Isaac's POV

Hailey and I sit quietly in the waiting room that's down the hall, a few feet away from Angela's room, I don't miss the space that Hailey has put in between us though. She doesn't take the seat next to me like she normally would, in fact she sits two chairs down to my left, keeping her distance. She's afraid of me again, she doesn't trust me, and that fücking kills me.

I was on my way back home from a job when Hailey called. Pops had asked me, or more like demanded I should say, that I go collect with Nathaniel, and not fucking everything up this time.

Pops relationship and mine has been a bit rocky after I popped Verdino's three guys without authorization. I knew better, I knew the rules, frankly I didn't care at the moment, and I still don't regret it.

It wasn't necessarily my first time doing something without authorization, but it was my first time killing in front of a estraneo like my father likes to call them, and that's what really ticked him off. Not only did he consider Hailey to be a estranea, but he was even more pissed because of who her father was, so he went ballistic.

He called me every damn name in the English and Italian dictionary that he could possibly think of, while he continued to hit me, kick me repeatedly. It didn't help that he had already been drinking that night so it only made everything worse. He got so loud to the point where he actually woke up ma by shouting, and she was soon rushing down stairs trying to stop him, but she could only do so much.

Things got so out of hand that my mother had to call for help and put Pops men against her own husband, their own boss. They of course didn't hesitate, they immediately came to the rescue and Donny was soon pulling my father off of me, holding him back in a choke hold.

My mom had a new kind of authority since the last time Pops put his hands on me, it was his way of trying to make it up to her. Although this was his kingdom, these were his men, he made it known that they were to listen to my mom, his queen, whenever she felt like he was getting out of hand, and boy was he out of hand that night.

Ma actually packed up her bags and some of mine and left Pops that night, dragging me along with her. The tables had quickly turned and now she was the one calling pops every name that she could possibly think of, slapping him, hitting him as many times as she could. Pops knew he fucked up the second his rage came down and my mom started packing up her things, throwing the D word in my father's face.

I swear I've never seen the blood drain from my father's face so quick, nor had I ever seen him beg my mother so much to stay, to forgive him, that he'll do anything to make her stay. I knew deep down in my core that ma could never really divorce my father. She was just mad, she was talking out of pure anger, she adored my pops, she gave up most of her family for him for crying out loud, she loved him. But we still left.

We didn't go to my uncle Sal's house, we didn't go to my nana's house, we didn't go to any family members, any friends, those would be the first places my pops would go to look for us, and he sure did. We stayed at a nice little hotel on the outskirts of town, and I used any little power I had left to get the room without putting any cards down, pops would be sure to trace them and find us, or my mother I should say.

This went on for a couple days, and by the fourth day I was coming up short on cash, meaning that I would soon have to start using my cards, if my father hadn't froze mine and mom's account already, and to our surprise he hadn't. But she didn't want to give him any hope that we were still in the city, so we left and went to my grandmas.

She of course was calling my mom day and night after my pops went looking for us, trying to figure out what was wrong, talking about how she didn't want her daughter and grandson in a hotel room locked up, to come stay with her, but ma had to explain it to her that we had to stay here for a couple days. She knew my dad, he would go back eventually and find us there, and she didn't want that, at least not yet.

Ma even made me miss school and called in, telling them that we were heading out of town so I'll be out for the rest of this week. It was probably for the best too, I kind of didn't want to show up looking the way I did, it would only cause more problems.

Both Angela and Dion were blowing up my phone through out the week though, telling me that a couple of my father's men were parked in the school parking lot everyday, no doubt waiting for me to show up, but jokes on them.

We eventually went to my nana's when I was officially out of money, and she nearly had a heart attack when she seen the bruises all over my face and body. She swore up and down that she was going to kill my father, talking about the many ways that she was going to torture him. The only reason why she hadn't called the cops yet, was because my mother was okay. She inspected every inch of her face, body, you name it, just to ensure that he hadn't hit her too.

My dad may lose him temper from time to time, and my mother knows damn well how to push his buttons, but he would never lay a hand on her. And it wasn't because my dad was smarter than that, because I mean he was, but then again he worshiped the ground she's walked on, he would never lay his hands on the woman he loved.

