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𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲: 𝗺𝗿. 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗱 𝗯𝗼𝘆

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As soon as Cassie heard JJ's engine rev outside, she stormed down the stairs with tears threatening to spill from her eyes. She didn't mean for this to happen. She didn't mean to hurt him like this. It was just her stupid, self-sabotaging behavior that was getting in the way even though she loved him back.

She knew him loved him back.

Why else would she be willing to die with him over a month ago? You didn't do that for someone you didn't love.

She had just never felt this way before about anyone. She never expressed feeling this way toward anyone. So when JJ had said it to her first, she felt like her body had turned in on itself and all of her organs had been exposed.

Her heart that beat for him, and only him, had been exposed.

She bounded down the steps, heading toward the cabinet that her mother kept the alcohol in. She took out the Vodka that had been left over and unscrewed the bottle cap, going to hold it up to her mouth before she stopped herself.

She panted heavily, looking down at the bottle in her hand. She had gone almost two months without drinking and it had been the best she ever felt. She wouldn't say she was addicted to drinking because she didn't need to drink every day in order to live, but she definitely used it as a coping mechanism when times got tough — which was frequent. It wasn't healthy.

She couldn't go back to that. She wanted to, but she couldn't.

She slammed the bottle down on the table and allowed herself to fall to the floor, her back sliding down the cabinets near the floor in the kitchen. She held her head in her hands, letting her tears finally come out.

She felt like a horrible person. JJ probably thought she didn't love him, which she did. She was just too scared to say it out loud because if she did...there was no going back. She would be a changed person forever and she wasn't sure if she could do it. She wasn't sure if she could act as a person whom someone loved like that because she never had done it before.

She never thought a man would say those three little words to her other than her father. At one point in her life, she thought she was unlovable. The Pogues had showed her she was capable of being loved, but JJ? JJ had shown her a different kind of love. A romantic, sensual love that she never thought someone would experience with her.

She avoided it but now? Now it was there, staring at her full front. And she couldn't avoid it. Not when JJ was a part of the same very friend group and she couldn't just suddenly ghost all of them because of one man.

A man she couldn't admit she loved out loud.

She sobbed on the floor for what felt like hours until she cried herself to exhaustion. She hiked back upstairs and went to her bed. She saw the shark tooth necklace JJ had given her on it and she sniffled again before putting it on her nightstand. She then collapsed on her bed, not even bothering to change out of her outfit.

She woke up the next morning to the sound of her new phone buzzing loudly. She never turned off the ringer given the fact it was a new phone. She groaned and reached over to her nightstand, grabbing her phone to check who the hell was bothering her.

Unknown
Hey it's Sarah
JJ gave me your new number
We're meeting at the Château
It's something important

Cassie took a few deep breaths as she read the message. "Fuck," she breathed out, not wanting to see JJ so soon already. She didn't even know what she would do when she saw him. Talk to him? Apologize? Not when the Pogues were all there.

God, this is my exact problem.

However, she knew that she couldn't opt out of whatever meeting they were having at the Château. Sarah said it was important apparently. She quickly wrote back to the girl to tell her she was coming before she got up from her bed, changing into a white, lacy peplum top and some jean shorts.

She also packed some clothes to bring to the Château just in case her mother had decided to make a surprise visit and she couldn't stay at home anymore.

Once she was done packing a duffel bag, she spotted the necklace JJ gave her that she had put on her nightstand the night before and her heart twinged, sniffling once again.

She took it and put it her pocket.

She then left the house, finding her car that she had parked ages ago on the street to take the Château after putting some gas in it.

Once she arrived, she noticed the others sitting at the surf shack. She sucked in a breath and went over, preparing to meet eyes with JJ. Except when she got over, he didn't even look at her. Not even once glance.

Her lip trembled ever so slightly, but she shoved the feeling away. She was done with crying. She couldn't cry over something that was her fault. Was she even allowed to cry? That would seem selfish.

