Hey guys! So here is another update. It's a short one but I didn't want to make you wait forever again. Thanks for your great reviews and loyalty. I love this story so much still, I just have such little time to write. I'm currently studying for the LSAT while working 2 jobs, so please bear with me.

I hope you enjoy. I still have a bucketload of ideas to carry out and unfinished plots to tie up. I haven't forgotten, don't worry. Let me know if you'd like to see any characters return in the next chapter or have been waiting to find something out! Cheers! xo

Nicky, still hogtied with his stomach to the ground, manoeuvred himself onto his side. That was the extent of mobility that he had in the restraints. His predicament was not just humiliating and painful, but virtually impossible to get out of. That is, as long as the zip ties were tight enough. And goddammit were they ever.

It occurred to Nicky that whoever his raspy-voiced abductor was, he sure as hell hadn't been lurking in his hallway, waiting for an apartment to commandeer. He remembered finding his door open when he returned from seeing off Shawn. It had been locked. That would mean the guy had just come out of Nicky's apartment. He was in there while Nicky and Shawn were talking, unnoticed. For how long? Why would he come out just to drag me in? The only explanation is that the asshole thought he was about to be made.

"Don't think for too long, Detective. You'll hurt yourself." That voice made Nicky seethe. It came from somewhere behind him.

"Who are you?" Nicky was craning his neck in a futile attempt to see anything taller than the arm of his couch. "You know so much about me and I know nothing about you. Well, except that you're a shitty burglar."

The man chuckled and the sound pierced Nicky like a cold needle down his spine. "Like I said, you're not a very good detective. You've given me so much, Nicholas. And when I was done with them, I put them back. You have so many nice things." His voice was becoming less hoarse, as though the croak was only due to lack of speech. Shit, how long has this creep been in here?!

He spoke again, this time an octave higher. "I want to have them all, you know. But that's just greedy. They're not all for me. Some things can only be yours."

"What the hell are you talking about? You want my stuff, take it! I don't care about any of this shit."

The man moved back into Nicky's sights. "NO! It wouldn't be right! It would NOT be right! You take it all for granted! You waste! You're not supposed to waste!"

Okay, nut job! "Then why the fuck are you doing this? You want me to recycle?"

He moved closer. "No, not recycle. Let's call it, making use of your resources."

Shawn was asleep on the couch when Eli knocked twice and let himself in. "It's okay, Hunter. Don't get up." He joked, but Jonathon could tell even from his post at the kitchen island that Shawn barely stirred.

"Eli! It's good to see ya." Jonathon grinned, though the action felt utterly exhausting.

"Yeah, I'm glad to see you two are still hangin' in there. I guess your phone just doesn't work. It's only been ages." Eli would only have said it if he were kidding.

Jonathon smirked. "Oh man, haven't you heard?"

"What?"

"Oh buddy, this is cool stuff. Gone are the days when you had to wait for the phone to ring. They work both ways now! You can call me."

"You're kiddin'!" Eli beamed. "How ya doin' man?"

The answer to Eli's question was on the tip of Jonathon's tongue. "I'm so fuckin' tired!"

"Shhh..!" Eli laughed silently, but a glance at the couch assured them both that Shawn was still out cold.

Jonathon rubbed his eyes with his palms. "He screams every night. I don't even sleep anymore. I just lay there waiting for the screaming to start."

"He's still having those nightmares?" Eli said incredulously, taking a seat on a bar stool.

"Like clockwork. Unless he doesn't sleep at all in which case I have to worry about him taking off." It frustrated Jonathon nearly to the point of tears.

"Taking off? He still going back to the trailer park?"

"Oh God, I hope not. He doesn't want me controlling him. I feel like he's controlling me." Jonathon hadn't planned on saying any of this to anyone, but he also hadn't planned on this impromptu visit from his best friend. Suddenly, his venting just had no lid.

"Geez, man. And you thought bringing up a teenager would be easy." Eli joked, but didn't smile.

Jonathon dropped his elbows on the counter. "Yeah, next time I have such a bright idea just shoot me."

Eli clapped him on the shoulder. "You're a saint, man, but a mortal one. Listen, Jon. Why don't you go get some sleep? I'll stay here and watch TV. If the kid wakes up, I'll make sure he doesn't go anywhere. Alright?"

"Really?" Jonathon said, though he was already giving in to his heavy eyelids.

"Yeah, man. But afterward I want to hear all about the alleged break-in that happened last night. Your neighbour was chatting me up in the elevator. Asked me how much damage was done."

"None." Jonathon affirmed on his way to his bedroom. "And even less damage control."

It didn't take long for paresthesia to set in from the top of Nicky's back, down his shoulder, and to his hip. His wrists were burning from the friction the zip ties created.

"What resources am I not making use of?" Nicky needed a plan to cut himself loose. Keeping his masked kidnapper talking was the extent of it so far.

The man was shaking his head at Nicky condescendingly. "You can't be this stupid. You just can't." He sunk to his knees and crawled to Nicky on the floor.

Nicky wedged himself backward, as far away from the guy as he could.

He slipped his fingers beneath his mask and lifted it off his face. He looked down at Nicky with bright blue eyes and hair like charcoal. His lips were a light pink, his skin pale and only slightly wrinkled. He wasn't much older than Nicky.

If this unveiling was supposed to mean something to Nicky, it failed to do anything besides permanently etch the man's lipstick-plastered-face in Nicky's mind.

"Who the hell are you?" Nicky gaped, his heart rate hitching.

The man leaned closer, too close for comfort. "No, Nicholas. The question is who the hell are you?"

"What are you fuckin' talkin' about?!" Nicky was passed frustrated. "What? What do you want from me? Why are you here?"

The man clicked his tongue, disapprovingly. "You act just like them, don't you? Like all those ignoramuses. But you're not like them. You pretend and you waste! You're special, Nicholas! You're one of us and you can't escape it."