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"𝙄 𝙎𝙏𝙄𝙇𝙇 𝘾𝘼𝙉'𝙏 believe your fucking Kook-ass parents." JJ exclaimed, the Twinkie flying down the outskirts of town. After he and Charlotte had fled her house, she had alerted him to where Kiara had been taken─Kitty Hawk.

That had been the name on the van and the shirts of the men who had taken Kiara. The name alone made Charlotte's skin crawl...it sounded so ominous.

Charlotte, who was rather focused on the trees outside, didn't turn her head as she spoke, "Yeah," She said quietly, "I don't think I can forgive them for doing to this to her."

"Like, thank God they didn't send you away too. Fuck, then I'd be doin' a double rescue here." JJ rambled, having not yet caught on to the way Charlotte's shoulders dropped even more.

With a literal pain in her chest, Charlotte spoke again. "I'm too old for Kitty Hawk. Missed the cut off by a few months...they were going to send me somewhere else."

JJ's head shot toward her and Charlotte finally turned to look at him, a sad smile on her lips. "Mental Health Facility." She explained, voice breaking at the prospect of her parents sending her away to a place like that. "I probably would have been checked in by tomorrow."

Slamming his hand into the steering wheel, JJ let out a loud curse, "You can't go back there, Charls...ever. The minute you step through those doors they'll be sending you away somewhere."

Charlotte shrugged, "No where else to go," she said softly. And it was partly true—the Chateau was gone, JJ's house was foreclosed, and there was no way Heyward would let another one of Pope's friends move in.

Surely Charlotte's first thought was to move in with Rafe, but she was positive that JJ wasn't thinking of that as a solution.

"We'll figure it out," JJ assured. "Maybe we stay in South America."

A smile blossomed on Charlotte's lips as she looked over at him, "That actually sounds kinda nice."

"Right?" JJ grinned, happy to see a smile back on Charlotte's face for the moment, "Surfing all day, getting sun, making a new name for ourselves."

If it didn't involve leaving Rafe behind, Charlotte would have actually considered it.

The sound of Charlotte's phone ringing interrupted their what-if session. Reaching into the pocket of her shorts, Charlotte pulled it out. "It's John B." she declared, sliding her finger across to answer the call.

Charlotte had barely hit the speaker button by the time John B was rambling at the two of them. "Where are you guys!?"

Shooting JJ a look, Charlotte answered, "...in the Twinkie."

A huff came from the other end, "Care to be more specific, Charley?"

JJ leaned over, speaking into the phone, "Look man, we gotta go get Kiara. You're gonna need to give us, like, eight hours for liberation."

"Eight hours!" John B exclaimed, "Guys, we don't have eight hours. We've got a jet here, we're all waiting!"

"I know, dog. I know the clock is ticking," JJ sympathized, "Just hold out as long as you can and if we need to go we'll meet you there."

John B spoke instantly, "No, we can't...we can't...No, JJ, listen. We cannot wait for you guys!"

Charlotte shot JJ a look before pulling the phone closer to her so she could speak to John B again, "No need to yell at us," She declared, listening to him sigh over the phone, "We're doing the best we can here."

"Yeah!" JJ agreed, "We're working on it, dude. Luckily, I'm a problem solver."

That was probably not how Charlotte would have described him, but she was willing to give him his moment.

JJ, who had fully stolen the phone from Charlotte now, continued rambling, "Just stay in the Matrix, okay? I repeat─"

Bang.

Charlotte's heart lurched as the Twinkie veered to one side, JJ forced to basically throw Charlotte's phone as he gripped onto the wheel in a effort to keep them on the road. Retrieving her phone from the ground, Charlotte spoke to John B quickly, "Sorry, dude. We gotta go."

John B was in the middle of an opposition when Charlotte hung up on him.

"What the hell was that?" She demanded, heart hammering.

JJ hit at the steering wheel again, "Sounds like we blew a damn tire."

"Told you we should have taken my car," Charlotte muttered, giving him a pointed look.

Pulling the car to the side of the road, JJ shot her a glare, "Really, Charley?"

"Really, JJ." She mocked, knowing a popped tired was literally the last thing they needed.

Muttering something under his breath, JJ threw open the driver's side door, "Stay here," He ordered, stepping out onto the road, "I wouldn't want you to break a nail."

Charlotte held up her her manicured middle finger, "Bite me."

Slamming the door behind him, JJ stalked around to the back of the vehicle before yanking the trunk open. "Why do bad things always happen to us?" He wondered, grabbing hold of the spare tire.

Spinning in her seat, Charlotte was prepared to answer him with some smart-ass remark when something else caught her eye. A black car was speeding toward them, swerving as they went. "J, who is that?"

JJ turned, dropping the tire back in the trunk as he let out a loud curse, "Charley, stay in the car and get down so they can't see you. Do not come out until I tell you to."

"What─"

"Just do it!" JJ gritted out, quickly turning to face the car, positioning his body to block Charlotte's view for the most part.

Letting out a quiet curse, Charlotte slid down the seat, crouching on the floorboard as she tried to peer through the van at who was exiting the vehicle. Whoever it was, she knew they weren't here on good terms judging by JJ's reaction.

It was JJ's voice who spoke first, "Really?" He balked, taking pause for a moment as he turned slightly. Upon his movement, Charlotte caught sight of two men, one of which was wielding a shotgun.

