Chapter 35
KLINE
Lola didn’t want to leave this place. Ever since waking up this morning, she wouldn’t stop telling us how excited she was to come back whenever we had the time to.
We’d definitely take her here again. Hell, if she’d ask us to, we’d even move here.
We spent the morning hiking up that trail to get to the restaurant with the nice view, but we didn’t get too much food because we promised Lola that we’d eat dinner at Mads’ restaurant before leaving tonight.
We spent the afternoon in town, walking around and letting Lola look at whatever she wanted. She didn’t want to spend money, but we urged her to try on the clothes she thought were pretty, and each one of us four bought her a little something.
We ended up sitting at the same table as yesterday, and Madison immediately brought us a variety of appetizers.
“Thank you, Mads.”
She looked at me with a big grin. “Tonight’s dinner is on the house. Order whatever you like. I got fresh lobster delivered this morning too, so you should definitely get some of that.”
“Sounds amazing. But we won’t leave this place without paying,” I told her with a serious expression.
Madison rolled her eyes at me. “We’ll see about that. Oh I love that cardigan!”
Lola smiled up at her. “Thanks! The guys got it for me in one of the little shops along the pier. Enchanted Boutique, I think was the name.”
“Oh yes, Kayla’s store. I have to go shopping again soon. I might just have to grab that cardigan too.”
“It’s super comfortable,” Lola assured her. Her eyes were bright, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how happy we were making her.
The thing was, she made us feel the same, and she did it so effortlessly.
Madison left our table, and Lola’s face turned more serious. “I’m going to pay you all back for all the clothes you bought me today.”
“No, you won’t.”
She glared at Watson. “You’re not my sugar daddies.”
“But we’re your boyfriends, and that’s what boyfriends do for their girlfriends,” he told her with a shrug. “Accept it.”
“Do you want to start an argument? You haven’t seen me argue yet, and I promise, I’m better at it than Leo.”
We laughed at her attempt to be serious, but all she did was make herself even more adorable than she already was.
Watson looked at her with challenging eyes. “Try me, sweetheart.”
“You don’t really want to start an argument with a former lawyer,” Bennett said, knowing that it wouldn’t get her far. Only Leo liked to argue with him. Ben and I gave up a long time ago.
Lola bit the inside of her cheeks. “I guess you’re right.” She let out a heavy sigh and leaned against me. “I’ll bake you all a cake for the next few weeks, to say thank you.”
“A blowjob will do,” Leo said, earning a slap at the back of his head from Bennett.
Lola laughed softly. “Hey, I thought that was funny.”
Leo grinned at her and winked. “At least one person here gets my humor.”
“We get your humor. We just have gotten tired of it,” I told him as I wrapped my arm around Lola’s shoulders to keep her close, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “Are you ready to head home later?”
“Not really. I love it here.”
“We’ll take you back here soon enough.”
She smiled up at me and nodded before kissing my jaw. “Thank you. I had a great time this weekend.”
“We did too,” I assured her.
I pressed a kiss to her lips, then nodded to the appetizers in front of us. “Let’s eat.”
***
“I’m so full. But in a good way,” Lola told Madison as we stood up from the table.
“Just like last night?” Leo teased, earning yet another slap on the back of his head from Ben. “Jesus, stop that. I’m just joking.”
“Be funnier, then,” Ben muttered.
Lola wrapped her arms around Leo’s arm to comfort him, and he pouted like a little boy, knowing exactly how to get her attention. “They’re all so mean to me lately.”
Lola laughed and patted his stomach. “Don’t worry. I thought it was funny.”
“I’m going to miss you guys. Come back soon, okay? Don’t make me wait another three months before I get to see your faces again,” Madison said, giving us a stern look.
“We’ll be back this month,” I assured her before giving her a hug. With my arms around her, I pushed three hundred-dollar bills into the back of her apron. “Don’t you dare give that back to me,” I warned her.
