King of Hearts (House of Cards Series 2) [Student/teacher]

Seven of Clubs

Coming to Canada was his 'la and father's chance of getting him a life that didn't involve so much violence. West had to admit to himself that 'la was doing much better now that she wasn't afraid he'd go 'missing' one day. Helped along, of course, by the Cuban militray police. West let out a breath slowly, forcing his muscles to relax in the car. It hadn't happened, he hadn't been 'vanished' like other boys before him had been. But he knew that him being around now had more to do with the amount of money his father had thrown at the authorities than his own skill at avoiding detection.

West angled himself so he could look at Maddison while she drove. She was so tiny! He never got over that fact. When they were texting, he always seemed to picture her bigger. Not that he had a problem with her being so petite, no. Just that her personality was so big that he figured she should be ten feet tall or something.

"Creepy stalker vampire boogieeeee." Maddison chimed out in a sing-song voice. Busted.

West chuckled, knowing he'd been caught watching her. Still, she deserved a good long look. Her dress was a soft, slightly loose pink halter dress with a bold red line running down the center of it. It ended just abover her knee and her legs were left pale and bare except for a pair of striking red shoes. West wasn't a guy that paid a lot of attention to fashion, but he knew that whatever it was she was wearing, it looked good on her.

"You look beautiful." West complimented, letting his eyes wander over her while she blushed.

"West..." Maddison's voice was a warning. Right, they had agreed to just be friends again. He smirked but stopped blatantly checking her out, looking out the front window instead. In time to see her nearly rear end the car in front of them. West swallowed his nerves down but not before Maddison noticed. "West, is my driving scaring you?" her voice was faintly amused and West frowned at her.

"Of course not. I'm fi- look at the road!" West's voice sounds stressed as her car drifts while she's looking at him.

Maddison starts to laugh, trying not to which only makes it worse and West actually reaches over to take control of the wheel while she laughs at him. She slaps his hands away. "I'm a perfectly safe driver. I was only responsible for one of the accidents I've been in."

West, stares at the side of Maddison's face so he doesn't have to watch her driving. "How many accidents have you been in exactly?"

"Five or six." Maddison admits with a carefree shrug.

West buries his face in his hands. "I'm doomed."

Mad reaches over and pats him on the shoulder. "Poor creepy stalker. There there, there there."

West snorts and starts to chuckle. "One of these days soemone is going to tell you that you're odd. When that day happens, I'm going to sit there and mock you so hard..." he warns.

Maddison smiles even if he can't see it. "It if buttons your fly, go for it."

West gives her a confused and slightly awed look. "Buttons your fly? That has to be the most blatant sexual reference of hte bunch of those. And I've heard someone say if it tickles your fancy before."

"Whatever buttons your fly, whatever feather's your boa, whatever wets your whistle, whatever pops the cherry and my personal favourite, whatever sauces your taco." Maddison promptly lists off.

West is laughing by the time she's done talking. It was his full belly laugh again and Maddison nearly crashed the car trying to watch him instead of the road. But it was quite a sight to see and Maddison wished she had the balls to take a picture of him in one of those moments. Because when West laughed like that, she always felt like he was laughing for the first time. His entire face lost that knife's edge feel to it. At any other time, even when he was in an intimate moment, his face had that guarded look to it. Like anything could happen adn he would react immediately to it, not caught off guard at all. But when he laughed, it was like she got to see the little boy he used to be, the one that was still capable of being wowed by the world.  

"Well we're here." Maddison announced as she parked her Arnie.

"I uh... didn't know what to get your sister for her belated birthday gift. I hope this is ok." West showed Maddison the gift bag he had. Inside she spotted a shiney ribbon of material, probably a scarf of some sort, and an envelope. Maddison paused to pull out the envelope, thinking there was just a card inside. There was a birthday card, tasteful and boring, but also a gift card.

"Holy cow bells. She's gonna love you for this." Maddison looked at the $50 gift certificate to Aldo shoes in the mall.

"Oh good. I had to ask a girlfriend what a girl might want for her birthday." West admitted with an exhalation of breath.

Maddison looked at him, eyes hurt. "You have a girlfriend?" her voice was tragically soft.

"No!" West replied, realizing the big foot in mouth mistake. "Not like that. Mad, seriously. Alice is a friend of mine. She's pretty much spoken for by my adoptive big brother. That would just be.... suicidal on my behalf. If he didn't kill me, she would." West couldn't stand the hurt look in Maddison's eyes, so he scooped her to him, hugging her. Secretly he loved how she fit into his arms, tiny and in need of protection and yet filled to the brim with piss and vinegar.

Maddison offered a weak sounding laugh. "It's not like I could say anything about it anyways West. We're just friends." she seemed to be reminding herself more than him.

"Maddison, look at me." West commanded, the authority in his tone drawing her eyes to his. She felt a little breathless as his electricfying golden eyes started into hers. "I am not the kind of man to sleep around on women. I can swear to you that I haven't slept with another woman besides you." he looked away, struggling internally about whether to tell her or not. That he hadn't been able to look at other women like that since meeting her. He could appreciate a beautiful woman, wonder what she would be like naked or in bed. But inevitably his mind wandered off the other women and made it back to Maddison. It was infuriating.

"Let's go inside." Maddison broke the awkward conversation. She slipped out of West's arms, almost relucant to seperate them. And West let her do it. It was better for her if he could just accept the friendship. Forget how badly he wanted her, how mad she drove his body and how much fun he had with her. Just be friends, for her sake.

So he followed her inside, trying to keep his eyes off her cute little butt, looking even more mouthwatering now that she had on highheels, making everything just that little bit more...tight. West had to turn his body away from Maddison before he could stop devouring her with his eyes though.

And the face his eyes landed on killed all of the good mood and happiness he had built up. Because one of the other guest's at Siobhan's party was a man West would never forget, and had desperately hoped to meet in a dark alleyway sometime. But not here at a party. Not where Maddison could see. Joao Palmieri. Pronounces Jo-wow, Jo had only been a thrill seeker when West had known him. A rich boy from Portugal, Jo had spent a summer in Cuba because he could. And that entire time he had been trying to get Los Santos to take him on.

No one would touch him though, rich boys are suckers, not soldiers. It's why West had made sure no one ever learned of his father's fortune. So Joao had done the next dumba** thing that occured to a bored rich boy. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. If the Los Santos wouldn't touch him maybe Los Perros Rabiosos would. THe Rabid Dogs. They lived up to their namesakes.

West carried a four inch scar just above his kidney from where this cabron had literally stabbed him in the back. Because West had tried to meet up with Jo and warn him away from trying something that stupid. And Jo had set him up. It was because of this smirking, bored rich boy that he had lost his ability to entirely control the well of darkness inside him. Joao had stabbed him, and then left him for the rest of the Perros to do with as they pleased. West didn't like remembering things from that night.

But his memory provided the images, as clear now as they had been then. The white teeth Joao's father paid for flashing in a sick smirk, the burning pain as the knife slid into his back. How hard it was to breath as his body tried to recover from the shock and pain, defend himself from the blows raining down on him. How warm the metal felt in his hand as he pulled the knife out of his body and fought back.......

West's eyes locked with Joao's over the heads of all these innocent, ignorant people. With Maddison here in the crowd, West would do nothing to jeopardize her. He could tell that Joao was as equally restrained, the sultry looking young woman hanging off of him clearly his date. But as they glared at each other, both their eyes promised bloody murder.