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𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝘅𝘁𝘆: 𝗸𝗶𝗱𝗻𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱

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Cassie woke up with a searing headache and she placed her fingers to her head, groaning. There had been a small bump, probably with a purple bruise, that she could feel as she ran her fingers over it.

Her eyes adjusted to the light in the room as she looked around. She slowly pushed herself up the couch she was laid on, blinking once she realized this definitely wasn't a room in the Cameron's. She would have remembered from all the times she went over when she was best friends with Sarah.

What the hell happened?

The sound of a horn blared outside and she turned her head to the window, getting up to see that...she was on the water?

Am I on a boat? Wait, holy shit. Was this what Rose and my mom were talking about?

She heard the door unlock behind her and she spun around, seeing her mother step inside. "Oh, thank God. You're awake," her mom breathed out in relief, going over to her daughter.

"No, no, no, stay back," Cassie said, holding her hands out in front of her. "Don't come near me."

Savannah halted, sucking in a breath. "I didn't do this, Cassie, okay? It was Rafe. He knocked you out."

Cassie narrowed, starting to remember that Rafe held a knife to her throat and then shoved her against the wall. "Oh, and you let him bring me here too?" She countered and Savannah pursed her lips, glancing away. "Where the fuck are you taking me?"

"Guadeloupe."

"Guadeloupe? With the Camerons?" She questioned, before she realized that the last time she heard Sarah, Rafe had her locked in a room. "Wait, Sarah. Is-is she okay?"

"Yes, Sarah's fine. She's here and she's good. And yes, with the Camerons."

Cassie shook her head. "I don't understand. Why-why is Rose even willing to stand next to you when-when you were fucking her husband?"

"Language, Cassandra."

"No, no, it's true. You were fucking him."

Savannah sighed. "Rose and I have our...differences, but we both realize that some things are more important than other things so we've put those differences aside for now."

"Oh, what? Kidnapping your own children? That's what's more important?" Cassie snarked.

"You're not kidnapped—"

"Oh, I'm not? I'm not kidnapped? Last time I checked, I didn't ask you to take me here and lock me in a room. I never asked for any of this," Cassie told her, gesturing around the room. "I mean, what's so important that you've taken both Sarah and I against our wills?"

"We know about the cross, Cassie," Savannah revealed and Cassie swallowed hard. "We know that it was owned by Denmark Tanny, who Pope Heyward — you know, your Pogue friend — is coincidentally a descendant of."

"Yeah, we found that out, like, a millennium ago," Cassie snarked. "So, you have the cross? That's what's more important to you than family?"

"Well, there's one more thing—"

"Hey, Sav, Sarah isn't up yet. How's Cassie?" Someone called out from behind the door before they pushed it open, revealing somebody that Cassie wouldn't even have thought of seeing in a million years because they were supposed to be dead.

It was Ward motherfucking Cameron.

Cassie backed up against the wall, gasping in shock at the sight of the man in front of her. "You're-you're..." Cassie stammered, pointing at the man. "You're supposed to be dead."

Savannah looked back at Ward, giving him a look. "Thanks, Ward. I wanted to break the news to her first, but this works too," she sassed and Ward sighed, placing his hands on his hips.

"You-you knew?" Cassie questioned, looking at her mother with her mouth parted and brows furrowed.

"Yes, Cassie, I knew," Savannah revealed and Cassie blinked. "It was the only way I'd get the charges dropped. It was a Hail Mary, but it worked."

Cassie released a choked gasp, not believing this. "H-How?"

"Scuba. Dove right in the water before the Druthers exploded. It was touch and go and could've went wrong, but I made it out alive clearly," Ward explained.

Cassie began to shake her head, looking in between the two of them like they were monsters. They were monsters. Ward faked his death in front of his own daughter just to escape the law and have his mistress and son have a get out jail free card, and now they had kidnapped both of their daughters.

It was wicked.

"It should've went wrong," Cassie seethed. "You shouldn't be here. How-how are you allowed to be here and my father is dead?"

"Cassie, your father wasn't a good man. How many times do I have to tell you?" Savannah stepped forward.

"And he is?" Cassie pointed at Ward, who pursed his lips. "And you?" She pointed at her mother.

Savannah's nostrils flared. "Your father hit me, Cassandra. Did you want me to keep living with that? Hiding it from everybody?"

"No," Cassie began. "I wish he just killed you instead."

The words had just slipped out. Of course she wouldn't have wanted her mother to be killed by her abusive father. That wouldn't have been right. But she didn't want her mother around anymore. Not after this.

And if anyone knew Cassie, they knew her words shoot to kill when she got mad.

