The Hook-up

Chapter 209

Dre ignored what Bruno said leading the group back to their hotel rooms. "Go take a nap and I'll get you at 5." Dre said opening the door for Bruno.

"Give me my phone." he said angerly.

"Fine." Dre said against his better judgement.

"Thanks." he said still angry taking it in the room closing the door behind him. He flopped on the bed reaching to dial Damaris. "Damarissss..." he slurred into the phone hearing her pick up the phone. "I'm going to leave her. I want you. Not her."

"Bruno? Are you okay?" she asked concerned about his honesty.

"I can't stop thinking about you. Even when I am talking to her, with her, telling her lies. I want to be with you."

"What are you saying?" she asked.

"I'm saying I'm over it all. I just can't deal with her anymore. She tells me what to do and wants me to change and if she knew what I did tonight she'd be so mad. She would just not understand it."

"What did you do?" she asked.

"I smoked, I drank, I smoked...." he paused.

"Oh. That. So?" she asked not impressed with what he was saying.

"She would fucking kick my ass. And then there's you. You didn't even care. I'm not what she wants. I never will be." he continued with all the truths he was holding back. "I love my kids. I miss them like nothing else in the world. But being away from them, it's hard. I want to see them. But I don't want to be with Lauren and all her shit and the shit she gives me because of you. No matter what I say or do it just keeps hurting her. It just doesn't get any better..." he said rubbing his head from the impending hang over he was going to have. "I hurt her so much. And this is going to hurt her too, but she'll get over it if I'm gone. But if I stay it's just going to keep going and going and going. And we're both going to explode." he told her as she sat in her own bed listening to what he was saying.

"I think you should think about what you just said, Bruno." Damaris said a bit scared of the possibility of her status going from home wrecker to girlfriend. "This is fun, Bruno. I like you. I like what we have. But think of everything that will happen if you do this."

"I have." he told her. "And I'm okay with being the bad guy for a while. I'm okay with what will be said about me. But I'm not happy." he told her.

"And you would be happy with things this way? With me there for you and not her?" Damaris asked.

"I don't know. But it can't get much worse than it is right now." he said almost about to cry.

"Think about what you're doing, Bruno. Think about it for a while before you do anything crazy." Damaris told her.

"Do you want it to stay this way?" Bruno asked. "Do you want to be the girl that I see but no one knows about?" he questioned.

"I want to be with you, Bruno. I really do. But I also don't want it to be this way." Damaris told him about her conflicting thoughts. I can be his. Not her. And now I don't know what to do with this. What do I do?

"What do you want, D? What the hell do you want?" Bruno yelled at her.

"Oh. Oh." she was shocked by his seemingly unnecessary anger.

"I don't know. Can I think about it? Like when you come back in a few weeks?" she asked.

"I won't regret any of it, D." he told her. "Just please say something." he pleaded.

"Not now, Bruno. Not when you have such a big day ahead of you. I will see you tonight. We can talk then." she told him.

**

Bruno scrolled through his phone with sitting in the fancy limo by himself a few hours later. In his other hand he held onto a red wine glass full of tea. "e glanced at his phone looking at his tweets seeing all the excitement surrounding his appearance on the Today Show. As he was scrolling he saw his wife's name pop up with several retweets next to it. "Ouch. Too bad my baby isn't here to take care of me. :( " the tweet read with a picture of her arm beneath it. Oh god. He thought taking a sip of his tea hoping that it would wake him up. Before he knew it he was looking at her tweets reading her mundane thoughts about the past not revealing a single piece of their relationship troubles, but instead, delighting in his presence, her children and the future that was coming. Above the tweet of her hand was a tweet that said "I love you. Good luck today. You deserve everything the world has in store for you. P.S. -I know you're reading this." He cracked a smile hearing the car start signaling the start of his whirlwind day. Oh god. He thought again closing his eyes saying a small prayer about the day trying to forgetting the raging hang over her was going to have and even more about what h had said to Damaris just a few hours earlier.

After walking out of the limo, the way he had planned it, he discussed the album and the things that it took to get to where he was. Matt Laur asked, toward the end of the interview, about the changes in his life. "How much of this album was inspired by your family?" the reporter asked.

Bruno paused unsure of how to answer the question. "My life influences all my music. I think that you'll be able to see that through most of the songs in this album." he said plainly not revealing any of the turmoil that his family was facing.

"Well, we are so excited that you have new music and are looking forward to seeing you in the next hour."

"Oh, thank you so much. I am excited to get all this going again..." he said with a smile adjusting the sun glasses he was wearing. He glanced over to the side of the studio to see Ryan standing off to the side with his own sunglasses on. They hadn't spoken since Ryan tried to save him from calling Damaris.

After finishing the performance Bruno walked out of the studio, snapping several photos on the way to his next stop. Before he could get to the car he heard Lauren's ringtone. "Hey baby.." he said in a raspy hungover voice.

"You were amazing." she said half awake with a babbling baby on her hip.

"Thank you." he said still raspy.

"How much did you drink last night?" she asked. "It sounds like you drank a lot."

"I drank enough." he said almost defensively.

"Will you be home tomorrow?" she asked.

"I will, baby. I will see you in the afternoon. I miss you." he almost faked. No, I do miss her. But...

"I can't wait to see you." she got out over a loud cry. "I have to go. Have an amazing day. Good luck today. You deserve everything the world has in store for you." she said in an amazingly sweet and sincere voice that he loved to hear. Before he could take in what his wife was saying the phone call ended.

"Shit!" he almost yelled but instead muttered to himself as they walked toward the car that was taking him to his next interview.