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𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝘅𝘁𝘆 𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗲: 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱

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Once JJ had received the message on Portis's phone sent by who they thought was Cassie, the Pogues made their way to the location she had pinned. They were still questioning if it was even her, but Cleo kept saying it had to be and JJ was willing to take the risk.

He would run for miles, dodge bullets, or swim for days if it meant getting her back. He would do anything.

Anything to get her back, safe and sound.

"Get down," JJ instructed, crouching behind some small containers that stored nets and buoys.

"You got the boats?" John B whispered.

"Yeah. You got windows?" JJ replied.

"Yeah."

"Guys. Singh's men could be posted up literally anywhere," Pope pointed out.

"No shit," JJ said before he looked across the way, seeing a girl with blonde hair and an outfit similar to what Cassie had been wearing the last time he saw her. "Guys, is that her?"

Pope squinted. "I don't think so," he said and JJ cursed under his breath. His mind had been playing tricks on him, all because he was a desperate to see his girl brought back to him.

"Gimme the phone," Cleo demanded and JJ handed her the phone. "I'll take care of this." She went back to the message sent by Fenton's contact, looking at the pin before her eyes traveled upward. "That boat, that's the pin. The white one right there."

JJ immediately took the gun out of his waistband, cocking it before he put it back behind him. "What are you doing?" Sarah questioned since she had heard the gun cocking.

"There's one way to find out," he answered before he went to leave them.

"JJ, JJ!" Kiara whisper-shouted, trying to get him to stop.

"Dude!" Pope tried as JJ put Portis's floppy hat on to disguise himself.

"Stay there," JJ pointed at them.

"JJ!"

"Hey!"

He ignored them as he kept walking, his hand placed around the gun behind his back just in case he needed to pull it out. He looked around, trying to spot any sign of the girl. He didn't care if he needed to dodge bullets for her from being out in the open, he was going to get her back no matter what.

He kept spinning around, breathing ragged after he saw no sign of her. Could they have gotten the location wrong? Were Singh's men waiting for the opportune moment to pop out and shoot him? Was Cassie already dead and this was some sort of trap?

Cassie, however, had been hiding on the boat ever since she docked it, trying to keep look out for her friends, Rafe, or Singh's men. As she did so, she spotted a man with a blue shirt a few sizes too big and a floppy hat.

There was also a gun in his waistband.

Cassie was about to duck back down, thinking it was one of Singh's men before the man turned back around and she was met with her favorite shade of blue.

She fully stood up, her heart skipping a beat. "JJ?" She called out, not knowing if she was just imagining things like she was back at Vaux Hall to soothe herself.

JJ kept his eyes locked on her as he slowly pushed the floppy hat off of his head, revealing his sandy blonde hair that she missed dearly from her time away from him.

"JJ," she breathed out in awe. "Jay." She stepped out from the boat and immediately ran toward him, momentarily forgetting about the secret part of their exclusive partnership once she practically jumped into his arms. She didn't care about that right now, she just wanted to feel him hold her.

As soon as she felt his hands wrap around her body, she let out a sob. She hadn't cried at all when she was at Singh's, not wanting to show her vulnerability to him nor Rafe. But now that she was in the safe haven of JJ's arms, she had to let it all out.

"I'm so glad you're safe," he breathed out into the nook of her shoulder, his eyes shut as he desperately took her body into his. She continued to sob in his arms, not wanting to ever let go for fear of being taken away from him again.

"I didn't th-think I'd ever s-see you again," she expressed through her sobs.

JJ pulled away from her but still kept his hands on her arms, wanting to get a good look at her face since he felt like he hadn't seen it years. "I'm here now. Just like I was here last time you were kidnapped," he said and she let out a choked chuckle. "It's all right, it's all right. I got you. You're safe," he assured her as he hugged her again, shutting his eyes once more as the serene touch and smell to her.

She had a shower, he realized. He probably smelled like absolute shit, but she smelled utterly amazing like she did before being crash landed on Poguelandia. She usually smelt like warm vanilla mixed with amber, but now she smelt like lavender mixed with some type of floral scent.

