bad idea

Chapter 61

"No, I believe you," I said, which was true and calmed the two down as I grabbed another one of the pictures, this time it being one that Lucy took outside of my house of Ariana standing outside of my window, looking at Lauren and I. "Where  were you really when you 'left for college'?"

Ariana looked at the picture, her mouth slightly open, realizing how bad this looked. I could tell she was at a loss for words and I was too. I loved her and I wanted it not to be her, but the more we went through everything, the worse it got for her.

"It was taken the year after we graduated..." Courtney trailed off, reading the back of the photo as she looked up at her friend in revulsion. "If you were the one who fucking ruined my life in high school—"

She stopped Courtney mid-sentence though, "I stayed because Madison knew Greyson didn't shoot her, we just needed proof. I blamed myself for Madison losing Max back then, because I should've left him alone that day and maybe he wouldn't have done the things that he did. And I owed Greyson answers after falsely accusing her, so yes, I did stay here for college but to fix the shit I did."

"That doesn't make sense, how were you able to stay hidden for so long?" Cole pinpointed, folding his arms.

"I lent her one of my safe houses," Zayn admitted, catching nearly everyone by surprise. "She told me she wanted to make things right with Kai and I trusted that, so I helped her."

"And what about this picture taken Sophomore year of her and Kehlani?" Courtney continued, still cautious.

"Mac knew that Kai had a lot of family things going on, she had just lost her parents and he wanted to make sure she was okay," Ariana explained, as best as she could considering she was being questioned by almost everyone. "I went to check on her while he was in the car, so I called him to let him know she was fine. I wasn't fucking spying on her and I'm not TPR, I would never hurt her or any of you."

"It wouldn't be your first time," Lauren mumbled and Ariana cocked her head back, turning to her.

"What?"

"You heard me, it wouldn't be your first time hurting her—"

"Lauren, stop," I said, grabbing my girlfriend by her waist and pulling her closer to me, so she wouldn't approach the woman. "Ari, it's not worth it, okay?"

"No, she has a point," Victoria added, turning to the green eyes. "Is it so far-fetched to think you're TPR? I mean, the only picture Lucy had of you was you hiding Hailey Baldwin for Kai and I mean, you've always been obsessed with her, so why not ruin her life just so you can be there at her beck and call?"

Lauren brushed her off, shaking her head. "Or it means I'm really good at what I do. The rest of you have pictures on pictures, there's just one of me,"

"Lucy's not dumb though and she's been taking these pictures for years, I've seen some from years ago even. You mean to tell me that throughout all of these days, weeks, months, and years, she only got one picture of you? Bullshit. Why would she only take one picture of you and not everyone else?" Shawn pointed out, being the first smart thing he said all night.

"That doesn't mean Lauren's had anything to do with this though, you only have two pictures, and we all know you're not careful," Camila blasted back, as most of us just watched this play out.