Don't get it twisted though, Pops was feared for a reason. My father had absolutely no problem beating the shit out of a female, or putting them in check, it was a part of his job.

About 40% of his clients were women, and about 15% of those women think that they can usually get away with not paying up because they don't have a dick in between their legs. And boy that's where they're wrong, because when it comes to my father's money he treats everyone equally, whether his client is a male or female.

Pops sure as hell did come back to my nana's house, begging and pleading for my mother to forgive him, for us to come back home, that he would actually leave the house and we could stay there until they worked it out, but my mother was one angry stubborn woman and would not budge.

The only reason why I was back at home with pops was because he just so happen to catch me one afternoon while I was running an errand for my grandma. Although I was the one covered with bruises, I could tell that he was hurting far worse than I was.

My grandmother was trying to cook up some pasta that I absolutely loved, when she realized she didn't have any cream left, and I being the wonderful grandson that I am ran to pick some up for her, and ran into my father in the parking lot when I was heading back. He wasn't with any of his men, they weren't anywhere in sight, they weren't hiding, he was completely alone, and that was very rare for my father. Not only was my father alone, but he reeked of alcohol.

I can't count how many times he apologized that day, the last time I ever seen my dad actually cry, he was a complete fucking wreck without my mom.

It's a crazy thing what love can do to a man, like father like son right. It's the only reason why I went home with him, because I was actually worried that he would do something stupid and regret it later. Ma wasn't too happy about it, but I eventually talked her into it and she let me go.

The first couple of days that I was home were awkward. I rarely saw pops, he was either out doing something, or hiding out in either his room or office, the times I did see him around the house he barely looked in my direction.

I was actually the one to break the ice a couple days ago, not because I wanted to, but because I needed to deliver a message for my mom. She was slowly starting to come around little by little and it gave my pops the little hope that he needed to bounce back to his usual self.

Hailey's soft voice soon enough pulls me out of the deep thinking I had sunk into, "hmm?" I hum, glancing in her direction.

"Are you okay?" She repeats herself.

"I'm good," I answer quickly and short.

She frowns softly glancing down at my lap then back up at my face, I knew she knew that I was lying.

I was anxiously shaking my right leg up and down, slouched in the chair that I was in with my arms folded in front of me, attempting not to lose my shit.

I hated the fact that I wasn't wearing a damn sweater to cover my face with the hood. I couldn't stand the way Hailey was looking at me, with such sympathy and sadness in her eyes. That confident person that she had transformed into was long gone, and the sad, broken, confused little fragile flower was back, all because of my dumbass.

"I'm sure they have a perfectly good reason as to why they didn't tell you, Isaac."

I shake my head, immediately sitting up in my chair, "I don't want to talk about them."

She exhales deeply, "Isaac, please." I stay quiet looking away from her, attempting to avoid the conversation I really didn't care for right now.

I mean yeah I'm pretty upset that both of my best friends decided to go behind my back and keep something like this a secret, but it wasn't a complete shocker to me either. I've had my assumptions about Dion and Ang from time to time, I just never imagined it to ever be true.

Its not like Dion and I never talked about this before, because believe me we did, numerous of fucking times. We had both agreed that Angela was and would only ever be like a sister to us, but I'm guessing that ship sailed on his side. I was honestly never attracted to Angela, she's my best friend, and yeah she may be beautiful no doubt about it, but I never saw her as anything more than just my friend.

"They're your best friends, Isaac," Hailey continues to press the subject, and I turn to look at her with a blank expression. "Believe me, I know that you're upset, but Ang doesn't need you to be her over protective best friend right now, Isaac, she needs you to be that brother who she never had to comfort her. They both need you now more than ever."

I don't respond, I glance down at the floor really quick, then slightly turn to look at Hailey. I stare at her for a couple seconds, noting that somethings different about her, but I can't pin point what, when I suddenly realize that her face looks a lot thinner than before.

"What?" She frowns, my staring obviously making her uncomfortable.

