"Your hired her?" Topper asked his mother in disbelief after Layla had walked into his house with a clear of her throat. The frosted tips boy took his mother to the front porch, making sure Layla couldn't hear before voicing his opinion. Layla stood awkwardly in the kitchen, afraid to touch anything, rocking on her heels.

"You look awkward." a voice spoke as Layla turned quickly and saw Sarah walking into the room, coming from the backyard where Topper was before he barged into the kitchen at the sound of Layla's voice.

"Oh, well, forgive me for being terrified my hands will be chopped off if I touch the designer, Gucci counter tops." Layla's sarcasm made Sarah laugh slightly as she crossed her eyes with a eyebrow raise, "What?"

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be borrowing scuba gear with your friend?" Sarah asked with a smirk. Layla realized she'd either figured it out or John B let it slip once he brought the empty tanks back.

"Working so I don't have to go back to a bible thumping church camp, thank you very much." Layla defended herself as she crossed her arms as well, mimicking Sarah's actions, "Shouldn't you be driving your range rover or defending your psychotic boyfriend?"

"As if your friend didn't pull a gun out." Sarah went back at her quickly, not missing a beat, bound to win the argument.

"I'm not justifying any of his actions that night, nor am I defending him unlike you who couldn't bother to do anything when he was holding my friends head under the water and mocking his dead father." Layla spoke quickly, like Sarah had, letting all her thoughts out without a care if she'd offend the blonde or not.

"What did you expect me to do? Pull him away?" Sarah shot back, uncrossing her arms not to wave them around as she spoke, getting angrier by the second.

"Why wouldn't you? Scared he'd hurt you?" Layla asked as Sarah scoffed and rolled her eyes at Layla's words, "For what it's worth, you should be glad you didn't take the drink."

"What?" Sarah questioned confused, eyeing her at the sudden change of subjects.

"The drink JJ was trying to give you, the worst hangover i've ever experienced." Layla said as Sarah attempted to hold back her smile at her dramatic hand gestures, "Probably needed one of those juice cleanses you were trying to make that day in the parking lot."

"Oh, you mean when they fell from my bag and were ran over?" Sarah asked with a snort at the memory.

"Heard we've canceled blenders." Layla nodded her head with a thinking face, "They say just smooshing them with your car is much better."

"Oh yeah? Makes sense." Sarah said as she nodded. The two nodded together before not being able to take the other series, laughing loudly as their voices bounced off the kitchen walls.

"Hey." Topper said as he walked into the kitchen, eyeing Layla slightly as his moms car started up in the garage, "Shes going to work and says you could get started upstairs, just don't touch anything."

"I have to touch things to organize." Layla said with a stupid look his way, only making Topper scoff and roll his eyes.

"Just don't let your sticky fingers get hold of anything." he snapped at her as Sarah looked to her feet, hoping this would be over.

"Yes sir." Layla said sarcastically as sent a salute and walked up the steps, her comment leaving Sarah with a painful cramp in her face from trying to hold back the humored grin.

"Shes such a bitch." Kie said with a loud groan as Layla told her what happened this morning.

"A sexy bitch." Layla added in as she sipped the lemonade. Kie gave her a annoyed look as Layla chocked, "Sorry."

"You better be." Kie nodded her head at her words, rolling her eyes.

"Kie, I think every woman is sexy, I cant help it." Layla said as she huffed loudly and followed closely behind, "I'm a hormonal teenager who can't get any with her preacher father. Like right now, i'm gonna get a lady boner any second."

"Layla!" Kie scolded her while smacking her arm quickly, her lemonade spilling in the slightest.

"I said sorry!" Layla spoke quickly as she put her hands in the air, holding her lemonade tighter.

"And then we were right outside like this. And all we hear is just, Bam! Bam! Bam! Knocking paint off the wall, G! From the inside!" JJ yelled as he paced around the porch, telling the trio the story what happened to him and John B.

"JJ, baby, calm down." Layla said a she tried to wave him to sit down and take a breather.

"I am calm! I am! And i'm just looking at him, like- wait, first off, look at this shit." JJ announced as he bent over and shook white drops from his hair as Kie scrunched her face in disgust.

"Thats dandruff, disgusting." she commented as Pope tried to get JJ to stop shaking his head.

"Look at all that! All right? That's paint." JJ said as Layla grabbed a small bit and stuck it in her mouth making Kie gag dramatically and look away.

"Hum! He's not lying. Definitely paint, I know because when I was little I use to peel it from my wall and eat it at night." Layla said, seeing Pope give her a judgmental and disgusted look, "Don't judge me, Pope-A-Re-Ne, I was seven."

"Seven and mental." Pope said, making Layla slap his hat off his head.

"At this point, I was just, like... i'm waiting for death." JJ spoke dramatic as he stared into the distance.

"Oh, okay, so you saw the guys that shot at us, right?" Pope asked as he looked to the blonde with a questionable look, "Did you get a good description of them?"

"Or finger prints?" Layla said with a snap of her fingers.

"Berly." JJ said with a point.

"Berly?"

"Yeah."

"That's not very helpful."

"Okay, well, no, like the type of guy at my dads garage." JJ said knowingly as he seized Layla's shoulder knowingly, "You know the ones that always try to flirt with you?"

"Oh, how can I forget the beer belly's and pedos?" Layla asked with a humph, falling back in her chair and downing the rest of her lemonade.

"I mean, you guys know, he made cargo hides for drug smugglers." JJ went on with a slight tone of embarrassment.

"Yeah. No, we know." Kie said, trying to be sentimental but was still annoyed at the same time.

"I can tell you with full confidence, guys, these boys, these killers.." JJ trialed off as he took a large inhale, "They're square groupers."

