Page 67 of Terms + Conditions
“This sounds like a movie,” Elijah says.
“I wish it was,” Jeremy retorts. “I’ve never seen anything like it in real life. But, neither of them was there. So, I called Steph and eventually, she told me where I could find Lola.”
Stephanie told him that Lola had been hiding out at a family home in Australia. After alerting the authorities about Jenna’s shrine he jumped on the first flight. But what he found was truly like something out of a horror movie.
“The door was wide open, it looked like someone had taken a battering to it. Lights were on throughout the whole house.Shit was in disarray—furniture turned over, drawers emptied, broken glass everywhere, pictures off the walls.” Jeremy closes his eyes and his jaw flexes involuntarily as he recounts the image from memory. “Blood, everywhere.” He takes a deep breath before opening his eyes. “I heard someone walking down the hallway and I prayed it was Lola, but I prepared for it to be Jenna…That’s when I saw her, Lola. She was pale and covered in blood. She had this gash on her cheek—”
“I haven’t seen a scar,” Elijah interrupts with the same thought I had.
“She covers it, but if you look hard enough you’d probably see it. She’s still pretty self-conscious about the whole thing.” Jeremy gnaws on the inside of his cheek. “Jenna got her good on the leg. Just barely missed the artery.”
“Fuck,” I breathe.
“It was…” Jeremy sighs. “It was bad. Jenna had followed her and when Lola told her to fuck off, Jenna lost it.”
Silence follows for at least two whole minutes as Elijah and I try to let it all sink in. When Elijah told me about this when we first arrived in Palm Valley, I never imagined it would be something like this. This was truly like something you see in a movie…Except it wasn’t. It was real life.
Learning the truth about Lola made it seem like all the problems Elizabeth and I had faced were so trivial compared to this. If Lola and Jeremy could make it past a crazy, stalker, killer assistant…Why couldn’t Elizabeth and I make it past a few misunderstandings?
No amount of coffee or even the cool morning breeze could wake me up enough to prepare for the warzone I just walked into. Opening the front door was like lifting a veil and breaking the sound barrier. Shouting echoes from deeper inside the house, mixed with crying. What in the hell happened while we were gone that turned a peaceful morning into utter chaos? Elijah and Jeremy had gone in ahead of me when I got a work call, and I figured it had to be pretty important since it was a Sunday. It wasn’t, in case you were wondering. It was a fire that couldn’t be put out until tomorrow when the rest of the world was open for regular business hours.
Walking into the kitchen, I find Elijah pouring a fresh cup of coffee. A loud bang echoes from down the hall, but I don’t see anyone, only hear the muffled sounds of an argument coming from the direction of Georgie and Noah’s room.
Shit. I get the feeling this is all my fault.
“What the fuck is going on?” I ask, following Elijah out of the kitchen into the dining room.
“Noah wants a divorce.” Elijah sips his coffee, and my stomach drops.
Jeremy stands in the far corner, huddled over something. Not something,someone. Lola. He cradles her face in his hands, speaking to her in soft words, and she takes slow, calming breaths.
“Should we go outside?” I ask, catching their attention.
“N-no,” Lola stammers. “I’m okay.” She looks between me and Jeremy before removing his hold on her. “I’m okay, I promise. I should go check on Selena.”
Jeremy watches her walk down the hallway and only when she’s no longer in sight does he turn to me and Elijah. “Did you guys know Georgie had an affair and got pregnant?” Jeremy asks.
“Yeah.” I sigh, there’s no use lying about it.
“You knew?” Elijah practically shouts, and we shush him. “What the hell, dude! You didn’t tell me.”
“Noah told me yesterday, but he said he was going to wait until after this weekend to tell her.”
“Damn,” Jeremy breathes. “That’s rough.”
“How’d she find out?” I ask.
They shrug in response.
Shit, I hope Elizabeth didn’t tell Georgie.
Loud footsteps echo down the hall, and I give you one guess as to who it is. We all take a few steps forward to get a better vantage point of what’s going on and see Noah in the foyer with his bag hanging from his shoulder. Georgie follows a few seconds later, black, curly hair pulled into a messy bun on top of her tear-stained face. She’s begging him, pleading with him not to do this. They can make it work.
“No, Gi, we can’t,” Noah says, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“I can’t believe you’re doing this, and on this weekend!”
“I wanted to wait until after, but you wouldn’t let it go. You kept pushing!”