He thought the vanilla suited her more given the fact that it was her, not some smell given to her by the maniacs that kidnapped her. He didn't want those psychos to have anything to do with her now that she was back, but here she stood with their scent still on her and he noticed the difference as clear as day.

But he didn't want to complain about something so silly, so small in comparison to her standing right in front of him in his arms. She was here, alive; safe and sound.

He pulled back from her, his hands traveling up to her shoulders. Her lip trembled as she stared into his eyes and he stared back into her's. He then glanced down at her lips, wanting nothing more than to kiss away the tears that had fallen onto them.

She wanted him to do the same, not having seen the others just yet.

But, just his luck, he couldn't do that once the rest of the Pogues came rushing over with happy and relieved smiles on their faces to see their friend in one piece.

JJ let go of the Blake girl, turning to see that Kiara was the first to reach her. The Carrera girl immediately brought her into her arms, tears streaming down her face as well. "I thought I lost you again," she cried.

"I'm here," Cassie sobbed in her arms.

Cassie looked over her shoulder, seeing Sarah on the verge of tears. She let go of Kiara and wrapped her arms around the Cameron girl, something that hadn't done in years.

"We were so worried," Sarah told her before the other Pogues reached them, giving her a group hug.

"It's so good to see you, Cassie," John B breathed out as he reached around Sarah and hugged her, placing the back of his hand on her head as he rubbed her hair up and down soothingly.

"We thought you were dead," Pope admitted as he hugged her side. JJ reached around and engaged in the group hug with them, not wanting to be too far away from the girl after he thought he lost her.

Once they all finally pulled away, though, Kiara looked back toward the boat and asked, "Are you kidding me? Cece..."

"Is this you?" Pope questioned.

"Wait— What is..." Sarah spluttered in shock, gesturing at the boat behind Cassie.

"It's a long story for another time. Let's just get out of here," Cassie told them as she wiped away her tears and turned around, leading them all toward the boat.

"Where'd you get this?"

"Holy shit."

The Pogues continued making observations about the boat and kept asking her questions, but she told them she would explain it to them once they off of this godforsaken island.

And besides, how she was even supposed to form coherent sentences when she kept her eyes locked on a certain towhead blonde with ocean blue eyes who couldn't keep those said eyes off of her as well?

"John B, let's go!" Sarah urged once she realized the boy had stopped walking behind them, seeming to be focused on something else.

Once they all got to the boat, the Pogues got started on undocking it so they could get going. They weren't sure how much longer they had until someone tipped Singh's men off about their appearance since he seemed to have the whole island in his back pocket.

Cassie and JJ were coincidentally left alone to chat since the other Pogues attended to different things on the boat. "Cass, you have no idea...I was so...I'm so glad you're safe," he stammered breathlessly, not being able to keep his eyes off of her in fear that if he looked away, she would be gone again.

Cassie had calmed down from their little reunion before, but hearing him say that to her made her want to start crying again. "I'm glad you're safe too. I didn't know if-if Singh's men got to you or what, but...I was so worried."

JJ sniffled with a nod. "Uh, I'm sorry back there. For hugging you in front of them. I-I don't think they suspect anything since—"

"JJ, it's okay," she cut him off and he furrowed his brows. "I didn't care about that in the moment. I needed that. We needed that."

JJ nodded slowly, feeling his heart swell in hope that this would make her more open in telling their friends about them. But he didn't want to press on the subject too hard since she just got back and he didn't want to freak her out too much.

"Okay, but I do have just a couple of questions," he began as he worked his way around the dock, getting the boat untied.

"Wouldn't expect anything less when I got kidnapped, again, and I come back with this thing," she replied, gesturing around the boat.

"A Lagoon 620 with twin 150 Volvos. You understand we can go anywhere with this thing, right?" JJ voiced enthusiastically.

The Blake girl shrugged. "I've seen better," she teased.