She sighed with a shake of her head after pulling away from my hug. “I really didn’t want the money, Kline.”
“I don’t care. Just take it and stop whining. We’ll see you soon.”
The others gave her a hug too, and when it was Lola’s turn, she thanked Madison for the delicious food. “You’ll come back too, yes?”
“Most definitely.”
“Good. Take care of these guys. Keep them in line and don’t let them treat you like shit, alright?”
Lola laughed softly. “I don’t think they’d be capable of that.”
Hearing her say that made me proud. It meant that we did everything right, and that she felt safe with us. In the end, that’s all that mattered.
We ended up driving home around eight that night. Lola was in the car with Leo and Bennett, and Leo sent me a message twenty minutes into the drive saying that Lola had already fallen asleep.
She was the one having to wake up early the next morning, so I didn’t blame her for getting in some sleep already.
It was for the best, really, because the phone call I received ten minutes later wasn’t about something I needed her to know.
Morris was calling, and I put him on speaker since I was the one driving. “Hey.”
“Uh, hey man. Are you home yet?”
“We’re on our way. What’s up?” There was silence on the other side, and I gave Watson a quick glance. “Morris, what’s going on?”
“Funny story, actually…”
“Get to the damn point,” I spat as I got more impatient. “What happened?”
“Just know that everything is under control and nobody got hurt, okay? That’s what matters. It’s just that…there was a fire at the bar.”
“What?!” Watson leaned forward and stared at the head unit.
I kept focusing on the road ahead of me, trying my best not to go over the speed limit now that I heard the news. I needed to stay calm. “How bad was the fire?”
“Some curtains and a couple tables got burnt. I managed to get half the fire out before the firefighters arrived. The damage isn’t big, but it was intense,” he told us. He sounded fairly calm himself, but I knew that he was still in shock.
“Are you alright? Were you there when it happened?” I asked.
“I’m fine. I came to help Elia stock up the coolers, and uh…” he stopped, murmuring something before continuing. “Vivian came in.”
“Jesus Christ,” Watson muttered under his breath. “She started the damn fire?”
I tensed, wondering what the fuck was actually wrong with that woman. I waited for Morris to keep telling us how that fire happened.
“She started asking about you guys and we told her you were out of town. We knew not to upset her so we just kept the conversation going. We tried to tell her that we were just there to do some work and then leave, but she kept standing there by the entrance.” He paused again. Clearly, that woman hadn’t only traumatized Lola. “She asked about Lola, and if she was with you, but we said no. We thought that would keep her from getting jealous, but then she started screaming at us. She said she went by Lola’s apartment and didn’t see her there. Or anywhere else in town .”
“Fucking psycho,” Watson hissed. “What’s a restraining order worth when that woman can still get close to Lola?”
“We’ll deal with that tomorrow,” I told him. Sighing, I ran a hand over my head. “Was the fire an accident or did she purposely start it?”
“It was definitely on purpose. She pulled out a lighter and held it to the curtains, still shouting at us about how unfair it is that you guys don’t want to be with her. She cried and all that. I tried to take the lighter from her, but it was too late already.”
There was silence again, and I needed a moment to think. “Did you call the cops too?”
“Yeah. They took her in. They said they’ll be back tomorrow to get another statement. The firefighters left too. Elia and I cleaned up and threw out the things that were damaged, but the walls definitely need to be painted over. There’s burn marks everywhere.”
“We’ll deal with that tomorrow. Sorry you and Elia had to deal with that. Thank you for handling it for us.”
“No problem, Kline. See you around.”
He hung up, and I looked over at Watson. “We can’t call the others just yet. We’ll tell them once we get home.”
He nodded and ran his hands through his hair. “We’re not leaving Lola alone tonight.”
We wouldn’t, even if Vivian had been taken into custody. I wouldn’t risk Lola getting hurt, and for the next couple of days, I would make sure she was protected by us.