ruthless; jj m.

31

JJ and I walked out of the house hand in hand. 

We approached Sarah and John B and they both had a look on their faces, knowing damn well what we had just done. JJ sat down in one of the chairs and pulled me onto his lap. "So... weather's nice tonight." John B said, breaking the silence.

I laughed. "Really? Weather talk?" I asked. "Where'd Kie and Pope go?" I asked. "They went to go do what you two just did," Sarah said, snickering. I raised my eyebrows in shock. "Took my boat and everything." John B said and JJ and I laughed. 

Standing up, I took a seat next to Sarah while JJ got up and engaged in conversation with John B. We heard two car doors close and John B silenced JJ when he heard the chickens clucking more than usual.

"What was that?" John B asked us. "Your... chicken?" JJ asked him. "I heard a car door close." John B said. "So did I," I said. JJ then started clucking like a chicken as a joke and John B placed his hand over the blond's mouth. 

John B looked around for places for us to hide. "The tree. Everyone climb up the tree." John B said and the four of us did. We then saw Rafe and Barry walk out from behind the bushes and Rafe stood under the tree, taking note of the dwindling flame of our bonfire. 

"Where the hell are you?" He lowly asked himself. We all looked at each other when we noticed they had guns in their hands. Barry went into the house to look for us but came out smashing beer bottles when he noticed we weren't in there.

"Yo! Anything?" Rafe asked Barry. "No, ain't shit in there, bro," Barry answered. "No? Nothing?" Rafe asked. "No, nothing, Rafe," Barry answered with an annoyed tone. "They were obviously just out here based off the smoke, man," Rafe said to his accomplice. 

Barry grew more annoyed with the dirty blond. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Great observation, Boy Scout." Barry retorted. "They're not far, you know?" Rafe shouted. "Smokey the Bear! Look at you, bro!" Barry said sarcastically and angrily. 

Rafe looked around the bonfire, and he picked up my vape and looked at the flavor. "Fuckin' strawberry ice. Scarlett was here too." Rafe said. "How the fuck do you know?" Barry asked. "It's her favorite flavor. She'd never leave it behind. They gotta be around here somewhere." Rafe said. 

I mentally swore at myself. Rafe then turned around and looked at the carving we made on the tree. "P4L," Barry said mockingly. Rafe turned his head to look at his friend as he laughed and pointed his gun at the tree.

"Well, shit," Rafe said as he continued to laugh. "So your sister and your ex are Pogues for life, huh, Rafe? Now who would've thought?" Barry asked the dirty blond. Barry's statement and the longer Rafe looked at the carving made him enraged. "Shit!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. 

We all flinched but thankfully, none of us made a sound. "All right, chill," Barry said. Rafe then began to shoot the tree and we all flinched again. Barry tried to stop Rafe but Rafe raised his arm, shooting a bullet on the branch that was covering JJ's face. 

I put my hand over my mouth to stop myself from screaming. "Hey! Whoa! Hey, chill, bro. Rafe!" Barry shouted at his accomplice. He pushed Rafe away from the tree. "Chill your shit! Chill out! You're gonna get our asses busted, dawg!" Barry shouted at him. 

"Let's bounce. Let's bounce. Let's go!" Barry shouted at Rafe and the two ran back to their car. I looked over at JJ and saw him analyzing the mark the bullet left on the tree bark. Sarah was breathing heavily, and John B looked frightened. 

I was holding back tears as we watched Barry and Rafe drive away. We all climbed down from the tree and Sarah fell into my arms as she cried. I sat down and held her as she sobbed and it made me shed a few tears too.