The Hook-up

Chapter 188

Lauren woke up hearing her daughter's cries in the middle of the night. She quickly jumped out of the small bed she was sleeping in carrying her cell phone as a flash light. "Everleee..." she whispered coming into the bedroom touching her sweet face to calm her down. She placed her cell phone on the window sill and rocked her daughter feeling her tender gums with one hand and her head with another to make sure she hadn't gotten a fever again. "You're just being fussy. A fussy little baby..." she smiled at her daughter standing up to make sure that Ezra had not waken up. Unlike his sister he could sleep through almost anything. Lauren held onto her daughter rocking her closely hearing her daughter start to breath lightly through her sleep. Turning to see her phone and what time it was she noticed her phone blinking quickly indicating that she had messages. "Go to sleep baby girl.." Lauren told her daughter touching her lightly heading toward the phone. She reached for the phone sitting down in the rocking chair forgetting that it was 3 in the morning. She flipped through the junk e-mail and random facebook updates eventually realizing that her phone was blinking because of twitter mentions. She glanced at them seeing a common theme. A theme surrounding photos of Bruno taken with Damaris.

**

"Bruno! Come on! Come and dance with me!" he heard Damaris whine in a sloppy voice.

"Oh, babe. I don't think I can move right now." he smiled reaching his hands up to have her come stand near her.

"I mean, we don't have to dance here. We can go back to my place..." she smiled at him.

"If that involves me falling asleep then I might be for it." he told her realizing that it was almost 2 in the morning.

"I think I can accept that tonight..." she smirked. "But only because you were killer amazing tonight." she helped him stand up leading him toward the stairs of the VIP area.

"But let me tell Dre that I'm leaving." he said letting go walking over to his friends and bandmates. From a distance Damais stood scanning the VIP section catching the eye of a few familiar faces judging their presence together. She saw him taking a defensive stance seeing Ryan raise his hands in a defeated motion. Bruno walked away with his head down taking Damaris's hand lightly to take her downstairs.

"Are they okay?" Damaris asked.

"They'll get over it." he said pulling her near him as they walked outside.

After taking a short cab ride to Damaris's somewhat luxurious New York City apartment Bruno threw himself on her couch. "I am way too tired. And I have so many interviews on Monday. It's ridiculous." he said clearing his throat.

"Let me get you some tea. It might help." Damaris said ripping off her high shoes and then the sweater she had on revealing a tight camisole underneath.

"Thank you." he said reaching for his cigarettes lighting one in her apartment without getting a response from Damaris. "It's nice to have someone who cares about me here."

"So are you upset that Lauren can't be with you all the time?" she asked handing him the tea sitting down next to him.

"I don't know. I don't think I am. I know why she's not with me. It would be hard to leave them. It is hard to leave them. And from all those classes that we took, they said that the first three months were the most important. I got in some good time with them. Hopefully I don't mess them up too much."

"They're going to be fine." Damaris said sweetly to him touching his hand. "You're doing fine. You're doing your best."

"But I hurt her, Damaris. How did that even happen?" he wondered not looking for any particular answer.

"I don't think anyone is going to be able to answer that..." she said laying her head on his shoulder reaching to touch his hair. She felt him close his eyes sighing.