Page 22 of Joey's Trick
“She took an extra shift to help a friend at work. Smells good, Mom. Where’s Pops?” Anthony came over to snag a piece of carrot from the cutting board.
“He’s firing up the grill. We’re having chicken breasts, succotash, and baked potatoes.”
Anthony gave Joey a look. “Can I talk to you for a second?”
Joey shrugged, set down the knife, and wiped off his hands on a towel. “Sure, what’s up?”
“Outside.”
Frowning, Joey followed Anthony out to the front porch. “What’s going on, Ant?”
“That’s what I want to know, Joey. Ever since you’ve been home there’s been something obviously going on between you and Trick. He wouldn’t tell me a damn thing when I asked him. Are you two involved?”
Joey raised a brow at him. “Would it matter?”
Anthony scowled. “I just want the damn truth.”
Shrugging, Joey replied, “I don’t know what is going on. That’s the truth.”
“What happened back in high school?”
Joey tensed in surprise at the question. “What do you mean?”
“I know something happened, Joey. You just suddenly stopped following us around. Did he do something to you?”
Snorting, Joey looked at his brother. “What exactly would he have done to me?”
“I don’t know. Assaulted you or something?”
An incredulous laugh burst forth from Joey. “What makes you think he’d even been interested in me enough to do that inthe first place? Where the hell did you get that insane idea from? And why are you waiting until now to ask me this?”
Anthony grunted. “I knew you had a crush on him, but we aren’t exactly confidantes to each other. I knew something happened, but I couldn’t figure out what. When I asked Trick back then, all he could do was brush it off.”
“He didn’t know,” Joey murmured, brushing a strand of hair off his forehead. “He didn’t know I heard him.”
“Heard him what?” Anthony asked.
Joey hadn’t ever wanted to tell his brother about this. Not with the possibility of hurting Anthony’s and Trick’s friendship. Mostly not wanting to hurt his brother since he’d just been overall pissed off at Trick for so long. “It’s not a big deal. Things are different.”
“Tell me,” Anthony demanded.
Giving in, Joey explained what he’d heard Trick say to his football teammates. Anger built on Anthony’s face and Joey winced when Anthony punched the metal bar of the rocking glider. “He did what?”
“It was a long time ago and things are different. He apologized, Ant. It’s over, okay?”
Awareness and even more anger deepened Anthony’s dark expression. “He’s the reason you didn’t come home before now, isn’t he?”
Joey flinched and Anthony cursed, scowling. “Son of a bitch. Why didn’t you tell me this before, Joey?”
“Because I didn’t want to hurt you. I didn’t want to ruin your friendship either.”
“You’re my brother!” Anthony exploded. “You come first. Always. I would never have remained friends with him if I’d known he was such a homophobic prick back then!”
“But he wasn’t!” Joey said. “You know how his parents are… were… whatever. He was scared, Ant. That’s all. You know he’s not a homophobe. He’s gay, too, remember?”
A few days ago, if anyone had said he’d be defending Trick to his own brother, Joey would have laughed his ass off. So much had changed in such a brief span of time, Joey could barely catch his breath.
Anthony’s rage faded a bit, but Joey could see his brother was still angry. “We talked and cleared the air, Ant. I promise.”