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

Nine of Spades

A/N: Yeah, I left friday on a cliffhanger so here's the denoument for that particular chapter :D

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West had lost sight of Romeo. That in itself wasn't terribly alarming at first, but West couldn't see tail or friend for most of the rest of the d*** tequila tour. Deciding that discretion wasn't the better part of valour, the Cuban went to go find his friend. Falling to the back of the group, West allowed himself to slow until he could duck out of the way with no one the wiser.

He waited until they were all out of sight and then headed to the last place he'd seen his friend. Once there he scanned around and tried to think like the moodie Trinidadian. Seeing a likely lurking spot, West hunted the location down and saw a little blood spattered on the ground. His internal alarm went into overdrive and he started to jog along the faint blood trail, instinct leading him as often as the droplets did. He rounded the corner and then ran into his friend, alive and well.

"Where the h*** did you get off to?" West demanded.

"I'll tell you about it later bro. Let's catch up to the rest." he dodged and West let him. The two of them went down the hallways until they caught onto the group at another taste test station. Half the class was already swaying and tipsy, though the designated drivers were all sober and drinking pop instead of alcohol.

It ate at West's patience, having to suffer the boring lessons on a liquor he didn't care about, wishing he'd stayed at the resort with Maddison. Then a pang of guilt hit him because here they were in paradise and yet his screwed up past had caught up to him. He'd wanted to tell his girl that he had fallen in love with her crazy attitude and random spirit. She was his girl and he didn't care if it made him sound whipped to ssay he loved her. It was true and just thinking about the blush that would stain her cheeks when he said the words made him smile. It never occured to him that she wouldn't be in love with him in return, he'd seen the look in her eyes too often lately to deny its existance. They were both just skating around actually saying the words still.

Finally the mostly tispy herd of students stumbled towards the jeeps once more. West climbs in and stays silent the entire drive back to the resort. Romeo had sat stiffly next to him, and West had noticed just how swollen and torn up the back of his friend's hands were. Something had definitely happened between his friend and the tail, but he still had no clue what. To make matters worse, the moment they were released from the group, Romeo vanished again. Though this time West figured he knew where his friend was going; to take care of those hands. So West jogged down the path to his friend's hut and caught up, falling in beside his best mate silently. Romeo washed his had and West helped glue the worst gashes shut.

"We should join the others." Romeo said, finally breaking the silence. West grunted but went with him, however he wasn't content to remain silent any longer.

"What happened?" West demanded as they walked down the path, voice a low growl.

"I saw an opportunity and took it. Don't worry man, I've got it under control." Romeo tried to deflect, but as tough as he was, he wasn't up to withstanding  West's angry scowl.

"I seriously doubt that. Tell me, you'll end up doing so anyways." West warned.

Romeo gave him a pissed off glare but gave in. "I slipped behind the idiot and bashed him over the head. But he didn't stay down so I had to hit him a couple more times. Then I tied him up, gagged him and dumped him in his own trunk. I was going to go back and question him tonight, just needed to grab cash to taxi back."

"I'm going with you." West stated as Maddison stepped out in front of them, stopping both men in their tracks.

"Neither of you are going anywhere until I get some answers." Maddison stated, face blank but eyes angry.