Stronger |Marco R.|

Los Angeles

Alex POV

"Thank you," I say to the taxi driver before he drives off. I look up to the house I live in LA. A smile makes its way onto my face as I think of seeing Blake, Jake and Kylie again. I lug my suitcases up the front steps after opening the gate. I gently push the door open and poke my head in. I can hear voices coming from the lounge room. I creep behind the wall, spotting Jake. I run up behind him and jump onto his back. 

"Guess who's back motherfuckers!" I shout making Jake let out a girly squeal. 

"Who t- Alex!" 

Kylie, Jake, and Blake pull me into a group hug. 

"Can't. Breath," I gasp making Blake chuckle. They let me go before bombarding me with questions. 

"What are you doing here?" Kylie asks. 

"I decided to pay you guys a visit," I smile. Jake turned on his camera, shoving it in my face. 

"Guy's look at who decided to show up."

"Hey guys. Long time no see," I laugh, waving to the camera. At first, this would have been weird talking to an inanimate object. I mean, who's comfortable talking to a camera. But, after a while, I got used to it. 

"You came right on time," Blake informs. "We ordered Chipotle."

"Yumm. I'm starving," I say.

"Aren't you always," Kylie shoots back. I send her a dirty glare as I take a seat. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

After eating Chipotle after nearly a year, I felt good. We were all sitting in the living room doing our own thing. Jake was editing today's video and Jake was uploading stuff onto his computer. 

"So how long are you staying?" Kylie asks, setting her phone down. She seemed to have forgotten about the incident that occurred during our phone call. Not that I was complaining. 

"Yeah, you better be staying for longer than a month," Blake adds. I avoided their gaze as the looked at me expectantly. How am I supposed to tell them that I got fired. 

"I'm staying for good," I answer. They stop and stare at me. 

"What do you mean?" Jake asks, slowly. 

"I've been fired," I sigh. 

'What?!" they exclaim.

"What happened?" Blake asks. 

"They thought I leaked information out so Lucien fired me," I explain. 

"But I thought Lucien loved you," Jake pointed out. "He's known you for years."

"I know but I guess he didn't want to take any chances."

"You weren't even getting paid though. How'd he fire you?" Kylie questions.

"I know but he just said I had to leave."

"What about Marco?" she asks. 

"He didn't say anything."

"What do you mean?"

"He said he didn't know if he should believe me or not," I mumble.

"Oh honey, come here," Kylie pulls me into a hug. It still hadn't struck me that I wouldn't see him again until now. I felt tears blur my vision as I buried my face in Kylie's arms. 

"Shh, don't cry," she consoled. I miss him and it's only been one day. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Marco POV

I groaned as my phone rang yet again. Flinging the covers off my face, I grabbed my phone off the nightstand. 

12 missed calls from Hanna 

7 text messages

I got out of bed and changed into clean clothes. I had asked to skip training today to let everything sink in. I decided to give Alex a chance and listen to her side of the story. I come out of my room and go across to her room. The door was slightly open. Weird. I enter my room only to find Hanna standing there, in the empty room. 

"Hanna?" I whisper. She doesn't answer, still facing towards the window with her back to me. 

"If you're looking for her she's gone," she says in a monotone voice. 

"What to you mean," I ask. My heart rate increases as my mind begins to put the pieces together. Hanna spins around angrily. 

"She's gone. She left because no one fucking believed her. Lucien wanted her gone. Now she's gone." she shouted, tears streaming down her cheeks. 

"No that's impossible," I say. It was me trying to convince myself rather than Hanna. 

"It's all your fault! Why didn't you stop her?!" she cries, shoving me backward. I stumble, staring at her in shock. 

"Why didn't you do anything?" she whispers, clutching my shirt.

"I-I don't know," I stutter. 

"She said she wouldn't come back," she says softly.