043 !! PHANTOM

Sitting there in the back of Kiara's car waiting to see her brother leave the house she's forced to, on more than one occasion, call home is torture.

Her impatience is evident in the way her right foot keeps tapping against the expensive floor mats spread out on the SUV floor, the cool condescending air blasting out of the air conditioner doing less than wonders for the prickling sweat at the back of her neck.

He's been gone five minutes now, that’s a touch too long for someone to be inside the Maybank household when the middle-aged man they refer to as their "dad" is inhabiting its confines.

It's a death wish of sorts and JJ went in foolishly unarmed.

Give him time.

Time, that's all he's been spending since the past three hundred seconds.

How does one go into the belly of the beast and still emerge breathing?

"I'm going in, Kie", her hand finds the door handle ready to pull on it and hop out of the vehicle.

"Just give him more time. We can't even hear anything, he's probably fine", Kiara turns back in her seat, her eyes sharp.

Georgie's gaze shifts from the brunette girl towards the beaten down house on their right, a lingering hesitation masking her features.

She glares at the door as if her gaze alone holds the power to grab him and drag him out of the haunted shack.

Okay, now you're overreacting.

Is she, though? Because sixteen and a half years of experience is enough to inform her of Luke Maybank's ticks which, regarding today's circumstances, only increases her anxiety.

The door abruptly pulls open, a frowning JJ quickly descending the steps and making his way over to the car without raising his eyes.

He gets settled in, his jaw remains firmly set as he stares right ahead.

"Did you get it?", Kiara asks quietly.

He brings his hand up, a familiar key dangling from between his thumb and forefinger, "Told you I'd get it".

Kiara exhales, "Let's go then".

They take off down the road, the car driving away from their house — a place of nightmares for their past, present and future, a menacingly haunting presence in their life that refuses to back down and let them catch a breath, even if it's only to survive in peace.

Georgie stares at his side profile from the back, her eyes blinking and silently taking him in — the small tick of his jaw, the hand maintaining a tight grip on the armrest.

She knows better than to ask him what's bothering him for in times like these is when he's best left alone to contemplate, to live out in his thoughts for a little bit.

It only takes them about fifteen minutes to reach the warehouse housing the legendary boat that's been a part of the Maybank family ever since their papaw gifted it to his one and only son on his twentieth birthday.

A younger Luke Adrian Maybank had once boasted of his precious treasure to the girls he'd chased, all of them only a little too interested in finding out a way to monopolise what, for him, was his biggest passion.

All of them until that one blonde girl who used to live in the upskirts of The Cut — her father, a Kook favourite engineer and her mother, long lost to a devastating battle with cancer.

She'd caught his attention instantly.

It was hard to look away when just her mere stature oozed off sunshine bathing him in a rich bubbling deep in the pits of his stomach.

"Maybank's in love", his friends would tease when they'd sit down to roll out some merry joints during hot summer nights spent on the dock.

Young Luke Maybank was ambitious to marry and settle down with the girl of his dreams, their love could triumph all he'd thought.

That was just that, a thought. Life couldn't be more perfect when she gave birth to twins — "A boy and a girl, Lu", her bright blue eyes had looked up at him shining brighter than ever under the dim hospital light.

It was fun when her father helped cover the bills. Until a sudden heart attack took him away from his beloved island.

The burden came down on Luke to finally step up but the pressure was too much, so he started drinking. And that was okay too because at least he was bringing in some money.

But then his beloved, his wife — the girl of his dreams fell prey to the same disease that took her mother from her.

At the tender age of one and a half years old, Georgina and Jesse James Maybank lost both their parents. One was buried six feet deep into the ground while the other was a horrendous dead man walking.

And the rest was history.

Today, only the mighty Phantom stands as the testament of the life that once was.

The sight of the tall masts, the faded paint by the side spelling 'Phantom' has Georgie swallowing roughly, her reluctance at entering the warehouse clear in the way she pauses behind choosing to stay away from JJ and Kiara confidently walking in.

"I think I'm gonna stay out here", she calls out making their heads turn.

JJ raises a brow but keeps his comment to himself.

"'Kay", he shrugs gesturing for Kie to follow.

Quietly, she steps to the side eyeing the ground beneath the soles of her tattered sneakers, her arms wrapped around her midsection.

Once, back when she was about seven years old, she'd visited her ailing papaw at the Charleston hospital he was housed at.

He'd been staying away from Kildare for some time by then, no news of his son's horrible parenting gracing his ears.

That was when he had told her about the Phantom and how it was her mother's favourite watercraft, how Luke would take her mother out on dates on that very boat.

