─☼☼☼─

𝙎𝙐𝙉𝙇𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏 𝙇𝙀𝘼𝙆𝙀𝘿 𝙏𝙃𝙍𝙊𝙐𝙂𝙃 the windows of the Twinkie, causing Charlotte to squint in discomfort.  

She hadn't had a wink of sleep, absolutely none. 

Because Rafe didn't get out of the Outer Banks, not even close. 

She had received a call from Kildare County Detention Center not long after she had left Barry's trailer...Rafe had been arrested and he had stupidly wasted his one call on her. 

Charlotte wasn't sure whether she should be relieved or terrified that he hadn't left. This would be the wake up call he needed...but she didn't think he could survive in prison. He talked way too much, and without his father to back him up, he was a lone wolf all out in the open. 

But maybe Ward would end up there too, then all would be right in the world. 

Maybe this was Charlotte's sign to move on. 

With Rafe and Ward in prison, she could move on, maybe go back to college, hook up with some guy in a bar and pretend this summer never happened...maybe. 

But even with justice sorting itself out, their fight was far from over, because not long after receiving the call from Rafe, she had received a call from her sister, letting her know that Heyward had been jumped by that goony of Limbrey's, looking for the key that Pope just so happened to have. 

Obviously, they were inept to just letting sleeping dogs lie, so their mission of the day was to go and talk to Pope's great-grandmother to see if she knew anything about this family heirloom that came in the shape of a little key. 

Honestly, part of Charlotte was kind of excited. She loved the tracking down of historical clues. She wasn't a huge fan of their family members getting jumped and a bunch of weirdos coming after them, but beggars can't be choosers, right?

"Guys, the thing that Limbrey said yesterday, I don't think she meant to let it slip." Pope announced, twirling the key around in his hand. 

A yawn escaped Charlotte's lips as she quickly tried to muffle it. "What'd she say?"

He looked over at her, holding up the key. "She said that the key leads to the Cross of Santo Domingo."

JJ turned around from the front seat, sticking his hand out. "Wait, can I see that?"

Pope handed it over as Sarah spoke. "Are we supposed to know what that is?"

"I'm guessing it's some sort important historical artifact."

Considering Charlotte was a chronic Googler, she already had a link to a website pulled up with all the answers they needed. "According to the wonderful world of the internet, it was a gift from New Spain to the Spanish king."

"New Spain?" JJ echoed, looking over at John B, "Is there an Old Spain?"

Kiara leaned over, looking at her sister's phone screen, "Shit," she muttered, grabbing the phone and turning it toward the others, "Talk about over-gifting. Look at that thing."

Sarah squinted at the picture. "Looks like there's a person standing next to it."

"So it's a giant-ass cross?" JJ deduced. 

Charlotte took the phone back from his sister, reading the rest of the article. "It says it was widely considered at the time to be the most extravagant tribute ever from the provinces. It was lost off the coast of Bermuda in 1829."

JJ turned, "Did you just say Bermuda?"

"Not the Triangle." John B groaned, throwing his head back slightly. 

"It always leads back to the Triangle, dude!" JJ insisted. "Like every single time something's weird, it's Bermuda."

Kiara ignored the blabbering in the front and instead focused on Pope. "Okay, but what does a key found above your Mee-Maw's pharmacy have to with any of this."

Sarah nodded. "Yeah. Where do we come in?"

Pope nodded, the gears in his smart little brain turning, "I don't know. That's a good question."

"Wow," Charlotte muttered to herself as the pulled up in front of the retirement home, her eyes were still on her phone screen, "The history of this is actually very intriguing."

JJ turned to look at her, raising his brows. "You're such a nerd it hurts me."

Rolling her eyes, Charlotte pocketed her phone. "Just because you can't see the beauty of history, doesn't mean I can't, JJ." She chastised, which earned an eye roll in return. 

"What would we do without our little nerds Charley and Pope, seriously curious." John B wondered, shifting the van into park. 

"We'd be screwed." Sarah answered, shooting Charlotte a smile. 

The eldest Carrera girl feigned annoyance for a moment. "Since when did picking up a book once in a while make someone a nerd?" 

"Since always." JJ answered, pulling open the back door of the Twinkie to allow the others to jump out. 

