"Like hell, I'm spent. You were someone I shouldn't have met! For your own sake let's take my side for once!" I sang as I cleaned the kitchen floors.

Delaney had been spending every day with Ace the past week. He would go over to Ace's house while all of Ace's friends were at work. He claimed that they were just hanging out and not having sex, but I could tell he wouldn't mind if it did dissolve from conversation to passion.

Despite all the talking and getting to know each other that they were apparently doing, Delaney still didn't know that Ace was technically M.I.A. I guess that Ace didn't think that little detail was important when you were getting to know a guy.

I'd done a lot more digging online, more curious about how Ace had managed to go undetected for five years than actually curious about Ace himself. But other than all the missing posters and a few times he appeared in his local newspaper for school awards, the guy didn't seem to exist at all. Not even on the website of the restaurant he worked at, Magellan's.

He didn't appear on their website or in a single news article written about them. He didn't appear in any of the group photos for the restaurant. The only time his name ever came up was from people posting reviews and talking about what a great waiter he was, but none of the reviews included his last name.

He was incredibly sneaky, I guess. Great. How wonderful that Delaney had gotten caught up with the guy.

The door downstairs opened and shut. I listened as someone came up the stairs, and continued my singing. Give 'em a show.

"If I could be myself for just a minute, and god forbid I'm pleased with myself in this relationship," I sang, my voice loud and horribly out of tune.

"You'd think I'd get used to this after living with you for so long," Delaney said as he came into the kitchen. "Why do you always have to clean the floor in your boxers?"

"At least I'm cleaning the floor," I said. "It'll still be just as clean even with my lack of clothing."

Delaney shook his head. "Fine, fine. I can deal with your lack of pants if you just stop singing. If Kaneki sang while Jason tortured him, it would sound exactly like whatever the hell you were just doing," he said.

"I wasn't really going for a Tokyo Ghoul sound with that song. It was supposed to be more, I don't know...maybe in the tune of a dying goat? But like a sacrificial dying goat," I said.

"I'll get the dishes if you promise to never make those horrendous noises again," he said, moving over the sink and picking up a sponge, attacking the dirty dishes that had been steadily piling up.

"Were you are Ace's?" I asked.

Delaney nodded. "Yea, we were hanging out in his backyard."

"What about the guys he lives with?" I asked. "Were they home? You were there later than usual tonight."

He shrugged. "Ace and I got talking, that's all. And his friends weren't home yet. Ace had to leave to get to work."

I'd let the subject of how dangerous and manipulative Ace was drop after realizing that bringing it up was only playing into the bastard's hands. He was using Delaney to get back at me, which meant he was charming his way into Delaney's heart and clouding his judgement. Delaney would only fight with me if I tried to stop him from seeing Ace.

"Does he always work the evening shift?" I asked.

"Yea, he almost always does. Unless he has a catering job or they need someone earlier," Delaney said, his tone taking on the happy quality it did when Ace came up.

This was getting too dangerous for Delaney. I had to get him away from Ace before he became too wrapped up in him.

But trying to talk sense into Delaney's thick head wasn't going to work. And obviously talking to Ace wasn't going to do anything. So I guess I was just going to have to get a little creative with this.

"What about his friends?" I asked.

Delaney shrugged. "They usually get home a little after Ace leaves for work."

Well, how convenient for me. Something told me that Ace's friends could control him better than anyone. And after meeting that Jer guy, I was positive that they'd be angry enough to keep Ace away from me and Delaney. They clearly didn't like him getting caught up in trouble.

"Let me sing," I said. "I can't clean the floors in my boxers without singing."

"Pants or silence," Delaney said. "Your choice, Jack."

I heard a vibrating sound on the counter. Delaney leaned over and tapped on my phone, checking the message for me.

"It's your mom," he announced. "She said she hasn't heard from you in a while and just wants to check in with you."

