Cheating The Deck [boyxboy]

Cheating The Deck {22}

                                                                                ***Ace's POV***

                I didn't want to think. I didn't want to remember.

                But that was hard when you were surrounded by silence that your mind was desperate to fill. My thoughts were trying to drag up memories of my family, and I curled up into a small ball on my bed, fighting them off the best I could.

                My door swung open and I uncurled myself, tensing up, ready for Jack to be standing there. After what I'd done, I knew it was only a matter of time before he showed up.

                But it wasn't Jack standing there. It was Ike, still in his work uniform and with a Dunkin' Donuts drink still steaming in his hand.

                "Here," he said, coming over and holding it out to me.

                I stared at the drink suspiciously. What was Ike up to? No one around here just did nice things.

                Ike let out an unnecessarily long sigh. "Ace, it's not poison. It's just coffee."

                He set it on my dresser and moved back towards my bedroom door. He stopped in the doorway and glanced over his shoulder at me.

                "You don't have work today, right?" he said.

                "Well, you did buy me a drink first," I said, winking at him. "Yes big boy, I'm free tonight."

                "The day I degrade myself with someone like you is the day I beg for death. We're making dinner early." He shut my door, disappearing from sight.

                I grabbed the drink off of my dresser, blew on it to cool it down, and took an experimental sip. It was coffee with a flavor shot of Irish crème, my favorite that I rarely ever had due to the cheap way we lived.

                I mentally groaned as I took another swallow. What did Ike want from me? Was he giving me this to make up for something he had done? I couldn't remember us really fighting recently.

                I shrugged it off and downed the rest of the drink. I got up and went downstairs, hearing people talking in the kitchen. I needed to keep my mind away from thoughts of Jack or my past before I went crazy.

                Ike, Christian, and Jer were moving around the kitchen, grumbling at each other as they bumped into each other, trying to make dinner. I could smell something slightly burnt and realized that they weren't making pasta.

                "No pasta? Pigs are flying," I said, dropping into a chair at the table. I kicked my feet up on the table and crossed my arms over my chest as I watched them scurry around like confused ants.

                "My grandfather went to a dinner last night with his friend's family. They gave him a ton of leftovers, and he said he'd never be able to eat them all on his own. So, he gave some of them to me," Christian said, opening the oven to check on whatever was burning.

                "Christian, you can't just turn the temperature up to cook it faster," Ike said in annoyance, shoving Christian away and pressing some buttons on the oven. "You're going to ruin the food."

                "Jer, what the hell are you doing?" I asked.

                "I don't fucking know. My parents are drug addicts, you asshole. We lived off of frozen dinners," Jer snapped, slamming down the carton of milk he'd been haphazardly pouring into some of the leftovers. "Shit, you do it. You're the one who works at a fucking restaurant."