The Outer Banks, paradise on earth. The sort of place where you either have two jobs, or two houses. Two tribes, one island.
The younger girl survived because of her friends. For them. The first five or six months after her father disappeared were...
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"Well that was fun," said Liv sarcastically as they drove away in the boat, "but way too freaking close."
Her brother nodded. "Seriously. Could have warned us sooner." Kie shrugged. "We would have, except Pope was on the math team."
The brunette raised her eyebrows. Who the hell would ever choose to be on a math team? That meant more math. "You're joking, right?" That was what she wanted to say, but she held it in, not wanting to offend her friend. She let out a sigh. "Look, guys, the cops took everything like it was a crime scene." Her eyes scanned the boys she had just gone in with. "And to be honest, it looked like a crime scene in there to me."
Pope looked at his friends, starting to regret agreeing to everything. "Did you guys find anything?" He watched as JJ and John B shared a glance, the blond pulling something out of his waistband.
"Did we find anything? No, I don't think so. Oh, yeah, we did."
The boy nearly choked when he saw what was in his friends hand. Yeah, he was regretting this. "What the hell?"
"JJ, what?" Kiara's face shared the same expression as Pope's, both of them shocked that the siblings had let the blond get away with this.
"Dude, chill. Come on." JJ held up the stack of money and gun. "It's all fine." Pope shook his head, frantically looking at his freckled friend. "Why take that from a crime scene? Liv, you said you would keep them out of trouble!" The girl perked up at her name. "Sorry P, I said no promises."
"Better than the cops having it." said JJ, flailing his arms around. "You serious?" Kie sent a glare towards John B, the cheeky smile falling off his face so fast Liv almost laughed. "I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship." Pope started pacing back and forth, hands up by his head. The blond took two strides towards the boy, wrapping his arm around his shoulders and holding the gun as if it was his finger in front of Pope's mouth.
"Hey, hey, hey. Sh, sh, sh, sh, sh. At least you have us, right?" Liv could have sworn the boy was gonna faint. "Okay, JJ. Put the gun away before Pope passes out." He did as she asked, tucking it into his waistband once again. The dark haired boy moved to the back of the boat, sitting down with a 'thud.'
"I'm living the nightmare."
✧☼✧☽✧☼✧☽✧☼✧☽✧☼✧
The girl sat on the front porch of the Château, mind whirring. After their adventure at the motel, they had noticed a scene just off one of the docks in town. Scooter Grubbs had just been found dead. Picked up by a local fisherman and placed in the ice box until they reached town, both cops and locals swarmed. "Check out this pic I got," said one of the local girls, who stood watching everything unfold, "dead body." Liv had nearly thrown up. Scooters body was a terrible colour, water logged and scratched all over by animals trying to get to him. "What kind of boat did he have?" asked JJ, not so subtly. "Somehow," the girl replied, "that dirtbag copped a brand-new Grady-White. Everyone's out looking for it."
Their heads snapped up as Pope burst through the screen door of the house. "Okay. So, um.. we didn't see anything. We don't know anything." He plopped down on the couch next to Kie. "We need to have total and complete amnesia." JJ stood up from his chair, playing with his zippo lighter. "Actually, Pope's right for once." He paused, looking over at his dark haired friend. "See, I agree with you sometimes." Liv got up from her spot on the floor and let herself fall into the now empty armchair. "Deny, deny, deny." She muttered to herself, knowing the words her blond friend lived by off by heart.
"Guys, we can't keep that money." Kie piped in, only to be cut off by JJ. "Okay, not all of us can afford unlimited data plans, Kiara." The girl scoffed, rolling her eyes at him. "We have to pass that off to Lana Grubbs. Otherwise it's bad karma." "Bad karma to be implicated in a felony, too." said Liv, giving her curly haired friend a small smile as she shot a thankful look her way. "But then again..." She trailed off, grimacing as she took a swig of her now warm beer.
The girl completely understood where Kie was coming from, and Pope too. After all, Lana Grubbs had just lost her husband. Technically the money they found now belonged to her. But on the other hand, Liv knew that her and her brother needed all the money they could get. Living alone was hard, and food was expensive. Especially when three boys with stomachs the size of a whales were always around and always wanting to eat.
"We gotta go dark." Said Pope, who had officially resigned himself to the fact there was no undoing what had already been done. "If that means we get to keep the money, then I agree." JJ added, mind on the money. Four pairs of eyes settled on the sandy haired boy, who had yet to say anything. Liv spoke first. "What about you John B?" In all honesty, she was really curious to know his thoughts on the matter.
"I don't agree."
JJ let out an exasperated sigh. "What? Why?" John B continued. "Just think about it. This is Scooter Grubbs we're talking about. Same dude that's buying individual cigarettes at the Porthole. Shit, one time I saw this dude begging for change in the Save-A-Lot parking lot because he needed gas. We're talking about a dirtbag marina rat who's never had more than 40 bucks in his pocket, and all of a sudden he's got a Grady-White?" He paused, looking around at his friends. "Just sayin'."
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"All right, so think about it, Pope. How does a marina rat get a Grady-White?"
The boy thought for a moment, wiggling the fishing rod he was holding. "Prostitution."
John B shook his head. "Square groupers, bro. Okay? Flying under the radar, no aerial surveillance. They don't do that stuff during a hurricane. What does that mean? JJ?" The blond looked up, attention away from the girl in front of him. "Huh?" He paused, thinking through what his friend had said. "They were straight smugglin'."
"Oh my god!" Liv let out a gasp, not even phased by their words. No, she thought to herself, anyone could have figured out what Scooter Grubbs was up to. A toothy grin covered her face. "I caught one!" The blond laughed, deep and from his chest, as she held the fishing rod out towards him, a small fish flopping around on the hook. Only she would decide she wanted to fish for the first time when they had been in the middle of an intense conversation. Still, the distraction had been a welcome one, the five of them walking down the dock after John B had shared his thoughts on the matter.
JJ gently removed the fish from the hook, holding it out to the girl. She squealed, but reached out a finger and gently touched its scales. "He's cute!" She exclaimed, "Can we keep it?" The fish flopped in the boys hand, falling onto the wood and then into the water. He shook his head as she pouted. "I guess not."
"Anyways," John B cleared his throat. "Smuggling."
