I thought about chopping this chapter into two, but figured I owed you guys a long chapter since it took me so long to update lol anyways, enjoy babies 💕

Isaac's POV

It's been over a month now since I've killed Verdino's men, and to this day he still hasn't retaliated, it's starting to drive my father, myself, and everyone else mad. What the fuck could he possibly be waiting for. I knew for a fact that one of those three guys was close to Axel, like Dion and I close, meaning that had to have hurt, meaning he was bound to want revenge, so what the fuck was taking him so long.

Verdino was impetuous though, he was unpredictable, you never really knew what he was up too, or what he would even do for the matter of fact. He was gonna hit me when I least expected it, and I sure as hell wanted to be ready, I didn't want him to have the upper hand. I made sure the girls, meaning my girl, Angela, and even Sophie, always had some type of protection around them. Angela's dad eventually fired my pops men and got his own team for his daughter. Hailey on the other hand was a different story.

Apparently Verdino fancied my girlfriend, and that bothered me even more. I couldn't decide if Axel was actually interested in Hailey to just get back at me and aggravate me, or if he was just trying to use her to get to me, either way I didn't like the idea that they were acquainted.

Hailey knew nothing of the protection I had watching over her, I made sure that the guys were always discreet and distant, the less she knew the better. Plus if they were around like with Ang and Soph, she wasn't the only one who I would have to explain myself too. David didn't like me enough as it is, I didn't want to give him another reason to hate me, not that he needed anymore.

My parents and I were currently over at Dion's house for dinner tonight. Mr and Mrs. Ricci wanted to show they're gratitude towards my father for helping them out with the whole Dion situation and decided to prepare him a warm home cooked dinner, and pops never turns down a home cooked dinner, it was one of his many weaknesses, along with an expensive bottle of scotch that he just so happened to bring tonight. Pops hasn't really drank since the whole incident that happened at home, so I guess we'll see how tonight goes.

I doubt that he'll get drunk though, I'm sure he'll have a glass or two, but that's about it. My mother had officially moved back in about five days ago, so I highly doubt my dad would do something to jeopardize the progress he's made with ma. Even though my mom was living back in the house, she still wasn't sleeping in the same bed with my dad, she was currently staying in the guest bedroom my dad would usually stay in, but to everyone else they were still the happy go couple that everyone envied.

Thanks to Jerry, my dads top of the line lawyer, Dion was officially off of house arrest as of yesterday. The Ricci family ended up paying Marco's family off, the poor kid Dion had beat up at school, and they dropped the charges. Jerry had managed to drop some of Dion's charges, the only one that was left was his battery, but after a few thousands Marco's suddenly had amnesia, and no one else was speaking up about the beating therefore there wasn't enough evidence to keep Dion on his ankle bracelet.

Dion and I were down in his basement playing on his PS4 while dinner continued to be made. Things were finally starting to go back to normal, for once in my life I didn't have any drama going around and it felt damn good if I'm being honest. My dad hadn't sent me out on any jobs because apparently I started falling behind on some school work and I've been trying to pick up my grades ever since. I didn't mind it though, this gave me more time to spend with Hailey, I wasn't constantly out of town, coming home late when the rest of the world was asleep.

Tonight was my first night in nine days that I was gonna go handle a job for my dad, and I only agreed to it because of who I would be going with, Fonzy. After weeks and weeks of trying to get back into the family my dad finally cracked and let Fonz back in. This was gonna be his first job since my pops let him back in, my dad being my dad didn't trust him fully yet and asked if I could accompany him, seeing how it was the weekend and I didn't mind, I didn't have anything else to do.

"Dick move," Dion mumbles beside me, shoving me on my arm. I had snuck up behind his character and sliced his neck in the game.

I chuckle softly tossing the controller onto the couch, "that's what happens when you want to go against me, rather than be on the same team."

I pull my phone out of my jeans and ignore all the messages I have, only replying back to my girlfriend. She was currently in the city right now at her family's house and I didn't like that, I didn't like her being so far away from me, especially in territory I couldn't protect her in.

Dion chuckles softly, "whatever man, what time are you going for Fonz?"

I shake my head, shoving my phone back into my pants. "I'm not, he's picking me up here right after dinner. Pops still wants to talk to him about a few things."

Dion turns to look at me, "do you think he's ready?"

I shrug the right side of my shoulder, "I don't think he would've moved back if he wasn't."

Alfonzo lost his dad a couple years back, he too worked for my father as well. His dad unfortunately got caught in a crossfire and it hit Fonzy and his mom pretty hard. Fonz's is an only child, therefore he was everything his mom had left, and she couldn't bear the thought of losing her son the same way she had lost her husband, and they moved away.

