ONLY ANGEL | JJ MAYBANK

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

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Everything is golden when Collins wakes up in the morning.

The pools of light that fall between the chasms in her curtains hanging over her window, the strands of sun-bleached hair still attached to her head that spills over her pillow, the wind chimes hanging on their porch that she hears twinkling when a breeze passes, and last but not least, the solid gold bars that John Booker Routledge is holding at his house just a walk away.

It's all Collins could think and then dream about last night and it's all she can see when she rises from her slumber. She'd held one in her hands before she'd gone home the previous night. She'd felt the weight of it in her palm, and smoothed her thumb across the surface that still shined beneath the mud-caked over it. And she couldn't seem to even comprehend that it was what it was as she gazed down at it with her own two fully functioning eyes.

Because of it, it doesn't take her much time to shake the sleep away like it usually does in the morning. Collins somehow feels like she'd never even fallen into REM sleep, yet is still refreshed and ready to take on the day. The excitement must be too much to bear.

She runs into Charlie while performing their normal routine, but she's too focused on getting ready in record time so she can go ahead and meet up with the others at the Château. They had a lot of work ahead of them and she wasn't about to be the one to hold them back because she was too busy primping.

"Don't tell me you've got a hot date at seven in the morning." Charlie quirks his brow at her from where he's been banished to brushing his teeth at the kitchen sink while Collins occupies the bathroom, running in and out far too much for him to sneak in just to wet his toothbrush.

Despite the playfulness in his remark, there's still an air of concern in Charlie's voice that he may actually be right. Also, Collins had come home at an ungodly hour and was somehow not passed out in bed in an unwakeable snooze. He wasn't sure if he should be worried that she was staying out so late. What could she possibly be doing? And why was she so eager to get back to her friends? It wasn't like they were going anywhere.

He thought back to his days as a teenager to use as comparison. When he was younger, he stayed out late getting buzzed and fucking around most of the time. But Collins had never come home stumbling through the house, slurring her words and wreaking of illegalities. He had to remember that when he found himself slipping into his strict parenting practice. He had to trust her-- but there were limits to that, right? He could still be the cool older brother but in times of need, he had to be the responsible guardian. He could trust her to the extent that if he truly felt like she was throwing her whole life away, he had no choice but to step in. Even if that meant restricting her from these new influences.

"Just got plans today, that's all." Collins told him with a small shrug. "But not like, date plans, plans with friends."

Rinsing the toothpaste out of his mouth before spitting into the sink, Charlie wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before walking up to the bathroom where Collins was still standing by to drop his toothbrush into its holder.

"What are you guys up to?" He asked casually, so as to not sound like he was grilling her for information. He was trying not to seem nosy while being as nosy as humanly possible.

Choosing her words carefully to avoid revealing anything about their treasure hunt, Collins bought herself time by pretending to fixate her focus on packing her bag, throwing in a couple of study books in there and flashing them at Charlie to throw him off her trail a bit. "We'll probably just go boating for a bit, hang out at John B's house, hit the beach, just go with the flow basically."

Nodding, Charlie ruminated over Collins's answer. She sounded honest. She was bringing books with her so she planned on getting some schoolwork in which was all he could've really asked of her. Overall, she wasn't giving him any warning signs to be worried about- except in the fact that she was being so incredibly unspecific about her supposed "plans" that didn't seem that riveting for her to be rushing to get to.

But what could he say right now? He would've hated it if their mom or dad pressed him about what he was doing, where he was going, and who he was going with all the time. He might've also maybe liked it because that would then show him that they had at least a sliver of care for him, and he took those as they came sparingly. For the most part, if they'd done it repetitively, questioning him every single time he left the house, it would've driven him insane. Charlie couldn't do that with Collins.

"Okay." He finally said, Collins's soft exhale in relief going unnoticed by him. "You know what I've got to say. Stay safe, don't be stupid, have fun."

Collins smiled, then began making her way past him and out of the house. "Thanks, Charlie."

