Breathless | JJ Maybank

28. POLICE STATION

Outer Banks, Figure-Eight
July 21st, 2020
10:27pm

JJ and I were sitting at the back of Mike Carrera's Jeep, driven by Kiara, who was probably the only one focusing on the road. After we had told everyone what had happened at the airport, including how Rafe tried to kill me, JJ had gone silent. His facial features were much darker than they were previously and even though his finger was drawing circles on my thigh, he seemed absent, so far away from me. His touch wasn't even really comforting, because I could feel his coldness through it.

But I liked it better that way.

The last things I wanted to deal with were him asking me questions about what had happened and more tears swelling my eyeballs. Kiara parked the Jeep by the police station and my heart somehow filled with pure hope. "John B, what are we doing at the police station?" JJ asked while he removed his hand from my thigh.

"Somebody's gotta tell them what happened," John B announced.

We all stared at each other and I began to realise that if a few weeks ago, someone had told me I'd be here, about to denounce Rafe to the cops for a murder he committed in front of my eyes. "Alright, I'm just gonna be real with you right now. You might end up in the lion's den, but you don't go there on purpose. It's fundamental. Just like my old man always told me, you should never ever trust cops, no matter what the circumstance is," JJ explained, which made me roll eyes.

"So what? Now we're listening to your dad?" I solidly contradicted.

Kie nodded. "Your old man's an abusive liar," she completed, which was maybe a little too mean, but at least it proved our point.

The others kept arguing, debating whether to go to the cops or not, but honestly, and very selfishly, having Rafe in jail made everything easier. I believed that if he was far from me, locked in a jail cell, then my life would somehow be brighter and I wouldn't be scared to walk through the streets of Figure-Eight or by the Country-Club. "Peterkin looked out for me, alright? Tried to, at least. They need to know," John B explained before he got out of the car.

I stared at JJ who didn't seem convinced but kept quiet not to cause any more troubles and let John B do whatever he had in mind. "JJ, maybe you don't trust the cops, but we can't trust Rafe either," I tried to calm his potential and slight anger down.

"Look, you don't get it, you're not-" he began, but he paused his sentence when John B ran back to the car.

"Kie! Start the car!" he yelled at her.

"What?" she inquired, startled.

John B got on the passenger's seat very fast and repeated his instructions until she did so, which made all of our heartbeats fasten. "John B! What's going on?" I asked him, almost screaming as Kiara took forever to start the engine.

A cop bursted out of the station, running to the car, as if somehow she could hold it back and not let us leave. I don't know what travelled through Pope's head but he told John B to swing open his door and so he did, hitting the cop, freeing us from her grip.

"Kie drive! Go!" John B ordered.

I was so confused, unsure what was going on and what John B had done in this building. Fear and anxiety filled up my entire body and JJ placed his right hand on mine, not holding it, but reminding me he was there. I bit my lip and closed my eyes, wishing that it would end well even if none of us, besides John B, knew what was really going on. 

"Are you not going to explain?" I panicked.

"Rafe framed me for the murder, he told the cops I killed the Sheriff," he finally voiced, and honestly, I wished he didn't explain.