Although pops understood and sympathized why Fonz had to leave, he didn't take that shit too lightly. My dad had a small list of men that he values greatly, he holds them at the top meaning he practically trusted those men with his life, Fonz and his dad being a few of them, along with Dion's and Ang's dad.

When Fonz's father passed away Fonz took over his team for about three month, and boy did he know how to run his crew, it took pops nearly four months to fill Alfonzo's spot. I knew deep down pops still trusted Fonz's, he just going to make him work for it, he wasn't going to get off so easy.

Dion's little sister comes running down the stairs, a wide smile plastered along her face. She runs up behind the couch, hugging her brother from behind, practically choking him, her arms around his neck. "Foods ready."

"Oh yeah," Dion quickly grabs onto his sisters arms pulling her forward until she's falling into his lap, laughing her little butt off. "What did ma make?"

"I don't know!" she giggles as Dion continues to tickle her. "Dion stop!" She cries in between her laughs. "Please!"

Dion chuckles one last time finally letting his sister go and she gets to her feet. We get off of the couch and follow her up the stairs, walking down the hallway towards the dinning area.

Adelina starts to slow down so she's no longer walking in front of us and is actually walking right beside me, behind her brother now. She turns to look up at me, "are you coming to my party next month?"

I smile slinging my arm around her tiny body, pulling her into me, "I wouldn't miss it, kid. You still haven't told me what you wanted for your birthday."

She shrugs her shoulders, "I don't care," she smiles bashfully. "Can you bring Jessica with you? I really like her."

I chuckle softly, "Yeah, I think your mom invited them as well."

"She did?!" Her eyes scream with excitement, and I nod. Adele squeals with excitement and hugs the dear life out of me and runs off into the dining room leaving Dion and I alone.

My mouth instantly started to water up when I realized that we wear having Gnocchi soup, I haven't had gnocchi in a couple years so to say I was excited was a slight understatement. Dion's mother had also made some type of chicken with asparagus, but all I really cared for at the moment was the gnocchi, I think I had about three bowls in total.

We have dinner and surprisingly everything goes well, ma and pops are even laughing and talking, and I think it's actually genuine and not just for show. I text Fonz asking him where the fuck he's at because it's already 9:18 and he still hasn't showed up, we were suppose to be on the road at 9, I didn't want to be out past midnight tonight.

Fonz doesn't end up texting me until about 10 after 10 that he's on his way, apparently pops had texted him that he no longer needed to talk to him so he got busy with other things and doesn't officially pick me up until a little before 10:20 pm. I start telling everyone goodbye and kiss my mother goodbye on the cheek when Fonz tells me that he's outside. Dion actually wants to tag along with us but unfortunately his parents, or his dad I should say, doesn't let him go.

I thank Dion's mom one last time for the amazing dinner, say my final goodbyes, and walk towards the front door making my way out to find Fonz Cadillac parked out near the curb. I walk towards the car and hear him unlock the doors as I reach for the door handle.

"You're late," I snarl while climbing into Fonzy's car, slamming the door shut.

"I know, I'm sorry," he apologizes. "I was Skyping with my mom and I lost track of time."

I shake my head as I reach for the seatbelt, I couldn't be mad knowing that Fon'z was talking to his mother. "How is she?" I ask, my demeanor changing completely so its not as of aggressive as before.

"She's good," he smiles as we start to drive out of Dion's neighborhood. Fonz glances in my direction, "she finally agreed," he says and I stay silent not really having a clue as to what he's talking about. "She's gonna move back down here," he continues.

"Shut the fuck up, are you serious?"

He chuckles a bit while nodding his head, "next week," he says excitedly. "I already got her a small condo in case she doesn't wanna stay with me."

"You know she gonna want to, Fonz."

A sly little smile creeps onto his face, "i know, in all honesty, I can't fücking wait, KP. I'll finally be eating good again, no more fast food and TV dinners. I'll have warm home cooked meals when I get home," he grins.

"You're gonna get fat," I tease, and he laughs softly. "All joking aside though I'm happy for you, Fonz, you know we're here for you if you need anything right."

He nods, "It just feels weird you know, like I don't know how to explain it. I feel like things are finally starting to look up, like our luck is finally changing and going back to normal."

"As it should be, you've worked your ass off to get back where you were at. Does- does she know?"

"Yeah," he sighs. "It's why she was so upset when I left, she knew what I was coming back for. She didn't talk to me for a couple months."

