-Jax-

I never should've bought that damn skirt. Because of it, I had barely seen Nic in the past week. His father had been furious that he chose to come with me to the mall instead of going to buy the suit with him, so he was grounded. He was still grounded. I wasn't sad that I couldn't hang out with him after school, no. I was, however, fucking furious that Nic had to spend his evenings with that fucker of a father of his.

And it was bad. Every day, whenever I saw Nic at school, he looked worse and worse. He was tired. He looked so bad even his teachers were visibly worried. After one of the classes we shared, Nic had to stay behind so our teacher could exchange a few words with him. Nic acted all happy and cheerful, but he wasn't fooling anyone.

I asked him why he wasn't telling the truth, and his short answer was, "What's the point?"

I knew what he meant by that. His father blamed Nic for his troubles, claiming all his issues were his own doing. TV, phone, not enough exercise, staying up too late, sneaking out... Never stopped to think that maybe he was killing his own son with completely unnecessary stress and pressure. He wouldn't listen to Nic's teachers. He was never going to take their concerns seriously.

So, I did what a good boyfriend would do.

I didn't actually have a plan when I arrived at Nic's mansion late at Tuesday night, but after having to spend the entire past week stewing in my boiling anger, I wanted to murder people.

And I was going to start with Mr. Gabriel.

I rang the doorbell, taking in deep breaths in hopes of keeping myself from exploding right then and there. As the moments went by, my need to brutalize the doorbell grew unbearable, but I kept myself in check.

Finally, the door opened, and the lady of the house, Nic's mother, stood behind it.

"Hello?" she said, keeping a polite smile on her face.

I smiled back at her, knowing she would slam the door shut if I blew up on her.

"Hi! I'm Jax, Nic's friend at school. I was..." Going to murder your husband? "I just wanted to come check up on him," I said, hoping I'd get invited in if I acted like a concerned friend.

"Oh, you're Jax?" she said, peering at my flashy hair and spiked clothes. "Nic has mentioned you before."

"Yeah... He's been looking really sick lately, so I wanted to see how he's doing," I said.

"That is sweet of you, but you have nothing to worry about. He's not actually sick, he's just had trouble sleeping lately," she said in a friendly manner, but it was clear she was concerned.

"I know. He sometimes comes to my place so he can sleep because he's too anxious to close his eyes in his own home," I said before I could stop myself.

"What?" she breathed out with a frown. "Why would you say such–"

"Oh? Did Nic not tell you he gets anxiety and panic attacks because his father is putting him through too much pressure and demands him to study around the clock, and if he doesn't, he'll start guilt-tripping him and basically threatens to stop supporting him financially?" I spoke, the anger slowly starting to leak over.

"What?" she asked again, but her voice was now far from friendly.

Right, right... Now I remembered it.

Mrs. Gabriel adored her sons.

"And I basically have to force-feed Nic because otherwise he won't eat anything. Have you not talked with his teachers? Everyone at school is really worried about him. We're all afraid Nic will end up dying from stress if his dad keeps bullying him."

I chose my words very carefully.

"No, I have not spoken with his teachers because his father claimed everything was going well," she spoke, looking and sounding just as murderous as I felt.

"What is this?" I heard a sharp voice coming from the top of the stairs on our right, and we both turned to look up to see the fucker in question.

"You told me you spoke with Nic's teacher, and everything was fine!" Mrs. Gabriel hissed and made her way to the stairs.

Well then. I suppose witnessing a murder was almost as good as being the murderer.

But Mr. Gabriel ignored his wife and glared at me.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my house?" he asked in a cold manner.

"Just a worried friend," I said. "Nic almost passed out today at school so–"

That wasn't far from the truth.

"He almost passed out?!" Nic's mom screeched and turned to stare at her husband. "You told me everything was fine!"

"Everything is fine, you crazy woman!" Mr. Gabriel yelled at her. "I have told Nic to start paying more attention to his exercises and start eating healthier food instead of that fast food crap kids are living on! I'd tried to tell him to stop staying up so late watching TV and playing with his phone! But he refuses to listen!"

"Nic! Honey!" Mrs. Gabriel shouted, and a short moment later, I heard his footsteps upstairs.

"Yeah?" he replied and stopped next to the railing without noticing me by the door.

He looked awful... His entire posture was timid as well. I'd not seen him like that before. Like he was scared of his parents, and especially of his father. Fucking hell, that made me mad.

"Honey, I want you to tell me the truth," Mrs. Gabriel said gently with a smile, stepping right in front of him. "Are you having panic attacks because of your father?"

