𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐑，𝗃𝗃 𝗆𝖺𝗒𝖻𝖺𝗇𝗄

𝗍𝗐𝖾𝗇𝗍𝗒 𝗍𝗁𝗋𝖾𝖾

𝐈 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐖 my dad. He left when my mom got pregnant with me. Saying he didn't want any more kids. He didn't even want Riley. For the whole time growing up, it was just me, Riley and my mom. My mom, Phoebe, was the best mom you could imagine. She taught me how to work, and what to do after work. She taught me to protect myself.

She was more of a friend than a mom. She wasn't overprotective at all. Like any family, we had our moments. She struggled with drugs and drinking when I was growing up which caused our relationship to strain.

But no matter what happened, we knew.

"Riles? What if they get to John B?" I looked over at her with tears threatening to fall.

"He'll be okay, Hayley." She said, trying to ease my worries but nothing seemed to be working.

JJ scoffed, "So this is what we're doing, huh? We're just sailing out. We're just gonna forget about John B?"

I held my head in my hands, "We shouldn't have left him."

The blonde boy shrugged, "Let's just turn back."

"No. We're all gonna get caught. What type of plan is that." Cleo yelled.

JJ rolled his eyes, "It's a plan to stick together, Cleo."

"Then we are dead together." She shot back.

"She's right." Milo spoke up, "We had to leave or we'd all be zip-tied in the back of a pickup. We did the right thing."

I rolled my eyes at my friend when a phone started to ring, "Who's that?" I asked, standing up.

The curly-haired girl frowned, "It's Portis."

"That's John B." JJ smiled, grabbing the phone from the girl to talk to his best friend, "Yo, dude? Is this you?"

"Put him on speaker," Liv told him.

The boy did as instructed as he started talking again, "Do you need us to turn around?"

"No, don't worry about me, okay?" He replied. The connection was bad and we could barely hear him, "Look, it's way too hot here. You have to get out of here. Go back to OBX."

"John B? No," JJ yelled into the phone.

The Cameron girl scoffed as she grabbed the phone, "Just let me talk to him. John B? Are you okay?" She listened to what her husband said before turning back to the group, "He's fine. What happened?" The boy was breaking up, "Kildare? John B."

"Kildare?" I frowned, "What the fuck?"

"Do you guys think he found his dad?" Pope questioned.

"Big John's alive?" Riley yelled, "What about our mom?"

"Yes. No." I stammered, "We don't know."

"He's been missing for almost a year. It's a stretch." The Heyward boy spoke up.

Kie spoke up, "Sarah? What do you think?"

The blonde girl hadn't said much, "Sarah?" I yelled, "We need to make a decision. Sarah."

She stayed quiet for a moment before replying, "He said go. So we go."

"Oh, fuck."

𝐈 𝐒𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐒 I walked over to my sister. She was sat down and she stared at the open water, "We're coming into port." I spoke up, "We can get some food too." She sent me a small smile and nodded in response, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," She replied, "Just thinking."

"About what?" I asked.

She shrugged, "Going back to Outer Banks. It won't end well."

I nodded in agreement, "I know. But we have to go back eventually. As much as I would love to leave, it's not possible."

"Yeah," She smiled, leaning her head on my shoulder.

"So, what happened at Singh's?" I questioned.

She scoffed, "Where do I start?" I motioned for her to continue, "Rafe was there."

I frowned, "Why?"

"I think he had some deal going on. I'm not sure but he didn't know who Singh was either." She replied.

"How'd you get the boat?" I asked.

"We had planned to find you and then leave. We just couldn't stay on the island but I thought about it and I realised I was better off with the Pogues." She smiled.

I frowned, "How did you get him to trust you?"

"I didn't," She spoke up, "You think he's smart but he's not. He's so stupid. He trusted me like nothing ever happened between us." I paused, "I'm either a really good liar or he's just too blinded to see how I'm not trustworthy at all."

I shrugged, "Both. Come on, Riles. You're my sister. You've got a bit of me in you."

"A bit?" She said surprised with a chuckle, "We are way too alike for our own good."

"Agreed," I said before taking a swig of alcohol.

Her eyebrows shot up at my actions, "Where'd you get that from?"

"Found it in the bottom of the boat," I told her, passing her the bottle, "I knew the Camerons would have something."

She nodded, "Of course they do."

We fell into silence as we stared out at the sea. Her head was rested on my shoulder and our hands were interlinked together, "Hales?" Riley spoke up after a while. I hummed in response as she continued, "I just wanna say, if anything happens to me-"

I cut her off, "Stop."

"I just wanna say I love you." She spoke up, placing a small kiss on my shoulder.

Tears pricked my eyes at her words, "I love you too, Riles."

𝐑𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐘 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈 had been dropped at the Chateau along with Sarah, JJ and Milo.

The three of us watched on as the blonde girl woke up her husband from a nightmare. The boy was sweating and his breathing was heavy, "Sarah?" He realised, "It's you. You're here."

She brought the girl into his arms, "I'm so sorry we left. They just dropped us off. We didn't even know if you'd be here. We couldn't hear anything on the phone.

He then realised the four of us stood in front of him. He couldn't contain his smile at the sight of Riley and I, "Riley, Hales, they're alive."

I frowned at his words, "What?"

He nodded, "Yeah. My dad and your mom, Phoebe. They're alive. They're here. Right now."

He motioned to the bed inside the house which was empty, "John B." I spoke soothingly.

"No," He shook his head as he began to rummage through the place, "Dad? Dad? Phoebe? Dad? Phoebe? Hey? Dad?" He called out. But no answer.

𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄
xoxo