EMERY STOPPED THE TRUCK ABRUPTLY AT THE PORT.

"this is arguably the worst idea we've had." john b said bluntly.

"worse than breaking into the cameron's house? y'know, what got us into this mess?" mara asked sarcastically as emery opted out of answering her boyfriend and just climbed out of the truck, nodding her head towards the dock where a boat was tied off.

"how do you even know that's their boat?" john b asked.

"because the cameron's boat is tied off right there." emery answered bluntly as she pointed at the light blue boat tied to the dock. "and i just saw terrance walk into the cabin. cleo's up on the roof." she added, pointing at the dark haired girl perched on top of the boat.

"i'm here to support emery in any decision she makes, and if the consequence of that is getting shot, then so be it." mara said bluntly, walking in pace with emery while john b trailed behind them slightly.

"look what the cat done dragged in." terrance said as the pogues stopped in front of the boat, emery's arms folded and an unamused look on her face.

"listen up, i have an offer and i don't like having to repeat myself, especially to those below me." the melville deadpanned, looking terrance up and down as she did.

"well, blondie, if it involves giving you your gold back, you can forget it." he replied shortly. "you're lucky i'm not on the phone with the cops right now."

"keep it, that little rock's peasant change in my bank account." emery retorted. "and you saw what was in the safe, right or wrong?"

"yeah, i did." terrance replied, unamused.

"and it was what we told you, correct?" emery questioned further, terrance falling silent.

"yeah, well, that things locked down tighter than a clamshell now." cleo pointed out, emery shrugging.

"no shit, but i can also guarantee you it won't stay there now." emery replied smoothly, looking around the boat. "i know my dad, and i know ward. that gold will be out of there within the next day if there's any chance that the security of it's been breached."

"what're you suggesting, a brink's job?" terrance asked.

"just think, sherlock. you have a boat that can get us out of there, you know about everyone and everywhere on the island, and i can find out when and where the gold is going." emery stated bluntly. "and i'll give you two mil for your struggles."

"let me get this straight." terrance started. "we take the risk of going to jail and getting shot for a fraction of what's in the safe."

"after you left us to fry? took the boat? i shouldn't be giving you shit." emery snapped. "but fine, i'll make it ten."

"ten million-" john b started, but emery put a hand up to silence him.

"each." she added.

"ten million dollars, we're just throwing money away." john b exclaimed.

"john b, if you don't shut your mouth im gonna shut it for you." mara threatened, the routledge immediately stopping talking.

the smugglers looked at each other, seriously considering the deal that emery had just proposed. the look in her eye suggested she wasn't affected by the fact she was essentially about to burn thirty million dollars, but then again, when four hundred million was the total, why would she be?

"you've got yourself a deal, blondie." terrance said firmly, putting his hand out for emery to shake, which she did while looking terrance dead in the eyes.

"you guys get your people lined out, we're gonna go back to my house, and i'll be in touch within the next couple days." emery said calmly, looking around to the smugglers. "but if you do go to the cops, if you do throw us under the bus, your asses are going down before mine. i saw things on that ship."

terrance's eyes widened slightly at emery's threat, but the girl smiled at him with sickening sweetness practically dripping from her teeth.

"have a good night." she said happily, turning on her heel and walking back up the dock to the truck, john b and mara right behind her.

"that was so hot." mara mumbled, emery smiling at her friend before turning to john b.

"bet you're glad one of us can handle shit." she said, opening the driver's side door and letting mara in while john b got in the passenger side.

"that was pretty badass." john b replied, emery smirking at her boyfriend as she started the truck.

"what did you see on the ship?" mara asked.

"nothing." emery said bluntly. "but i can tell that they're smugglers. they have a certain type of dirtbag energy that i've seen in smugglers before."

"why are you hanging out with smugglers?" john b asked, emery shrugging.

"why aren't you?" she asked, parking the truck on the side of the road about a quarter mile away from the neighborhood, but across from the fence. "get all your personal belongings out of here in case the cops grab the truck tonight, we're gonna have to walk the rest of the way."

everyone grabbed their stuff, climbing out of the car and hopping the fence on the other side of the road, practically running into emery's house and locking the door behind them.

"i need a shower and to go to bed because you just had to get kidnapped and interrupt my sleep." mara sassed to emery, who held her hands up in surrender as the stevens girl made her way up the stairs, emery going to follow when john b grabbed her wrist, pulling her back towards him.

"hey." she whispered, john b kissing the top of her head and pulling her into a hug.

"i am so, so, sorry." he whispered, emery's grip tightening around him.

"it's okay." emery whispered, but john b shook his head, pulling away.

"no, emery, it isn't." he argued. "you were kidnapped- i got back and you were just gone, and it wouldn't have happened if i hadn't left."

"john b, this is one hundred percent your fault." emery deadpanned. "however, no one got hurt, and everyone survived. so what if we're out thirty million dollars, that's practically pocket change in my house anyways."

"emery-" john b started, but the melville put a hand over his mouth, shaking her head.

