LOVEBOMB, Rafe Cameron

03. letting go of the past.

❝ God rest my soul, I miss who I used to be
The tomb won't close, stained glass windows in my mind
I regret you all the time ❞
-ᵂᵒᵘˡᵈ'ᵛᵉ, ᶜᵒᵘˡᵈ'ᵛᵉ, ˢʰᵒᵘˡᵈ'ᵛᵉ ⁻ ᵀᵃʸˡᵒʳ ˢʷⁱᶠᵗ

03. 𝐋𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐨 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭.

The sun raised early in the morning that day. The beautiful Outer Banks was at dawn. The rich side watched it from its estates and the working side from its old fish shacks.

Deputies and other local law enforcement were gathered at a boat ramp with many pickups and towed boats. The deputy Shoupe, who loved the spotlight, was among his people, strutted as he ordered his men to keep privates off the marsh so he could do his job and find some wreck who belonged to a man named Scooter, his dead body had been discovered the night before.

When Blair woke up that morning, the Pogues and her bother had cleaned up their place, got Zoe out of bed and made her eat breakfast. Walking around the living room, she stayed quiet and glanced around while they suspiciously stared at her.

"I wanted to say sorry." John B decided to say something as they all stood there. "You know— for yesterday. I owe you a better explanation— a clearer one." He continued with a strangely innocent voice.

    In the kitchen, the empty cans were gone from the ground, there weren't any dishes or cutlery in the sink anymore, the floor had been vacuumed so quietly that it hadn't even waken her up. It was too calm, something had to be wrong.

The young woman stepped forward, slowly passing a finger on the dresser near her, then looked at the tip of it. There wasn't any dust. Her eyes squinted as she smiled at Zoe, extending her arms so Kiara could hand the baby to her. The Pogues stared with anxious gazes, waiting for her to say something.

   Blair pulled a chair and sat at the kitchen table before settling Zoe on her lap. "There's only two options— or you need to ask me something— or you did something." She broke the heavy silence that had fallen upon the room, staring at each of them.

"Would you be mad if it was actually both?" JJ grimaced with a hand on the back of his neck.

The young woman tilted her head and narrowed her eyes as she coldly replied. "After I heard what happened on the beach yesterday? I'd be furious."

    Kiara and Pope cleared their throat, the Pogues seemed to have forgotten to choose a spoken person during the making of their plan.

    Once the four of them hesitantly settled at the table, JJ broke the silence. "We need your help."

Blair quickly raised her eyebrows. "Oh really? How surprising is that." She said with an obvious sarcastic tone in her voice.

"But—" John B stepped in. "If we tell you, you have to promise you will keep it to yourself and not tell anyone."

She scoffed. "Is it really that serious?"

"It is." Pope nodded, with a serious expression on his face.

"Alright. Go ahead." Blair quickly raised her shoulders. "My mouth is sealed." In the back of her head she thought she wouldn't have anyone to tell about it even if she wanted to anyway.

    John B took a deep breath, then began; "Yesterday, we found a small shipwreck in the marsh, and it belonged to the guy whose body they found." He leaned in with an unexpected serious expression on his face. "And when we decided to go down to examine it, we found a motel key."

   Blair frowned. "Then you should go see the cops. Peterkin asked you if you found something and you lied. Again."

    JJ shook his head. "We went to see the cops. We did. But when we got there to try to report what we found, it was complete chaos in the station so the officers told us to leave." He paused, hesitating on his next words. "So— we decided to use the key, to investigate the motel room—"