AFTER a few minutes of driving through the Cut, Kiara pulls the SUV into the Maybank driveway.

Eden looks at the shabby old place with a frown. She hadn't been to JJ's house too many times within their friendship—he always insisted at having hang outs at the Chateau or The Wreck instead of his place, and once the blonde revealed why, the group all strayed from hanging around the abusive hellhole of the house—but the place already gave her bad vibes, (though maybe it was just the stories she'd heard causing them).

As the car comes to a halt, she watches JJ's jaw clench at the sight of his place of residency—the place where his father lived. The blonde swallows before sadly remarking, "Home sweet home." There was no smile on his face as their usual was, the blonde visibly uncomfy.

Noticing this, Eden places a comforting hand on his shoulder, "J, do you want us to come with you? Because we'll come."

Kiara nods in agreement, obviously wanting the blonde to know they'd be at his side if this was too much.

"Nah." JJ shakes his head, though the Bexley doesn't quite believe his words. He takes off his hat and runs a hand through his hair, trying to gather as much courage as he could to face his father—the last time he was near the man, he'd almost killed him.

As much as JJ wanted his friends' support for this, he wouldn't dare bring them near Luke, let alone in the hellhole itself. He had to go by himself.

Opening the car door, JJ states, "This will only take a second."

He starts to head towards the door, turning back a final time to see Kiara and Eden giving him encouraging yet exasperated smiles in return.

He enters the house and Eden's smile falls.

The two girls sit in silence, the image of JJ's bruised body in their minds. The last thing the Bexley wanted was for her friend to walk out with tear filled eyes, or a split lip—she was taking the sound of utter silence as a good sign.

"Do you think his dad's home?" Kie quietly asks, also worried for her friend.

Eden shrugs, "I'm not sure where else Luke could go. He's not exactly welcomed anywhere else."

The door opens, and both girls look to see JJ exiting the house. He's looking at his shoes and his brows are furrowed, but there's no sign of blood or injury, which causes relief to rush through Eden's body—her motherly instinct was healed knowing her boy was okay.

The boy quietly got in the car, and Kiara looked over at him. "How'd it go?"

JJ held his fingers up to show a set of keys around them in an answer.

Eden sighed—one step closer to getting John B. out of the OBX.

Eden wasn't terribly impressed with The Phantom—it was nothing special.

After passing multiple cop cars, the trio made it to the storage unit where Luke's cherished boat was kept, and honestly? Eden was doubting if this boat could really make it all the way to Mexico with John B. before law enforcement found him and stepped in.

JJ on the other hand, seemed to see the boat as the opposite, "There she be. Hey, girl." He entered the storage facility where the boat was being kept in and pulled a sheet off the bow of it, "A 1983 Formula 402 SR1—The Phantom."

The Maybank looked towards the two girls, who gave awkward smiles his way. 

"The first boat to make the run to the Bermuda in under sixteen hours. Forty years old! Forty. And still the fastest thing that Kildare's ever seen." JJ mused, looking at the two girls as if they should be fawning over the old vehicle.

Kiara merely shrugged, "It's kind of a junker."

"Yeah, I mean, when was the last time she ran?" Eden agreed, unsure on how great this boat really was.

"Really? She's right there, guys. She can hear you." the Maybank says, eyeing up their unimpressed features. "Let's just put it this way. You would not be smokin' weed right now if she never existed, okay?"

The Bexley rolled her eyes, "Oh, well in that case, all hail The Phantom."

Kiara walks up to the trailer, preparing to hook it on to her car, "I just hope it runs."

"Oh no, she'll run alright." JJ nods, helping the curly haired girl, "She's faster than any of the cutters the boys in blue got."

There's a screech of tires, and Kiara begins to walk towards the outside of the garage, "Pope. Finally."

"Only took him long enough—oh you've got to be fucking me." Eden's face immediately falls when her eyes catch the slicked blonde hair of Rafe Cameron rather than her fellow Pogues features.

They were fucked.

"Hey there. What's goin' on?" Rafe entered the room casually. Eden tensed, because not only had Rafe Cameron just walked in on their escape plan for John B., but a murderer too.  She was standing in the same room with a killer who was getting away with his crimes and it made the Bexley sick to her stomach. "JJ? How you guys doin'?"