"Oh, I almost forgot." Charlie began digging into the pockets of the jacket he had discarded on the floor. He fished out a couple of bills and held them out to Collins. "This is from Midsummers. It's technically what you would've been paid if you'd stayed but I know you've got tests and stuff to pay for so you can just have mine. I've got tips to cover me anyways, so don't even try to fight it."

Collins looked at the wad of cash being presented to her, most of which were big bills in twenties, then turned back up to look at Charlie. "But, you worked for that. I left, I don't deserve your reward."

"What'd I just say?" Charlie scoffed, shaking his head at her before waving the money more aggressively at her. "Take it. I know it's not enough, but save it up for your tests, then blow Duke out of the fucking water."

A small chuckle came from Collins at her brother's crude encouragement that worked like a charm every single time. Although not her style, she loved it when it came from Charlie. He was her biggest fan, her first supporter. And because of their terrible parents, he was her best guardian. Taking the money appreciatively into her own hands, Collins threw her arms around Charlie's shoulders and hugged him tightly. "I love you, big brother."

"Love you, too, Colls." Charlie said back to her, his heart warmed.

Easing herself out of his embrace, Collins smiled thankfully. "I better go, have a good day at work."

She cast him one last warmhearted gaze, along with a wave, before leaving the house with a final snap of the screen door. From there on as she walked over to John B's, all Collins could think about was how she was about to repay the debt she owed to her brother. This wad of cash in her back pocket was just the beginning of what she planned on soon giving back to him. Once they got their gold money, Collins would be able to present it to Charlie with the full intention of letting him do with the majority of it as he pleased. Of course a certain amount of it would be set aside for her schooling, and probably to take care of a couple outstanding bills, but for the most part, there'd be a lot left over.

Maybe Charlie could finally afford to take a couples days off in the week instead of working like a dog all the time. He'd then have time for his own hobbies. He could focus on music more, he could get that tattoo that he's always thought about getting, or he could start that edible business with Ricky because in all seriousness, Charlie could make some mouth-watering brownies.

Collins wanted those things for him, she'd wished for those things for as long as she could remember. And she knew that he deserved it so she was determined to make it a reality for him no matter how long it took.

But now with a piece of Denmark Tanny's fortune in their possession, it felt like Charlie's freedom was coming a lot sooner than anticipated.

Arriving at the Château with an extra bounce in her step, Pope was the first person that came into view as Collins giddily approached. The boy had been sitting outside, scribbling on a notebook with his back facing her. Collins snuck up behind him, careful not to make a sound as she took each step as quietly as she could. Once she was within range, she made the final leap towards him and grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him while shouting, "Give me the gold!"

Pope jumped in place, dropping his notebook and pencil in the gravel in surprise, before glancing up to see Collins grinning down at him and releasing a heavy sigh. "Jesus, I thought you were a freaking hit man or something."

"If I were you'd be so dead right now." Collins scoffed before bending down to pick up the fallen objects and handing them back to him. She took the lawn chair next to him and leaned over the armrest to study the drawings sketched out on the paper. "Is that your game plan for later?"

Holding the notebook up to show her, Pope shrugged. Pointing out the labeled pieces, he explained, "So since we obviously can't haul all of that gold in John B's backpack, I got the winch from my dad's boat, which we're gonna use to lower John B and this little wagon here, John B said he has his red one from when he was a kid. And so what we're gonna do is, we're gonna bring the wagon into the little gold room in the well, load it up with gold bars, then use the boat winch again to pull everything up. Pack it all into the Twinkie and we'll be full-Kook by morning."

Pope dusted off his hands in a theatrical manner and with a smug smile on his face, while Collins held back the giggle that was threatening to escape her. The boat winch was probably the smartest part of the plan. The rest of it, however, primarily due to the childish drawing being displayed to her, was hard to take seriously.

But Collins wasn't one to just shoot down ideas, she was the kind of person who instead tried to propose new ones, or at least offers her assistance to make it work. "Okay, so I'm guessing we've gotta detach the panel that's bolted to the winch right now so that we can drill it wherever in the crawl space when we use it?"

