chapter fifty two
"rip your tongue out"

      "THIS'LL ONLY TAKE A SEC, I think it's in the surf shack. Be right out."

      JJ swung open the wide car door as he darted off in an instant, his worn tennis shoes dug deeply into the muddy ground as he scattered off towards the surf shack. Lynn shook her head aimlessly, throwing her arms over her chest as she bumped her elbow into Kie beside her — she was in the passengers seat, the brunette was in the drivers.

      The Pogue group barely trusted Lynn to drive the busted version of the VW van, so there was no way Kie was allowing the blonde to drive her fathers expensive and perfect truck.

      However, what cold energy that was floating between the two females disappeared within a second as JJ tried hopping over a small bush — where it caught his foot and he was sent crumpling the ground. Lynn snorted so hard she swore she practically blew her nose out, and had to cover her lips promptly to not allow any loud fits of laughter.

      JJ jumped up from the grass without a single second of struggle, throwing his arms up in the air towards the girls awaiting him in the truck, "I'm okay!"

      "That's our idiot," Lynn chuckled while she watched through the dusty window as JJ entered the surf shack, she then switched over towards Kie for her reaction — dull, void of emotion. "Alright, spit it out. What the hell is wrong with you?"

      Kie glanced over her shoulder for a second, merely a second, before switching back to staring aimlessly out the window, muttering a weak, "Nothing."

      "There's clearly something that has your panties in a twist," Lynn replied dryly, resting her elbow on the truck's handle — she had rolled the window door the second they pulled up, her fingertips were dancing in the slight wind that had picked up. "What did I do?"

      "Don't, for one minute, think that you had any effect whatsoever on my panties," Kiara snarkily replied, and even though the sentence had been delivered with a slight venomous touch, there was amusement written in it.

     Lynn swung her head towards Kie with an infamous crooked smirk, she almost smiled, "Oh, so you'll quote our all-time favorite movie but won't let me touch you?"

      Kie rolled her dark hazel eyes, and silence filled the air for a second. Desperate for JJ to hurry up with finding that wrench so that whatever this conversation was would surely end, Kiara frantically pressed on the truck's horn, multiple times.

      "Kiara, hey," Lynn launched her hand forward, warmly placing it on top of Kie's spare palm resting on her lap — her coffee-bean brown eyes darting upwards to meet the crystal blue of Lynn's. "Just tell me what's wrong, okay? Because I've already lost JJ, and I can't possibly imagine losing you too—"

       "—You kissed Sarah!"

      Lynn's ranting was quick to be interrupted Kie's, her face straightening out as only seriousness remained. Her jaw had went slack, honestly, her entire face was flooded with shock. Whatever that was wrong with Kie, she had never expected it to be about the fact she and Sarah kissed the previous day.

      She was speechless, "What?"

      "Sarah told me, and that you guys did more than just that," Kie explained rather quickly, and there was spiteful tone of voice being used. It was true yes, that after they had tucked themselves into Sarah's bed, certain actives had trailed shortly after. But what Lynn didn't understand, how did this affect Kie whatsoever? "Did you?"

      "Yeah, I mean, we didn't have sex, if that's what you're asking," Lynn replied while shrugging her shoulders aimlessly, probably because she was still a bit tongue-tied and couldn't get the right words tighter. "I'm confused, Kiara, why does this bother you? JJ broke up with me, if you're suggesting—"

      "—I liked you, Evelynn," Kie sighed, and it was appearing like her hardened exterior of a shell was shattering with each passing second. She had a pinched expression, a certain sorrow stained her eyes. "I had the biggest crush on you. But all these years, you only ever cared about JJ."

      "T-That's a lie, Kiara," Lynn stated, and she was heavily shaking her head with distain littering all over her face, she hated the fact Kie felt like this — and she didn't even know, how she hadn't even caught on? "If I had known..."

      "Oh, you would've given up your six year long crush on the same boy?"

      Good one, Kiara.

      "Well, you still should've told me! How was I supposed to just read your mind?" Lynn sputtered, a bit unfocused — Kie's words had completely and utterly taken her off guard. "I didn't know, honestly, Kiara. If I did, I wouldn't have kissed Sarah, it would've been you."

      "I thought you would've been able to catch on after we were each other's first kiss," grumbled Kie under her breath, but it wasn't with much attitude — there was a playful tone of voice. Lynn hoped that this meant all awkwardness was being left behind in the dust, and that they were alright again.

      "Yeah," Lynn chuckled, bumping her shoulder into that of Kie's, teasingly. The two girls let soft laughs leave their lungs, and it made the atmosphere feel a bit lighter. "I guess we both enjoyed that kiss a little bit too much to be straight."

      Kie snorted, "True that."

      "Does that mean you forgive me?" Lynn hummed, there was hopefulness sparkling in her eyes as she drifted towards Kie, face pouting with full on puppy dog eyes. Kie huffed dramatically as a reply, folding her arms over her chest as she stared out the window. "Damn, that usually works like a charm."