Pope was first, followed closely by Kiara. Before she could get all the way out, he turned to face her. "Actually, I think I'm going to do this one by myself."

Sarah and Charlotte paused, both of them previously in the process of getting out of their seats. Kiara faltered in the doorway, shoulders falling slightly. "You sure."

Pope nodded, clenching his jaw. "Yeah, I can handle it. I don't really need you anyway."

"Oof." Charlotte hadn't meant for the sound to leave her lips, but it did anyway. 

JJ mirrored her reaction. "Well, we're just one big happy family today, aren't we?"

Pope scowled, turning away from them without another word. 

"We'll pick you up in a bit!" John B called, as if calling to the child he was dropping off at a playdate. 

Ignoring that too, Pope disappeared toward the nursing home as the rest of them fell into an awkward silence, no one really wanting to ask what was going on between Kie and Pope. 

JJ, apparently, had other things on his mind. "So, Charls, how did you big chat with psycho killer go yesterday?"

Charlotte's heart skipped a beat for a moment as she glared up at JJ, hating the smug look on his face. None of them knew that Rafe had been arrested, and none of them knew that she had told him to run. 

Glancing over at Sarah who was watching her with defeated eyes, Charlotte cleared her throat. "He was arrested." She muttered, "Last night."

A ripple of shock tore through the vehicle as everyone regarded her with wide eyes. "And you didn't think to tell us?" Kie snapped incredulously. 

Charlotte shrugged, picking at the frayed bottoms of her shorts. "Slipped my mind."

"You convinced him to turn himself in?" John B wondered, looking at her through the rearview mirror. 

"No." Charlotte answered quietly, still busying herself with her shorts, not looking up at them. 

"You turned him in?" JJ asked, hope in in his tone. 

She shook her head. "No."

"You went there to warn him." Kiara finally concluded, knowing her sister too well. "Told him to run."

Heat rose to Charlotte's cheeks as John B let out a groan, JJ doing the same followed by a few curse words. 

"I went to say goodbye." she clarified. "Yeah, I told him to get out of here and never come back. He can't hurt us anymore if he's not here and Ward can't fuck him up any more than he already has."

Finally, Charlotte looked up, and the only person she looked at was Sarah. She felt horrible that she loved a man who had tried to kill her friend the night before, who had tried to kill all of them in one way or another. 

"Don't blame her." Sarah ordered to the boys and Kiara, her own eyes sad. "It's not Char's fault that she loves him. Sometimes you're willing to do the stupidest things for the ones you love." Her eyes were on John B now, his meeting hers through the rearview mirror. 

"I'm still with you guys." Charlotte promised, not wanting them to think she had jumped ship. "I always will be."

They were all silent for a moment before John B finally nodded. "Yeah. We know."

Charlotte gave him a grateful smile. "Good."

─☼☼☼─

Taking another swig of her soda, Charlotte leaned into the bench in front of Kildare County Surfboard Co. where her, Sarah, and Kie were currently standing. They had left the boys in the van, giving the girls much needed time to discuss the shit show that was their lives. 

"Of course I thanked Topper." Sarah continued on her long-winded rant, "He saved my life, and I put him through so much already. And you'd think that that was the crime of the century." 

Apparently, her and John B's honeymoon period was so over. 

"Tell me about it." Kiara agreed. "All of this crazy shit is happening and Pope's giving me the silent treatment for not being in love with him."

"And we're the dramatic ones." Sarah laughed. 

Charlotte took another sip as both of the girls then looked at her, mischievous curiosity in both of their eyes. 

Her eyes darted between the two of them, not sure where this was about to go. "What?"

Sarah glanced back at the Twinkie for a moment before refocusing on her friend. "What's going on with you and JJ? There seems to be more tension between the two of you than usual."

Charlotte paled. Her and JJ had wordlessly agreed that they weren't going to tell anyone about their kiss. I mean, they were always the one who swore by the no Pogue-on-Pogue macking rule. If they admitted to breaking it, they would be just as bad as the rest of them. 

So, she did her best to lie. "Don't know what you're talking about." She lied, taking another sip of her drink that was definitely now empty. 

Kiara studied her sister's face for a moment, narrowing her eyes. "You're lying."