Savannah gaped at her daughter, not believing the words that had just come out of her mouth. "What?"

"I said, I wish he fucking killed you!" Cassie raged before she stepped forward toward her mother, causing Ward to step in front of her to protect her. "Get the fuck out of my way!" She screamed as she hit against Ward, trying to get past him to get to her mother.

Because even though Ward had killed her father, Savannah let it happen. And that hurt worse because they were family. Blood.

Suddenly, though, Rafe came bursting through the door and pushed Cassie away from his father. He forced her against the wall, making her groan once her back hit it roughly.

"Rafe!" Savannah barked, not wanting him to repeat what he did to her back the house.

"Don't worry, Savannah, she's fine," Rafe assured her as he kept his eyes planted on Cassie.

"What is this? A whole family affair?" Cassie remarked through clenched teeth and Rafe chuckled darkly. "Let go of me, Rafe."

Rafe didn't listen as he brought his one hand up and traced along the bruise left on her forehead, making her wince a bit. "Only if you promise to be a good girl," he answered before he took his hand away.

Her face twisted furiously. "You're disgusting."

"Hey, you slept with me remember? Can't be that disgusting," Rafe said to her and she glowered at him before he started to smile. "Hey, isn't it funny that two Blakes slept with two Camerons?" He brought up and Sarah crossed her arms at the boy. "Maybe it's just written in the stars for a Blake and a Cameron to be together."

Cassie wanted to vomit. He couldn't be serious right now. "You wish," she spat and Rafe narrowed his eyes.

"Rafe, let go of her," Ward piped up.

"But Dad—"

"I said, let go," Ward demanded with wide eyes.

Rafe sighed and let go of Cassie's arms which prompted her to shove him back. "Hey!" He warned her, bringing a finger up to her face.

"Don't fucking touch me ever again," she told him as she hit his hand down.

He went to go step toward her, but Savannah warned, "Rafe. You already knocked her out once. Don't let it happen again or else this time, I'll make sure you don't get away with it."

Rafe turned back to her, running his tongue along his top teeth. "Sorry, Savannah," he apologized, but he didn't seem too sorry about it.

Cassie swallowed before she voiced, "Everyone leave."

"Cassie—"

"Look, I'm already gonna be trapped in here anyway. Just fucking let me be here in peace! Just give me that," she pleaded before she shut her eyes. "Please."

The three of them shared a glance. "Fine," Savannah said. "We'll leave you. Come on."

They all filed out of the room, Rafe being the last one to leave. He turned to Cassie, who was watching him with pursed lips. "Sorry about your head."

She flipped him off and he chuckled, walking out of the room and locking it behind him. She collapsed back down on the couch, releasing a defeated sigh.

How is this my life?

Outside on the Coastal Venture ship, the Pogues sat in the storage container since they successfully snuck onto it after JJ and John B chased down Rose and Savannah, and Pope and Kiara joined after the former claimed to have a "Rafe Round Three."

It was safe to say JJ was tweaking.

He knew he shouldn't have let Cassie go inside the house by herself. He knew the girl could definitely fend for herself, he'd seen her in action and trust him, he found it incredibly hot, but this was the Camerons (specifically Rafe, but also Rose) and Savannah they were talking about.

They were psychotic and they kidnapped their own blood. Like who did that?

And now they were just sitting inside this storage container with no way to get out. How the fuck were they supposed to get Cassie and Sarah out when they were shut inside? That just defeated the whole purpose of this rescue mission and JJ wasn't having it at all.

"Nice work, John B," the Maybank boy spoke up sarcastically. "You know these things lock from the outside, right?"

"Okay, I was just trying to get us on the boat, JJ. I wasn't thinking that far ahead," John B told him in annoyance as he shut his eyes.

"Yeah, well, now we're stuck in here like rats!"

"It's hot," Kiara complained, taking jacket her jacket off.

"In this death cage!"

"Okay, JJ, you're not helping," Pope said calmly, panting a bit from the heat.

"You don't have a whole lot of room to talk right now, Pope," JJ pointed out as he sat back down. "You said you had a plan, but what happened to thinking ahead?"

"I find your lack of self-knowledge disturbing," Pope replied.

JJ let out an ironic laugh, getting back up. "Last I checked, you literally shot an oil container with the gat. Remember that?" He shot back before he took his cap off, gripping it. "How are we supposed to get Cassie when we're locked in here? Okay, we have to get her back and the only way we're gonna do that is to get out of this thing."

"Uh, did you forget about Sarah?" John B piped up, walking up to the Maybank boy.

"Oh, right, yeah. Sarah, too."

"There's no way you forgot about Sarah."