Pope nodded affirmatively and Collins mirrored the gesture before picking up the tools laying in a box next to Pope and start working.

Meanwhile, JJ emerged from behind John B's house with John B next to him, and a blow torch in hand. "Kie, this better work. We can't pawn this if there's a giant wheat symbol on it." He tossed the bars of gold on the floor of the Twinkie and passed her the blow torch.

"It's gonna work." She insisted confidently, brushing past him to start the melting process.

JJ looked up and caught a glimpse of Collins with Pope, tending to the mechanics portion of their plan. The corners of his lips turned up at the sight of Collins pointing to different parts of the boat winch and talking through things. He could tell she was saying something smart without even having to hear the words coming out of her mouth. She started taking a wrench and using it on the bolts. She really did have a way of making every little action look so unbelieveably hot.

That reminds him-- jogging over to where Kie was setting up their little melting station, JJ squatted down next to the girl as she was setting up their little gas stovetop and attaching the propane canister to it so they could melt the gold from top to bottom in a pot.

"Yo, Kie, I got a question." The girl didn't say anything and only waited for him to ask it while continuing to work, so JJ carried on. "When we had the brilliant idea of leaving you with your new BFF, Sarah, did you guys maybe happen to talk about anything that didn't have to do with your reconciliation? Perhaps the conversation crossed the topic of me and a certain bystander on the boat or in other words, uh- brown-haired beauty?"

Flicking her gaze up at him for a brief second, Kie rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Girl code, JJ. Respect it like Pogue rules."

So they did talk about him. JJ tried not to act too giddy. "Okay, but if I did that, I'd have to abide by the actual Pogue rule, which is the no Pogue-on-Pogue macking rule, and I very well can't do that. Not to mention, if we're gonna start citing the book here, what about the no secrets amongst Pogues rule?"

Kie stared blankly ahead, already done with this conversation. "I think you're being a lit-tle overdramatic."

"No, I'm not." JJ protested, throwing his head back in exasperation. "Can't you just do me a solid and help me out? Please, Kie. I'm begging now. Is that what you want?"

Pretending to think for a moment, Kie said, "Not really, have you tried that tactic on Collins yet?" A small smirk tugged on her lips. She was taking the piss out of him. She was enjoying every second of watching him squirm for answers. He forgot how evil Kie could be.

"You know what? Forget it." He threw his hands up in defeat. "Thanks for the help, Kie, really."

As he got up, turned his back on her, and started to walk away, Kie was suddenly flooded with a rare wave of sympathy for the boy. He really was helpless, wasn't he? He'd been pulling the same moves and tricks on Collins as he had with any other girl, only now, the one girl that he actually did want more than anything, was harder to pull than a ton of bricks. Or gold, in their situation. She had to give him at least a little bit of credit for being brave enough to ask for help.

"Wait," she huffed as she said it, her eyes rolled and her arms crossed indignantly over her chest. JJ stopped in his tracks and glanced back at her like a kicked puppy. It was sad really, but not really in the heartbreaking kind of way, pathetic was more like it. Kie figured that since she loved animals so much, she should show some compassion and throw him a bone. "Just, take things slow. She likes to read so maybe, I don't know- do things by the book."

"What the hell does that mean?" JJ frowned at her. Do it by the book?

"That's all I'm giving you." Kie replied, holding her hands up defensively. She'd already tested the boundaries of Pogue rules and girl code far too much. "It's not my fault if you don't understand it." With that, she turned away and left him with her words of advice to ruminate on and try to crack like a coded puzzle.

JJ wiped the confusion off of his face once he saw that everyone was making their way over to them to watch the gold melt down. A small smile replaced the previous expression as Collins walked up to him looking as beautiful as ever. "Hey." She said, clearly in a good mood based on the cheerfulness in her voice. Of course she was happy, she was about to be financially stable for once.

