──────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────────

𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗳𝘁𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝘅: 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗷𝗷

──────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────────

The Pogues all barreled back into the Twinkie after Pope's revelation, wanting to get to Freedman's Church as soon as possible. However, it seemed like luck hadn't been on there side. Yet again.

"Ah, crap! The tide!" Pope complained once he saw that the previous path that they had drove on was now, pretty much, just water. "Well, this doesn't look good."

"How deep is it?" Kiara asked worriedly.

"I dunno. The road's gone," John B said right before he braked, making them lurch forward.

"Bitch," Cassie said to him.

"Whoops."

"The tide rose faster a little faster than I thought it would," JJ remarked.

"Just a little bit."

"Uh, John B, how high are the spark plugs?" JJ questioned the Routledge boy.

"They're good. We're fine," John B shrugged.

"How high are they?" JJ and Pope asked at the same time, giving him a look.

"Oh, um..." He trailed off before he looked out the window. "Uh, just above the taillight," he told them.

"Okay, so that's, what, three feet?" Pope guessed.

"That's three feet. Yeah," JJ confirmed with a nod.

"That water can't be three feet deep," Kiara argued, although it more out of denial.

"So, then what's the problem?" John B asked.

"Not a problem. No, we're good. We're good. She'll make it," JJ assured them, and the three girls gave each other a nervous glance.

"Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seat belts. Hold on to something. We're going into hyperdrive," John B told them and Cassie listened, sitting back to hold onto the seat so she wouldn't fly forward.

"I'm just gonna say a quick prayer," JJ muttered before he did the sign of the cross.

"Three, two, one," John B counted down before he pressed down on the gas pedal, making the wheels turn quickly.

"Okay!" JJ voiced shakily as he beared his teeth.

The Twinkie stayed in the same place for a few seconds before it flew forward, making the water splash up to hit the windows.

"You got this! You got this! Faster! Faster!" JJ encouraged as they all yelled around the Twinkie. "Speed is your friend! Speed is your friend, John B!"

Right before they were about to make it to the other side, the Twinkie served down further into the water, forcing it to a stop.

"Ah, shit!" Sarah cursed.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no," John B repeated.

"I think we miscalculated," Pope spoke up, out of breath.

"You think?" Cassie responded, giving him a look.

"I knew I should have driven," JJ shook his head before they all had to get out of the Twinkie, standing in the murky water.

"My poor jeans," Cassie pouted.

"You mean, my poor jeans?" Kiara pointed out, seeing as though Cassie kept on stealing her clothes lately from not being able to go back home.

"Sorry. Your poor jeans," Cassie pouted again and Kiara rolled her eyes.

"Okay, maybe we can walk from here," Pope suggested.

"What, and leave the Twinkie? The-the tide's coming in," John B told him.

"So then what are we supposed to do?" Sarah asked.

"Not stay here," JJ answered.

Kiara seemed to contemplate it for a moment before she rolled her eyes and said, "I can take my dad's truck."

"Kie, are you sure?" John B inquired.

"How much worse can it get, you know?" Kiara replied with a shrug.

"I can come with you so you're not alone," Cassie offered and Kiara nodded, knowing that if she did have a run-in with her parents, she would need the support of her best friend.

"We're gonna need something to pull her out with. There's a winch at the Château. That's, like, two miles," JJ brought up and Cassie looked over at him, meeting his eyes. He nodded subtly at her and she gave him a lopsided smile.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Sarah agreed.

"Okay, if you're gonna do it, let's go, okay? Tide's coming in, all right? Twinkie's going underwater," John B urged them.

"Double time, guys. We gotta move," JJ urged as the three of them climbed out of the water, heading onto land.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

Cassie, JJ, and Kiara finally made it the Carrera household after hiking two miles. At this point, they were all used to it with the amount of running they've been doing lately.

As they snuck up to the house, JJ quickly looked into Kiara's dad's truck and said, "He's not in there. We're good."

"Why would he just be in there?" Cassie asked quietly and JJ shrugged, causing the two girls to share a look before they moved closer to the fence.

"Are you sure you wanna do this, a little Dad Theft Auto?" JJ asked Kiara as he and Cassie crouched down next to each other.

Kiara made a face. "No."

"Yeah, I'm sorry, but it was kinda a stupid question," Cassie admitted, patting the blonde on the shoulder as he pursed his lips.

Kiara then shook her head and made her way over to the gate. "All right, here we go. Go, go, go, go, go," JJ whispered as he opened the gate for Kiara. The Carrera girl stepped through, leaving the two to stay crouched behind the fence.

Cassie looked to her left, trying to keep a lookout. "How much time do you think we got until she comes back?" JJ asked from next to her.

"Why?" Cassie replied as she turned her head to look at him. By her surprise, she was met on a swift kiss on the lips by the boy. "JJ!" She scolded, pushing him back.