"Hey, what's with the bag?" Cleo inquired.

Cassie blinked, tearing her eyes away from the boy. "Oh, it's-its clothes. Thought that if my mom magically comes back, I should probably have some of my own instead of stealing Kie's."

"Thank God for that," Kiara piped up, placing her hands together as if she were praying as a joke. Cassie chuckled a bit as she looked at the girl, but all she could think about was what JJ had said.

Could Kiara actually like him? She had known the girl for a while now and whenever they talked about boys, JJ's name was never brought up. Perhaps that was intentional? She wasn't sure. She hoped not. She hoped it was just JJ spewing lies even though that also hurt.

"Okay, now that we're all here," Pope spoke up, looking at Sarah who had been the one to get them all there. "Sarah?"

Sarah nodded, clearing her throat. "When I went back to Tannyhill, Rafe was on the phone with Ward, and he just kept saying, 'My thing, this is my thing.' He had to be talking about the cross," Sarah detailed to them as they listened in the surf shack.

"Absolutely," Pope agreed.

"And he's coming into Wilmington tonight at eight o'clock. And he's being shipped by train to Raleigh from there, but this is-but this is our chance to get it back," Sarah spoke to them all.

"You get any other information?" Pope inquired.

"Uh, Sarah got the cargo number," Kiara spoke up, reaching for the paper that had the number on it.

"Okay, well, that's a start."

"Yeah."

"I mean, they're definitely fencing that shit off as we speak, so we should probably get a move on," JJ urged and Cassie's stomach dropped at the sound of his voice.

"Sarah, you hear from John B?" Pope asked.

"No, I mean, he's probably off somewhere with his dad." I totally forgot about Big John, damn. "But the problem is they have the Twinkie," Sarah pointed out.

"Our transportation," Pope sighed, shutting his eyes.

"We could use my car?" Cassie offered.

"And how the hell are we gonna fit the cross in it?" Cleo pointed out, arching a brow.

Cassie pursed her lips, "Shit." Her car was spacious, but not that spacious to fit a seven foot cross. And now that she thought about it, she wasn't even sure if her car would be able to carry it with the immense weight plus six other people.

"I could ask Heyward for the truck," Pope thought of.

"Uh, what? Yeah, that's gonna go well," JJ commented sarcastically.

"I know, but we have no other options," Pope shook his head and JJ released a sigh. "Cleo and I will go to Heyward. You guys can wait at the ferry for us."

"I have to go talk to my parents first," Kiara cut in, licking her lips nervously. "I need to tell them where I'm going after I disappeared last time and never came back."

"You think that's a good idea?" JJ queried.

"Why don't you come with me and find out?" Kiara suggested, giving him a raised brow look.

JJ shrugged. "Sure."

Cassie sucked in a breath, looking in between the two of them. Even though she believed there was no way Kiara could like JJ, the idea still lingered in the back of her mind. "I can drive you, Kiki," she said with forced a smile.

JJ finally looked at her and she felt like she was going to turn to ashes under his stare, but she held eye contact. "No need. I got my bike," he assured her although his tone had been anything but reassuring.

"Then you take your bike, and Kie and I will take the car," Cassie replied, giving him a once over. "Sound good?"

JJ clicked his tongue, pushing up from the wall. "Sounds good, Cassandra." He walked past her and she pursed her lips at the usage of her full name before she smelt the delicious cologne he seemed to put on.

Fuck, he's doing this on purpose, isn't he?

Pope looked between the two of them in concern since he was the only one who knew about the relationship between Cassie and JJ, but didn't say anything as Cassie and Kiara walked off behind the boy to get to the Carreras.

Cassie and Kiara got into the car as JJ got on his bike, zooming away before Cassie could even start her car. She scoffed at him and shook her head before she drove after him.

"Are y'all...good?" Kiara asked, giving the girl a glance.

