{ LIVING THE POGUE LIFE }

{37}

"She wouldn't just leave, Kie!" JJ yelled, pacing the kitchen.

The floor was covered in the shards of broken plates, both the van and his bike were missing. He knew something was wrong, but Kiara and Pope were obviously trying to come up with reasonable explanations to calm him down.

"I'm sure she's fine," Pope said, "Maybe she...she could have-"

"She's gone, Pope!" He shouted, "Something happened to her! I know it, and so do you. Stop fucking kidding yourselves and help me look for her, okay?"

Kiara and Pope glanced at each other, each giving up with their hopeful attempts and nodded. They could try and calm JJ down all they wanted, but they both knew that it wouldn't change the fact that Brie was no where to be found.

"Right," JJ said, trying to gather his thoughts, "Okay. Kiara, you look around Figure Eight. Pope, you look around the Cut. She's got to be somewhere."

"Where are you going to look?" Pope asked.

"I'm going to find Barry," he said, the guilt already beginning to creep up his throat.

He took the money, and he persuaded Brie to agree with him too. And now she was suddenly gone, leaving behind clear signs of a struggle? This was all his fault.

"You think Barry came for revenge?" Kiara asked, unable to hide the fear in her voice. "Do you think he'd actually hurt her?"

"He held a gun to our heads!" JJ said, pulling at his hair. "He was ready to shoot us yesterday, you think he wont do it again? For real this time?"

"Okay, so shouldn't we come with you?" She said, clearly terrified, "As backup."

"No," JJ shook his head, "That just puts more of us at risk, besides we need to search the Cut and Figure Eight too, just in case."

"Okay," Pope sighed, nervously, "We rendezvous here in an hour, and then if we haven't found her we just keep looking."

"Yeah," Kiara said, "We're going to find her, okay? It's gonna be fine?"

JJ nodded with determined agreement as Kiara headed out to her car. Pope set off on foot, walking down the road towards the rest of the Cut. JJ hung back a moment.

He waited until they were gone before he slammed his fist into the wall, screaming in frustration. He was asleep. He was lay on the fucking roof fast asleep and now Brie was gone. It was his decision to keep that money, and now he had spent it. God, he was so fucking stupid.

He almost ran to the caravan park, unable to get the thoughts of Brie being hurt by that son of a bitch out of his mind. He stormed right up to the front door, kicking it in a marching inside.

Barry was lay on the remaining scraps of what was once a sofa, tending to an old bit of cloth wrapped around his foot. He looked up in surprise, a hint of fear in his expression. That fueled JJ even more. That motherfucker deserved to be fucking scared.

"Where the fuck is she?" He demanded.

Barry looked confused, glaring at him in disgust. JJ hesitated. Something wasnt right. Barry didn't seem to have any idea what he was talking about.

"What? You mean your fucking girlfriend?" He snapped, "The bitch fucking shot me and ran off with that friend of your's. You fuckers owe me a fucking bike and that thirty grand."

JJ frowned, his jaw clenched tightly. What the hell was going on? Brie shot Barry?

"Where?" He yelled, chest still heaving with ragged breaths, "When?"