THE POGUES WERE ON THE DOCK.

jj and mara had shown up in the early morning, telling emery the story of kiara and pope's massive fight they had had at tannyhill, how kiara wanted pope to give up his scholarship- mara was on his side, of course- and how they had dropped them off and hadn't heard from them since. the two had gone to emery's house, where levi had locked himself in his room.

oh yeah, and they lost the gold.

"you're sure it's all gone?" emery asked when kiara arrived with ainsley, the two girls sitting on the railing on the far end of the dock.

"every bar." john b confirmed. "the whole enchilada."

"i hate jackson." emery muttered, leaning her head back against the railing. "i'm really sorry, b. i had no idea he was back."

"it's not your fault." john b reassured, but he suddenly tugged the cast off his wrist, tossing it down on the dock. "i mean, it's not like i was expecting a happy ending or some shit."

"john b-" kiara started, but the boy cut her off.

"what, kie?" he snapped annoyedly. "it's a hairline fracture, i'm fine."

"you don't know that." she replied.

"i'm fairly certain he would, it's his arm." emery snapped.

"it's fine, see?" john b replied, holding his hand up and wiggling his fingers in the air like a smartass, making emery giggle.

"guys! guys!" someone yelled from behind them, everyone turning to see pope bolting down the dock wearing a suit. emery had completely forgotten about his interview, suddenly feeling guilty she hadn't been able to support him during it.

"pope?" mara questioned, sitting up as the boy stopped in front of them, panting heavily.

"oh! oh! oh god, i ran all the way here!" he exclaimed, resting his hands on his knees and panting heavily. "jb, im sorry about last night, okay? i was a dick."

"it's fine." john b said, no emption in his voice, making emery look at him concernedly.

"but i have information that is tactically relevant." pope added. "so as im walking into my interview, my dad says he was gonna go down to the airstrip to cut palms for cameron's big plane because it was too heavy, and needed a longer landing strip to take off. so, im sitting in my interview and im thinking 'why would cameron's plane need a longer air strip?' what could be weighing it down?"

realization hit all the pogues at once, john b sitting up, emery and jj looking at pope together.

"the gold." john b whispered, pope jumping up and down excitedly and pointing at him.

"yes!" he exclaimed. "but it leaves soon, so if we want to stop it, we have to hurry."

"what's the plan, b?" emery asked from the railing, john b smirking up at her.

"we're gonna steal that shit back."

THE TWINKIE WAS MOVING AT RECORD SPEED.

pope had changed into normal clothes and the group had piled into the van, they were now flying down the highway towards the private airstrip.

"we roll in there, guns a-blazing, and make ward cameron beg for mercy." jj stated, filling the clip for his pistol as he did so, no one had fought him on bringing it this time. "abscond with as much gold as possible, and vamonos, get the hell out of there."

"send that shit right down the intercostal." john b added.

"wait for my family's plane to get back." emery joined in.

"exit to cuba." pope finished, jj shaking his head.

"cuba? nah, man. xcalak, jewel of the yucatán." he corrected. "lobsters so thick, mangoes, and no word for money."

the group smiled at this, the van coming to a stop in front of the fence surrounding the air strip, everyone climbing out of the twinkie and standing next to the fence.

"what's the plan?" emery asked eagerly.

"i didn't get that far." john b deadpanned.

"they're still loading the gold." mara stated, pointing to where ward was yelling at a man to be careful with the boxes.

"who's that?" emery asked, pointing at someone standing next to the plane.

"is that really-" mara started.

"it's sarah." jj muttered.

"she's with him?" pope confirmed, emery nodding.

"she doesn't want to go." the girl said firmly, watching the blonde pull away from ward. she looked over, doing a double take to see that john b now had a pair of binoculars in his hands.

"where the hell did those come from?" mara asked, clearly wondering the same thing as emery.

"hey, he's hurting her!" john b exclaimed, dashing for the twinkie.

"shit." emery whispered, running around to get in on the passenger side.

"last chance, ems." john b gritted as he turned the van over, the protesting yells of their friends essentially white noise in their ears. "you sure you want to go?"

"hurry up, they're moving!" emery yelled, john b flooring the van forward, straight into the metal fence. emery watched as jj pulled mara out from in front of the van, the windshield of the old car now shattered from the impact of the van with the fence as well as it now having a lovely bit of decorative weeds hanging from the top. they pulled onto the tarmac, right next to the plane. sarah was looking out the window, the girl clearly in hysterics.

"hey! hey, it's okay!" john b assured her.

"get off the runway!" ward yelled from inside the plane, shoving sarah back into her seat so she couldn't see john b and emery.

"john, they're gonna take off soon." emery said uneasily, watching as the end of the runway got closer and closer to her, worrying that this might have been the worst possible idea john b had had.

suddenly, john b had the van moving faster than the plane, he was ahead of it by a good fifty feet.

"hang on!" he yelled suddenly, turning the wheel sharply so the van had skidded to a stop in front of cameron's plane, the aircraft only moving towards them just as fast.

john b grabbed emery, turning and burying his face in her hair as she dug hers into his chest, the two preparing for the inevitable. however, the sound of the plane died down, and when they looked up, the blue aircraft was stopped about a foot away.

"holy shit." emery breathed, pulling away from john b, but he had kicked the door of the twinkie open and was running towards the plane.

