I SAT crossed legged on the wicker chair on John B's porch, twiddling my thumbs in thought. He was stood by the porch door, flicking a lighter while Kie sat opposite me on the grubby sofa. JJ was lounged out on the arm chair. We didn't hang around much longer after we found out the Grady-White we found earlier belonged to Scooter Grubbs. Everyone was now looking for a boat we knew it's exact location of.

"Okay." I heard Pope say, opening the mesh door and walking on to the back porch, "So, um.. we didn't see anything. We don't know anything. We need to have total and complete amnesia."

"Actually Pope's right... for once." JJ said and he stood up. I arched my brow and looked to my friends, apparently we were all shocked that JJ agreed with a Pope, "See, I agree with you sometimes. Deny, deny deny."

"Guys, we can't keep that money." Kie said to us and I nodded in agreement.

JJ sighed, "Not all of us can afford unlimited data plans, Kiara."

"It's not just that." I told JJ, "It's not ours, it should go to Lana Grubbs. She's just lost her husband."

"I agree." Kie said, "Otherwise it's bad karma."

Pope nodded, "Bad karma to be implicated in a felony, too." I pointed at Pope in agreement, "We gotta go dark." He said.

"If that means we get to keep the money then I agree." JJ replied, walking over to John B and looking out past the mesh screen.

John B patted JJ's arm, "I don't agree."

"What, why?" JJ asked after him.

"Just think about it, this is Scooter Grubbs we're talking about." John B said, "Same dude that's buying individual cigarettes at the Porthole. Shit one time I saw this dude begging for change in a Save-A-Lot parking lot because he needed gas. We're talking about a dirtbag marina rat who's never had more than 40 bucks in his pocket and all of a sudden he's got a Grady-White? Just sayin'."

"I agree." I nodded, "Scooter Grubbs was hiding that money in a safe, so maybe the money isn't even his. It's either that or it's dirty money."

"Exactly." John B said, pointing to me.

I got to my feet, "But I need to catch some fish today guys." I told them, "So c'mon."

They followed me down to the the small dock by John B's chateau — as he liked to call his house — and I cast a line, leaning over the wooden fencing and looking out across the marsh as the sun started to set. Pope and JJ cast a line too, JJ next to me as John B and Kie sat on the fence.

"I still think we need to keep quiet." Pope said.

"All right and I agree." John B nodded, "But think about it Pope. How does a marina rat get a Grady-White?"

Pope inhaled, "Prostitution."

I laughed, "I don't think anyone on the island would want to sleep with Scooter Grubbs, Pope."

"Exactly." John B agreed.

"So what's your idea?" Pope asked.

"Square groupers." John B replied, "Okay, flying under the radar, no aerial surveillance. They don't do that stuff during a hurricane. What does that mean, JJ?"

"They were straight smugglin'." JJ told us.

"Smugglin'." John B nodded and looked to me, "Which I believe was your point with the dirty money."

I nodded, "Round about that track, yeah."

"See!" John B said, "And I guarantee there's a serious amount of contraband in that wreck."

"Hell yeah." JJ muttered before standing back quietly, reeling in his line, "Fish on."

I watched his wire tug and he reeled in whatever he'd caught. I sighed in disappointment, "Oh no way man, that's so unfair."

JJ turned to me with a grin, "Jealous?"

I pulled my line out and dropped the rod to the floor in annoyance before trudging back up to John B's chateau.

"Mal where're you going?" Kie called after me.

"Fuck fishing." I shouted back, "Fucking fish."

My friends followed and I went into John B's room, face planting his bed and groaning in exhaustion, "I'm tired."

Pope climbed on John B's bed as the rest of my fiends found a seat elsewhere, JJ picked up the wad of cash he had stolen and John B carried on his theory.

Pope leaned over me and snatched the cash out of JJ's hands, "For the record, if that is a smuggling ship with illegal contraband on the inside of it it probably belongs to someone else—"

"—Minor details." Kie butted in.

