In a Hail of Bullets

Chapter 16

The group was ushered down a long hall away from the main dining area. With it being this late at night there were hardly any patrons anyway but these sit downs were always held in a back room. The hall was so narrow the men had to walk two by two towards the room, with Frank and Gerard bringing up the rear. One last squeeze of Frank's hand and the door was pushed open.

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The last week of Johns life had been hell. Gerard was god knows where and it took every ounce of restraint in his body to not storm the Iero home and take Gerard back with force. But someone could get hurt, namely Gerard. He had to be patient.

His men told him Gerard seemed fine in the mall and while that was immense relief to see he wasn't being raped or beaten, it was confusing. There he was walking around essentially free but not coming back. John didn't want to believe Gerard was in on this situation, but he would definitely have to ask him when they got home.

This had scared John so much that he decided to move Gerard out of his apartment and back into the house. Gerard would be upset, yes, but at least John would know he was safe. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard footsteps approaching the room. Lots of them. John took a deep breath. After all these years, sit downs were still the one thing that made him nervous.

The room wasn't very large but there was a large table in the middle lined with several chairs. There were no windows and only one entrance and exit. It was perfect for this. It was meant for working out conflict and discussions but many mobsters used set ups like this to assassinate their enemies without them even suspecting it was coming. That's why both John and Frank were so nervous. John and his men sat on the other side of the table, facing the door and his heart leapt when the door handle turned.

Six unknown men came in, eyeing the room and the other men in it, before John saw Frank, pulling Gerard gently behind him. Gerard. Johns eyes got big as he looked at his son who looked perfectly healthy and mark free. He slowly stood and made his way around the table, not taking his eyes of Gerard for a second in fear that if he blinked Gerard would vanish. Gerard's eyes filled with tears as he dropped Frank's hand to make his way to his father.

John grabbed Gerard and pulled him in for a bone crushing hug, feeling his own tears threatening to pour out. He honestly never thought he would see his boy again and he was so fucking thankful right now. As Gerard sobbed into his chest, John looked over at Frank.

"Thank you" he whispered softly as one tear escaped down his cheek. Frank kept a solemn face and nodded once in understanding. He motioned for his men to sit down as he stood behind Gerard and waited.

John pulled Gerard's face out of his chest to look into his eyes. "Are you okay?" He asked shakily. "You aren't hurt or anything?" Gerard couldn't speak so he just shook his head and buried his face back in his fathers chest, no doubt getting his nice dress shirt wet. John didn't give a fuck about it. His son was back and he was alright.

"Don't worry Gee, I'll never let anything like this happen to you again" John spoke with conviction. Gerard took a shaky breath and pulled back to look at his father again.

"I know you won't, dad. But I want to live with Frankie".

Both John and Frank's eyes grew wide as they looked at each other, then back to Gerard.

"I love him".

John scoffed. "No Gee, you don't. It's called Stockholm's Syndrome and you just think you do." Gerard shook his head again.

"I knew Frank before this. I loved him before this. Frank is my boyfriend." Gerard wanted to be nervous with literally fifteen sets of eyes staring at him but he needed to do this. John slowly releases his vice grip from around his son and took a step back.

"You are in love with Frank Iero?" He asked in disbelief. "My ... my enemy?"

"I didn't know that, did I? You never told me about what you do, either of you. I had to find out about it in the most violent way."

John stares between Frank and Gerard, not wanting to believe any of this. "You fucking prick" he spat out towards Frank. John stepped back towards Gerard but only had his eyes on Frank. Frank followed suit, effectively locking Gerard between the two men he loved.

"You probably did this on purpose" John gritted our. "Knew he was my son and wooed him to fall in love so you could take everything from me". Gerard was starting to get scared now. He never heard his dad speak in this manner. Gerard looked over at Frank as he watched a twisted smirk form on his face.

"I took everything from him too, just ask him how loud I had him screaming out my name this morning"

Gerard's eyes got wide and a blush spread across his face. "Frank stop" he spoke but nobody heard it because suddenly Gerard was knocked aside as John had Frank pushed up against the wall with his forearm across his neck, cutting off his air supply. At no point did Frank's smirk falter.

"You're fucking lucky I'm not armed right now, Iero" John growled. Gerard regained his balance to run over and start pulling on his fathers arm.

"Stop! He can't breath!" Which was evident when Frank started turning purple.

"Gerard stop!" John yelled, making Gerard jump at the sheer volume. "You let some piece of shit take your most precious parts?!"

Gerard shook his head as the tears started pouring out again.

"No. I gave it to him. Willingly."

"I don't fucking care" John growled turning back to Frank. Gerard felt so helpless at this moment. Frank's men began arguing with John's men and it became too much.

Gerard didn't even notice his feet pulling him towards the exit until he stepped outside on the concrete. If they were going to kill each other he didn't want to be there. The night breeze bit at his wet cheeks as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and started walking down the street. He had no clue where he was or where he was even going but he needed to get away.

Gerard had made it a few blocks down the street before a black SUV slowed down along side him as a window was lowered.

"Hi beautiful" a voice spoke. Gerard ignored it and kept walking but the car still drove slowly along side him. "What's a gorgeous creature like you doing out at this time of night?" Gerard finally stopped and looked to see an unfamiliar vehicle with a man staring at him and smiling. He had long stringy black hair. "Can I at least give you a ride somewhere? There are a lot of bad men in this city". The stranger smiled. Gerard figured he was right, if he stayed out too much longer he would probably be mugged or kidnapped. When the stranger saw him step towards his car, his smile got bigger as he climbed out and let Gerard in.

The stranger climbed in behind him and rolled up the window as the began to drive away. "W-whats your name?" Gerard spoke softly, trying to hide his nerves.

"I'm Bert" the stranger said, smiling at the boy. The car took a left turn and began speeding up.

"I haven't told you where to go yet ... how do you know which direction to go?"

Bert smiled again, this time not sweet and soft. It was an evil smile.

"Remember when I said the city was full of bad men? We'll I'm one of them. You should never get into cars with strangers, sweetie" Bert spoke. Gerard turned to yank on the door handle when Bert spoke again. "I really wouldn't do that if I were you". He unzipped his leather jacket and showed Gerard the holster under his arm with what was no doubt a loaded gun inside it. "I don't want to have to use this".

Gerard's body began to shake in fear. There was absolutely no way he was going to magically end up at Frank or his fathers house with this man and he knew this was going to be bad. Gerard prayed someone would find him before he was hurt or killed.

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Haaaa you thought it was over?! Not quite. We can't have a good Frerard story without Bert McCrakken as a villain. Disclaimer: I love Bert and The Used, buuuuut he does make a good story villain. So there ya go.