Cheating The Deck [boyxboy]

Cheating The Deck {28}

                                                                                ***Ace's POV***

                I cracked my eyes open, taking in Jack's room as last night came back to me. I could feel Jack's arms wrapped loosely around my topless self.

                "Hey," I said, digging my elbow into his chest. "Wake up."

                Jack grunted and pulled his arms away from me to roll over. He yanked the covers over his head and buried his face against his pillow.

                I reached over and grabbed my phone off of the floor, unlocking it. I had messages from Ike, Christian, and Jer demanding to know if I was dead.

                I guess that made sense, though. I'd left for work and never come home without ever telling them where I was going.

                They were worried about me. The realization made my stomach twist into a tight knot. They were bad at showing it, but they did care.

                Without replying to their messages, I locked my phone and tossed it back on the floor. They'd deal with it for a little while longer. It was still early, and I'd probably make it back before they left for work.

                "Jack, get up," I said, yanking the pillow out from under him.

                His head hit the mattress and he raised it, glaring at me through sleepy eyes. "I'm going to give you five seconds to return that pillow to its spot under my head before I strangle you to death, Foley."

                "Just Ace," I said, hitting him with the pillow before tossing it to the other side of the room. "Foley is my mom's last name."

                Jack sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Weren't your parents married? Why do you have your mom's last name?"

                I shrugged. "She kept it when they got married and insisted that I had it."

                My last name was really all my mom ever gave to me. Or maybe she just hadn't wanted the world to know I was my father's son. She was gone though, so it'd forever be a mystery.

                "It's just a last name," I said, noticing that Jack was still silent. "Who cares if it's Brooks like my dad or Foley like my mom? My name is Ace. That's all."

                "Yea, right, whatever. It's too early to deal with your traumatized shit," he said, running a hand through his red mane. He stopped and looked at me. "Ace, you get it, right? You get that you were abused as a kid?"

                I wanted to grin and play it off like I always did. But I also wanted this relationship with Jack to work.

                "Yea," I said quietly, my mind pulling up images of a scared young boy. "Yea, I get it, Jack."

                "Can't recover if you deny there's anything to recover from," Jack said, slapping me on the shoulder. "Let's go eat. I can't be this serious on an empty stomach."

                We crawled out of his bed and went down to the kitchen. The sun was just coming up and I was still tired, but I knew I had to get home before everyone went to work.

                Jack put down bagels for us and I dropped into a chair at the kitchen table as he searched for clean plates. When the bagels popped up, Jack grabbed them and slid a plate to me, passing me butter and a knife as well.