Page 14 of Joey's Trick
Trick nipped at Joey’s lip, sliding his tongue along it to soothe the tiny bruise. “You’ve only become even more beautiful and sexy.”
The abrupt change in circumstances left Joey breathless and his head whirling. He pushed at Trick’s chest. “Stop.”
Trick immediately backed off, his breathing also giving away how affected he was. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to overwhelm you.”
Joey snorted. “This whole situation is more than overwhelming, Trick. I’ve spent the better part of the last decade thinking you hated me for being gay, for… for having a crush on you back then, and then suddenly you’re gay and kissing me? How the fuck am I supposed to feel?”
“You’re right,” Trick said, moving back to the recliner and sitting down. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
He didn’t know how to process everything he’d learned in the last ten minutes. To go from believing the person he’d thought hated him to suddenly being gay and kissing him? How the fuck was he supposed to unpack all of that? He felt sorely tempted to call his therapist right then. “I just need time to process this.”
Trick stood, slid on his shoes, and said, “I’ll drop you back at your parents.”
Joey didn’t argue, just followed Trick out of his apartment and to his truck. The ride to his parent’s house was quiet. When Trick pulled into the driveway, Joey didn’t immediately get out of the vehicle. “I wasn’t trying to mess with your head,” Trick murmured.
Staring at the house he’d grown up in, Joey thought back over the memories he had of Trick before the incident in high school. He’d thought Trick hung the moon and stars. Trick had been kind to him even when Anthony was being a jerk about Joey trailing behind them. But he found it hard to reconcile that this Trick and the Trick who’d said all those things years ago were the same.
“Do you really hate me that much?” Trick asked. Joey didn’t miss the sadness and regret in Trick’s voice.
“I thought I did,” Joey murmured. He still didn’t move to leave the truck, digging his fingers into his thighs where his hands rested. “I don’t know what I feel anymore.”
He couldn’t separate his attraction to Trick from the other emotions he’d felt for so long.
“I’ll stay home tonight,” Trick said. “Give you some time to think without my presence being there to confuse you further.”
Frowning, Joey finally looked at Trick. “You have to come to dinner. My parents expect you to be there.”
Trick sighed. “You should spend some time with your family without constantly being on alert with me there. I know I’m the reason you’ve barely been around since you got home, and when you are around, you’re not yourself. You have this massive fucking wall around you.”
Joey didn’t dispute what Trick said. He had kept a wall up to protect himself. A wall he was beginning to see may not be entirely necessary. “Come to dinner.”
Eyeing him, Trick asked, “Are you sure?”
“They’re as much your family as they are mine,” Joey said.
“All right. I guess I’ll see you guys tonight.”
Joey nodded, opened the truck, and got out. He slammed the door shut and jogged up the driveway to the front door. When he turned around, Trick hadn’t moved to back out of the drive, just stared at him with a pensive look on his face. Joey tossed him a short wave and headed into the house.
Everything was quiet as Joey went upstairs to his room. He shut his door, took out his cell phone and hit the speed dial for his therapist before collapsing on his back onto his bed. “Dr. Garrett.”
“It’s Joey Waters.”
“Joey, how are you? How are things in Fort Lauderdale?”
The dam broke and Joey spilled out everything, his heart pounding in his chest, his stomach twisting. Once the wordscame, they didn’t stop. Not until he confessed, “I’m so fucking confused, Doc.”
Dr. Garrett made a non-committal noise. “It sounds to me as though Trick has grown up a lot since then, Joey. Do you believe him?”
A rough laugh erupted from Joey. “Believe him? How the hell am I supposed to do that?”
“Do you want to believe him?”
Joey’s throat tightened and he flung his arm over his eyes, burying his face in the crook of his elbow. “Yes,” he murmured. “I do.”
“Then why don’t you? Until something shows you that you shouldn’t?”
“What if… what if he breaks me again?” Joey hated the weakness in himself. The emotion he’d tried so hard to shove down and stomp out of himself.