Hate You - LN

37 - Devin

Everything is very. Very. Not perfect.

Lando and I had barely made it through the door before chaos ensued. It took three seconds for Charles to notice the small cut on my cheek, and another second for him to almost jump Lando. Lorenzo had managed to hold him back and talk enough sense into him to at least let me explain first. But I can tell as Charles sits tensely as a stunned goat on the couch across from me that he's simply humouring his older brother.

Either way, this isn't going to be pretty.

Alex sits worried beside Charles on the couch and she keeps glancing between Lando and I as if trying to put the pieces together as to why I brought him. Lando's come to quite a few of our family lunches in the past when we were, almost dating or whatever we were, but Alex wasn't around then. And this is a pretty different situation from all those lunches before.

I'm about to destroy all my brother's hearts.

"Dev, what's going on?" Alex asks softly, the tension in the room barely boiling over.

"We need to wait for Arthur to get here."

Alex seems unsatisfied but nods anyway. "Okay."

Charles' lips are pressed into a fine line and he keeps looking at my cheek. I'd easily covered up the small mark on my neck from Lando yesterday but hadn't bothered with the small mark on my face. The bruising is slightly worse today, especially on my ribs, but nothing compared to what I've had before, or what it could have been.

A crashing sound comes from the front door then the door shuts. Moments later, Arthur's voice fills the room from somewhere else in the house.

"Who has the chocolates? I've decided I want dessert first!" he yells from what I can assume is the kitchen. I hide my snicker. Leave it to Art to not read how the house is dead silent. "Guys?" he yells when there is no answer.

I clear my throat but my voice still comes out unsure. "In here!"

"You bitch, did you hide them again?" Arthur grumbles, his voice becoming clearer and louder as he comes closer. He's looking down when he walks into the living room where we all are. "I swear I'll save you the peanut ones, I said last time I would."

"Arthur," Lorenzo clears his throat and Art looks up from his phone.

"What?"A bead of silence passes and Arthur looks around the room, clueless. "Oh hey Lando, nice to see you again."

Lando chokes on his laugh and I rub the space between my eyebrows with a force.

"You're not surprised to see him here?" Alex asks motioning to Lando bewildered.

Arthur moves casually across the room, snagging the box of chocolates off the coffee table where I'd put them earlier. He collapses back into one of the large lounge chairs and pulls one of the throw blankets over his lap. Despite the heat outside, the air conditioning in here is ice cold. "No." He shrugs. "The two of them have been sharing a room since the beginning of the season, it was bound to happen at some point."

This time Lando does laugh, and hide my face in my hands this time. Charles somehow tenses further. "You've been what?"

I sigh and rub my eyes, avoiding smearing my mascara which I chose to put on for once today. "Sharing a room."

"I know, I heard that part." Charles casts a glare at Lando. "Care to explain how that happened Lando?"

I cut in. "I got hired late at McLaren, you know that Char. All the hotel rooms were booked up for most of the season. Lando let me bunk up with him."

"Plus, it's not like they haven't shared a room before," Arthur grumbles and I have the overwhelming urge to slap him. Charles' glare shifts from Lando to Arthur.