"Let's all just take a seat, okay?! Nobody's going anywhere!"" Zach shouted, still waving the gun around.
Cole just silently gazed at the man with a look that could kill, while Starr was practically hyperventilating, clutching Schuyler's shoulder so roughly she couldn't believe she wasn't drawing blood, as Schuyler himself calmly held up his hands, trying to placate Zach.
"Okay, calm down, everything's fine," he began, in the same soothing tone he used with the out of control addicts at the center. "Look, there's no reason to keep us here, we have nothing against you."
"Oh, really? You were just threatening me over your little girlfriend here, he's shouting about how I raped his mom, and I'm supposed to believe none of you have a problem with me?"
"Look, the thing with Marty was a really long time ago," Starr spoke up softly from behind her boyfriend. Cole threw her an agitated glance, forcing himself to bite his tongue. He knew what Starr was doing was smart, but it was his gut, visceral reaction to flip out over his mother. "It doesn't matter anymore, and what happened just now was nothing. Everything's cool now."
"Oh, please," Zach snorted dismissively. "The second you drive away you call the cops, I'm not stupid. You three, get the hell in the living room, now."
Starr instantly nudged both boys forward, quickly deciding it was best not to test Zach right now. In the living room, Zach gave Cole a hard push into the arm chair, and motioned for her and Schuyler to take a seat on the couch, which they quickly did. Starr struggled to breathe, panic setting in greater than ever, and Schuyler soothingly stroked her hair.
"Hey, you two, phones," Zach snapped, holding out his hand to them.
They both handed over their cells. Starr realized a moment later he hadn't asked for Cole's, and was unsure if he had already taken it before she came along or if he'd just forgotten. She glanced over at Cole, widening her eyes and nodding slightly to the phones, and Cole gave a short nod back in understanding.
"Huh, guess if anyone really wanted to see what's going on with you two, all they'd need to do is check your phones," Zach noted as he scrolled through both of their call logs, appearing amused by how often each other's names came up. "I'm surprised you lovebirds are so quiet right now; judging from this, looks like you hardly ever shut up. Sucks for you, kid, huh?" Zach asked Cole, chuckling. "Gotta sting when you're still in love with your ex and she moves on to the teacher."
"Don't try to sympathize with me," Cole snapped.
"Suit yourself," Zach muttered, shrugging, tossing the phones on the table and sitting down on it himself, before turning to Schuyler with a smirk. "So, when I heard Starr's little brother's hilarious message, I never thought I'd actually get to meet the teacher Starr's been 'messing around' with. You like swimming in the kiddie pool, Schuyler?" he sneered. "You know, I'm pretty sure there are laws about this kind of thing; I don't know why everyone here is judging me, I don' see what I've done that's so much worse than screwing around with a student."
Schuyler's eyes just bore into him, gripping the arm of the couch as he refused to say a word, and Zach turned to Starr, determined to get a reaction from someone.
"So, you like older guys, Starr? What is it, daddy issues? You like being protected by a big strong man?"
"Don't talk to her," Schuyler hissed, drawing his arm around Starr's shoulders protectively and pulling her tighter to him. Starr wrapped her own arms around his waist, clinging to him. Zach emitted that creepy laugh again.
"Looks like that's it. You know, I'm an older guy, Starr, I don't know why you seem so opposed to-"
"What the hell did I just say, you so-"
"What do you even want?" Starr interrupted Schuyler's tirade quickly, before he could upset Zach, gripping the back of his shirt firmly just for safe measure since he looked ready to punch Zach at any moment.
"What do I want?" he demanded darkly. "How about everything your entitled ass of a father got that I didn't?"
"Okay, okay, um…we can help you!" Starr tried desperately. "We can go ask my dad for help!"
"Nope; see, I already tried that, and your dad told me to go to Hell, so now we have to do this the hard way."
If it was even possible, Schuyler was pretty sure he hated Todd Manning more than ever before. He knew Zach was here, and he hadn't told anyone? It somehow hadn't occurred to him that Zach might turn to his family for revenge? And now Starr was in this situation because of that bastard…and himself. God, what would have happened if Langston hadn't called him? Schuyler felt a rush of dread at the thought and forced it away, knowing he was going to snap and lunge at Zach at any moment if he kept thinking like that.
