𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐑，𝗃𝗃 𝗆𝖺𝗒𝖻𝖺𝗇𝗄

𝗍𝗐𝗈

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐏 𝐇𝐀𝐃 arrived at the Chateau. JJ seemed pretty shaken up. He and John B had gone to speak to Lana Grubbs, Scooter's wife, about the compass but the guys that had shot at us the day before were there.

"And we were right outside like this." He pressed his back against the wall. "And all we hear is just, 'Bam! Bam! Bam!' Knocking paint off the wall, G! From the inside."

He moved closer to wear me, Pope and Kie were sitting. I had my legs draped across Kiara's lap as she drew patterns on my skin.

"Look at this shit." JJ ruffles his hair in front of us, paint falling out of his blonde locks.

Kie grimaced, "That's dandruff."

"Disgusting."

"That's paint." JJ snapped, "At that point, I was just like, I'm waiting for death."

Pope held his head in his hands, trying to process everything JJ was telling him. "Okay, so you saw the guys that shot at us, right?"

The Maybank boy leant back against the wall, hitting his vape repeatedly. "Yeah, man."

"Did you get a good description of them?"

"Yeah, anything's helpful," Kie added, but I shot them both a look to tell them to shut the fuck up and let him calm down.

"Burly." That was all JJ replied with.

"Burly?" Pope asked for confirmation.

"You know- like-"

"That's not very helpful." Kie rolled her eyes.

I snapped my head to her. "Kie shut the fuck up."

"Like the type of guys at my dad's garage." He tried to explain. "You know, he made cargo hides for drug smugglers. I can tell you with full confidence guys." He took a pull of his vape. "These killers, they're square groupers."

"They're square groupers?" Pope lifted his head up. "Like narco square groupers? Like Pablo Escobar square grouper?"

"Yeah, man." He nodded.

Kie interrupted, "You guys, not everything is a kingpin movie."

Pope turned to face JJ, "What does this square grouper look like?

"You weren't there." The blonde snapped back. "I wasn't taking little mental Polaroids the entire time. I was under duress, okay? But I can tell you by the way that Ms Lana was screaming that these guys are serious, serious hombres, man." He paused to catch his breath and I sent him a reassuring smile. "It's a heavy vibe right now, okay? I'm not liking this very much."

I pulled my head up to glance at John B, who had been as quiet as I was. "Are you okay?"

He ignored my question. "The office." Everyone sent him confused looks, following him into the building. "My dad's office. He always kept it locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his Royal Merchant research. We used to laugh at him all the time like he was actually gonna find it but now that he's gone, I've just kinda left it as he kept it." We reached the door, but it seemed like he was hesitating to walk in.