Lost Hope

TWENTY

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The continuous sound of the bell had Athena flinching from her position on her bed.

She had gotten bored from the others and decided to get some school work done.

But she quickly shot up when she heard yelling from downstairs a few minutes after the front door opened.

She quickly checked her reflection and wrenched the door open, hurrying down the stairs.

Her shoulders slumped and she released a groan when she saw who was having the yelling match with Blake.

His sharp dark green eyes, identical to his brother's, snapped to her and a smug grin curved on his lips.

"Aloha, love," he said, still smiling smugly.

"Arlo," she greeted unenthusiastically, crossing her arms and stepping closer to Blake.

The boys all turned to her in surprise.

"You know him?" said Henry, blinking in confusion.

"Usually, when someone knows the other person's name they know them, smartass," said Arlo sarcastically.

Athena shot him a glare and he closed his mouth immediately.

"Yeah, he's Black's brother," she told Henry, her eyes still on Arlo. "You're here for?"

The smug grin was back on his face. "You, mademoiselle."

"Fuck off."

Blake laughed. "Ha!"

Arlo ignored him and shot her a look. "You can't be serious."

"How'd you know where I am?" she asked instead.

"Well, I heard you're with a certain shitty, girly band from Seb and all I had to do was ask one of my mates because, you know, I have a lot of them. And he used to work in the same place with these assholes and he gave me their address. By the way, wow, I didn't know your taste could go from big, bad boys to..." his eyes settled on Isaac who had a big blanket wrapped around him and Arlo smirked, "soft ass-kissers," he finished, his eyes flashing with amusement.

The boys immediately began hollering at him and, honestly, they had every right to. He insulted their band and Isaac.

She pushed Blake back and glared lethally at Arlo who had been her greatest company for a while when Chris had gone on a family vacation once.

"What do you want, Black?" she hissed.

He smiled down at her. "Easy, Tal. Come home with me."

The boys began shouting again. She rounded on them. "Okay, shut the fuck up, idiots!"

They shut up at once and she turned to Arlo again.

"Don't call me that. And there's no way in hell I'm going back with you and to your cheater brother, rectangle head, close the door after you."

Arlo blew Blake a kiss over her shoulder, barely listening to her, and she pushed him roughly to get his attention.

"Hey, listen, my brother is torn apart after you, okay? Just go back there, talk it out and sort your shit, Talie, seriously," he said, frowning at her. "And my head isn't rectangular."

"Did I stutter, Arlo?" she snapped. "I'm not going anywhere with you, let alone back with your brother. Leave."

Arlo huffed. "Look, I have a new stash of coke and XTCs, come with me and they're off charge," he said, trying to bargain.