"I know you're dead inside, but you make me feel alive!"

I cracked my eyes open as music drifted into my ears. My hand reached out, slapping out around my dresser.

My hand hit my phone, but instead of the music turning off, the song changed. I groaned and dropped my head back onto my pillow. So it was going to be one of those days.

"Hey, a casual affair that could go anywhere, and only for tonight."

I picked my head back up, grabbing my phone and turning the music up. Well, I guess I'd just take this as a sign from some higher being and go out tonight.

Letting out a tired sigh, I pushed myself out of bed, stretching. I pocketed my phone, the music still playing out, and headed downstairs to get some breakfast.

"Turn that shit off," Jer growled. "It's too early."

"It's never too early to annoy you," I said, smirking.

"Ace," he said, narrowing his eyes at me. "Don't piss me off."

I sat down, kicking my feet up on the kitchen table, setting my phone next to them, and turning my music up even louder. Hey, I had to do something to keep myself entertained. Living in a house with three moody guys got boring after a while.

Jer was the moodiest of them. He had developed a new form of hatred for me recently, after...

No, no. Don't think about Alexis. He was gone. He had abandoned us. That wasn't my fault. I'd done what I had to in order to keep us together. I wasn't the reason he was gone.

"Hey!" I glared up as my phone was snatched off the table. Christian turned off my music and tossed my phone back to me.

"Jer was about to kill you," he informed me, moving to make himself breakfast.

I twisted in my chair to face Jer. "You know, you always say I'm the mentally fucked up one, but you're the one who wins 'most likely to be a murderer' in this house."

Jer threw a box of cereal at my head. "I wish you would shut up. If I do decide to become a murderer, you'll be my first victim."

I smacked the box to the floor. "I'm offended."

"Cut it out," Ike said, coming into the kitchen.

"Alright, party in the kitchen," I said, all of my housemates now assembled for a parade of morning bitching.

"Some of us actually have to get ready for work," Christian said, putting down a slice of bread in the toaster.

"Hey, I work. Sorry we don't all work morning shifts," I said, folding my hands behind my head.

"And now you've got no one to keep you company all day. If only you weren't such a child," Jer said, grabbing the cereal box off the floor and pouring himself a bowl.

"It's probably best. No one should leave children with Ace," Christian said.

"I'm right here, you know," I reminded.

"I'm aware. No one should leave children with you. You're manipulative," Christian said, grabbing his toast as it popped.

"Is this attack Ace day? I must have missed the memo," I said.

"Hurry up, Christian. I need to get to work," Jer said impatiently as he finished his cereal, ignoring me.

"I'll eat in the car," Christian said.

"Ike, are you riding with us?" Jer asked.

"I guess so," Ike said.

"Leaving me here alone," I said with a sigh.

"You wouldn't be alone if you hadn't chased Alexis and Micah out of the house," Jer said, leaving the room. Christian and Ike followed him, neither of them bothering a glance at me.

I glared after them, standing up and kicking the chair back. I moved after them, but the front door shut by the time I reached the living room. I clenched my fists, feeling furious.

I hadn't chased Alexis out of the house. That stupid rich boy he'd hooked up with took him from us. He broke the family we'd built for ourselves. He took Alexis and Micah.

I went upstairs, throwing open Alexis's bedroom door and going inside. His room was empty, no trace of him or the scared little boy who'd always been following after him.

"Bastard," I snarled, punching the wall of the room as hard as I could. I winced at the pain in my fist.

Letting my fist drop to my side, I left the room, slamming the door. I went into my own bedroom, kicking the door shut and going over to my messy bed.

I had been out of my house for five years, but I still couldn't shake the habit of keeping my room clean. My mother would go crazy when I was child if I didn't keep everything clean, but even after she was out of the picture, my dad stayed strict on it.

So I reluctantly made my bed, a slight satisfaction trickling in at the sight of the untucked corners and the wrinkles in the blanket. I stripped and pulled on clean clothes, heading back downstairs.

Boredom snapped to my attention almost instantly. When Alexis had lived at the house, I would babysit Micah for him while he worked. But Alexis had brought Micah with him when he left, so now I had nothing to do until it was time for me to work.

It was a new feeling for me. I'd been babysitting Micah almost every day since Alexis had discovered the five year old abandoned to the cold streets and brought him in.

Now what was I supposed to do? I didn't have the kid to keep me company anymore.

I sat down at the kitchen table, hating the silence as my thoughts crept in. I couldn't stop thinking about that damn bastard Alexis Beirne. That stupid, exhausted teenager who had offered me his food when I was alone on the streets, desperate and running out of money. The way he'd sit with me when he got out of work and offer me the little food that he had. The smile on his face when we all agreed to move in to this house together.

But now he was gone, all because he thought he was in love with some damn rich bitch who didn't understand Alexis the way we did. Jonas Holden. Alexis had worked with him at a grocery store, they'd started to get closer, I'd tried to stop it, and now Alexis and Micah had both moved out.