"sarah!" he yelled. "sarah!"

ward got out of the plane first storming towards john b. "are you crazy?" he yelled, emery jumping out of the twinkie and running to grab john b, pulling him away from ward, but he was already there.

"you trying to get her killed?" ward added, but john b wasn't having it.

"ward!" he yelled angrily in the man's face, but sarah had gotten out of the plane.

"john b! emery!" she exclaimed, running towards them. john b pushed himself in front of the two girls, emery squeezing sarah's hand reassuringly.

a car could be heard behind ward, emery looking up to see a black, sleek vehicle speeding towards them.

"who is that?" she muttered to sarah, the girl shook her head.

"it's not one of our cars." she whispered, sounding terrified as she trembled next to emery. the car skidded to a stop next to the plane and the driver's door opened, a tall, dark-haired man climbing out of the car.

jackson melville was standing in front of them. emery's face paled, her legs suddenly feeling weak at the sight of someone who had accused her of being the reason for his failed marriage, and now that she knew she was the child of an affair, she could tell why she was blamed.

"emery!" jackson called happily, a beaming smile on his face as he attempted to approach his daughter, but john b was quick to move in front of her.

"no!" emery yelled, shoving john b away. she walked towards jackson, his arms were outstretched for a hug, which he thought he was getting. however, emery outstretched her arm, slapping him across the face. "you blamed me for your marriage falling apart- it was you who treated mom like shit! i don't blame her for sleeping with someone else or planning to leave you, because if you were my husband, i would too!" emery screamed, tears streaming down her face. ward, john b, and sarah were all staring at the situation in awe, jackson shaking his head.

"emery, baby, listen-" he tried, grabbing her wrist, but the girl immediately yanked herself out of his grip.

"no! no, i'm not. i don't have to listen to you because you're not my dad!" she shouted, jackson's face falling before a smug smirk covered his face.

"so you know about that?" he asked, emery nodding

"yeah, yeah i do." she muttered. "and i'm really glad i'm not, i don't want to be your kid, because you're manipulative, you're borderline abusive, and you- you are a liar." she said, shoving her finger into jackson's chest. "i'm really glad you left, but i was really hoping you had died."

"guys, can we not do this here?" ward asked. "jackson, we have bigger problems than your affair baby."

"like what, ward? i cracked your son's nose like a glow stick, i'll do the same to yours." emery deadpanned, jackson shoving the girl harshly onto the pavement, her elbow sliding across the black material, a burst of pain exploding in her arm.

"emery!" john b exclaimed, rushing over to the girl, her elbow now bleed profusely.

"shut up, emery!" jackson screamed at the girl. "you never knew when to shut your mouth and then wanted to cry when it got you in trouble- so since you know about your real dad. you gonna move into the crack house?"

"jackson!" ward yelled, grabbing the man and pulling him back. "forget about her for a second and listen. we have to get this gold out of here-"

the man was cut off by a police siren behind him, everyone's heads snapping up towards the suv speeding towards them, ward turning to john b and emery.

"if you kids think this changes anything, you're wrong." he said lowly, the suv stopping as peterkin stepped out of the car.

"susan!" jackson exclaimed. "thank god you're here, this routledge kid's lost his damn mind, just shoved my girl on the ground for no reason. he's losing it."

"no he didn't!" emery yelled, but peterkin was looking at all of them.

"put your hands on your head." she said lowly, ward turning to john b.

"i'd do what she said, kid." he suggested, but emery noticed her eyes flicking between jackson and the cameron man.

"she's talking to you, ward." john b deadpanned.

"and you, piece of shit." emery gritted as she looked up at jackson.

"you're both under arrest for the murder of big john routledge." peterkin said, sarah gasping behind emery.

"susan-" jackson started, but peterkin wasn't having it with him or ward.

"put your hands on your head!" she yelled, both men eventually complying, but neither of them facing her. emery had practically crawled away from jackson, the man being far too close to her for her liking, john b helping her to stand up. he handed sarah his bandana, letting the girl wrap it around emery's elbow.

"drop to your knees!" peterkin demanded, both men doing so, jackson staring a hole through emery, the tension between the two so thick it could've been cut with a knife.

"i've waited a long time for this, melville." peterkin gritted as she finished putting cuffs around the man's wrists before moving onto ward, muttering something under her breath to him.

ward suddenly began resisting peterkin, attempting to get away from her. she was prepared however, stepping back and drawing her gun, pointing it at ward threateningly, but emery knew she wouldn't pull the trigger.

however, a gunshot pierced the air, making sarah gasp.

no way peterkin had just shot ward.

there was no bullet wound, no sign of weakness from the man or of an injury. he appeared to be fine. emery didn't understand, if she had pulled the trigger, she wouldn't have missed.

suddenly, peterkin's eyes began to roll back in her head as she fell to the ground, everyone's eyes widening at the collapsed woman. someone was coming around the side of the plane in a salmon polo and khaki shorts.

"rafe..." ward breathed. "what did you do?"

"i saved you, dad." the boy said shakily, eyes watery as he kept the gun pointed at peterkin, everyone else frozen in shock.

rafe cameron had shot sheriff peterkin.

kens speaks 🪐

i 🩷 being the first one to update when i make a deal with mara so much.

also, mara and i's favorite thing for john b to say is real??? what??

anywho here's some pictures of kelsea ballerini with taylor swift just bc i love them both

(kelsea in the rep room at the rep tour)