"Long time no see." JJ replied with almost as much enthusiasm. He probably would've matched up to hers if it hadn't been curbed by his nerves so much. God, being around Collins with so much pent-up desire and uncertainty was eating away at him. He needed to figure out what Kie meant when she said 'by the book' and figure it out fast if he wanted to get anywhere with Collins. Being a nervous wreck when he was around her wasn't cutting it.

"Do you think I could get a front-row seat to this meltdown?" She raised her brows at him inquisitively and with an eagerness akin to a little kid's. What an adorable little pyromaniac.

Dropping down right where he had been standing, which was only a couple of feet in front of the pot holding their gold that Kie was going to heat up, JJ patted the spot next to him for Collins to sit down on.

Collins wasted not another moment to settle down, watching intently while Kie slid on a pair of safety goggles and started up the blow torch so that a strong flame was produced. JJ had his arms wrapped comfortably around his knees, holding each of his hands in the other while slowly rocking back and forth on the ground. The first time he could remember sitting this close next to her was in her room the day they'd escaped from those raiders that had broken into the Chateau. It was kissing distance close, not like how they'd been at the kegger in the Boneyard and he'd first acknowledged her, they'd kept a respectable amount of space between them then.

He still had that urge to tell her that she was pretty, just so she knew he thought the same thing when he was sober as he did when he wasn't. And the urge to kiss her was also still very strong, but that's been sounding like a broken record for a while now.

Maybe the message that Kie was trying to send him, wasn't just in the advice that she'd given him, it was also in her refusal not to. She was just following the rules, living by them, enforcing them. Perhaps when she'd told him to do things by the book, she was telling him to follow the rules, something he'd been struggling with his entire life.

Collins was always reading fiction books about all sorts of stuff, but he had noticed pieces in her selections that were in the romantic genre of literature that he was only vaguely familiar with. He didn't know the first thing about what being the leading man in a woman's fantasy was like. He did watch movies though, and that couldn't be too far off from what Kie meant.

Follow the book, do things by the book. Be the guy the main character falls for by doing the things that the love interest would do. Plan grand gestures, say the right thing, and be the better man. Easier said than done, Kie.

When what once were three gold bars with wheat symbols imprinted on the tops had become one big melted lump of metal, the Pogues piled into the van and headed into town. There was only one pawn shop in the OBX and there were going to milk it for all their gold's worth. The whole drive there, JJ had still been pondering over the things he could do to finally consolidate things with Collins in the back of his mind while holding the monstrosity Kie had made their precious treasure into.

As John B pulled the van up in front of the pawn shop, each teen began to file out of the vehicle, one by one. With a disgruntled look on his face, JJ stared down at the hunk of gold in his hand and huffed. "Hell of a job melting it down, Dr. Frankenstein."

Scowling at him, Kie scoffed. "Like you could have done any better."

"I could have done much better, I took a welding class." JJ replied matter-of-factly.

"Hey, chill out, guys." John B interjected, calming them down before they could attract any attention towards them. JJ and Kie still glowered at each other. And to think she gave him advice.

"Easy for you to say, you don't have to pawn off this piece of shit." JJ waved the gold lump in John B's face for extra emphasis.

"That'd be one expensive dump." Collins murmured, raising her brows.

"How'd I get this job anyways?" JJ asked.

"It's cause you're the best liar." Pope answered with a small smile, earning himself a glare from JJ. In reality, JJ was quite flattered. He just hated when his area of expertise was set up so poorly. He couldn't work in these conditions.

Walking into the pawn shop, the teens attempted to remain as casual as possible. Collins stuck by Kie and the two strolled side by side down the aisles, pretending to peruse the shop while JJ approached the woman behind the glass case in charge.

"Afternoon, ma'am. I see you buy gold." He stood in front of the woman with his backpack holding the gold in hand.

"That's what the sign says, don't it?" The woman shot back cynically.

"Well, I sure hope you buy a lot of it because I'm about to blow your mind."

