The next week passed in a wild blur of sex. Leon and Jade were just about inseparable. Whenever they weren't in class or busy with studies they were with each other, sneaking off to every hidden corner of the campus and marking it as their own with a quick session of lovemaking. And the sex just got better and better. Leon couldn't believe that a sheltered, recent virgin like Jade could have such a knack for the things the two of them got into, but he was more than happy to go along with it.

Maybe it's something more than that? he thought one day after a quick "study session" in one of the more hidden corners of the library. Am…am I really falling for this girl?

But whenever these thoughts would arrive Leon was quick to dismiss them. It was as though by pretending they weren't there he could keep whatever had been developing in him at bay. He knew that between his family and school, he just had too much to worry about without adding a relationship on top of it all.

He couldn't help, however, that he'd find himself sitting in class and thinking of Jade, a tinge of…something, running through his heart as he did. Leon couldn't remember feeling this way about any other girl he'd been with, and he'd been with more than his fair share. And Jade seemed to know just how to stay in his thoughts. She'd send him text messages throughout the day that ran the gamut to cute little compliments to pictures of places around campus that she felt were excellent choices for their next "meet up." And that's not counting the racier things she'd sent to him.

"You know," said Jade, one day as they lay in bed at her apartment, "it'd be really nice to know more about you."

Leon tensed up at this. He'd rebuffed her each time that she'd tried to get closer to him in this way, but she didn't show any signs of letting up. It was as though she was trying to wear him out through steady force of will.

"Why?" asked Leon. "What do you need to know about me that you don't already know? You know that I'm a business student, that I'm from a shitty part of town, and that I've got two parents and a little brother. And you know how I earn my extra money."

"Well, sure," said Jade, rolling over on her side. "But you talk about all of that as if it's someone else's life or something. I ask you about your family and you just give me a bullet-point list of facts. I mean, I want to know what your relationship is like with them, how things are, that kind of thing. Like, I'd love it if one day you'd come up to me and say ‘wow, just had the weirdest conversation with my dad' or something. Anything."

"When will you accept that you just don't need to know about that?" said Leon, getting as impatient as he always did whenever Jade brought up this subject.

"But you can know everything about my family," said Jade. "There's nothing about my life that'd hidden from you."

"Just because you're an open book doesn't mean I need to be," he said. "You're not my damn biographer; you don't need to have me opened up in front of you."

Jade said nothing, evidently realizing that she'd reached an impasse, just as she always did when this subject was broached. Leon folded his hands behind his back and looked up at the ceiling. He could feel Jade's eyes on him, looking at him hard as though she could open him up right then and there just through a hard enough stare.

All of this was made harder for Leon by the fact that he just couldn't get enough of Jade. It was like he was addicted to her, as though she were some kind of new drug that he couldn't help but ingest. He loved simply being there with her, but all of this was made more complicated by the fact that she just seemed to need to know everything that he wasn't prepared to talk about.

Another week or so passed, and soon it was time to start thinking about finals. Jade and Leon made good study partners, aside from how often they'd get "distracted" by things they both would rather be doing than studying.

"I'll see you later," said Leon as he stood facing Jade in front of the grand entrance to the campus library.

"You bet your ass you will," said Jade with a sly smile.

Leaning in, Leon kissed Jade slowly, sensually. He felt himself get hard as their lips touched, and part of him wanted to grab her by the wrist and drag her to the back of her car like some kind of possessed caveman and give her the fucking of a lifetime. But he just had too much school work to do back at home.

They said their goodbyes and just as Leon watched Jade disappear into the distance as he watched her leave over his shoulder, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and checked it, and saw that it was a text from Hunter. It was many texts, actually, one after another.

You need to get back here, now.

Dad's gone crazy…he's gonna hurt Mom, I know it.

Please, I'm hiding in my room right now.

I'm scared.

