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𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝘄𝗼: 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲

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Cassie and JJ had arrived at The Wreck that night, meeting up with Pope and Kiara where JJ had explained to them what happened to her. Cassie had still been extremely out of it, trying to deal with the news she had just received.

And she couldn't even talk about it to anyone either. No one knew the reason why she was so fucked up about it was because of what she did with Rafe just a week prior. The only person who knew was JJ.

She was able to cry herself to sleep, only waking up to the sound of sirens in the distance the next morning. She slowly rose from where she had been lying, seeing JJ leaning against the wall as he looked out the door and kept clicking open his lighter nervously.

She decided to make her way over to him, causing him to look over at the sound of her footsteps. "Hey, you're awake," he whispered since Pope and Kiara were still asleep. "You good?"

"No, but...I will be. Hopefully," she answered honestly and he nodded slowly. "It's just...I mean, you know Rafe and I..." She trailed off, wringing her hands together.

"Yeah. I figured that's why you're so upset about it," he assumed and she nodded in confirmation. "Did you actually...like him before, you know...Midsummers happened?"

She gave him a wide-eyed look. "Hell no," she denied. "I only slept with him to spite Sarah and she doesn't even know because afterwards I felt so...gross," she admitted, her face scrunching up in disgust. "God, I don't even know why I'm saying this to you," she added after a moment, placing her head in her hands.

"Because I'm the only one you can talk to about it," he pointed out, making her look back up at him. "I'm not judging you, you know. I've had my fair share of hookups."

"But you should be. I mean, it was with Rafe. Who's now a-a...who's now a murderer," she whispered, her lip curling woefully as she looked down.

JJ saw the way this had been eating alive at her. It was already bad enough she slept with the man that beat up Pope and was the reason why JJ got sent to jail. But now that he had actually murdered someone? And Sheriff Peterkin no less? JJ really had no idea how much this could have been effecting her and yet, all he wanted to do was help her.

"Cassie, look at me," he softly said, placing his hands on her shoulders before she slowly looked up to meet his eyes. "There was no way you could've known this would happen, okay? You didn't do this. It was all Rafe. Don't think you're just as guilty all because you slept with him. Because you're not. You did it way before any of this shit even happened. Don't lump yourself in with him. He's a bad person and you're...not."

Cassie stared into his ocean blue eyes as she heard him say the words to her. Although it had been JJ talking to her, she couldn't help but feel comforted by him. And looking into his eyes that were as mesmerizing as the deep, blue sea only aided in that comfort.

Have his eyes always been like this? So...calming?

The ends of her lips began to quirk up gratefully at him and he gave her a small smile back. She had felt something flutter in her stomach, but she ignored it as she thought back to how he had saved her from her cage of room; how he had comforted her then the same that he had been doing now. "Hey, last night, how—"

"Hey, guys," Pope interrupted her, causing JJ to let go of her and the two to share a glance with one another since they didn't know he was awake. However, it didn't seem like Pope had heard their conversation because he just looked tired. Not any signs of shock or betrayal.

That was relieving.

"Hey," JJ nodded at him before he looked back out the window, the sirens still going off. "He's pinched for sure, man."

Pope leaned out the door. "No. They wouldn't still be patrolling if they caught him," he reasoned.

"Let's hope."

"You know, we were in that car. They're probably looking for us, too. Especially once Cassie's mom realizes she's gone and definitely knows it has to do with us," Kiara added with a shrug and Cassie cursed to herself. If her mom had checked her room, she was probably out trying to find her or going to Ward.

"Well, if we're gonna be outlaws, we might as well help John B," Pope voiced after a moment before he walked over and grabbed the keys to JJ's motorbike.

"How are we going to do that?" Cassie crossed her arms.

"Find him before they do?" JJ guessed, but Pope didn't answer him as he kept walking. "Pope?"

"I'm gonna get gas for the boat," Pope replied without even looking back at JJ, making the two blondes share a confused glance at the boy's attitude. JJ had seen the way Pope had basically crashed out after the gold was taken away in the plane, but he thought giving him the weed had calmed him down. Maybe it all caught back up to him.

"Hey, you be careful. Okay?" Kiara told him from where she sat.

Pope just stared at her for a second before he looked back at the blondes. "Meet me at the dock at three. Don't be late."

Cassie furrowed her brows as JJ glanced between the two, also confused. They were both thinking the same thing: Did something happen between them last night?

Pope had never acted that way with Kiara. Ever. The only time she had seen act so mad was when the two had been arguing over his future outside the Cameron household. But this seemed different. Cassie wondered if it had to do with his crush on the girl.

Kiara quickly got up from where she was sitting and rushed after the Heyward boy. "Okay, what is your problem?" Kiara asked angrily as she walked down the wooden steps.

"No problem, Officer. I'm just doing my job," Pope replied scornfully before he swung his leg over the motorbike.

"Look, I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings," Kiara said as Pope revved the engine over her voice. Yup, something definitely happened, Cassie figured. This was some Cassie level type pettiness, not Pope level.

