CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE:
NO GOODBYES
(episode ten: the coastal venture)

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FOR A BRIEF, CONFUSING second, Haven thought that Arden had found her way onto the ship after all. Staring back at her was an eerily similar version of her friend, her face framed by dark hair with eyes to match. When she smiled, it was like a lion baring its teeth.

Haven was wrong, she realised that quickly. There was no way this was Arden. This had to be Eun-Cha. And she had her sights set on JJ, a gun glinting in her carefully poised hand. The cousins froze, rooted in place by the weapon darting between them.

"JJ Maybank. Long time, no see."

Eun-Cha's voice even sounded like Arden's. Obviously, there were going to be similarities between them, and Haven knew that — Eun-Cha was her mother, after all — but Haven hadn't realised just how much Arden resembled the woman she resented. The only major, obvious difference between them was their hearts. Arden's heart would always beat for her daughter. Eun-Cha's was hers and hers alone; she had no issue cutting a loved one down if it meant she got what she wanted.

"Where is my daughter?" she asked, eyes flitting around like she expected Arden was hiding out somewhere, just waiting for the right moment to strike. Perhaps that was something Eun-Cha would've done, but not Arden. "And my granddaughter."

"They're at home," JJ spat, harshly adding when Eun-Cha scoffed, "My family, I mean."

"Oh, JJ," Eun-Cha sighed in a rather convincing state of pity for him. It immediately made Haven suspicious. She inched closer to her cousin's side, looking around for some sign of life, but Pope and the others were nowhere to be found. They were entirely alone. "You don't know."

"That you tried to take my daughter for Rafe Cameron to adopt?" JJ scowled, a muscle ticking in his jaw. "Trust me, I know."

"So that's what she told you," the woman smiled, that same glimmer of pity returning. Not once had she looked at Haven. In Eun-Cha's eyes, the girl was nothing but collateral. "JJ, you can cling to my daughter's lies as much as you want, but you and I both know the truth." She took a deliberate step closer, forcing Haven and JJ's backs against the railing. Haven felt her stomach twist, taunted by the never-ending drop into the ocean below. All it would take was just one shove... "Rafe can and will give Arden and Logan the life they deserve — want, even. I was doing you both a favour. You should be thanking me."

"You're crazy," Haven scoffed before she could think twice.

Eun-Cha froze. For the first time since she cornered them, she seemed to realise that Haven was there. Briefly, her eyes narrowed like she was contemplating pushing Haven over the edge of the boat. JJ took her distracted state as an opportunity, one he should've known would only end in disaster.

Haven recalled the next few seconds in terror-fuelled flashes. JJ shoving her aside, one hand smacking the gun from Eun-Cha's grip as the other pushed her away. But Eun-Cha was stronger than he expected. One wrong step and he stumbled. His head smacked against the railing, and Eun-Cha shoved his chest with all her might. Haven screamed his name, horrified, but it was no use. JJ landed face-down in the water below, his body limp in the mouth of the ocean.

Eun-Cha rounded on Haven at the sound of her cries. Haven thought quickly, sprinting for the gun that laid on the floor between them. Eun-Cha froze, hands slowly raising, but Haven was eerily calm as she held the gun towards her chest. Deep down, she was still screaming. She needed to get to JJ. He was drowning. She would do what she needed to.

BANG! The gun went off with a press of Haven's finger. The bullet grazed past Eun-Cha's face, missing her, but the woman still flinched. She hadn't expected her to shoot, nor did she expect the harsh blow of the gun barrel colliding with her temple over and over again. She fell to the ground, eyes rolled into the back of her head, and Haven didn't hesitate. Once she was sure Eun-Cha wouldn't get back up, she ran for the edge and didn't stop until she was air-borne.

The water was quick to drag her down, but Haven fought against it as her arms wrapped around JJ's body and dragged his face out of the water.

"JJ," she cried, feeling herself slipping beneath the dead weight of his body. Water filled her mouth, and Haven coughed at the taste. "JJ, open your eyes! JJ!" She tried to check for a pulse but struggled to keep her own head above water. Desperate, she began to scream for her friends, hoping to God that one of them would hear her. They would know what to do... right?

