Chapter 32.

*****

I glanced at the door as the bell rang and an impatient knock followed before it rang again. I chuckled, whoever that was wasn't taking their finger off the bell. My eyes moved to the hallway as someone walked into the lounge.

"Can't you hear the damn door?" Macen glared at me.

"I wasn't aware that answering the door is part of my job." I replied with a shrug as I looked back at the book in my hands. I listened to him mutter a few profanities my way as he glanced through the window before he opened the door.

"David? What the hell are you doing here?" I looked back up hearing David's name.

"Hello. Nice to see you too, Macen." Macen shoved David away when David tried to hug him and muttered a stern 'no' as he shoved the door shut. David didn't seem fazed as he looked around before he grinned spotting me as I got up. "Oh – Hey Alex!"

"Hey." I gave a chuckle as he hugged me. Sergio's brother seemed really affectionate... Maybe it was his way of checking if someone was armed? Probably not, judging from the first time we met, he seemed to be nothing like his older brother.

"Alex, I'm heading to – David? What are you doing here?" Clyde frowned. I noticed Macen had left the room. Gone upstairs?

"Geez, does no one around here know how to greet people?" David frowned.

"David." Sergio glared at his brother as he walked in.

"Obviously not." David muttered to himself as he rolled his eyes and I chuckled before he looked at his brother, "Hey, I tried to call you."

"My phone is off while I work, you know that." Sergio's statement was answered by a scoff from his brother. I bit my lip as Sergio pinched the bridge of his nose. Well, David certainly knew how to tick his older brother off. Or was it that Sergio was a little on edge today? "Dave. I told you not to come by here, I would have came by later."

"No, you wouldn't." David hissed.

"Damn it, David. Listen to me: you cannot come here. This is my work place –"

I began shifting towards the front door slowly as the brothers' hushed voices began sounding more aggressive.

"Bullshit. You can't call this shit work –"

"This 'shit' is what got you..." Sergio's hushed voice drifted as I walked outside.

I walked over to Clyde's car and leaned back against it, my eyes searching the street in case anything happened that would call for me to dive for cover.

I glanced back to the front entrance of the house wondering if the brothers were done with their arguing. I sighed wondering what my friends were doing. Probably lounging at home, like I was. I chuckled. Before this, I would have been home today but now if I had a choice I would have made sure Jordan and I were not home. I was so sick of buildings...

I smiled thinking about the lake house. Maybe I could get Sergio to let me go and I'll ask Claire and the others if they want to head to the lake house with me. It was about an eight-hour drive from here to there. It was a house my parents had used when I was younger; any time I spent with them was at that lake house far away from all of this. The city's rush. All their work. I visited it about twice a year now, usually with Jordan, Shiloh and Claire. Sometimes Oliver and Ezra would come with us.

I missed that house and the free feeling it gave me. Not to mention all the memories with my friends and my parents.

I was snapped from my daydreaming when the car I was leaning against unlocked. I looked up as Clyde walked across the lawn, followed by an angry-looking David.

"Get in, Alex."

I groaned pulling the car's door open and slipping into the passenger seat as David aggressively got into the back.

"Dave, come on. Don't slam her doors..." Clyde said.

"I'm sorry." David muttered under his breath.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Just to drop Dave off. I assumed that you would like to get out of the house." I smiled at Clyde as he backed out of the yard.

"Wait – you're not doing anything today?" David looked at me as he leaned between our seats smiling, no trace of his anger. I guess the brothers do have something in common: their emotional switches.

"Yeah." I frowned.

"Hang out with me! I'm stuck at the loft until Sergio decides he's done 'working'. Kent's there, as is my mother." David said.

"He can't, he's busy."

"With what?" David and I asked in unison.

"Stuff." Clyde frowned.

"Clyde, come on." David frowned. "I'm sure Sergio won't mind us stealing his boyfriend for a few hours." I choked on air and coughed as Clyde laughed.

"I-I'm not with Sergio." I frowned. I mean... It didn't sound bad, but –

It's bad. Don't even think that way.

"Alright, Dave, you can bond with Sergio's boyfriend for a few hours."

I shot a glare at Clyde who just smirked as David clapped like a child. I shook my head smiling as I glanced back at David. He seemed nice.

-----

I had been at the loft for about four hours; it was two in the afternoon. I had been playing video games with David before we had lunch with Kent and his mother. Now I was at the dining table with everyone listening to stories about Sergio's childhood. I didn't mind, it seemed like he was a really interesting child. Somewhere into it, his mother had even pulled out a photo album. It was weird seeing Sergio as a child.

