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𝙏𝙃𝘼𝙉𝙆𝙁𝙐𝙇𝙇𝙔, 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘿𝙊𝘾𝙆𝙎 were basically empty as JJ, Kie, and Charlotte pulled up. 

Their ride had been rather silent, Kiara quickly picking up on the fact that something had happened while Charlotte and JJ were inside the house. 

JJ tried to hide his sad eyes, but it was painfully obvious that he was upset. 

He had managed to slap a smile on his face by the time they arrived at the docks, and as he opened the keys to the hangar where the boat was stored, he couldn't help but let out an excited whistle. 

"There she be."

Kiara and Charlotte furrowed their brows as they watched JJ approach the boat as if it were a wild animal. "Hey, girl."

He grabbed the sheet that was covering part of the boat, pulling it off before stepping back to admire. "1983 Formula 402 SR1. The Phantom."

Looking back at the two girls, it appeared that JJ wanted some sort of reaction out of them. 

Charlotte gave him a sheepish look. "Gonna be honest, J. I have no idea what any of that means."

JJ clicked his tongue, looking back at the boat. "The first boat to make the run to Bermuda in under 16 hours, girls. That's what that means." He placed a hand on the bow of the boat. "Fort years old! Forty. And it's still the fastest thing that Kildare's ever seen."

Kiara shrugged. "It's kind of a junker."

Scoffing, Charlotte nudged her sister. "Don't say that to him. He's in love."

"Yeah, come on." JJ argued. "She's right there, Kie. She can hear you." He looked back to his beloved boat. "Let's just put it this way, you would not be smokin' weed right now if she never existed, okay?"

Kiara didn't seem bothered. "I just hope it runs."

"Oh, no. She'll run, alright. She's faster than any of the cutters the boys in blue got."

Charlotte leaned over to expect the boat. "Are we really going to keep referring to this thing as a female."

JJ nodded as he began hooking up the trailer hitch. "Only way to do it, baby."

A small laugh flew from Charlotte's lips just as the sound of tires screeching sounded from outside. 

"Pope." Kie sighed. "Finally!"

Charlotte was focused on what JJ was doing, barely looking up when footsteps could be heard approaching them. 

But when a voice rang out, she felt her heart plummet. 

"Hey, there. What's goin' on?"

Both JJ and Charlotte's heads shot up, their wide eyes landing on Rafe who was making his way toward them. "JJ? Lottie? How you guys doin'?"

Kiara backed away from Rafe, hurrying back toward her older sister and JJ as Rafe pulled himself up into the boat. 

A whistle came from behind them, all three turning to see Barry sauntering in, a smirk on his face. "Well, well."

The cocking of a gun caused Charlotte's breath to hitch. She watched in a panic as Barry pointed the weapon at JJ. "See, don't think I forgot about me and you on the side of the road."

"Barry, put the gun down." Charlotte ordered, her voice wavering slightly. 

In one swift moment, Barry turned on Charlotte, focusing the weapon on her instead. "Stay out of this, Mrs. Country Club. This ain't about you right now."

Charlotte's eyes flickered toward Rafe, and she watched the way his jaw clenched slightly at Barry's actions. 

"We don't have to do this right now." She asserted, raising her hands in surrender. "Just leave us alone and we can deal with all of this shit later."

Barry turned back on JJ, cocking his head to the side slightly. "I'm here, because I want my mother fucking money!" As the final word left his mouth, he grabbed onto JJ's head, shoving him to the ground. 

All hell broke lose in that very moment. 

Kiara had barely taken a step forward by the time Rafe had grabbed onto her, yanking her away from the scene. "JJ!" She screamed, struggling against the older boy's grasp.

Charlotte wasn't thinking clearly when she acted, that much was clear. Most level-headed people wouldn't step in the way of a man with a gun. But Charlotte wasn't level-headed on her best days. 

As Barry stepped back to kick at JJ, Charlotte grabbed him from behind, trying to pry him away from her friend. 

Barry, obviously, did not react kindly to that, and in one movement had managed to throw Charlotte against the concrete. Pain shot through her side as she let out a sputtered cough.

"Hey!" Rafe called aggressively from where he was dealing with Kie. "Not her."

Ignoring Rafe's orders, Barry turned back to Charlotte, his lip curling up as he stared down at her. She had barely raised her hands in surrender when Barry drew back, bringing the heel of his pistol crashing into Charlotte's forehead. 

Her head smacked around the concrete, vision blurring as pain shot through her entire upper half. 

"Charley!" JJ coughed, still recovering from his brief beating. 

The world around her became muffled for a moment as Charlotte rolled onto her back, trying to gain her composure. She could hear sounds, but not voices. Could see colours, but not shapes. 

Warm blood had begun to seep from her forehead, slowly trickling down her face. The blood coated her eyes, making it even more difficult for her to regain full consciousness. 

She could tell that something was happening around her, but couldn't tell what. 

Incessant ringing sounded in her ears, her eyes struggled to adjust to the light. 

"Fuck." She whispered to no one but herself. She needed to get up and help JJ. She needed to get up.

Barry yelled something from somewhere near her. JJ grunted as it sounded like he was hit again. 

Charlotte couldn't hear her sister and Rafe, nor could she see them. She had no idea what was happening with them. 

Come on. 

Get up.

Her mind jumped into overdrive, consciousness seeming to flood back to her almost all at once. Her forehead was still sticky with her own blood, and bile rose in her throat as she moved too quickly. 

But she managed to sit up, blinking to adjust to the light as she turned her head. 

Everything had gone to shit since she first hit the ground. But it wasn't her friends who were on the receiving end anymore. 

Suddenly, her sister was in front of her, and it was her who yanked Charlotte off the floor, quickly checking her head before pulling her close to her and away from the chaos. 