After a few minutes that felt like hours, someone finally heard her. The sound of an unfamiliar engine made her heart sink, but seeing John B sitting at the engine of the lifeboat, their friends surrounding him, was enough for Haven to stop holding back the tears. She was sobbing by the time they reached her, several hands dragging up JJ then hurrying back for Haven.

"It was Eun-Cha," she said, the only thing she could think of as she was struck with question after question. For a second, Haven thought back to the woman laying unconscious back on the ship. Was she alive? Haven hadn't stopped to check her pulse... "H-he hit his head and fell—"

Before they could get far, the motor started to splutter, emitting a thick cloud of smoke into the air. Kie, who was beside Haven checking JJ's pulse, rounded on John B with wide eyes, "John B, what's going on?"

"We're stalling out!" he exclaimed, desperately attempting to restart the engine under the pressure of everyone shouting for him to hurry.

"He's pointing at us," Pope hissed.

He was sitting beside Haven, a hand pressed to her shoulder in comfort, but he wasn't focused on JJ like she was. Forcing her dismal stare from her cousin, she gasped at the sight of Rafe leaning over the edge of the ship with a shotgun pointed at them. Beside him, several of Ward's men worked to heave the cross back onto the ship by a rope. Whatever Pope had attempted must've failed.

Just when Haven thought Rafe would shoot, the motor roared back to life. John B didn't hesitate, the boat cutting through the water at the fastest speed the motor would allow. Beside Haven, Kie had also began to cry, shaking JJ's unresponsive form, not knowing what else to do.

It was then that JJ's eyes opened, water spilling past his lips as he coughed and spluttered for air. Haven's expression almost immediately lit up. She pushed past Kie to throw her arms around him, but Kie didn't seem to mind as she and the others shared a collective sigh of relief.

JJ was okay.

"Don't ever do that to me again!" Haven exclaimed.

"Sorry," he mumbled, regaining his senses enough to loop his arms around her back. "I'll tell her not to push me next time."

A sound somewhere between a sob and a laugh spilled past her lips. The Pogues echoed the sound as she sat back, allowing Kie to finally hug him and for John B to playfully smack his shoulder.

"Just always looking for attention, huh?"

"Whatever it takes, right?" JJ smirked at him.

But as soon as the happiness came, it left. Pope, knowing that JJ was safe, allowed his gaze to swing back to the ship where they could still see people working to lift up the cross. The air quickly sobered as he glared.

"This shit ain't over."

It was both a threat and a promise.

John B nodded back at him, equally as determined. "No, it ain't."

With that, he sped the boat up again. Haven wasn't sure where they were going, but somehow, they came to an agreement to just keep moving. At some point, they'd have to find land — either that, or they'd run out of petrol. Either way, there was nowhere else to look but forward.

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MUCH TO HAVEN'S SURPRISE, it didn't take them long to find themselves an island to wash up on. When the water got too shallow to travel across by boat, the Pogues got out and walked the rest of the way, dragging the lifeboat up onto the sandbar where they all settled beneath the shade of a cluster of trees, sunburnt and exhausted. No one spoke for a while, but everyone was thinking the same thing. What was next?

"Okay, anyone know where we're at?" JJ asked at long last. He stood beside Haven, etching P4L into the tree branch above her head.

Haven rolled her eyes, glancing up at him from where she'd hiked up the hem of her jeans. "Well, let me just check my GPS really quick — oh, wait."

"You're so mean to me," JJ sighed, then pouted when the others laughed. "I almost died, Havey, and this is how you're gonna treat me? What if the last thing you ever said to me was that, hm? What then—"

"You're so dramatic," Pope scoffed when Haven merely rolled her eyes again. "Now back to your actual question. My guess is Deserted Beach, Unknown Island."

"Thank you, Pope," JJ said. "That explains so much." When Pope came back with nothing, JJ continued into the silence, "So. Plan A, huh, Pope? That went well."

Sighing, Pope stubbornly insisted, "This is the lowest we can go. We literally have nothing else to lose. The cross? Gone."

"The gold?" Sarah added. "Gone."

