𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐁𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐍 ᯓ outer banks

chapter ninety-eight

WHEN THEY ARRIVE back at the Twinkie, Brooklyn listens to the boys argue over the gold, over the situation and over JJ's plan. She's sick to death of them arguing, of them trying to one up each other and of them never coming to an agreement, but she just watches the squabble like children.

They send comments to each other as JJ gets her brother in a headlock and brings him to the ground. The two boys are still fighting when Shoupe comes up besides her to say, "You don't wanna get involved?"

She rolls her eyes at him as calls out the boys, "Shoupe's here, dickheads."

"Howdy, boys!" he speaks, sending a smile to Brooklyn. "You boys okay?"

"Yeah, we're, uh, you know, just, um... We're... We're good," John B responds.

The three of them watch as Shoupe removes a tracker from the back of their van which must've been there all day. "Tracker," he speaks. "Makes it a lot easier to keep an eye on you hoodlums."

The radio sounds, "All units, evidence team is en route to the abandoned U-Haul. Over."

"Sounds like duty calls so we wouldn't want to hold you up," Brooklyn says, trying to get Shoupe to leave and leave now.

"We just found a U-Haul full of drugs put near one-fifty-eight. Y'all wouldn't happen to be involved in that, would you?" The three of them look between each other and shake their heads.

"You see that? That's profiling," JJ points out. "And I really don't appreciate it. Just 'cause we're Pogues, you think we're drug dealers? No, No! We're not that desperate, Shoupe."

"You've been too busy beating people up and breaking up parties," he aims that at John B. "I hate to break it to you, kid. But I've got a warrant."

"What? A warrant?" John B repeats.

"Topper's pressing charges," he tells him as he takes both his hands behind his back.

Brooklyn can't believe this is happening right now. "For what? No, he started it!" John B argues, but John B threw the first and last punch. "I'm just being honest with you."

He makes John B stand against the van to check he doesn't have anything on him while he continues to argue his case about how he isn't involved and that he didn't do anything wrong. "Shoupe, do you know what Topper did to him?" Brooklyn asks, trying her best to defend him despite her not wanting to be involved earlier.

"No, but I know what your brother here did." Shoupe handcuffs John B's hands. "He beat him in front of the whole town. And kept beatin' him after he was down, and stopped may be a douche, but you know better than that."

John B and Shoupe are walking back to the car while JJ tries to argue back, "He was messing with John B's girl. You'd do the same."

"Shoupe, I get it, okay? But I can't be locked up right now," John B tells him like it's going to do anything.

"You should've thought of that beforehand."

He loads John B into the back of the car and moves Brooklyn and JJ out of the way, telling them, "You stay safe and stay outta trouble."

Brooklyn looks at her brother in the back and says, "We're gonna fix it. We're gonna get down to South America and save Dad. I promise."

Brooklyn and JJ watch him drive off, and they think everything is lost.

────────────────────────

JJ notices something wrong with Brooklyn when she doesn't speak for the entire journey back to the Chateau. They agreed to not go down to the station as it may make the situation worse, and they don't need that right now. They just need to get home and hold out until... Well, until John B hopefully comes home.