Finally up on her feet, Charlotte was able to assess the current damage of her surroundings. 

Barry was no longer attacking JJ, but rather, the latter was giving the town drug dealer everything he deserved and then some. 

What shocked Charlotte the most, was the fact that Pope was here, and he was beating the ever-living shit out of Rafe. 

The eldest Carrera girl's body seized as the bile from before rose again. She clutched onto Kie, tears flooding her eyes. 

She was inexplicably pissed at Rafe. She was betrayed by him and perhaps she was scared of him. But she still loved him. And she couldn't bear to see him beaten like that.

"Pope!" She screamed, her voice raw and thick with terror. "Pope, stop!" She had never sounded so afraid, so desperate.

Kiara clutched onto her sister tighter, sensing her pain! "Pope!" The youngest of the two called. "That's enough"

With Barry immobilized for the time being, JJ turned toward the two girls, noting their screams before focusing on Pope and Rafe. "Hey! Snap out of it man."

Pope ignored all three of their screams, continuing to drive his fist into the face of Charlotte Carrera's first love. Her only love.

"He's had enough, man!" JJ yelled, trying to garner Pope's attention. "Come on!"

"STOP IT!" Charlotte cried, tears melding with the blood that was still seeping down her face. "STOP!"

Their pleas still went unanswered as Pope reached for a piece of hose, securing it around Rafe's neck before pulling. His eyes were nothing but crazed, it was as if the real Pope was no longer even in there. 

He was killing Rafe. He was actually going to do it.

Shoving away from her sister, Charlotte stumbled toward the two boys, trying to figure out what to do. She couldn't fight Pope off on her own. He was in a mad-driven state. Nothing was getting through to him. 

JJ stopped her before she could get too close, and the look on her face caused him to actually feel some sort of remorse for Rafe Cameron. 

So, he was the one to approach the pair, grabbing onto his friend, he tried to pry him away. "Come on, Pope! He's had enough!"

But Pope was so determined to kill Rafe Cameron, not even JJ could stop him. 

There was only one thing that caused him to falter, and that was Kiara. "Pope, look at me!"

Her final scream echoed through the hangar, everything suddenly falling silent as Pope finally released Rafe. The younger of the two boys stumbled away, his eyes wide. 

Charlotte let out a sob, watching as Rafe crumbled to the floor, his face covered in blood, his neck red and already bruising,

She didn't even think twice before dropping to her knees next to him, taking his face into her hands. "You're okay." She cried, holding onto him as he let out sputtered coughs. "Just take a deep breath."

"Shit." JJ cursed, each of them coming to the realization of what had just happened. 

Charlotte wasn't in her right mind at all, she wasn't even sure who she was more mad at. "What the fuck, Pope?" She whispered, shaking her head in disbelief. It didn't really come from a place of anger, but rather a place of complete and utter shock. She had never expected him to do that, to go that far. 

Rafe clutched onto her hand, rolling over onto his back as he still tried to catch his breath. Charlotte tried to see through her tears as she pushed the hair out of Rafe's face, trying to assess the damage.

"Okay." Kiara announced, her voice wobbling. "Okay, we gotta go."

The grip that Rafe had on Charlotte's hand tightened, begging her not to leave him. 

"Charley, let's go." JJ prodded, lightly grabbing a hold of her. "Come on."

He knew she wouldn't leave Rafe by her own free will, he knew he had to prod her. "We gotta go." He repeated. 

More tears welled in Charlotte's eyes as she looked down at Rafe. He tightened his grip once again, but only for a brief moment before releasing it...he was letting her go.

She almost didn't believe it, but before she even had a chance to question it, JJ had pulled her to her feet. 

He ushered her toward the car, not releasing his grip on her as he placed her in the front seat, reaching over to do up her seat belt for her. 

Charlotte was in such as state of shock, she barely moved as he did so. Her eyes were set forward, trying to work over in her mind what the fuck had just happened.

Pope was last in the car, and he slammed the door behind him so harshly it startled Charlotte from the daze she was in. 

"Charlotte." Kiara declared, holding something out. "Put this on your head."

Looking at her sister, Charlotte heard the words she was saying, but couldn't will her body to move. 

"Come on!" Kie snapped, wanting to get the hell out of there. "Please."

Charlotte was still unable to move. Warm tears fell down her cheeks as her heart seemed to squeeze so tightly in her chest she couldn't breathe. 

Barry and Rafe tried to hurt them. 

Barry wanted to kill JJ. 

Rafe hurt Kie. 

Pope tried to kill Rafe. 

Rafe almost died. 

He almost died.

The cloth was pressed to her head, and Charlotte moved her eyes enough to see that it was JJ who had leaned forward to put pressure on her wound. 

"I think she's concussed." He whispered to Kie as the car started up. "That piece of shit hit her pretty hard."

Kiara glanced over at her sister, worry striking her features. "Should we take her to the hospital?"

Charlotte wanted to speak, but her words seemed to catch in her throat. All she could do was stare ahead. 

"There's no time." JJ answered regretfully. "We'll keep an eye on her. If things go south, one of us will take her."

"Even if she's concussed, shouldn't she be saying something?" Kiara wondered, waving a hand in front of her sister's face. "She's, like, totally checked out."

"She's in shock." Pope finally announced, his voice full of emotions. "That's what's wrong with her."

They were speaking about Charlotte like she wasn't there, but quite frankly, she wasn't...not really. 

JJ repositioned the cloth that was pressed against Charlotte's forehead. Pushing a piece of hair out of the bloody mess, he winced. "Will she be okay?"

Pope gave a small nod, regret beginning to seep into his expression. "Yeah." He assured. "Just give her a bit of time."

Charlotte wasn't really sure if she agreed with Pope. Time couldn't fix what she was feeling. 

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