EMERY AND LEVI WERE THE FIRST ONES TO JOIN POPE.

the melville siblings looked down into the water, the top of a rather expensive looking boat showing through the murky water, which was still stirred up from the hurricane.

"it's a boat!" pope exclaimed, mara rolling her eyes as she stepped up behind emery and looked into the water.

"thanks, captain obvious." she replied. emery pulled her shirt off, levi doing the same.

"let's go." emery said to jj and john b, who both followed closely after the melville siblings, swimming closer and closer to the boat. emery made out the grady-white logo on the side in vinyl, her eyes widening slightly at the sight.

when the group resurfaced, jj and john b looking at each other gleefully while emery and levi looked at each other in confusion.

"you guys saw that, right?" jj asked the two, who nodded. "that's a grady-white, a new one of those is like five hundred g's, easy."

"yeah, that's the boat i saw when i surfed the surge." john b commented, emery wrinkling her eyebrows at the boy.

"you surfed the surge?" she asked, john b nodding.

"i left right after you went to bed." he explained.

"who would drive a grady-white in the marsh, let alone during a hurricane?" mara asked, levi shaking his head.

"that surge must've been worse than i thought." the boy said, everyone wrinkling their eyebrows at him. "you ever tried to sink a grady-white before? because i have."

"when did you try to sink a grady-white?" emery asked.

"logan's family? after he bailed on me, left me at rafe's house drunk with no ride home? i was the one who pulled the plugs on that boat. it sat there for a week before they realized it had started to sink." he explained, looking up at the group. "the whole company motto is that you can't sink a grady-white."

"you pulled the plugs on logan carter's grady-white?" jj asked, a smirk on his face, levi nodding skeptically before jj put his hand up, asking for a high five.

"so how are we going to figure out who's boat that is?" kiara asked, john b pulling himself back onto the boat and reaching into the stern for the anchor.

"dude, it's too deep." jj insisted, john b shrugging off his comment.

"oh, for the week and feeble, jj." he said, jj, levi, and emery all climbing back into the boat.

"diver down, fool." mara stated, john b looking at emery.

"diver down?" he asked, emery nodding.

"diver down." she replied, jj smirking.

"yeah, he is!" the blonde shouted, shoving the brunette back into the water with a grunt, the group watching as he quickly sunk to the bottom of the marsh.

"maybe you're not all that bad." jj claimed, now looking at levi again, the older melville smirking back at him.

"do you think all kooks are boring? we have fun." he assured, looking at emery who was smiling at the two boys.

she was glad mara had suggested bringing levi, he was turning out to be a good addition to the group, even if it took the newfound discovery of him sinking the carter family's boat for jj and john b to even ponder enjoying his company.

john b surfaced after about thirty seconds, and directly above where the boat was.

"any dead bodies?" pope asked hopefully.

"looting potential?" jj asked.

"my will to live?" emery added, john b shaking his head and denying all their assumptions before holding up a small, yellow keychain.

"i found this motel key." he said, pope seeming tbe most disappointed out of all at the discovery, immediately voicing his displeasure as john b climbed back into the boat.

"you go down there, see if you can rustle anything up." mara sassed as john b turned the boat around, moving back toward the direction of the outlet where they had come from.

"guys, we should report the wreck to the coast guard, maybe we'll get a finders fee." kiara pushed.

"yeah, and not work all summer." jj added. "thanks agatha, ya batch."

"HOW DID THAT GO?" mara asked as the group strolled back to the boat, all of them looking unamused.

"we didn't even get to tell anyone what we found." ainsley complained. she, jj, john b, emery, and pope had all gone to talk to the coast guard while mara, kiara, and levi stayed behind on the dock.

"they were more worried about this lady's missing diabetic dog." jj explained.

"so now what?" levi asked, emery looking at the yellow keychain in her hand.

"i say we do a little independent investigation." she suggested, pope immediately shaking his head.

"absolutely not." he deadpanned. "ems, you have no idea who's room that is."

"i'm in." jj replied as though pope had never spoken.

"same." mara agreed. "and levi's just going to go along with whatever emery and i do, so he's in by default."