I sighed and held my hand out for the phone. Delaney tossed it to me and I dialed my mom's number. My mom was too afraid to call me when I was away from home. She was worried that she was going to be bothering me or something. I always felt really bad.

"Jack, you didn't have to call me!" mom said nervously as she picked up the phone. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay, that was all."

"Ma, you can call me, you know," I said, balancing the phone between my ear and my shoulder so that I could continue cleaning the floor.

"No, no! I don't want to interrupt you!" she said.

"You're not interrupting me by calling me," I said. "Look mom, don't be afraid to call me if you want to talk to me."

"But if you're having fun I don't want to disturb you," she said, guilt in her voice.

"Mom, seriously, you're not disturbing me. If you want to talk to me, please just call me. If I'm busy, I'll let you know," I assured.

"Okay, Jack," she said slowly. I had been an extremely introverted kid when I lived at home, so now that I was off living in an apartment and opening up to the real world, my mom was afraid that hovering over me too much would drag me back into my hometown bedroom with my door locked.

"Did you need anything?" I asked.

"Well...your father and I haven't seen you in a while. Um, we thought maybe...maybe we could stop by soon just to see you and take you out to dinner? Unless you're busy or you don't want us to!" she added hastily.

"I never say no to a free meal," I said. "Better stop by soon, though. Dex and I are cleaning the apartment now. That only happens once every couple of months, you know."

"I'll have to talk to your dad to see what day works. I can't wait to see you, Jack!" she said.

I felt awful for not thinking to call her earlier or drive up to my hometown to see her and my dad. "Yea mom, I can't wait to see you and dad. I'll talk to you later, once you've talked to dad about a day."

"Okay. I love you, Jack!" she said.

"Love you too, mom," I said and hung up.

"Aw, Jack's a little mommy's boy," Delaney taunted.

"Says the guy who can't go three days without talking to his mom or she'll send out a search party," I said.

Delaney flipped me off. "Hey, I want your parents. Mine are way too clingy!"

"Hey, what is Ace's family like?" I asked.

Delaney opened his mouth then shut it, looking puzzled. "Huh, it's never come up. Other than him telling me that his mom left him." He shrugged. "It's none of my business. Some people just don't have good relationships with their families. I don't think Ace gets on well with his family."

So, Delaney really didn't know anything. Although Ace's mom leaving explained the whole single father thing. I wonder if the kid's mom even knew he was missing. How parents could ever leave their children, I didn't have a damn clue. Don't have a kid if you're not going to stick around to raise them the best you can.

Still, his family problems weren't an excuse for what he was doing now. Ace was 21 years old; he was old enough to know that this was wrong, regardless of what his home life had been like.

"Jack, I know you don't like me being with Ace but..." Delaney sighed. "What if I dated him?"

"Thank god I was not drinking anything or I would have spit it all over your face," I said.

"Jack! I'm serious!" Delaney said, glaring.

"So am I. Actually, scratch that. I wish I had been drinking holy water so that I could've spit it on you and expelled the devil from your body," I said. "Trust me, Dex. You need Jesus."

"I like him and I think he likes me," Delaney said defensively. "Why can't you just be happy for me?"

"Why can't you just be happy for me? You're the brake lights failing as my car swerves off the freeway. Kind of feels like sabotage," I sang.

"Jack!" Delaney threw the bottle of soap at my face. "Never mind, I don't even know why I bothered asking you. Of course you have to be an ass about it. I don't care what you think. I'll date who I want to date."

"Look, I get that your mind is clouded by love or whatever, but can we not fight, Dex?" I said. It wasn't worth it. I'd handle this a different way. I wasn't going to let Ace's plan work. He wasn't ruining my friendship with Delaney. Ace Foley was like a poisonous snake; he was pretty to look at but deadly if you got too close.

"Yea, sure Jack," he mumbled, turning back to the dishes.

I sighed and began to hum as I cleaned the floors. Delaney ignored me, finishing the dishes and leaving the room without another word to me.

