*Author's Note*

Thank you for the faves, follows, and reviews.

Boosting Breakups & College Epiphanies

Gem POV:

A couple of weeks have passed since the dramatic homecoming dance and the school was still whispering about what happened between me and Angie. Of course, since Angie was popular, she got a lot of sympathy from teachers and other popular people. Nonpopular people tho would nod at me with respect and admiration for what I did. It was kinda weird, but Geno said that it was a normal reaction for people in our neighborhood. That to get respect you had to kick some ass sometimes.

Talk about Geno, we're supposed to be out on a movie date right now, but we're not. Instead he had a last minute 'job' he had to do and decided to take me along. We were in a part of Brooklyn that I've rarely set foot in and it was making me nervous. Oh, and the other thing that was making me nervous was that I was stuck playing lookout for him while he was in a back of the building parking lot boosting a car.

I was a 'good girl' and never did anything criminal (like help boost a car) in my entire life so I was a bit jittery. I didn't like the fact that I had to stand watch in front of the narrow alley since the parking lot was thru the alley and in the back of a large apartment building. Geno assured me that hotwiring the car wouldn't take long, but that felt like ages ago. The crisp fall night air was nipping at my nose and I was feeling a bit jittery as I kept a lookout for Geno. Every time somebody walked by, I felt my heartrate go up. I was slightly bouncing on my heels while looking up and down the street, trying to scope out if any trouble was heading my way. So far nothing, but a few people walking around and some cars and taxis going up and down the street. Nobody seemed to notice me standing there. Or at least, that's what I thought.

I heard the thump thump thump of shoes hitting the payment, causing me to snap my head to the side to see who was coming. My eyes widened with fear as I saw a cop walking his beat; coming my way. I tried to act nonchalant by leaning against the alleyway wall with my hands stuffed inside my jacket pockets. "You, over there. What're you doing?" The beat cop called out to me, having seen me, while stomping over to me. "Hey, what's going on?" He asked, picking up his pace to a jog.

Oh my god. Oh my god. If he comes over and realizes that I'm Geno's lookout I'm going to get into so much trouble. Looking over my shoulder and back to the cop, who was getting closer to me, I made a split-second decision to bolt. I didn't even call out a warning to my boyfriend, I just took off down the street.

"Yea, you better run, girl! Don't need no trouble 'round here!" I heard the cop yelling behind me as I ran down the street.

My heart was beating fast as ran as far away from that building and alleyway as I could. When I was sure that I was far enough away from the cop, I slowed down and started to look for a bus sign. I felt a bit frantic and scared, being alone in a neighborhood I didn't know. My heart was racing as I aimlessly walked around, mentally praying for a bus stop sign to pop up into view soon.

"Baby, what's wrong? I can feel you freaking out over there." Brock's concerned voice asked as it quickly popped into my head.

"I'm lost in a different neighborhood; looking for a bus stop so I can go home." I answered him while wandering around the streets of a foreign neighborhood.

"Why're you lost? Did that dick ditch you somewhere?" Came flooding into my head with a concerned, but biting edge.

"No, I ditched him when he was working a job." I told my soulmate, picking up my pace whenever I saw some shady looking guys across the street looking at me.

"Working a job?! Jesus Christ, did he fucking bring you along on a boost? Huh?!"

"Shut up, Brock. I'm trying to find a bus stop." I snapped, feeling on edge since I was failing to find what I was looking for. A bus stop.

"Where the fuck are you? It's not safe to be wandering around a strange neighborhood after dark."

Worrying my lip, I mentally told him thru our mental soulmate bond, "Um…Flatbush."

"Flatbush?!" Brock roared in a shock. As I kept searching for a bus stop while walking as fast as I could, I heard his deep Brooklyn accent loudly pop into my head with, "What the fuck are you doing there? It's too far away from Bensonhusrt for you to be there wandering around after dark!"

"Shut up, Brock. I don't need you reprimanding me while I'm trying to find a bus stop."

It got quiet inside of my head for a few seconds before Brock's voice knowingly told me, "You need to catch the B6. It'll bring you right to 68th."