There's an exclaim of glee, and the trio look over to see Barry stalking into the garage next—as if Rafe showing up wasn't enough. Now, the trio was stuck with a boy willing to do anything in order to find John B. and clear his name, and a boy who would do anything to get the money they'd stolen from him back.

This was a terrible position.

"Well, well....." the drug dealer enters the room, causing all the Pogues to tense even more.  Iy's not even seconds later before he pulls out a gun and cocks it, pointing the weapon directly at JJ. "See, don't think I forgot about me and you on the side of the road.  I'm here because I want my motherfuckin' money!"

There is no pause between the boy's words and the punch that's thrown at the Maybank's face. 

"JJ! JJ!" Kiara screams, before feeling a pair of arms snake around her waist, lifting her off the ground and away from her friend before she can intervene, "Rafe!"

Barry shoves the boy down to the ground, yanking his head up by a chunk of his hair, "That's what I'm here for, ain't it?"

Eden charges towards the drug dealer—she doesn't care that he has a gun, or that he's completely capable of taking her down. She can't watch her friends get hurt, (motherly instinct, as per usual). "Hey, get off him asshole! I can pay you back the fucking money—I can pay you even more! Just stop hurting him!"

Barry looked up at her, a slight smile on his face at the thought of so much cash—he knew how rich the Bexley's were—but Rafe's voice cut through. Eden whipped around to see Kiara in his hold. "It's not you we want, Kie. Where's John B.?"

"I don't know!" The Carrera slipped out of his grasp, raising a hand to slap him across the face.

Barry kicked JJ to the side, "Stay down, boy."

Eden huffed, "Touch him one more fucking time, I swear—"

"Eden." the way the Cameron boy says her name makes her want to throw up.  He sounds distressed and menacing all at the same time—Kiara's slap had wiped the teasing straight out of him. He was getting serious. "Eden, I know you know where John B. is—I know you do. Tell me where he is right now, and we'll leave you three alone."

"I actually don't—I haven't seen him since yesterday." the Bexley replied calmly, though her eyes were sending a death stare towards the Cameron boy, whom she'd grown to despise even more within the past day or so. Crossing her arms, she continued, "But, if I had to guess, he's probably off recruiting your sister to go report your ass to the cops."

Rafe's gaze hardened, "For what? Enlighten me—what did I do?"

Loudly, Kiara exclaimed, "You murdered Peterkin!"

Rafe's face went stiff as all eyes landed on him. Barry had a confused look at the confession, Kie's unwavering, while Eden's lips upturned ever so slightly—he deserved to have the truth revealed, to have it said to his face. Maybe then he'd finally realize he deserved the punishment pinned to John B. instead.

The boy snapped a hand up towards Kiara, fingers wrapping around the bottom of her jaw tightly. The girl let out a strangled gasp at his tight hold, the way his fingers pressed into her skin clearly causing discomfort and pain.  

"Don't you ever say those fucking words again." Rafe hisses in a threatening whisper, hand still wrapped around the girl.

Yeah, Eden was pretty done with Rafe Cameron and his shit. 

"Why not? She's only saying the truth." Eden crossed, pacing over to where the boy was holding her friend. Meeting the deranged boy's gaze, she stood in front of him, giving Rafe a piece of her own mind. "No matter how much you try to blame John B., how much you try to convince yourself otherwise, you killed Sheriff Peterkin. You're a murderer—"

Rafe let go of Kiara, only to grab a hold of Eden instead.

The girl let out a seethe as her back hits the cool metal of The Phantom.  There's a hand wrapped around her neck in an iron grip, and Eden can totally see where the murderer inside of the Cameron as he looks at her, almost deciding whether to choke her out here and now.

"First my nose, now my throat?" the Bexley dryly snarks, "Are you trying to get killed by my mother?"

"I don't want to hurt you, Eden, but you're almost begging for it." Rafe sighs, vein protruding from his neck with how much tenseness and anger his body was with holding. Slightly squeezing her neck even further to get his point across, he continues, "Tell me where the fuck he is."

Eden knew that by he, Rafe meant her wanted friend. She'd spoken the truth earlier—she really didn't know where John Booker Routledge was, only that he was meeting them to take The Phantom later that day.  But right now, she was clueless to his whereabouts. Clearly, the Cameron was too overpowered with rage to realize it.

"I don't fucking know. And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you of all people." Eden hisses. She tries to shove herself away from the boat's side, but is pressed once more into it—Rafe towered over her, and was much stronger.  He clearly had the advantage.

