𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐲

XXIII. A Good Friend.

    

      AT GEECHIE'S, the group enjoyed a couple of beers after Pope had filled them in on everything he learned from his great-grandma, "I still can't believe that you're related to Denmark Tanny." John B says, smiling widely. "Uh-huh." JJ says, nodding his head.

"Are we in the presence of a royal?" Jake asked as he looks around at all of them. "A king?" JJ says then walked over to Pope. "We shall crown him. All hail the lord of Tannyhill!" JJ says in a British accent as Jake bows, "bow to thee!" He says, the others joining in.

"Alright, everybody, relax. Can we relax, please?" Pope tells them, looking around. "Relocate to Cat's Ass, question mark?" Sarah says as she looks around. "I'm with that." JJ says, pointing right at her. "How soon can we move in?" Kiara asked, glancing around. "Cause I don't have a place to stay." JJ said and Kie pointed to the blond boy.

"Me either. Bunk beds?" She said and he held his beer towards her. "Bunk beds. Cheers to that." JJ says, clinking their beer together. "Oh, nevermind, what if Jake stays over one night?" The Maybank says, winking towards the Lennox's way who just glared at him and Kie giggles quietly, sipping her beer.

"I just keep thinking about the letter, the one that Limbrey sent." Pope spoke up, so all of them look over at him. "It had the wheat symbol on it. Like, that must mean it has something to do with the Royal Merchant." He says, looking around at the other teens.

"Yeah. Something seems fishy." JJ agreed. "But if we find that cross, we can split it like we were gonna split the gold." Pope said as he glanced around at them again. "Yeah. I'm with that." JJ said right away, smiling. "And live happily ever after?" The teens all look over to see Limbrey walking up, with the guy that attacked Pope's dad. Jake rushed to Kie's side right away, grabbing her hand.

"You assaulted my father." Pope says, walking towards the woman but the man made him back up. "Oh, I didn't assault anybody." She says. "He can identify the psycho from a mile away." Kie says, making the woman glance at her then look back over at Pope. "Why would my employee assault your father? That's absurd." She said then laughed.

"Listen," she steps forward, "we can keep on negotiating, but the fact is that I want the key." She said just as her employee grabbed Pope, pushing him against the pillar next to JJ. "Hey!" Kie says. "Easy." The man said when Pope fights back. "And I won't stop until I have it. I don't have a choice, which means you don't either." The woman says.

"It's Limbrey, right?" John B spoke up, holding up a key. "Is that right?" He asked as the woman looked over, as does her worker. "Yes." Limbrey says right away. "Is this what you're looking for?" John B asks her. "Yes, it is." She fully turns towards the Routledge boy.

"Looking at the tide right now, I'd say it's about 20 feet deep out there. So, if I just threw it in the channel," he says as Pope took out the actual key from his pocket, looking at it then looking up at Kie, Jake and Sarah, the Cameron glancing to the couple who looked at her, then at each other with small smiles, "the probability of you finding it again is slim to none. You wanna give it a shot? Let's see what happens right?" John B walks over to the edge.

"No! Hey!" The woman yells and he pretends to throw the key, but didn't. "Please don't do that." The woman sighs and John B looks at the man. "Get him to back the hell up." He says and the woman smiled at him. "Of course." She looks at her employee. "Back up."

The man walks over to her, standing behind her now. "As I have told you from the beginning, I am willing to be reasonable." The woman tells Pope now, the boy just glancing over at John B. "Okay." He says, looking back at her. "Okay?" She's a bit surprised. "I'll give you the key, but I want the tape." He tells her.

"Of course. Of course." She smiles. "Pope. Hey, hey, hey, hey." John B walks over to him, "you don't have to do this, okay?" He tells him. "No, it's okay." Pope insisted. "No, dude, this is your family." The two go back and forth. "Hey, it's fine. It's okay. It's about your dad. That's way more important." He held out his hand and John B handed over the key.

"Oh, you're a good friend." Limbrey says, smiling. "The tape." Pope says. "Yes. Give him the tape." The woman tells her worker who reached into his pocket and handed it over, just as Pope handed it over to the woman. Both Pope and the man held onto the tape and the key tighter, before letting go.

Limbrey sighs, clutching the key in her hand, "you know, I wish that you'd come to this decision earlier. We could have avoided all this unpleasantness." The woman says, then turned around to leave. "Nice to meet you." John B says as the man follows after his employer, opening up the umbrella.

"See you around, Pope." He says one final thing to Pope, looking at him. "Just go." Kie says and once they were gone, Pope stepped out and just watched them. "How long do you think we have until she realizes she has your father's old key?" JJ says, looking at John B. "Ten minutes." He replied and Pope turns around. "Whose idea was the fake key?"

"Shockingly, not mine." Kie says and Jake looks at the other boys as John B put an arm around JJ. "I don't know. Should we tell him?" He asks, patting his chest. "Wow. I'm impressed." Jake says, smiling widely. "Maybe you are good for something." Kie added as Sarah laughs. "Did hell freeze over?" Pope says as he goes over to the other side of JJ. "Even a blind pig can find an acorn at times." The Maybank says, grinning.

"I actually don't know what saying means, but I saw it on Reddit." He tells them. "We gotta take this tape to Shoupe." John B tells them, before walking away. "Yes, sir. Ward Cameron, we're coming for you, big boy." JJ says as Pope said, "he's going all the way down."

"It's Ward's turn now!"

 

 

 

  

  

  

 

 

  

authors note
rarry on a boat date 🥰🫶🏼 (where barry set him up and rafe got shot at)

+ i updated yesterday when i woke up so i'll just update now today as well now that it's on my mind and i'm not forgetting about this fic