Homewrecker With A Heart Of Gold (Patrick Stump FanFic ft. Zack Merrick)

Chapter 17

-Patrick's POV-

"You want me to what?" I asked Zack who was standing across from me at the island in my kitchen.

"Look, Patrick, I-I can only imagine how things ended with you and Gwen, but-"

"Hold up." I stuck my hands out. "You want me to get back together with Gwen - your wife, need I remind you - and convince her to leave with me? After I already left her?"

"I know it sounds crazy, Patrick, but I just want to give her a taste of her own medicine," He explained to me, the words coming out of his mouth not sounding like his own as he wrapped his hands around the mug of coffee I'd prepared for him, "She's lied to both of us and - for all we know - has no remorse about what's she done. Don't you want her to know what it feels like to be lied to?"

I stared at him, baffled. His idea was insane. He was asking me to get back together with his wife and ultimately end up take her away from him. What sane person would want someone to do that to them?

"You don't have to mean it, Patrick, I don't want you to," He went on to say, "I just want her to know what it's like to be told that someone loves you when they don't."

I scoffed. "But Zack, what's this going to accomplish? Anything?"

"She wants to take my band away from me," He disclosed the motive behind his decision, shifting his weight uncomfortably, "And if not them, Chase. Patrick, I-I can't lose either of them. They mean everything to me."

"And me leaving with her is going to..." My voice trailed off, leaving Zack to finish my sentence for me.

He quickly caught on and straightened his posture. "It's going to get her away so that I can have Chase and the band."

I heaved a sigh and tilted my head down, biting my lip. Maybe this idea wasn't as crazy as it seemed. If I were to go along with his plan, would there be anyone that'd lose? Zack would get to stay in his band and he would still be able to see his son. Chase would have a parent who wasn't a psychopath to look up to and he'd get to see his dad more often. And as for me, I would get a second chance with Gwen. Sure, it wouldn't be genuine; I'd be lying to her and making her think I want something I don't, but - if I was being honest with myself - I couldn't get her off of my mind. I wasn't ready to get things back to the way they used to be, but I was willing to start over. I mean, that's what Gwen wanted from the start, right? To leave with me and start over?

"Patrick, please, she's forcing me to make an impossible decision and, if you help me out, I won't have to make that decision. And...And you and Gwen can finally be together." He added the last part with resistance, the words coming out of his mouth quicker than his mind could filter them. "I know I told you that you're not the first person she's done this with, but you're the first person I actually thought of as a threat," He admitted, meeting my gaze, "Because, although she might've lied to you about her relationship with me, she didn't lie about anything else. She really did want to leave with you."

"She did?" I couldn't help but ask, perking up in curiosity.

He nodded his head sadly. "That's why I came up with this idea, because she won't suspect a thing. She'll just think you changed your mind. You just have to stress to her that you only want her coming with you; not Chase."

I stared at Zack for the longest time, contemplating the offer he was making me. He wanted me to lie to Gwen like she'd lied to us for so long. He wanted me to trick her into thinking that I still loved her. However, I didn't need to trick her, because as much as I didn't want to admit it - knowing what the consequences would be - I still did love her.

I set my mug down on the table and stuck my hand across the table. "Deal."

*****

I took in a deep breath and rolled my neck, clutching the bouquet of flowers tighter in my hands in an attempt to calm my nerves. I didn't understand why I was so nervous. It wasn't like I was doing anything I wasn't supposed to...at least, not morally. Zack told me to do this. He wanted me to. He even made it so that he wasn't even home, taking Chase with him to the ballpark to see a game so that Gwen and I were completely alone. So what was there to be nervous about? The only thing I had to be nervous about was Gwen seeing right through me.

"Okay," I muttered to myself, shaking myself out, "You can do this, Patrick, you can do it." I reached my hand out and pressed the doorbell, hearing it ring inside of the house. I swallowed the lump in my throat and listened to the footsteps growing louder and louder behind the door. The locks were undone and the door was pulled in, revealing the girl I had a hard time looking at in the same way I used to.

"Patrick?" She greeted softly, hiding behind the door ever so slightly, "What are you doing here...and dressed like that?" Her eyes trailed my body up and down, taking note of the suit I was wearing and the bouquet I held in my hands.

"May I come in?" I inquired, blatantly avoiding her question.

"I-I don't think that's a good idea," She stammered, a rose color creeping up in her cheeks.

"Look, Gwen, I-I'm sorry about what happened between us that day," I apologized, knowing that I couldn't lose my chance to do this, "I just...what Zack said to me that night got to me and I was stupid to believe him over you." Her eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "Guys like him, Gwen, they lie about things like that because they don't want people to find out about who they really are. I'm sorry to have thought you were lying to me about him beating you. That's not something to take lightly and-"

"Patrick, what are you talking about?" She interrupted me, "He's not-"

"No," I cut her short, sticking my index finger over her lips and silencing her instantly, "Gwen, abuse isn't something you or anyone should tolerate. That's why I...why I want you to come with me." I set the flowers down on the ground and took a step forward, slipping my hands underneath her jawline and swiping my thumbs across her warm cheeks. "I was a fool to not want to leave with you sooner. I guess I just...I wanted to wait for the right moment."

Zack's wife stared at me with glistening eyes, trying to decipher if I really meant what I was saying.

"Gwen, I love you," I told her, bringing my hands down to hers and intertwining our fingers, giving her hands a light squeeze, "And I want us to live happily ever after. Please, come with me."

"But...But I can't," She objected, retracting her hands and slipping them into the pockets of her jeans, "I'm with Zack, Patrick, and I've got Chase. I can't leave them."

"Zack doesn't care about you, though, Gwen," I lied, not giving up on convincing her to come with me, "Not like I do."

She shook her head. "No, Patrick, you and I, we're done. You practically said it yourself."

"I wasn't thinking when I said that, though."

"It doesn't matter, Patrick!" She snapped, "I've got a family; it's about time I start acting like it."

Gwen went to close the door in my face and I began to panic. I couldn't let her go. I made a deal with Zack, and I wasn't going to back out of it. I shot my hand out and pushed the door back in, shortening the distance between Gwen and me and crashing my lips into hers. Almost instantly she melted into the kiss, the passion we'd both forgotten about being reignited as we stumbled back into the house, locked at the lips.

This was wrong, I knew it and so did she, yet we didn't stop. We kept going, and we soon found ourselves back at the place where this story began, in hers and Zack's bed. We lied beside one another, our chests rising up and down and our gazes locked on the ceiling above us.

"So what do you say?" I questioned a little breathlessly, turning my head to look at her, "Leave with me?"

I watched her bite her lip. "Patrick, I-I can't." She met my gaze and frowned. "I love Zack, and-" Just as she was about to finish her sentence, we heard the sounds of laughter coming from downstairs, followed by the front door clicking shut and a voice echoing through the house.

"Honey, I'm home!"