"Way to be discreet, by the way, princess," he added and she grinned, her stomach fluttering at the nickname. "What did they want anyway? They didn't hurt you, did they?" He questioned in concern, making his way over to her with his eyes shining brightly in the sun.

"No. I'm okay," she assured him and he nodded, thankful for that. "But Rafe was there."

JJ gaped. "What? He didn't put even just a hand on you, did he? Because I swear to God, I'm going to kill him."

"No, no. He didn't. I kinda had to...act my way through it with him to get this thing. But he didn't touch me. I made sure of it," she told the boy and he sucked in a breath, still angered over the fact she was forced to be with Rafe during her unwilling stay.

"Why was he there?"

"Singh tricked him into coming because he thought he had something he wanted or that I had something he wanted."

JJ knitted his brows together. "Which is?"

"Denmark's diary," Cassie answered.

JJ blinked in confusion. "Why?"

"I don't know. He just said it leads to a treasure that's a lot bigger than the Merchant," she told him.

"You're saying there's a bigger treasure?" JJ asked as he got back on the boat and she just him gave a shrug and a grin. "Then, sign me up," he joked and she chuckled, following further him into the boat.

"Cece!" Kiara called out once she spotted the girl, going over to her. JJ sent Cassie a smile before he walked away from the two girls, allowing them to talk. "What were you, uh, talking to JJ about?"

"Oh, he asked what Singh wanted from me," she told the girl, purposefully leaving out the other things they were talking about. "He wanted Denmark's diary."

"Denmark's diary?"

"Yeah."

"You didn't tell him you knew about it, did you?" Kiara queried.

"No. Well, I said I knew about it but not where it was just to try to get me out of there but he didn't seem to believe me."

"Good. That's good," Kiara nodded. "Why does he want that diary so bad that he was willing to kidnap you and sic his men on all of us?"

Cassie sighed. "He said that he thinks the diary has a clue to the location of some city of gold. Like think of the gold on the Merchant but one hundred times that."

"Hm. Do we think that's true?"

Cassie shrugged. "Honestly? I wouldn't be surprised at this point."

Kiara laughed, "That's true."

"Oh, also, I sent you a picture to your email whenever we get phones or computers back. Singh kept staring at this painting when I was there so I thought it may be important," Cassie remembered with a shrug.

"Hm, remind me to check that out when we get back."She then gave her a best friend a lopsided frown. "I missed you so much, Cece. You getting kidnapped the first time worried me, but this time I felt like I was gonna have a heart attack. I shouldn't have left you with Portis."

"No, Kiki, don't say that. I told you to go. Forced you, even. And it's better you weren't with me. I wouldn't wish that on anyone," she told the girl. "Well, the shower was kinda nice," Cassie added after a second and Kiara chuckled softly. "I missed you too, though."

Kiara smiled before the two girls hugged one another once again. Suddenly, they heard Pope call out, "Hey! John B! What are you doing?!"

Cassie pulled away from the Carrera girl and looked out toward the dock, seeing John B hop off of the boat and start running away from the boat. "I'll be right back!" John B told them.

"What are—"

"I'll be right back!"

"What?!" Pope exclaimed.

"I love you, Sarah!" John B pointed at the Cameron girl before he disappeared around the corner, leaving them all on the boat with puzzled expressions written all over their faces.

"What the hell is he doing?" Cassie asked, turning back to Kiara.

"He kept talking about hearing bells...maybe that's what he's checking out," Kiara guessed.

"Well we need to leave soon. Before Singh's men find us," Cassie reminded her.

"Did you get caught leaving?"

"No, but I'm sure they found out. Rafe and I tied up a guard in order to escape," she revealed.

"H-Hold on, did you-did you just say Rafe?" Kiara spluttered, her eyes going wide.

"Long story."

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

The Pogues all waited anxiously for John B to get back on the boat, the sun beginning to set and casting a glow onto all of them. They were beginning to grow exceedingly worried, with JJ tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, with Cassie undoing her braid and redoing it once more, and with Kiara chewing on her fingernails.

"I can't believe he just took off," Pope complained.