"I don't mean to barge into your life, but why did you come back, Fonz? You were finally out, you were free from all this, you were living a life most of us can only dream of, why would you want to come back?"

Fonz is no longer smiling when I turn to look at him, he's back to being serious, something I had grown accustom to ever since he's been back. Alfonzo was never your serious type of guy before his dad passed away, he was always cheerful, always joking around, but it's like that side of him died along with his father that year.

He tightens his grip on his steering wheel as we come up to a red light, he glances over at me for only a second and speaks. "I needed the money," he utters lowly. "We take life for granted until it's being ripped out of our hands, and I didn't know how good I had it here. It took awhile but things started to come up, bills started to pile up and money started to run low. I had to get a job, and that alone was hard enough as it is, I don't have any work experience, and I couldn't exactly put that I worked for an Italian mafia on my resumé."

I snort softly but remain silent letting Fonz continue, "killing and beating the shit out of scum bags is all I know how to do, KP, and i was damn good at it too. I mean yeah that sort of life style is relaxing, fucking stressful at times, but my mom wasn't constantly worried if I was gonna come home or not, and that's why I hung onto for so long, I wanted her to be happy, but it's such a mundane life. I missed the excitement, I missed the adrenaline, I missed the money, I missed the lavish life, I missed the guys, everything. I always thought about coming back home, but it wasn't official until I got drunk one night and got into a fight with some idiot at the bar."

"Please tell me that you didn't kill him, Fonz," i say jokingly.

He chuckles a bit and starts to shake his head, "I wanted to, but no, some of my coworkers that I was with held me back. And you know what's funny?" He adds.

I tilt my head up indicating that he continue, "it wasn't even my fight, it was my buddy's problem, but I was still in that mentality of always defending my boys, always defending the family, that I got a bit carried away," he titters. "I realized that night that I just didn't want to come back, I needed to come back, I needed the only family I had left."

I gently place my left hand on top of Fon'z right shoulder, my lips barely tugging to the side, "it's good to have you back man."

Alfonzo let's out a half suppressed laugh, "it's good to be back."

The drive to our destination takes about another ten minutes when we're finally pulling up to a small bar in town called Froggies. My father just so happens to own this bar, Frankie, the guy who runs it was losing it to the bank and of course ran to my father for help so he's now renting it from pops. Being the good civilian that Frankie is, he just so happened to inform pops with some very usual information on a guy he'd been looking for awhile now. Apparently Mr. Gumbie likes to come in and play poker in the back every Saturday night of the week.

Alfonzo drives to the back of the alley and puts his Cadi in park, killing the engine. "Hand me the suppressor in the glove department yeah?"

I reach for the small compartment and pull out the small metal device and hand it to Fonz, quietly watching him attach it to his Beretta. The longer I stare at his piece the more I don't recognize it, but then again that's because that's not his gun.

"That's your dads isn't it?" I mutter. He nods without looking over at me, still twisting the device on. I don't say anything, I reach for the door handle opening the door, "come on, I don't want to be out late."

We hop out of Fonzy's car and start to make our way to the entrance of the bar, while Fonz keeps his gun in his hand instead of tucking it away. He's trigger happy I can sense it already, I'm praying to God that he doesn't do anything stupid to fuck this job up.

Fonz grabs the door and holds it open allowing me to step inside first. Thankful there aren't too many people here tonight, then again there probably all in the back playing their card game. We walk into the bar as I get a few dirty glances in my direction, mind you, to any clueless drunk idiot in here I'm just a kid way to young to be inside of a bar, to others, well they know who I was already.

Manny, the former owner of this place is behind the bar, cleaning a few glasses off, doing bar-tenderly things. He looks up and immediately drops the glass and a shattering sound soon fills the room.

"I-Isaac," he stutters as I walk up to his dirty old bar. "W-what's up, kid?"

"Relax, Manny, were not here for you. Where is he?"

"Who?" He frowns, genuinely confused.

"Gumbie," Fonz grumbles beside me.

Manny's eyes quickly shift over to Alfonzo's, and he's inclining his head to the side. "He- um, he's back there. Brown jacket, grayish scruffy face."

"You coming with or you staying?"

"You're a big boy, you can handle this on your own," I respond. "I trust you," I wink.

Fonz breaks out into a light chuckle, "thanks, KP."

"Don't thank me yet," I grin. "You have ten minutes before I intervene."

"Pfft, I only need seven," he replies and steps through the double doors before I can get another say in.

