"WHAT HAPPENED?" Carson asked softly. After they had broke out of their hug, she pulled JJ away to talk to him. She needed to know the truth about his dad. If she didn't know then she couldn't help him, and she wanted nothing more than to help him. She just hoped he was ready to accept that help.

He was still drunk and upset. He just sat on the front porch, staring out at the hot tub like it was some kind of distraction for him. Maybe that was why he bought it in the first place. She didn't want to push him, but she wanted him to talk to her.

"I should have come with you," she said when he didn't say anything. She had been feeling guilty for not taking his side when he had asked her to. Maybe if she had just pushed past her pride and gone with him, this wouldn't have happened. Maybe she could have taken him somewhere besides his house. Or maybe she could have stopped his dad from beating him. But she wasn't there for him. "I'm so sorry, JJ. I should have been there."

"It's not your fault," he said quietly. "There's nothing you could have done."

"It doesn't matter," she said. "You've been there for me for everything. I should have been there for you."

"You're here now, aren't you?" He finally looked over at her. He looked tired. Whether that was from the alcohol or from crying or both, she wasn't sure.

"Yeah, I'm here now," she said. She reached her hand up and brushed his hair out of his face. "And I'm not going anywhere. I promise." She leaned in and pressed a kiss to his cheek, letting her lips linger for a moment before she pulled away. "He's not going to hurt you anymore. I won't let that happen. You can move into John B's or come stay with me and my mom. I don't care what you decide, but I'm not letting you go back there. I love you too much to see you hurt like this." His eyes moved over to meet hers when he heard this. At first he almost thought he had imagined it, but by the look on her face, he realized he didn't.

"You love me?"

"Yeah, JJ. I love you," she said. "Of course I do." If she hadn't sounded so certain, he would have questioned it. He didn't think he deserved her. The fact that she was telling him how much he meant to her meant more than she could know. He had always known that she loved him, but that was always as a friend. Now, this meant something different. It meant something more.

"I love you too, Carson," he told her. She would have been okay without him saying it back. She hadn't said it so that he felt like he had to say it back. But he did, and he had realized that long before they were even together. She smiled and leaned into him, pressing a deep kiss onto his lips. Gold or not, they had each other and that was enough for her.

✰

"How's it feeling?" Pope asked. Kiara was in the middle of hanging on the barrel from the tree. They were making sure that it was sturdy enough to lower them into the well to get the gold.

"Feels good," she said.

"Alright, I'm taking you down," he said.

"John B pullin' a Houdini," JJ said as he sat on the edge of the hot tub. Carson was leaning against it behind him.

"Yeah, where is he?" Pope asked. "I got my scholarship interview tomorrow morning. We gotta get this done." Almost like it was on cue, John B walked through.

"Speak of the devil," JJ said. When John B just ignored him, he screamed. "Hey! Dude, I set up the entire winch to pull up the gold and everything." Carson could tell right away that something was wrong. He wouldn't have just kept walking like that without saying anything to them if something hadn't happened.

"John B," she called. She walked as quickly as she could with her still-sore ankle into the house. "What happened?" He started going through his house, not even bothering to acknowledge any of them. "Hey, John B."

"You alright, man? What- what's up?" Pope said.

"What are you looking for?" Kiara asked.

"Bro, what's going on, man?" JJ said. He lifted the mattress and turned around with the gun in his hand. "John B, what do you need the gun for? Talk to us!" John B just grabbed JJ and threw him onto the bed to get him out of his way.

"Dude, what're you doing?" Carson shouted. He had been the one that exploded on JJ for losing his shit and now he was the one that was. The roles had quickly reversed and it was a concerning sight. None of them had ever really seen him like that before. Usually he was the calm and collected one.

"John B, chill!" Kiara said.

"What, are you JJ now?" Pope said. John B just easily threw him out of the way too, pushing roughly past Carson to get through the door. She balanced herself before following him out to the front yard.

"John B!" she said. "Just tell us what happened!" He revved the engine of the bike before finally revealing what it was that got him all worked up.

"Ward knows about the gold!" he said. "He killed my dad." Carson took a step back out of shock. She felt like she had just took a hard punch to the gut. She stared wide-eyed as John B drove away, being left with the huge bombshell.

"Oh my God," she said. Ward - her father - had killed John B's dad.

✰

Carson felt a newfound hatred for Ward. This wasn't just about her anymore. It was about John B and what Ward did to his dad. Big John had been like a father to Carson. He had stepped in to fill that void in her life. And then he went missing. It hit her deep, but she knew that she had to push past her own sadness so that she could help John B with his. Now that she knew what really happened, she couldn't hold back anymore.

Her thought process was clouded as she found herself storming up to the Camerons' house. Confronting Ward was definitely the worst option but she couldn't help herself. She was overcome with anger. She banged on the front door. The second Ward opened the door she threw her fists at him. She had managed to get a few punches in, simply because he had not expected to be greeted like that, but then he was able to grab her wrists to stop her.

"What did you do?" she screamed. "What the fuck did you do?" He pushed her outside and shut the door behind him to avoid his family hearing the screaming girl. She had a lot of secrets on him that could destroy his family, so he was not going to let her do that. "Fuck you! Let go of me." She thrashed around, trying to yank her wrists out of his tight grip.

"Calm down," he said.

"You killed Big John!" she yelled. Tears spilled down her cheeks. "You killed John B's dad! How could you do that?" He pressed his hand against her mouth in an attempt to muffle her screams. As much as Carson thought he didn't give a shit about her, there was a part of him that did care about her because she was his daughter after all, so he didn't want to hurt her. Carson just would not stop screaming.

"Carson, calm down," he said. "Stop screaming." She tried to push his hands off her mouth but he was too strong. The feeling of her mouth being held shut mixed with the overwhelming emotions that she was feeling made her start to feel like she was suffocating. Her chest heaved as she looked at him desperately to show him that she couldn't breathe. He must have realized this because he finally took his hand off her mouth and she gasped for air. She was still horrified by him but she couldn't find it in her to scream at him anymore. She was exhausted. "You need to leave. Right now. And if you don't, I will call the cops, Carson. So please, just leave."