"Guys, incoming!" Kiara yelled and they looked over, seeing the bustle of trucks and ATVs heading their way.

"That's Singh's men!" Cleo realized. "Right here!"

So much for being safe and sound.

"Where's John B?" Pope questioned Sarah quickly.

"I don't know, he said he'd back back by now," Sarah said to all of them, holding her hand out.

"Okay, well, he's not!" Pope said before he turned to the Maybank boy. "JJ, what are we gonna do?"

"We gotta make a stand. That's what we gotta do. That's our only option," JJ responded as he pulled out his gun from his waistband, cocking it.

"What?!" Kiara exclaimed.

"Kiara, we're not splitting up again! We split up from Cassie and look what happened!" JJ argued, gesturing to Cassie next him.

"Okay, JJ, to be fair, you didn't see what I saw. He killed Portis! We can't stay here!" Cassie said from next to him, agreeing with Kiara.

He turned to her, looking at her incredulously. "Cassie, what? We're not leaving John B!" He exclaimed.

"No Pogue left behind!" Pope joined in.

"What are you gonna do?!"

"Guys, they're here!"

"We have to wait for John B!"

"Yeah, but you didn't see what I saw!"

"They're getting closer!"

"Damn it!" Sarah cursed as she got up from where she sat, leaving the others to argue.

"We're not splitting up again!" JJ barked in Cassie's face. There was no way he was going to be forced away from his best friend, brother even, when he almost just lost his exclusive, secret partner who was a girl. That was ludicrous!

"We don't have a choice anymore!" Cassie shouted back. She couldn't believe that JJ was straight up yelling at her right after escaping these wretched men who could have killed her. She knew what they were capable of and he was still yelling! It was safe to she was pissed.

Suddenly, the engine to the boat started up, causing them to look over to see Sarah at the wheel. "Go," Pope told Sarah, realizing that they couldn't wait for John B any longer since they would probably be killed.

"John B!" JJ screamed, trying to get to Sarah to get her to stop.

"Shut up!" Pope pushed him back.

"WE NEED TO GET JOHN B!"

"SHUT UP!"

"We'll find John B later!" Kiara told him as they all crouched down and Sarah steered the boat away from the dock.

She was able to get it away from the dock so Singh's men wouldn't be able to climb aboard at least, but that didn't stop them from getting out of their trucks and pointing their gigantic guns right at them.

"You don't understand, we can't just leave him like that, Pope!" JJ yelled as he started to stand back up.

"JJ, get down!" Cassie demanded as she pulled the boy down just as Singh's men started to fire at them, causing them all to grunt and yelp as the bullets ricocheted off the boat.

Sarah crouched as she kept steering the boat forward, determined to get them the hell out of there even if that meant leaving John B. He was probably safer than them anyway if all of Singh's men were here now trying to shoot them.

"Hold your fire!" They heard one of Singh's men direct and the gunshots finally stopped. They panted heavily, slowly getting up once they realized they made it out alive.

JJ slammed his fist down on the boat angrily since they had just left John B behind. Cassie looked over at him with a frown before back at Singh's men, seeing them retreat.

Kiara ran a hand through her hair, cursing, "Shit. Shit!"

"I'm sorry, John B," Sarah apologized as she continued to steer the boat further into the open water, leaving John B behind.

Sarah continued to take the boat out onto the open water, the rest of the Pogues silent as they watched JJ pace back and forth. The Maybank boy didn't seem to catch a break after Cassie getting kidnapped and now leaving John B behind.

His heart pounded in his chest and he felt like his head was about to explode. He already thought Cassie may have been dead, but now John B? He really couldn't take this any longer.

"So this is what we're doing, huh? We're just sailing out. We're just gonna forget about John B?" JJ ranted. "We should've never left him, all right? We're turning back right back around."

If John B could see him now, he would know that JJ truly meant it when he said he would act the way he was acting when Cassie got kidnapped with any of the Pogues.

"No!" Cleo spoke up. "We're all gonna get caught. What type of plan is that?"

"It's a plan to stick together, Cleo," JJ told her sternly, walking up to her.