Fonz actually takes longer than seven minutes, longer than ten minutes if I'm being honest, but I don't go looking for him. I meant it when I said I trusted him, I didn't want to go in and strip him from his pride, I would give him the chance to prove himself, and he does. He comes back out a few minutes later taking a total of 16 minutes. I notice that his gun is no longer in his hand, but his knuckles are now bloody and starting to bruise, as his other hand clings onto an envelope that's blotched with blood stains.

He holds the thick envelope up in the air, smiling, "got it, and I didn't even have to kill him," he jokes.

I lift my arm up checking the time on my wrist, "you're rusty, you went over six minutes." I hop off of the stool I was sitting on and walk over to Fonz, patting him on the back, "but not bad, kid."

Fonz snorts shoving my hand off of him, "you're a dick."

"Is it the whole ten grand?"

He shakes his head, "seven."

"Oooo, Pops isn't gonna be too happy about that."

"He said to leave him breathing if it was at least more than half."

"Did you break something?"

He nods, "arm."

I shrug my shoulders, "then what are we still doing here, let's go."

Fonz hands me the envelope of money and I stuff into the inside pocket of my jacket, reminding Mr. Manny that I'll be back in about two weeks to collect his rent and make our way out of the small bar and back into Alfonzo's Cadillac. We're not out on the road that long when Fonz decides to pull over and pump some gas into his car, and step out of the car and head into the gas station to buy something to drink.

I was actually pretty proud of myself, I didn't have one alcoholic drink in Manny's bar while I waited for Fonz to come back out, and he had offered multiple times. I promised Hailey that I wasn't going to drink awhile back whenever everything was starting to crumble, and I was trying really hard to stick to my promise this time, I was tired of breaking them.

I grabbed two red Gatorade's out of the fridge, one for me and one for Fonz, seeing how they were two for three dollars and a bag of sunflower seeds, placing them down on the counter, when Fonz is stepping back into the gas station.

"What are you getting?" He ask's and I wave a hand at the things on the counter. "My man, use the change on four to pay for his things."

"Yes sir," the cashier answers, his voice laced with a heavy middle eastern accent. "Would you like a bag, sir?"

"Nah I'm fine." He nods one last time and hands me the rest of Fonzy change. It's no more than twelve dollars. I hand it to Fonz once he's standing next to me, and one of the Gatorade's. He takes it and thanks me for it when in reality he's the one who actually paid for everything. We're about to make our way out when a deep voice erupts from behind us.

"Well, well, well, look who we have here," they taunt.

I turn around a wide grin on my face thinking it's one of my father's men, but it instantly disappears when I come face to face with the voice.

It's definitely not my fathers men, it's actually quite the opposite, it's some of Axel's men, three to be exact. I mentally groan to myself, great so much for an easy night, what the fuck are they doing here?!

"I thought I recognized that piece of shit outside," Gray sneers as his two buddies beside him chuckle softly.

"What the fuck are you doing here, Gray?" Fonz growls to the right of me, placing his Gatorade back on to counter, folding his arms along his chest.

"We came to put the rumors to rest," he smirks.

"What rumors?"

"You mean you haven't heard?" He scoffs, placing his hand over his chest. "Big bad Fonzy is supposedly back in the game."

Fonz doesn't say anything in return, nor do I.

Gray points over at Fonz, "from the looks of those bruised knuckles I'm gonna go ahead and say that it's true."

"I'm touched, really, I am, but I highly doubt that I'm the reason why you're here."

Gray starts walking deeper into the store as his buddies stay behind near the entrance, he chuckles playfully pointing over at Fonz. "Ha' you got me, were just passing by, away on business," he smirks.

"You don't have any business out here," I snarl.

Gray quickly turns to look at me, "Matteo, I almost didn't recognize you, I'm not use to you being so quiet," he ridicules. "Scusami," he says walking right in between Fonz and I. He pulls out his wallet, handing the cashier two bills. "40 on seven please."

The cashier nods quietly as he takes the money from Gray's hand and he turns towards me, "how's the little red head? You guys still together?" He smiles widely.

My blood instantly boils at the mention of Hailey, but I don't react, I know what he's doing, he's baiting me. Sadly, Fonz's fuse is shorter than mine at the moment and he's done tolerating whatever little game Gray is playing.

In less than two seconds Fonz is grabbing Gray by the neck, pinning him down against the counter, holding his Beretta to Gray's head, "I'm going to ask you one more time, Grayson, what the fuck are you doing here."

I see Axel's other guys move and make their way over towards Fonz's quick to defend their friend, I quickly hold my hand up causing them to stop. "I got it," I snarl.

Gray chuckles softly, "I told you already, were just passing by."

