Always and Forever (sequel to The Heart of a Pouge)

Chapter 4: Homecoming

Skylar's POV

We now had Pope's car back so we were all heading off to meet with this person

'They're fancy people. They've had three governors in the family. They've run Charleston
for, like, years' Kie tells us information as we drive past all the rich houses

'These Kooks make our Kooks look like Pogues' JJ says as Pope pulls up next to a huge house. A giant fence guarded the place and it looked almost abandoned.

'You sure this is the place, Pope?' I ask as we all stare at it through the window.

'Pretty sure. Twenty-seven King Street' Pope says and we all jump out and head to the gate. JJ whistles. 'Talk about home security'

'Are those spikes to keep people out?' Pope asks

'No. The slave quarters are over there' I joke
'These spikes were to keep people in' Kie adds as we open the gate and head inside. We walk up to the door and we look to Pope. This was his meeting after all. Pope knocks quite loudly on the door
'You think that was too much?' He asks
'It echoed the entire house. That's for sure' JJ says
'So they definitely heard it' I say
'Maybe nobody's home' I suggest. Suddenly the doors starts to creak. I slightly duck behind JJ as the doors swings open to reveal a short guy who death stared at JJ, Kie and I for a hot minute before looking at Pope.
'You must be Pope' he says
'Um...Are you Mr. Limbrey?' I ask
'Ms. Limbrey was expecting you yesterday' he says bluntly, not changing his expression completely ignoring my statement
'Oh. I'm... I'm sorry. My car broke down on the way up here'
'Carburetor blew up in the middle of Nowheresville. Sorry about that' JJ adds helping Pope.
'Yeah, she was, uh, real upset when you didn't show up' the man says, clearly trying to make us feel more guilty then we already were.
'We tried to call, but there's no number on the invitation' Kie says while JJ clears his throat.
'We got here as fast as we could' JJ says
'She also expected you to come alone' the man says giving the rest of us a death glare.
'I mean, these are my friends. They helped
find the Royal Merchant too. I--'
'The instructions were explicit. Your friends can stay outside'
Um. Excuse me.
'We're kind of a package deal, man' JJ says voicing my thoughts
'You take one you take all three' I add narrowing my eyes at the guy.
'JJ. Sky. It's okay. I got this' Pope shuts us down putting his hand on my shoulder
'I'll be good'
'Yeah. We'll be right here' Kie adds.
'Keep the car running' Pope calls to us before the door slams shut.
'Yep' I say as the rest of us head back to the car. Once we are all sitting still I couldn't help thinking about what happened in the truck. Maybe JJ was open to forgive me now.

'Look, if Limbrey is legit, then Ward gets arrested,
and maybe Sarah gets the gold' Kie says and I look at JJ out of the corner of my eye.
'JJ can I talk to you outside for a second?' I say suddenly. JJ turns to look at me and shrugs.
'I'll wait outside' Kie says quietly before opening the door and jumping out the side. It's quiet for a moment until I take a deep breath.

'I really am sorry J' I say not looking at him.

'I know' I hear JJ say with barely any audio

'I really love you JJ, you know that right?' I ask turning to face him and he looks up at me.

'I would never ditch you for someone else ok, I didn't tell you about Zach because I thought you would overthink things and after you did find out you did exactly that' I continue trying to keep my voice as stable and normal as possible.