Until he didn't.

"Where is he, Eden? Tell me right now!" As Rafe screamed at her, Eden's eyes caught a figure to the side.  Rushing into the garage in a fit of rage was none other than Pope Heyward, crowbar in his hand.  

A smirk met her lips as the boy swung the weapon, hitting Rafe square on his middle back.  

The impact has the Cameron flying backwards—that had to have hurt like a bitch—meaning his hand left Eden's throat.  She took in a ragged breath, leaning against the side of the boat as Pope continued to swing the weapon at Rafe, rage flowing through his veins.

"Don't touch her!" Pope yelled angrily, hitting him once more in the shoulder.  He swung again and missed, causing Rafe to knock the crowbar from his grasp, the prior beginning a fist fight in place of his weapon.

"Rafe!" The fight seemed to have grabbed Barry's attention, the drug dealer ending his line of punches towards JJ to go and help his friend instead.  The boy pulls out his gun and begins to cock it, but doesn't get too far before the Maybank grabs his foot, tripping him from behind.  The man falls, gun clattering to the side.

JJ yells, "Kie! Eden! Kick it!"

Kiara does as shes asked and kicks the gun away from Barry and more towards the side of the boat, where Eden quickly grabs it—now she has the power.  Re-cocking the item, the Bexley aims it for Barry, who was now being shoved against the boat by JJ, who now had the upper hand on him.

"Pope. Okay, Pope. Pope!" the Carrera's voice echos.

 Slamming the drug dealer on to the floor, JJ allows Eden to take over and quickly rushes over to Kiara, who was trying to get Pope to  stop punching the Cameron boy senseless—sure, he deserved it, but the Heyward had done enough.

Eden steps over Barry, smiling down at him, "Hi."

"Don't shoot. Don't shoot!" It was almost hysterical seeing how desperate given how ruthless he'd been to the Pogues during their previous encounter—look who's begging on his knees now? 

"Then I'd highly recommend getting your ass out of here right now, yeah? Because I might be Eden Bexley but I am not afraid to hurt you with this." the Bexley held out the gun, wanting to get her point across. "We both know you'll end up in more trouble than me, and then, you can say goodbye to all the money JJ didn't take."

Barry seemed to take her threat seriously, and was quick to scramble off the ground and straight out of the garage.

"Have a nice day!" Eden yelled, light smile on her face.

"He's good!"

"Snap out of it, man. Snap out of it, dude!"

The Bexley whips around to see Pope choking Rafe from behind using some kind of pipe. The Cameron boy has blood splattered all of his face, and the Heyward has the most threatening look in his eyes that Eden has ever seen—Pope was smart and respectful, she'd never seen this side of him.

Did Rafe deserve the beating he was getting? Totally. But Eden knew another body wouldn't look good on John B.'s record—they think he killed a sheriff, who's saying he's not capable of killing then King Kook too?

So, Eden tried to intervene. "Hey, hey, Pope! I'm okay, he barely touched me! You've done enough!"

Kiara was screaming, "Pope, that's too much! Pope!"

JJ got behind Pope, trying to pull him away, "Dude, come on! Stop! Stop, dude! Let go! Come on!" 

At the lop of her lungs, Kie roared, "Look at me!" 

As if her voice was the voice of reason—the lighthouse bringing him back from sea—the Heyward suddenly stopped.  The pipe fell out of his hands, as did Rafe, who collapsed on to his back, choking from lack of oxygen and on his own blood.

The four teens stare at one another, the only sound being Rafe's coughs. 

"Shit." JJ exclaims, "Oh, shit."

Noticing Pope's wide eyes, Kiara whispers, "It's okay." She paused before changing the topic entirely, "Okay, we gotta go. We gotta go."

The Carrera and Maybank rush towards the 4Runner while Eden waits for the Heyward.  The boy stands over Rafe's body, leaning down with a hint of warning and threat in his tone as he grits, "Stay off the cut."

Eden hoped he took that warning seriously. 

mara's misc

when the next chapter is the final act one chapter *gasps*

also me giving eden the gun because??????? she's pulling a jj. 

this chapter isn't really my fav but like oh well.

anyways...... drop some more eden bexley headcannons!!!! once again, it can be personal, something the pogues do for her, etc. i really like hearing what ya'll think of my pookie and her relations with others.

hope you enjoyed <3 bring tissues to chapter 28!!!