"Come on, Fonz," I wrap my hand around his arm, the one that's holding his gun to Grayson's head. "You don't want to do this, dude, there's cameras all around." He looks at me, a harsh glare on his face, "just let it go, Fonz, it's not worth it."

He nods his head and averts his attention towards the cashier, and points his gun over at him now, while continuing to hold Gray down.

"Fonz, what the fuck are you doing?!"

The middle eastern man quickly puts his hands up, "p-please," he shakes his head.

"Turn the cameras off and bring me the tape," Fonz snarls through clenched teeth.

The man nods rapidly and does what he's told, he goes through some double doors and returns in a couple seconds with a tape in his hand handing it to Fonz.

He's a nervous wreck, his hand is trembling as I take the tape from him. I thank him and drop it onto the floor and step on it, completely destroying it. "We were never here," I state and the cashier eagerly nods his head. "Let's go, Fonz, let him go."

Alfonzo inhales a deep breath and release's his hold on Gray, he takes a step back tucking his gun back into his jeans. "Do what you gotta do and get the fuck out of town, Gray."

Fonz turns around, starting to walk towards the exit of the gas station when everything slows down for a second, and my adrenaline already in high gear.

Gray stick his hand behind his back, pulling his own gun out, "don't worry," he snarls while cocking it. "I intend to," an instantly points it at Alfonzo's back.

"Fonz!" I shout, my feet already moving towards Gray. I force my body into his tackling him down the second he fires the gun, causing him to lose his grip on it and drop it a couple feet away from us. Luckily the bullet only hits a window causing it to shattered and create a mess in and out of the store.

"You stupid mother fucker!" Gray barks underneath me, he does a quick reversal so that he's now mounting me, pounding the shit out of me, as I try and cover my face with my arms, dodging his every blow.

He swings a couple more times when I feel his weight suddenly being pulled off of me, I put my arms down to see that Gray and Fonz are now going at it a few feet away. When Fonz said that he was good at beating the shit out of scumbags he wasn't lying, Fonz was hands down one of my dads best fighters, thanks to his father of course. Just like pops would make me train nonstop, Alfonzo's dad made him train from dawn till dusk as well.

I look over to find that Fonz currently has Gray in a rear choke hold, a sly little smirk on his face because he knew that Gray was struggling to get out of his grasp. Being the dirty little bastards that they were, Verdion's other two men attempt to intervene. I stick my leg out while getting up and trip one of the two idiots that's walking by, causing him fall face first into the floor.

This easily gains the other idiots attention, distracting him from getting to Fonz and Gray. He looks down at his buddy, who no doubt has a busted nose from that fall and I see the pure anger in his eyes.

My lips slowly tug to the side as I glance down at his buddy, who's still on the ground clutching onto his bloody nose. "Fucking do something, Michael! Don't just fücking stand there!" he shouts.

I look up to find Michael charging towards me but I don't coward away, I don't dodge his hit, I let him come straight for me. He tackles me down, mounting me just like his friend had down earlier, but he doesn't have the upper hand like Gray did earlier. I wrap my arms around Michael, sweeping him off of me, reversing the roles so that he's pinned underneath me. I get one good jab in before he starts to block his face.

I'm so concentrated on trying to bash Michael's face in that I do the one thing I was taught to never do, I leave my back exposed. I feel an arm snake around my neck easily putting me in a choke hold, I can't see behind me, but I have no doubt in my mind that it's Verdion's other guy because Fonz is still a little preoccupied with Gray.

This last guy just so happens to be the biggest out of the bunch, he's tall, taller than me, he easily pulls me off of Michael, dragging me up to my feet, keeping me in a choke hold, tightening his grip with every second that passes by.

I can easily get out of this position, it's what Jeremiah was hired to do, to teach me how to get out of all sorts of different scenarios, unfortunately that's a little hard to do right now when I have a second guy is standing in front of me, using me as his personal punching bag.

I wince the second Michael's fist connect with my side, my ribs were still a bit tender from what happened with pops. Michael notices this and realizes that he has an advantage and continues to jab at my ribs, knocking the air out of me. I mentally curse at myself for leaving my piece in Alfonzo's car, It had became such a bad habit of mine, I would take my gun out of my pants and stash it away whether I was with Hailey or not.

A loud crash catches not only my attention, but Verdion's guy as well. I look over to the source of the sound to realize that Fonz has thrown Gray against one of the shelves filled with candy and chocolates, knocking it over along with him. Gray is now near the busted window, laying among all the glass shards, struggling to get up.

I watch Alfonzo makes his way over to Gray as he slowly turns over, groaning in pain, down on all fours.

