The Hook-up

Chapter 46

Lauren felt a hand pull her away with her body falling toward the couch. "Owww." She screamed taking a few seconds to see what was happening just a few feet away. She saw a handful of men in black shirts and jeans pull Bruno and Justin away from the fight that now included a large encourage of random people that were in no way involved with the original confrontation.

"Are you okay?" she heard Caitlin ask her rubbing her shoulder brushing off the little bit of blood on her dress. "You're shaking, Laur..."

"I...I...know..." she got out wiping away a tear. "What the fuck just happened?" she asked as she saw the crowd disperse seeing Justin pulled away more quickly than Justin. They saw cameras flash and people starting to talk about the last five minutes, all caused by her. "Oh god." She said under her breath. A security guard came over to them telling them to go to the back of the club. The medium sized group was welcomed by a police officer.

"Can you all tell me what happened?" he asked them. The group looked over to Lauren who was the only one that knew exactly what had happened. She bit her lip back nervous at the explanation.

"Justin asked about my bruises." She told them taking a deep breath seeing a small female plain clothed officer reach over handing her a kleenex. Lauren wiped her eyes looking down at her black eyeliner. "He didn't like what J said..."

"Can you all excuse us?" the female officer asked the group. Everyone nodded their heads walking toward the door followed by the male officer.

"Lauren, where are the bruises from? Honestly." The female office confronted her.

"He did it." She told her sniffing away the tears.

"When?" she asked.

"A few days ago." She answered. "He didn't want me to go to work. So he grabbed me real tight."

"Is this the first time this has happened?" the female officer who introduced herself as Alexandra, asked.

"No." Lauren answered looking at Alexandra to see if she was going to ask any other questionings. "Before he left in February. We fight a lot. He usually wins. It hurts."

"Do you feel safe around him?"

"He doesn't do it on purpose." Lauren justified. "He would never hurt me."

"That doesn't look very safe to me." Alexandra answered.

"He's just really stressed right now. He leaves in two weeks for the last part of his tour..." she explained. "This is confidential, right?"

"Yes, Lauren." Alexandra answered sitting down next to her touching her arm to reassure her.

"You're not a police officer are you?" Lauren questioned.

"I'm a victim advocate." Alexandra said handing her a card with her name on it.

"But why? Why did you come out here?" Lauren asked.

"I come out every time there's a female involved in a fight." Alexandra answered. "Sometimes we're not needed. Other times we are..." she said pointing to a faded bruise on Lauren's shoulder.

"I know he's not perfect. And I might be able to do better." She admitted. "But when things are good they're good. I love him." She admitted wiping away her tears again. "No one understands why he's like this. I get it."

"I'm not here to change your mind about your relationship." Alexandra told her. "I'm here in case you're ready to make changes."

"I'm fine. I just want to go home." Lauren replied putting Alexandra's card in her clutch.

"Okay." Alexandra smiled opening the door from the small room seeing Bruno sitting on the floor with his phone in his hand. He jumped up seeing them walk out of the room. He looked at her with emotion all over his face. It was a mix of sadness, apology and a bit of anger from earlier in the evening. He took her hand lightly hoping that she would take his in return. She grasped onto his fingers walking with him without saying anything. He led her to the car opening the door for her as they saw a handful of flashes going off.

"I'm cold." She finally got out as the car started to drive away. He lifted his arms up wrapping his leather jacket around her.

"Here." He said looking out the opposite side of the car.