"They could come looking for it. Taking it wound be catastrophically stupid."

I groaned before yawing, "I agree with Pope." I said, "Do we want to steal cash from smugglers?"

"You're missing the point here." JJ told me, taking the cash back off Pope, "Stupid things have good outcomes all the time. All we need to do right now is figure out a way to get into the cargo hold of that wreck. Until then we just lay low, just act normal."

Pope sighed, "Right and how exactly do we do that?"

"Kegger?" Kie asked.

I sat up quickly, drawing back into my knees and pointing at my friend, "Yes, that is a brilliant idea."

• • •

It had taken us under an hour to get the kegger and down to the boneyard. All it took was some simple flirtation with Tommy Nokes — a Pogue known for selling keggers to underage teenagers. It was easy work really, getting our hands on a Kegger and it didn't take much flirting with Tommy for him to give it to you for free.

We drove to the boneyard, Pope the designated driver to take us home. I wouldn't argue with him, he wasn't a big partygoer but we couldn't force him to drink — no matter how many times JJ sometimes wanted to. The boneyard was where everyone came for a party, a small and unused part of the beach on the far end of the south side. The cops hardly ever found us here so it was a handy place to set up.

JJ got set on attaching the pump to the kegger and and it wasn't long before I had a red cup in my hand filled with beer.

I might've been tired but this would keep me going a few more hours.

"Hey, Pope?" John B asked, offering a full cup to Pope.

My friend shook his head, "No. No way." He said and JJ took it out of John B's hands almost immediately after that.

Once a kegger was down on the boneyard it never took long before people started arriving. The boneyard was like a three-fold, when there was a party it saw Pogues — us — Kooks — the rich kids — and the Tourons as we liked to call them or otherwise known as the tourists, they sometimes came on their own ready to get a real taste of what life on the Outer Banks was really like.

By the time the sun was starting to set on the horizon the beach was full and I had drank my way onto my third beer.

John B poured it for me as I stood by him, looking around at the amount of people who had shown. Word really travelled fast on the island — cell service or not, "Aren't you gonna go steady?" My friend asked me.

I took the full cup from his hands with an arched brow, "Why would I do that?"

He shrugged innocently, "Last time we got wasted at the the boneyard—"

"—All right but that won't happen again." I said to him. Yes, the last time we got drunk here John B and I ended up in bed together but I was planning on ending up in my own bed tonight — with no one else.

"Okay." John B responded in surrender and I walked over to Kie, taking a sip from the beer. She was talking to a Touron over on the drift wood and I sat down next to her.

"Hey, Kie, what's up?" I asked.

"Mal." She smiled, "This is Jacob, Jacob this is my friend Mally."

I nodded at the boy in greeting — he was pretty cute, "Hope she's not boring you to death."

The boy shook his head, "No, no of course not."

I sipped the beer before swallowing, "That's great."

Kie turned to me with a smile, "So Mally.."

"Kiara?" I responded.

"What are you up to tonight?" She asked me and I could tell by the way her lips curved she was talking about boys, "Anyone catch your eye yet?"

I looked around casually, "After the last kegger I think I want to wake up in my own bed.. alone." I told her.

She nodded, "So you're not gonna talk to anyone tonight?"

I got caught mid swallow of my drink and I held my finger up until I cleared my mouth, "Now I didn't say anything about not talking to anyone. I don't want to be sat here a loner all night."

Kie bit lightly into her bottom lip, looking over my shoulder before leaning closer to me, "Is there something going on between you and JJ?"

I furrowed my brows and sat back, "Uh, no?" I said to her, "Why, what makes you think that?"

She shrugged, "I dunno, I guess yous have been flirting more than usual."

I turned to find JJ and saw him knocking his beer back, arms crossed with some blonde girl and watched him. I hadn't realised I'd been flirting with him to be honest. Usually we just had playful banter, "I haven't realised."