"Get the fuck up, Grayson!"

It's a bad position to be in, or so I was taught. This gives Fonz the perfect opportunity to soccer kick Gray in the face, and that's exactly what he does. Gray instantly falls to his back and Fonz is on him in less than 1.5 seconds. He grabs a handful of Gray's sweater, wrenching him up.

"You chose the wrong night to come into town," Fonz growls.

"I beg to differ," Gray sneers, and drives the piece of glass he has picked up in his hand, into Alfonzo's neck.

"Fonz!"

Gray immediately shoves Alfonzo off of him, getting up to his feet, while Fonz remains on the floor, on his hands and knee's. He glances in my direction, pure terror in his face, reaching for the shard of glass that's sticking out of his neck.

"Fonz, don't!" I shout, but it's too late.

He pulls the glass out slowly, blood immediately starting to gush out of the wound and instantly falls over clinging onto his neck.

I twist my body violently like I should've done earlier and mange to get out of Verdion's guys hold and rush over to Fonz, he just so happened to loosen his hold around me giving me a chance to break away.

I drop down to my knees, kneeling beside Fonzy, "move, let go!" I snarl shoving his hand out of the way, immediately replacing it with my two own, adding pressure on to his neck wound but it won't stop, he's bleeding out like crazy.

"Why the fuck did you pull it out, Fonz!"

Fonzy immediately starts struggling to breathe, starting to choke on his own blood, drowning in it as the seconds go by. He stares up at me, his hand now clutching onto one of my wrist, a panic look in his eyes as a few lone tears start to stream out of the corner of his eyes, "it's okay, you're gonna be okay," I tell him.

He instantly starts to shake his head, clawing at my arm, starting to spit up blood, as more tears continue to stream down his face. He knew just as well as I did that he wasn't going to make it, he was dying and there wasn't a damn thing I could do to help him.

Fonzy stares up at me, gasping for any little air that he can get, attempting to talk, but it's gurgled. "I- I."

I immediately start shaking my head, adding more pressure onto his wound, "shhhh, don't move."

He continues to stare up at me as I literally watch the life drain from his eyes, he starts to slowly gasps for his last breath of air. His hold on my wrist isn't as tight as before, it's starting to loosen up until he completely lets go and his hand is now falling to the side.

"Fonz!" I lightly shake him, "Fonz!" but get no response in return, he's gone, just like that.

My chest tightens up a bit as I slowly remove my hands from around his neck, hanging my head low, looking down at them, noting that they're covered in his blood.

I hear a couple of soft footsteps walking up behind me and my body immediately goes rigid the second I feel the barrel of a gun place at the back of my head. They yank on my jacket pulling me back, snarling into my ear.

It's Gray.