"But we can try again, please!" Starr begged.
"No!" Zach shouted, rising to his feet. Starr shrank back nervously, and Schuyler just continued stroking her hair, lightly resting his chin on top of her head so she was completely wrapped in his embrace. "I'm done asking for anything. Hey, Schuyler, you're a teacher, you're a smart guy, maybe you can explain this to me- how come he got a pardon and I got to rot in prison? How come he gets rich, gets a family, and I get nothing? I don't have money, or a big house in the woods- or a beautiful daughter," he added, leering at Starr. Schuyler bit his tongue, his blood boiling.
Starr glanced over to Cole, and quickly held back a gasp as she noticed him holding his arm behind his back in a strange way- he had to be calling someone. Starr quickly returned her attention to Zach, trying to think of some way to keep his off of Cole.
"And what do you want now?" she asked him bravely.
"All of it," Zach replied calmly.
"Look, if you want money, Starr can get it," Schuyler began, attempting to appease him. "You seem to realize Starr is the most important thing to Todd, so you know he would give her anything, all she has to do is ask."
"Yeah," Starr backed him up quickly. "Just give me a number, and I promise it'll be yours."
"Look, I'm not interested in begging for a handout from your dad anymore, it's too late for that."
"Alright, Rosen, we get it," Cole snapped. Starr frantically shot him a nervous glance- she hoped he knew what he was doing. "You hate Todd. But there's no point in keeping me and Starr hostage, and Schuyler's not even involved in this. Have you really thought this through? I mean, what happens when Todd comes home?"
Zach rolled his eyes, beginning to pace behind the seating area.
"Do you honestly think I- hey!" Zach suddenly shouted furiously, spotting the phone in Cole's hand from his new viewpoint. He roughly tore it from his hands, stalking across the room. "Dumb fucking mistake, kid!"
"Oh my God," Starr whimpered, burying her head in her hands, horrified by this turn of events.
"It's okay, Starr, it's fine," Schuyler murmured in her ear reassuringly as he kept a careful eye on Zach. "I'm not going to let him hurt you, I promise." Starr took a deep breath and nodded, holding one of his hands in hers tightly; she believed that.
"Listen up," Zach barked into the phone. "I don't know who the hell you are or why Mr. Thornhart here called you, but he just screwed up big time. You tell the cops anything, and all three of them are dead before they can storm the front door, got it? Dead!"
Zach disconnected, pocketing the phone as he paced around with angry energy, and abruptly flung one of Todd's expensive looking vases at the wall to release it, shattering the glass to pieces; Starr reflexively shrieked, jumping, and buried her head against Schuyler's shoulder.
"As I was saying before Cole here so rudely interrupted, I'm not nearly as interested in the money anymore as I am in having Marty's son and Todd's daughter," he mused, looking them both over. "Two birds, one stone. The perv is just a bonus- hell, who knows, Todd might actually have a change of heart and help me out if I do him a favor by killing you."
"Oh, God!" Starr choked out in a panic, digging her fingers into Schuyler's shirt as tears of panic blurred her vision. "Zach, please, don't!"
"Starr, shh, it's okay," Schuyler whispered, not wanting Zach's attention on her anymore than it already was. He gently cupped her cheek and brushed at her tears, quickly pressing a reassuring kiss to her hair as he cradled her to his chest, and Starr cuddled into his secure embrace, though she was unable to help resenting slightly how concerned Schuyler seemed for her, at the expense of his own safety.
"Oh, calm down, twinkle, I haven't decided what for sure what I'm doing yet. I could always be persuaded," he told her with a wink.
"Zach, you have to look at this logically," Schuyler interjected, digging his nails into his palms to keep from saying what he really wanted to this bastard. If he leered at Starr one more time, he was seriously going to lose it. "You haven't done anything they can nail you for yet, you're not in any trouble. But people know we're here now, and they know you're holding us hostage, so if you-"
"The only one who knows anything is Cole's little friend on the phone!" Zach shouted, growing unhinged as he wildly waved the gun around. "And I already told him, he calls the cops, and you all die! I have everything under control, okay?!"
