𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐍𝐄, 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 & 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑
𝟒𝟐:𝟒𝟎-𝟒𝟕:𝟑𝟔
𝟎𝟎:𝟎𝟎-𝟏:𝟒𝟎
𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜: 𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙚 »𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙩𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙘

❦

"Half speed. Steady at this beating, JJ!" John B yells, his hair flapping all over in the strong wind.

We've been struggling for a while to get everything set up properly and the raging storm surrounding us isn't really helping matters much.

"What you got, Pope? Come on, man. What do you see?" He rushes, his eyes flying between his screen and the drone's monitor.

"Nothing! A whole lot of nothing." Pope answers groggily.

"Come on. You should be right above it, brother." John B mutters.

"Kiara?" Pope looks over the top of his computer to us while we continue to reel the cord out.

"960!" She replies, using one of her hands to get her hair out of the way.

"970!" I yell, my eyes not leaving the marker.

"980! Boys, come on! We're nearly at the end of the cord!" I shout over the rain and wind, panting heavily.

"I'm at the bottom! I'm at the bottom!" Pope exclaims loudly.

"Okay, steady here, JJ!" John instructs, "Steady here. Quarter speed, all right? You should be seeing something, man."

"I know, I know!" Pope huffs before his eyes widen, "Wait, wait."

Kie and I jump up and walk over beside him to peer over his shoulder.

"Oh, good God." Pope gasps as smiles emerge on our faces.

"See anything?" JJ shouts back at us, still confused.

"We found it," I laugh, even though he probably couldn't hear me over the wind.

"It's the Royal Merchant," John B chuckles lightly, a bright smile beaming on his face.

"We actually fucking found it!" I celebrate, throwing my arms in the air and this time JJ turns around in surprise after having heard my exclamation.

"What?" He eyes widen, noticing all of our happy faces, "Fuck yeah!"

Pope moves the drone around the wreck, only to reveal that only half of it is there. Not giving us what we wanted in the slightest. We celebrated a bit too quickly.

"It's not there," I huff angrily and JJ turns back around, his shoulders slumped in annoyance.

"Look, just— just pull the drone up." John B sighs sadly, looking down at his feet sadly.

"Look, we can do another pass. Recharge the battery." Pope suggests, "We can- we can go back down."

"There's nothing there, bro!" JJ shakes his head.

"Shut up!" Kie screams, knowing that would've hurt John B.

"What?" JJ yells, "It's true!"

"The gold could be buried. We don't know!" Kie tries, shrugging slightly.

I slump down into a sitting position, shaking my head, "It's not there. Face it."

"Ava's right." John B swirls round to look at us, "If it was there, it would've been found on the metal detector, okay? Somebody beat us to it."

"Or it was never there." JJ mumbles.

I stand up, walking over and leaning beside him, gazing up at his annoyed face, before delivering a gently slap to his arm and he fights back a smirk but I can see it breaking through.

❦

Once we got back to the Chateau, we all went out separate ways. Pope went to his father because he had work for him to do. Kie did a shift at the Wreck because they were short on staff. JJ went for a walk, didn't tell any of us where, he just left. John B took the HMS Pogue and went around OBX, leaving me all by myself in the Chateau. After a bit of sitting in the hammock, trying to think of who could've stolen the gold before us, I decided to go see Kie. Even if she was doing a shift, I could still talk to her or help out.

"Hey, Ava." She greets as I walk in, throwing my empty beer can into the trash can beside the door.

"Hey, Kie." I mumble, leaning on the counter in front of her.

She raises an eyebrow, "Why you here?"

I shrug, "The Château's boring when it's empty."

"Where's JJ?" She asks, nodding at a customer before handing them their drink.

"I have no clue." I sigh, "I doubt he's gone home, but where else could he go? He clearly wants to be left alone and that rarely happens so I'm leaving him be," I purse my lips.

"Have you told him yet?"

"About. . ." I trail off, furrowing my eyebrows while motioning for her to continue.

"About you going to see Rafe." She finishes.

I shake my head, "That was ages ago. Plus, he doesn't need to know. It's my business."

"He's gonna be furious when he founds out," She tilts her head sympathetically, "You know how much he hated it when you two were together."

"He won't find out," I send her a glare, "Unless you tell him."

"I won't, only because that's something you have to do," She turns away from me and faces a customer, putting on a fake smile when he begins to order something.

Once she's finished, I pull myself up onto a stool and rest my head on the counter, trying to soothe my headache that developed after thinking for too long about the Royal Merchant.

"It's not even that important." I huff, lifting my head, "Why would he care so much?"

"He hates Rafe, Ava," Kiara sighs, "We all do, but him the most. He hates the way he treated you and made you constantly cry."

I point at her, wagging my finger slightly, "Not constantly."

"Still way too much." She says, "There wasn't a day that went by where you didn't cry about him or something he did."

I roll my eyes, "Let's change the topic away from my raging ex, please, and onto something more nice and fulfilling. Like your relationship with my brother."

Her mouth drops open, "No. We aren't in a relationship."

"But you kissed." I purse my lips.

"How do you know?" She hisses.

"It's obvious that you two did something. And you defo didn't fuck." I snort.

She hands up straight, placing her hands on her hips, "We might've done."

I tilt my head, cocking an eyebrows at her with a smirk playing on my lips, "Do want all the reasons?"

She waves me off, resuming to her previous position in front of me, "No. I'm fine, thanks."

"That's what I thought." I hum.

"But, look, we aren't in a relationship. We kissed on the day at Redfield." She shrugs, "We both decided that it was stupid and just a spur of the exciting moment type thing — nothing serious."

I purse my lips, "I could see you two together."

She smiles before shaking her head, "I can't. Now, leave before my Dad arrives at kicks you out himself." She gently pushes me away from the other side of the counter, "Go see Pope, ask him if he knows where your lover boy is!"

I swirl round, glaring at her, "He's not my lover boy... yet."

She laughs, pointing at me happily, "That's the right attitude. Now, go!"

"Jeez, calm down. I'm going." I wave at her before running off.

Thankfully, the docks where Pope works is right around the corner from the Wreck, meaning I didn't have to waste much energy getting there. Easy peasy.

"Hey, Pope!" I shout, waving at the boy with the brush clutched in his hands. I walk closer before sitting down on one of the steps beside him, "Have you seen JJ?"

"Yeah."

Oh, thank fuck.

"He was in his Dad's van and got out just to tell me that he was off to the Chateau. He seemed pretty pissed but, like, flushed at the same time. It's hard to explain." Pope explains, continuing his sweeping.

"Hm," I murmur, turning on my heel and heading away, "Anyway, I'll see you later. Thank you, Pope."

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