He snickers mischievously, "you didn't really think we would forget did you, Matteo? One down, two to go," he snarls, shoving me forward.

~~~~

Hailey's POV

*ring*

*ring*

"You've got to be kidding me," I grumble under my breath, pulling my blanket over my head, praying to baby Jesus that my phone will stop ringing.

Why is that anytime that I'm getting a good decent sleep my phone always happens to ring in the middle of the night, and apparently I had somehow took my phone off of vibrate so my phone was actually ringing this time, and loudly if I may add.

Being the angry sleepy head that I was my phone feels like it's been ringing for forever and will just not stop, but in reality it's only been about ten seconds. I groan loudly shoving the blanket off of me and angrily turn around to see my phone lighting up my room. It instantly stops ringing the second I reach for it, figures, but soon starts up all over again.

It's Isaac calling. I glance over at the clock on my night stand really quick and notice that it's 1:48 in the morning. I slide my thumb across my  screen quickly answering his call, "hello?" I croak.

"Baby.."

"I-Isaac?" I frown a bit, rubbing my eyes with the back of my hands. "Do you know what time it is, baby?" I yawn.

He mutters, "I'm at your front door," and instantly ends the call.

I groan loudly, stretching my body out on my bed, accidentally kicking Waffles who happens to be laying at the edge of my bed. The more and more he grew, the more room he was starting to take up. I turn over completely and drag my body off of my bed, turning my lamp on my night stand on.

God my eyes feel so heavy right now.

I stick my feet into my slippers and immediately march downstairs, careful not to make too much noise, I don't want to wake my dad up at this time of night.

I turn the light on to my phone so I don't eat shit going down the stairs and flick the light on to the downstairs hallway when I reach the switch. Sure enough before I can open the door I see Isaac's figured through the little glass windows on the side of my door way. I unlock my door, cracking it open when Isaac's suddenly barging in.

"Do you realize what time it is, Issac?" I grumble closing the door behind me. "If my dad finds out that you're here he's going to lose his shit."

I turn to look at Issac and he starts to shake his head mildly, "I'm- I'm sorry. I- I didn't know where else to go, I didn't, I- I couldn't go home," he stammers. "I- i felt like I was suffocating there."

I'm instantly worried now, I've never seen Isaac so distraught. I walk up to him removing the hood from his head, "what's wrong, baby?"

He doesn't respond though, he starts to lightly shake his head, looking off to the side, and I'm barely now starting to smell the liquor that's coming off of him.

"You were drinking.." I mumble taking a step back.

This gains his attention and he instantly shifts his eyes in my direction, but he still doesn't say anything. Somethings wrong with him, I've never seen him act like this, he genuinely looks out of it, theres a deep frown on his face as he continues to space out again.

I grab onto his arm, pulling him into my living room, sitting him down on the couch as I turn the side lamp on, brightening the room, and kneel down in front of him.

"Isaac talk to me please, what's wrong, baby?" He doesn't say anything, he continues to anxiously shake his leg up and down. "Baby, talk to me."

"Fonz," he whispers, keeping his gaze away from me.

I frown a bit, "Fonz? As in your friend Fonz?" Isaac nods his head slowly, still staring down at his lap. "What about him?" Only Isaac doesn't respond this time. I grab his chin, lifting his head up so that he can look at me, "what about him, baby?"

It takes a couple minutes, but Isaac soon speaks up, removing my touch from his face. "He's dead," he mutters, looking back down at his lap, but it's not his lap that he's staring at.

I frown not really understanding what's going on and glance down at what Isaac's looking at, his hands are no longer tucked into his hoodie, they're now laying on top of his lap, covered in what appears to be dry blood.

I immediately look up at him as my heart starts to slam in my chest, there's a sadden lost gaze in Isaac's eyes.

"W-where did-" I swallow the lump that has formed at the back of my throat, not being able to finish my sentences properly.

"Is- is that y-yours?" I stammer.

He continues to look down while shaking his head.

"Fonzy's?" I mumble, he nods. "W-what, are you okay? What happened?"

Isaac looks up, a new type of emotion radiating off of him. "Verdino's guys happened," he grits in between clenched teeth.

I gasp, shaking my head. This can't be happening all over again.

"I'm gonna kill him," he utters softly.

I shake my head, taking his dirty hands in mine, "you're drunk, Isaac, you're not thinking straight."

Isaac yanks his hands away from mine, shooting off of the couch, starting to raise his voice. "He died because of me, Hail! This is all my fault!," he taps his hands against his chest.

I immediately get up, attempting to get near him, placing my hands on his arms, "shhh, no it's not, baby."

"But it is!" He shouts, his eyes now starting to gloss up. I slowly wrap my arms around him, pulling him into me, but he doesn't embrace me back. "He would've never got caught up in my mess if I would've never went after Ax's guys! What the hell am I suppose to tell his mom?" He cries, and I feel his body slowly start to shutter as he begins to break down in my arms.

I run my hand up and down his back attempting to soothe him, comfort him. "You were doing so good, Isaac, why would you do this to yourself, baby?" He doesn't respond, Isaac buries his face deeper into the crook of my neck. "I am so sorry about your friend, baby, but you can't blame yourself for something that you didn't have control over."

"Hail?" I quickly look up to find my brother standing at the bottom of the staircase. "What's going on?" He frowns.

I don't loosen my hold on Isaac, I simply mouth the words, "get dad," and Caleb's instantly nodding his head flying back up the stairs.

