The silence and the tension that fell over the kitchen could have been cut with a knife, there was an electric aura around the three people that sat at the kitchen and with each passing second in silence, it seemed as if they would turn into statutes.
"What?" whispered Nicola "What do you mean?"
Junior, who had kept his eyes over Lena for the past minutes, slowly looked down at the box and the envelope, Lena followed his sight.
"I'm being followed" she answered, she placed her hand over the envelope and caressed it gently, almost as if her gentle touch could erase all the terrors that had been unraveling before her.
"Can I see the box?" asked Junior, his eyes were still over it.
Lena pulled the box over her lap once more and looked up at the two young men in front of her, she glanced from Junior to Nicola and then back down to the box.
"Not yet" she whispered.
"Ok" said Nicola, he leaned over the table "How do you know you are being followed?"
Lena pulled out her cellphone and scanned through her text messages "It started when you came back to town"
Lena and Nicola turned to look at Junior, he frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, he wasn't sure if Lena was accusing him of being the one doing all the weird shit she was talking about.
"I got a text after I slapped you" she handed the phone to Nicola, Junior looked angry and she wasn't sure she wanted him to crack and lose control right there in her kitchen.
"You are gonna regret that" Nicola read out loud, he turned to Junior and showed him the words that appeared over the phone screen.
"I didn't send that, Lena" said Junior as he turned to look from the phone back to Lena, he leaned over the kitchen island "I swear"
"I know" she whispered "But I did think it was you until I got the second one"
Nicola looked down at the phone and read the text once more, he wasn't sure what to think of all that and above all he wasn't sure why Lena was just telling them this, when it was obvious it had been going on for a while.
"The next message that I got wasn't a text" explained Lena, she opened the box and pulled out a brown envelope, she opened the envelope and placed the photos over the table, Nicola put down the phone and looked at the phots just like Junior was doing.
Junior looked up at Lena and she handed him the threat, he took it and Nicola leaned towards Junior to read the message; the first time they were being civilized with each other.
"Stop what?" asked Nicola as he eyed Lena.
Lena looked pale as paper, her eyes looked dry and with heavy bags under her eyes, it was then that Nicola noticed that her eyes were a little bit puffy; how had he not noticed all the horrors that she had gone to?
He took a deep breath as he tried not to feel like the worse person in the world, Lena looked at him and gently reached for his hand and placed her hand over his. Junior looked away from the photo and down at their holding hands, the rising tide of anger came back, this time hitting him stronger.
"What came next?" he asked to get Lena's attention away from that weirdo sitting next to him.
"I got a photo text from Stuart's party, and a text from when we saw each other again" said Lena as she looked at Nicola. She made a pause "You can look at the texts, I got two from the two confrontations you two had" she made a pause and her eyes hardened "Thank you for telling me"
Junior and Nicola tried not to look at each other, Nicola had wanted to tell Lena but he didn't want to get the obviously disturbed Junior, in more trouble than the ones he seemed already in.
"Look at the other photos" she placed the other photos over the table and Junior and Nicola scanned them, she had kept the ones from her night with Nicola aside, together with the ones she had just gotten.
"What the fuck is going on?" whispered Nicola as he looked at the other photos.
After a few minutes in silence in which the young men scanned the photos over and over again, they looked up at Lena. She was sitting there with the last envelope against her chest, she had placed the photos with Nicola inside that envelope, they would see those photos once they had fully grasped what was going on here.
"Why didn't you tell me before?" asked Nicola "Why?"
"Because I thought they would stop" explained Lena "They won't"
"I bet its that freak from the Paradise" snapped Junior as he looked at Lena.
"Jonathan?"
"Or Morely"
Lena looked at Junior and wondered if he knew that Meghan had told her about Mr. Morely and Alana's relationship, she decided not to risk it and looked at down at the envelope.
"I think they might be following you"
"Me?" asked Junior and Nicola at the same time.
"Both"
"What?" said Junior.
Lena noticed the suppressed chuckle in his voice, she looked at him and an urge to lean forward and slap him across the face took over her. He didn't believe her, he didn't think it was serious what was going on there.
"You think I'm lying?" Lena hissed, suddenly all the anger and frustration she had bottled up for Junior took over her.
"I didn't say that" said Junior.
"You think those photos of you pining down Nicola don't mean enough?" barked Lena, she slammed her hand over the table and over the photos, Junior didn't move. Lena opened the last envelope she was holding and pulled the photos out "HERE!" she screamed as she threw the photos at Junior and Nicola.