"Then we are dead together," Cleo stated as JJ turned away from her, looking down angrily.

"She's right. We had to leave, or we'd all be zip-tied in the back of a pickup. Right, Cassie?" Kiara piped up, looking toward Cassie to get some back up. She was the one who was taken in the back of a pickup after all.

"Well, technically I wasn't zip-tied, but yeah," Cassie nodded and Kiara gave her look. "Just getting the facts straight," she shrugged.

"Do the facts really matter right now?" Pope sassed.

"Uh, yeah! Because I wasn't zip-tied, I just had a gun pointed at me at all times. There's a difference!" She said and Pope huffed. "Okay, look, we did the right thing, though."

"The right thing? Leaving John B was the right thing, Cassie?" He questioned her.

"Would you rather us all be dead?" She argued, her eyes going wide at him in frustration.

"John B could be dead!" JJ shouted and she pursed her lips, not knowing what to say to that. He was right, he could be dead. But she didn't want to say that would be better than all of them being dead because it wouldn't be.

John B was like a brother to her at this point, so she wasn't exactly jumping for joy of the fact that they had to leave him behind. But they really didn't have any other options.

JJ searched her face before he turned away, looking out into the water. Cassie released a sigh before the phone suddenly rang in her pocket. JJ turned back to her, watching as she pulled it out from her pocket.

"Who's that?" He asked

"It's Portis," she answered.

"Portis? That's John B. That's definitely John B," JJ assumed as he grabbed the phone from her. "Hold on." He answered the phone, putting it up to his ear. "Yo, yo! Dude! Is this you?"

"Speaker," Kiara urged. "Speaker!"

"Yeah — What-what do you need?"

"Speaker!" Sarah demanded.

"Do you need us to turn around?" JJ questioned quickly.

"Jay, speaker!" Cassie told him.

"Oh, right," he muttered before he took the phone away from his ear, putting it on speaker for them all to hear. "Yo, say that again, say that again."

"I said, don't worry about me, okay? Look, it's way too...all right? You guys gotta get....Go back..." John B's voice came through distortedly.

"We do not copy. Can you—"

"Let me talk to him," Sarah cut JJ off, grabbing the phone. "John B?"

"Sarah."

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, yes. No, I'm fine. Everything's good. Listen."

"He's fine. Thank God," Sarah praised and Cassie released a breath of relief. "What happened?"

"I... dad...ve."

"Huh?" Cassie hummed, sharing a confused look with Kiara.

"Wait, what'd you say? John B?" Sarah asked.

"S-Sarah?"

"I-I can't hear you. John B?"

"Look...out of there. I'll meet you...Kildare, okay?"

"Kildare?" Sarah was able to make out. "Kildare, when? Kildare, when?" She pressed before the line cut off. "John B. No, no, no. John B! Kildare? What the hell?"

"You guys think he found his father?" Cleo queried.

"He's been missing for almost a year," Pope told the girl, not believing that would even be possible.

"Missing. Not necessarily dead," Cassie pointed out and Pope gave her a knowing look. She shrugged, "They never found a body. Just bones they never identified."

John B may have found out that Ward killed his father, but they technically never found his body. That was the sole reason why John B was so keen on finding his father all those months ago before they found out about the gold.

Seemed like a lifetime ago now.

"Sarah, what do you think? Should we go back?" Kiara asked her since she was his girlfriend after all and John B had the most trust in her.

"Sarah— We're sitting ducks right now so we need to make a decision. Are we turning back around, or are we gonna keep doing?" JJ urged impatiently and Cassie sucked in a breath at him. "Sarah, come on! Sarah, we need to make a decision!"

"He said go!" Sarah blurted out.

JJ didn't seem to like that answer. "Hold on, lis—"

"Go."

"Sarah—"

"Go!"

authors note!
did yall really think id make it easy
for them? hell no!!! ik some of u wanted
them to kiss but the secret part of their
relationship is superrrr important for
what's to come so just wait and see! (yall r
gonna hate me sm)