My Brothers Best Friend

Chapter 40

(Feels Warning!!! Feels will be harmed)

Pete's POV

"Say bye to Meagan and Bronx." I told Lyric.

"Bye Meagan." She smiled hugging Meagan.

"Bye Lyr. I'll see you next weekend." Meagan smiled back, kissing Lyric's cheek. Lyric ran over to Bronx and hugged him.

"Bye Bronx. I'll miss you." She said cutely. Bronx just cracked a small smile and hugged Lyric back.

"Bye Lyric." He sighed. He never really was the same after Lauren left.

"Hey Bronx, want to come with me to see Lauren? I'm sure she'd be glad to see you." I said smiling at Bronx. His face instantly lit up when I mentioned Lauren.

"Okay." He smiled. Bronx, Lyric, and I walked to the car. Lyric looked pretty sleepy so it was no surprise that when I put her in her car seat, she fell asleep. I chuckled and drove to Lauren and Cody's house.

"Does Lauren still talk about me?" Bronx asked from in the back.

"Yeah! Every time I see her. She really misses you Bronx. I'm glad your coming with me to see her." I replied.

"Does she miss this?"

"What?"

"Us as a family. We were almost a family dad. Even I could see that."

"Lauren has her own family that we are apart of. No matter what, Lauren won't forget us. I know she won't." I pulled into Lauren's driveway and took Lyric out of her car seat. Bronx followed me as I opened the door that Lauren said would be left open for me.

"I'm gonna go put Lyric in her bed. Lauren is in the basement. It's the door at the end of the hall." I said to Bronx. He nodded his head and walked toward the door.

Lauren's POV

I was doing a new ballet routine that my teacher taught me. I was a little complex, but nothing I couldn't handle. I got on my toes and did two turns before abruptly stopping and falling like in the routine. I heard a gasp and turned.

"Bronx!" I exclaimed. Bronx walked over to me and I wrapped my arms around him.

"Hey kid. It's been a while." I smiled a bit guiltily.

"Y-yeah. How's Cody and CJ?" Bronx asked a bit awkwardly.

"They're good. Yeah, they're really good. How's your mom and Meagan?"

"They're good too."

"That's great buddy. That's great." It got quiet and Bronx looked at me.

"I miss you." He sniffled.

"I miss you too." I sighed sadly.

"Do you ever miss daddy?"

"Every once and a while I think back on it and, I do miss him a bit."

"But, you're happy here right?"

"Bronx, I'll always love you and your dad, but yes, I am happy here." Bronx hugged me again.

"I'm glad you're happy." He mumbled. Just then, Pete came downstairs.

"Sorry to interrupt, but Bronx, you should go back in the car. I just need to talk to Lauren for a second." Pete said looking at Bronx, sympathetically. Bronx nodded his head and left. Pete looked at me in my leotard as I grabbed a bottle of water.

"So, CJ asleep?" He asked leaning against the doorframe. Damn him, he knows I think it's hot when he does that. Even with his ridiculous pink hair, he was still ridiculously hot.

"Yeah. He went down easy tonight." I replied as cool as possible. Pete nodded and looked up at me.

"You know, this past year and my three months of rehab didn't really help me get better." He admitted.

"Pete, do you still feel...?" I asked cautiously.

"No! No, I mean, they helped, but that's not what got me better. I got better for you."

"What?"

"I knew that my depression, my bipolarity, it cost me the best thing I ever had. It cost me my family. I...I still can't forgive myself for that."

"Pete..."

"No, I'm not done Laur. Just...listen. I love you and I will forever go through my life loving you and wishing I could be with you, but I understand the paths we chose are what's better for us. I just, I need you to know that I love you." I stared at Pete and looked at the sincerity on his face. He eventually made his way face to face with me, caressing my cheek.

"I'm so sorry." He muttered. I carefully pressed my lips to his and grabbed his face. Pete kissed me back and had one hand around my waist, the other holding my face. I felt so secure in his arms. The same security I feel with Cody.

Cody. Shit.

I pulled back out of the kiss and looked at Pete with tears in my eyes.

"What's wrong?" Pete asked.

"I love you too. I love you, but I'm afraid to get hurt by you. Cody, he loves me and he treats me like a queen, and I love him for it. It's just...he's not you. He's better than you in certain aspects. I love Cody but I love you. There's just certain things he has that you don't and vice versa. Cody's never hurt me, but you...you hurt me and exploited my biggest insecurity, the fact that I wasn't enough for you. Why wasn't I enough for you? I gave you everything I possibly could! I gave you my heart and I was all in. Was I just an accessory? Did you never actually love me? Did you just want to try something new? I-I can never have that trust with you again Pete. I'm sorry, but I can't go back to you. You're no good for me." I sobbed. Pete pulled me into his arms while I cried.

"I'm sorry I did that to you Laur. I-I never knew. If I could change it all I would. I'd always loved you. I always dreamed of holding you in my arms and being so close to you. I wanna blame everything that went wrong on my depression, my bipolarity, but I know it was me. I'm so sorry." He mumbled into my hair. When I pulled out of the hug, I pulled Pete's lips to mine for a moment. When I pulled back, he had tears in his eyes.

"Well, Bronx has been waiting long enough." I stuttered. Pete nodded his head and hugged me, wiping his eyes.

"I love you Lauren." He whispered.

"I love you too, Pete." I sighed sadly. Pete left and I watched him walk up the stairs in shock and sadness from the past filling me.