MARLBORO NIGHTS [JJ MAYBANK]

jumping off a cliff

"THERE SHE BE."

JJ grinned as sunlight flooded the garage where the Phantom lay. "Hey, girl..." He approached the boat, pulling off the sheet that covered one end. "A 1983 Formula 402 SR1. The Phantom."

Karolina had no idea what JJ was saying, but she caught on to the fact that maybe JJ liked the Phantom more than he liked her. He looked back at her and Kie with an admiring smile. "The first boat to make the run to Bermuda in under 16 hours, guys. Forty years old! Forty!" He shook his head. "And still the fastest thing the Kildare's ever seen."

Wrinkling her nose slightly, Karolina shared a wary look with Kiara. "It's... kind of a junker."

JJ blinked. "Really? She's- she's right there, Lina, she can hear you. Let me just put it this way- you would not be smoking' weed right now if she never existed, okay?"

Kiara shrugged. "I just hope it runs."

"Oh, no, she'll run all right-"

"Just- hook it up." Karolina huffed, shaking her head, as the squeal of a motorcycle stopping sounded right outside the garage. "Pope, finally..." grumbled Kie, hopping down from where she'd started helping JJ with the boat.

She and Karolina started off to help Pope bring in the gas, when two figures emerged from the other side. Rafe Cameron blocked their way to the outside. He grinned. "Hey, there. What's goin' on?" His eyes trailed down Karolina's legs, and she stiffened immediately.

"JJ..."

Her blonde boyfriend glanced up, as Karolina and Kie backtracked to him. Karolina's gray eyes remained locked on Rafe, as he hopped onto the trailer that the boat sat on. "How you guys doin'? Gotta say, I miss you at the country club, Lina."

A whistle pierced the air behind them and then emerged a boy with a greasy brown pony-tail and a small mustache. Barry, the drug dealer that tried to scam them out of their gold, and coincidentally the one JJ had robbed. He grinned in a similar fashion as Rafe. "Well, well..." He lifted his right hand, in it was a black handled gun, which he pointed at JJ's chest. Karolina's heart hammered. "See, don't think I forgot about me and you on the side of the road." The tip of the gun shifted to point at Karolina's chin. "I'm here because I want my money."

Barry flicked the safety off and JJ launched himself at him, a punch landing on his jaw. The brown haired man growled, grabbing JJ by his hair and dragging him to the ground and slamming his head into it, shouting about his money. "That's what I'm here for!"

Kie spun around, hollering at Rafe, but he interrupted her, grabbing her by the forearm. "It's not you we want, Kie. Where's John B?"

Karolina couldn't hear her response, because she was charging at Barry, forgetting that he had a gun in his hand, thrusting her fist hard into his stomach. He doubled over, groaning, and Karolina growled as his hand swung up again, the metal of the gun leaving a streak of blood across her cheek as she went down. 

"I know what you did!" Kie shouted at Rafe. "You murdered Peterkin!"

A hand dug itself into Karolina's hair, dragging her to her feet as another clasped around her throat. "Where's my money?!" he spat in her face, before turning to JJ again, who struggled to stand with his head spinning. "Where's my money, Maybank, or I swear to God, I'll kill your little bitch!"

JJ stumbled to his feet, but Barry was throwing Karolina to the ground again, lifting JJ off of it with the opposite hand and slamming him into the boat, then down next to her. "Stay down, boy!"

Coughing, Karolina tried to steal a glance at her boyfriend, but she couldn't suck down enough air to keep her eyes open, especially not when Barry's tennis shoe slammed into her chest. A loud crack echoed through her body, and pain exploded in her ribs. She cried out, doubling over and holding the spot, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes, as blood splattered onto the concrete below her.