Clearly unimpressed by his big talk, the woman cocked her hip and placed on hand on top of it expectantly. "I ain't got much mind left to blow, so have at it."

Digging through his backpack, JJ pulled out the gold piece and placed it down on the glass case in front of the woman. "How about them gold apples?"

The woman immediately chuckled and shook her head in disbelief. "That ain't real. It can't be."

JJ raised his brows. "Oh really? Feel how heavy it is."

Figuring that she might as well humor the boy, the woman glanced up and down from JJ to the gold and tried to pick up the gold with just one hand. When it didn't pick up as easily as she anticipated, the woman was forced to resort to two hands, not even able to actually pick up the gold, only slide it off the counter and into her hand at the edge. "Spray painted tungsten." She deducted as the only explanation for its weight.

"Spray painted tungsten?" JJ repeated back in disbelief, then with an amused expression, said, "Why don't you see how soft it is."

"You mind?" The woman held up a small chisel to test the gold with. JJ promptly shook his head, welcoming any test she threw at him with pleasure. The woman punched a small dent into the gold, felt it with her finger, and saw that it was indeed soft like gold. She then took to the acid test, a final determinant, squeezing a single droplet onto the gold nugget. Sure enough, no reaction. "Well, it ain't plated and it ain't painted..." She stared down at it in confusion. Despite the proof, her brain still wouldn't allow her to believe that a chunk of gold this big was coming from a couple of kids.

"I'm telling you, ma'am, this is as real as the day is long." JJ insisted.

"It looks like somebody tried to melt it down." The woman pointed out, looking to JJ for some sort of explanation for that. The circumstances were plenty shady to raise some serious red flags.

"My mom." JJ quickly answered. He shook his head and shrugged. "She had all this jewelry lying around the house and thought it was best to melt it down. To 'consolidate' it." Collins bit her lip to fight the smile that was making its way onto her face. Certainly JJ could've come up with something better than that?

"Seven pounds? That's a lot of earrings." The woman hummed suspiciously.

Releasing a soft sigh, JJ slumped over and cleared his throat, his face overtaken with a heavy sadness. "Okay, to be honest, ma'am, it's been really hard to see my mom fall apart with Alzheimer's."

Kie scowled, looking over at Collins to shake her head at dismay. How could she be friends with such a knucklehead? And how was it that this sweet and intelligent genius of a girl was into said knucklehead? There was still somewhat of a bit of hope for the boy if he could dicipher the advice she'd given him earlier that day. If he could do that, then maybe Kie could reconsider advancing his status to doofus instead.

The woman had disappeared into the backroom of the shop to consult with her boss, leaving the group to recuperate while she was gone.

"She's totally onto us." Pope hissed to JJ, panic in his eyes as he looked at the blond boy.

"Shhh," JJ hushed. "Just let me keep handling it. I can spin this Alzheimer's thing to full blown tears if I have to."

"Oh, please do. I'd love to see it." Collins clutched her hands in front of her chest in a pleading way, but had a teasing grin on her face. JJ wrinkled his nose at her in the same goodhearted manner.

"She's coming out." Someone whispered, silencing them from their chatter.

"So, I talked to my boss, and this is what we can do." The woman came back around the counter and placed a small piece of paper down on the table in front of JJ. Collins went on her tiptoes and tried to catch a glimpse of the numbers, but she was too far to get a good look at it.

Glancing down at the paper, JJ quirked his brow in dissatisfaction. "50,000? You think I walked in here not knowing the spot price? Ma'am, I know for a fact that this is worth 140, at least."

"Well, sweetie, you're in a pawn shop." The woman explained harshly. "This ain't Zurich. Do I look Swiss to you?"

Scratching his head in frustration, JJ replied, "90, or I walk."

"70," the woman countered, "half-priced, and I don't ask questions about where you got this."

Glancing over at John B, JJ considered the offer that was being given to him in that moment. Although not a word was exchanged, John B had cast a subtle thumbs-up in response. $70,000 was better than $0. And for her silence, they should've known it would come at a cost. "I'm gonna need that in large denominations, please."