"Oh c'mon." Kie chuckled, "You didn't realise he was dunking you today?" She asked me.

"That wasn't flirting." I shook my head.

She grinned, "Oh but it was."

"Whatever." I said, shaking my head, "It's nothing."

"What's nothing?"

I jumped in shock, yelping, and I turned to see JJ stood behind me. I slapped his arm lightly, "You scared the shit out of me."

He laughed, his eyes crinkling and lips stretching outwards as he held her beer. His blue eyes held a cheerful expression and I found myself drawn in, "Hey, I'm sorry." He apologised while laughing.

"I'm gonna go and talk to Pope." Kie said from besides me and I nodded as she got up and walked away from us both.

"What's that all about?" JJ asked me.

"No idea." I replied even though I knew exactly what she was doing.

JJ nodded and then he thrust his hand in my face, holding it there. He was motioning for me to get up and I slipped my hand into his, locking our fingers as he pulled me to my feet. I took a sip of my beer when I stood up and he twirled me around before resting the arm in which he was holding my hand over my shoulder.

I nodded with a grin, looking at him, "Smooth."

JJ smirked as he looked at me, mischief sparkling in his eyes, "Thank you."

"So what's up, buttercup?" I asked him as we walked down the beach slowly, navigating through the crowds of people there.

"Buttercup?" He asked me in amusement, "That's cute."

"Yeah?" I laughed, "I'm glad you like it, it's your new nickname."

He nodded, still holding my hand over my shoulder, "Only if I get to give you a nickname?"

"Go for it." I said to him, drinking the beer again.

"Okay, so how about.." He paused in thought, "Sweetheart. How about sweetheart?"

I rolled my eyes, "You call me sweetheart anyways."

"I know but I like it." JJ told me and I couldn't help but notice as he slowly inched closer towards me, "It suits you, Davis."

I nodded, "Well, buttercup and sweetheart it is."

"Great." JJ muttered to me with a smile, "I love it."

"So buttercup." I said to him, "What do you want?"

JJ let go of my hand and reached into his pocket and pulled out a tightly rolled joint, holding it up for me to see. I took it out of his hands and he put his arm over my shoulder again as I examined it before looking back up to him with a smirk, "You wanna go half on?" I asked him.

JJ grinned back at me, "You know I do."

I took a lighter out of the back pocket of my shorts and put the joint in between my lips, lighting it before inhaling the marijuana. I pulled the joint away from my mouth and sighed contently before holding up to JJ's lips for him to take a drag. Once he was done he pulled away from it and looked back down to me, "Well that was a turn on."

I laughed as we continued to walk with his arm round my shoulder, "Shut up." I said to him.

He grinned at me, "How about we find somewhere quieter to finish this?"

I nodded in agreement, "Sounds like a plan."

• • •

Somehow I'd managed to find JJ and I another joint and we'd smoked it between us and I continued to drink. I must've been on my seventh or eight cup of beer when people were slowly starting to disperse from the beach as the night rolled in. JJ had gotten his slick hands on a bottle of alcohol and he'd made me a shit-mix that tasted vile but I wasn't going to throw it away.

He made the same shit-mix for John B and with my hand in his he pulled me to find him. I had his red cap on again backwards so the rim was at the back of my head, my hair had curled and hanging on my shoulders from falling into the marsh earlier.

"Hey, John B!" He called and I looked in the direction we were walking to see us approaching our friend.

"Yo, what's up?" John B asked the both of us as we met him. He looked at the both of us with a raised brow before he looked at me, "All right, Mally?"

I'll admit I wasn't sober but I wasn't drunk either. JJ on the other hand was all right, maybe a little tipsy but he had a sounder mind than I did. It was probably safe to say I'd be sneaking in tonight rather than walking in, my dad didn't mind me having an occasional beer but he didn't know I smoked.

