FIFTY-SEVEN

❝ Shoupe, I know more about this whole fucking thing than you do. ❞

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               AVA STANDS IN front of Shoupe's desk in the Sheriff's office at Kildare County Station. Her arms are wrapped around herself, her body still jittering from the events in the drain. Her messy hair is now bunched up into bun atop her head and her whole body is littered with dirt. Kiara is very much the same and she's sat nervously in a seat beside Ava.

JJ drops the gun into the desk before the Sheriff, standing back in triumph while he waits for the man to praise them for their findings.

"So y'all telling me this is the firearm Rafe Cameron killed Peterkin with?" Shoupe raises his brows.

Ava swallows thickly, her gaze lingering at the gun that she had stolen from Rafe to use against him on the same day of Peterkin's death.

"That's exactly what we're telling you, Shoupe," JJ nods enthusiastically.

"And the exact same firearm that Ward just used to kill Gavin," Pope adds quickly.

"And where's that corpse again?" Shoupe tilts his head in questioning, staring up at the two boys from his seat.

"Didn't you look?" Kiara asks in shock, her face screwing up in disgust at his poor police duties.

"I checked the hospital. I went by his house. He was out," Shoupe shrugs.

"He's out?" Kiara leans forward, "Listen to yourself. It makes perfect sense!"

"Yeah, no shit, Shoupe. 'Cause he's dead!" JJ raises his voice, attempting to be heard over the angry girl still attacking the Sheriff.

"Just because he's not in his damn home does not mean he was a victim of a homicide!" Shoupe snarls, his eyes now mainly on Ava and Pope, as those appear the only two who are remaining calm enough to listen to his words.

"What are you talking about?" Kiara shouts, "Are you at least gonna send it in for ballistics and shit, or are you just gonna sit on your ass?"

"He'll sit there and wax that moustache!" JJ points a finger at the older man, "Is that even real?"

Suddenly, Shoupe shoots up from his chair and storms out of the room. Pope smacks JJ harshly across the chest while Kiara raises her hands to her head in desperation.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I hurt his feelings?" JJ hisses, his jaw clenching when he notices Pope's fatherly expression.

"Shut up!" Pope hits him again, "Just shut up!"

The door opens once more, and Shoupe stands with the doorknob curled in his fist as he motions for the teenagers to leave, "Get out. I got shit to do. And y'all are smelling up my office."

"Shit," Pope groans.

Kiara is the first to slip past the man, stopping in front of him for a small moment, "Did Ward bribe you? This doesn't make any sense."

Following after her, Pope sighs, "We brought you the murder weapon. There's no logical reason for you not to send it in."

"Get out, Pope," The man says gently, clearly feeling some sympathy for the young boy stood before him.

"This is bullshit," Pope snaps, storming past him and rushing after Kiara, presumably to calm her down.

As JJ steps past Ava, he holds his palm out behind him for her take and she wraps her hand around his before letting him lead her out of the door and past Shoupe.

"You ain't gonna do shit," JJ grumbles at the Sheriff, making sure the older man hears his words.

Shoupe rolls his shoulders back, eyes lingering on the unusually quiet girl as she passes before he turns after them and calls, "Ava, can I speak to you alone?"

JJ and Ava both pause and the blonde boy's grip on his girlfriend hand tightens before they spin on their heels to face the man.

"She ain't speaking to you, Shoupe," JJ snarls, "Especially not alone."

Swallowing thickly, Ava uncurls her hand away from JJ before stepping towards the Sheriff. A flash of hurt rings through JJ's body and his brows furrow, his anger now dissipating and being replaced by confusion.

"Ava?" He says quietly, "What— what the hell are you doing?"

Looking over her shoulder at him, she forces a smile onto her face, "I'll only be a few minutes. Don't bother waiting for me, J. I'll walk home."

"Like hell you will," He snips, before he glances behind him at his friends who are talking outside in the dark. He faces his girlfriend once more, biting his lip, "Hurry up. And Shoupe—" He jabs a finger at the Sheriff, who shakes his head.

