𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐁𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐍 ᯓ outer banks

chapter ninety-three

BROOKLYN FINDS POPE outside on the dock, gun in hand, tears in eyes, staring at the boat that held Rafe Cameron on. Thankfully, he's still alive when she gets there. Yes, she wouldn't mind seeing him suffer for all he's done, but no one, not even Rafe friggin Cameron deserves to die right now and Pope certainly shouldn't be the one to end his life.

He's raising the gun and she's stepping forward.

Brooke approaches him. "You sure you want to do that?" she questions, knowing he would regret it later on. "It's gonna feel real nice. Only for a second."

"I don't care," he replies with.

"Okay," she speaks, putting one foot in front of the other to move closer. "You care about your mom, your dad, I mean, come on, Pope, what would they think?"

She hears him sob before he replies, "I think they would understand how I feel." When he pauses, Brooklyn steps closer again. "For once, he would lose like we always do. It doesn't matter anyway. I've lost everything."

Brooklyn sits behind him and scoffs. "Really? You have a family. And a home. And friends, like myself, that would take a bullet for you," she tells him like he doesn't already know all this. "You've got a lot to lose before you have nothing, Pope."

Her arm is reaching up around his shoulder and her hand is moving towards the gun, ready to take it away from him. When her hands are around it, he exhales, falls back into his best friend's arms and cries. Brooklyn drops the gun to the floor, closes her arms around him and holds onto him like her life depends on it.

"I've got you," she whispers, rubbing a hand across his back. "It's okay."

Pope and Brooklyn walk home with their arms around each other, both finally feeling safe. She drops him off back home, apologises to his parents, and she leaves their home with a smile upon her face. For the first time in a long time, she actually feels somewhat happy. Happy that she was able to talk Pope down, happy that she was able to defend herself to her father and happy that, despite her issues with JJ, the two of them will eventually work things out.

And when she finds him half asleep on the sofa outside, she feels she can start to make it up to him.

She saunters over to him, a soft smile on her face as she sees him already looking at her.

"Pope okay?" JJ asks and Brooklyn nods.

"You okay?" Brooklyn asks and she watches him sit up.

JJ doesn't respond, he reaches a hand out and she takes it quickly. Then she's pulled forward and into his arms where he holds onto her because that's all he can do, that's all he wants to do, because he loves her, and she loves him. There's so much he wishes to say to her but he doesn't speak, not right now, not while he has her in his arms.

Brooklyn speaks first, her arms around his neck. "JJ, I've been thinking about us, about everything we spoke about earlier, and I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry about everything, and I know all this stuff with Kiara has nearly cost us in the past, but it won't break us apart this time, I promise."

JJ's pulling away from their embrace to look her in the eye. "You know I trust you, Brooke, that's not the issue. I don't want to end this with you, okay? I want you now and forever because you're it for me, you're the only piece of joy in my life, and I love you. You can promise me nothing will happen between you and Kiara, but you need to tell her that, okay?"

Brooklyn nods while he keeps speaking, "I love you. I love you so much, okay? I'm not going to let you go, not for her, not for anyone, and I mean that. I need you to speak to Kiara when you next have chance, okay?"

"Yes, of course," she responds. "I'll talk to Kiara."

"Thank you," he replies, slipping a hand in her own. "Are you okay?"

She nods, a soft smile on her face as she rubs a thumb over his hand. "Yeah. I'm okay, I promise," she tells him and it's the truth.

Before either of them can speak again, they hear the sounds of an engine, of a van and the closing of a door. Both of them spot John B in the distance and Brooklyn seals her lips tightly, knowing that their last conversation ended rather abruptly.

Brooklyn is walking over to him. John B is walking over to her. They find each other somewhere in the middle and Brooklyn, despite their past argument, closes her arms around him tightly in a way to show him that she still loves him despite her being mad at him for earlier. He mutters apologises in her ear and Brooklyn just shakes them off like it doesn't mean anything.

"You gonna tell me the truth?" Brooklyn asks.

John B looks from her to JJ and speaks, "I know I've been a little shady. And you had every right to snap at me and Dad earlier. I just... Stretched the truth a little bit."

"Yeah, that's called lying," JJ speaks from behind them. "Tell us what's going on, John B."

He then answers with, "Dad killed two guys," and that is definitely not what Brooklyn expected. "He was trying to protect me."

"You're serious?" Brooklyn asks to make sure that she's hearing this correctly. "Dad killed two people. Two actual human beings?"

"Yes. It was the guys from the Coastal Venture," John B tells them. "They came here looking for Denmark's diary."

"And Dad killed them," Brooklyn's voice shakes.

"Yes, and then Singh showed up. They took Dad, and then they tried to kill me," John B continues to talk about the situation likes it's something normal and Brooklyn's mouth is open in shock. Her Dad could be dead, her brother could've died, and she's here doing nothing about it. "They took him to South America. They're on their way to South America. Then they're gonna what? Off him? I don't know what to do."

John B was rambling, panicking and Brooklyn closes a hand around his mouth to shut him up. "John B, stop!" she voices louder than she intended to. "You need to breathe for a second," she tells him as she moves her hand from his mouth.

The three of them sit on the porch steps to deliberate, trying to think of some plan to get themselves to South America.

"How the hell are we getting to South America?" John B asks.

JJ exhales and says, "No clue. But..." His arm falls around Brooklyn and John B's shoulders and they lean into JJ. "We're gonna figure it out."

"Yeah," John B responds.

"We're Pogues, guys. We always do."

It is true. They do always know what to do at the end of the day. They'll figure all this out.