Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
After JJ snapped at Barry's house, the four weren't quite sure what to do about it. They decided to stop at the restaurant to regather themselves. They all loved and cared about JJ. Everyone had faults...imperfections, and no one deserves to be battered down for things about them they can't control. It's not JJ's fault that he didn't grow up with a sufficient family. A family may not have to be perfect, but can at least keep their child's head level. Of course, JJ lacks understanding in the sense of moral standards...how could he? No mom. A sorry excuse for a dad. JJ has worked his whole life to simply keep himself above the surface.
Affinity couldn't even begin to understand what JJ was going through. No child should ever have to experience that. She knew right from the get-go that JJ was living in an abusive household with a dad that loves alcohol more than his own son, but what she could never understand was how JJ was able to act like the scars and bruises were absolutely nothing.
How to keep smiling.
It was enough to make her heart shatter slowly. She had spent the whole afternoon trying to rack her brain to figure out a way to help him. Maybe she could get her dad involved? Maybe that would only make things worse? She was slowly pulled back into the conversation as John B, Kiara, and Pope talked about what to do about JJ.
"Look, he'll come around. He's just doing his JJ thing."
Kiara's eyes were locked on the concrete floor beneath her. Affinity could tell she was taking this harder than anyone. The two of them had an unexplainable yet unbreakable bond. She cared deeply for him in a way that was unspoken.
"Do you think he went home?" She asked quietly.
"There's about a zero percent chance that JJ goes home," Pope huffed.
Affinity's brows furrowed in concern. "Will he be okay? I know he's been causing a lot of trouble lately, but he just...can't help it."
"He'll be okay," Pope sighed. "Somehow he always is."
Affinity frowned at his response. "So what do we do?"
"We have to keep moving forward. Next, we need to know how we are going to get all the gold out of there because it's too dangerous to pawn it off piecemeal. So we bring it all up at once. Then put it in a safe or a vault. I-I don't know, just until we can find someone that won't rip us off." Pope started to pace around the three that sat before them. "I can figure it out all tonight, get it done, and we can be out there tomorrow morning."
"Alright, let's do it," John B declared.
"John B, you have that thing with Ward," Affinity pointed out.
John B slouched back in his seat and muttered, "Shit."
Pope shot him a look of annoyance. "What thing?"
"I uh- have to go fishing with Ward," John B huffed.
Pope and Kiara both let out heavy sighs as their heads drooped.