I shake my head.

She looks like she hasn't had a decent meal in awhile and that kills me. I know how Hailey can get when she's depressed, but I don't want to accuse her of not eating, the last thing I want to do is upset her and have her leave.

"How've you been?" I ask instead.

She scoffs shaking her head, mumbling under her breath. "You're unbelievable."

"I'm sorry that you, who I haven't seen or heard from in almost three weeks is a little more important to me right now, Hailey. I promise as soon as we're done I'll go talk to them."

"I've been okay," she mumbles.

I sigh at her short response, already getting frustrated with myself. "Did you finish eating earlier? Can I buy you dinner?"

Surprisingly Hailey doesn't argue with me and agree's to me buying her some food. I would've assumed that she would've been stubborned about it and said no. We get up and leave the small waiting room, making our way down stairs to the cafeteria. There's an awkward silence in between us as we ride down the elevator and walk into the cafeteria.

I nearly lose my shit when I see that Hailey has reached for a banana nut muffin and an apple juice, instead of ordering a semi half decent meal, then again I can't really complain because all I got was a bag of chips and a raspberry tea.

We sit quietly at a small table in the middle of the room as Hailey picks at her muffin here and there. This awkward silence between us is killing me. I can tell that she wants to say something, but I don't think she knows how.

I exhale deeply uncrossing my arms, leaning onto the table, "I don't know how to fix this, Hail. I don't know how to come back from this."

"I don't think you can," she murmurs, and my heart slowly starts to ache in my chest. This is it, I really lost her this time.

I anxiously start shaking my leg underneath the table, tapping it up and down, getting mad at myself.

"I need to hear you say it," I grumble, turning away from her. "I'll leave you alone for good if that's what you want, Hailey, but I need to hear you say it." I turn back to look at her, her eyes are now glistering with tears. "Look me in the eyes and tell me that you don't want anything to do with me anymore. I'll change schools, I'll do anything just to make it easier for you, you'll never have to deal with me or my friends again."

She starts crying softly, shaking her head side to side, "I can't say it," she cries. "As much as I want too, I can't say it."

"Hail-"

"I love you, Isaac, so god damn much that it scares me. You scare me. You didn't just kill one person, Isaac." She glances around the room, lowering her voice even more than before. "You killed three, and in less than five minutes."

I don't say anything in return because I can't, nothing I say is gonna make this situation any better.

"Why were Axel's guys after you? Who was that guy referring to that night? The one who's face you left pretty marked up."

I try my hardest not to grimaces when Hailey  mentions Verdino, and brings up Layla. I stay quiet and look away from her because I don't want to tell her anything, I also don't want to lie to her, so I remain silent because it's all I know what to do.

This easily upsets Hailey and she's now blowing up in my face, "I swear I don't know why I try talking to you half of the time! You tell me one thing yet do another! You say you want to fix it, but when I start to ask you questions you complete shut down, Isaac! I'm tired of going back and forth with you!"

She immediately gets up from the table getting ready to walk away, and my heart instantly starts slamming in my chest. Nobody in this world makes me panic as quick as Hailey can.

My hand instantly flies out, latching onto her wrist, keeping her from leaving. "Don't," I mumble, looking up at her. "Please don't go, Hail. Don't.. leave just yet," I beg.

"Talk."

I nod rapidly, "Layla.."

She instantly yanks her hand away, frowning deeply. "What about her?"

I put my head down, my hearts beating so fast in my chest that I can feel my own heartbeat throb in my ears. I feel so sick to my stomach right about now. But it's not because of what I did, but because I'm afraid of what will happen after she knows what I've done, I'm afraid of what she'll think of me. She's going to see me for the monster I really am. I can handle Hailey thinking I'm a murder, because lord knows that I am, I wouldn't deny it, but her thinking I'm a monster is going to tear me up alive.

I close my eyes, inhaling one of the deepest breaths I ever have in my life, and exhale it slowly.

"Can you sit please?"

She stares at me for a couple seconds and eventually sits back in the chair.

"She's who they were referring to," I murmur. "They came after me because I went after her."