      Lynn leaned forward, tucking two fingers under Kiara's chin to force the brunette girl to stare at her, a little smirk crossed her pink lips as she noticed the faint embarrassed blush glowing on Kie's cheeks.

      Their breathes were practically bouncing off each other, Lynn whispered a flirty, little note, "I wish you would've told me earlier than this, Carrera, I think things would've been different."

      "Yo, start the truck!"

      Both Lynn and Kie jumped from each others touch as JJ's voice ricocheted throughout the air with ease, and their eyes darted towards where his voice had originated. But when both of the girls were expecting a bag of helpful supplies in one hand and the wrench in the other, there was a much, much worse surprise to their liking.

      Luke Maybank.

      "What the fuck," were the first words to leave Lynn's lips, her pink lips had parted into a gasp and she instinctively unlocked her own door and hopped out of the vehicle. Surprisingly, probably because she was stuck in her own shock, Kie stayed planted in the truck.

      Sharp daggers were pointed in the direction of Luke, being the last time she had saw him he had actually been decent piece of shit, but still, was a piece of shit. Luke seemed entertained, a slight smirk strung along his face, satisfied with seeing the way her upper lip was curling with utter disgust.

      Then her eyes landed on JJ, her cold hard expression disappeared as a certain softness remained. His blonde strands of hair were more wild than usual, she saw a red mark on his left forearm, and his eyes were purposely avoiding her.

      "You can wipe that ugly smirk off your face, dipshit, because you're not getting whatever it is you want," growled Lynn at Luke as she took a protective step towards JJ, but when she was expecting the blonde boy to only further support the statement, he stayed silent. "This is not happening, J."

      "Just get in the truck, Eve," JJ snapped, and he was still narrowly escaping her eyesight, she was just stunned.

      Kiara didn't step out of the truck, she instead just rolled down the window of the drivers side door, "I'm sorry, the twinkie's drowning right now, JJ. What is the plan?"

      Lynn switched from staring at Kie, towards JJ, she hooked her fingertips around his muscled forearm to force him to come to a halt — it was practically the first time she had touched him since their break-up. "J, what are you—"

      "—Listen to me!" JJ exploded, wrapping his own palms around Lynn's shoulder as he shoved her against the metal of the truck, the action completely took her off guard and she shuddered with anxiety. JJ fucked up, he knew with everything she goes through with her asshole of a father, he shouldn't have ever laid a hand on her. "I need to get into the marina at the Island Club, there's a boat there he can take. Kie's got the sticker on her truck. Twenty minutes, that's all I need."

      "Get the fuck off me," Lynn warned in between gritted teeth, but it wasn't because she was angry — she was actually close to tears, her blue eyes had a certain gloss in them that no one would be able to just ignore. She shoved JJ's hands off of herself, where she used to love the warmth, but nothing but fear and coldness remained. "I don't give a fuck, JJ, let's just get this over with."

      "The twinkie's gonna be a submarine in twenty minutes!" Kie added within a second, her dark hazel eyes were spread with disbelief as Luke just helped himself to getting into the truck without a single word. "Leave him, and we can come back."

      "The cops are after him!" JJ slammed his fist onto the hood of the truck, his jaw was so tightened Lynn could see the muscles hovering. She didn't say anything, instead spinning to the other side of the truck to get back int the passengers seat — she was shutting down, she knew she was. "If I do this now, maybe I will never have to do it again."

      Lynn peeled over her shoulder as JJ hopped into the back of the vehicle, and this time, Kiara stayed quiet and didn't seem to have the energy to fight it any further. Luke seemed to notice the tension between the Bardot girl and his son, and a little mischievous smirk took over his expression.

      "Trouble in paradise?" Luke hummed towards his son, but JJ didn't look up from fiddling with his fingers. Lynn didn't like the idea of the boy being side by side with his abusive piece of shit father, so she exhaled a heavy breath.

      "Stop," Lynn directed towards just as the brunette put the truck into drive, and she popped open her door again while jumping out, she quickly wrapped her fingers around the door handle of where JJ was sitting — he confusingly furrowed his eyebrows. "Get in the front seat."

      JJ shook his head, "What? No—"

      "—J, I swear to fucking god, get your ass in the front seat," Lynn snapped, a fierce expression replaced her previously agitated one, and her eyes fluttered towards Luke. "If you even mutter one word to me, I'm going to rip your tongue out and shove it down your throat, got it?"

      JJ didn't hesitant to obey the words of Evelynn, where he crawled into the front passenger seat as Lynn climbed into the back. She purposely left plenty of space between her and Luke, and was almost itching for the older man to just try her.

      "Looks like you picked yourself a feisty one, JJ," Luke laughed a bit boomingly as Kie pulled the truck into a reverse, already speeding down the road towards the marina that the older man would need to get the hell out of their hair. Lynn shot him a sharp glare, and he seemingly zipped his lips within a second.

      This is going to be fun.

a/n: frantically have been editing troublemaker today because the sooner i finish editing, the sooner i can bind my own book of it😎anyway, drama is up and coming yo!