Great, he thought I was shitty for caring about him. I checked the time and went upstairs to my bedroom.

I grabbed my jeans and a T-shirt, pulling them on. I put my hat on backwards, brushing my hair out of my eyes as it tumbled out of the hat.

Time to go save my relationship with Delaney before Ace wrecked it. If Ace was at work for the rest of the evening, that would give me plenty of time to do what I needed to do.

I went downstairs and pulled my shoes on, leaving the house without a word to Delaney. If I was lucky, he wouldn't even realize that I was gone.

I walked down the street towards Ace's house. I was still a little afraid of his scary friend, but I wouldn't let that show. Something needed to be done about Ace and I would need help with it.

After a little bit of walking, I stood outside of his house. I sighed and went up to the front porch, knocking on the door.

It opened a moment later and a boy I faintly recognized stood there. I eyed him, trying to figure out why he looked familiar.

"Yea?" he asked.

"Uh...oh, right. Is Ace here?" I asked.

"No. He's at work." He started to shut the door, but I stuck my hand out and caught it.

"Good. I didn't want him to be home. I needed to talk to you guys without him around," I said.

"You're the kid who texted me, aren't you?" he guessed.

"Probably," I said. "If you're Ike."

"I am Ike," he said. He sighed and stepped aside so that I could come into the house.

I stepped in and he lead me to the living room. The furniture in the living room was old and worn out and the wallpaper was peeling in places on the walls.

"Sit," he said, gesturing at one of the worn out chairs. The furniture didn't really match, which drove part of my mind a little crazy.

I sat down on the chair, which was surprisingly comfortable. Ike walked back towards the hallway.

"Christian! Jericho!" he called.

He sat down on the couch as I heard doors opening upstairs. I continued to eye Ike. He looked so familiar. It was driving me crazy.

"You keep staring at me," he said.

"Because I recogni- DUNKIN' DONUTS!" I snapped and pointed at him. "You work there, don't you?"

Ike nodded. "Yea, I do."

"Well, I'm glad I figured that out," I said, leaning back. Delaney and I went there a lot together. That's why Ike looked so familiar to me.

Jer and another guy appeared in the living room. Jer looked annoyed, but his annoyance turned to anger as he spotted me.

"Why the fuck is he in our living room?" Jer demanded.

"You've met?" Ike said.

"It was charming," I said. "We're practically best friends."

"Don't piss me off," Jer growled, dropping next to Ike on the couch. The other guy hovered in the doorway, watching me with distrusting eyes.

"Christian, sit down," Ike said.

"I don't want to," the guy in the doorway said. "What is this about?"

"Take a damn guess what this about!" Jer said. "It's about Ace. It's always about Ace because that idiot can't keep out of trouble."

"He ripped some drinks off my friend Delaney, I asked him to pay Delaney back, and now his pride is hurt and he's trying to use Delaney to get back at me," I said and quickly explained the situation. "I don't take well to people messing with my best friend."

"That sounds like your problem, not ours," Christian said. "We don't control Ace."

"You know, his dad put his picture in their local newspaper not that long ago. He's still looking for Ace. It'd be shitty of me not to help a father find his missing son," I said.

Of course I would never tell the guy where Ace was. It wasn't my business. If Ace had run away from home so young and endured being homeless, he must have had his reasons for doing it. But I needed something to hold over his friends' heads to get them to help me.

"Is that a threat?" Jer's eyes flashed dangerously.

Ike grabbed Jer's arm before he could move towards me. "Look into his eyes, Jer. He won't do it. What's your name?"

"Jack," I said. "And I will do it."

Ike shook his head. "No you won't. You won't tell Ace's father where Ace is. Even if you did, it wouldn't matter. Ace is 21. His father can't do anything anymore. Ace was safe the second he turned 18."

"There's his dad and his job," I said. "There's a lot I can do to Ace if he really pisses me off."

"But you won't do any of it because you're not that kind of person. You don't have it in you," Ike said, releasing Jer's arm.