"Well, here's the snag." The woman puffed. "I don't have that much denominated, not here anyway. I can write you a cashier's check."

Shaking his head, JJ immediately refused. "No, I want the cold hard. That's what that sign says, cash for gold. And that's what I expect. I want to get it in cold hard." He stabbed the table with his finger to stress the notion further.

"Well, I have to send you to the warehouse. I have money there, is that all right?" It was clear that there was nothing more that they could do at this point. If there was no money in the shop, then there wasn't any money. $70,000 was a lot to ask for in straight cash from a small pawnshop sitting closer to the Cut than Figure 8.

JJ narrowed his eyes at the woman. "Where's this warehouse?"

With the address and directions provided by the pawnbroker, Collins and the rest of the group ended up right back in the Twinkie with their gold still in hand. Collins sat next to Pope and across from JJ in the back of the van, stroking the gold nugget in JJ's hand as they both stared at it in admiration. Even though it was sorely misshapened and the distinctive bundle of wheat imprint that had once distinguished it was now a warped mess of swirls, it was still pretty beautiful.

"I've never seen so much gold in my life." Collins confessed, feeling the smooth surface of the gold beneathe her fingertip and tracing every curve and crevice like it was braille. The sight of it never failed to captivate her. She'd already admired it plenty enough when John B had first displayed it to them after emerging from the well, but a new wave of hypnosis came over her every time she laid her eyes on it.

"I don't think anyone since Denmark Tanny buried it himself has seen a rock this big. No Pogue or Kook alike." JJ remarked, cracking a small smile.

"Too bad there's not gonna be any record of us in the island museum to give us credit for making the excavation of the century."

"Hey, JJ, are you sure this is the right way?" Pope questioned curiously as he looked out the window, watching warily as rundown and abandoned buildings flashed past them.

"I've never even heard of Resurrection Drive." Sarah commented from the passenger's seat.

"That's cause you're rich." JJ murmured, seeing as they were on parts of the island that Sarah, a Kook, would have no business venturing to.

"You've never heard of it either." Kie retorted, shutting the blond boy up. "There's literally nothing but weeds back here."

"All right, just 'cause there's weeds, doesn't mean--"

The chirp of a police car interrupted their conversation, and the noise was further confirmed by the red and blue lights flashing behind them. Collins shifted in her seat and stared out the window in confusion while John B slowly veered off to the right to pull over on the side of the road.

"What did we even do?" She asked. She didn't think that John B had been speeding or anything. No swerves across the median that could indicate intoxicated driving or reckless behavior that would constitute getting pulled over. Maybe he had a broken taillight that he was unaware of. Please don't let their demise be as a result of a dead lightbulb...

"You didn't bring the gun, right, JJ?" John B questioned, manifesting that the answer was no and that maybe they wouldn't be caught with an unlicensed firearm in their possession on top of whatever it was they were getting stopped for.

"No, everyone told me to leave it back at the place." JJ answered, much to their relief.

"Thank God." Kie breathed, "Just put everything else in your bag and stash it. Seriously, how much weed do you have on you?"

JJ fumbled to shove everything into his backpack and shove it into a compartment under his seat, struggling with Pope practically on top of him trying to do it himself because he could not afford to get into any trouble with his scholarship interview coming up so soon.

"It's good, we're all good." Collins reassured them, taking a deep breath before it suddenly caught at the sound of a shotgun being cocked.

She looked over and her eyes widened at the sight of a masked man holding the barrel of a gun at John B's face. "Why don't I go ahead and see them hands in the air?" He said, though everyone seemed to be too frozen in shock and fear to comply, earning them a more aggressive response. "All of y'all's hands up in the air, now! I want you to get out of the car and let everyone else out."

His demand was directed towards John B, who had his hands held up in surrender, careful not to make any brash movements that could set off this guy's already burning temper.