"Yeah I'm good." I replied, leaning into JJ's side.

John B turned to said boy, "Did you get her drunk again?"

"Nope." He grinned, "She did this all on her own."

"I'm not drunk." I argued with my friends, "A little tipsy, possibly slightly high, but I'm good."

John B shook his head to himself in amusement while JJ outstretched his hand to him, offering the red cup, "I got this for you." He said, "You want this one?"

"For me?" John B asked, "Yeah, I'll take a sip."

I watched as John B reached for the cup but JJ pulled it away from him, "Oh, wait. Hey, hey, Sarah. Sarah." I turned my head to see him calling to none other than Sarah Cameron — or as we liked to call her the Kook princess, "Can I interest you in a tasty Milwaukee beverage?"

The thing with Sarah was, where she was Topper was.

I looked at Sarah as she shook her head, "No, thanks." She denied and then I saw Topper stood next to her, watching over her like a protective mother hawk.

He and I made eye contact but neither of us smiled at the other and neither of us made the effort to greet the other. To me nothing had changed, his dad didn't marry my mom and we weren't step-siblings — or I wish it was like that.

"Is it not fancy enough for you?" JJ asked.

Sarah smiled politely, "No, we were just leaving."

"Hey, you know what?" Topper asked, looking away from me and to JJ, "I'll take it. Thank you man, I appreciate it."

JJ stepped back with the drink, taking me with him, "Uh, that's nice Topper but I didn't ask you." He said, "If you said pretty please, maybe, but you didn't."

"Oh." Topper nodded sarcastically, "Pretty please."

"Yeah, so Sarah you can have it."

JJ handed the drink over to Sarah but my delightful step brother slapped it out of his hand. He knocked the drink over JJ and I, soaking us. I downed my beer quickly before dropping the cup as JJ shoved Topper angrily, getting into it with him.

John B grabbed JJ by the shoulder, "Alright, no, no, no, no." He said to him as I stood next to him.

"He's not worth it JJ." I told my friend.

"You're so funny man!" JJ shouted to him over my shoulder.

"Dirty Pogues!"

I turned my head to see Topper shouting at us and before I could even say anything John B started on him, pushing him abruptly, "Shit, John B!"

I leaned forward and grabbed his arm, pulling him back towards us as Pope put his hand on his chest, "We're supposed to be incognito, remember?"

Topper walked past me casually and he punched John B in the face, knocking my friend down to the ground.

"Guys!" Sarah shouted but no one was paying any attention to her.

My eyes widened next to JJ as Topper kicked John B in the stomach, "Don't make me drown you like your old man, all right?" Topper taunted.

Everyone was watching now and they all started egging John B and Topper on and when he wasn't expecting it John B dived for Topper, side tackling him into the water where they started to fight, "Give it to him man!" JJ cheered and they continued to fight, wresting each other back onto the sand.

"John B, stop it man!" I shouted over JJ as he went in and punched Topper's side.

"That's my boy!" JJ cheered, "That's what I'm talkin' about!"

I turned to JJ, "You're not helping."

"Oh come on, Mal." He told me, "He's a dick. It's about time someone knocked him down a peg or two."

"Come on!" John B shouted to Topper as they circled each other, fists up.

"You wanna go?" Topper fuelled and then he punched John B in the face. They started wrestling again as the crowd continued to cheer and John B pushed Topper back into the water again.

I had to say it was amusing to see John B fight my stepbrother, I'd wanted nothing more than to punch him in the face but it seemed John B was giving it to Topper for me.

"C'mon Topper!" He yelled, "Let's go!"

"Mally, do something!" Kie yelled over the  chaos, begging from my side.

"He's fine!" I called to her, "John B's got this."

But as it turned out John B most certainly did not have it. Topper hurdled him over his shoulder, throwing him into the water and then grabbing the back of his neck where he held him under the water. I had been gripping JJ's arm in anticipation and I gasped when Topper didn't let John B come up for air.

