Audacious//JJ Maybank (Outerbanks)

Chapter 68

{Marry Me}

JJ and I sit in silence, both sweating and exhausted from the heat as we wait for the others to come back with weapons. The one thing that JJ and I had in common that we hated was being useless. And right now, that's all we felt. While our friends are out there doing God knows what, we're stuck in this container with barely any air. I know they only told us to stay back because JJ is impulsive and has a bad temper while I'm pregnant and wouldn't be too much of a help, right now, but it still feels annoying to be useless.

'I've been thinking. When all this is over, and we're just rolling in the dough, I'm gonna get a new expensive board.' JJ speaks up as a faint smile appears on his face. 'Then, we're going to go travel around the world and surf everywhere once you give birth.' He states and a smirk appears on my face. 'I don't know where, but the world's calling us, baby.' He points over to me. I look down and place my hand on my stomach and gently rub it up and down as I think. 'Hawaii.' I mumble and JJ looks over beside me. 'Let's go to Hawaii first. Then Spain, Costa Rica, South America, Italy.' I ramble on as he looks at me with a smile plastered across his face.

After a moment, he clears his throat as he looks down at my hand and his, and takes off the ring he's had since he was a kid. His mother's ring. 'Jackie?' JJ says nervously. 'Hmm, baby.' I answer as I wipe the sweat off my forehead. 'Marry me?' He asks and I jump up in shock as my eyes widen when I look at the ring in his hand. 'JJ..that's your mother's ring.' I gasp and he nods. 'I wouldn't want anyone else wearing it, only you.' He says softly as he stands up and holds my hands. 'Jackie, I've loved you since the moment I met you. I knew you're the only one for me when I first laid my eyes on you. And this past year has put us through so many obstacles..but look, we came out the other side better than ever and together. And now, we've been blessed with a child. That will be part of you and I. I know, life is crazy right now and I have no clue what tomorrow holds for us, but right now, I'm only thinking about you and I. So will you be my wife? Will you make me the happiest man alive and marry me?' He asks as a blush appears on his face and happy tears roll down my cheek at his words. 'Yes.' I mumble. 'Yes, yes, yes.' I exclaim as he places the ring on my finger and I jump into his arms wrapping my hands around his neck. 'I love you, JJ Maybank.' I say happily and he chuckles. 'I love you too, Jackie Maybank.' He whispers with a smirk and I laugh. 'I love the sound of that.' I exclaim before crashing my lips onto his.

I jump up and wrap my legs around his waist as he gently presses my body up against the metal wall. Our lips pull apart momentarily as I rip of his top and he takes off mine. He slams his lips back onto mine as we toss our clothes to the floor, he trails kisses down my neck as I let out a moan. 'God, I love you.' He moans as we he gently lays me on the ground and hovers over my body. 'I love you too.' I mutter as our lips collide once again. 'Hey. Hey. Open it.' Pope speaks up from outside the container, JJ and I quickly jump up and throw on our tops and I fix my hair before he takes down the vent and appears Pope.

Pope, John B and Kie come back through, and I go to close the hole again when Pope stops me. 'Hold it.' He says and I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. Another figures crawls through the hole, causing JJ and I to look at the others confused. 'I kill you, John b!' She says as she looks around. 'Who is this?' I ask urgently as I step forward and block her way, she looks me up and down with a smirk. 'Just relax okay.' John b puts his hands on my shoulder, making me face him before I could freak out. 'You remember I told you about that girl who saved us in the Bahamas?' John b asks me and I nod. 'This is her. This is Cleo. She's gonna help us. Cleo, this is my sister, Jackie and my best friend, JJ.' John b says to Cleo and she nods. 'Oh, you're the friend who makes stupid plans and you're the sister.' Cleo says and JJ and I's eyes widen in shock as we glare at John b.

***

'You seriously didn't grab nothing, not one single gun?' JJ scoffs. 'We..we tried, okay? I got attacked.' John b tries to explains and I roll my eyes. 'This is why we should have gone.' JJ and I say in unison. 'Let me get this straight. You five, with no weapons, decided you were gonna hijack this tramp steamer on your own? Do you have any idea who these people are? Eberhimi, if he catch you, he's gonna kill you. Dead. Cut off your fingers.' Cleo states, making a slicing motion on her hand.

'Okay. What about waiting until we get to port? At least then, if something goes wrong, we have a place to run.' Kie speaks up. 'No, we can't do that.' Pope objects. 'Why?' Kie asks immediately. 'Because I've run this scenario over 1,000 times in my head, and our best chances are on this ship. There's 15 crew members and six of us. Three to one odds. If we wait till we get there, they're going to trap us.' Pope explains and I look at him. 'Pope, I'm pregnant! I can't fight.' I say pointing at my stomach, pointing out the obvious and he sighs. 'We can still do it even if it's just us five.' Pope says and I nod. 'Best it'll get.' He tells us. 'There's something else.' John b speaks up and we all look at him. 'Ward's alive. And he's on the boat.' John b announces and I gasp as I flinch back. 'What?' My eyes widen in shock. 'You've got to be kidding me.' JJ groans. 'Are you serious?' Pope asks and John b nods in confirmation.

'It was all a setup, blowing up the boat, the confession to Shoupe. Think about it. That was to clear Rafe's name. And he does what? Goes to the druthers. And what's on the Druthers?' He asks us. 'Scuba.' Kie scoffs. 'Exactly.' John b points at her. 'So, Ward's alive, huh? And he has the gold, and the cross and Sarah.' JJ points outs, not knowing whether to hit something or yell. 'Thanks for rubbing it in.' Kie sighs. 'So he's gonna get away with everything again, huh?' JJ sighs looking up. 'Not happening.' He shakes his head. 'We're not watching this movie again. You said we need to win. And with her, we're going to the bridge, and we're gonna take it right now.' JJ says looking at Pope before pointing towards Cleo.

'You with me?' JJ asks looking at us all. 'Let's do it.' John b agrees. 'Forever.' I say softly as he looks at me with a smile. 'I'm with you and I wanna be the one to take that bridge.' Pope agrees. 'That's what I'm talking about.' JJ says as him and Pope do our group handshake and Cleo starts laughing. 'He's gonna take the bridge?' She questions pointing her knife at Pope. 'Yeah.' JJ nods. 'He couldn't even take me.' She laughs. 'Seriously?' JJ asks in disbelief, looking at Pope. 'First of all, I was going easy on you.' Pope points out. 'I went easy on you.' Cleo snaps back and I couldn't help but giggle. 'If you're really with us, If we use that knife, we can go up into the bridge, hold it up against the captain's neck, then we go on the intercom and make him tell the rest of the crew to meet up in the forward hull. Once they're in the same place, bam, we lock them in there and take back what's our.' JJ explains and we all nod in agreement.

'I like it. It could work.' Pope states. 'Are you with us then, huh?' JJ asks directing his question to Cleo. 'No.' She responds, rolling her eyes. 'This is stupid.' She says turning to look at John b. 'All right, let's open these up.' A man is heard shouting from the outside. We all share a look as we realise they are checking the containers. Cleo waste no time and hops out of the container, leaving us there questioning if she was with us or not. 'She's going to rat on us!' Pope gasps. 'This one's clear!' She speaks up and we all let out a sigh of relief. 'You sure?' the man asks her. 'Went through it inch by inch. Nothing but rubbing and plastics in there.' She tells them. After the men leave, she whispers for Pope, who climbs out to help her with the bridge. Now, we just had to wait for Pope's signal.

To be Continued...