"What?" He shrugged goofily.

"What if she saw?"

JJ looked up over the fence, seeing that Kiara hadn't come out yet, before he crouched back down. "She didn't."

Cassie rolled her eyes playfully at him. "You're so stupid."

"You love it."

"I don't. I hate it."

"Just like you hate me?"

"Shut up."

"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me, princess."

She gave him a look. "Are you always this horny?"

He smirked. "When I'm around you," he answered. She scoffed at him, but she couldn't help but feel the heat rush to her cheeks. "You have no idea how much I wish we could be alone together just for one second."

She felt her heart rate rise at his words. "Only for one second?" She teased, although her stomach had been doing backflips.

He ran his tongue along his top teeth, looking her up and down as they crouched along the fence. "For as long as you want."

She died. Dead. Right then and there. Cassandra Blake was no longer with us.

She couldn't think of anything to say in return, but thankfully she didn't have to since she heard the sound of footsteps making their way down the porch.

She peered over the fence, seeing Kiara crouched down as she rushed down the steps. "She's coming back," she forced out to JJ since she was still thinking about what he just told her and hoped her face wasn't too red for Kiara to see.

JJ smirked a bit, liking the effect he had on the girl before he opened the gate again. "Hey," he waved his hand to Kiara and she tossed him the keys, making him catch it and rush over to Kiara's truck.

"Oh, no, no, you're not driving. I'm already stealing this, I don't need it coming back in a million pieces," Kiara told JJ once he opened the driver seat's door, ripping the keys out of his hand.

JJ groaned before he moved to the passenger seat door, but Cassie beat him to it. "I'm Kiara's Passenger Princess," she said to him a smile.

He groaned again before he retreated to the backseat, slumping down in disappointment.

Kiara drove the truck up to the Château as fast as she could without breaking any speed limits to get the cop's on their asses on top of everything.

"This'll only take a sec. I think it's in the surf shack. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's in the surf shack. I'll be right back. Got it," he rambled as Kiara slowed down, allowing JJ to get out of the truck. "Be right out." He went to go hop over a mound of dirt, but instead, he tripped on it and landed face first on the ground.

"Ooh!" Both girls winced from the car, making a face as they watched JJ scramble back up.

"I'm okay!" JJ called out before he began searching for the winch in the surf shack, disappearing from view. Cassie released a sigh, shaking her head at the boy.

"You know, even though you guys still argue, it's nice to see you guys working together. Getting along," Kiara piped up and Cassie glanced over at her. "I mean, I've always wanted you to be friends with the Pogues and JJ was the only one getting in the way of that."

Cassie shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, the both of us would do anything for our friends. We've both realized that and...now we tolerate each other," she said to Kiara, but only part of it was a lie.

They did more than just tolerate each other, that was for sure.

Kiara smiled. "He also saved your life at the storm drain."

"He did...he did. But I also saved him from getting shot by Mrs. Crain, so..." Cassie trailed off.

"Didn't he also save you from a bullet before that?"

Cassie blinked. "I guess we tend to save each other a lot," she voiced offhandedly.

Kiara laughed. "Can y'all really hate each other then if you're always saving each other?"

"Okay, first of all, I said I tolerate him now. And second of all, just because I didn't like the guy didn't mean I wanted him dead. There's like a list of people I'd rather see dead over JJ," she explained.

A few months ago, JJ would have been close to the top of that list. And now he somehow worked his way all the way down to the bottom.

Damn you JJ and your gorgeous blue eyes and soft blonde hair and perfect abs.

"One of them's already knocked off the list," Kiara pointed out, referring to Ward.

"Yeah, thank God," Cassie breathed out. Although she had been upset in the moment with the way she was reminded of her father, she was glad Ward was out of their lives. Now they just had to worry about his psychotic son, her mother, and Limbrey with her guard dog.

Not too hard...right?

"What's taking him so long?" Kiara muttered after a second, honking on the horn. "JJ!" She shouted, but there was no answer. The girls shared a look before Kiara started to honk obnoxiously on the horn.

After a few more moments, they saw JJ walking over to the truck with none other than his lowlife father, Luke Maybank.

"What the fuck?" Cassie cursed, remembering how Luke had been in jail. How the fuck is he out? Cassie thought as she began to shake her head angrily, getting out of the truck.

No. Immediately, no," Kiara rejected as she also got out of the car.

"No, I know," JJ started to say.

"What is this?" Kiara questioned as Cassie made her way over next to her.

"Just get in the truck," JJ pointed at the truck, placing the materials in the back.

"I'm sorry. The Twinkie's drowning right now, Jayj," Kiara reminded him.

"Yeah, and our friends are stranded," Cassie added as she and Kiara stepped toward him. "What is the plan? What is this?"

