*Author's Note*

Thank you for the faves, follows, and reviews.

Here it is, a new chapter is finally up. YAY! Sorry I've been busy, but I haven't forgotten about this story or my other ones. Have fun reading. Oh, and it's a long chapter too.

Relief & Anger

Brock POV:

As I sat on the couch, watching tv and waiting for Pops to come home, my mind wandered off to a memory of being stuck in traffic with Pops as a kid.

*Summer 0f '84*

Hall and Oates played on the radio as Pops slammed hard on the horn of his dark green Gran Torino. "Fucking bullshit! Move your damn piece of shit or go back to Jersey!" He yelled at the car that was in front of us.

"Pops, we're in traffic. I don't think he can move." I gestured around with my hand. We were surrounded by cars all packed tightly on the highway heading towards Coney Island.

"No shit we're in traffic, Brock." Pops dryly spat at me. Shaking his head, he dryly sighed, "You would want to go to the beach for your birthday."

"What? You asked what I wanted to do and I said go to Coney Island."

"Saturday's the worst goddamned day to drive around in this city. Hell, and going to the damn beach is just asking to get caught in a traffic jam."

"We could've taken the subway, Pops." I told him as he swerved out of our lane and into another one; nearly clipping a car in the process.

"I'm not paying for the fucking subway when I own a car, you jackass." Pops snarled incrediously as a car honked at us.

I rolled my eyes as Pops rolled his eyes and honked back, all the while sticking his head out of his window and barking, "I'm trying to get my shithead son to the beach for his birthday, so shut the fuck up and deal with it, stunad!"

"We should've just trained at the gym…" I muttered under my breath in a long sigh.

"You know, if you would've gotten up when I told you to then we wouldn't be in this fucking mess. Damn, I hate traffic; stuck in it cause you just had to sleep in."

"But its summer, Pops."

"Don't 'but it's summer, Pops' me, Brock. If you'd listen, we'd be at Coney Island right now instead of stuck in fucking Saturday beach traffic on the hottest day in June." Pops ranted as he once again swerved into another lane to try and inch up in the traffic jam. He was pissing off the other drivers too.

"Next year I'll take the subway to Coney Island and you can train your fighters." I sneered, feeling like crap since Pops was bitching about the traffic and having to drive me to the beach. Screw it, I'll find my own way next year.

"That ain't happening." He snapped, whipping his head 'rond to look at me. "You ma'd haunt me from the grave if I didn't spend your birthday with you."

"Doubt she'd do that. She was a crackhead; didn't give a shit bout me." I bluntly told Pops. It was the truth; he always said to tell it how it is, so I was doing just that.

"Don't talk 'bout her like that." Pops ordered in a snap while honking his horn like crazy at the car in front of us. Looking between me and the crowded road, he said, "She had problems, but she loved you."

"Whatever, Pops." I didn't believe him. She didn't love me. If she did she wouldn't have been a crackhead; she'd be able to take care of me instead of dying and leaving me stuck with Pops. Pops who loves his gym and fighters more then me. At least we bond over fighting, but sometimes I wish I had a dad that'd teach me how to ride a bike or toss a football around. But I got Pops, who taught me how to kick someone's ass a thousand ways before I was in third grade.

"It's been 5-fucking-years since she passed, Brock. You need to let the bitterness go." Pops firmly told me. "If not it'll hinder ya when you're matched with your soulmate."

"No, it won't cause I bet my soulmate'll be as fucked up as me."

Pops smacked me upside the head while roaring, "Don't ever fucking say that no more. You're a damn kid; can't be talking like that."

"Sorry, Pops." I apologized as Pops grumbled under his breath and served into an open space in the next lane over.

*End Of Flaskback*

I chuckled as the memory faded. I guess I was right about my soulmate being a fucked up as me. I lost my mom and so did she, but her deadbeat dad just abandoned her with the Rizzos. At least Pops manned up and took care of me the best he could. Hmm, wonder if Grant'll ever try to contact or see Gem again like he did during her high school graduation or if he'll just forget about her. I know that if he ever sniffs around when I'm around, well, I'll break his goddamn neck.