"You hit her?"

"Something like that, but I don't want you think that I'd ever lay my hands on you, baby, cause I wouldn't."

"What makes me so much different than her?"

"Are you serious?" I scoff, arching an eyebrow. "You're nothing like her."

"But I am a girl!" She raises her voice. "Exactly like her! Who's to say you won't hit me one day when I piss you off, Isaac!"

"Because I wouldn't fücking hit the woman I love, Hailey! Just like my father's never laid a hand on my mom!"

"But yet he has no problem putting his hands on his son, his own blood," she quickly retorts, pointing at my bruised face.

I instantly shut up and look away from her, sighing deeply, "I don't want to argue with you, Hailey."

"How many?" She utters softly, her gaze barely meeting my own.

"How many what?" I ask in return.

"How many have you, you know.."

"Killed?" I finish the last part of her sentence. Her silence and guilty look gives it away, it is what she's trying to ask me.

"Eight," I answer. "Including those three."

She doesn't flip out nor does she go crazy like I assumed she would have, in fact it almost looks like she's a bit relieved, but she still hasn't said anything yet and it's driving me crazy, my anxiety's throughly the roof right now. I mentally scoffed at myself, who would've ever thought that the rolls would've switched, and I would be the one on edge.

"Hailey, say something please.."

"I expected a bigger number," she mumbles. "Double digits at least."

I snort softly, shaking my head. I legitimately just told the girl that I am in love with that I've killed eight people, and she caught up on the fact that I'm not in a doubt digit area.

"I'm not some highly trained hitman, Hailey. My dad has different men for that," I tease, attempting to lighten the dull mood.

I obviously fail at this because Hailey quickly looks up at me, a hint of panic in her eyes.

"It's a joke, Hail, I'm just kidding," I try to reassure her, although it's not a lie, Pops really did have certain men for that type of thing, but only him and Don knew those men, no one else knew who they were.

Last I knew pops had about two hit men in total, and out of both of those I had only personally met one, once, on accident. I walked into pops office one afternoon when I wasn't suppose to and there they were. These men dealt with Pops most shadiest, dirties, jobs you could ever think of, they were the type of guys you didn't want to mess around with.

"I didn't tell anyone," she says softly, staring down at her hands on the table. "My dad doesn't know if that's what your dad is afraid of."

"I know," I smile and reach out to grab her hand. Surprisingly she doesn't pull away and that little glimmer of hope it back. I gently squeeze her hand, "look at me, Hail."

She slowly peers up at me, "you don't have anything to be afraid of, no one's going to hurt you," I tell her. "NO ONE. Not my father, not Verdino or his guys, nor will I. Hailey, I'd protect you with my own life if it came down to it, baby."

She retracts her hands away from my touch, wiping the lone tears that have managed to leak out of her beautiful sad green orbs.

"I don't ever want to see you take another life," she mutters. "I get it, I understand that this is a part of your life, but I'm not built the way you are, Isaac. I can't handle seeing that again."

"You won't."

She inhales a deep breath, slowly exhaling it, "I'm gonna go home now," she says getting up from her chair again. "Tell Angela that I'll try to come back tomorrow."

I nod and get up from my own chair once Hailey is standing a couple feet from me, "I'll drive you back."

She shakes her head walking up to me, "Carmen and her mom are on their way. You," She places her hands on my shoulders, pushing me back down so that my ass is now glued to the chair again. "Are gonna go back up stairs like you promised, and talk to your best friends."

I narrow my eyes a bit, attempting to bite my tongue. I really didn't want to see either or the two right now, I needed more time to calm down, my blood instantly starts to boil at the thought of them.

Hailey takes me by surprise when she stands in front of me, her hands now cupping either side of my face, and my heart instantly starts racing in my chest. I miss being so close to her. I instinctually want to place my hands around her, pull her closer into me, but i don't.

She leans down so that our faces are mere inches from each other, and I fight to urge to kiss her. "I will not allow you to fix us before you fix your friendship with them."