"I ain't gon' do nothing, kid," He sighs, "Calm down and go home. She's fine."

JJ stands still and watches as Ava steps through into Shoupe's office and takes refuge in the seat opposite the desk before the Sheriff slowly closes the door behind him, sending the blonde boy a nod. Ava stares at her boyfriend through the glass, offering him a small smile but he ignores her and turns on his heel and storms out of the station.

Kiara and Pope quit their bickering when JJ charges out of the doors before pressing his back against the wall and raising his hands to run through his hair.

"JJ," Kiara says, stepping towards him, "Where's Ava?"

He nods his head towards the doors he had just thrown open seconds before, "She's talking to Shoupe. He wanted to speak to her," JJ looks over at his two friends, "Y'all go home. I'm gonna wait for her."

"What do you mean he wanted to speak to her?" Pope tilts his head, "Why would he want to do that?"

JJ shrugs, "I don't have a clue, okay, Pope? I'm planning on asking her when she leaves," He sucks in a breath, running a hand over his face, "It's just— I— I'm worried 'bout her."

"We can tell," Kiara states simply, watching as her friend bites his nail anxiously and nearly rips hair from his head, "Just speak to her, JJ. You're probably the only one she'd be happy to speak to at the moment."

"I've tried speaking to her, Kie," JJ let's out a shaky sigh, "I've tried so fucking hard. She— she just won't speak to me no more. I'm terrified I'm loosing her."

As her face drops in sympathy for the loving boy a few steps in front of her, Kiara shakes her head simply, "She had just finally got past the worst stage of grief for John and Sarah, and now she's been told he's still alive after she spent months milking herself over him. And on top of that, no one is listening to us, to her. JJ, she's loosing herself and you're the only one capable enough to get through to her, you always have been."

Pope slowly curls his hand gently around Kiara's bicep, tugging her slightly towards her own car, "Kie, let's just leave him alone until Ava comes out," He stares at JJ, who's eyes are squeezed closed and he's staring his hardest not to show his lip quivering.

Sighing, Kiara eventually allows hersled to be pulled away by Pope, but before she's completely disappeared from the blonde's range, she calls, "Please, JJ, just be patient with her, okay?"

JJ opens his eyes to meet her gaze and he pulls a shaky smile onto his lips before he raises a hand to give both of his close friends a wave goodbye, not even bothering to reply to her words.

Inside Kildare County station, one of Ava's feet is tapping on the tile floor, while her other leg is pulled up to her chest and her finger taps frantically on her thigh. Shoupe lowers himself down opposite her, his eyes floating onto the gun between them.

"How much has he payed you, Shoupe?" She mutters, the anger obvious in her quiet tone, "I know you're gonna run it through the date-base as soon as you let me leave, 'cause you know we're right," She studies as he swallows thickly, "Jesus christ, what has he threatened you with if you come clean and fight against him? Or is it money? You're just that greedy for more money that you're allowing him to get away with murder." She thinks back to the time during summer at the Motel, where she witnessed him and Plum steal some of Scooter Grubb's money from his safe.

"Don't talk to me like that, kid," He glares at her, his eyes sending harsh unspoken warnings, "You don't know anything about any of this."

"Don't I?" She scoffs, dropping her leg to the floor and leaning closer to him, her elbows lowering to rest on her knees, "You think I would've been on the runway that day if I knew nothing? Shoupe, I know more about this whole fucking thing than you do. And you're the Sheriff of this town, which really tells me something about your work. Or maybe I am wrong, and you do know more than you're admitting and you're keeping your mouth closed because Ward's threatened you," She narrows her eyes, "I know Ward Cameron, Shoupe. He killed my dad, nearly did the same to my brother, locked his daughter away because she knew the truth and now he's paying off Sheriff's to keep their mouths zipped about him and his son because they are both murderers," She sighs, sitting back in her seat as she softens her town, "Please, Shoupe. What is he gonna do to you from a jail cell?"