Gem POV:

"Thanks for the ride, Pops." I told Arlo, opening up the car door and stepping out into the semi-crowded parking lot of my dorm building. Students were hustling and bustling as they returned to school. A few of them turned their heads to check out Pops' classic muscle car. One even let out a low whistle, to which Pops glared at.

Pops' glare quickly faded as he looked at me. "It was nothing, Gem." He waved me off as I grabbed my duffel from the back seat. "Your family; just keep on my son's ass so he actually does right by you."

"Don't worry, I'll stay on his ass." I assured the old trainer before saying goodbye and shutting the car door. I wasn't even up on the sidewalk whenever he was peeling out of the parking lot and taking off like a speed demon.

"Damn, your soulmate's dad has a really cool car." Some guy, who was walking by (and must've overhead me and Pops) told me.

"Yea, he does." I nodded, only to walk off towards the sidewalk.

"Name's Shaw." The guy with light brown hair introduced himself; walking in step with me.

"I'm Gem." I politely replied, even tho I just wanted to get to my dorm room and hang out with Darcy.

"You're the one that's always around Darcy, right?" Shaw asked, his voice lighting up during his aha moment.

"Yea…" I uneasily trailed off while giving this guy a slight side-eye.

His thumb ran over the strap of his duffel, that was slung over his shoulder, as he explained how he knew Darcy. "I have art history with Darcy. She likes to rant about you and Blane, especially since your soulmate's some guy named Brock, during study groups."

"Of course, she would." I huffed, shaking my head incredulously. I was fighting back an eyeroll too.

"Hey, I gotta head this way, but tell Darcy I said hi." Shaw told me, tilting his head towards the dorm building across from mine, before walking off.

I just shook my head and continued on my way to my dorm building. The same building that I've lived in with Darcy for a couple of years now. I fell into line with some students that were entering my building and then I followed them upstairs. When I reached the third floor, I rushed down the hall until I reached my room.

"Look what the cat dragged in. My sister, you're home sweet home." Darcy drawled out teasingly as I walked thru the door.

I closed the door and walked across the room, all the while dryly asking, "Yea, and you wanna tell me why you're talking about me, Blane, and Brock to some guy named Shaw from your art history class?" My Brooklyn accent was heavily sticking to my words due to my aggravated state.

"Oh, you met Shaw?" Darcy asked, causing me to shot her a dirty look as I placed my handbag onto my desk. "Yea, I told cause I got tired of hearing him complain all the time we're hanging out in our art history group." Darcy told me as dropped my duffel on the floor and plopped down on my bed. Darcy's face light up and her blue eyes twinkled mischievously, a tell that she was going to unload some major long-winded gossip on me, as she stuck her hand into the large bag of Cheetos that was balanced on her lap. She popped a Cheeto into her mouth before telling me, "All the dude does is grumble about being soulless and how he's in love with his girlfriend from back home, who's still in high school and is total jail bait since he's 20 like us and she's like-what-16?" She stuck her hand into her bag and pulled out another cheese. "And how his dad doesn't approve." She crunched on her Cheeto. "How his dad and mom had a big custody battle over him when he was like 12 cause his step-dad's a horrible drunk." She polished off the bag of Cheetos while talking a mile a minute, "Oh, and how his dad wanted him to go off to a big school on a football scholarship, but he chose Culver to piss him off cause it's near Norfolk and his dad's former Navy; doesn't want Shaw to enlist even though he's in ROTC." She waved her Cheetos bag in the air while ending her long-winded gossip rant with, "Yada-yada-yada."

"Wow, that was a lot of shit I really didn't need to know." I huffed out.

"Duh. How you think I feel my dudette?" She rhetorically asked me. "But I feel for him." Of course, she did. Darce had a big heart; wanted to befriend everyone she met. "You think we should invite him to hang out with us and Froggy sometime?"