I frown deeply as I stare up at Hailey, but it instantly disappears when her soft lips are now meeting my own, easily catching me off guard. It's not a quick peck either. I immediately kiss her back, deepening the kiss, but make sure to keep my hands to myself, this way she knows that she's in control.

Her kiss is tender, soft and gentle in every way possible way that you can think of. I can tell that she misses me just as much as I miss her, but she's too damn stubborn to let me back in, she going to make me work for it just like she's always done.

The kiss lasts for a couple more seconds when Hailey's pulling away, leaving me breathless and wanting more. "Remember to breathe," she whispers. "Put them first, hear what they have to say." I nod. "Call me afterwards when you get home."

~~~~

I don't leave the cafeteria after Hailey leaves, I linger in there for about another good fifteen minutes. I can not for the life of me get myself to calm down. I'm not necessarily mad anymore, that the feeling was long gone the second Hailey connected her lips with mine. I got so lost in her touch that I forgot why I was even upset to begin with, and the second she left it came right back.

I sat quietly at the stupid table for those fifteen minutes, trying to play out every possible scenario, thinking about what the fuck I wanted to ask, if I even wanted to fucking know. As always, i eventually got frustrated with myself and decided to step outside and smoke a cigarette really quick.

I decided to only smoke half a cigarette once I finally made it outside, I had been clean for about three months now and didn't want to completely ruin my progress. I gotta admit though, the cold breeze did feel nice, I could be out here for hours, unfortunately i had two best friends to confront.

I inhale one last swig of my cigarette and put it out, feeling a little more at ease now that I had nicotine running in my body. I make my way into the hospital and load up into the elevator, making my way up. I hesitate for a second once the elevator comes to a stop and the doors ping open, but eventually force myself out and I'm soon standing in front of the room that Angela is currently staying in.

I thought about just walking in, but then think that maybe just maybe her parents are in there, rather than Dion, so I knock. I raise my hand and gently tap my knuckles on the hospital door, while turning the knob, slowly opening the door at the same time.

I slowly step into the room to find Dion and Angela alone in here, her parents no where in sight. Angela's peacefully sleeping in the bed, while Dion sits to the left of her in a chair.

I don't know if Dion was asleep or not, but he instantly sits up the second he see's me. He had his head laying on the bed while hanging onto Angela's hand as I tried to creep my way in.

"Can I come in?"

He nods, "yeah."

I walk into the overly clean room, quietly closing the door behind me, careful not to wake up Angela. "How is she?" I ask quietly as I make my way further into the room, walking towards the side of the bed where Dion's sitting at.

"Uh, they gave her something to calm her down and help her sleep for awhile."

I nod not really knowing what else to say.

I don't turn to the right of me, but I can see Dion from the corner of my eyes just staring up at me, and it's literally taking everything within me not to lose my cool.

"KP."

"Don't," I growl softly so that I don't wake up my best friend.

In all of the years that Dion and I have been friends we've never had a fight to where we couldn't talk to each other, so I don't know why the fuck it's so hard right now.

Don't get me wrong, Dion and I have been in plenty of arguments, but we always resolved it, we were never stuck in this awkward situation.

I glance over at my best friend who's laying peacefully in bed, and feel a sudden sadness. I can't imagine the type of pain and hurt she's probably going through right now. How much of an asshole do I have to be that Angela actually felt that she couldn't come talk to me, couldn't confide in me, we've been best friends since we were like five, I practically trusted her with my life.

I quickly look away from Angela to see Dion looking over at her as well, his hand still clinging onto hers as she slept. I've never seen this side of him, it's soft, it's gentle, it's caring.

Dion's the same way I use to be before I met Hailey, fücking selfish. It's why he's never actually had a girlfriend, the boy has major commitment issues and makes Ric look like a saint, and we all know that Ric is a manwhore, Dion was just more discreet about it, he liked being single, he never wanted to be tied down.

Don't get me wrong, Dion isn't a complete asshole, he has a soft side for Ang. He cares for her, he protects her, he's there for her when ever she needs him, but then again, so am I, it's what you do when you care for another person, for a friend, a best friend. But this type of gentleness that I was seeing was far more beyond friendship, he was completely in love with her, and i was too fucking blind to see it.