"Okay." I told him, grateful that he remembered bus routes even tho he hasn't been in Brooklyn for years.

"Are you near the public library? There's always a bust stop at libraries."

"I'm not at the library, but I can see it in the distance."

"Go there and catch the B6 home." He ordered me, his voice both gritty and full of concern.

"Okay."

"I can't believe you're wandering the streets alone. The dick boyfrie-" Brock began to rant only for me to cut him off him, "Shut up, Brock! I can't deal with your ranting right now. Just leave me alone so I can get home."

"Fine, I'll leave you alone, but as soon as you get home, I need to have a word with you."

I didn't reply to my soulmate, just rushed down the street towards the large cement library building that was illuminated by the yellow glow of street lights. When I saw the bus stop sign on the street light pole I felt a sense of relief wash over me. I'd be able to go home.

Brock was right, the B6 brought me right to the top of 68th Street. Thank god. After stepping off of the bus, I felt myself let out a tense breath I didn't even know I was holding. I guess I was more shaken up about being stranded in Flatbush by myself then I thought I was. I felt a sense of calm and familiarity as I walked down 68th street, heading towards the teal trimmed rowhome I'd been calling home for the last decade. I didn't feel jittery or terrified as I passed by people on the sidewalk. This was my neighborhood, my street, and my people. I felt confident and, in a sense, safe walking home by myself in Bensonhurst. I grew up here; knew my uncle pulled weight here too so I didn't have to worry about anything other a loudmouthed remark here or there. Bensonhurst, unlike Flatbush, was where I belonged after dark.

"Gem, bad night with Geno?" A classmate of mine that I vaguely recognized asked me from his spot perched on his porch steps, smoking a cigarette.

"No, it's a wonderful night." I sarcastically scoffed. "Of course, it's a bad night with Geno." I snapped, causing the guy (who's name I couldn't remember) to chuckle.

"He ain't your soulmate, so you should just wash your hands of him and worry about your actual soulmate." My classmate told me, letting out a large lungful of smoke after taking a quick, but deep drag off of his cigarette.

"Yea, I know. Thanks for the advice Captain Obvious." I half-sighed half-snapped before taking a few steps away from my classmate's rowhome.

"Anytime and the name's Terrance, boo." My classmate called out towards my back as I made my way down the street towards my own house.

Terrance. Why did that name sound so familiar? Oh, what, that kid's in my English class isn't he? Or maybe it's my Statistics class? Well, whoever he is, I know he's my classmate.

Spotting my house, I shook my head to clear my thoughts and sped up my pace. I didn't have time to worry about where I'd seen Terrance before. I had to pull a quick excuse out of my ass about why I was home early for my family, not to mention I have deal with my soulmate too since he was set on 'discussing' what went down in Flatbush tonight.

Quickly, I walked up the porch stairs and then over to the teal front door that had a witch's theme wreath on it. I didn't know who was going to be in the living room when I walked in, so I took a deep breath and steeled myself for questions before unlocking the door and stepping inside.

"Baby, what're you doing home? You're supposed to be seeing a movie with Geno." Aunt Connie's voice sounded out from the living room as she saw me in the entranceway.

"Geno's cheap ass didn't have enough money to cover your ticket, huh?" Uncle Rocco asked, his tongue clicking, while I walked into the living room.

"No, it's nothing like that. I just got a headache and decided to come home. I didn't want to ruin the movie for Geno since he really wanted to see it." I lied since I knew I couldn't tell my aunt and uncle that truth about why I was home. If they knew that truth I'd be grounded for life and Geno'd be dead. D-E-A-D for getting me wrapped up in a boosting gone bad (or almost bad?).

A commercial came onto the tv, interrupting the show my aunt and uncle were watching as I sood in the living room, watching for their response to my little white lie. Uncle Rocco shook his head, letting out a bitterly disgusted scoff of, "Of course, he stayed behind to watch a fucking movie instead of making sure you got home."

Narrowing my chocolate eyes, I snapped, "He stayed behind cause I left him there, Uncle Rocco. Don't act like he just ditched me or something."

