Lesson Learned {Student Teacher Romance}

Chapter 50

About fifteen feet away and hidden in the shadows of the clubhouse, stood an athletic figure sucking on a cigarette. Will pulled me tighter as if his hulking arms could block out his cousin's nasty intentions.

The uneven clack of Rory's heels on the wooden porch rachet up my pulse as he stalks closer.

"How are you two lovebirds?" I wince from the mockery in Rory's tone.

"Back off, Rory," Will growls over my head as I twist around in his arms to get a look at our bully. "This doesn't end well for you."

"Now that's not nice, Fitz!" Rory garbled his taunt with a cruel glint in his dilated pupils.

He looks far worse than he smelled earlier with disheveled hair and several buttons of his shirt missing to expose his chest to frostbite.

"Man," Rory sneers at me. "This is a big night for you two! And Will's mom must love you, Moira. Then again, Auntie Hye always did like to rescue strays, didn't she?"

"Moira, I think you should go back inside," Will whispers in my ear.

"I'm not leaving you out here with him like this," I reply.

"Aw, that's so sweet!" Rory tilts his head and makes a sinister face. "She doesn't want to leave you alone with me, Fitz. She must think we're gonna fight or something."

Will's body goes rigid against mine as my pulse throbs inside my throat.

"Did your little teacher's pet tell you about her loser best friend's scam to bilk me for money?" Rory asks Will with a maniacal grin. "I just found out that I may be a father, Fitz. Watch out for Auburn girls! She's probably going to try and trap you with a baby, too."

"What the fuck?" I exclaim in disgust as Will breaks away from me to square off with his cousin.

"You need to shut the hell up, Rory!" Will snarls in a voice I've never heard before.

"Or you'll what, Fitz?" Rory heckles his cousin by getting close enough to flick spittle in his face. "You'll beat me up for doing you a favor? Moira's trailer park trash and she always will be. It's only a matter of time before she's barefoot and pregnant with somebody's baby! Beating me up won't delay the inevitable."

Will shoves Rory so hard his cousin's back slams into the clubhouse wall.

"Will!" I cry out in distress at his startling force.

"Yeah, Will, take it easy!" Rory wheezes as he tries to laugh off the attack. "Don't go causing a scene!"

Will snatches the lapel of Rory's jacket to jostle him into paying attention while I hold my breath.

"I don't know what the fuck your problem is," Will warns his cousin before letting him go. "But I've had enough of your bullshit, Rory!"

"Such language!" Rory backs away to escape Will and scoffs like he's unimpressed. "I guess I should have expected it from a disgraced English teacher that fucks his students."

"Rory!" Will roars so low the sound rumbles inside his shirt.

"Woah! Do you really want such an angry lover Moira?" Rory just can't help himself. His wicked grin and derisive tone are prickling gooseflesh all over my body. "Did you save your virginity all these years for someone like that?"

I recoil in horror at Rory's vile words only to slip on a patch of icy wood. My ankle slides out from under me, and I scream as gravity takes over.

Bracing for the fall, my arms come up to protect my front when Will manages to catch me in a stunning leap. I'm squashed against his heaving chest as he balances our weight to keep us upright.

As soon as he's sure I'm not hurt and I can stand, Will turns to face down Rory, right as his cousin decided to take a cheap shot.

The sickening crack from Rory's sloppy fist connecting with Will's brow turns my stomach inside out.

Will stumbles back a few paces, gripping his face in shock and trying to stave the flow of blood dripping down his face.

"Oh, no!" I gasp and run to my boyfriend's side so I can inspect his wound.

Will's brow is split, and blood is flowing directly into his eye.

"Fuck, Rory!" Will purposefully spits on his cousin's white shirt. "You can't even fight like a man! You can't own up to your mistakes, and you can't keep your dick in your pants! You're just a fucking failure that's about to add a Battery charge to his growing Rap Sheet."

Rory's eyes bulge at Will's threat.

"You may have screwed up your life and your relationship," Will scowls and wipes gingerly at his injured brow, "but I will not let you fuck up mine!"

Will turns and walks toward me with tiny red tributaries dividing his handsome face. A painful sob wracks my lungs as I take in the sight of my boyfriend in a tuxedo and drenched in gore.

But Rory isn't done.

He rushes Will's back, hollering and swinging his arms.

Rory's violent blows send Will tumbling forward.

I tried to catch him, but we both wound up plummeting to the ground. Thankfully, I had a pair of beefy arms cradling me like a human roll cage, but there was an audible pop under my foot when we hit the deck.

"Moira!" Will pants in my ear. "Are you alright?"

"I think so," I answer, hobbling upright with his help.

Tenderly, I tried putting weight on my ankle to discover that I could stand up, which was a small miracle. The snap I heard was the heel of my shoe breaking during our messy fall.

When I glance up, Rory is watching us with a sort of alarming fascination that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention. Maybe he was incapable of comprehending human affection or perhaps Rory lacked any sort of empathy genes. Whatever the case, he was studying us like we were animals in a Zoo exhibit.

"Aw, don't walk away!" Rory shouted at us as a small crowd of wedding guests spilled out of the clubhouse doors behind him. "We were just getting started, Fitz! Why the fuck won't you fight me, you pussy motherfucker!"

Will spins around so fast he's a blur under the porch lights as he rushes his cousin all at once. Rory's glassy eyes swell in fear as he drunkenly scrambles backward and stumbles over his own feet.

Rory falls backward in a messy heap at Will's shoes, holding his hands up and howling like a wounded animal.

"Help! He's crazy!" Rory's screams are attracting more wedding guests to join the mass. "Help!"

"He never touched you, son!" Charles Smithe boomed from behind a group of well-dressed bodies. "Get up, Rory! You're making an ass of yourself, again!"

Rory's dad fit his way around the crowd to join us as his son's wails died down. Rory was swiftly realizing that his family didn't buy his garbage and they weren't on his side. At all.

Next, Hyacinth and Adelle came running for me and Will.

"Jesus!" Hyacinth exclaims at the sight of her bloodied son. "What the hell happened?"

"Rory happened!" Will spat furiously. "He assaulted me and he tried to attack Moira. I'm sorry, mom, but I need to get my girlfriend out of here."

"I think we might need to go to a hospital, Will," I chime in. "You're bleeding pretty bad."

"Moira's right," Mr. Smithe turned his back on his son to address us. "You need to see a doctor, Will. I'll deal with Rory and any damage he's done here."

Will nods stoically before leading me back into the clubhouse to fetch my jacket and purse. 

He's bleeding profusely in front of most of his family, and even worse, the bride is in the middle of a mega-meltdown because of our public shenanigans.

Sufficed to say, I never thought we'd be ending our big Christmas Eve date in Ballard Urgent Care.