******

Jack woke to the sound of the phone ringing. He heard Eric answer it. He walked into the living room and caught Eric whispering into the phone.

"No, he's not up yet... he came home late, I didn't get to talk to him... I will..."

Eric was startled when he heard Jack's voice behind him, "Who is that?" Eric turned around abruptly.

"He's up now... I'll call you later." He hung up the phone and stood, facing a bewildered Jack.

"What's going on? Why are you whispering?" Jack walked over to the couch and sat down. Eric took a step back and sat on the armrest of the opposite end. He just sat there, staring at Jack.

"Eric. What's the deal, man?" Jack's tone was agitated.

"You have some things you wanna tell me about?" Eric folded his arms and looked at Jack intently. He returned Eric's gaze, baffled and frustrated. Eric produced a plastic bag, the same one from the night before and threw into Jack's lap. "What's that?"

Jack froze. He stared at the bag, "Why were you going through my things? Where'd you get that?"

"The more pressing question, Jack, is where did you get that?" Eric remained stoic, he remained closed off.

Jack sat there for a minute and thought. "This isn't all you found, is it. Why don't you pat me down when I come in the door too." He looked back at Eric, who was shaking his head slowly.

"Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you," Eric scoffed.

Jack stood up and looked Eric in the eye, "What if I would, you gotta problem with that?" He took a step forward, causing Eric to take a step back.

"Uhh, Jack... it's not what you think... we found it by accident." Eric backed up another step after Jack advanced again.

"We?" Jack stepped forward again, this time Eric had his back against the door.

Eric's voice reflected his discomfort and nervousness, "Rach and I were... playing around... and she tried to get away from me and jumped on your bed... we found all that stuff by accident, I..."

"That doesn't sound like a very good excuse to me. Haven't you ever heard of privacy? Don't you have respect for other people's property?" Jack was nearly nose to nose with Eric at this point. Jack could easily see the fear in Eric's eyes, and it excited him. "I think you owe me an apology."

"I'm... I'm sorry, Jack," Eric stammered.

"I can't hear you."

"I said I'm sorry!" Eric finally sidestepped Jack and walked to the kitchen table. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He had never seen Jack act so unconscionably.

Suddenly, Jack was behind him, "How are we going to fix this mess now, Eric?" He spun around to face Jack. Jack's piercing eyes tore a hole through Eric's body. He felt so vulnerable. Jack had never treated him like this. Panic began to fill his gut as he stared back, against those angry eyes.

"I... I don't know... what do you want from me?"

"We'll talk about it tonight, sound good? In the meantime, how about staying out of my stuff and minding your own business, hmm?" Eric nodded. He felt somehow violated, which was ironic considering the circumstances. Jack turned and walked back into the bedroom. Eric grabbed his keys and locked the apartment door behind him.

******

"... so you didn't say anything else to him?"

"What else could I say? He turned it around on me and acted like we had been snooping around through his stuff!" Eric laid back on Rachel's bed.

"Then you need to figure out what you want to say to him tonight" Rachel prodded.

Eric turned over onto his side, "I know what I'm gonna say. I'm gonna tell him that I can't live with someone that does or sells drugs. Look, I can take care of this by myself."

Rachel rolled her eyes, "I'm not trying to do it for you, I just want to make sure that you'll be alright when you confront him again..."

"I'll be fine! Just drop it, Rach!" Eric barked. Rachel stood up and stormed into the bathroom, locking the door. Eric sat up and sighed. He stared at the locked door.

"Rach, I'm gonna go run some errands, I'll come back later and we can go see a movie or go eat somewhere or both, 'kay?" He heard her snap an acknowledgement, which satisfied him enough to leave.

******

Eric marched up the front steps of the building, determined to take charge of the situation this time. He unlocked the door and walked into the apartment.

"Jack? You home?" Eric took his coat off and tossed it onto the coat hanger in the corner. He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and set it along with his keys on top of the TV. "Jack!?"

Jack stood in the doorway of the bedroom watching Eric. He puffed on a lit joint and blew the smoke out into the room.

"Jack, we need to talk. Now." Eric was nervous inside, but managed to maintain his composure on the outside. He walked to the bedroom door and stood in front of Jack. He ushered Eric in, narrowing his eyes at him.

Eric brushed passed him, "And could you put that out, please?" He walked over to sit on his bed, but before he reached it, he felt a hard shove that catapulted him onto his bed. As Eric tried to stand, he felt Jack grab a fistful of the back of his shirt and pull him up to a standing position. Jack grabbed his shoulders and spun him around. He backhanded Eric across the face, which knocked him backward onto the bed once again. Eric was still shocked and unconsciously touched the spot where Jack struck him. Jack jumped on the bed and straddled Eric, grabbed him by the neck and pinned him to the bed. He drew in another lung-full of smoke and blew it into Eric's face. A muffled cough escaped Eric's lips.

"Shut up, you little prick! Don't tell me what to do in my apartment. I let you live here and charge you two thirds of what anyone else would pay in rent, you ungrateful little swine." Jack growled. Eric lay there, paralyzed. "There's gonna be rules in this house, Eric, and you are gonna keep it to yourself and you're gonna do exactly as I say."