Jer, Ike, and Christian all blamed me for Alexis leaving. But so what if I had manipulated Micah a little? I'd only done it so Alexis would stay.

Slamming my hands on the table, I stood up. All this silence was going to be the damn death of me. I hated having time to think like this.

With nothing else to do and partially out of old habit, I found myself blasting my music and cleaning the entire house. The only rooms I didn't touch were the guys' rooms, since they tended to be pissbabies about anyone entering their rooms.

The house was almost never clean since four extremely overworked men lived in it, but after a few hours of me hiding from my own thoughts, the place was spotless. Dishes were cleaned and put away, the floors were all vacuumed, even the bathrooms were cleaned.

"Thank god," I said in relief, checking the time. I'd be a little early to work, but at least it'd give me something to do for the rest of the day. And when I got out of work, I could go out for some drinks and a fun time.

I ran upstairs and changed into my work clothes before leaving the house. I jumped on my bike and peddled my way towards work.

We could only afford one car and Jer got the privilege of driving it since he worked the farthest away. Without Alexis's salary to add into ours, we were poorer than ever.

I couldn't complain, though. At least I wasn't out on the streets digging through the trash for food anymore.

I reached work and chained my bike up before heading inside. I clocked in and moved to the front of the restaurant.

"Ace," one of my coworkers, Ryan, said in relief. "Oh thank god you're here. We're pretty busy. Mind seating a few people? You have your usual section."

"I'll seat a few. Then I'll do my actual job," I said.

"Don't be mean to me. Amanda called out sick so I'm on my own for seating. Do you see the crowd right now? There's one of me and billions of them," Ryan said hopelessly.

I smirked at him. "You're going to owe me."

"Shit," he said. "Owing you is never good."

My smirk grew and I pushed past him, checking the seating chart before leading several groups to free tables. I went back to my usual area and over to a family looking at their menus.

"Hi, I'm Ace and I'll be your waiter! Can I get you drinks to start with?" I asked with a charming smile. I had to be as charming as possible to make sure I got a good tip off these people. People were so cheap when it came to tipping. Those tips made up most of my money for this job and with Alexis gone at home, we couldn't afford to have me lose out on even a few extra dollars a table.

And so my shift went on. I kept the smile on my face, cracked out a few jokes, worked fast to get food out to people, checked on them at good intervals, charmed the hell out of them, and kept myself going with the thought of escaping to a bar or a club tonight.

My shift went by quickly, as it always seemed to. I left work, hopping on my bike and making my way home.

"Someone better be making dinner," I said as I came into the house.

"You should try doing it sometime," Ike called back, but I assumed he was cooking since his voice was coming from the kitchen.

I ran upstairs and stripped, getting into the shower and quickly washing off the smell of food. I got out and dressed, towel drying my hair and heading downstairs.

"You're seriously going out? Ace, we're broke. We don't have the money to be fucking around like damn teenagers," Jer snapped, noticing me.

"Calm down. I won't need to pay for my own drinks," I said, smirking and dropping into a chair.

"When are you going to grow up?" Jer glared at me.

"Growing up is lame," I said. Ike slid us all pasta, which is all we ever seemed to eat in this house.

"You're going to be hungover and you have work tomorrow," Ike said, sitting down. "Jer is right. It's time for you to grow up."

"It'd be great if Alexis was here since he was the only one who could ever talk some sense into your thick skull, but sadly, you emotionally abused the kid and chased Alexis out," Jer said, smacking my food to the floor. "Eat like the fucking dog you are."

My smirk was dangerous now. I was so sick of them treating me like this. Like it was my fault Alexis had abandoned all of us.

Ike scraped half of his food onto a new plate, sliding it to me. "Cut it out, Jericho."

"Maybe Alexis abandoned us because he was sick of living with assholes like you," I said to Jer.

"Jesus fucking Christ, Ace! He didn't abandon us! The only person who abandoned you was your fucking mom," Jer said in annoyance.

"Good riddance to her," I said, shrugging and eating my food.

I stood up when I was done, tossing my plate into the sink and going upstairs. I grabbed my wallet, pulling a beanie on over my hair. After checking my appearance in the mirror, I grabbed my phone and went downstairs, leaving the house without a word to the others.

My favorite bar wasn't too far from the house, so I started the familiar walk down there. There was always an abundance of hot girls and gay guys down there, so maybe I could seduce a few drinks out of them. Besides, I wasn't exactly looking to go home tonight.

Reaching the bar after a few minutes, I flashed my I.D. to the security guard before slipping inside. The room was pulsating with music and fresh with the smell of perfume and alcohol.

There were three levels to the bar. The basement was for dancing, the main level was for drinks and light dancing, and the top level was for games.

I went down to the basement, throwing myself into the crowd of dancers. The music was loudest here, the room vibrating with the beat of the music.