As the back door of the van was slid open, Collins was the first to climb out of the vehicle with her palms facing forward and a quiver with each step that she took. It didn't even feel like she was moving any of her limbs herself, they all felt like they were being manipulated by a puppet master and he was pointing a gun right at her like he wouldn't hesitate to shoot her if she didn't do what was asked of her.

"Let's go, pretty girl, back up." The masked antagonizer urged, his voice raised while he shook the gun at her. Collins flinched at the action, clenching her teeth in terror. She wasn't just afraid of being shot deliberately, she was scared that it was possible that she could get shot by accident, too.

"Don't point that gun at her, okay? We don't have anything." JJ exclaimed. "Just relax."

"Shut the hell up! I'll blow your damn head off!" The man yelled, not taking too kindly to JJ's protests.

But JJ wasn't just going to let this guy hold Collins at gun point, not anyone, not when he was acting like a fuse waiting to blow at any second. It not only terrified him, but that fear was quickly transformed into anger, and now he was a lit fuse, too. "All right, just calm down!" JJ shot back, displaying the same challenging behavior that could've just gotten him killed.

"Oh, you wanna be a hero, pretty boy? Lay down in the ditch! Get on your goddamn hands and knees!"

Collins mustered up the courage to move her hand out of it's previous position, or in other words, not where they could easily be seen which is exactly what she'd been warned not to do. But she'd done it so that she could grab JJ by the arm and pull him down with her to follow this man's instructions before they pissed him off even more. "JJ, please." She begged, tugging on his shirt, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "Just listen to him."

If any of her words made it to him, they were only a distant voice in his head but they were just enough to get JJ to obey. He slowly lowered his body with Collins's until he was on his knees next to her, eyes never softening their hard gaze or leaving from where they were set on the man. Collins bent down and put her head down on the ground, then flinched as the man thwatted JJ on the back of the head to push him to move faster.

With shaky breaths, Collins looked over at him, willing him to look at her so that they could exchange some kind of reassurance with each other. Either he could tell her everything would be okay or she could tell him, even if neither one of them actually believed it, but just so they could convince the other that it was true and try to believe it themselves. She could've used something like that, but JJ was too wrapped up in his anger to do such a thing.

"This is a set up." Kie deduced. They should've known not to believe that woman when she gave them a shady address to a remote area where no one could stop this from happening to them.

"That old bat shanked us." JJ seethed, before he began to bang his fist against the ground with all of his strength. "Fuck! Goddamnit!"

Collins flinched at the dirt he kicked up, and shielded her eyes away from it by hiding between her arms and burrowing her head down so that her chin was tucked in. She closed her eyes and tried to take a couple deep breaths. She couldn't fall apart right now, she had to stay strong. Even though JJ wasn't acting like himself that didn't mean she could let herself go, too. It was just that it felt like two scary things were happening at once. On one hand, they were being held hostage by some gun-wielding lunatic-- and on the other hand, JJ had become someone totally unrecognizable to Collins. She'd never seen such rage coming from him. Sure, emotions were high amongst all of them, but no one else had reached the fury that JJ was displaying. This was completely new territory to her.

Collins had been too busy trying to keep herself at bay that she hadn't even noticed that while the man was rifling through the van in search of their gold, John B had gotten up from his previous position on the ground and was slowly sneaking away.

"John B, no," Sarah whimpered, reaching over to try and pull him back down, but John B quietly hushed her and squeezed her comfortingly on the shoulder.

"John B," Pope whispered next, shaking his head frantically at his friend. "You heard what he said, don't be a hero."

John B held a finger up to his lips to silence them, watching the movement in the van carefully before retreating back to the fake cop car parked behind the Twinkie and ducking into the backseat.

Collins furrowed her brows, unsure of what exactly he was doing. She strained to see through the glare on the windshield, but was quickly reverted back to the man with the gun as he emerged from out of the van with the clothe towel that JJ had wrapped the gold in. "All right, now y'all just stay just like that, unless you want your brains blown out all over this road. Don't move your goddamn heads!"