"Okay, okay," Schuyler replied simply, in that same calming tone.
Zach began to pace some more, muttering quietly to himself, and Starr released a shuddering breath, raising her head from Schuyler's chest to glance at Cole so she could make sure he was doing okay. To her surprise, he had a look of shame on his face, and quickly avoided her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Starr," he said quietly. She realized a moment later he meant for getting caught with the phone, and quickly shook her head, forcing a smile onto her features; it was so difficult to do at this moment that it almost hurt.
"Not your fault, Cole," she whispered back simply. "That was really brave of you, okay? And you did let someone know, that's all that really-"
"What the hell are you yammering about?" Zach demanded, whipping around.
"Nothing!" Starr squeaked quickly.
"Good, keep it that way." He wandered off into the living room, peering anxiously out a window.
"Someone there?" Schuyler asked evenly.
"No, but I'm sure there's going to be soon enough, thanks to Cole here," he spat, shaking his head. "I am not going back."
"You don't have to! You can just sneak out the back door and get away before anyone shows up!" Starr suggested hopefully. Zach snorted.
"What, are you stupid? I'm not leaving until I get what I came here for!"
"And what's that? Because you don't seem too clear on that to me, Zach," Schuyler interjected. Zach smiled calmly now.
"Oh, I know what I came here for. Payback."
"What kind of payback do you want?" Starr blurted out, regretting it when he threw her another one of those creepy looks in response, slowly walking back over to them.
"You afraid of me, twinkle?"
"Don't call her that," Schuyler snapped darkly.
"Oh, I think she likes it. Right, twinkle? Hey, just because he's your teacher doesn't mean he gets to control you, don't let him speak for you- you're a mature woman now, remember?" Starr just looked away from him in disgust, trying to focus on the feel of Schuyler's arms around her instead of the weight of Zach's stare. "I was in college- premed, you know that? I was going to be somebody. But then I let your miserable bastard of a father talk me into something stupid- ruined all that for me."
"Something stupid?!" Starr exploded in disbelief, anger overriding her fear before she even realized what she was doing. "Try something evil! I'm so sick of hearing about your life being ruined- what about Cole's mom?! What you did was disgusting, and you deserve what you got!"
"She's right!" Schuyler instantly jumped in as the other man glowered- if Zach was going to get pissed at anyone, it needed to be him. "Going back to jail is the least of what you deserve; Todd didn't hold a gun to your head, you chose to rape an innocent woman, and you can't even admit what you did. You're a disgusting excuse for a human being, you know that?"
"Wow; am I seriously getting a lecture on wrong and right from a pedophile?" Zach laughed. "Schuyler, as long as you're sitting here with your hands all over the underage student you're 'messing around' with, you don't really have much room to make moral judgments about me, don't you think? And, you know what, twinkle? If you want to talk about that night with Marty, let's have a little q and a, see how much you all actually know. Does your dad talk about it much?"
"Shut your mouth," Cole hissed through clenched teeth, furiously gripping the arms of his chair to keep himself sitting, when all he really wanted to do was tear Zach's throat out for daring to so much as mention his mother.
"Careful- I'm the one with the gun," Zach warned him.
"And I'm the one who knows what you did to my mother!" Cole thundered, leaping from his chair before he could stop himself.
"Cole!" Starr shrieked frantically as Schuyler also jumped to his feet, ready to help Cole.
"Everybody calm down!" Zach roared, pointing the gun at Starr as he gave Cole a firm shove back into the seat. Schuyler instantly sat back down, all but pulling Starr into his lap, appearing terrified for the first time, the sight of Zach aiming the gun at Starr finally breaking the calm he'd managed to hang on to longer than the other two. "You are a real pain in my ass, you know that, kid?" Zach spat.
He walked over to Todd's desk, impatiently rummaging around for a moment until he found what he was looking for- a roll of duct tape. He quickly walked back over to Cole and had the boy's feet and hands taped tightly to the wood in no time, preventing him from moving so much as an inch away from the chair; after pausing for a moment, mulling it over, he chuckled to himself and taped Cole's mouth as well.