Her throat closed in on itself as panic engulfed her. She couldn't just sit in here while JJ dealt with them alone.

"After everything you just put me through, you shoot out my...my friend's tire! That's not even my van!" JJ exclaimed in frustration.

So he knew these people...had dealt with them before.

The man without the gun was the one to address JJ, "You lost the load, JJ. Now instead of me gettin' paid, I owe them. Which I guess means that you owe me, right?"

JJ's hands were raised in the air, "I know, Barr─"

The man cut him off, "Get in the car."

Charlotte could feel her heart pulsing in her neck as she shifted slightly, knowing what she was about to do was completely and utterly stupid.

"As much as I would like to," JJ answered, "I kinda have a date."

The man with the gun readjusted it in his hands, "You heard him. Get in."

Charlotte's door opened quietly, allowing her to step onto the road. Letting out a deep breath, she began walking around the vehicle, putting on her best face. "Babe, what's taking so─"

She paused, words dying in her throat as she laid eyes on the scene. She did her best impression of what her face would look like if she had just stumbled on the two men and JJ, as if she hadn't just heard the whole thing playing out from her spot in the van.

JJ turned to face her, his expression a mixture of annoyance that she had ignored his instruction, and relief that she was potentially about to get him out of the situation he was in.

"Oh my God," Charlotte feigned, raising her hands in the air as she looked between the two men with her best puppy dog eyes, "What's going on here?"

The man without the gun nodded toward Charlotte, "Who the hell is this?"

JJ played into the story Charlotte was crafting, "Said I had a date didn't I?" Turning to Charlotte, JJ still had his hands raised, "Sweetie," he emphasized the pet name, "This is Barracuda Mike, and..." he trailed off, looking at the man with the gun, "I'm sorry...I don't know your name."

The man with the gun just grunted and hovered his finger near the trigger.

Barracuda Mike looked to Charlotte, "Your boyfriend here owes me a lot of money, little lady."

Still doing her best to stay in character, Charlotte looked over to JJ, "What did you do?'

JJ shook his head, "Long story."

"Well, did you tell him?" Charlotte prodded, stealing a glance at Barracuda Mike as if he couldn't hear them.

Instantly catching on, JJ shook his head, playing into her ploy, "You think I should?"

Charlotte stole a glance at gun man, "If it gets this guy to put down the gun, I really do."

Barracuda Mike looked skeptically between the two as JJ pretended to juggle his options. "Alright," JJ finally agreed, "Alright."

Taking a small step forward, he lowered his hands as he addressed Barracuda, "I'm sure you've heard the stories...about me and my friends. Little thing called the Royal Merchant. Pile of gold. Is that ringing any bells?"

God, that seemed so long ago that the Royal Merchant gold was their biggest target. It almost seemed fun back them...key word, almost.

Barracuda Mike did not look pleased, "I heard some bullshit."

Charlotte spoke up, "The bullshit's real." She argued, "We found it." Which wasn't technically a lie. They did find it...and then it was stolen.

A laugh fell from Barracuda's lips, "Yeah, that's why your boyfriend's got a load of guys throwing furniture in a dumpster out back his house? Your boyfriend's living high to hog, sweetheart."

Legitimate anger flashed across Charlotte's features at his taunting. She felt more defensive of JJ that she did most people.

Sensing the break in Charlotte's character, JJ took over again. "Yeah, yeah, no. You're talkin' about the house that's being foreclosed. The cover? The one to throw off the scent."

Regaining her composure, Charlotte crossed her arms over her chest, "That's literally, like,  rule number one," She declared as if it were obvious, "Don't do flashy shit like paying off a mortgage when you come upon money. Everyone knows that."

Barracuda Mike shot her a look as he let out a small laugh, "Let me guess, you two have got that gold sittin' in a barn somewhere. And you just need me to let you go so you can go get it and we can split it. Right?"

"Actually," Charlotte quipped, "It's in a boathouse."

JJ placed a hand on her shoulder, pretending to calm her down as he took a small step forward, "Actually, Barracuda, it's even a bit sweeter than that." He looked to gun man, "May I?"

When the man didn't shoot him, JJ took that as his chance to take a few more steps toward Barracuda. He did so in a way that kept the gun focused in his direction and not Charlotte's. "Look, let's just forget about the Merchant for a second. That's just the tip of the iceberg. We're going after the main course right now, alright? We're going after the motherlode. And that's the truth of why we need to get down to South America."

Neither of the men looked very convinced at JJ's words.

"Mike, come on man I'm tryin' to help you. By giving you the opportunity to make ten times more. No skin off your nose. Just a lottery ticket." JJ proposed. Giving them a chance to think about it for a moment, JJ paused before speaking again. "So yeah, in this hand, you could get the pleasure of beating my ass, right here, right now, in front of my ever so lovely girlfriend. "

All eyes turned to Charlotte, and she plastered on the face of a worried girlfriend whose boyfriend was about to get his ass beat─she was used to it with Rafe anyway.

"I honestly get that temptation, I really do." JJ sympathized. "But in this hand, in this hand," he continued, holding up his right hand, "You got a pile of gold, sittin' and waitin' for you and all you need to have is just a little bit of patience."

JJ stepped back, pleased with himself before adding his final request.

"And a ride to South America."

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