Nic's entire posture dropped even more, and I could see the rising anxiety in his eyes all the way down to where I was standing. He was not going to answer that truthfully, not with his father right next to him.

"What do you mean?" Nic asked, letting out a very nervous chuckle. "No?"

Mrs. Gabriel let out a breath and took his hands in hers with a warm smile on her face. "Okay," she said quietly. "Why don't you go out with your friend, hmm? You can stay with him as long as you like. Maybe he'll let you stay the night at his place."

Nic frowned, looked around, and finally spotted me.

"Jax!" he called out in surprise and smiled at me.

"No, he's not going anywhere!" Mr. Gabriel growled, ruining that smile. "He is grounded!"

"Not anymore," she said sharply without looking at him.

Oh, she knew. And I realized she wanted her boy out of the house so he didn't have to witness the gory murder that was about to happen next.

"Go get your bag," Mrs. Gabriel told Nic, who didn't waste a second.

"What are you doing?" Mr. Gabriel hissed at her and gave me an angry glare. "I grounded Nicholas because he has been disrespecting me! And now you're letting him go out this late! No wonder he complains he's tired!"

"We are not doing this now," Mrs. Gabriel hissed back at him. "This is all your fault! I told you to stop being so hard on him!"

"I have done nothing wrong! Nicholas needs to learn–"

"Stop it! You stop that right now!" his wife growled at him. "Jax told me everything! He said you're threatening and bullying Nic! Blackmailing him!"

I was enjoying this show, especially now that I had the mother's permission to take her son away from this fucked up house.

Mr. Gabriel turned his eyes at me, and I could nearly see smoke coming from his nostrils.

"What lies have you fed to my wife?!" he yelled at me.

"Not lies, that's for sure," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "Everyone can see Nic is just about to lose it because you keep demanding way too much from him."

Mr. Gabriel looked like he'd lost it. He marched down the stairs with a furious expression on his face, his wife following right behind him, screeching him to stop. Mr. Gabriel ignored her and grabbed me by my arm, trying to push me out of the house.

"Let go of me!" I yelled and tried to fight back.

"You leave now! I will not let my family listen to more of your lies!" he shouted back.

"Get your hands off my boyfriend!"

We all froze at the sound of Nic's angry voice, and turned to watch him run down the stairs. When he reached us, he pushed his dad off me, and stood between us.

"Don't you ever touch him again," Nic said in a threatening voice poking his father on the chest.

I had never seen him this angry before. I had the feeling I wasn't the only one, either. His parents both stared at him like they didn't even know him, but his father was fast to recover.

"Your boyfriend?! That is unacceptable! And how dare you disrespect me in my own house! You are not going anywhere! You are still grounded!"

He tried to grab Nic by his arm, but Mrs. Gabriel moved faster than lightning when she pulled Nic away from him.

"Your house? This is my house too, and I say he can go!" she yelled at his face, then sprung around, and hugged Nic. "Mom loves you. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?" she said, her tone now completely the opposite.

"O-okay," Nic muttered back, while his father started yelling again.

"He can stay with you, right?" she asked me, and I nodded. "Good. Take good care of him for me."

I nodded again, grabbed Nic's hand, and pulled him outside with me. He did not need to stay a second longer in that place.

"Love you, Mom," he said just before she pushed the door shut.

She exploded. Mrs. Gabriel had some serious lungs, and the thick doors could not stop us from hearing every word she said.

"Let's go," I said, leading Nic to his car.

He followed me reluctantly, and he kept giving the front door worried glances. "I don't... What if Mom needs me?"

"I have the feeling she will be all right. Not so sure about your old man, though," I said reassuringly. "She wanted you out because she doesn't want you to see them fighting."

"What if...?" Nic muttered as he stopped next to his car, but still stared at the house. "I... I didn't mean to cause this..."

"Hey..." I said, nudging his hand to get him to look at me. "You didn't cause anything. Your dad caused this by making your life hell."

"He was just trying to help..." Nic muttered.

"You were having panic attacks because of him," I said gently. "Your mom told him to stop being so hard on you, your teachers tried to tell him you're too stressed, and he only kept blaming you. He was not going to change or see that he's the one to blame. He deserves getting his ass kicked."

He didn't say a word to me. He just stood there, looking lost.

"Hey? Your mom didn't want you to hear this. We should go," I told him, and he finally turned his back on the house. Slowly, but still.

"How did you end up here?" he asked as he tossed his bag into the trunk.

"I, uh... Just happened to be in the neighborhood and decided to drop by and see how you're doing," I said as I walked around the car.

