend," Limbrey told John B.

"The tape?" Pope brought up.

"Yes, give him the tape." The man took the tape out of his pocket and started to give it to Pope just as Pope started to hand the key to Limbrey. They swapped the objects at the same exact time and Limbrey breathed out in relief. "You know, I wish that you'd come to this decision earlier. We could have avoided all this unpleasantness." Limbrey then turned around and started walking away, followed by the man.

"Nice to meet you," John B said sarcastically.

The man opened the umbrella and raised his over his head as he looked back at Pope. "See you around, Pope," he taunted with a smirk.

"Just go," Kiara urged and the man walked away. The three girls looked at each other, waiting for the pair to fully walk away before saying anything.

"How long do you think we have until she realizes she has your father's old key?" JJ quietly asked John B.

"10 minutes," John B immediately answered.

"Whose idea was the fake key?" Pope then questioned once the pair fully left.

"Shockingly, not mine," Kiara said, shaking her head.

Pope then looked at Kyla. "Not me, either," she told him with a shrug.

John B then placed his arm around JJ's shoulders. "Hmm, I don't know. Should we tell him?" he teasingly asked JJ, making Kyla's eyes widen. Was he actually...smart for once?

It was getting hard to keep on hating him.

"Wow. I'm impressed," Kiara exclaimed. "Maybe you are good for something."

"Did hell freeze over?" Pope joked as he walked over to JJ, also wrapping his arm around his shoulders.

"Even a blind pig can find an acorn at times!" JJ said excitedly as he laughed. "I actually don't know what that means, but I saw it on Reddit," he admitted, making Kyla let out a short laugh before she quickly forced it down, not wanting the blonde to hear her.

"All right, we gotta take this tape to Shoupe," John B said, getting back on topic.

"Yes, sir. Ward Cameron, we're coming for you, big boy. Shotgun!"

"It's Ward's turn now!"

"Hey, you okay?" Kyla asked Sarah as she hopped of the container to go follow the boys to the car. She had noticed Sarah's apprehensive expression, wondering if she was having second thoughts about this whole thing.

"What? No, no, yeah, I'm good. I'm good," Sarah told her, swallowing hard as she nodded. "Let's go." Kyla nodded slowly even though she didn't believe the girl.

・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

Tara had been laying low with Rafe ever since John B was released from jail, and Ward's house had gotten searched by the cops. But now, they were finally able to get the hell out of the OBX with Barry's help.

The three of them quickly ran over to the motorboat and hopped on, taking it to an area where the police wouldn't be able to see them from any roads.

Tara had instructed Rafe to bring a gun, so he quickly put it in his bag and zipped it up. "Hey, I'm all for a man's right to defend himself, Rafe, but, uh...your ass is gonna get shot carrying that thing," Barry pointed out.

"They ain't gonna take me alive. I can tell you that much right now," Rafe quickly replied in a low voice.

"Don't even say that, Rafe. They aren't gonna catch us," Tara told him, giving Barry a look. She noticed that he seemed more...nervous than he usually was for some reason.

Rafe just shrugged and looked out to the murky water. "I've never been back here before," he said.

"You don't wanna be seen, now, do you?" Barry asked.

"Finally doing something smart for once, Barry," Tara commented monotonously, earning a look from the drug dealer.

"You know, everybody thinks nature's all chill, right? That's such bullshit. Everything trying to kill everything else all the time, and — and..." he trailed off, hearing birds crow, "and every single thing has to kill to live." Tara tilted her head at the boy, wondering where he was going with this. He then grinned after moment and said, "Killing is nature."

"Damn right, it is," Tara agreed, earning a smile from her boyfriend. Any normal person would have just jumped out of the boat right then and there, but Tara definitely wasn't normal.

"I don't particularly dislike you, Rafe," Barry spoke up as they rounded the corner. "But I ain't gonna forget about how your father punked my ass."

Tara looked back at him, her eyes narrowing. "What the hell are you talking about?" she questioned.

"It's long been due y'all pay me some respect. Sorry, Tara," Barry said before he hopped out of the boat, making Tara's eyes widen.

"Hey, where are you taking — Hey, hey!" Rafe exclaimed once he noticed Barry jump out.

"What the fu—"

"He's got a gun!" Barry shouted as he swam away.

"Rafe, Tara, stay where you are!" Shoupe yelled as he and other officers came speeding into where they were left stranded. "Keep your hands where we can see them! Do not move, or we will shoot!"

"Get the gun," Tara told him through clenched teeth, staring Shoupe down angrily.

Rafe quickly bent down and unzipped the bag. "Don't go for that bag!" Shoupe warned. Rafe then took the gun out and the officers pointed their guns at him, beginning to shoot. The couple swiftly jumped off the boat, hiding behind it so that they didn't get shot. "Hold your fire! Hold your fire!" Shoupe yelled and the gunshots stopped. "Any of you hit? We don't wanna kill you, guys, but you're both making it damn hard."

"You hit? You hit?" Tara whispered, feeling around Rafe's chest to look for any signs of bleeding. He quickly shook his head, breathing heavily.

"That pistol ain't gonna work now that it's been wet," Shoupe told them and Tara cursed under her breath. "Now why don't you throw that gun on out where we can see it?"

"Rafe, don't do it," Tara told him. "We can still make it out of this," she said, but Rafe started to shake his head. "Rafe, come on. I can't go to jail," she pleaded. Even though she never killed anybody, she was still technically an accomplice to everything.

"All right?" Shoupe called out once he heard no response.

"All right, all right!" Rafe said angrily as he tossed the gun out, making it splash. Tara cursed again, shaking her head.

"Attaboy. Now, just ease on out away from the boat, guys. We'll come to you," Shoupe directed.

"No fucking way," Tara muttered before she rushed out from behind the boat, trying to run over to land to try and escape. Rafe instinctively followed her out, not knowing what else to do since he was panicking.

"Stop! Damn it, Tara! Rafe, stop!" Shoupe shouted before they chased the couple down on the boat.

"Go! Move! Move! Move! Freeze! Damn it, freeze!" an officer shouted as some hopped out of the boat, and as others rode in on quads.

"Go get them, boys!" Barry called out as the two fell onto land.

"Fuck you, Barry!" Tara yelled in a strained move, unable to go anywhere else since she and Rafe were now surrounded.

"Stay right there! Stay put! They're unarmed," Shoupe said as the cops pointed guns down at them. "That turn out like you thought it would?"

"Obviously not," Tara answered through clenched teeth, sending Shoupe a scary look from the ground.

He sighed and said, "All right. Are you guys injured?" At the same time, two officers came forward and began placing their arms behind their backs to arrest them.