Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 32646 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 163(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32646 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 163(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
Fucking Ace.
We’d all left Ace behind, but I’d been confident enough in his ability to take care of himself that I hadn’t worried too much. Ace, despite being openly gay from the moment he figured he was, as he put it, “all about dick”, had been a hard ass. His mouth was quick, but his hands were even faster. Ace was small, but he was deadly. He knew how to take care of himself.
“Shaw?” I rasped.
He sighed. “Yeah, Cam. It’s me. I, uh, I’m in town. With Konrad. Wanted to know if you could meet up with us?”
I glanced at my computer, then at the red eviction notice, and then at the computer again. Blowing out a harsh breath, I stood and closed my laptop before moving away from my desk. Wasn’t like I could magically make job listings I was qualified for appear out of thin air. If I could, I would’ve done it a long time ago. Fucking months ago when I graduated.
Besides… I sort of wanted to see Shaw and Konrad again, even if it was just for a little while.
“Sure,” I told him. “Where at?”
“Uhm…” His voice trailed off, and I heard him quietly talking to someone—more than likely Konrad—before he came back on the line. “We’ve been awake for a while and could use some caffeine. You know a good coffee spot that has some baked goods?”
“Yeah,” I told him, searching for my keys in the mess on my desk. “There’s a little spot down the street from me—Beans and Things. I’ll head there now and get us a table.”
“Thanks.” He paused for a moment and then grunted. I mentally fist-pumped when I found my keys. “We’ll see you in about ten minutes.”
I hung up the phone and shoved my feet into my old sneakers before heading down the stairs of my apartment building. The elevator had been broken when I moved in here, and despite the landlord claiming it was going to get fixed when I signed the lease, it still wasn’t.
The walk to the coffee shop didn’t take long, and by the time I had my coffee and was sitting down, Shaw and Konrad were walking through the door, a boy with bleached blonde hair trailing in behind them. I frowned when I saw Shaw say something to him, and when they all looked in my direction, I choked on the sip of coffee I’d just taken.
Ace.
Ace was still short and scrawny, but there was a hardness to his eyes that didn’t used to be there. Sure, he’d been a hard ass little brat, but life hadn’t kicked him down that badly.
Looking at him now, it was clear life had been absolute shit to him after I’d left. Guilt swirled in my gut.
I shouldn’t have left. I shouldn’t have abandoned him like Konrad, Shaw, and Jax had abandoned us.
I immediately stood up, and Ace walked over to me. He frowned at me for a moment, and when I reached forward to hug him, he flinched away. My fingers curled into fists as I dropped my arms back to my sides, my gut churning. Ace used to be such a cuddler, and now…
Now he looked like my touch might make him vomit.
“I don’t like being touched,” he bluntly told me before taking a seat at the table. I tried to ignore the pang in my chest as I took my seat again, studying him. He arched a brow at me. “What? Do you have a staring problem, Cam?”
I snickered, relaxing. At least his snarkiness was still there. “Still a brat, I see.”
He rolled his eyes. “Fuck off,” he grumbled, grabbing a napkin and ripping it into tiny pieces for something to do.
Konrad and Shaw appeared at the table. Shaw set a coffee in front of Ace, being careful not to touch him, before sitting down as well. I drummed my fingers against my coffee. “So, not that I’m not happy to see you guys,” I mused, “but why the sudden visit after all these fucking years? Nine, right?”
Konrad grimaced. “Jax reached out to me. He was concerned for Ace.”
“Jax?” I asked, unable to hide the incredulity from my voice. Jax hadn’t allowed any of us to see him once he went in. In fact, he’d cut off all contact with all five of us—at least from what I was aware.
Shaw nodded. “Jax is out.” I blinked in surprise. “Apparently, he kept in touch with Ace over the years.” I scoffed because of course, he fucking did. Ace was the baby out of the group of us and got everything. I couldn’t fault him; we all loved Ace. But I couldn’t deny he got shit the rest of us didn’t. “Ace was on the verge of being re-homed—possibly across the state. Jax called and asked me to get him.”