"Zach, I really don't think that's necessary," Schuyler sighed, already knowing it was pointless. He threw Cole a helpless, apologetic look, and Cole just shook his head.
"Well, I do, so shut the fuck up," he grumbled, turning and jabbing his finger at them. "You two watch yourselves, or this is you next, got it? Now, it's time for us…" Zach trailed off, cocking his head curiously. Suddenly, still holding the roll of tape and the gun in one hand, he stood up, walking back to the front window and glancing out again, but this time, they didn't have to ask what was going on. "Shit! Someone's pulling up at the end of the road, it must that son of a bitch Cole called! I'm not going back," he said again; this time, though, his voice wasn't firm, but panicked and unnerved. "I cannot fucking go back to the place, I won't! Both of you up, now," he ordered, storming back over to them.
Starr and Schuyler immediately scrambled to their feet, still holding onto each other for dear life; Schuyler gently pulled Starr back so she was shielded behind him.
"I don't have time to screw around anymore," Zach snapped. "You two, we're going upstairs."
He herded the couple so that they were both walking in front of him side by side, leaving Cole tied to the chair where he could only watch. He could only watch as Zach lowered the gun to his side, carefully turning it so the muzzle was facing behind him, as he gripped it a little tighter. He could only emit a short, muffled shout of warning that came too late as Zach suddenly reared back, and then slammed the butt of the gun to the back of Schuyler's head, the weapon connecting with a sickening crack.
"Schuyler!" Starr screamed hysterically as he instantly collapsed face first to the floor, out cold.
Zach quickly wrapped an arm around her waist, clutching her to his chest tightly as he clamped a hand over her mouth, but Starr's attention was so focused on the horrific sight of her inert boyfriend, a trail of blood coming from the back of his skull, that she didn't even notice.
"Sorry, twinkle, your boyfriend just got uninvited from our little party- teachers always ruin the fun anyway, don't you think?" Zach hissed, his breath warm against her ear; Starr shuddered, feeling sick to her stomach as tears overwhelmed her and she sobbed against Zach's hand, unable to tear her eyes from Schuyler's unmoving form. "Let's go."
Zach started to drag Starr off towards the living room, and she realized with a rush of terror that meant the stairs, which could only mean something she could not even allow herself to think about it. Starr instantly flung herself back, desperately fighting against his firm grip on her, now vaguely aware of Cole yelling at Zach against the gag, to no use; his words were all muffled and drowned out.
"Will you stop?!" Zach spat, nervously glancing to the front door, as his hold on her still did not loosen. "I really don't want to have to hurt you, twinkle."
Starr ignored him, furiously nailing him in the shin as hard as she could- it worked, and Zach cried out in pain, momentarily letting go. Starr turned to run for the front door, taking a breath to prepare to scream as loudly as possible, but she had only gotten a few steps away when Zach recovered, lunged and caught her arm, and whipped her back around to him, striking her in the face with his fist. Starr nearly doubled over from the force, feeling like the wind had been knocked out of her, but Zach had grown enraged from her attempt to escape, and wasn't done yet; he suddenly seized one of her father's heavy, leatherbound books from the nearest table and smacked her hard across the face with it, resisting the urge to just use the gun again- he didn't want her unconscious yet, there was no fun in that.
Starr instantly gave up the fight, the tremendous force from the blow leaving her completely dazed and confused, feeling like her skull had just been cracked in two as her vision spun and her ears rang, a wave of nausea twisting her stomach.
With Starr now limp in his arms, Zach easily tugged her off, ignoring the now completely hysterical Cole, struggling wildly against his bonds.
Zach and Starr disappeared up the stairs within moments, and a door upstairs slammed shut a second later, as Cole continued to yell against the tape, his throat rapidly growing hoarse. John had to be here by now, but apparently not in time to hear Starr's scream; shit, he was probably just milling around outside, trying to figure out some way to sneak into the house to keep from upsetting Zach, having no idea that the time for stealth had long since passed.