Phoenix (12 page)

taken aback, but Blake couldn’t help it. He didn’t want to

talk about this anymore.

“Okay, Mom. I love you,” he said in a soft voice.

“I love you, too, baby. Be careful, okay?” she said in that

overly motherly tone of hers, and he sighed, rubbing at his

eyebrows. He was just so frustrated now and he couldn’t

really think straight. He just needed to read. That was what

he needed to do.

“I will. Night, Mom,” he told her, hanging up and turning

off his phone before he could even hear her response. He

tossed the phone to the end of the bed and laid back in bed,

picking up the book he’d half-started the night before. He

pushed the world away when he let himself get lost in his

fiction.

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Joey James Hook

iley hadn’t been able to stop thinking about going to the

R movies with Devon. At first, he’d thought he’d been

developing feelings for Blake, but after seeing him and

Ethan together close-up, he knew he didn’t stand a chance.

There was so much chemistry between them that no one else

would be able to get between them.

Devon on the other hand was life incarnate. His bright

blue eyes were full of life that it made Riley feel alive to the

point of recklessness. They’d driven around town after the

movie and Devon was a fucking speed demon. Normally

Riley would have told him to slow down, being the cautious

person his father had raised, but instead he’d let his head fall

back and he’d laughed louder than he had in years,

embracing the speed and the wind through his short hair.

The next morning, despite the fact that he hadn’t slept, he

jumped out of bed like he’d been electrocuted. He pulled on

a pair of jeans and a hoodie and made his way down to the

cafeteria, grabbing a breakfast sandwich and then beginning

to run around the campus.

He put in his headphones and began running to Pantera,

the brutal guitars and screaming vocals pumping up his

system as his speed picked up. As he turned a corner, he

pulled his hood over his head and shut his eyes, darting

across a flat plane, knowing that there were no turns for

about half the song.

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Unfortunately, he didn’t count on another person

crashing straight into him.

Riley let out a grunt as he was knocked hard onto the

grass, and he ripped his ear buds out of his ears, flaring up

at whoever had knocked him down, but his face melted into

a brilliant smile as he saw Devon sprawled out on the other

side of the walkway.

“Hey, man, sorry about that,” Riley said as he pushed

himself up off the ground, watching in amusement as Devon

practically bounced up off the ground.

“That’s all right,” Devon laughed, holding his hand out.

Riley took it and pulled him into a one armed hug. “What’s

up, Riles?”

Riley cracked an even wider grin at the nickname that had

only had one day of airtime, and he shook his head. “Not

much, Dev. Other than knockin’ you on your ass,” he said

with a smug grin.

“Hey, I knocked you on
your
ass, too, asshole,” Devon

quipped, and Riley barked a laugh, clapping his hand on

Devon’s shoulder.

“Just ‘cause you caught me off guard, that’s all,” Riley

told him. “Otherwise, there’s no way I would have been on

my ass like that. I’m far too skilled for that.”

“Keep tellin’ yourself that, big guy,” Devon teased him.

“I will, thanks,” Riley rebutted, stubbornness in his reply,

and Devon’s face lit up as he threw his head back, laughing

deeply, indulgently.

“You’re so funny,” Devon told him, slinging an arm over

his broad shoulders and pulling himself close. Closing one

eye and pointing across the campus, he proposed, “I bet I

could beat you to that tree over there.”

“You’re so fuckin’ on,” Riley replied, a smirk coming onto

his face. Devon cackled and let go of Riley, beginning to run

right off the bat. “Hey, motherfucker! That’s cheating!” he

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Joey James Hook

yelled as he ran after Devon.

“Gotcha!” Devon called over his shoulder as he ran, but

Riley was already catching up. Every muscle in his legs

burned as he pushed himself to catch up with the smaller

man.

He laughed and then whooped when he passed Devon,

tapping him on the shoulder before darting in front of him,

making a beeline for the tree. He grasped onto one of the

branches, pulling himself off the ground with his upper

body strength. “Never challenge a linebacker!” he bellowed.

His victory, and his pride, didn’t last long.