Cassie glanced at her. "Who?"

"You and JJ," Kiara clarified.

Cassie swallowed hard. "Yeah. Why wouldn't we be?" she responded nonchalantly.

"Well, it's just...you guys were getting along recently but now it looks like you're...not," Kiara slowly pointed out.

"He pissed me off, what can I say?" Cassie shrugged and Kiara pursing her lips, thinking, Great. Now if I tell Cassie I like him, she's gonna freak because she hates him again. I have to wait.

"Shouldn't you be mad at him? Didn't you get into a fight with him or something?" Cassie changed the subject back on to Kiara.

Kiara furrowed her brows. "How do you know that?"

Cassie tapped her finger on the steering wheel as she drove. "He told me," she answered casually, staring straight ahead.

"When did he see you?"

"Um, yesterday. No, yeah, I made him go buy me a phone because he was on his way to his house anyway. So he had go give it back to me and he mentioned something happened," she explained briefly.

"Oh," Kiara said, nodding slowly. "No, yeah, we got into a fight. But-but we talked it out. We're good."

Cassie hummed curiously. "What was the fight about?"

Kiara swallowed thickly. "He was, uh, upset about his house and took it out on me. Called me a Kook and said I didn't understand what he could be feeling. That I didn't care about him."

"But you do care about him...right?" Cassie prodded, giving the girl a glance.

"Of course. He's...one of my best friends," Kiara said with a nod, looking out the window.

See. I knew it. They're just friends. JJ doesn't know what he's talking about.

They soon pulled up to the Carrera household and Kiara walked inside followed by JJ and Cassie. She told them to stay back while she explained everything to her parents, but they made sure to keep a great distance away from each other.

Well, JJ made more sure of it. He seemed to want to avoid the Blake girl like the plague and Cassie noticed.

"Honey, I am listening to you. I'm just having a hard time, so I need you to walk me through it one more time," Anna said after Kiara explained everything. Mike paced back and forth, and JJ and Cassie watched the conversation go down behind Kiara.

"The Cross of Santo Domingo that we found."

"Right."

"We thought it was gone forever. We just found out that it's-it's gonna be in Wilmington tonight," she told her mother again.

"Okay. And the cross is Pope's family—"

"Pope's family heirloom," Kiara finished for her.

"Okay," Anna sighed.

"Priceless historical artifact."

"Priceless...which you're telling me that you found?" Anna asked, wanting to understand that part correctly.

"We found it, and then Rafe, Ward, and Savannah stole it from us," Kiara reiterated.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, do you know how insane you sound?" Mike cut in, not having any of it.

"Baby," Anna warned, putting her hand up towards her husband.

"Ward is dead!" Mike exclaimed, holding his hands out as Cassie released a quiet sigh.

"Ward is not dead! We've been over this part a million times!" Kiara raised her voice.

"Alright, you understand that this is a little hard to follow, right? I mean, we had a funeral for the man," Anna said to her daughter, trying not to get mad like her husband was.

Cassie glanced over at JJ, who was playing with the cutlery by the sink. "Jay. Jay, stop," she hissed, not wanting Kiara's parents to get mad at him for touching shit and add more fuel to the fire.

JJ looked at her, giving her a once over. "It's JJ," he corrected.

She reeled her head back at him, not even knowing what to say that. "Excuse me?" She replied and he raised his eyebrows at her and shrugged, and she scoffed at him.

So he's being petty now, huh? Instead of feeling bad for hurting the boys feelings before, now she was just growing pissed at his attitude. She began to think about what he had said to her during their argument, bringing up Rafe, which was a low blow and her lip curled slightly. She understood why he was upset, but was he really just going to never talk to her again?

Here he was, standing in his black shirt and black cap, brooding and acting as if he had no interest toward her. She wasn't buying it. This was all an act put up by him to forget about what happened since she basically broke his heart.

Sorry, JJ, but your bad boy act dropped as soon as you showed interest in me.