"What was that?" Pope questioned.

"Look, I didn't mean to!"

Pope continued to rev the engine over her voice. "Sorry, I can't hear you. What was that?"

"Pope, I'm being serious — I'm trying to talk to you!" She yelled before he drove away right when Kiara finished talking.

Kiara watched him drive away, a look of disdain mixed with disbelief written all over her face. "Kie, what was that about?" Cassie asked her since it seemed like she had missed out on a lot from being locked in her room.

However, before Kiara could answer, the sound of blades whirred over their heads and they looked up to see a large helicopter fly over them. The letters "SBI" had been written on the side of it.

"Who the hell is that?"

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

Cassie, JJ, and Kiara started getting bags of food ready for John B and Sarah's journey to Mexico at The Wreck. "You sure he wasn't just being weird Pope?" JJ asked after Kiara explained what had happened between her and Pope last night.

It was pretty simple: Pope was high and confessed his love for Kiara, but Kiara rejected him.

"It wasn't really the kind of thing that needed interpretation," Kiara replied as she handed JJ and Cassie more food since they were bagging the items next to one another. "Is that gonna be enough food for them?"

"I mean, for a couple of weeks and that's all they need, so..." JJ pointed out.

"John B kinda does eat a lot, though..." Cassie trailed off, shrugging a bit.

"Eh, he'll be fine. He could just extend his cutting season," JJ replied, referring to him working out to lose weight. Cassie let out a small snort as she rolled her eyes playfully, grabbing a box to bring to the car.

"Look, I think I actually hurt his feelings," Kiara told them with a hurt look before they began walking outside.

"You were just being honest, Kiki. He's gonna have to get over it some time," Cassie shrugged although she did feel bad for the Heyward boy. She probably should've warned her best friend about his crush on her, but she didn't want to double cross the boy. They were both her friends now.

"Look, don't beat yourself up too much. He's completely changed his feels. The past 24 hours have been like Jekyll and Hyde," JJ told her once they made it outside.

"I hate to admit it, but I miss the old Pope," Kiara said. "At least I knew what to expect from him."

"Where you been?" Kiara's mother demanded her daughter, coming from out of nowhere. Cassie's eyes widened and she looked over at JJ, who pursed his lips.

"Uh — I'm fine. I slept here," Kiara quickly told her mother, pointing at the restaurant as JJ and Cassie loaded up the boxes in the back of her car.

"Well, we were up half the night, scared to death, lookin' for you. Were you even gonna tell us?" Anna questioned.

"Well, I'm telling you right now," Kiara said under her breath.

"All right, what the hell are you three up to?" Anna interrogated.

"I'm sorry, Miss Anna, we just gotta go," JJ told her since they were in a rush. That was an understatement.

"We're sorry," Kiara swiftly apologized.

"No, I'm sorry. Absolutely not. Look, have you heard what's going on out there?" Anna asked, blocking Kiara from getting into her car.

Kiara released a frustrated sigh, turning to Cassie and JJ. "Do you think you guys can do this alone? I gotta deal with this. I'll try to meet up with y'all," she said to them through clenched teeth as her mother stood angrily behind her.

Cassie and JJ shared a look before they nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, we can take the stuff to my car. Come on." JJ quickly took the boxes of food out of Kiara's car, transporting them over to Cassie's. Thankfully, she had a white Cadillac XT4 so there was a bunch of room in the back and it would be big enough to hopefully tow the Phantom if Kiara couldn't make it with the truck in time.

"No, no, Cassie. Your mother would kill me if I let you leave," Anna said to her.

"Well, I'm sorry, Miss Anna, but I really don't care what my mother does right now," she replied bluntly before she opened her car door, getting inside as JJ got into the passenger seat.

Kiara made her way over to Cassie's window since it had already been down. "I'll catch up with you guys, I promise. I just need to find some way out of this."

"Good luck, Kiki," Cassie said to her best friend, giving her a sad smile.

"You too, Cece."

And with that, Cassie drove off to JJ's house so that he could get the keys to the Phantom. As Cassie drove, she kept glancing over at the boy while she thought about last night.

"Look, I was gonna ask you about last night, but Pope kinda interrupted before," she spoke up and JJ looked over at her curiously. "How did you know to come?"

JJ shrugged. "Well, you didn't come to the Chât like Kie told you to do and you weren't answering any of her texts. And yeah, we kinda got into a bit of a fight the night before but...I knew that wouldn't make you not show up and ghost us. That's...not you."

Cassie hummed at that. He was right. It wasn't her. She wouldn't let JJ's words hurt her. No, she would've showed right up the next day and started clocking his shit right then and there.

"And about our fight the night before...I'm sorry," he apologized. "I shouldn't have been mad at you. For not knowing what to believe. I know Ward was there for you when your dad died, so it makes sense why you didn't want to think he could've killed Big John. I should've been more considerate."

Cassie looked over at him before back at the road. "Thank you," she replied and JJ nodded. "And thank you for last night. For-for caring enough to come save me and for helping me calm down. You...didn't have to do that."

