The Hook-Up (Part Two)

Chapter 251

The silence in the room was deafening. Lauren and Bruno stared at each other after her last please. He wasn't sure what to do. He had not spoken to Damaris since the last phone conversation a few days after the divorce papers were given to him. He blocked her phone number and blocked everything he could think of that would remind him of her. He had successfully almost forgotten about her until he heard his wife's ex boyfriend's name. Hearing his name made him think of Damaris and the things that Damaris had said to him, This is what you want. This is what we want. She's not right for you. Replaying the things Damaris said to him he got up from the chair taking the drink he had in his hand walking toward the outside of the house. "I'll be right back..." Lauren said following him closing the backdoor behind them. She watched him reach for the pack of cigarettes that were on the window sill handing one to her as she lit it up next to him. They stood there for a few minutes not saying a word to each other .

"So what's your story? Is it that you fucked him and now you think you owe him something? Lunch? Dinner? Another blow job? Because I could call D right now..." he said pulling his phone out. "If I don't respond to the papers you get what you want. You get the divorce and you can fuck him whenever you want and I can fuck her whenever I want. It sounds nice to me."

"Bruno!" she coughed on the cigarette smoke she had inhaled. "Bruno! That's not what it is!"

"Then what is it?" he asked still calmer than she had expected.

He watched her close her eyes taking in the same deep breath he had before yelling at her. "We're still friends, Bruno. He wanted to know what was going on with us. He was going to be in the office on Tuesday."

"You can't be friends with him, Laur. It's not fair." Bruno told her. "It's not fair."

"How old are you? Have you been around kids for too long? Because that was really mature. Really fucking mature." she told him.

"You're being pretty mature too, Lauren. Talking to the rebound? He wasn't even that cute." he told her.

"Oh. Really?" she asked getting angry at him trying to push his buttons to get him angry. For some reason the cigarette that had turned her off for so long and the angry tone he used and the way he pushed her when he was upset came back to her. She craved his arm around her pulling her toward him talking to her through his clenched teeth. "Because it's really fair that you did all this to me?" she questioned.

"Lauren." he sat down not feeling the same type of anger that he would usually feel when she was talking to someone else. "What are you doing? I wasn't angry like that."

"That's usually how it works..." she said not sitting down like she wanted to. "We get in a fight, we yell, you get upset and you beat me up and then we take a break and then we get back together. Let's just hurry it up and get to the part where you kick my ass." she said standing in front of him defensively. He looked up at her with pain, not anger in his eyes. "Bruno?" she asked confused by his response. "Bruno?" she asked him again seeing him stomp out the cigarette pushing the drink off to the side next to hers. He looked down at his shoes not saying a word to her. She finally sat down across from him looking up at glass window seeing his sisters and Larissa watching them. She stared at them shooing them away. Fine. Her sister mouthed to her. "What's wrong?"

"Is this how it really is Elle? Is that how you see it?" he asked her still not looking up.

"Yeah. I just figured." she answered not sure why he was upset. She watched him lift up his head running his fingers through his hair opening his eyes almost in tears.

"I'm trying, Lauren. I'm trying so hard to not fuck this up, to not get upset, to not go through the same shit again. It's not right. It's not okay. Everything is wrong." he responded sniffing the tears away.

"Brunz..." she reached for his hand squeezing it.

"I won't talk to him anymore. And I won't keep bringing up Damaris, It's just the same shit." she said covering her face with her hands crying. "You're right."

"Laur?" Bruno asked.

"Yeah?" she asked him.

"Coome over here..." he said watching her look up at him as he stood up. He held out his arms for her watching her fall into his arms holding him tightly. "I love you so much, Lauren. We're going to make it. We're going to be alright."

She took in the smell of his shirt and his hair feeling his soft skin against her skin making her forget about the angry sex she was craving, instead devouring the sense of oneness that she missed with him. "I love you too, Bruno."