"Comfortingly." Layla said as she rubbed her forehead with a huff.

"They're square groupers, like narco square grouper?" Pope asked, looking to JJ in exhalation.

"Yeah, man." JJ nodded as he took another long inhale.

"You guys, not everything is a kingpin movie." Kie said in disbelief and annoyance.

"See, thats were you're so wrong, Kiara." Layla said with a snap of her fingers and a knowing look.

"Okay then what does a square grouper look like?" Pope asked, getting annoyance and letting his own panic set in.

"You weren't there, bro!"

"Because apparently you don't know what to look for!"

"I wasn't taking little mental Polaroids the entire time, man! I was under duress, okay?" JJ said in panic as well, his voice getting higher as Layla patted his hip comfortingly, still attempting to get him to sit down with her but his hyper active anxiety wasn't letting him, "But I can tell you, I can tell you by the way that Ms.Lana was screaming.. that these guys are serious, series hombres, man. It's a heavy vibe right now, okay? I'm not liking this very much."

"Come, let me hold you." Layla waved him over as JJ fell into her arms, letting Layla hold him like a child, something she'd done with him and John B for years with their lack of mother.

"Why do they want the compass?" Kie asked as she threw her hands up with a sigh.

"It's a piece of shit." Pope added in as Layla rolled her eyes.

"It's a antique, Pope, respect vintage."
Layla defended the compass with a knowing look.

"The office." John B said quickly after Pope began to speak again.

"The office? Michael Scott?" Layla asked with a odd expression, confused why John B was bringing up one of their tv shows right now.

"No, my dad. My dads office. He always kept the office locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his Royal Merchant research." John B spoke as he headed inside quickly and in a rush, having the four follow closely behind, "We use to laugh at him like he was actually gonna find it. But, now that he's gone, i've just kinda... I just left it as he kept it."

"Yeah, for when he gets back." Kie spoke positively with a nod.

"Want me to open it?" Layla asked as John B paused infront of the door. The boy shook his head softly as he used his keys to unlock the many locks, pushing the door open as they were all met with a dusty, chocking like wave.

"Talk about old people and moth balls." Layla said with a gag.

"I've slept over here like six hundred times and i've never seen this door opened." Pope said as he looked around in aw.

"I'd kill for a space like this, give me plenty of room to draw naked women without cramming in my shoebox bedroom." Layla commented with a nod of her head, mentioning her favorite hobby she had and took pride in.

"Here, look." John B said as he put the piece of paper on the wall down before all of them, "This is the original owner, right here."

"Okay. Robert Q. Routledge, 1082 to 1920. There's the lucky compass, right there." Kie spoke, pointing down onto the photo that had the compass with the man.

"Actually, um... he was shot after he bought it." John B said hesitantly as Layla look at him in disbelief.

"Oh how joyful, as if we weren't shot at just yesterday." Layla said as Pope patted her back comfortingly.

"Then the compass was shipped back to Henry. Henry was killed in a crop-dusting accident when he had the compass. After he died, the compass was given to Stephen. Stephen had the compass with him when he died in Vietnam." John B said as Layla cringed each time he said the words died, staring to pace across the room slightly.

"Let me guess, he died in action, right?" JJ spoke up with a knowing look.

"Sort of." John B answered back, "Uh, a-actually, he was killed by a banana trust. In- in the country."

"Oh my god!" Layla yelled in disbelief as she send a hard hand onto her forehead, the slap echoing the room.

"Anyways, after that, Stephen passed the compass down to him, my dad." John B said while pointing down to the photo of Big John and him at a young age.

"Hm. Sounds like there's a reoccurring theme here." JJ said in a matter of fact tone and snap of his fingers.

"You think?" Layla asked in disbelief after she'd joined the four again.

"Yeah, you have a death compass." Pope confirmed.

"I do not." John B argued.

"You have a death compass!"

"Straight up!"

"Gay up!"

"Seriously dude, get rid of it."

"It's cursed, and it's made it's way back to you."

"Look, my dad use to talk about this compartment in here. Soldiers use to hide secret notes." John B said as he felt around the compass, pulling and tugging gently.

"Aw, gay little soldiers." Layla gushed with a small smile and hand to her heart.

"What's that?" Kie asked while pointing down to the engraving word inside the compass.

"This is my dads handwriting." John B confirmed as Pope scoffed in disbelief.

"How can you know that?" the boy asked as Layla gave him a knowing look.

"I know all of you hand writing, and my dads." she confirmed with a snap of her fingers.

"Only because you forge his signature." Kie said with a knowing look.

"Only because you forge his signature." Layla mocked her words, making the girl roll her eyes.

"He does these weird R's with the- see it?" John B asked while showing the compass quickly. JJ leaned down to examine it as well.

"Red- Redall-" the blonde tried to pronounce.

"It says redfield." Kie said with a roll of her eyes, "Okay, well, what's Redfield?"

"Besides the most common name in the county." Pope added in sarcastic.

"Maybe-maybe it's a clue." John B said hopefully, "Maybe it's a clue to where he's hiding."

Layla would never admit it out loud, but she didn't think Big John was hiding.

"A clue? Come on thats-" Pope said in disbelief as Kie gave the boy a knowing and threatening look, "But if it is a clue maybe it's an anagram?"

"Yes, perfect. You need paper." John B said as he looked around.

"I'll go grab some." Layla said as she exited the room quickly and headed for the kitchen where John B usually kept his stacks of copy paper or notebook. As Layla grabbed the stack she stopped, seeing something in the corner of her eye.

The same guys from the boat.

•

kylie speaks

layla being a
gay fool for
sarah>