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I exit the school buildings and walk across the parking lot to get to my car. I'm going home, spending the day under my covers, and drinking Fiji water. I'm not in the mood for much investigation. Not with the Jackass. Especially not with him.

I struggle with the keys to unlock my door, but just as I'm about to slide in, there's a sharp tug on my arm and I slam backwards into another car.

I look up and meet Jack's stern gaze.

"What do you think you're doing?"

I raise an eyebrow. "Going home. Is that a problem?"

Jack shakes his head. "Going to my home, you mean?"

"Is that what I said?"

Jack opens the rider's side of his car, which I realize is parked next to mine, and he shoves me in.

"We're still in this court case. I can't help it if you got pissed off, but you can't pin this by yourself, and neither can I. So swallow your own pride and drive with me."

I roll my eyes and mumble under my breath. "I would if you just didn't make it so...Difficult..."

He starts the ignition and drives forward. "Difficult? If anyone's being difficult here, it's you."

I open my mouth to protest. "Me? You seriously think I'm being difficult?"

He nods. "Uh, yeah? You're the one who gets in a mood over every little thing. I try to help you? You lash out. I give you information? You lash out. I talk to you in the halls? What do you do? Lash out."

I shove his shoulder, even though he's driving, and he yelps, repositioning himself at the steering wheel.

"You know what you did!"

Jack laughs out loud. "This is exactly what I mean! Lashing out."

I glare at him, shoving him again into the driver's side. To hell if doing so validates his point. I no longer care.

He swerves on the road at that moment, making me fall away from him and simultaneously braking the car next to a large house.

He sighs and unbuckles his seat belt. "Can we at least try to get along if we're going to be doing this?"

He looks at me, his eyes an unreadable mass. I unbuckle my own belt and start to open the car. He locks it from his control panel and forces me to face him.

"Well?"

I nod. "Fine. We can get along. Just make more of an effort to be less of a Jackass."

He laughs. "That nickname is starting to grow on me, you know?"

I roll my eyes and try to determine if he's being serious or not. It's impossible to tell when he's staring at me like that...

I rip my gaze away from him and unlock the door myself, stepping out into the road. I point to the huge house we just parked in front of.

"That's your home?"

I can't fathom the thought of living in a mansion so big. Jack shakes his head and spins his car keys around on his index finger.

"No, uh, that's the garage."

I stare at him open-mouthed, and he puts a finger under my chin to push it up.

"Quit gaping. It's all my Dad's money, but I'd trade it in a heartbeat to get him out of my life."

I knit my eyebrows together. "Wow. What did he do to make you hate him so much?"

Jack makes an unintelligible comment and shakes his head. I get the message. It's not something he wants to talk about, and probably especially not with me.

I nod in understanding and he gives me a grateful smile. He points around the garage to the towering castle-like structure behind it.

Jack takes my hand before I can protest and starts to lead me towards it. I'm consciousof every point of contact between us, perhaps more conscious than I should be.

I stare at his hands and notice they are long and lean; his fingernails perfect. Then I realize what I'm doing and shake my head. I came here for serious investigation, not to stare at hands...Wow, I'm weird...

A few seconds later, we reach the porch and walk right in. The house is completely empty and silent. It seems almost sad, as everything has a gloomy air about it.

That is...Until Amara comes crashing down the hallway to jump into Jack's arms.

"Jack! Jack! You know what we did at school today? I drew pictures, a-and I drew one of you, and my stuffed t-rex. You were holding it, and it was alive, and it ate you, and-"

Jack laughs and flips her upside down. "Woah, calm down there. Maybe too much imagination is a bad thing after all."

Amara giggles from her position on the floor and I stand there looking down at the two of them. They're both admittedly incredibly cute...He seems like a good older brother.

I clear my throat to get his attention, and he straightens up. He tells Amara to go play in the drawing room and then apologetically leads me over to the kitchen table.

I look around his house and let out a low whistle. It's immaculately decked, but just seems so...Fake...

Jack pulls out a chair for me to sit on and then grabs one for himself. He pulls out a cache of files on me and spreads them out on the table.

I page through them and gasp. He somehow got his hands on my birth certificate, driver's license, apartment registration notices, school registration notices and even that parking ticket I got last year. Impressive...

I look at him peculiarly. "Why all the research?"

He shrugs. "What do you think I do in my free time?"

I shake my head. "Right...Well...Somehow I'm glad you did. It gives us a good starting point."

Jack nods. "It does. Now, I did some more work on this. Apparently the court case and appeal are based on the claim that Delilah's old attorney was diagnosed with amnesia and was not an able speaker."

I smack my hand on the table. "That's a pathetic case. It'll never go through."

Jack nods. "You're right. It won't. But the difference is, this time my Dad is her attorney. And he has a lot of power under government."

I shake my head. "Why the hell is your Dad working for her in the first place? She doesn't have the money to pay him back. She has no money, period."

"That's what I can't figure out. I've been through my Dad's deposits...He's not getting paid at all to take this case. I can't figure out what's up."

He shakes his head and looks at me. "That's beside the point though. First of all, tell me what your direct connection to Delilah is."

He puts down the papers, rests his head on his arm and looks up at me. I feel sick inside, but I force myself to tell him.

"She was my father's ex-wife, and when they broke up and my dad remarried, she wouldn't stop harassing us. She was diagnosed with a bunch of mental illnesses, which is why my father ended their marriage in the first place. A while later he met my mother and I was born.

"We put a restraining order on her, but it didn't work. Eventually, she got to my dad and killed him with a kitchen knife, kind of pathetic actually. And she, uh..."

I clear my throat. "Tortured my mother until she eventually...Yeah..."

I press my mouth into a thin line. "I was there to see it all, you know? They had a witness."

I avert my eyes and focus on picking on the stray end of my zipper. It still hurts to even think about it.

Jack moves forward and holds my gaze for a moment.

"And I thought I had it bad..."

I tap my fingers curiously. "Had what bad?"

He sighs. "My own father is, in essence, a dick to me and my mother. Ever since I've learned to fight back, he hasn't laid a finger on me. And if he tries to touch Amara...He knows he wouldn't live to see the next day..."

Jack rolls back his sleeves. "If I could, I'd move out right now. I'd take Amara with me and go somewhere far away. But I'm still a minor, still in school and therefore...Still dependent on my Dad."

I purse my lips and look at him. We don't say anything for a while, just sit on opposite ends of the table and stare at each other.

Finally, he slides a paper towards my hand and smiles painfully.

"Let's get down a list of why this trial shouldn't go. We'll keep Delilah in jail..."

Maybe the Jackass isn't so much of an ass after all.