The Hook-up

Chapter 170

Lauren reached for her phone dialing her sister as she pulled out of the parking space next to Bruno, contemplating backing out lopsided so she would scrap the side of his recently repaired car. "Larissa....I need to come stay with you." She told her sister trying not to cry.

"What happened?" Larissa asked loudly with children behind her screaming and yelling.

"Nevermind. I'll go to mom's. You're not even home." She told her sister about to hang up.

"Watch them for a second..." Lauren heard her sister yell moving to a quiet place. "We're at soccer practice." Larissa answered. "Why are you crying?"

"He cheated on me." Lauren cried.

"Where are you?" Larissa asked frustrated in her tone.

"I'm at Atlantic. I just left." She told her sister.

"Oh. That thing." Larissa remembered her sister talking to her about some big event Bruno was having. "Just come to the house. There's a key by the mailbox. We should be home by eight. Do you need to get some things from the house? Do I need to go get some things?" Larissa asked. "Like a lawyer? Clean clothes? I don't want you over there, Lauren."

"Can you go get some clothes and my pill?" she asked through the tears.

"I will go get them. You go to the house and get the babies into bed. You have the pack and plays over there right now. We'll figure something out." Larissa said calmly.

"Okaaayyy..." Lauren got out. "Be careful." She said hanging up the phone.

"Laur?" Larissa asked turning to her husband who was sitting next to her holding their two year old daughter.

"What's wrong with them now?" Larissa's husband Jake asked.

"I really don't know but they're coming over." Larissa told him. "I need to go to the house and get some things. Can you handle them?"

"Mom....can I go with you?" Nick asked.

"No." Larissa said kissing her husband on the cheek. "I'll be home by the time y'all get home."

"Uh huh." Jake answered.

"She might be there before you. I told her to use the extra key." Larissa said running out the door.

Larissa trudged through the Los Angeles traffic making her way to the quiet upscale neighborhood where her sister lived. She punched in the number to get into the gate seeing Bruno's car in the driveway. Shit. She thought trying to figure out what to do. I have to get her things. She inhaled heavly and exhaled walking toward the door not sure of what she was going to see when she walked into the house. Based on the things that her sister had told her she was slightly unnerved by the possibilities.

"Laur?" Larissa heard Bruno ask. "Are they asleep?" she saw Bruno come into the hallway with a giant bruise under his eye. "Oh. Larissa. Hi." He said in a quiet tone.

"I just came to get her stuff. I really don't care what happened." She told her brother-in-law.

"Oh." He said still unsure of what Larissa knew letting her walk past him.

"Where are her bags?" she asked him.

"Hang on. I'll get them." Bruno said calmly shocking Larissa. Larissa went into their messy bedroom seeing piles of clothes that almost made her want to stay to clean the whole house. She pulled down a few dresses and then some shoes reaching for her cotton shorts and camis for her to sleep in. "Which bras does she use now, Bruno?" Larissa asked holding up a printed out and another plain one.

"The plain ones." He answered handing her the bags. Larissa could feel the tension in the room and that he was trying to hold back what only a few people knew. "I....I....I...I don't know what happened, Larissa. Tell her I'm sorry. And she's right for everything she did. Everything. Absolutely everything." He paused for a second sitting down on the bed. "Larissa, I messed up this time. It's worse than before."

"I don't care. I don't care what you have to say." She snapped the same way Lauren would if she were angry. "I need the babies things." She said grabbing another bag going toward their bedroom. She came back in the room to see Bruno still laying on the bed staring at the ceiling. "Okay. You are more sad than Geronimo when you leave. Tell me your side of the story before I hear hers." She said sitting down on the bed knowing he needed to tell someone something.

"It was Damaris. I told her I was upset that Lauren was going back to work..." he heard Larissa start to open her mouth. "Wait. Let me tell you." He said sitting up rubbing his bruised eye. "I wasn't really upset. I just got used to her being home with the babies. I realize that now. And I told her. I told her I was upset and then she twisted it into this thing where Lauren didn't want to be with me and she was happier away from me. And she got me thinking that. And I was upset then. And she's here for some TV show thing. So she came over after Lauren left. And we were together all day....and we had sex. Because I'm a shitty person. Because Lauren isn't the same yet. And I asked Eric about it and he said that it was the same way for Cindia and him. And I asked my sister .And she said the same thing. But Damaris was there. And I thought that she would do it better. And it would fix things. And it did. For like two hours until Lauren came to the webcast thing. She wasn't supposed to. I didn't think she would be there. But she was there. And she demanded that Damaris go outside with her. And then she hit her. Right in the face." Bruno paused hearing Larissa gasp.

"Is that why your eye is bruised?" Larissa asked touching it carefully.

"Yeah. She hit me after I let go of her. I got downstairs before she could leave Damaris dead on the ground.

"She was that good?" Larissa asked surprised by her younger sister.

"She kicked some serious ass." Bruno said trying not to laugh at the thought of his petite wife beating him up. "We both need the space. Tell her that I'm sorry and that I hope she's okay. And that the babies are okay."

"Think about what happened, Bruno. Don't do anything more stupid than you already did." Damaris said picking up the bags that almost pulled her over to the side.

"Be careful." Bruno answered watching Larissa walk away. When he heard the door slam he laid his head against the bed and screamed as loud as he could causing Geronimo to run to him to make sure he was okay.