"That's a pretty big gamble," I said.

"Well, I'm not the one who's going to pay for it if my gamble is wrong," he said with a shrug. "Ace can't be controlled. He does what he wants. He likes to cause trouble. Hell, he likes to get into trouble."

"I'm not the right person to piss off," I warned.

"Neither are we," Jer snarled.

"Jack has a point," Christian said, startling me a little. I almost forgot the guy was there. We all glanced at him and he shrugged. "Ace is getting too out of control. Without Alexis around, it's only a matter of time before he pisses off someone who isn't afraid to get him fired and tell his family where he is. Either we kick him out or we put an end to this now."

"What are we supposed to do? Lock him in a fucking cage? As much as I'd love to treat him like the bitch he is, we don't have many options," Jer said, glaring.

"I can't get Delaney away from him. He's gotten into Delaney's head," I said.

"That's what Ace does. Emotional manipulation is his specialty," Ike said.

"He learned from the best," Jer grumbled.

"Well, he better cut it out. I'm getting sick of it real quick," I said.

It was silent for a moment. Ike, Jer, and Christian looked at each other, wordlessly communicating the way that close friends could.

"I'll call Alexis," Ike said at last.

"No!" Jer's voice came out sharp. "He left to get away from Ace. Don't drag him back. Ace isn't his problem anymore."

"I don't know who this Alexis person is, but if they can knock sense into Ace's thick head, you might want to call them," I said. "Ace is going to get himself into some big trouble if he doesn't stop what he's doing."

"Jack is right. Without Micah to distract him, he has too much free time. That's dangerous," Ike said.

Well, I had no idea who Micah was. Another guy he'd screwed over, maybe?

"And without Alexis to keep him in check, he has free time and no leash," Christian said. "If we don't stop this now, he's going to end up homeless again."

"So, what? We drag Alexis back? We use him as Ace's leash forever?" Jer said, anger rising quickly. "Ace needs to learn control on his own. It isn't Alexis's job to be Ace's fucking babysitter."

"Unless you have a better plan, I'm calling Alexis," Ike said, steadily meeting Jer's eyes. "We'll just get him to talk to Ace, that's all."

"Ace won't listen. He still has that deluded justification that Alexis abandoned him," Jer said impatiently. "This will just be a waste of Alexis's time."

"It's the only thing we have for now," Ike said.

"I'm not being part of this!" Jer snapped, getting up and storming away. He slammed by Christian and stomped his way up the stairs, slamming a door a moment later.

"He's charming," I said.

"He's frustrated. He doesn't want to drag Alexis into this," Ike said. "But Alexis is the only one who ever managed to talk sense into Ace. I'll call Alexis tonight and see if he'll talk to Ace tomorrow. Keep your friend occupied so he doesn't show up here. With Ace's temper, things could get nasty."

"I can do that. Thanks," I said, standing up. If they were going to take care of Ace, then I was done here.

"Don't mention those missing posters to anyone. Ace ran away for a reason," Christian said, shooting me one last distrusting look before disappearing down the hallway and up the stairs.

Ike walked me to the front door. I pulled it open and paused, glancing back over at Ike.

"He's unstable, isn't he?" I guessed.

"Ace just has a twisted view on right and wrong. Living with us hasn't helped that much," he said. "He'll never understand that what he's doing is wrong. His mind was twisted for 16 years."

"I don't care how twisted his mind is. This is wrong, and he has to know that. I'm not letting him slip. He's 21 and he's going to be held responsible for his damn actions," I said.

Ike, to my surprised, grinned a little. "No wonder Ace doesn't like you. Hopefully Alexis can clean up this mess. Just keep your friend away from Ace tomorrow."

He shut the front door once I was outside. I began to walk back towards our apartment, hooking my thumbs in my pockets and looking up at the sky.

If everything went well, then Ace would finally leave me and Delaney alone. But I knew my luck and I knew that at least something was going to go wrong with this. Sigh.