"Rocco…" My Aunt Connie sighed in that tone she used when she was warning my uncle to either shut up o to drop something. Clearly, she wanted him to stop badgering me about Geno.

My uncle shook his head slightly at my aunt before telling me, "You're lucky Gramps and Nonna ain't here cause if they were, they'd be having a conniption fit over you coming home early while your boyfriend stayed behind at the theatre."

"Where are they? At the Knight Of Columbus playing bingo?" I curiously asked since, as fa as I knew, tonight wasn't bingo night.

"No, they're at Mount Sinai visiting Aunt Sophia." Uncle Rocco told me, causing me to just nod my head and let out a silent 'oh'. "She's got a bad case of pneumonia; might be on her deathbed according to her husband."

"Oh…I'm sorry to hear that." I really was too, even tho I haven't seen the woman in years. She was Nonna's sister, even if they were estranged. I wished her a speedy recovery.

"Don't worry too much about it. You haven't seen her since your mother died." Aunt Connie told me, exhaling a lungful of smoke as she tipped some cigarette ashes into the ashtray at was on the end table next to her as she lunged on the couch.

"Just go on upstairs and rest, Tesoro. We'll talk more about things when Gramps and Nonna get home." Uncle Rocco suggested, causing me to nod before walking over to the staircase.

I heard a promo for an upcoming football game come on the tv as I walked upstairs, my mind reeling with tonight's events.

After taking a shower and changing into some comfy pjs, I sat on my bed and turned on the small tv that was nestled on a stand in the corner. I was flipping thru the channels, looking for something to watch, whenever Brock's voice sounded out inside of my head with the simple, but concerned question of, "Did you make it home, Gem?"

"Yea, I made it home. Caught the B6 at the library just like you suggested." I answered Brock while settling on watching the episode of Criminal Minds that had just started.

"Been home long?"

"No, just got in a few minutes ago."

"We need to talk, baby." Brock told me in a tone that was both heavy and uneasy.

Grabbing one of my decorative pillow from the top corner of my bed and cuddling with it while watching tv, I bluntly told my soulmate, "I already talked to my Aunt and Uncle; they hate Geno so I don't need to hear your 'Geno's a piece of shit' talk from you too."

"I don't want to have a 'Geno's a piece of shit' talk with you, baby. What I want to do is have a serious talk with you about what happened tonight. I swear, Gem, I felt your fear and adrenaline when you were in Flatbush with him for his 'job'. I need to know what you were doing that had you frightened so bad that I thought I was going to have a panic attack from your fucking emotions." Brock told me in a string of long and rambling sentences that had his Bensonhurst accent thickening with every word as they appeared in my head via our soulmate telepathic bond.

I sighed while watching the BAU team question the local law enforcement that called them in to take over the gruesome crime. I didn't want to tell Brock the truth, but for some reason I felt that I needed to tell him. So, I went with my gut and told him the truth. "Me and Geno were supposed to go see the new SAW movie tonight, but his boss called him and told him that he had a car that he needed to boost. Instead of canceling the date, he took me along to act as a lookout."

"Jesus…you were being his lookout for a boost. Goddamnit…" Brock swore in a half-mutter; his tone harsh and strong. A tone that I've never heard in my head before, might I add. "You almost got caught." He stated, not asked, as his teeth gritted sharply.

"Yea." I nodded even tho he couldn't see me since we were communicating telepathically without soulmate bond.I picked at a stray string hanging off of my seafoam pillow while explaining, "A cop saw me and started to make his way over, but I ran away."

I could feel the anger rolling off of Brock like waves thru our bond. It was almost tangible, if that was possible. His anger subsided only a pinch as he ranted, "Goddamnit, do you know what would've happened to you if you'd gotten caught? Huh? You'd be standing in front of a judge with the option of serving time in Rikers or serving in the fucking Navy."

"What?" I asked, wide-eyed from hearing the last sentence in his rant. Serving in Rikers or in the Navy?...What the hell?...

