Birdy || Outerbanks || JJ Maybank & Rafe Cameron

18. They only found one body

-

It wasn't that difficult to get Rose by herself as Ward went and locked himself in his study.

Sarah went to her room as did wheezie and Rafe hoped that JJ didn't get himself caught by one of them. He wouldn't hear the end of it if Sarah caught JJ in the house when he's not even supposed to be in outerbanks.

Rose was in the kitchen drinking some wine when Rafe walked in. She seemed to be ignoring him, but Rafe wasn't going to take anyone's bullshit, not anymore.

Rafe glanced at Rose as he pulled out a knife from the knife board. It was the sharpest one, and he trailed it along the counter as he stalked closer to Rose.

"..I'm only gonna ask you this once, and do not make me repeat myself," Rafe stood in front of Rose, and held the knife out, the tip of the knife inches away from her neck, and her eyes met Rafe's.

They were full of fear, and she glanced down at the knife before her met Rafe's again.

"What do you know?" Rafe questioned, and Rose gulped nervous before she drowned down the rest of her wine.

"..they only found one body." Rose shakily spoke, eyeing the knife.

"What? What do you mean, they only found one body?" Rafe questioned, and Rose cleared her throat.

"At Clarissa's house. They only found her body, burned to the crisp, but that was the only body they found, Ward paid the cops to lie about finding the girls body, but they never found her, what we buried was an empty casket." Rose told him,

Rafe stared at her. Was Wynonna still alive? Ward knew this whole time, and he didn't bother to tell him?

Anger flashed through his eyes, and Rose was afraid that Rafe was going to kill her as his grip on the knife tightened, but he backed up.

"That bastard." He muttered under his breath, and Rose accidentally knocked over the glass of wine.

It shattered on the ground with a loud shattering sound.

Rafe glanced at her and scoffed before walking out of the kitchen and towards his father's study.

He didn't care if he was busy. He needed answers.

He didn't hesitate a second to burst the door open and slamming it behind him, and Ward looked at him with narrowed eyes before his eyes saw the knife.

"..Rafe, what's with the knife?" Ward questioned, wearily eying it.

Rafe looked down at the knife, "Oh, I used it to threaten Rose with it," He pointed it at his father, "Now, I'm using it on you."

"Rafe.." Ward started, but Rafe interrupted him ,"Shut up! Rose told me they only found one body, is that true?"

Ward didn't reply, just stared at his son, but most of all, the knife. Rafe was unpredictable and unstable.

"Is it true!?" Rafe snapped, and Ward nodded, "yes. It's true. They only found Clarissa's body, and I paid the police to lie about finding her niece body, we buried an empty casket. Happy now?" Ward asked,

"Why!? Why the fuck would you lie about Nonna being dead!?" Rafe questioned, his grip on his knife lightening even more.

He just wanted to take out his anger on something and that something was becoming Ward. Rafe wanted nothing more than to stab the knife into Ward, just over and over again.

"You act like you loved her or something..." Ward trailed off as he came to a realization,

"You do. You love her." Ward said, and Rafe scoffed,

"So, what? Where is she?" Rafe questioned, and Ward sighed.

"I don't know, but I do know for a fact that her friend, that Maybank kid, has the letter, and I found out that they're going after the rest of the gold, I'd say we take it and we take that Kid and make him give us the letter. We get the gold and the letter." Ward told him

Rafe cursed under his breath. Of course, everything was starting to make sense.

Rafe put the knife down, and he shook his head before walking out of the study, only to be met with wheezie, who looked like a deer caught in a headlight.

Rafe sent her a look, and she quietly ran off, and Rafe went upstairs, meeting JJ on the top of the stairs, who was eating a sandwich.

"..you made yourself a sandwich?" Rafe asked, and JJ snapped his head towards him, a small grin on his face.

"Wheezie found me, offered me a sandwich, and I couldn't say no to free food. What's with the knife?" JJ questioned, glancing down at the knife as he finished his sandwich.

It wasn't as good as Wynonna's, but it will do.

"Oh, I threatened Rose and Ward with it. Did you find anything?" Rafe asked, and JJ nodded, pulling out a phone from his pocket.

"Isn't that mine? When did you get it?" Rafe questioned, sending JJ a look, and JJ just smirked at him.

"Stole it," He shrugged before he turned the phone so it was facing Rafe. "Found the painting, I know the place, been there before with my friends."

"The gold?" Rafe took a guess , and it seemed he was right as JJ'S eyes widened slightly.

"How do you know that?" JJ asked, and Rafe sighed ,"I'll tell you in the truck, let's go."

JJ nodded, "Okay."

- -

The sun was rising, and neither of the boys had gotten a wink of sleep. It's not like it never happened before. JJ could barely sleep without having a bad dream, and Rafe was plagued by guilt that he rarely closed his eyes without seeing the betrayed look on Nonna's face.

"..he's after the Gold, he's gonna go after the gold, your friends, and..you, he knows you have the letter." Rafe spoke up after a while.

"Okay? So, what? I won't ever give up that letter. I'll protect it with my life." JJ replied with a small shrug.

"Are you an idiot? He's gonna kill you, either way JJ, if not, he's gonna kill your friends first." Rafe told him,

JJ sighed, "I'm fine with dying.."

"Well, I'm not!" Rafe snapped, stopping the truck and turning to face JJ, who looked a bit startled by the sudden outburst.

His shock was overcome by anger, "Why do you care? Huh? Do I need to remind you that my only reason to live is literally buried six feet under the ground because of you?"

"She's not dead!" Rafe let out a deep breath as JJ stared at him, "they only found one body. Her aunt, Ward, buried an empty casket, and I just found out today,"

"But JJ.. I do care about you, Nonna does, so I do. If anything happens to you, she'll kill me." Rafe said,

"Birdy's alive? Where is she!?" JJ questioned, his eyes full of excitement at the thought of his birdy still alive and waiting for him to find her.

Rafe sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I don't know, but I know one thing for sure,"

"All of this has to do with the Gold."

------------------

Word count - 1198

Thoughts?