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xxiv. Favorite Crime
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It was a little after midnight when she was awoken by John B Routledge. She caught a glance at an old, decorative clock on the wall as they made their way down the roof quietly, footsteps muffled.
The thing with the pair of them was that they had gotten used to each other. For instance, he didn't even need to blink, heart racing and coughs spilling from his lips, for her to know that he had just awoken from a nightmare she knew her father was the star of. Sarah was still sound asleep on the hot, white, plastic lounge chair between them and he only nodded towards the staircase to let her know what he was planning to do, despite having promised he wouldn't.
She sighed, then pushed herself to her feet with a groan. She couldn't let him do it alone.
Blair Cameron and John B Routledge walked the streets side by side, their steps quick though they made sure their pace was slow enough not to raise suspicions. After all, nobody would be looking for them at that time; the island was asleep.
His gaze was heavy, she felt it on her face for a couple minutes, as if he was trying to figure her out. Or maybe he was trying to memorize the curve of her lashes. "You scared the shit out of me, you know?" he said softly, almost a mutter. He kicked a rock with his foot and she raised a brow. "Like, when you drowned. I thought we lost you."
She bumped his shoulder with his. "You're not getting rid of me that easily, John."
"Blair." He stopped abruptly, forcing her to do so, too. She sighed exasperatedly, tiredly, and he returned her exhaustion. "I'm not kidding. I . . . you weren't breathing. I put my hand on your neck and there wasn't a pulse. And─and, with Sarah screaming like that, I couldn't fucking focus."
Blair's head dropped and she ran her hands through her hair, fingers threading through the tangled soft-blonde curls. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't mean to scare you guys like that," she sniffled.
"You saved my life." John B closed his eyes, then placed a hand on her shoulder. "And you have nothing to be sorry for. Just─just be careful, okay? I didn't think I'd ever say this to the Blair Cameron . . . But you're like a sister to me, okay? I can't lose you."
She grabbed his hand and tugged him forward, resuming their walk down the street. "Brother-in-law," Blair grinned, using their joint hands to point at a gate-wall just besides them. "Let's get your gold."
He returned the grin complicity, then both ran down the wall and came to a halt in front of the doors. There was a security guard her father appointed himself two years ago, but Blair knew he had to let him go when they were going through a hard spot not too long ago. He must've brought him back because of the gold. Which meant that it definitely was in there.