"Gem, don't what me. I know what I'm talking about. Trust me, you get pinched at 18 and have a clean record the judge will give you the choice of joining the Navy instead of going to jail in order to 'reform' you before you get a chance to become a 'real' criminal."

"That's how you ended up in the Navy, isn't it?" I asked, needing to know if my conclusion was right or not.

"Yes, it is." He confirmed while I watched the BAU team hunt for a suspect on Criminal Minds. "And I don't want you to end up like me; having to go into the Navy to avoid jail time." Brock added, his word full of nothing, but honestly. He let out a mental sigh before telling me, "You need to breakup with Geno. He's going to get you in trouble if you don't and I can't handle having my soulmate be railroaded into the Navy. It happening to me, fine, but not with you. I need you safe and sound, not on a ship potentially sailing into conflict on the open seas."

"I know, Brock." I sighed while a commercial for the BK Whopper appeared on my tv.

"I mean it, Gem. Break up with him and focus all of the time and energy you'd spend on him on your studies. Take the SATS and apply for college; do something with your life that won't get you locked up or shipped off to bootcamp."

"The SATS are in December; even if I wanted to take them, I don't have enough time to prep. Plus my family doesn't have enough money to pay for college." I told Brock while a new commercial, one for Clorox bleach, flashed across my tv screen.

"Bishop Kearney still has SAT prep and tutoring, right? And there's scholarships and student aid to help you pay for college, Gem." Brock told me, causing me to mull over the aspect of going to college (something I never considered before). He must've known that I was thinking it over, since after a few silent moments his voice softly popped into my head with the encouraging words of, "Baby, you can go to college. It's not an impossible thing, you just have to do good in school; get good SAT scores."

"I guess I could apply at Hudson University. I could-" I started to tell Brock thru our soulmate bond only for him to roughly cut me off with, "You're not going to Hudson University. It's murder, rape, and kidnap central. The crime stats on that shithole's thru the fucking roof."

"Okay…" Wow, Hudson really has that much crime? I wonder why it's never on the news. "Then I'll look at some other colleges to apply to."

"You let me know what ones; we'll weed them out together."

"You'd do that with me?" I asked, taken aback that he wanted to help me go over college options.

While watching the crime show reappear on my tv, I heard Brock's warm, but deep timbre appear in head with, "Yea, why wouldn't I? You're my soulmate; I want you to go somewhere you'll be safe and receive a good education."

"I guess I should talk to my guidance counselor tomorrow, huh?"

"Yea, guess you should."

Suddenly a worrying thought popped into my head. What would my family say about me wanting to go to college; move away? Would they be upset? Before thinking better of it, I asked Brock thru our bond, "Do you think my family'll be supportive about me deciding to go to college?"

"Yea, baby, I think so." Brock told me while I watched Morgan (Shemar Moore *hot*) run after somebody lurking around a crime soulmate's tone was warm and deep, but full of positivity as he gave me his perceptive of, "I think they'll be happy that you want to do something good with your life; make something out of yourself."

"God, you're really insightful."

"Nah, I'm just old."

"Shut up, you're not old." I playfully snapped at him. It's true, he wasn't old. Now Hugh Heffner, he was old. Old and still partying with playboy bunnies and getting into the gossip magazines that my aunt bought at the local newspaper stand.

Brock didn't say a word, just chuckled. His chuckle, even tho I was hearing it thru our mental telepathic bond, was both coarse and warm. It was a sound that I liked; it made me smile.

"You just bailed on me, Gemmie-Bear. What the hell happened to you being my lookout while I did that job?" Geno snapped over the phone after answer my call. God, right now caller ID was a bitch. Since he knew it was me calling, he was more then ready to snap at me verses answer the phone with a normal greeting, like 'hi'.

"A cop saw me so I left." I honestly told Geno since there was no use in lying to him. He deserved to know why I left him hanging with that boost.

"Left? You just left me when you saw a cop lurking around instead of acting as my lookout and telling me that the fuzz was sniffing around? Damn, Gem, why'd you do that? Did you want me to get caught?"