I moved my body with the music, eyes scanning for anyone I could convince to buy me a few drinks. I spotted a girl who looked buzzed and alone, sliding up to her.

I grinned at her as I danced even closer. She returned the grin, pressing her body to mine lightly and dancing with me.

After dancing for a little, I guided her out of the crowd and up to the main level. She was only swaying lightly, which was a good sign.

"Let me buy you a drink," I said, leading her towards the bar, turning up my charm. "What's your name?"

"Carmen," she said. "What's your name?"

"Ace," I said, stopping at the bar. I slapped my hands against my pocket. "Oh, shit," I said in despair. "Someone must have taken my wallet while we were dancing."

"That's horrible," Carmen said, frowning. "I'll get us drinks!"

"No need."

We both looked over. A boy about my age was standing there, looking completely sober.

"Two rum and cokes, double shot," he said to the bartender, tossing down cash. The bartender got the drinks and the boy grabbed them, handing them to me and Carmen. He offered Carmen a smile. "Why don't you go and dance? My friend and I need to have a chat." He nodded at me, though I had no idea who he was.

Carmen took off to the basement to go dance again. The kid's smile dropped and he faced me as I sipped on the drink.

"So you play drunk girls for drinks?" he asked.

"You're sober and I still got a drink out of you," I said, raising it.

"Lay off the smugness, I only did it to get her away from you," he said. "By the way, your wallet is sticking out of your back pocket."

I tucked it back down. "Thanks for the tip." I winked at him before moving back towards the basement.

I downed the drunk and rejoined the dancing crowd, searching around for anyone else in a state like Carmen's. I spotted a boy who looked pretty wasted dancing up against another boy. The more sober looking one danced with him for a minute before moving on to another man.

I replaced him, going up to the drunk boy, letting him dance on me, grinning at him and getting my face teasingly close to his. He moved even closer to me, his hands sliding up to my shoulders, our bodies moving together messily to the pounding music.

I slowly urged him out of the crowd and up to the main level. "What's your name?" I asked him.

"Dex," he said, words slurred.

"Why don't we have a few drinks and then maybe have some fun?" I said, grinning seductively, letting my hand trail lightly down his arm.

He returned the grin. "Hell yea."

I checked my pockets and let out a string of curse words. "I can't find my wallet."

"I've got it," he said, eyeing my body appreciatively. He moved up to the bar, ordering us drinks and setting money down. He passed me a drink. I took it and sipped on it, loving the way it burned down my throat.

"Thanks," I said.

He stepped closer to me, running his hand down my chest. "Let's go have some fun now."

"Dex!"

I turned as the boy from earlier hurried over. He let out a sigh and tugged Dex off of me.

"No, no, no," he said. "You are completely wasted and I'm not letting you go home with some sleazy fuckboy." He glanced at me. "No offense."

"Offense taken," I said, tipping my drink back into my mouth.

"Damn, got a drink off of both of us," the boy said, shaking his head. "You're one smooth talking piece of shit."

"It's a talent," I said, grinning. "Why not let your friend there have some fun?"

"What, so you can hit it and quit it just for some drinks? Go find some other drunk, desperate moron. This one made the mistake of coming with a sober friend," the boy said.

Alexis flashed through my mind. He didn't like drinking. He'd always been the one to take care of me when I stumbled home too drunk to even get up the stairs.

"Maybe another time then," I said, winking at Dex.

"You, come with me," the boy said, dragging Dex along.

Dex broke free of him, coming back over to me. "Come back tomorrow and meet me here. I'll get us some drinks and we can really have some fun. I won't bring the cockblock with me."

"Sounds like a plan," I said, holding my drink up.

His friend grabbed him, shooting me a glare before dragging Dex away. I downed the rest of the drink and went back down to the basement, hoping I could get drunk enough to forget about Alexis and the second broken family I'd have to return to. If it meant I got more free alcohol, I'd come back to the bar after work tomorrow and meet up with Dex.

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IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ:

So, Radish launches this month, and I'll be posting Cheating The Deck there (CTD is the spin-off of Alone Together, but can be read as a separate story, so if you didn't read Alone Together, you don't have to). Some of you have already read this chapter if you signed up for the Radish mailing list. I'm going to wait until the second chapter of CTD goes up on Radish before I post it here (same thing will go for chapter 3).

For those of you who don't know, Radish is a website where writers can post their stories (as of right now, writers are exclusively chosen). The first 3 chapters of all stories are free, and after that, readers pay a very, very small amount to read the rest of the story. I'm going with a pricing model that will make each of my chapters free after they've been up for a week, so people who want to support me can pay and get early access, and people who can't afford to support me can read them after a week.

Please, please, please, if you haven't already, sign up for the Radish mailing list here: radishfiction.com/?a=skenekidz (you can also message me for the link). Who knows, maybe we can get some free coins out of this (coins are how you purchase the chapters)!

So please, let me know what you think of Cheating The Deck so far, and sign up for the Radish mailing list!