"I didn't forget."

"You totally forgot about her!"

"I didn't forget about Sarah, man! It's just—"

"Oh, my God! Shut up! Shut up!" Kiara yelled at them, placing her leg in between the two before the argument got any further. "Pull it together."

The boys all looked at each other, breathing heavily before JJ let up, "Okay."

"Let's try to find a way out of here."

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

JJ was tweaking out even more.

He tried checking Cassie's location just to keep some of his sanity, but his phone had been dead for hours. That made him start to think of preposterous ways on how to rescue the girls because he just needed to get them back in any way that he could.

Well, by "them," that specifically meant Cassie.

"Hey, Pope, how do you kill a snake?" JJ asked out of the blue. At this point, they had stripped whatever layers they had on so their skin could be free from the heat that was drenching them in sweat.

"You go for the head," Pope answered, exhausted. He hadn't been able to catch a break from when he got stung by the wasps and then to fighting Rafe, and now he was here. Dying from the heat.

"Exactly. But the head, in this instance, is the bridge," JJ began. "To take the bridge, we need maximum firepower. And I happen to know that there's an armory on this ship in case of pirate attacks."

"'Pirate attacks,'" Kiara repeated an exasperation, getting up from where she sat.

"So, if we take that — And I'm not just talking pistols."

"All right, You lost me."

"I'm talking knives—"

"Killing everybody here is not a plan," Kiara cut him off before she walked past him.

"Ah, we lost her. But I'm serious. If we get to the armory, and I'm talking AKs, pistols, knives, double-barrels—"

"JJ!" John B got up and grabbed the blonde boy's shoulders.

"What?"

"We gotta get out of here first," John B pointed out.

"Okay, yeah, we can't do anything if we're still stuck in here so that's why I'm spittballin'. If I just get enough pressure, I can Spartan kick that thing open!"

"You're not kicking shit!"

"You don't understand, we need to get them out," JJ reiterated.

"Yeah, you're right. I don't understand. Why are you so eager to get Cassie out that you're willing to blow shit up? Last time I checked, you hated her," John B clocked him.

JJ let out a laugh of disbelief, looking at Pope. "He's got a point," the Heyward boy shrugged and JJ blinked at him.

JJ looked between the two boys and hesitated before answering, "She's a Pogue, all right? And we don't leave Pogues behind. That's all!"

"Oh, really? That's all?"

"Yes, John B! That's all!" JJ confirmed with wide eyes. "So we need to figure a way outta here and the only thing I got is kicking this thing open and mad-dogging the armory. I got this Swiss Army knife to help. So if we do that—"

"Stop it, stop it, stop it!" Pope tried, not wanting to hear this idiotic plan anymore.

"All right, then what do you got, Einstein?!"

"Shut—!"

"Guys!" Kiara piped up from the other end of the storage container, making them all look over at her.

"Hey," Pope whispered and Kiara gestured with her head for them to come over. "She's got something. Quiet," Pope instructed before they all walked over.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," JJ apologized sarcastically.

"Just move with her."

"Can we fit through that, yeah?" Kiara asked John B once he reached her, looking up at the window that had a grate over it.

"Hell yeah. Nice one, Kie," John B complimented.

"What was that about a Swiss Army knife not coming in handy?" JJ held up his knife, offended.

"Just stop it," John B deadpanned in annoyance.

JJ stepped up on a crate and began to use his knife on the window, trying to get it open so they could climb through it. "Okay, we raid the armory, get weapons, roll back here, and plot the next move," JJ planned out, handing the screw he pulled out to Pope so he could remove the grate. "The armory is on the third deck, aft, near the laundry room. Let's roll."

"JJ, hold up. I don't think we should all go out there. It's too risky," Pope spoke up.

"Why?"

"Okay, I gotta be honest with you, I think you should stay here," John B admitted quickly before JJ could leave the container anyway.

"What?"

"I have Sarah and Cassie that I'm gonna go after," John B said, pointing to himself before he looked at Pope. "And Pope has..."

"The cross," Pope finished for him.

"Unless you also have Cassie to go after..." John B trailed off, giving him a look.

JJ blinked. "No. I mean, yeah, I wanna get her out but, like, you're saying it in a way that could mean something else so no," he shook his head.

"Okay, exactly then," John B nodded. "Also, if you go out there, there's 100% probability that you're gonna do something stupid," he admitted and all of them silently agreed.

"Okay, first of all, I think the correct terminology is 'ballsy.' That is it," JJ corrected him.

"Okay, okay, okay, get down," Pope quickly said, pulling him down.

"Get off! I'm a field player!" JJ complained, getting himself shushed by all of them. He needed to be out there. He needed to get his girl back.

