"If Jax saw you cuddling up to Justin like that..."
"I wasn't cuddling him and it wasn't Jax that he saw in the woods!" Lola hissed. She licked her lips and looked across the restaurant where Justin was sitting at the bar.
"It doesn't matter if it wasn't Jax, it was one of his wolves and that wolf will tuck his tail and run back to his Alpha to spew the information," Melissa warned.
"Even so it wouldn't matter to him, he made it abundantly clear where we stand." She continued.
They stood by the divider about to walk up the wooden stairs. Justin had ordered for them and was waiting for the drinks. He'd already thrown back two shots after what he saw outside and was staring mindlessly at the wall while waiting for the girls.
After he saw the wolf he refused to stay outside and hurried to the restaurant, pushing the girls in front of him even though they knew that there wasn't any imminent danger- but Justin didn't know that and they would have to come up with a good excuse for why he saw what he saw.
"What happened between you and Jax?" Melissa asked lowly and looked worriedly at Lola.
Lola looked around, the restaurant was filling up with people who were coming for lunch.
She grabbed Melissa's hand and guided her into the back just around the kitchen and into the bathrooms.
The door to the women's bathroom was labeled with a mermaid carved from dark oak and the men's bathroom had a merman with a trident in his hand.
They walked in and locked the door, hoping that nobody would have to use any of the stalls for the coming few minutes.
Immediately when the lock clicked in place the tears pooled in her eyes and glistened under the lamp.
Melissa's jaw dropped and she took a step but was stepped when Lola shook her head.
"Just stay there and listen because if you hug me I'm gonna...I feel like I'm breaking," she said in a hushed tone. The fear of someone hearing them was ever-present and she didn't trust that there weren't werewolves in the restaurant.
Melissa nodded her head, flicked her curls over her shoulder, and stood still.
"Jax said that he doesn't love me anymore. He said he can't remember what it felt like to be in love with me, it's over," She whispered.
Melissa allowed the words to settle in her mind and the disbelief to wash from her face before she spoke up. She felt her blood heating in her veins and rushing to her face as she raged.
"He's divorcing you?" Melissa asked through clenched teeth.
Her shoulders were rising slowly and her nostrils started to flare.
"No. No divorce." Lola's voice broke and the tears fell.
Jax's face popped up in her vision, the way that he stared through her with not one ounce of recognition. His words continued to pierce her heart even though he wasn't saying them, they were on repeat in her mind, slowly eating away at her mind.
"I don't understand, you're going to stay married to him?" Melissa asked stepping closer.
Worry drew over her face and softened her eyes.
"I don't have a choice. He said he would fix it, that there had to be a reason for this,"
"You don't believe him," Melissa chimed in.
"No, i think he just doesn't want it to look bad. Jax Blackwood getting a divorce mere months after the announced marriage, his mom would throw a fit."
"Let her." Melissa seethed.
It crawled up Lola's arms, the feeling of ants running across her skin and her neck tensing at Melissa's words.
"It's not that easy! She's manipulative and dangerous and a horrible person. But above all, she's powerful and if I try to go against them, who knows what she will do."
Melissa wrinkled her nose and crossed her arms.
"What's the worst that can happen?"
Lola sighed and wiped the tears.
"She can hurt you..."
Melissa scoffed but Lola's eyes fell and her voice lowered.
"... or your parents."
The way Melissa's head snapped to the side and her eyes rounded like those of a frightened deer showed that she finally understood the gravitas of the situation. It wasn't just about signing a paper and being on her way; not only had Lola lost the only man she ever loved but he had a leash around Lola's neck, so tight that she wouldn't dare step one foot out of place in fear of what might happen.
She got mixed up with the Blackwoods, went from rags to riches, and now she paid the price.
"The company," Melissa said, tying the dots together.
"Did he tell you why this happened?" Melissa asked.
"He doesn't know, says he doesn't understand it himself." Lola spat.
"And what do you think?"
"I think that the second Lavina stepped foot into the mansion, Jax changed. Maybe he saw the future he thought was lost, with someone of his own kind who knows their ways," she slid down the wall until her bottom hit the floor.
"It feels like I died that night...I keep seeing his face and wondering what I did wrong."
Melissa fell next to her.
"You did nothing wrong, you loved him and he loved you. Whatever happened has nothing to do with you. I don't know what that bitch has told him but whatever this has to do with her, she is the problem."
Lola desperately wanted to believe that, to think that maybe she wasn't the one to blame for Jax losing feelings and moving on but maybe it could've been prevented had she only fallen a little faster.
"Look at me." Melissa took Lola's face in her hands. "You are not the problem. It is his loss and I promise you that one day he will wake up and realize that. When he does, it will be too late because by then you will have moved on and you will be happy."
"How can I move on from the man that I am married to?" Lola asked.
Melissa was taken aback, leaning on her heels and watching her best friend crumble to pieces.
No words could bring her comfort right now, not that Melissa knew what to say because she had no answers to the questions that Lola asked.
So instead she opted for another truth.
"Ed left me," she blurted out.
Lola sat up and grabbed her hands. The silence fell heavy around them until a knock on the door forced them back.
"Hello? Is anyone in there?" Someone screamed on the other side of the locked door.
The manager would soon come with a key and they would find the girls on the floor in each other's arms, tear-stricken faces and bland gazes.
"Be right out!" Melissa screamed.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Lola asked.
"I'm guessing for the same reason that you didn't tell me about you and Jax. We went from telling each other everything to not wanting to bother each other. But we're together now, and we're here so I say we drink our weight in liquor and deal with life tomorrow."
Lola laughed and got up from the floor.
"And never again think that we can't lift the phone and call the other in fear of bothering them," Lola said.
"Yeah I can't believe you did that," Melissa groaned.
Lola rolled her eyes and laughed.
They stared lovingly at each other and a silent gratitude washed over them. They unlocked the door and apologized to the three women standing outside, they gave an extra apology to the pregnant woman who had fire blazing in her eyes.
As they walked to the bar to join Justin they saw that he had ordered more drinks and more shots, it was all waiting for them.
Lola's brows furrowed as they got closer, a distant beeping noise rang in her ears and she looked around.
Everyone was quietly eating, the noise from before seemed to have died down and they all seemed much too focused on their food rather than the company.
Without giving it a second though the girls took their seats on either side of Justin.
"Anything I drank, I ordered for you two." He said and slid over two drinks and five shots each to the girls.
"You've already drank half the bar?" Lola asked in disbelief. There was a dark aura surrounding him, one that was desperate for company.
"Welcome to hell," he said. He lifted his shot glass and waited for the girls to follow. They clinked their glasses and gave each other a look that said they didn't know where this would end but they were certain that hell was a destination and then they threw the shots back and immediately downed the others.