"and john b never says no to anything remotely dangerous." emery added, kiara turning to pope.

"come on, we'll be lookout!" she suggested happily, john b stepping in as he walked closer to the boat.

"finders fee." he reminded. "and hey, at least you'll only be an accomplice!"

pope muttered something under his breath before turning on his heel and following the others to the boat, emery twirling the motel key around her finger, a grin on her face.

"IN THE GHETTO." emery sang under her breath as the boat moved closer to the motel. the place looked abandoned- the sign knocked over, tarps scattered across the roof, mattresses and all sorts of other debris scattered on the decks and in the grass- and was definitely not the type of place someone with a grady-white would be caught dead in.

"i thought the chateau looked bad." jj commented.

"this place is a shitshow." john b added.

"motel or meth lab?" kiara asked.

"you be the judge." mara replied.

"doesn't look like the type of place someone with a grady-white would stay." john b analyzed.

"it looks like the type of place someone with a grady-white would get shot." levi corrected.

"good thing we have a bayliner." emery responded sarcastically, jj stepping onto the bow as the boat got closer and closer to the motel and, yet again, mimicking speaking into a c.b. radio.

"this is your captain speaking, hms pogue coming in for landing." he mumbled, whooping loudly as the boat hit the bank, jumping out to tie the line, john b and emery following.

"ems!" pope called as the trio began walking to the motel, the blonde turning to face her friend, who pointed between john b and jj. "don't let them do anything stupid."

"oh, we won't." jj assured, emery looking at him skeptically before turning back to pope.

"you know i'm not making any promises." emery replied, turning back in her heel and walking toward the motel after the boys.

"what's the deal with all the mattresses?" emery asked, looking at the beds propped up outside the motel.

"after a hurricane they have to ditch 'em, 'cause they're all moldy." jj explained as they climbed a flight of stairs.

"so. how are things with mara?" john b asked without hesitation as they hit the second floor, jj rolling his eyes as emery's widened.

"you like mara?" the blonde asked, jj sucking his teeth and looking at john b.

"there was one rule, man, one rule. what was the rule- keep your mouth shut." jj said, john b shrugging.

"well when you walked out of my house with her hanging off your hip this morning i thought maybe something had happened last night." the boy mocked, emery shaking her head quickly.

"no, no, she actually kicked him off the couch and i woke up with him in my bed." she corrected as they got to the motel room, turning to look at jj, eyebrows raised. "and while i appreciate the gesture, you know you're not my type."

"hold on- how the hell am i not your type?" he asked as emery tried to look through the windows, only to find the blinds pulled.

"i'm not your type, why do you care?" she asked, unlocking the door and pushing it open, john b passing her a flashlight he probably pulled out of his ass.

"because i don't care if i want you, i just want you to want me." he responded, also taking a flashlight from john b who was holding back laughter.

"you are such a man-whore." the girl replied, gesturing toward the duffel bag in the corner. "check that bag, see if there's a name on it." she said, startling to look around other spots in the room while jj mumbled something about a jacket he had found.

"definitely over fifty, he's got new balances." john b muttered.

"my mom wears new balances, thank you very much." emery replied to him, continuing to shine the flashlight in different places in the room, jj leaving the duffel bag to begin examining the map on the bedside table.

"maybe this is where they were fishing." he suggested, emery and john b looking at the map.

"not possible." emery said almost immediately.

"it's off the continental shelf." john b confirmed. "it's a big swell, no one fishes there."

just as they were about to move on from the map, the door swung open widely, slamming against the wall, making the trio jump and turn, wide-eyed to the door, all of them shining their lights and mara, who was standing in the doorway with an unamused look on her face before starting to laugh, shutting the door behind her and pointing at john b, who's eyes were still wide and was still in shock.

"you should've seen your face." she said through laughter.

"why are you here?" jj asked- very rudely, actually- the blonde girl, who furrowed her brows at him and looked him up and down.

"you're talking a pretty big game for someone who shit their pants the second i opened the door." she replied, walking over to where emery was shining her flashlight at the counter. "and apparently levi doesn't trust emery in a sketchy motel with you two alone so he sent me up here to babysit."