"Seriously," JJ scowled to himself. "If we had a nickel for every time we got beat up, I'd say we're at a dollar fifty."

"Oddly specific," Haven blinked. "But probably right."

The silence returned again, thick with what ifs and the ache of hitting rock bottom. Haven thought of Melinda, thousands of miles away, and shuddered when even thinking of her mother made her remember someone else's.

What would Arden do if Haven really had killed Eun-Cha? Even by accident...

What would Haven herself do?

"But we've had some good stuff happen too," John B pointed out, hopeful despite the circumstances. "Right?"

"Name something," Pope sighed.

"Uh... the Boiler Room!" Cleo (who Haven, in total honesty, had forgotten was with them) raised a curious brow at him. John B shrugged back. "What? I mean, if the boiler hadn't exploded, I wouldn't have gotten away from Rafe. I couldn't have gotten the Zodiac and gotten us out of there."

"That wasn't luck," Cleo shook her head, mirroring Pope's uncertain look. "That thing was gonna blow the second I stopped feeding it."

"Stealing my thunder, Cleo—"

"Sorry."

Haven huffed out a laugh. Cleo didn't seem the least bit apologetic. Both girls shared a grin as John B frowned at them.

"Okay, Pope," he moved on. "You're related to Denmark Tanny. I mean, that's crazy—"

"And I lost all of his inheritance," Pope was quick to counter.

But John B wasn't having it. Standing up from the ground, everyone was forced to look up at him, his arms raised as he pointed at the ocean behind him, the sand beneath their feet, the sun haloing his head. Haven thought he looked beautiful, especially when he smiled at them like everything was somehow going to be okay in the end.

"You know what?" he said, Haven hanging off every word. "Guys, this is the pogue life! We are in the Caribbean. It's our own little slice of paradise! With my best friends, with my family... I wouldn't wanna do this with anyone else. So while you guys are complaining about every little thing — JJ?"

"Hm?" JJ raised an eyebrow at him, a slow smile tugging at his lips. He'd finished the P4L tag and was now spinning the knife around in his hands.

"I was just looking at those burly lefts..."

"There are some slabs out there," JJ agreed.

"Just a few." John B turned to Kie next, grinning at the curious way she eyed the waves; no matter how hard she tried to hide it, Kie's love of the ocean always shone bright. "Kie, you see that? I know you wanna get out there."

"We don't have boards," she pointed out with a frown. She sounded disappointed.

"Well, we can body surf 'til we make some boards." Much to Haven's surprise, he looked at her then. "Havey? I think it's time we properly teach you to surf. No more excuses. Don't you agree, JJ?"

"I do agree, John B," JJ nodded and winked at Haven when she sighed.

"I guess that wouldn't be too bad."

"There's nobody around," Pope added, eyeing the lay of the land and weighing up the pros and cons. "We could definitely squat here for a bit. Kinda belongs to us now, huh? Seven-way split?"

"Poguelandia!" JJ excitedly declared.

"Oh boy."

"I claim the Poguelandia!"

"Cringe."

"You say that now, Haven," he shot at her. "But I'm gonna make a flag. It'll have a chicken on it, with a coconut bra, smoking a J — oh! And in crocs! You'll love it!"

Haven wasn't so sure about that, but she laughed along as the boys got to 'work' organising provisions. John B paused on the way past, holding out a hand for her to take. She accepted, smiling when he looped an arm over her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her temple.

"You okay?" he asked for only her to hear.

Haven didn't hesitate to nod. "I'm okay."

She thought about telling him. She really did. But the words got caught up in the swelling ache of panic in her chest, so she smiled again and let it go.

Eun-Cha was something Haven would keep to herself. For now? She was going to have fun, as much as she could before the secrets, as they always tended to do, caught back up with her.

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A/N: So that's the end of Lovejoy! Act 3 of Haven's journey will take place in the sequel, Killshot, that I'm going to publish upon the release of Season 3! So stay tuned for that. Thank you so much for all the love and support you've given Haven and her journey so far. Until next time <3

HAVEN MURPHY WILL RETURN IN 
SEASON 3 OF OUTER BANKS!