He tries to completely ignore her words, but every ounce of what she said is true, and he knows it. He leans back in his own chair, raising a hand to run it over his chin as he breathes, "You gon' tell me why you smell of shit and look like you've been dragged through it?"

Ava groans, throwing her head back at his poor attempt to brush the truth away, "Is that all you kept me back to ask?" She rolls her chair, raising for her seat, and when he doesn't reply, she scoffs and walks towards the door before exiting and slamming it closed behind her.

She sucks in a deep breath as she trudges through the station, ignoring the looks from the staff as she finally reaches the front doors and steps outside. She lets her eyes close as she stops for a second when the cold air hits her.

Noticing his girlfriend exit the Sheriff's station, JJ quickly pushes away from the wall and shoves his hands into his short pockets before moving towards her, trying to swallow any guilt he felt for the events of today. He'd sent her down there, and had watched silently as she crawled behind Kiara. Four eyes were in fact not better than two.

"You okay?" He steps beside her, nudging her side gently with his elbow.

She jumps, jerking away from him in surprise before letting out a shaky breath of relief when she recognises his face, "Jesus christ, J. You scared the shit outta me. What are you doing here? Thought I told you to go home."

JJ laughs, shaking his head before nodding to the sidewalk as encouragement to get them both walking home, "Yeah, if you think I'm letting you walk across Kildare at this time of night, then you're so wrong. And I don't know if you've forgotten, but you almost died today, Ava. You know?"

Ava smiles gently, wrapping her arms around her and nearly gagging at the gross texture of her clothes and the smell that radiates off her, "I seriously need a shower."

"I know you do," JJ looks over at her, his eyes flicking up and down her, "Stinky ass." Her jaw drops and she shoots her hand out to slap his bare bicep while he lets out a laugh and shakes his head, "Nah, I'm joking, baby. You smell fine, and you're ass is sexy as fuck. You're clothes are trashed, though. It's gonna be a bitch to get that shit outta there."

She raises her brows at him, "Don't act like you even do the washing."

"You don't do it neither," He counters.

"Oh, really?" She gasps, "So tell me, JJ Maybank, who's been doing our laundry for the past few months? 'Cause I know it sure as hell weren't you."

Pressing his tongue against his cheek and lowering his head so his eyes fall into the sidewalk below them, "Would you fucking look at us? Dude, we're literally arguing over laundry. That's, like, some old person Kook thing."

"Next thing you know we'll be signing up for the Country Club and playing tennis," Ava snorts, imagining the pair of them attempting to present to be good at tennis in front of the Kooks, "God, it would carnage."

"Absolute carnage," He chuckles, "You ever get round to playing tennis during your year with lovely Mr Cameron? Or is it something I'm gonna have to teach you?"

Her head snaps to him, "You say that like you can play tennis."

He smirks down at her, "I mean, like, how hard can it be? I hit the small green ball with the big-ass racket and have to get it over the short net. Seems easy enough to me."

"I think tennis is something we'll have to add to our trip list," Ava hums.

Over their friendship, and now relationship, JJ and Ava have always had a trip list which consists of multiple countries and cities they wish to explore, when they eventually go on their surf trip, as well as loads of activities they want to try wherever they end up. JJ's contribution was mostly sex at every location, if not multiple times.

JJ peers up to the sky in thought and a smile works it's way across his lips, "Ah, yeah. I can see us now on a beach in South Africa playing tennis before we have the most beautiful sex of our lives."

Ava rolls her eyes, "What is it with you and us having sex everywhere?"

"Hey, hey, hey," JJ raises his arms up in surrender, "I have many favourite activities; having the most unholy sex with you is at the very fucking top of my list. So when we are gonna be doing any activities, 'cause we will go on this surf trip, it will be from my list."

Nudging her body against his side, Ava shakes her head at his antics, "Way to flatter a girl, J."

"I thought that was very flattering," He smirks, "Plus, we are far past the flattering stage."

. . .

because s3 is out now, here's another chap

word count,
2345

not proof read