JJ swiftly grabbed each of their shoulders, making them come to a halt in front of him. "Just listen to me! Listen to me, okay?" He demanded as he looked between the both of them. "I need to get into the marina at the Island Club. There's a boat there that he can take." JJ's eyes stopped on Kiara. "You got the sticker on your truck. Twenty minutes, that's all I need." He then let go of them, moving toward the other side of the truck to get in the backseat next to his father.

"We don't have twenty minutes!" Cassie argued.

"The Twinkie's gonna be a submarine in twenty minutes!" Kiara exclaimed.

"I know. I know."

"Leave him, and we can come back!" Kiara shouted.

"The cops are after him!" JJ revealed through clenched teeth, banging on the truck.

"Good! He should be thrown back in jail!" Cassie yelled, gesturing to his father in the backseat who glowered at her. She glared back at him before looking back at JJ.

"No, no, you don't understand. If I do this now, maybe I will never have to do it again," he told them before he got into the back seat next to his dad.

Cassie and Kiara slowly looked at one another. "Are we really doing this?" Kiara asked her.

"I guess so," Cassie responded before the two of them moved to get into the car.

"Don't look at me," Kiara demanded since Luke had been staring at her through the back window.

Cassie got into the passenger seat, running her tongue along her front teeth angrily as she thought about the cuts and bruises that Luke left on JJ in the summer. If this small detour had meant Luke would be out of his life forever, she would do it.

She would do it for JJ.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

"Hey, pull up to Home Food here. I'm gonna need provisions," Luke instructed as Kiara drove the truck along the road. It was mostly silent the whole time, the tension thick in the car due to Luke's presence.

Neither of them wanted anything to do with Luke, but JJ had told them this would be the only way to rid Luke out of his life for good. And if that were the case, they would have to tolerate spending twenty minutes with the man.

Kiara pulled up to Home Food and JJ hopped out of the truck. "Crackers and baked beans and tuna, all right? And-and some salt and pepper," Luke told his son.

"Yeah," JJ responded.

"Five days' worth," Luke added.

"I know."

Cassie and Kiara sent each other a subtle look since they were now in the car alone with Luke as JJ went inside to fetch the items he asked for.

If it were up to Cassie, she would have switched seats with Kiara and crashed the car with Luke in it right then and there. But she knew she couldn't do that.

Luke began to tap on all the seats as if they were drums. Kiara looked straight ahead as her lips formed a thin line in annoyance before she spoke up, "You're a terrible father, did you know that?"

"Yeah, preach it to me," Luke replied as he stopped tapping the seats. "Set me straight."

Kiara shook her head. "Do you have any idea how special your son is? Like, even a clue?" She questioned and Cassie glanced over at the girl at her words.

"He's a thief is what he is," Luke answered.

"And what are you?" Kiara asked, getting mad. "You're just a wasted local salt who never did shit but get messed up and hustle people. Not exactly impressive," she insulted.

Luke smiled sarcastically. "You know, you sound just like your mama. She was just like that in high school. Always thought she was better than everybody else. Kook princess," Luke told her, causing Kiara to tense. "You know, I bet you're a lot like your mama. Slumming with the bad boys. Are you an ungrateful shit like she was?" Luke lowered his voice as he slowly leaned between the two front seats. "I bet you are. Miss Figure Eight, hopping up there on your high horse, riding around in daddy's car—"

Cassie elbowed him right in the face, causing his head to go back and for him to groan. She looked back at him, her eyes narrowed menacingly. "Don't talk to about her or her family like that ever again, you son of a bitch," she warned, looking over at Kiara who nodded gratefully at her.

Luke held a hand up to his nose, looking at Cassie with angered, furrowed brows. "Who the hell are you? JJ's whore for the weekend?" Cassie tensed up, sucking in a furious breath. "Hold on. You're the Blakes kid. The one whose mama was sleeping with Ward Cameron before he kicked the bucket. Guess being a whore must run in the family."

Cassie swiftly turned around, pointing a threatening finger at Luke. "I swear to God, if you don't shut your goddamn mouth, I will drag your druggie ass out of this car and leave you really craving some coke. You think it's nice calling women whores? No wonder why JJ's mom left you," she spat and Luke's face twisted angrily, glancing down at the knife next to him on the seat.

However, before he could do anything with it, JJ called out, "Hey!"

Cassie turned back around, crossing her arms over her chest as JJ handed his father a six-pack through the open window before going to load the back of the truck with the rest of the groceries.

Kiara started the truck back up before JJ hopped back in the back next to his father. "Let's get this over with, yeah?" Kiara said to him.

"Yeah," JJ responded, looking between his father and the girls skeptically since it had seemed like the tension in the truck increased ten times the amount from when he had left. But he didn't want to comment on it. He just wanted to be done with this.