"No I'm not."

Turning to Sarah, Kiara nodded. "She's lying."

"I'm not!"

Sarah grinned, sitting down on the bench next to the older girl. "Char, when have you ever been able to lie to us."

Charlotte rose her brows, "Like, all the time."

Leaning closer, Sarah stared into Charlotte's eyes, suddenly, as if the answer had written itself across Charlotte's forehead, she let out a gasp. "You kissed him!"

Charlotte furrowed her brow, doing her best to keep her cover as Kiara and Sarah stared her down. "I did not."

"You so did." Sarah laughed, looking back over to the van. "Oh my God, that's why he's so pissed you went to see Rafe."

"No." Charlotte argued. "It's not like that at all. It was stupid and we're both over it."

Kiara crossed her arms over her chest as she followed Sarah's gaze toward where JJ was. "You sure about that?"

Groaning, Charlotte threw her head back. "This is the last thing any of us need. Can we just drop this? I fucked up, okay? It was my fault and I already feel shitty enough about it."

"He's had a crush on you for like ten years." Kiara pointed out, not entirely pleased with her sister. "Why would you lead him on if you're still obsessed with Rafe."

It felt like a punch to the gut, but it was the truth. The smile faded from Sarah's face as she looked between the two sister. 

"I know." Charlotte agreed, not needing to argue with her sister. She pushed the lump in her throat down. "I know I'm a horrible person, you don't need to tell me. But don't act like JJ has been in love with me forever or something. He had a little school-yard crush, that's it."

"Oh come on." Sarah reasoned, trying to breathe humour back into the conversation. "You probably made his day, Char."

Kiara forced a smile, but her eyes still held some contempt toward her sister. "So everyone's broken the no Pogue-on-Pogue macking rule now, hey?"

A genuine smile came to her face at the fact that her sister had referred to her as a Pogue, despite all that had happened. 

"Yeah." She nodded, watching as a real smile now covered Kiara's face as well. "We really need to branch out."

Sarah snorted as she threw one arm around each sister. "Where's the fun in that?"

─☼☼☼─

"I still can't believe you're related to Denmark Tanny." John B exclaimed, packing back and forth on the pier. 

"Yeah, Pope." Charlotte agreed, taking a swig of her beer. "That's, like, really fucking cool."

After picking Pope up from the nursing home, the bombshell had been dropped that Mee-Maw revealed that the Heyward's were descendants of Mr. Denmark Tanny himself, making everything way more personal than it already was. 

John B feigned shock. "Are we in the presence of a royal?"

JJ, obviously, played along. "A king?" He stepped forward, putting on his best British accent. "We shall crown him. All hail the lord of Tannyhill."

The girls joined in, each of them bowing to Pope as he rolled his eyes. "Alright, everybody relax."

Sarah wore a questioning look, "Relocate the Cat's Ass, question mark?"

JJ pointed at her, "I'm with that."

"How soon can we move in?" Kie wondered. 

"Cause I don't have a place to stay." JJ added. 

Kie grinned. "Me neither. Bunkbeds?"

JJ rose in flask. "Bunkbeds! Cheers to that."

Pope, like usual, ignored their shenanigans. "I just keep thinking about the letter, the one Limbrey sent. It had the wheat symbol on it. That must mean it has something to do with the Royal Merchant."

Charlotte thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, it must all be connected somehow."

Pope nodded in agreement. "But if we find the cross, we can split it like we were gonna split the gold."

JJ shrugged. "Yeah, I'm good with that."

"And live happily ever after?"

That voice did not belong to any of the six Pogues that were gathered at that pier. 

All at once, all six heads toward the source of it, their eyes landing on Limbrey and her lapdog who had approached them unnoticed. 

Instinctually, Charlotte sat up straighter, moving closer to Pope. John B and JJ made similar moves, positioning their bodies in front of their friend. 

The anger coming from Pope could be felt from a mile away. "You assaulted my father." He spat, taking a step toward Limbrey. 

Her groupie pushed Pope away as Limbrey kept a calm composure. "Oh, I didn't assault anybody."

Kie rolled her eyes. "He can identify the psycho from a mile away."

Limbrey feigned confusion. "Why would my employee a-assault your father? That's absurd."