"I got scared so I ran, Geno. That's why I left you." I answered his long and degrading question before going on to say, "But I didn't call you to talk about that. I actually called you to breakup with you."

"What the fuck? You're breaking up with me?" Geno asked, his voice hard and rough with disbelief.

"Yea. We're not soulmates and you're into some shit I can't get caught up in."

"Oh, I get it. I get it. Your soulmate has a hold over you. His ass is calling the shot, telling you what to do, from inside your head." Geno sneered, putting extra emphasis on the word soulmate. The way he said soulmate made the word sound like a curse or a disease.

"Brock's not calling the shots." I told Geno, earning me a loud scoff from him. I let out a sigh before explaining, "Yes, I talked to him about the job, but only cause he could feel that I was scared out of my mind and was worried about me. We talked about my future; I decided that instead of focusing on you I'm going to focus on school and getting into college instead."

Geno's reaction to me wanting to go to college was bad. Very bad. His screams of, "College? College! Since when do you want to go to college? Huh, since you got your soulmate bond with Brock?", were so loud that I had to pull my phone away from my ear to keep from going deaf. He just went on and on, screaming and yelling mean things about me, Brock, and my newfound college aspirations.

"Bye, Geno. We're done." I told Geno, who was still yelling at me from over the phone, and hung up on him.

!

Instead of getting a ride to school from Geno, I decided to take the bus this morning. I didn't want to see Geno, especially since I broke up with him last night. The bus ride to school wasn't that bad. There were a few other kids dressed in Bishop Kearney uniforms using public transportation to go to school, so I wasn't the only one.

When the bus stopped at the corner of the school, I got off along with the other students riding it. We all made our way down the corner and up to the school entrance. I managed to avoid Geno this morning, which was good since I didn't want to deal with him. I mean after he reacted to our breakup, well, I don't think I ever want to deal with him ever again.

Usually I went straight to my locker after arriving at school, but today I walked down the hallway towards the administration offices instead to talk to my counselor, Mr. Vitali, about my college prospects. The secretary didn't say a word when she saw me head over to Mr. Vitali's office. She just sipped on her coffee while watching me knock on his door.

"Come in." The counselor cheerfully called out. Hmm, he must be on his third coffee or something cause he was too perky this early in the morning.

Opening the door and stepping into the office, I told my counselor, "Mr. Vitali, I was wondering if I could talk to you about college."

"Of course, Miss Rizzo-Schulze." Mr. Vitali nodded, sipping on his coffee. I was right, he was loaded up with caffeine this morning. "Please, have a seat." He gestured to the open seat on the other side of his desk. "I'm surprised that you've taken an interest in college since you've never seemed to before even tho you're a great student and a very smart girl." He told me while I sat down and placed my books and bag onto my lap.

"Yea, well, turns out I'm interested in college now." I told my counselor, causing him to give me a slow nod.

"Well, your grades are good, but you'll need to seriously think about taking your SATs next month if you want to get your applications done by the early deadline of December 31st." Mr. Vitali informed me while sipping on his coffee.

"But that means I only have maybe a month to get all of that done."

Placing his coffee cup on the edge of his desk, he explained in a very knowledgeable way, "The applications are done online now and I can send your transcripts electronically too once you email me a list of the places you applied to." He eyes the steam rising off of his coffee while telling me, "You can even start applying to colleges right away and after you take your SATs the colleges will be able to access the scores from a virtual database."

"Oh, I didn't know that. I thought that you had to do send everything thru the mail."

"Well, you can do it like that, but doing things virtually is easier. Technology's coming a long way in educations these days."

"Um, my soulmate told me that I need to look into scholarship programs. How do I do that?" I revealed, causing the middle-aged man who had been my counselor since freshman year to just nod knowingly. I guess he figured I'd be asking about scholarships.

"I have a booklet with a list of scholarship opportunities." Mr. Vitali told me while opening up his desk drawer. Pulling out a booklet and handing it over to me, he said, "You take it and see what you want to apply for." As I reached for the offered scholarship booklet, my counselor told me, "Many of them have stipulations, but there is one that's being funded by the Knights Of Columbus and with your family, well, I'm sure you'll be a candidate for that one."