"Check this out. It's Sergio in first grade; I heard he had a massive crush on her." I looked at the picture and saw a shy little Sergio holding a certificate as he stood beside a woman, clearly his teacher. He was a really adorable kid, though he still looked a little mischievous.

"Yes, he did! It was so cute!" I laughed as his mother smiled.

"I –" David stopped when we heard the door shut. "I know I locked the door." David mumbled.

"Ma?!" I smiled as Sergio's voice came through the house and we all relaxed.

"In here, Sweetie!" I chuckled. Sweetie? Barely.

"What are you doing?" Sergio asked as he walked into the dining room's opening.

"Going through pictures!" His mother grinned.

"Ma, you know you're only supposed to do that with people I'm actually seriously DATING right? Like normal mother's do." Sergio's voice was laced with annoyance and I smirked seeing his cheeks shade slightly pink.

"He's the only one I have met; I might as well take advantage of the situation."

"Yeah, he's not the only one you have met, because I'm not with him." Sergio said frustrated. "You didn't show all of this stuff to Clyde or Ben or anyone." He added.

"You have never been with Clyde or Ben or anyone."

"Are you listening to me? I am not dating him, Ma!" Sergio exclaimed, a child-like whine in his voice. "Alexander."

"We are not together." I said. Sergio smiled at me and I returned it before looking back at the pictures.

"Sure." David nodded.

I laughed despite the aching in my chest at how adamantly he denied the possibility of us being together in that way. I shouldn't have cared, I would have done the same because there is no possibility, but I couldn't stop the stupid part of me. The part that felt. I had never liked that part to begin with.

"Anyway, so this is Sergio when he was five – he used to be fascinated by his father's car and Anna's make up so he put the two together by decorating the car! It was such a cute sight." I laughed at the picture of the car covered in make-up with a grinning little Sergio on the hood, his hands covered in mascara and lipstick and a man that looked torn between being distressed and amused standing at the side. His father? He sure looked like him. I looked back at Sergio. I smiled seeing him rub his mouth as he glared at the floor clenching the coffee in his other hand tightly.

"Alright, Sergio. Help me with dinner." Kent could also tell that Sergio was a ticking bomb.

"'Kay." Sergio muttered through grit teeth as he followed Kent out.

I chuckled looking back at the pictures.

I smiled seeing a picture of Sergio, David, Anna and their father in a pool. He looked about ten; his hair was sticking up everywhere as he held a ball in the air, his grin revealing his two missing front teeth. He looked so innocent and adorable.

"Oh, I love this one!" Sergio's mother beamed.

"Ma! No –!" David snapped as his mother grabbed a picture and held it out to me.

I began laughing seeing David and Sergio seated on a couch. They looked like they had been playing outside, their clothing a mess. Their faces were all messy with sand completely contrasting with the bows they had tied around their heads. They looked bored out of their minds.

"They were helping Anna by being the subjects of her painting. She had to make one for this competition she was entering. I think she added the bows just for a laugh."

I smiled studying the picture a little longer and I noticed Anna's refection from a mirror on the wall not far from the boys. She was half hidden behind a canvas but I could see that she was incredibly focused on what she was doing. She was obviously older than the two boys.

"Where is she?" I asked smiling at them.

I regretted it instantly as David's smile fell and his mother's wavered before she smiled sighing. I opened my mouth but didn't know what to say. I recognised the hurt on their faces. I knew it all too well.

"We lost her." She replied simply.

"I... I'm so sorry." I whispered.

"It was a long time ago. It's alright. Look, here she is with her brothers. Sergio was never one to brush his hair – or even take a bath really. When we got him to take a bath, he can never stay clean for long." I gave a small chuckle as I focused on the picture. I wanted to ask what happened, but I wasn't going to pry. It was none of my business. I had no idea... They didn't act like they lost her. What about their father? Him too? No one had mentioned him at all; they didn't say anything about him when he was in a picture. "You can keep this." She added.

"I-I shouldn't –" I began.

"You should." She replied pushing the picture into my hands.

I looked at the picture in my hand. It had the three siblings on the grass at a petting zoo. They were feeding some ducks. They were all a little dirty; David had ice cream on his face. Sergio just had mud all over his pants – well, more than his brother and sister. His hair was a mess. Anna looked the most pulled-together, though it still looked like they had all been rolling on the ground a little. Her hair was tied back. She shared the same eyes her brothers did, their father's eyes.

"It's... beautiful." I said, still confused as to why she would give me it. She knew I wasn't with Sergio.

She grinned at me.

"Oh, another of my favourites, here's little Dave after learning why not to crawl under stalls in the ladies' bathroom."

"Mama, don't show him that..." David groaned.

I looked at a picture of a little red-faced David. He looked adorable. We laughed as he dropped his head on the table, embarrassed.

*****