Kiara pulled up to the Island Club's marina and JJ got out to get the groceries from the back of the truck. "Hey, why don't you tell your mom hi?" Luke said to Kiara, leaning against her seat.

"Shut up," JJ immediately said once he got back, opening the door for his father.

"Make it quick," Kiara told him and the blonde nodded.

"Come on," JJ urged his father, who had now gotten out of the car and shut the door behind him.

Luke looked over his shoulder. "How about you," he pointed at Cassie, "tell your mom to give me a call if she's ever down my way. Seems like she likes to sleep around."

"Shut up," JJ reiterated through clenched teeth, grabbing his dad's arm to pull him further. Cassie narrowed her eyes at the man, steam practically flying out of her ears.

"Hey, Luke," Kiara called out, making the two Maybank men turn around. Kiara gave him the middle finger with a mocking grin and Cassie chortled.

Luke went to go step forward, but JJ blocked his path and demanded, "Go. Go!"

Kiara dropped the middle finger, leaning against the seat as the two girls waited for JJ to come back.

JJ and Luke made their way over to the boat that Luke would be taking to leave the Outer Banks. They both stepped inside, placing the groceries in the control room.

"Did you have to do that? Did you have to go after them like that?" JJ questioned.

"I told them the truth. They didn't like it."

"Everything, hm. Everything I have, you frickin' ruin," JJ spoke through clenched teeth, thinking back to Cassie.

He knew she wasn't embarrassed by him like he originally thought she was, but after what his father had said to her, he wouldn't be surprised if she would be now.

Because whose father would say that to the only girl that he genuinely liked? To the girl he was exclusive with?

Not a good father, that was for sure.

"I don't try to. Just happens naturally."

Cassie and Kiara continued to wait in the car as the former braided her hair anxiously. She didn't want to leave JJ alone with his father, not knowing what he would do to him even though JJ was helping him leave.

Despite everything, JJ was still doing this for his father. And JJ had claimed it had been for himself, but Cassie knew he just finally wanted his father's approval on something.

Luke had left an imprint on JJ, making him think that no matter what he did, it wasn't enough. That was why JJ was doing this. To show his father he would do what "enough" looked like. And if that meant getting him a boat to flee the cops, then so be it.

Cassie thought back to when she, Kiara, and Pope walked in on JJ in the hot tub and how he broke down, admitting he was going to kill his father but didn't. After everything, he still didn't.

Because JJ wasn't like his father.

He was so much better.

The way he would do anything for his friends. The way he would fight for them until he couldn't any longer. The way he wouldn't give up even though there was no sign of winning.

Cassie admired all of that. She admired him.

If you had told her she would be thinking that about him in the beginning of the year, she would have called you crazy. Because admiring JJ Maybank? Must have been a cloned version of her. But no. This was truly her.

And she had done more than just admire him. She liked him. A lot. The way he cared about her feelings, the way his arms felt wrapped around her body, the way his lips felt on her's...it was bewitching. And she was caught right under his spell.

So much so that while JJ would do anything for the Pogues, she would do anything for him.

And JJ? He would do the same for her.

Maybe they already had.

"I think we should go check on him," Cassie spoke up quietly, looking over at Kiara. "To make sure Luke hasn't screwed him over."

"Yeah. Good idea," the Carrera girl nodded and they both got out of the car, walking down the dock to see the boat pull away with JJ staring after it.

They waited behind him, not saying anything to give him some time. They then watched as he turned around, a tear falling from his eye.

"Hey," he said hoarsely, wiping the tear away since he didn't want them to see.

The girls glanced at each other before they wordlessly reached out to him, causing him to immediately go over to them and melt into their arms.

His best friend and his kind of girlfriend.

What more could he ask for?

Kiara Carrera, the girl that he had been best friends with for years. That had always been by his side no matter what. That would defend his name no matter how hard people had tried to tell her he was no good.

And Cassandra Blake, the girl he originally hated and now couldn't wait to be in her presence every day he woke up. She had been on his mind for weeks now, consuming his every thought, and he finally got what he wanted. And now, she was right by his side and in his arms like he had dreamed.

Again, what more could he ask for?

The three began to walk back to the truck with JJ in the middle of the two girls, his arms wrapped around their shoulders with his hands resting on them.

But one tiny difference made one of the girls stand out from the other.

The blonde girl reached her hand up to connect it with JJ's.

authors note!
honestly this chapter made me so
sad to write bc i was thinking about
s4 :( i still don't know how im ending
this book for s4 bc i partially made it to
cope with the ending since i finished brutal
and i also thought obx s5 was gonna
come out 2025 but now it's apparently
coming 2026 sooooo ig i'll see. we're still
only on s2 lmao im getting a bit ahead of
myself