Cheating The Deck [boyxboy]

Cheating The Deck {7}

***Jack's POV***

I walked up the sidewalk, hoping that Delaney would be at the apartment. It was starting to get late and I needed his help moving some furniture around in the living room.

I reached the apartment and let myself inside, heading up the stairs. Our third roommate was rarely ever here and sometimes I forgot we even had a third roommate. It was fine with me, though. It just meant one less person to clean up after.

"Dex!" I called as I entered the kitchen, opening the fridge to get a water bottle. "Ay, Dex! You home?"

But Delaney didn't call back to me. I sighed, kicking the fridge shut and heading to his room. I knocked on the door, waiting.

"Delaney, I'm going to kill you if you're in here and ignoring me. But I'm going to kill you, revive you, and kill you again if you're not in here," I announced before shoving his door open.

Sure enough, Delaney wasn't in his bedroom. It was empty, clothes thrown all around. A bag with new liquor bottles in it was next to his dresser.

I pulled my hat off and ran a hand through my hair. There were several places Delaney could be, and all of them made me want to clean the toilet with his toothbrush.

He could be at the bar getting hammered and looking to go home with random guys, he could be out with a group of friends who were the kind of people my mom had warned me about growing up, or he could be with Ace again.

Delaney was one of those kids who'd grown up with strict parents. Now that he wasn't living at home anymore, he was going wild, trying to do everything he'd never been able to do at home. He was experiencing sex, drugs, and alcohol, and loving every second of it. He was able to hang out with people his parents would have otherwise forbidden him from seeing and able to go out on the streets late at night, heading home with random men because he didn't have to worry about being home for a curfew.

I was trying to keep some sort of leash on him, because I worried about him going wild like this. He was going to wind up going home with the wrong person one night and get himself hurt, or worse.

That's why I hated seeing him with this Ace kid. I could tell just by looking at him that Ace was similar to Delaney- someone who'd grown up with little wiggle room running free for the first time. He got off on the excitement of rule breaking and doing the things that society frowned on.

Plus, Ace was the kind of guy who thrived off of manipulation. I'd seen it in his eyes when he'd been using that girl at the bar just for drinks. He was a liar, and a clever one at that.

I didn't want Delaney falling in with him. Delaney was naïve when it came to people like Ace. He didn't understand when he was being used. Sometimes he just didn't care if he was being used.

I pulled out my cellphone, dialing Delaney's number. I leaned against the doorframe as his phone rang.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"What do you need?" he asked, attempting to doge my question.

"That depends on how busy you are. Where are you? You're not at the bars," I said. Wherever he was, there was no background noise.