Leon shoved his phone back into his pocket and burst into a full sprint back to his bike. Once on it, he gunned the engine and tore out of the campus parking lot, his heart pounding as he drove. He could only imagine what his father was doing to Leon's mom and Hunter. Typically, he'd only rough Leon's mother up slightly, usually too drunk to do anything too severe. And he'd never lay his hands on Hunter. But Leon knew that alcohol could do things to a man, make him do things, that he'd otherwise never do. In the back of Leon's mind, he knew that it was only a matter of time before his father went off the deep end, but he'd always imagined that it would happen at some point in the future, far from now.

Not today. Never today.

Soon, he was back in his neighborhood. Once in front of his apartment, he screeched the bike to a halt and jumped off, rushing in through the front doors. His hand on the doorknob, he stopped, listening carefully for a moment.

There was nothing. Only silence.

Shit, shit, shit, thought Leon, scrambling for his keys and jamming them into the lock. Throwing open the door, he was presented with a disaster area. The living room was a mess- the coffee table was smashed, pictures had fallen from the walls, and beer cans littered the floor. He ran into his parents' bedroom and saw that his mother was sprawled out on the bed, an ice pack pressed against her face.

"Mom!" Leon shouted, running to her side. "What happened?"

"He hit me," she said. "Hard."

Leon took her hand and moved the ice pack. Sure enough, her right eye was surrounded by purple and blue, the eye nearly sealed shut from swelling.

"Where is he?" demanded Leon. "And where's Hunter?"

"You father's gone. He's gone for good."

"What?" demanded Leon.

"He's gone, gone, gone."

Leon realized that his mother, between the attack and whatever alcohol she'd had that night, was in no condition to relay any sort of information. He took another look at her before rushing to Hunter's room. He saw to his horror that the door had been kicked in, and was hanging off only a single hinge. But once he stepped into the room, he saw that there was nothing out of place.

"Hunter!" shouted Leon. "Come out!"

The closet door opened slowly, revealing Hunter crouched among his clothing. Leon ran to him and squatted down, looking him over for any sign of injury.

"You OK, bud?" asked Leon.

"I'm fine," said Hunter. "But Dad's gone."

"That's what I hear," said Leon. "But what the hell are you talking about?"

"You mean you didn't see?"

"See what?"

"He found your money, Leon. He took it."

"What?"

"It's gone. Dad took your money and left."

Leon shot back up to a standing position and ran to the entrance to Hunter's room. Sure enough, from where he stood he could see that his bedroom door had been smashed open and the room ransacked. He ran in and saw that the hidden panel under his bed had been pried open.

"No-no-no-no," he said as he scrambled to check it.

Hunter was right; there was nothing there.

Leon's heart sank. Tens of thousands of dollars, every last dime he had to his name, was gone. It was the money he was going to use for college, for Hunter, for all of them to make a better life. And now, it was all gone. All that risk, all for nothing.

And now that his father was gone, their sole source of income was gone. Leon's father may have made most of his money through government aid, but it was something.

Standing back up, Leon knew that this was no time to worry about what might happen.

If he's really gone, thought Leon, then I'm the man of the house. And I don't have a second to spend not living up to the task.

Taking his phone out of his pocket, he pulled up Anton's number and sent him a text.

Yo, man. Got some shit to pay for coming up, and need some cash fast. Got any jobs you need me on?

The response came moments later.

My man! Crazy to hear from you. I just got a line on a big job. But pretty risky. Huge fucking payout though.

That was all Leon needed to hear. He sent a text back to Anton letting him know he was on board, and Anton told him to meet him at the diner in thirty. Leon ran back to Hunter's room, pulled a twenty out of his wallet, and handed it to his brother.

"Order some pizza," said Leon. "I'll be back in a little bit."

"You promise?" asked Hunter, his voice heavy with worry.

Leon knelled down and put his hand on his brother's shoulder.

"I promise, buddy," he said. "I'm always gonna be here for you. Don't you forget that."