"LOOK AT THOSE!" she screamed as she pointed at the photos "They took those at your house!" she turned to Nicola.
Nicola had lost all his color as he looked down at the photos of him and Lena the night she had stayed over at his house. His mouth was partially opened and his eyes were scanning like crazy the photos he had in his hand, slowly he turned to look at Junior and found him holding photos of him and Lena kissing, he had another photo of her with her shirt up to her shoulders and Junior holding her waist.
"Thomas I have one question and you better tell me now" Lena leaned forward and took the photos away from Junior with a quick move, Junior looked at her with his eyes as huge as plates and his mouth tight shut.
Nicola looked at Lena and then at Junior, he reached for the photos and Lena pushed them towards him; Nicola took the photos and looked at them, he lost even the white color that had appeared over his face, he turned to Junior.
"For out of respect for us, for me and for all the time we had together" Lena continued, Nicola couldn't help but think about a dragon about to start spitting fire "Did you take this photos of us?"
Junior looked at Lena, he couldn't believe his ears, was she serious? Another wave of anger exploded against his chest, he took a deep breath and looked down at his hands and then back up at Lena, his eyes suddenly dark and incredibly scary.
"Are you serious?" he asked, his voice deep and mature.
"DO YOU THINK I'M JOKING!?" roared Lena, she stood up as she slammed both her hands against the table, Nicola stood up just in case Junior reacted, he could see the rage that was taking over Junior.
"What kind of a monster do you think I am?" he screamed back.
"They were taken from inside your room" pointed out Lena "And if you did take those and showed them around, I need to know to whom"
"I didn't do that!" he barked "I didn't take this pictures! ANY OF THEM!" he roared, with a quick movement he threw all the photos to the ground.
"Stop it!" Nicola said over Lena and Junior's screaming voices.
"Well if you didn't do it, who did?" asked Lena.
She had to force herself to calm down, she knew that she would achieve nothing if she started screaming like a crazy person and most of all against Junior. Junior looked at Nicola, but he too knew that they had to relax to understand what was going on.
"I don't know" said Junior "You have to believe me, why would I take photos of us having sex?"
"I don't know" said Lena "People do that"
"I don't" said Junior "I would never do that if you didn't want me too"
Lena looked at Junior and both their eyes seemed to soften, Nicola had picked up a few of the photos and was looking at them when Junior turned to argument against him.
"All this bullshit started when you came here"
Nicola looked at Junior, the expression seemed of someone who had just got slapped on the face without knowing why.
"What?!" snapped Nicola "You think I'm doing this?"
"You have a camera don't you?" hissed Junior "You are a photographer, and ever since you arrived, she has been getting this bullshit!"
"Well" barked Nicola "I'm not the one terrorizing the village, with your screaming and punching walls!"
"You did this didn't you?" barked Junior, he took a step towards Nicola and Nicola took a step towards Junior.
"You came back to town just around the same time I did" Nicola pointed out, he smacked the photo's against Junior's chest.
"You did this" barked Junior "You wanted to keep her away from me, and you did this!"
Both of the boys didn't notice Lena, she was frozen in place looking down at her phone, her hand shaking and her breathing getting heavy and her heart pounding, Lena could feel her heard vibrating.
"Stop" Lena said as loud as her fear allowed her too, she looked up from her phone and looked at the two young men about to break each other's faces.
Junior and Nicola turned to look at Lena and their desires to hit each other disappeared as they saw the look of horror that had taken over her pale face.
"What's wrong?" asked Nicola, he took a few steps towards Lena, when she didn't answer the young man took the phone from her hand and looked down at it; from behind his shoulder Junior peeked to see the text.
You shouldn't have told them.
Nicola and Junior turned to look at each other and without another word they rushed towards the doors, Nicola ran towards the backdoor as Junior crossed the kitchen and pulled the front door open. Lena snapped out of her paralysis and rushed after Nicola.
Outside in the backyard, Nicola was standing near the pool, no one was out there looking at them and if there had been, they were long gone. Without a word, both of them hurried to join Junior out at the front door.
Junior was standing over the porch, scanning the street with his eyes and his fists clenched into fists.
"No one out here" he whispered "Anymore"
"No one was out there either" said Nicola.
The young men turned to look at Lena, she was hugging herself and looked from one to the other with worry.
"I told you this shit was serious"
"Don't worry Lena" said Nicola.
"We'll protect you"
Lena couldn't help but notice that Junior had referred to him and Nicola as a team.
"I don't need your protection" said Lena, trying to remain calm, she looked at Nicola and then at Junior "I need you to help me figure this out"