"Okay, thank you." I lightly smiled, placing the booklet on top of the math book and folders I had on my lap.

"I also have some college pamphlets you can take. They're for various schools, both in and out of state." He told me, opening up another drawer and grabbing a large stack of pamphlets. As he held them out to me I noticed that the large stack had a rubber band holding them together. Hmm, he must give all of his students interested in college these.

Taking he offered pamphlets, I smiled, "Thank you, Mr. Vitali. I'll look at these tonight."

"You're welcome, Miss Rizzo-Schulze. Now, if you don't need anything else I'd suggest you get ready for class." My counselor told me, picking up his coffee from his desk and taking a sip of it.

I didn't say a word, just nodded my head before stuffing my college material into my bag and standing up from my chair. Quickly, I exited the office and left the admiration building. I was making my way down the hall, passing by my peers, whenever I spotted Geno. He was standing at the bottom of the staircase that I needed to use in order to reach the second-floor hallway that my looker was located in. Geno looked pissed as I got closer to him. His dark brown eyes were narrowed in tiny slits while his nose was crunched up in a mix of anger and disgust. "You rode the bus this morning." Geno stated, not asked, in a hurt tone as came face to face with him.

"Yea, I did." I confirmed with a nod, walking right by him and up the stairs.

"Why?" He asked, following me upstairs with heavy stomps.

"We broke up." I simply supplied.

"So, we broke up. That doesn't mean you have to cut me out of your life." Geno snarled from right behind me as I set foot onto the second story of our school's building.

"Look, Geno, we broke up cause you almost got me in trouble taking me on the boost last night. I decided that focusing on school and getting into college is a better use of my time then hanging around with you." I honestly told him while making my way over to my locker.

Other students went about their business, grabbing things from their lockers and talking in their little social circles while Geno stormed after me. Geno's voice was a low, biting snap of, "No, we broke up cause of that soulmate of yours down in DC." I stopped in front of my locker and started to put my combo into my padlock only for Geno to learn against my locker and sneer out hatefully, "He's some big shot that wants you to become some big shit too even tho you're from a Bensonhurst mob family."

"Brock's not a big shot. He's been thru some shit and just wants to make sure that I don't have repeat his mistakes." I told my ex, opening up my locker and putting the books I was holding into it.

"Bullshit, Gem. He's just some asshole that got out of the neighborhood and thinks he's too good for it anymore; wants you to be just like that too even tho only god fucking knows when you'll meet." Geno spat while I grabbed the books and folders, I needed for my first few classes.

Shutting my locker, I told my ex, "Geno, don't be mad at Brock or talk shit about him. Us breaking up would've happened sooner or later. You're not my soulmate."

"I don't care that I'm not your soulmate, I know you better then that old bastard you got saddled with." Geno snarled, causing people to slow down and take notice of our bickering.

"Apparently, you don't know me as well as you think you do. Now, just go find your soulmate, Terry, wasn't it, and leave me alone." I told him before brushing by him.

Before I could register what was going on, Geno slammed me hard against the lockers and hatefully hissed into my ear, "Bitch, I ain't going to Terry just you want your Brock now all of a sudden."

"Get off of me, Geno. You're hurting me." I told him, smacking his shoulder and trying to push him off of me.

"Oh, I'm hurting you?" Geno cruelly asked, pushing his weight on me and causing my right shoulder to dig painfully into the locker it was pressed against. "You're hurting me by throwing away the last couple of years for some older fucker that you've only hear inside of your head. I think my hurt outranks yours, Gemma." He barked while I smacked him and attempted to push him off of me even tho it was in vain since he overpowered me in both height and weight. "I'll give you some time to think about what you've done, Gemmie-Bear." Geno told me in a condescending tone, giving me one last shove against the locker (making water spring up in my eyes) before pulling his hands off of me and storming down the hallway.

My right shoulder was burning and hurt really bad. It felt tense and throbbed worse than a tooth ache. God, I've been hit before in my shoulder while sparring at the gym and it never hurt this bad. This pain made my chest tighten up and a sick feeling appear in the pit of my stomach. Something was wrong; I needed to go see the nurse.