Fifteen minutes later, Leon was at the diner with a cup of coffee in front of him. He wanted Anton there now. He hated waiting around on others, and wanted to get this job underway. About halfway through his cup, Anton strolled into the diner like he didn't have a care in the world.

"There's my dude," said Anton.

"'Sup, man," said Leon, rising to greet him.

Anton didn't waste any time getting into the details.

"This shit's different," said Anton. "Not supervising deals; this is smuggling. I figured with that quick-ass bike of yours, you'd be just the man for the job."

"Pay?" asked Leon.

Anton gestured for Leon to come in close, then whispered the number low.

"Fuck," said Leon, sitting back in his booth.

"I know, right?" said Anton. "The buyer's not fucking around."

The number bounced around in Leon's head. It was enough for his next semester's tuition, and even enough to start a college fund for Hunter. Not to mention take care of all of their bills for the time being.

"What's the catch?" asked Leon.

"The catch?" asked Anton. "The catch is that you're gonna be driving massive amounts of drugs across state lines. You get caught, that's a federal crime, college boy. You'd be goin' up the fuckin' river for a long-ass time for that one."

"I don't care," said Leon. "When does it go down?"

"Man," said Anton. "You've got some big fuckin' balls on your for a damn undergrad. Could use ten more guys like you, you know?"

Anton looked around before turning his attention back to Leon.

"Tomorrow, if you're ready. You make the run to Chicago, you get paid, you come back with the money. Simple as that. Three-and-a-half hours there, three-and-a-half hours back."

"Done deal," said Leon.

The two men shook on it, and that was that.

The next day after school, Jade and Leon met up as they usually did, this time at one of the trendy coffee shops near campus. The run later that day weighed heavily on Leon, but he still had school to study for.

"OK," said Jade. "What's the deal?"

"Huh?" asked Leon.

"You're totally distracted," she said. "You've got something on your mind. Spill it."

"It's nothing," said Leon. "Nothing."

"Bullshit it's nothing," said Jade.

She sat back in her seat and crossed her arms under her breasts. To his chagrin, Leon felt his cock harden just a bit as he caught sight of the outline of her incredible breasts through her thin, light-blue top.

"Listen," she said. "You don't want to talk about your family, then fine. You want to lock me out of the important things about who you are, then fine. But when you've got something clearly weighing on you like this, then you've got to let me in."

"I got a job tonight," said Leon.

"Oh," said Jade. "That's it?"

She quickly checked herself.

"I mean, I know your work is hard, but I thought maybe there was something else."

"It's not just any job," said Leon, looking around to make sure that no one was within earshot. "It's smuggling across state lines."

"What?" asked Jade, keeping her voice low. "That's…that's a big fucking deal! You could go to prison for that!"

"No shit," said Leon. "But I don't have any choice. I-"

But he stopped himself before going any further.

"You what?"

"Nothing."

Jade sighed and looked away for a brief moment.

"You can't do this," she said. "I won't let you. It's too dangerous."

"You ‘won't let me'?" asked Leon, his eyebrows raising. "You don't get to make that kind of call."

"But I'm your girlfriend," she said. "At least, I think I am. And I don't want you risking yourself like that."

"Listen," said Leon, his voice a low hiss. "I've got my shit to worry about. Not all of us have daddy paying our bills; some of us have people to look out for, people who're counting on us. And we don't have the luxury of choosing where our money comes from. Now, this shit is who I am, for now, at least, and if you're that put off by it, then you're free to end this shit at any time."

Jade was speechless.

"Now," said Leon. "I've gotta get my head straight for tonight, and I don't have the patience or the time to listen to you mommy me."

With that, he grabbed his things, stuffed them in his bag, and headed out the door. And as he left, he could feel the hot stare of Jade's eyes on his back.

An as much as he didn't want to admit it, it hurt him to say what he said. But now that his father was gone, he knew that Hunter and his mother came first- before everyone else, and especially before the wants of his heart.