Bruno took a shower and turned on the TV ignoring the fact that his wife left so hastily. He finished eating what she had left him cleaning up stepping over the mess of the babies and their things. "Ugh. Can't she clean this up?" he groaned starting to clean up. After a few minutes of cleaning he started to like cleaning moving toward the other parts of the house finding himself cleaning the whole house without even knowing it. After cleaning the last room, the babies's room he realized that Lauren still wasn't home, even after talking to her earlier. The threats her sister had made were hollow and worthless to him. He knew that Lauren would come home. She never listened to her family. He sat down on the couch stretching out with the dogs next to him hearing his phone ring. "Laur?" he asked.
"I'm not coming home." she told him flatly recovering from crying.
"You're not?" he asked.
"No. I need more time away from you. Go to New York and do your thing. We'll talk when you get back." she said to him waiting for his angry response.
"But Elle." he answered almost about to cry. "I cleaned the house."
"That's nice. Then it will be clean when I come home after your trip." she answered. "Jake is going to come over and get my stuff. I'd recommend you not be home."
"It's my house." he said to his wife.
"I don't think anyone really cares right now. I'm just trying not to make this a bigger deal than it is. We're lucky that the last thing happened where it did and everyone had signed confidentiality agreements. " Lauren explained to him. "Go to your sister's house or something. She didn't ask anything about last night."
"She'll ask me. I'll figure it out. Is he going to get the dog or do I need to take Gigi if I go somewhere?" Bruno asked planning his escape.
"Leave her. We'll get her." Lauren said. "But be safe. Whatever you do. Please."
"I will. Lauren, I'm sorry. I don't know why you put up with me. I was stupid last night." he said fighting back the tears that came after thinking about the trouble he had caused. I'm leaving in two days and will be gone almost a month. This is the longest I'll be away from them. What am I going to do? How did I do this last time? But I didn't have the twins thien...this is going to be so hard....
"Bruno?" she asked not hearing him answer.
"Will you call me?" he askd.
"I will call you when I can. Plus you're going to be really busy anyway." she answered him.
"Okay. I love you. And the babies." he said pulling the phone away from him.
"Be safe, Buno." she said softy ending the call turning to Ezra who was sitting in a bouncing chair watching her intently. "Your dad is still a jerk." she told her son leaning down to kiss him on the head. "I love you."
**
"What do you need?" Ryan asked handing Bruno a few things before they left for his escape.
"Give me that bottle." Bruno said taking the bottle from Ryan's hand.
"Are you sure?" Ryan asked.
"As sure as I'll ever be." he said taking a giant drink of the alcohol. "Okay. Let's go." he said to his friend throwing the almost empty bottle in the sink hearing it break. Ryan looked over at it wondering if they should clean it up.
"Isn't Lauren going to hate that?" Ryan asked looking at it.
"Yeah. But I don't care." Bruno answered shrugging his shoulders walking toward the front door.
"Bro, what the hell happened?" Ryan asked. "Y'all seemed fine last night."
"I don't want to fucking talk about it. I want to go waste all my money." he said to his friend reaching for another bottle before leaving the house.
"Really?" Ryan asked. "And you're driving? In your new car? Are you serious?" Ryan wondered.
"I'm serious, I know what I'm doing." he half slurred and stumbled toward the car.
Despite his better judgment, Ryan got in the car with his friend. "At least I'll be able to keep you from doing anything stupid." Ryan sighed completely unaware of Bruno's feelings and actions from the night before.
**
A few hours later Bruno stepped out of his classic car pulling out a cigarette walking into the swanky, exclusive casino. He had just recently been invited to go there and had made a few apperances since he had been invited that past summer. All of them had been made when he was frustrated, angry and fed up with whatever was going on in his life. He hadn't made that connection yet, though. After exchanging the large bills he was carrying for chips, he adjusted his baseball hat and sunglasses trying to blend in as much as he could. Ryan walked behind him standing out like a sore thumb. A few people took pictures of Bruno as he walked toward a table full of girls. "Are you sure?" Ryan asked.
"Yeah. I'll be able to handle it." he said to his friends. He told the dealer exactly what he wanted looking at the cards looking at one of the girls at the end of the table. He couldn't place where he knew her from but she returned a similar look.
"Bruno?" the girl asked a bit confused.
"Please keep it down.' the dealer said over the noise of the crowd throughout the casino.
"I think we were on the same flight ages ago..." the girl smiled. "And we talked a bit after and then a girl saw us and you ran after her." the girl reminded him. Sarah. He thought to himself. That girl. With the ass.
"Oh. Right." he said pretending not to remember who she was. "It's nice to see you again." he said returning to the cards. They played several more hands with Bruno making no more than $500. He sighed after a while finishing the third or fourth drink he had watching Sarah step away from the table. "I'm out." he said reaching for his chips following her.
"You know...." he said to the girl he was attempting to forget. "It's a shame that that girl caught us last time..." he said seductively.
"Oh?" she asked turning around biting her lip.
"Yeah. Because I know for a fact she won't find out this time...." Bruno said running is fingers along the unknown girl's hips.
"I usually don't do this." Sarah said to him a bit nervous.
"It's really not that hard..." he whispered into her ear. "I kiss you..." he said kissing her ear lobe lightly the way Lauren did on him.
"Come with me...." she whispered pulling him away leading him away from the crowded room.