It's doesn't take long for my brother to come back down, my dad following closely behind him, mirroring the same confused look on Caleb's face, as I continue to embrace my broken hearted drunk boyfriend.

"What going on?" My dad croaks, sleep still deeply laced in his voice.

I glance over at my dad, who's standing next to my brother, both of them shirtless, both of them in their jammies. "Can he stay the night?" My dad quickly frowns, glancing over at Isaac. "He's drunk," I quickly blurt out. "He- um, he lost a close friend tonight. I don't want him to driv-"

"He stays down stairs, on the couch," my dad grumbles.

I eagerly nod my head, "can you check him, dad, please? Make sure that he's not hurt, that he's okay."

He nods inclining his head towards the table, "bring him into the kitchen, make some coffee, Caleb."

"Come on," I pull apart from Isaac, reaching for his hand and pull him towards the open kitchen and sit him down in one of the high chairs.

"I'm fine," he slurs.

I quickly shush him, "pick your arms up so I can take your sweater off."

He swats my hands away, grabbing the hem of his hoodie, "I can do it," he states, lifting the black sweater over his head, removing it completely. I don't miss how he struggles a bit and groans quietly so that I can't hear him, but I'm not the only one who's noticed this little movement.

My dad walks up behind me, pulling me to the side, "raise your arm," he says and Isaac willingly lifts his right arm up about half ways. My dad places three fingers on Isaac side, slowly working his way up until he's reached his ribs and Isaac's instantly wincing.

"Lift," my dad commands softly.

"It's nothing," Isaac tries to argue.

"LIFT YOUR SHIRT UP MATTEO."

Isaac stares at my dad sternly, slowly starting to lift the bottom of his shirt until he's exposing what my father wants to see. My dad ignores Isaac's bruised torso though and quickly reaches for Isaac's hand, the one that's holding his shirt up, the one that's covered in dry blood.

"Where did this come from?"

Isaac retracts his hand from my dad, turning to look away from him, and my dads instantly kneeling down in front of him.

"Look at me, Isaac." He does. "I don't care what happened or what you did, you know you can talk to me right? Im just David right now, I'm not detective Summers, I'm not on duty, I'm coming to you as your girlfriends dad, you can trust me."

Isaac looks up at my dad, instantly shaking his head, "I couldn't even if I wanted too," he murmurs, a lone tear starting to stream down his face. "Omertà."

I frown at the strange word but apparently my dad knows where Isaac's coming from and nods, not pushing the subject any further.

"Are they coming in or healing?" My dad ask's and Isaac frowns. "Your bruises," he says. "Are they old or new?" 

"Old."

"How did you get them?"

"Training."

"That's some pretty brutal training," my dad implies.

I knew damn well that he didn't get those bruises from doing any training, those were the same bruises he had got from his dad. Although his face had cleared up already, the blemishes on his body were taking a little while longer to heal. They no longer looked bad, they were in that yellowish brownish stage, but you could tell that Isaac was still tender underneath them.

I gently rest my hand on Isaac's left shoulder, "why don't we go get you washed up, baby."

He nods lightly and I help him off the chair.

"You got it or you need help?"

I shake my head and smile over at my dad, "I think I got it, I'll call you if I need help."

"I'm going back to bed, I gotta be up in a few hours, get your brother if you need anything," he replies while pushing the kitchen chair back in.

I nod and start leading Isaac towards the stairs, thanking God that he's not as drunk as he smells. He actually manages to go up them without my help, I simply walk behind him ensuring that he doesn't fall back and tumble down.

I guide him towards my bathroom in my hall, lord knows that we all can't be lucky enough to have our own in our room. I put the toilet lid down and sit Isaac down on it while I start to run the hot water.

I thought about just washing his hands over the sink but I think him rinsing off fully will help sober him up a bit, and hopefully knock him out right away. I instruct him to take his clothes off and get in while I find him a new pair to wear afterwards. I close the door behind me and go into my brothers room quickly going through his dresser and grab a pair of grey basketball shorts, and a grey shirt.

I go back into the bathroom, lightly knocking on the door to let him know that it's me, but he doesn't respond. I find him standing under the shower head, his head pressed against the tile, as the water runs down his back when I walk in. I lay the clothes down on the sink counter and open the glass door to my shower.

I reach for my loofa pouring some of my brothers body wash on it, "give me your hands," I command softly, and he slowly lifts them so I can scrub them. The water around his feet soon turns into a lightish pink until it's going down the drain and there's not a spec of red anywhere in sight. I turn the knobs shutting the water off. I grab a towel beside me quickly drying my arms off and hand it to Isaac. "Out."

He wraps the towel around his waist stepping out of my shower. I grab the clothes off of the counter and hand them to him, "I think you and Caleb wear around the same size, but if you need something bigger I'm sure I can find something of my dads."

Isaac shakes his head instantly getting into the pair of shorts that I brought him, as I help him with the shirt. I tussle the towel over Isaac's head so his hair isn't so damp and lead him out of my bathroom and into my room.

"Your dad," he murmurs. "He said to stay downstairs."

"I don't care, I'm not leaving you alone down there, you're sleeping here." I snap my fingers telling Waffles to get off of the bed and command Isaac to climb in.

I walk back towards my door and close it, leaving it cracked just a bit Incase waffle wants to get out, and for my dad. I walk back over to my bed and get in under my blanket, pulling Isaac into me with his face laying against my chest. I wrap my arms around him, my nails scratching the back of his head as Isaac slowly starts to crumble in my arms.

It's going to be a long night.