"Sure. We can all go down to the boxing gym in Norfolk my soulmate frequents and get memberships to stalk him with." I sarcastically remarked while kicking off my shoes; sending them flying across the room and laying down on my bed.

"Oh, who you wanna drive? Foggy or Shaw? Oh and when you wanna go?"

"I was being sarcastic, Darce."

"Well I wasn't, Gem." She told me before getting up and grabbing her phone off her desk. "I'll ask Shaw and Foggy if they're down for checking out that boxing gym with us Saturday."

"Darcy…no…" I sighed out in a pleading half-whine, only for my best friend to cackle manically while texting away on her phone.

I'd been avoiding Blane's calls ever since I got back from Brooklyn. I knew that I needed to talk to him; break up with him, but I just didn't want to deal with him. Yea, I know, that's bad, but…yea, I just wanted to enjoy the next few weeks before my finals and Christmas break in peace. I also wanted to enjoy the next few weeks my focusing on Brock and our soulmate bond too.

Unfortunately, the universe decided to fuck with me by having me walk into an aisle on the second floor on the library that Blane was in. Was in with his tongue down some leggy blonde's throat too, might I add. Looks like I'm not going to be checking out that book I wanted today after all. "Well, looks like I was right to ignore your calls, Blane." I told my boyfriend (now ex-boyfriend), causing him to separate from the blonde faster than a pair of fighting cats that got sprayed with a water bottle.

"Love, it's not what it looked like. She came onto me." Blane quickly lied, his bottom lip quivering with fake innocence, as he pointed to the leggy blonde.

"You liar!" The leggy blonde shouted at Blane before storming out of the aisle of bookshelves.

"I don't care what it looks like, Blane. Save your excuses, I've decided to make things work with my soulmate anyways."

"Your old crazy soulmate? You're leaving me for him?" Blane asked, his blue eyes wide with shock, as he stared at me.

"Yea, I am." I confirmed, causing Blane's jaw to tighten.

"Why? You were fine with me a month ago, but ever since Thanksgiving you decided to turn your back on what we've got going to be with him. Why'd you giving up on me for?"

"He's my soulmate, Blane. It's always going to be him over any other guy, including you." I bluntly told my latest ex before turning my back on him and storming off.

I imagine that he's standing in the aisle of bookshelves, gaping like a fish in disbelief over what I did.

Suddenly, the sound of heavy steps bounding behind me echoed out in the air as I walked down the stairs to the ground level of the library and I knew, I just knew, that Blane was chasing after me for one more chance. Of course, he was. Geno did the same thing too, trying to get me to reconsider the breakup.

"Gem, love, wait up!" Blane panted in a shout as he ran downstairs after me; causing a scene since everyone within sight range was staring at us. Hell, even the librarian was giving us a dirty look.

I cringed and picked up my pace. God, he would be making a scene right now.

"Gem…" Blane hissed in a whisper-shout as he appeared behind me.

"Blane, nothing you say'll change my mind. I'm moving on with my soulmate." I told Blane as I made my way over to the door.

"What can he do for you? Blane asked as I walked out of the library. He followed right behind me, all the while saying the harsh words of, "He's just some old crazy guy from Brooklyn, Gem. But me, well, I'm from a wealthy New England family and I'm going to be successful in politics. You need to rethink what you're giving up and what you're getting."

I stopped in my tracks and spun around, only to glare at Blane, who was just standing with a smug look on his face. A look that I wanted to slap off. "Don't say that shit to me and expect me to change my mind." Shaking my head, I dryly chuckled, "And to think that I was blinded by your charms last week." Cutting my brown eyes at Blane, I coldly told him, "I know exactly what I'm getting with my soulmate and after what I saw in the library, well now I know what I'm dodging too."

I spun on my heel and walked off, only for Blane to shout, "Fine, go run to your soulmate! Mark my words, you'll be running back and begging me for another chance when you realize how miserable things with some Brooklyn hood is!"