"Fuck this." I muttered angrily and I walked away from my friends, Pope and Kie shouting after me as I walked over to Topper. I wasn't about to stand and watch Topper drown John B.

"Hey, Topper!" I yelled, "Let go!"

Topper pushed me away with an arm and laughed, "Why should I do that, huh?"

"Because you're going to kill him you psycho!" I hit his hand away and pushed him roughly, watching as he stumbled backwards and letting go of John B.

"Oh, come on Mally." Topper laughed, "I'm sure your mom would love to know how high you are right now."

"I'm about as high as your dick is long." I bit back and when he lunged for John B again I jumped in front of him as he rose his fist, "What?" I asked him with an arched brow. I could hear John B gasping for air behind me, "You gonna hit your stepsister, huh? I'm sure my mom would love to hear about that."

Topper grabbed my arm, pointing a finger at me but I didn't flinch. I would never recoil away from him as he looked at me furiously, "This isn't your business, Mally."

"Oh it's absolutely my business when my friends are involved." I laughed and he gripped my arm tighter, "Why can't you just leave me and my friends alone?"

"I didn't start this." He scowled.

"But you did when you called us all dirty Pogues." I nodded, my eyes narrowed.

He opened his mouth to reply but I saw JJ behind him and then I heard the click of the gun he stole. Topper's eyes widened as he looked at me but I looked at JJ.

"Yeah, you know what that is." JJ spat, "Your move Broski."

I reached out towards JJ slowly as Topper continued to grip to my arm, "JJ—"

"Let go of her." JJ ordered, completely ignoring me and Topper dropped his grip on my arm, raising his hands in surrender. JJ grabbed my hand and he pulled me behind him as everyone on the beach scattered, screaming in a terrified frenzy.

"JJ! Chill dude!" Pope shouted to him.

"Put the gun down!" Sarah yelled over to us.

"Did you say somethin', princess?" JJ shouted.

"We're good! We're good!" Topper repeated.

Slowly I put my hand on to JJ's bicep and I leaned into his back, "JJ, c'mon." I said to him quietly as Kie, Pope and Sarah continued to shout, "C'mon he's not worth it." I whispered to him, running my hand down his arm to the hand he held the gun in.

"It's just because he's your brother." JJ spat and he turned his head fractionally to look at me. His blue eyes were hard and cold, brimming in adrenaline. I rarely ever saw this side of JJ but I'd had enough experience with him to know how to deal with it.

"I don't care about him JJ." I told him calmly, wrapping my hand around his and the gun, "But he is not worth it."

JJ dropped Topper and he fell to the floor and when he did I turned JJ to face me by his arms. Slowly I grabbed the hand he held the gun in and started prying his fingers off the weapon as he looked into my eyes, "Give me the gun Jay." I said to him softly but as Sarah started shouting again he flipped out.

He snatched his hand out of mine and held the gun up into the air, firing once. I ducked somewhat in shock, "Everyone, listen up!" He yelled, "Get the hell off our side of the island!" And then he fired the gun again.

"You idiot!" Kie shouted at him.

Pope pushed JJ away from me, "Are you crazy?" He yelled at him, "Why would you do that? It's not worth it!"

"Pope!" I yelled, jumping between him and JJ, "Stop."

JJ reached over me and pushed Pope, "I was saving his life, okay?"

"Mal had it covered!" Pope argued.

"He was gonna hurt her!" JJ yelled and he wrapped his arm around my stomach, pulling me to him as he defended me.

"She was fine, now you're gonna jeopardise everything!"

"Alright Pope, stop!" I yelled to my friend, "Just leave it." I turned and gently nudged JJ away from Pope and Kie, taking the gun out of his hand and and putting the safety back on it before putting it into his bag. I grabbed JJ by the hand and tugged him away, what he needed right now was to calm down and I knew he wasn't going to calm down here.

• • •