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

Five of Diamonds

A/N: Dedication well deserved as this fan pointed out that I still can't tell my past tense from my present tense, and that I have only a loose association with proper punctuation when I write my steamy scenes :P

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"You need to get your head into this." Maddison whispered to West as she walked passed him, helping another pair of dancers work on the choreography. Because everyone had had the day off for fun yesterday, those that were involved in the Gala had to pay for it with sweat today.

West wanted to growl at his girlfriend and remind her that it is awfully hard to focus on the stupidity of a dance when his mind was trying to go over all the ways in which things could go very wrong for the three of them now. Lance had seen Maddison's face, and it would not take very much to figure out who she is and what she means to West. Joao had agreed not to get the girls involved on New Year's, but after what Romeo did to Lance, chances were that the rival gang was going to consider West and Romeo threats, making Maddison fair game. It's amazing how often a group of men claiming to be a gang with honor would turn to intimidating and threatening innocent people to get what they want. What was eating at West though was that he had no clue what it was Joao and the Dogs wanted.

And then West heard a wet pop and felt the hand under his deform slightly, his dance partner swearing sulphuriously. West realized that he'd once more had his head elsewhere and his inattention had caused Alice to dislocate her thumb, badly. He listened to the others fuss over her but stayed silent, just handing her some tape in lieu of apology. She didn't know what was on his mind, and he refused to get her involved in it. Having Maddison dragged into this world was bad enough, but at least she was HIS girl. Alice was Reaper's, and West's adoptive big brother would murder him and gladly. Malcolm had been West's own inspiration to get out of the gang life. After a disasterous turn of events in Cuba, West's Abuela convinced his father to contact the now Canadian landed Malcolm Vega to try and talk some sense into the still loving gang-life West. It had worked, and now West was here as well, trying to live the straight life. Malcolm would not forgive him easiliy if he got Alice involved in this, and the good lord knows she has enough problems as it is on her own. There's a psycho f***, sick b****** out there that had beaten and raped her repeatedly for years and West fully planned to make it a gift to the couple by breaking the man in as many places as possible and dumping his a** at a cop shop for them to clean up.

Suddenly as that thought occured to him, West was rammed in the side and sent flying into the water. The Cuban reacted instantly, driving his feet into the abdomen of whomever it was that had whaled him. The move was less effective because as West tried to slam his attacker away, a wave dumped against his back and threw him forward, tumbling the usually graceful Cuban end over end. West scrambled to his feet, coughing out water and ready to murder the cabron that attacked him. Until he saw that it was Malcolm glaring back at him. The rest of the student body hadn't even noticed their miniature brawl, too wrapped up in their own buisness to notice how close both men were to violence.

Malcolm's dark eyes burned as he glared down at the younger man, barely inches taller, but more bulky in his muscles. West was whipcord thin and his hair was wild and long. West's fist clenched, not understanding why a man he considered his brother would disrespect him like that, where everyone could see. "Maddison told me what happened." Malcolm stated plainly. His voice was low and pissed off.

"I've got in under control." West spat back, furious and ready to drop the hero worship and let the fists fly. He didn't care that it would get him sent back early and likely expelled.

"Like h*** you do Westley. You've got a f***ing kid kidnapping gang members to interrogate?" Malcolm's tone was disgusted.

"Joder! Romeo actuó por su cuenta. Sólo traté de hacer frente a los efectos posteriores de la mejor manera posible." West yelled out, falling into his natvie tongue in his frustrated anger. (For f*ck's sake! Romeo acted on his own. I just tried to deal with after effects as best as possible.)