"we're gonna go upstairs, we're gonna take showers, and we're gonna go to bed. but if i wake up and you're not there, i'm gonna lock the door and go right back to sleep." she said with a small smile, feeling john b have the same reaction under her hand, which she pulled away from his face as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"i love you." john b mumbled.

"i would hope so, i wouldn't be going through all this shit if you didn't." emery replied bluntly. "and i love you too, so."

"i would hope so." john b repeated, picking emery up as her legs wrapped around his waist, the routledge boy carrying her up the stairs and to her room, where he quietly closed the door. in the two minutes it had taken him to get up the stairs and to emery's room, he felt the girl become heavily in his arms as her breathing evened out, showing she had fallen asleep.

using the arm that wasn't supporting emery, john b pulled the comforter away from the pillows and gently laid her down on top of the white sheets, pulling them over her and walking around the bed to get in on the other side, pulling emery into his chest and sighing heavily.

she had been kidnapped because of him.

she had called him a liar.

she was scared of losing him.

all of that because he did something stupid.

emery had always been his rock, but he couldn't exactly remember when the switch flipped from best friend to im in love with her. all he wanted to do was keep her safe, show her the love she needed, be the person emery not only wanted, but deserved.

how could he be that if he kept putting her in danger?

he grabbed his phone from the nightstand, sending a text to someone he knew would be able to understand his situation and give him solid advice, while also being judgmental enough to get her point across.

mara opened the door a couple moments later, nodding her head for john b to follow her. he carefully pried emery off his body and slowly climbed out of bed, going down to the kitchen with mara, who opened the pantry and grabbed a bag of cheez-its, passing one to john b and opening the fridge to get a root beer, handing john b a coke.

"what's up?" she asked, leaning against the island while john b sat on the stool next to the island, rubbing his face with his hands. "are you good?"

"am i a shitty boyfriend?" he deadpanned, mara wrinkling her eyebrows and putting a cheez-it in her mouth.

"have i given you that much shit?" she questioned, john b shaking his head

"emery's just... mara, you know her, she's perfect. and i seem to just keep screwing thing up for her and-"

"shut up." mara cut him off.

"excuse me?" john b asked.

"need me to say in in spanish?" mara asked. "john, she loves you. like, head over heels in love with you- i ain't seen her do all this lovey dovey shit with any other guy before, kay? what you need to do is focus more on being emery's boyfriend than trying to be indiana jones for a second. stop thinking about the gold for a couple days-i guarantee you it'll still be there tomorrow, ward isn't gonna get it moved until at least another day- it'll just be watched. take tomorrow to spend some time with emery, watch a movie, go swimming, read a book- i don't know, john."

"so you want me to be a boyfriend instead of a treasure hunter?" john b clarified, mara nodding her head.

"that's literally what i just said." she confirmed. "emery's simple, okay? i can go out, pick you up some flowers and candy or some shit in the morning, emery showed me where the card is and the pin's written down on a sticky note in the drawer. all you have to do to please emery is be interested. show her you care and want to be around her, she loves it when people let her talk their ear off about her movies or music or really anything she's interested in. put a heath ledger movie on and buy her some dr. pepper and she'll be happy as a clam." mara assured, john b nodding.

"i just... i really, really care about her and it feels like it's hard to show that when i'm running off and she's getting kidnapped trying to find me."

"is that what this is about?" mara asked, john b nodding slowly. "john, you gotta stop beating yourself up over that."

"but you both told me not to go!" john b exclaimed, mara motioning with her hand for him to bring his voice down before pointing at the stairs.

"yes, we did, and you were a dumbass to go anyways, however, emery is not mad at you for that, and if she was, you'd know." mara said simply. "she sure as hell wouldn't have let you carry her up to bed and kiss her and tell her you love her if she was pissy with you, that's for sure." mara said bluntly, putting another cheez-it into her mouth.

"and when you get up there, relay all this information to jj because your girlfriend and i are practically the same person with how much time we've spent together and i want a date when i get back home, i left my boyfriend of five business minutes to be a glorified third wheel on an all expenses paid vacation." she added, smiling at john b as she did.

"y'know, emery has always been a really simple person. like, vanilla vibes, if you get what i'm saying." john b said nonchalantly.

"john, you did not just call your girlfriend basic without calling her basic." mara said, suddenly looking stressed as she raised her eyebrows at him.

"no, i didn't." john b said suddenly. "i called her vanilla, and i happen to love vanilla."

"that was kind of sweet." mara replied, touching her hand to her heart in fake affection as john b shrugged.

"i just have a way with words." he said cockily, shrugging as he did so and walking back up the stairs to emery's room, climbing back into bed.

"i heard every word of that conversation." the melville slurred sleepily.

"no you didn't, now sleep." john b deadpanned, emery smiling at him.

"i love vanilla too." she whispered, john b smiling at the comment.

"that's good, ems." he mumbled.

kens speaks 🪐

i wanted to write melledge after i put so much tension on them last chapter so i wrote melledge + jb and mara