The Bad Boy's Sleepover

Chapter 35

Lola jumped into the familiar black jeep that belonged to Damien. Her heart was beating frantically in her chest and it wasn't just from the sprint out of Tyler's creepy house. She couldn't understand how things had gone from zero to hundred in a matter of minutes. 

The normally harmless, smiling Tyler had morphed into someone she barely knew. And then there was the picture of his brother, hidden under his bed. It was as if it had been thrown across the room and then shoved under the bed only to be forgotten. 

But now Mr Lennox's face was swimming in her thoughts. There was no mistaking the resemblance between the brothers even though it had never once crossed her mind the whole time he had been in school. 

"Lola! Are you okay? Did he do something?" Nalini's voice was so shrill it made her ears hurt. She was sitting in the front, next to Damien who was looking at her in alarm as well. 

Hanna grabbed her hand and Lola turned to her. 

"Did he hurt you?" Unlike Nalini, Hanna's tone was low, almost deadly. She looked ready to hurt someone.

"No, he didn't. But I did find something," Lola answered excitedly, brushing away the fear that consumed her while she had been in the same room as Tyler. Now that she was safe she couldn't wait to tell her friends about her discovery. 

"Lola, you are one of the bravest girls I've ever met," Damien exclaimed as he threw a fist in the air. The girls echoed in agreement and then she noticed Edward sitting next to Hanna.

He was busy watching the news on his tablet, his handiwork with the leaked tapes and the newly reopened investigation still dominated the news feed. Their small town in Wisconsin has probably never had this much drama in forever and it has left everyone enthralled. 

Lola's parents talked about it incessantly over dinner every night. Sometimes she contributed with little snipets she'd heard from school but most of the time she sat back and smiled. She wondered what they would think if they realised the group of kids in this very car had been the ones to discover the tapes and shift the tide in Julian's favour. 

No one would probably believe it. 

"Hey Lola, good to see you alive. Those serial killer documentaries almost never end well," Edward finally greeted her and she smiled at his unconventional greeting while Hanna hit his arm. 

"Tyler's not a serial killer," Hanna admonished and then she turned to Lola. "He isn't, right? Is that was you discovered?"

"No," Lola laughed. The comfort of being with this familiar group of friends washed over like a nice warm bath. She felt completely at ease but then her heart sunk when she realised Julian wasn't here. The person who had brought the group together.

"Damien, why did Julian ignore us this morning?" Lola asked and the car turned quiet as the girls and Edward waited for Damien's answer. 

Damien avoided her gaze by looking into the rearview mirror even though there was no car behind them. "I have no idea. We kind of fought about it this afternoon after he brushed you off." 

"Did he just use us and now he wants nothing to do with us?" Nalini asked angrily. 

"No, he didn't. I don't understand either. Every time I ask him he brushes me off and makes me swear I would never tell anyone about us." Damien's eyebrows furrowed as he answered and he gripped the steering wheel tightly. 

"Where is he now?" Lola really wanted to ask why wasn't he here with them, but she didn't want to seem too obvious or desperate. Although it was clear that she liked a guy who didn't want anything to do with her anymore.