JJ turned to her. "I did. I did have to do that. I mean, you helped me after the...hot tub incident. I owed you, didn't I?"

She let out a soft laugh. "Why are we always owing each other?" She questioned, shaking her head.

"I don't know. Why do we keep saving each other?" He countered as he kept his gaze turned toward her.

Cassie turned her head to face him yet again, but this time, she had gotten lost into his azure eyes and the way the sun rays had bounced off his face so perfectly to illuminate his golden strands.

JJ was an objectively attractive guy, but Cassie always tended to ignore it because of her hatred toward him. But now, she couldn't help but admire his features like he had been some type of Greek god.

She began to think of her dream of him the other night, the way his lips seemed to feel against her's and the way his hand felt touching her body. She found herself imagining other possible trysts between them...messy, top lip kisses...how it would feel for him to be between her upper thighs...

She had gotten so lost at looking at him and daydreaming that she completely forgot to turn back to the road. JJ ripped his eyes away from her's once he heard a car beep ahead of them and yelled, "Car, hey, car!"

Cassie quickly looked forward, her eyes widening once she realized she had swerved into the other lane. "Oh, shit!" She screamed as the car beeped at her and she swerved back into the right lane, making her release a relieved breath. She then started to laugh breathlessly, glancing back over at the boy who swallowed hard. "Oops. My bad. Don't know, uh, how that happened."

He rapidly shook his head, breathing out, "You're good."

Why the hell was I thinking about that? I swear to God, this stupid adrenaline is poisoning my brain.

Cassie finally pulled up to his house, parking the car in front of it. JJ looked over at it, a few tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. "Home sweet home," he voiced but he sounded anything but happy to see it.

Cassie looked at him, watching him take his cap off and mess with his hair nervously. "JJ, do you want me to come with you? 'Cause I will," she offered since she had now known about what his father did to him.

He looked over at her, a bit surprised that she had offered to go with him. She never would have a week ago. But then again, she didn't know about what his father would do to him a week ago. "No," he replied breathlessly with a shake of his head. "This'll only take a second." He then opened the car door and walked towards the house, his backpack slung over his shoulder.

But before he made it inside, he looked over his shoulder at the girl. She gave him a lopsided smile and an encouraging head nod, making him send her a quick smile before he disappeared inside.

"Shit," Cassie muttered to herself, growing worried about JJ being in there alone with his father. After last night, she was starting to feel different toward the boy. Sure, she had started to feel a bit different after she helped him after the hot tub incident, but last night JJ had went out of his way to help her.

He didn't need to come all the way to her house, risking his own safety since the cops were probably after him, too. But he did. All because her not showing up wasn't like her at all.

How does he know me so well?

She had waited there for a few minutes, wringing her hands together nervously before she heard the sound of the screen door open. She looked over, seeing JJ come marching out.

He didn't look harmed in any way, but she noticed the way he had looked down at the ground, avoiding her gaze because he had been teary-eyed. She frowned as he opened the door, getting into the passenger seat.

"How'd it go?" Cassie carefully asked him.

He answered by holding up the keys to the Phantom, forcing a smile up to his face. "We're good."

Cassie nodded, but before she drove off, she inquired, "Are you good, though?"

JJ licked his lips, still not used to this. Not used to how she seemed to really care. Just like how he was starting to really care about her. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. We gotta go, though. Can't waste any time."

Cassie nodded quickly before she put the car in drive, heading off to where the Phantom was being held in its hangar. She drove as fast as she could down the road, keeping an eye on the time since they were cutting it a bit close.

JJ fiddled with the keys in his hand, noticing how worried the girl had looked. "It'll be fine. It'll be fine with the Phantom. She'll get outta here quick," he assured her before three cops cars with sirens blaring drove past them. "Whoa, whoa, whoa." JJ ducked his head as Cassie tried to act as normal as possible, slowing down a bit.

"They're still looking. It's a good sign," she pointed out once they had passed although she still had been extremely nervous for John B. For all they knew, they could have already nabbed John B and now they were searching for them for being "accomplices."

As Cassie continued to drive, Rafe and Barry sat on their motorbikes on the side of the road and heard the sirens nearing them. "Shit, man. They're after him. Hey, you know if we get him dead or alive, there's a reward. 25K, right?" Rafe said to Barry.

"Yeah, obviously, brother. That's the first thing I thought of," Barry replied as the cop cars zoomed by. "Whoo!"

"Shit," Rafe chuckled before he looked at a car passing by, his eyes narrowing. "Wait. Hold up."

"What?"

"Yo, is that Cassie?" Rafe questioned, recognizing her car and her familiar braid through the window. He started to smirk a bit.

"Ayo, those are the little bitches who thought they could punk me," Barry realized. "Let's go get 'em."

authors note!
cassie and jj r really filling the void
in my heart left after s4 💔 should be
studying for my math final bc im def
gonna fail but i just cant do it 😃 hope
yall enjoyed this chapter. the next ones
are well...let's just say not all sunshine
and rainbows