“Dog’s nice,” I said.
“What about the butthead?”
“Stopped a mugger the other night,” I answered with a shrug.
“Damn, so he’s nice too. Well, I hope this solves a lot of the mess. Let me know if you need any help again. I’m always willing.”
“That’s why you’re not a rich lawyer,” I teased.
“Eh, I can sleep at night. Others can’t for all their money.”
Giving him a hearty pat on the shoulder, I nodded. “Good man. Don’t be a stranger.”
“You either.” He pulled the door shut behind himself.
I turned to find the rest of the guys were cleaning up the mess and getting ready to go. I was relieved I was going to be able to sleep finally, and that all of my friends had the good sense at this stage of life that staying here and drinking ourselves stupid wasn’t really a good plan.
Jace, I noticed, hung back.
The rest—Noah, Uriah, Madd, and Kieran—all performed their ritual goodbye and were out the door and down the stairs in just a few minutes.
“Need a couch, Jace?” I asked, watching him wipe the coffee table.
“Do you mind?”
“Who is it this time?”
He sighed. “Silas. Took my credit card. Ran it up, and pretended to be me, closed it and laughed in my face when I couldn’t get the company to believe it wasn’t me.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“They dropped the charges but refused to open it again. So now I get to pay on it, and have no place to charge the things I need. Like food.”
I shook my head. “You need to get the hell out of that apartment, man. All the way out. Why don’t you double up with one of us? I mean, I’m only asking for rental of the couch if you stay.”
“I can’t do that…”
“Your pride is going to be your downfall, Jace. We’re all here for you.” He was about to start arguing with me, but I held up my hand. “No, I know. The couch is yours tonight if you can deal with Fido. Shower and fridge too. Anything you like.”
“I do…” He coughed. “I wanted to ask you for one favor. And it kills me to do this. But could you co-sign a safety deposit box with me? I don’t trust these assholes to keep their mitts off my stuff, and I want to keep things like my birth certificate and important docs away from them.”
“Why co-sign?”
“Because if something happens—”
“Have they threatened you?” My overprotective mama bear came out and I drew up taller.
“No, no, nothing like that. I’m just worried.”
“Are you sleeping on your backpack again?”
“I have to,” he whispered.
I was going to have to talk to the others about this. Jace struggled too much and he was too proud to ask for help. We were going to have to force it on him. “We can pop over to the bank tomorrow and open one.”
His relief was palpable. “Thanks, man.”
“Meanwhile, shower’s free here whenever you want to get away from those assholes.”