"If we go out there, and we get in a bind, we need somebody to look out for us. That's what we need," John B explained slowly.

JJ stared at him for a second. He knew that if he tried arguing, John B would just start accusing him of shit again and even though that shit was 100% right, he couldn't let them know that. Cassie would probably kill him.

"Okay. I get it, I get it, I get it. I'll be on the B team," JJ gave up.

"Uh, I never said 'B team.'"

"I'm sorry, are you calling me 'B team'?" Kiara asked, getting offended.

"Hey, JJ—"

"Didn't mean to offend you," JJ told her, putting his hands up.

"Did 'B team' not just come out of your mouth, or am I totally tripping out?" Kiara looked around in disbelief.

"Hey, JJ. Hang back. Hold down the fort," Pope told the blonde.

"Great. Looking forward to it. Mm-hmm."

"I'll babysit," Kiara deadpanned.

"You guys have fun. It's your funeral, your game. I'll be in here, on the bench...chilling," JJ went on, walking away from them and plopping himself down on the floor.

"Hey," Kiara started, talking to Pope and John B. "Don't get shot," she shrugged. "That's all I got."

"Uh...'Don't get shot,'" John B repeated, tilting his head.

"Well, that's disheartening and scary," Pope pointed out.

"Positive affirmations, Kie."

"Yeah, thank you."

"Yep, no problem."

John B and Pope stood on the crate, opening up the window so the former could stick his head out and check to make sure the coast was clear. "Okay, let's go. Pope, grab my feet," he instructed, but Pope didn't grab them in time. "Pope, grab my feet!" He whisper-shouted before he fell out.

"Oh, Jesus!" Pope gasped, looking at Kiara who shook her head at him. Pope then followed the Routledge boy out, leaving Kiara and JJ inside.

Kiara got on the crate and put the grate back over the window slowly so she didn't make any noise before she looked back at JJ, who sighed. She rolled her eyes at him.

"It's just me and you."

Cassie continued to lie back on the couch in the room she was locked in, staring up at the ceiling as she thought. Her phone had been taken from her when she was knocked out, so she had nothing else to distract herself.

She thought about her life before moving to the Outer Banks

She thought about her life before joining the stupid treasure hunt.

She thought about the Pogues.

She thought about JJ.

She wished she could have been looking into his big blue eyes to comfort her. She wished she could have been in his arms right now to soothe her. She wished he was here right now with her.

She wondered what he was doing. Was he trying to find her? Did he even know where she was? She had no clue. And she had no idea if she'd ever see him again.

The thought of that made her start to tear up.

She went from hating him at the beginning of the year to wishing he was right by her side, his biceps wrapped around her and holding her like she was the only thing that mattered to him.

She really didn't know when the change occurred. When she used to look at him, all she thought about was what possible comebacks she could come up with whenever he insulted her. But now when she looked at him, she drank all of him in like she hadn't seen water for years.

She remembered reading somewhere that hate wasn't the opposite of love. It was actually indifference. Hate and love were both forms of passion on two ends of the same spectrum. They were both all-or-nothing feelings whereas indifference meant nothing.

And Cassie and JJ definitely didn't feel nothing toward each other during their months of being forced to work together. There was still a passion present that had somehow morphed into...love along the way.

Now, that's not saying that Cassie loved the boy. It was too early to say. But she knew that for however long she would be taken away from the Outer Banks and be forced to live with these psychotic assholes, she would forever be dreaming about JJ Maybank and how no one knew how much he had haunted her so stunningly.

Suddenly, the fire alarms went off and Cassie was interrupted from her thoughts, lifting herself up from the couch. "What the shit?" She muttered, going over to the door and twisting the knob, but it was still locked. "Hey! Hey, I'm in here!" She banged on it. "Don't make me burn alive!"

"Cassie?" Someone said from the other side of the door.

She blinked, recognizing that voice. "John B?"

"Holy shit, holy shit."

"John B, oh my, God. You gotta get me out of here," she breathed out.

He tried twisting the knob, but it was locked from the outside. "I-I can't. Is there anything inside you can use to get out?"

Cassie turned around, looking around the room before she realized she had the Bobby pin on her the whole damn time and she could have escaped long ago. She was a goddamn idiot. She was taking after JJ apparently.

"Fuck me," she mumbled in frustration at herself as she turned back around, pulling the Bobby pin out of her jeans and using it to unlock the door.

Once she got it unlocked, she pulled open the door and was met with the soft brown eyes of John B Routledge.

authors note!
ik some of yall r gonna kill me for
one specific part of next chapter so just
wanna say sorry in advance