Page 10 of Joey's Trick
Joey scowled at him before giving the bastard his back and finishing his cool down. When he turned back around, Trick was gone. Most likely in the house. Joey entered the front door and went upstairs to grab a quick shower and get dressed. The rest of the family was in the living room by the time he came back down.
Disgust at himself rolled through him when he realized how quickly he pinpointed where Trick sat. Once again, he felt the prick of Trick’s gaze, but he ignored it, smiling at his family. “Morning, Mom, Pop.”
“Hey, sweetie. We’re just about ready to go. I’ve got towels for everyone, packed a cooler with sandwiches and drinks, and your dad threw a football and a volleyball in the car.”
Joey eyed his brother. “You ready to get your ass handed to you?”
Anthony snorted. “Big words, little brother.”
“I’ve gained some skills since we last played,” Joey said. “Don’t underestimate me.”
“Guess we’ll see, won’t we?” Anthony said.
Joey smirked and shrugged. “I’ll take my car.”
“Nonsense!” Joey’s mother interjected. “No sense paying for two parking spaces. There’s enough room in the car for all of us.”
He really didn’t want to be in that close a vicinity of Trick, but he knew he couldn’t argue with his mom and he grunted in reply. His dad had already put everything in the back of the SUV, so they filed out of the house and Joey sat in the far back behind the driver’s side. To his utter dismay, Trick climbed in next to him. It was a bench seat instead of two individuals, like the ones in the center row. Joey crowded as close to the side of the car as possible and pulled out his phone. Thankfully, the beach wasn’t far from his parents’ home, about twenty minutes. He could last that long in close quarters with Trick. Couldn’t he?
As soon as the car was in motion and everyone in the front began talking, Trick interrupted his perusal of his emails. “Are you going to ignore me all day, Joey?”
Joey clenched his jaw, but didn’t respond. Trick sighed. “That was a long time ago and I was a stupid kid in high school.”
If they’d been alone, Joey just may have exploded on him like he had the previous evening. A long time ago? A stupid kid? Those were Trick’s excuses for shattering his world and sending him on a dark fucking spiral? He raised his head to glare at Trick and kept his voice low as he responded. “It doesn’t change the fact that you hate me for existing just because I have men in my bed.”
“I don’t feel that way anymore, Joey! I didn’t even feel that way back then!”
“Bullshit. People don’t say shit like that if they don’t mean it.” Joey tightened his hold on his phone.
Trick placed his hand on Joey’s arm. “I am truly sorry you overheard what I said. There’s a lot of things from back then I wish I could take back, but I can’t. Will you please forgive me?”
Joey glanced down at Trick’s dark, tanned fingers on his arm. “We only have to be around each other for the next few days.I don’t see the point in even having this conversation. I’ll be heading back to Orlando at the end of the week. Why does it matter if we talk or not?”
Sighing, Trick took his hand off Joey and set it on his own thigh. “Because I really miss talking to you. We were friends once.”
“Were we? Because friends definitely don’t say what you did,” Joey replied.
“Things… things are different now, Joey. There are some things you don’t know. If you give me a chance, I’d like to explain them to you.”
Joey side-eyed Trick. He’d hear him out, just to see what had changed. “Fine. Why can’t you explain it now?”
Trick cleared his throat and gave a slight toss of his head toward Joey’s brother. Joey grunted and tipped his head in acknowledgement. If Trick didn’t want to talk about it in front of Anthony, either his brother didn’t know or there was something else going on. “Fine. When?”
“When we get back from the beach. We can go grab some coffee.”
Joey ignored the flutter in his stomach at the idea of a coffee date with Trick. It wasn’t a date. Hell, he shouldn’t even be considering giving Trick the chance to explain anything. But the teenage boy who’d lusted after the bastard wouldn’t let him say no. He went back to checking his emails, responded to one, before they pulled into one of the parking lots near Fort Lauderdale Beach. The scent of salt and sea slapped Joey in the face as he followed Trick out of the backseat. He grabbed a couple of things from his dad to help carry down toward the shore.
Despite it being the middle of the day on a workday, there were still quite a few people in the water and lining the beach. They found a place to spread out the blanket and Joey kickedoff his flip-flops. Anthony took off his own shoes and his t-shirt, then grabbed the football. “Let’s see how you’ve gotten so cocky, baby brother.”
They decided on touch football so Veronica could play as well. Trick and Joey against Anthony and Veronica. Years ago, Joey would have practically squealed over being teamed up with Trick, but despite their uneasy truce in the car, Joey still couldn’t stop his resentment and anger that easily. They set the “end zones” as a couple of palm trees on either side of their area. He said nothing as they separated and Trick made a simple pass to him.
“Come on, little bro,” Anthony taunted. “Let’s see these new skills.”
Joey smirked and darted around Anthony, breezing past his brother with more than a couple of arm lengths between them. He tagged the tree and grinned at his brother, casually tossing the ball in the air before lobbing it over Anthony’s head to Trick. His brother was extremely competitive and after he saw how easily Joey bypassed him, it became an all-out war to get the ball from him.
Anthony was panting and sweating like crazy by the time the score was tied. “Damn, Joey. Must be working with all those football star quarterbacks!”
Laughing, Joey winked at his brother. “More than just working.”