"please tell me you're joking." emery deadpanned, a sickly expression on her face as she did, mara shaking her head as the melville girl walked to the window and pulled the blinds to reveal levi and his dad-like stance staring at the window, the girl putting her missing finger up at him before pulling the blinds again.

"you find something?" john b called as jj began looking around the bathroom.

"yeah, a really nice dopp kit you won't let me steal." the boy replied, emery wrinkling her eyebrows and shining her light in the boy's face.

"you're worried about him not letting you take it? mara's literally right there." the younger girl replied, pointing at her best friend who only waved at the blonde in the bathroom. emery saw him pocket a deodorant once mara turned her back.

john b was punching random numbers in the safe before grabbing something off the table and walking back over, punching another combo into the safe, the light blinking green.

"are we trying to cover this room in our prints?" mara asked, neither of the boys paying attention, but emery shrugged.

"i only touched the doorknob and i don't think i left any prints." she assured, john b staring at the contents of the safe. "what'd you find, booklet?"

the two kooks looked into the safe where a yellow manila envelope, stacks of cash, and a shiny handgun were all sitting in a pile.

"holy shit." mara breathed, looking over john b's shoulder and looking into the safe.

"jay?" emery called, the boy poking his head out of the bathroom.

"you're gonna want to see this." john b replied, grabbing one of the cash stacks and holding it in the air.

"if you don't stop touching random shit in this motel room i'm going to beat your ass." emery told the boy, who rolled his eyes and shoved the cash in his pocket.

"dude, dude, dude!" jj said happily, reaching into the safe and grabbing the handgun.

"he most definitely just grabbed the gun- you're officially an idiot." mara deadpanned, jj holding the gun and looking at it like it was his firstborn child.

"dude, dude, dude!" he said excitedly, holding the gun up in front of john b's face. "this is a sig sauer, dude!" he said happily.

"that's a gatt." emery added, striding over to jj and examining the gun in his hand.

"just, bam, bam, bam." jj mimicked gunfire, waving the weapon around like a maniac, mara quickly moving out of his way.

"put that thing down before you shoot someone!" she whisper shouted.

"we are not stealing anything." john b reminded through gritted teeth.

"we kind of have to." emery replied nonchalantly, shoving her hands into the pockets of her shorts. "it's completely covered in his prints, which the sheriff's department definitely has on file."

"take a picture of me, just take a picture." jj said to john b, passing the routledge boy his phone and flexing his arms, posing with the gun.

"are you trying to make our own incriminating evidence?" john b asked, jj's once happy mood fading.

suddenly, there was a tap on the window above the nightstand, emery wrinkling her eyebrows as she looked through the blinds, levi, pope, ainsley, and kiara standing below the window. she shoved her upper body under the blinds completely, the group jumping up and down and pointing in the direction of the balcony.

emery stood up straight, jumping over the bed and moving toward the other window.

"what is it?" john b asked as emery peered through the blinds.

"cops." she whispered.

BY SOME MIRACLE, THE QUARTET WAS STANDING ON THE WINDOW LEDGE.

in the literal fifteen seconds they had to climb out the window, they had managed to get all four of them through, shut the window, and press themselves flat against the wall, emery and john b on one side and mara and jj on the other.

"what's happening?" mara whispered, john b looking through the blinds, jj doing the same.

"what the-" jj whispered, turning to john b.

the sudden movement caused the gun in his back pocket to come loose, the object falling onto the lid of a dumpster below them, both boys pushing the girls in front of them impossibly closer to the wall as the blinds were pulled open with a snap, both of them trying to press themselves flatter against the wall.

"let's go." emery heared a muffled voice say from inside, jj and john b both moving away from the girls and standing in front of the window instead of next to it, mara smacking the back of jj's head harshly.

"i deserve that." he said flatly, emery giving him a harsh slap on the back. "and that."

kens speaks 🪐

i kinda love this chapter?

not my fave but still

harringtonssss and i made a deal (go read her book summertime sadness- it's the one we make deals over- as well as her other books.) it's our thing now

also i'm back in school now so i'll probably only be updating on weekends for now, just until my schedule is less hectic.