How, when her mother died, Luke left it to rot away in the warehouse for it reminded him of the bittersweet memories he'd much rather forget.

She never saw her mother but she's imagined her at times, she imagines her to be a formidable young woman with marvelous gold coloured hair and sharp blue eyes that resembled JJ's.

She's often wondered what it would be like to have a mother, what life would be like if she were still alive. If they had a parent who cared.

A cacophony of grunts surprise her, her feet immediately pacing back towards the warehouse entrance in an urgency.

The sight before her has her sucking in a sharp breath.

Barry stands with his back to her, his gun aimed directly at JJ's head who for his part stands with his hands held up in surrender.

She can hear Kiara's yells coming from the back of the Phantom but it's difficult to make out who it is that's with her.

JJ's gaze connects with hers for a millisecond, his hurried glance enough to warn her from intervening.

Don't. Stay back and get help — he seems to say but she doesn't comply.

She walks in, purposefully weighing down her sneakers to inform Barry that someone's behind his back.

In a flash, he turns back pointing the gun at her.

"You stay back now!".

JJ, taking advantage of the distraction, kicks at the back of his knees causing him to buckle down in an instant the gun flying out of his grasp and landing by Georgie's foot.

"Georgie, grab the gun!"

She fumbles snatching the weapon from the ground and aiming it at the flailing man her brother's got in a chokehold.

A struggle at the back catches her attention.

Her heart rips out at the sight in front of her.

Kiara kicks out her legs struggling to get the hands tightly wrapped around her throat away, his eyes are like that of a madman's darkened stare levelled at her friend as he tries to choke her.

Georgie's lips part, only for her to remain silent.

As if on cue, Pope rushes past her towards Kiara and picks up a rope throwing it around Rafe's neck.

His grip loosens, hands coming up to grip onto the jute material in a desperate attempt to get it off him.

Pope tightens the rope around the brunet's neck, pulling it back mercilessly letting him thrash against his body breathing heavily.

"Pope, that's good! Stop!", JJ yells keeping Barry to the ground.

He doesn't seem to pay attention, his hands still pulling the jute back as Rafe coughs out wheezing in pain.

Georgie throws the gun in JJ's hand and runs over to Pope, her hands clawing at his shirt.

"He's good. Come on, stop", her terrified eyes glance towards Kie who stands to the side in shock.

"He's had enough, dude", JJ sprints attempting to break Pope free of his death grip around the rope.

He doesn't stop. He doesn't listen.

He continues digging the rope into Rafe's neck, the latter now heaving for breaths.

"Pope!", Kiara shouts grabbing his arm to drag him away.

"Stop, dude!", JJ successfully separates the two but Pope pushes Rafe down sending him to the ground on his back.

He breaks free of JJ's grip and throws his knees around the boy lying panting  on the ground.

In a fit of rage, he brings his fist down on his face continuing to pull his hand back and then collide his knuckles with his face.

He pours out his anger into every punch, his frantic eyes staring down at the blood-mouthed boy in pure and tremendous fury.

The punches continue, his fist hitting Rafe's bloodied face with every bit of resentment housing inside of him.

"Dude, come on! Stop! Stop, dude!", JJ tries to pull him back only to stumble as he shoves him.

"Pope! Get off!", Georgie yells, horror slowly taking over her senses when she catches sight of the blood on Rafe's face.

"Let go!", JJ hauls him back up to his feet and roughly grabs onto his head turning him to look into his sapphire eyes.

"Look at me", JJ glares when Pope throws his arms off and stomps back up to Rafe only to stop by his side.

"Stay off The Cut".

Without another word to anyone else, he leaves the others scrambling to follow him.

Georgie straggles behind, shuffling towards the panting boy lying on the ground.

His eyes are back to their usual crystal blue, a shadow of despair trudging behind his pupils when he turns his gaze from the ceiling to her face looking down at him with glazed eyes.

She blinks the tears away, gulping down the lump in her throat and wills herself to stay silent no matter how much she wants to speak up right now.

He opens his mouth but no words come out besides a small sigh escaping his lips as she tightens her arms around herself.

He coughs, blood now dripping down his chin.

"Georgie . . . .", he weakly begins, a coughing fit taking over him.

She shakes her head and steps back, walking away with tear-filled eyes and a broken heart.

Though who the perpetrator of her pain is, is something that is frighteningly unclear.

***
i was going through my notes for this book and found out that Georgie's full name is supposed to be Georgina Paisley Maybank so thought i'd share :)