"You just... happened to be in the neighborhood?" he repeated.

"Yeah," I said with a smirk and sat in the car.

He didn't follow me right away, but when he did, he had a small smile on his lips. "I can't believe you snitched to my mom..."

"Had to do something," I said quietly. "I didn't mean to cause drama, though."

He let out a deep sigh and shook his head. "It's not your fault."

"At least now I have your mom's permission to keep you to myself for now," I said with a grin, and he laughed lightly. "And I'm going to make you eat, then sleep, then eat again so you can go back to sleep."

"That sounds like heaven," he said as he turned on the engine.

He started driving, but not before taking one last worried look at his home. I hoped everything was going to be all right, but now my job was to take care of Nic. That was his mom's wish. She wanted us to leave, so I hoped she would be all right on her own.

"So... Your mom didn't seem to mind that we are... together," I spoke carefully.

"Yeah," he said, looking surprised, almost shocked. "I came out to them, didn't I?"

"And the way you did it was quite hot, if I may say so," I admitted.

"No one touches my boyfriend," he said, slowly gaining his composure. "Now I want to go back and yell at Dad for grabbing you..."

I laughed lightly and rested my hand on his leg. "Boyfriend, huh...?"

"I... yeah?" he said timidly.

"Yeah," I nodded, and smiled. "We have a date tomorrow, so... yeah."

"Oh, shit, you're right! And now I'm not grounded anymore so I can go," he said, his smile growing wider. "Mom said I can stay with you for as long as I want."

"She sure did," I said, chuckling.

His mood was rising the entire way to my place. There was still tension in his eyes, and he was exhausted as fuck, but I was sure that spending a few days at my place would help him relax a bit. And I could be there for him to fight off his anxiety.

"Are you sure this is all right?" he asked after parking his car right next to ours.

"It'll be fine," I said reassuringly. "My dads would never turn their back on anyone who needs a place to stay."

He nodded slowly, and followed me out of the car. I waited while he grabbed his bag, and together, we entered the house.

"Jax?" my dad called in the living room. "You missed dinner."

"Sorry, Dad," I said as I was taking my shoes off. "I had to go pick up something."

"Oh? What was it?" he asked, and I led Nic to him. "Ah, it's a human."

"I hope you don't mind if he stays the night," I said. "He's got uh... stuff going on at home."

"Sure, you can stay the night," he said, giving Nic a worried glance. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine..." he muttered.

Dad could tell he was not all right – everyone with eyes could – but he didn't push it. "Okay, good. Are you guys hungry?"

"He's starving," I told him.

"I'm not really..."

"Well I am," I said with a smirk.

"There's still leftovers," Dad said and unlocked his brakes to make his way into the kitchen. "I'll heat it up for you."

"Thanks, Dad," I said, and took Nic's bag. "Let's get you settled."

He followed me into my room, where I put his bag down next to the doorway. I turned to take a good look at him. He was getting overwhelmed. He just stood there, looking around, but the tension in his eyes was growing again.

"Everything will be all right tomorrow," I said. "You can call your mom in the morning after everyone has had their good night's sleep."

"Yeah, you're right," he muttered.

I hugged him. He looked like he really needed one. Poor guy... It had to suck to see his parents fighting like that, and his father's attitude was making things a hell of a lot worse. Mrs. Gabriel did the right thing by asking me to take Nic here, where he didn't have to see the rest of it.

"You'll feel better in the morning. Whatever happens, I'm right here. I know your mom will be there, too. We will figure things out, no matter what happens next," I told him.

He nodded against my shoulder and hugged me tightly. I hoped I wasn't just imagining his body relaxing a little in my arms. I hoped I wasn't imagining him taking deeper breaths.

"You'll be all right," I added in a whisper, caressing his back.

"I... I know," he murmured.

"Good, because I will not let anything bad happen to you," I promised.

He let out a small chuckle. "I know I'm in good hands with you. You're the scariest person I know. I was actually sure you'd rip my dad's head off when he grabbed you."

"I was going to, but you came to my rescue," I said with a smile.

"Or to his rescue," he joked, but then sighed. "I'll call Mom in the morning. Now I'm just... I just want to sleep for a week."

"First, you need to eat," I said, stepping away from him and taking his hand in mine. "Then you can sleep."

He nodded and followed me back out of the room.

I hated to see him sad and miserable, but I knew I did the right thing by snitching to his mom. I was glad his mom actually cared about him and was willing to fight even her husband to protect his boys. And now Nic was safe with me. His father could not continue treating him like trash anymore.

He would be thriving again. I'd make sure of it.