"Who hurt you?" Brock asked as I made my way downstairs with the intention of popping into the nurse's office before the bell rang (which would be in a couple of minutes). "And don't you dare lie to me and say 'nobody' cause my shoulder feels like it's been jammed, baby."

"Geno. I broke up with him last night; he confronted me about it and shoved me into a locker when I walked away from him."

"That dick's gonna wish he never laid hands on you." Brock swore in a level tone before our bond fizzled out and I heard nothing, but my own thoughts inside of my head. Thoughts that I needed to express to him or else I'd go crazy with questions rolling around in my mind.

Brock POV:

I was sitting at my desk, going over some mission reports that Pierce wanted done (so that he could present them to his HYDRA club and seem like he was doing so much to take over SHIELD by hi-jacking the missions, etc) whenever my right shoulder started to burn and throb as if it was jammed. I knew that somebody had hurt Gem cause I wasn't hit in the shoulder lately (or at least not hard enough to jam it). When I asked her, thru the bond, who hurt her she told me that it was Geno. That fucking dick. Who did he think he was laying hands on my soulmate? Huh? I saw red and told Gem, "That dick's gonna wish he never laid hands on you." before closing off the bond and grabbing my cell phone from off my desk.

I was dialing an old, but very familiar number whenever Gem's voice popped into my head with a flood of questions. "What do you mean by 'that dick's gonna wish he never laid hands on me', Brock? Are you gonna do something? Brock, what're you gonna do?"

"Get yourself checked out; then head to class, baby. I know a guy that can make sure Geno doesn't disrespect you again."

"Brock-" She began to say only for me to mentally cut her off with, "Gem, baby, let me handle the dick. Just get some ice from your shoulder from the nurse; have her make sure it's just jammed and not popped outta place or something. Okay?"

"Okay…" Gem relented with a sigh before closing off our bond. Good, she's on her way to get checked out. Goddamnit, I hope it's nothing more then a bad bruise. I swear, if her shoulder's torn or dislocated then Geno's a dead man walking.

I pressed the green button on my phone and brought it up to my ear. After a few rings, a rough smoker's voice answered with a simple, "Harvartti."

"Hey, Lucca, it's Brock. I need to call in a favor." I told the man on the other end of the phone.

"Brock, buddy, it's been a while. What's this favor you're calling in?"

"This dick that boosts cars for Salieri's crew, Geno, well he laid hands on my soulmate. Jammed up her shoulder; I want you to snap his arm like a fucking chicken wring and wring his goddamn neck."

"Well, since you got me out of a tight spot when we were kids, I'll do it, but only cause the dickhead hurt your soulmate. Somebody I never thought you'd have."

"Yea, well, turns out she's 15-years younger than me." I told my childhood friend while leaning back in my leather office chair.

"Salieri's person mechanic, Rocco, has a niece that just turned 18. She's your girl, huh?" Lucca asked in a smartass tone. Fucker, he still has that smart mouth after all these years.

"Just take care of that dick Geno for me. I'd do it myself if I didn't have world saving work to do."

"Yea, you're soulmate's the mechanic's stubborn and tough as nails niece. Your reaction's all the confirmation I need, old buddy."

"Call me when it's done, Lucca." I ordered my friend, who was also an enforcer, before pressing the red end call button and tossing my phone onto my desk.

Nobody hurts my soulmate and gets away with it. I waited too long for a soulmate, even gave up hope of ever having one, so whoever hurts a hair on Gem's head is a fucking dead man.

AN:

Uh oh, Brock sent somebody to go after Geno and beat him up. How do you think Gem's going to react when she finds out? So, after talking with Brock, Gem's going to apply for colleges. She's going to go to Culver, but she'll also consider and apply to a few schools before deciding on Culver University.

Also, I'm working on *another* Brock/Gem story. It's a loyal HYDRA AU. Yeah, I don't need to start another story, but the muses are really on fire with Brock Rumlow stories right now. ;)