Free Finding Serenity by Eden Butler Page A

His endless questions about the attack had been answered over an hour ago.
    Somehow, he’d turn this around and make it her fault. He always did. Mollie had no clue what her best friend saw in the guy, but she’d keep her mouth shut. It just wasn’t worth the fight it would cause to complain to Layla about her boyfriend.
    “Dunno. He says he has some information for you two.” Autumn looks at Layla and Mollie.
    “Why don’t you two take Sayo home?” Mollie asks Declan. She looks at Autumn. “She doesn’t need to be here for this.”
    “I’m okay,” Sayo says.
    “Mollie’s right. There’s nothing we can do right now.” Sayo would listen to Autumn, at least that’s what Mollie hoped. Their friend wasn’t weak. None of them were, but Sayo in particular wasn’t the best in panic situations. Autumn catches Mollie’s eye, a silent agreement that she’d take care of Sayo.
    Declan hands Autumn his keys and kisses her. “I’ll catch a ride with Layla and Mollie. I want to hear what Walter has to say.”
    “You worried about something?” Autumn asks him, but takes his keys anyway.
    Declan hesitates and his expression has taken on a frown; a glimmer of concern that makes him look older than he actually is. If Mollie didn’t know him better, she might disregard that look, but she did and that expression told her his worry extended beyond making sure no one was hurt. “I don’t like this happening so soon after her break in.” His head moves toward Mollie. “Something’s off about this.”
    “Deco, it was probably just some kids,” Mollie tells him, seeing how Sayo’s eyes have grown wide. His worry wouldn’t help calm their friend.
    “What about Donovan?” Layla looks beyond the gathered crowd as though the man in question would pounce from the dark at any moment.
    Declan’s laugh is light, easy. “You might drive him barmy, but he’d never try to catch you on fire, love.”
    “He kidnapped my dog.”
    Collectively, the friends groan. Layla wouldn’t let that go, but now wasn’t the time or place to recap all the insane things Donovan and Layla have done to each other over the past few months. “Layla, stop,” Mollie warns.
    As though he’d been summoned, Donovan breaks through the small crowd. He has a wild, manic look in his eyes that is only highlighted by the sheen of silver glitter that covers his face. Each step he takes dusts more glitter from his body, but it doesn’t disappear. In fact, it only collects in his shirt collar and around his arms.
    “Oh shit,” Layla yelps, darting first behind Mollie and then when Donovan gets closer, behind Declan’s looming frame.
    “Come here you little brat,” he yells at Layla, bypassing his best friend to grab hold of Layla’s arm, which she easily diverts.
    “What did you do now?” Autumn asks Layla, who moves behind her, pulling on the hem of her shirt.
    “You can’t hide from me,” Donovan tells Layla. “Did you do that shit to my car? What the actual hell is wrong with you?”
    When Layla abandons the protective circle of her friends, Donovan chases after her, finally catching her wrist and their voices ring out against the quiet of the night. World War III has just begun.
    Mollie’s attention returns to her friends and she releases a long sigh at their expectant stares. “Glitter,” she tells them. “In his AC vents with the setting on ‘Max.’”
    “His GTO?” Declan asks. When Mollie nods, he closes his eyes. “Fecking hell, that’s a new low.”
    “And how did she get into his car?” Autumn asks Mollie, but before she can answer, Walter approaches.
    Autumn gives Declan a quick kiss, tells Mollie she’d call her later and she and Sayo move through the crowd and toward Declan’s Mustang. Mollie watches them go, catching sight of Layla and Donovan’s epic row and the thinning crowd. On the street, cars move at a snail’s pace, some pausing to investigate the scene, some blaring horns to hurry along the bottle neck