Wait.

Hold on.

Is he...is he acting like me now? Is this is how I looked when I pretended like I wanted nothing to do with him after we kissed for the first time?

Now I understand how he must have felt.

Ugh. Fuck me, JJ.

I-I mean, fuck you, JJ. That's totally what I meant.

"I get how it sounds, but he's alive. I wish he wasn't, but he is. Why would I lie? He's alive!" Kiara tried again before she scoffed since she wasn't getting anywhere, looking over at the blondes behind her. "JJ? Cassie?"

"Yeah?" JJ replied, placing the cutlery that he was holding back down in the kitchen sink. Cassie rolled her eyes at him since she told him before not to mess with it, but he just had to be a sassy, little cunt about it.

"A little help guys?" Kiara gave them a look.

JJ raised his hand, beginning to count off the information on his fingers. "Ward's alive in the Caribbean. Savannah's with him. They're living off the loot that they stole from us and...uh...yeah, they're flying across to Wilmington."

"Give me a break, man," Mike said to him.

"Yeah, you're right. What do I know, though? Just saw it with my own two eyes. So did both of them, but whatever," he shrugged, acting as if it wasn't a big deal.

"Yeah, and why would I make these things up about my own mother? That's just stupid, don't you think?" Cassie pointed out, tilting her head to the side.

"I'm skeptical, okay? I am skeptical, as in 'I think it's all bullshit.' I think that you've been led astray, Kiara." He then pointed a finger at JJ. "And you, JJ—"

"Mike," Anna tried.

"No, no, no, let's get this out in the open."

"Can we just take it down a little?"

"No! Let me tell you something." He made his way over to the Maybank boy. "You need to understand that I do get it."

JJ cracked his knuckles, and ironic smile forming on his face. "Sure, you do. Yeah. Sure," he spoke sarcastically.

"Do you hear me? I do. I like you, JJ, and I bet you're fricking fun to hang with, and ditch school with, and go down to the break, because I was once just like you, bro," Mike told him. "I didn't think that anything mattered. Thought I could make up any bullshit story and these stupid Kooks would believe it."

"Mom—"

"But then I learned about hard work and about what really mattered. All I care about, all that I care about is my daughter. That's it. And all that I know is she was a lot better off before she met you and your friends," Mike went on before looking at Cassie next to him. "So were you."

Cassie's face twisted before Kiara piped up, "Dad, I was never—"

"Yes, you were!"

"I was never better off!" Kiara seethed, walking over to her father.

"Kiara, please," her mom said, getting up to follow her.

"I was miserable!"

"Miserable? No, no."

"Take it down a notch, listen."

"No, no, no, no. No!" Mike shouted over Anna, closing in on JJ's personal space. "These Pogues have ruined my daughter's life."

"Didn't mean any disrespect, Mr. Carrera," JJ responded as bravely he held Mike's eye contact. "Y'all have a good day," he added after a moment, walking away from the tense scene.

"Yeah."

"Lovely home," the blonde boy complimented, waving at him to purposefully piss him off before he turned away from Mike.

"What are you doing?" Kiara questioned her father angrily once JJ left the room.

"What am I doing? I'm protecting my daughter."

"Can we please—"

"And- and— Wait a second!" Mike cut Anna off for the millionth time. "Everybody says it, that he's a liar and a thief. He's just like his father."

Cassie recoiled at the insult. Now JJ may have been a liar and a thief, but he was nothing like his father. And even though the two of them were in some sort of conflict right now, she wasn't going to let Mike get away with saying that.

"Okay, no, no, no don't go there," Anna scolded.

"Just like his father!" Mike repeated.

"Don't bring him into this. Please don't bring him into this."

"Don't bring him into this?"

"Are you kidding me, Mr. Carrera?!" Cassie raised her voice at his words, causing Mike to give her a surprised look at her sudden outburst and tone. "He's nothing like his dad. At all! You don't know anything about him!" she defended the boy.