"How?" I mumble, shaking my head, turning to look at him. "Since when?"

Dion inhales a deep breath and looks over at me, "I don't know," he shrugs his shoulders, while shaking his head. I know that he knows I'm referring to since when has he been in love with her.

"When did it start? How?" I repeat myself.

"Since your birthday," he murmurs, looking back over at Angela, who's now stirring a bit in her sleep. Dion chuckles softly, "we were both so drunk and it kind of just happened. It was awkward as fuck the next morning and we swore to never talk about it again, but no matter how much I tried to get her out of my head, I fücking couldn't."

"That's why you went ballistic at Ronnie's."

He nods, "I mean I don't give two shits about that fucking asshole, but i suddenly had this new urge to defend her in anyway possible, and I over hear some dumb shit that I wish I hadn't, and seen nothing but red. She didn't talk to me for over a week, and when she finally did it was to confront me on why I had been acting like such an asshole. I didn't know what to say and we ended up having this huge fight, one thing lead to another and it fucking happened again, but we weren't drunk that time, it wasn't awkward, it felt right."

"So you guys are a fucking thing now?"

He shakes his head, "I don't know what the fuck we are. We were just having fun, going with the flow, and then she got scared and said we had to stop because people were noticing that we were getting closer than before, and I was fine with it. And then she tells me that she's four weeks pregnant and everything fucking changes, I change. I suddenly want to be with her, so I ask her out but she's afraid. I don't want to hide anymore, I want to take care of her, I want to give her and the baby everything that I can, I want her to fucking be mine, and then this happens," his voice cracks.

I glance down at him and see that he's doing everything in his power to try and avoid my gaze, and then it all hits me. I realize that I no longer have the need to bash his face in, I feel the same fucking saddness for him that I felt for Angela a bit ago, and realize that it's sympathy, acceptance.

The more and more I thought about it, the more I realize that Dion and Angela were perfect for each other. There's no one on this earth that I would trust enough to actually be with her, than Dion. I no longer have the need to look after her because I know she'll be okay with him, I know she'll put him in his place when he does start to get out of hand, they were destined to be more than best friends.

"Get up," I tell him.

Dion looks over at me and I can immediately see the pain and hurt in his eyes, he's trying to hold it in like always, idiot.

"KP, please," he mutters.

"Dion, get up," I snarl through clenched teeth.

He sighs deeply nodding his head, and slowly gets up from the chair, releasing Ang's hand.

We make eye contact for a couple seconds until Dion actually looks off to the side, "just fucking do it already," he mumbles.

I let an air noise type of thing come out of my nose. He actually thinks that I would hit him here, in front of my other unconscious best friend. I shake my head in disbelief and wrap my arms around his big ass body, pulling him into me.

"It's just us, Dee, it's okay, you don't have to be strong. You're allowed to feel, you're allowed to cry, man, just let it go."

I feel his body immediately tremble and hear his breathing instantly become a bit shaky, when he actually begins to cry softly, embracing me back.

"I'm sorry," he cries.

I shake my head and hug him even tighter, "don't be, you don't have anything to be sorry about, Dee." I pull apart from him so that we're face to face now. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I know that I can be hot tempered sometimes, but I'm sorry if I ever made you guys feel like you couldn't come talk to me, I'm sorry that I wasn't a better friend. If you want to fücking be with her, than fucking be with her, Dee. Who am I to fucking stop you? Yeah it's gonna be weird for a fücking while seeing you guys kiss and shit, but it's nothing that I or the guys won't get over."

This makes him snort softly, "You're my boy, Dion, you're my right hand man, my best friend, I just want you to be happy, and if that means being with her," I wave over at Angela, who's still asleep. "Then so be it."

Dion really starts crying now, and this is a fucking new for me, I hardly ever see this man cry. I go back into hug him, trying to get him to calm down a bit. "Come on, let's go outside until you calm down so we won't wake Ang up," I say. He nods and we quietly step out into the hall until Dion's ready to go back in.