DECEPTION : (A student/teacher romance)

I push open the front door and slip inside. The sound of Hallie crying has my heart free-falling, but I try to curb my temper and my uncontrollable need to comfort her, and use the time to try to figure out a plan.

Gerrard won’t want police intervention; he won’t want his work colleagues to know what a scumbag he actually is. The high society people him and his family claim him to be is a mask he they wear. Whereas, I wear none.

I hide behind nothing.

I’m the Mafia and proud of it.

My fingers shake as I type out a message to Silas.

I contemplate his question and decide not to take him up on his offer. The more people I pull into this, the more shit I bring down on the family, and that’s going to make it harder for us to get out of this mess.

My shoulder pinches with the gunshot wound as I type a response.

I smirk. It’s as good as wishing me luck, and something tells me I will need it.

Inching closer to the room, I keep my back against the wall.

“You married the little cunt? Hm, that’s the sort of whore you are. You married him to spite me!”

Every muscle in my body stiffens as I listen in on his tirade.

“I-It’s not like that.” Hallie sobs. “You’re hurting him. Just let him go.” Her words have my vision blurring. He’s hurting Matt. Every instinct in my body comes alive to protect my family, and I’m done being slick. I push away from the wall and let him know I’m here.

“It’s me you want, you piece of shit,” I grit out as I step into the open doorway, and my eyes land on Matt. My nostrils flare at my best friend’s bloody face. His eyes roll, and my knuckles ache from how hard I’m pumping my fists.

He touched what’s mine.

He hurt what’s mine.

They’re mine to protect.

His dark chuckle fills the room, and with each rise of his chest, I imagine slicing through him with my knife. Causing him the same pain as he caused them, only worse. I’ll leave him bare of his skin for touching what doesn’t belong to him.

“Here he is. The boy. The criminal,” he mocks, then withdraws a gun from behind his back. Hallie stumbles backward, her back flush against the wall beside them. My skin crawls to get to her, but I’m cautious of any sudden movement that could encourage him to lash out.

“Did you know this manipulative piece of shit owns that house you live in?”

Hallie flinches on his words, and I kick myself for not explaining everything sooner. His grin is full of jest, and I want to throat punch him for it. “Owns the whole goddamn street, isn’t that right?” I feel her eyes on mine but don’t dare look, not when he’s so unpredictable.

“You know he set me up too, right? It was him that fucking drugged me! I never slept with no goddamn woman! He drugged me so you’d divorce me! He fucking set me up!” He gets louder and louder with each word, and I can feel the heat of Hallie’s stare on the side of my face.

“Is that true?” she whispers brokenly. “Rocco? You deceived me? You lied to me.” It isn’t a question, a statement. A fact. I deceived her. And I’d do it all again to have her.

I flick my eyes over to her. “I did.” The hurt swims in her eyes, and I hate myself for putting it there.

“He made friends with Matt to get close to you both.”

Matt’s bloodshot eyes meet mine, and I swallow back the truth and guilt from his words.

“He set this all up.” Gerrard sweeps his arm out, then tugs on his hair. “He stole you from me, and now I’m taking you back.”

The manipulation I’ve forced them to endure hangs in the air, but I try to remain on target, to get them to safety. I clear my throat and hold my hands out in front of me so he can see I’m not a threat. “You don’t want to hurt them, Gerrard. It’s me you want. Just let them go.”

“They’re my fucking family, not yours. I won’t ever let them go,” he spits out through gritted teeth, and his words penetrate my soul. He means every damn word he says; he won’t let them go. He never had any intentions of ever letting them go, and my stomach clenches at the notion.

“Then let them leave the room. They don’t need to be drawn into this anymore than they are already.”

Hallie’s eyes dart from mine to Gerrard’s.

“Hallie can patch Matty up.”

“Matty?” He tilts his head as if examining me, and I wince at my slip up. I’ve exposed how much Matt means to me. Gerrard’s eyes narrow on Hallie, and my spine bolts straight while I sidestep toward her, inching closer in the hope that if I stand between us, I can give her a fighting chance to get out of here unscathed.

He turns his attention back to me, and I still my movements. “What do you fucking care about my son? You don’t think I know you knocked up my wife?”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to correct him that she’s my wife, but I refrain from angering him further.

“Maybe I should take your kid from you like you’re taking mine from me?” He raises the gun toward Hallie, and my breath stills. As if in slow motion, Matty finds an inner strength only I knew him to have before now. He slips from Gerrard’s hand and drops to the floor, then tucks his shoulder under just how I taught him and delivers a slick forward roll with a high kick to Gerrard’s hand that knocks him off balance. Then he rises between him and his mom. My breath stutters as his battered body hobbles to stand in front of his mom, and I couldn’t be prouder.

“I won’t let you hurt them.” His shaky words pierce my hard shell, warming my bones while simultaneously shattering them. My best friend is putting himself in the firing line for my girl, my baby too.

Gerrard steps back, and his laugh makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, and as if in slow motion, he raises the gun. “I can hurt her another way.” He presses the trigger. “Son,” he spits out, as if he’s an afterthought.

My best friend.

My wife’s baby, her son.

My stepson.

And he will hurt him as if he’s nothing.

My heart ceases to beat as Hallie’s pained cry rings out in my ears, and I lunge in front of him as two bullets leave the gun. The shots play out like background noise, and all I can think is I hope I saved him as my world tilts on an axis and becomes black.

I hope I saved him, for her.