Holding her hands behind her head, Collins grimaced as she waited for the man to notice that John B was missing. What would he do? Who would he strike first? Was Collins brave enough to sacrifice herself for the others?

But he never realized that he was one man short in his number of hostages, only making a beeline for his car where John B was still hidden in the backseat awaiting. With bated breaths, they all waited to see how things played out next, and sure enough, John B had sprung up behind the masked assailent and started wrenching the gun out of his hands in a battle of tug-o-war.

Seeing from where they were that there was some sort of a struggle going on, the rest of the teens immediately shot up into action, running over to the car just as John B was wrestling the man out of it.

"Guys! I got the gun!" He yelled.

JJ was the first to reach the fight, jumping into the chaos with a direct swing into the man's gut with his fist. There was a deep gasp from behind the mask as the air was knocked out of him, but there was no chance to recover as Kie struck him across the face.

The man's body moved wildly to shake them off, knocking them down in the process with his heavy swings. Collins seized the opportunity to come up on the side of him while he was too preoccupied with John B, and kicked the outside of his knee, causing the one leg to buckle under him and collapse under his weight until he fell to the ground.

Collins immediately backed away in panic, never having done such a thing to cause such harm to anyone before, not really even when she'd faced Rafe at the movies. Her attacks had been powerless against Rafe, never really truly hurting him, but simply just irritating him like a fly that wouldn't stop flying into his face. And he'd swatted her away just as easily as a fly, then.

But this time, just a single blow had knocked this man into the ground and caused him enough pain to make him grab his knee and cry out in agony. That was malicious of Collins. There was ample innocence in her action because it had been out of self-defense, but there was enough wickedness to make her question if perhaps she'd gone a bit too far. 

Before Collins could try to rationalize her actions further, she was shocked back to the real matters at hand when Sarah began slamming the car door into the man. He withstood every hit until he was knocked back and slumped onto the ground, accepting defeat.

Snatching his mask and ripping it down to reveal his face, JJ scowled angrily in recognition. "I know this piece of shit! He's a basehead. He sells coke to my dad."

"He probably knows my brother." Sarah added.

"Hey, look, I couldn't hurt any single one of y'all--" The man never got to finish his sentence because JJ had taken the shotgun and used the butt of it to slam into the addict's face.

"JJ!" Kie exclaimed, while John B and Pope quickly grabbed the boy by the shoulders and tried to hold him back.

But JJ simply shook them off and reached down to rifle through the man's pockets until he had fished out his wallet.

Collins watched in confusion while JJ picked out the driver's license, studied the information on it, then tossed the wallet carelessly back to the man while still holding his ID.

"We got one last stop." JJ stated, shoving John B away from him when he attempted to talk him down, before storming back to the van. "Let's go see where this son of a bitch lives."

As the others slowly began to follow, Collins moved relunctantly behind them. JJ was still a fiery blaze of rage and being in a car with him so off the rails felt like getting into a loaded cannon. If this was how he was acting now, she didn't want to know what it looked like when JJ had reached his full capacity.

But she couldn't just not go. She had two options: stay with JJ and their group where safety was questionable or remain with the guy who'd pointed a gun at her moments earlier. It was no contest.

Nearly tripping over her own two feet, Collins started towards the Twinkie, but not before she glanced back to look at their attacker while he was still struggling to get up. Digging practically every limb of his body into the earth to use as leverage, Collins's steps picked up their pace in order to get as far away from him as possible.

"I'm gonna remember this shit! Y'all can't hide from me." His voice called out after them. She tried to tune it out of her mind, but his words seemed to carry in the wind as they still sounded so close no matter how much she thought the van would've blocked it out. "I know exactly who y'all are! You're gonna see me again!"

Unfortunately, Collins didn't have a hard time believing that to be true.

•••

me when i see jj: 😊🥰😚😘❤️

vs.

me when i see JJ and hes angry: 👀🔥😮‍💨☠️🤰