"Oh, I don't know him?" replied Mike.

"No, you know nothing! Do you know how many times he's saved my life? More than what any of these damn Kooks would that's for sure," Cassie spat and Mike narrowed his eyes. "They're nothing alike."

"Cassie's right. That was low. Even for you, Dad," Kiara added before the two girls shared a look, turning around to leave.

"Hey, where are you going?" Mike questioned. "Kiara?"

"I listened to you guys. Y'all can listen to me. This isn't fair. I listened to you," she pointed out to her parents as they followed after them.

"This isn't fair?" Mike repeated before he stopped walking, done with the conversation.

"You guys were supposed to listen to me."

"Please, please, please just wait. Please wait. Just wait one second, please," Anna pleaded, stopping Kiara. "I promised myself that if you came back and if I had a second chance, I would try and be different, and I'm trying to be different."

"Okay, I gotta go," Kiara whispered.

"I want you to take this," Anna said, handing Kiara a new phone. "There's a credit card on the back. If you get into trouble, if you need help, you call me."

"I will. I will, Mom," she assured her before she gave her a hug. "I love you. I gotta go. I'll be back."

"Cassie make sure she calls me, all right, honey?" Anna spoke to her.

Cassie forced a small smile. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll make sure."

Anna nodded at her before she looked back at her daughter. "Okay. I love you, Kiara."

"I'll be back."

"Please be careful," was the last thing the girls had heard her mother say before Kiara shut the door.

"I swear to God..." Kiara trailed off as the two girls quickly ran across her porch, wanting to get back to JJ. "Jayj. I'm sorry," she breathed out, seeing him getting his motorbike ready. "Jayj, wait. My dad's literally the worst."

"Yeah, it's whatever. I already know what they think of me," he replied gruffly.

Kiara sighed, hopping on the back of his bike. "They think the same about me."

Cassie blinked at Kiara's action of getting on the back of JJ's motorbike even though she had rode to her house in Cassie's car. "Wait, Kie, don't you want me to drive you?"

Kiara looked over at her. "I think I'll go with JJ. We'll meet you there, though?"

Cassie's mouth went dry, her heart beginning to hammer in her chest. "Uh, uh...Yeah. That's...that's fine." Cassie looked at JJ, praying he would intervene even though she didn't know why he would. He was clearly trying to forget about her.

JJ looked at Cassie, sucking in his lip before he looked back at Kiara reluctantly. Cassie's heart dropped. "You ready?" He inquired and Kiara gave him an adoring smile, wrapping her arms around his torso.

Cassie wanted to smash that bike in half.

"Yeah," Kiara answered sweetly before JJ revved the engine and started driving away from her house.

Cassie watched them drive off, letting out a shocked scoff. She was wrong. Kiara liked him. She had to. Why would she want to go on the back of his bike when she could have went in her best friend's car? She was proven wrong just by that one singular action.

Because Cassie knew Kiara. Although Kiara had been best friends with these boys much longer than her, Kiara always made sure to never leave Cassie behind. And that's exactly what she just did: hopped on a bike with JJ Maybank, who was now back to being Mr. Blonde Bad Boy, and rode off into the sunset together.

Leaving Cassie to eat their dust.

And JJ was now entertaining it? After he told her that he didn't like Kiara and that he loved Cassie?

Oh, she was boiling.

But this was her own fault. She never told Kiara about her and JJ, and she never said "I love you" back to him.

This was all her doing.

She had no right to be upset about it. She got what she wanted. She pushed JJ away, to another girl even, because she was too scared to commit to him and make everything real.

But that's not what she wanted.

She wanted JJ.

She wanted to get him back.

In more ways than one.

authors note!
whether i'm gonna be your wife or
gonna smash up your bike, i
haven't decided yet
but i'm gonna get you back —
imgonnagetyouback, taylor swift