JJ and Charlotte shared a look, each of them preparing to do whatever was necessary if things went south. 

"Listen," She continued, focused on Pope. "We can keep on negotiating, but the fact is that I want the key─"

Her 'employee' shoved Pope back, causing Charlotte and JJ to step forward. "Hey! Paws off." Charlotte snapped, anger coursing through her veins.

Limbrey continued, "I will not stop until I have it. I don't have a choice, which means you don't either."

"It's Limbrey, right?"

All eyes turned to John B who was calmly standing, the key held in his hands. Charlotte wasn't sure when the possession of it had past to him, but she knew he was playing some angel. 

With her eyes lighting up, Limbrey nodded. "Yes."

John B gave her a small smile. "Is this what you're looking for?"

"Yes, it is." She answered, taking a slow step toward him. 

Glancing over his shoulder, John B wore an almost bored expression. "Looking at the tide right now, I'd say it's about 20 feet deep out there. So, if I just threw it in the channel, the probability of you finding it would be slim to none. You want to give it a shot?" He wondered, stepping toward the railing. "Let's see what happens, yeah?"

"No!" Limbrey shouted, the desperation clear in her tone. 

John B faked a throw before turning back toward them, key still in hand. 

The woman in front of them was pale as a ghost, her breath laboured as she relaxed her shoulders slightly, "Please don't do that."

Nodding toward the man, John B twirled the key between his fingers, "Get him to back the hell up."

A sickly sweet smile came to her face for a moment before she turned to the man who was seriously encroaching on Pope's personal space. "Renfield," she ordered, "Back up."

Renfield did as she said, reluctantly taking a step away which allowed Limbrey to approach Pope instead. "As I have told you from the beginning, I am willing to be reasonable."

Pope looked toward John B for a moment, and Charlotte could tell they were up to something. "Okay." He agreed. 

Limbrey looked shocked. "Okay?"

"I'll give you the key, but I want the tape."

"Of course, of course."

John B stepped forward, "Pope, hey, hey, hey. You don't have to do this, okay?"

Pope nodded, "It's okay."

"Dude, this is your family's."

"It's fine." He assured, "It's okay. It's about your dad. That's way more important." He stuck his hand out, waiting for John B to hand the key over. 

Reluctantly, John B handed the key over, but as Charlotte got a good look of it, she knew it wasn't the key. It took everything in her not to grin at the genius of her two friends. 

"Oh," Limbrey sighed contently, "You're a good friend."

Pope rose his brows at her, "The tape?"

"Get him the tape." She ordered Renfield, which prompted him to pull a cassette from his pocket. 

The handoff was completed, and it seemed like all the stress had vanished from Limbrey's body, as did all the niceties. "You know, I really wish that you'd have come to this decision earlier. We could have avoided all this unpleasantness."

"Nice to meet you!" John B called after her as she began to retreat. 

Renfield popped up an umbrella, turning to give Pope a rather taunting smile, "See you around, Pope."

Once they were out of earshot, JJ turned to John B, "How long before they realize that they have your father's old key?"

John B blew out a breath. "Ten minutes?"

Pope looked completely shocked as he turned to them, "Who's idea was the fake key?"

"Surprisingly not mine." Kiara answered. 

Charlotte piped in. "Or mine." 

John B grinned as he threw an arm around JJ's shoulder. "Should we tell 'em?"

A genuine impressed smile came to Charlotte's face as she let out a small laugh. "JJ! I'm impressed."

Kiara echoed in her sister's sentiment, "Maybe you are good for something!"

Pope threw his arm around the other side of JJ, "Did hell freeze over?"

The Maybank boy grinned at the praise, "Even a blind pig can find an acorn at times."Charlotte laughed as he added to his statement, "I don't even know what the statement means but I saw it on Reddit."

John B held up the tape, "We gotta take this to Shoupe."

JJ nodded, "Yes sir. Ward Cameron, we're coming for you big boy."

But amidst all the excitement, Charlotte could see the way the smile faded from Sarah's face, the way a weight settled on her shoulders. Silently, she reached out and took a hold of her friend's hand, letting her know she wasn't alone. 

The chaos was only beginning. 

─☼☼☼─