"What's going on, baby? I'm getting some mixed feelings of relief and anger over here." Brock's voice popped into my head via our soulmate bond as I continued to walk away from the library and Blane.

"I caught Blane making out with some blonde in the library and I broke up with him." I honestly answered thru the bond.

"I hope you dumped him cause I'm your soulmate; not just cause you caught him cheating."

"Don't worry, I told him it was over cause I'm working things out with you. The cheating was just an excuse to dump him since I've been avoiding him and ignoring his calls since I got back to Culver."

"Oh…" Brock trailed off. "So, you warming up to Darcy's weird art friend yet?" He asked as a way to change the subject.

"No, but we're all going out to dinner tonight. We're hanging out this weekend too." I answered while walking on the walkway that led to the building my next class was in. A class that had a good 15-or-so minutes before it started. It was also a class that I shared with Darcy.

"What'cha doing this weekend?" Brock asked, causing my heart to skip a beat.

I couldn't tell him that Darcy was dragging us all to that boxing gym in Norfolk, so I lied and made something up right on the spot. "Hanging out at one of the dorms. Might hang out in the arcade at the pizza place if not the dorms."

"Ah, typical college kid shit." Brock mused, buying the lie that I pulled out of my ass.

"You look chipper. Did you get Voldemort to hex Blane or something?" Darcy cheerfully asked me as I took a seat next to her at the long table in the lecture hall of our German Politics class.

"No." I shook my head. Opening up my notebook and grabbing a pen from my purse, I explained my chipper mood with, "I just caught Blane making out with some leggy blonde in the library and broke up with him without feeling guilty about doing it during the holidays."

"Oh, so Voldemort did hex Blane then." Darcy cackled wryly. Calming down slightly, she scoffed, "Of course he's a man whore that's the owner of a wandering wang. He seemed like that d-baggie type."

"You should know all about d-baggie types, you're making us be friends with Shaw after all." I dryly told her as a few more classmates filed into the lecture hall.

"He's not a d-baggie, he's a total shady asshole, but one that you'd want on your side." Darcy said matter-of-factly as we waited for our professor to walk in and take up the podium on the lecture floor. "That's what Billy told me when I told him about Shaw."

"Oh god…he would say that." I shook my head right as the door opened and in walked Professor Bher.

"Do you think Professor Behr could be related to Behr from Little Women. That maybe the character names where more real than the author let on?" Darcy wondered as our professor, a middle-aged man with thick glasses in a sweater vest and tie, walked over to his lecture podium. Darcy blinked and her shoulders slumped as she croaked out, "I wish my mom was still alive. She'd know, she was a 19th Century Lit professor after all."

"Darcy…" I sighed sympathetically, patting her hand in a supportive gesture. Even tho it's been a year, her mom's death still stung.

My best friend took a deep breath before telling me in a slightly shaky tone, "Let's listen to Professor Not Freddy Behr and take our notes. We can't flunk out of this class, it's too interesting."

"Okay, let's get thru this class so we can get some coffee. Lord knows I'll need a caffeine fix to deal with Shaw at dinner."

"Be nice. You know Shady Shaw's our friend now; Foggy'll keep him in line too if that's what you're worried about."

"Jst cause Foggy's our designated driver doesn't mean he'll keep Shaw in line."

"Hush and take notes. We have to passy-passy not faily-faily this class.", Darcy shushed me while scribbling down whatever our professor was droning on about.

I just shook my head and followed suit in taking notes about today's lecture subject. A subject which was very controversial. Johan Schmitt's desire to usurp the Fuhrer in 1940's Germany.

AN:

Hope you guys liked this chapter. What do you think about Shaw being a friend for Darcy, Gem, and Foggy? So, Gem FINALLY broke up with Blane. Yea, that was overdue to happen. From now on Gem is going to focus on Brock, but you know things won't be that easy for them.