Riley heard the crack of the branch, but it broke before he

could react, and one moment later, he was flat on his back,

staring up at the tree and then at Devon’s half-amused,

half-concerned face, bright eyes glittering like jewels in the

early morning light.

“Are you all right, Riles?” Devon asked, and Riley could

tell it was very hard for him to conceal the laughter and

amusement from his voice. He rolled his eyes dramatically,

but it was pretty fucking funny.

“Fucking branch,” Riley muttered, but then when Devon

burst into laughter, it didn’t take long for him to succumb to

it, too. He couldn’t be petulant for long when Devon was

laughing, even if it was at his expense.

“Smooth move, Mr. Linebacker,” Devon choked out

through hysterical laughter. Riley was laughing too hard

and too deeply to respond properly, so all he could really do

was flip off his friend and try to glare at him, but the wide,

dimpled smile was fucking plastered to his face, no chance

of it disappearing any time soon.

“Go fuck yourself, you lanky fucker,” Riley finally

breathed out through his laughter, cocking an eyebrow and

tackling Devon to the ground out of nowhere. Devon let out

a half-laugh, half-scream and crumbled beneath him, arms

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Phoenix

falling gracelessly around Riley’s shoulders in a rather

compromising, romantic sort of position but neither of them

paid much attention to it.

“Oh fuck, you are heavyyy,” Devon groaned, pushing at

Riley’s shoulder without any force behind it, and Riley

laughed. This was all just so funny to him, he couldn’t even

contain himself; his hazel eyes glinted vividly with mirth

and pure amusement. “Get off meeeee!” Devon whined,

pushing at him again.

“Nope,” Riley replied simply, grinning and flashing

perfectly straight white teeth at Devon. “I’m actually quite

comfortable right here.”

“I bet you are, you big oaf,” Devon groaned, thrashing

weakly. Luckily, Riley wasn’t putting anywhere near his full

weight on the smaller man, so he wasn’t actually squishing

him like he would have been had he tackled him like

another football player.

“Okay, fine,” Riley gave in after a moment of thrashing,

and stood. He held his hand out to Devon, who took it with

a playful scowl as he was lifted off his feet. “You’re perfectly

fine, aren’t you?”

“My pride is wounded!” Devon crowed, and Riley

snorted in amusement.

“
Your
pride? Who’s the one who just broke a fucking

branch and fell on his ass a
second
time in ten minutes?”

Riley asked, but he couldn’t keep his face serious enough to

have the effect it should have.

“Very true,” Devon said with a snort of mirth, eyes

glittering much the same. “That was a typical ape move

right there.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Riley rolled his eyes with a grin. “Laugh it

up, little guy.”

“Better to be little and fast than big and…well, fuck.

You’re fast, too,” Devon said, shaking his head at himself.

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Joey James Hook

Riley collapsed into another fit of riotous laughter, sitting on

the grass and shaking his head. His cheeks hurt from smiling

as wide as he was and his ribs hurt from laughing so hard.

Or maybe that was from the fall. He wasn’t sure but he’d

rather go for the first option.

Devon collapsed beside him, still chuckling under his

breath. He let his body go, his face smashed against Riley’s

bicep. Riley didn’t mind in the slightest and just leaned back

on his hands casually, catching his breath.

“Oh man, that was fun,” Devon mused, and Riley

nodded.

“Are you always that fun?” Riley asked, nudging him

gently. Devon looked up at him with a broad grin.

“Maybe you should find that out for yourself?” he said,

raising his brows in a suggestive move. Riley cracked

another grin.

“Maybe I should,” he said with a slow, overly-pensive

nod. He had a thought and ran with it before he could

overthink it like he did every other thing in his life. “You

wanna go out again tonight? Dinner, eight o’clock, meet at

my dorm?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely,” Devon replied, grin positively

radiant.

Riley leaned over and pecked him affectionately on the

lips, grasping onto the last of his courage. Devon grinned

into it and kissed him back happily, cupping the back of his

head and keeping him close, deepening it.

Riley had no problems with that.

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Phoenix

lake woke up the next morning and didn’t even want to

B come out from under his blanket, let alone face the

world. He felt like his body was caving in on him and he

couldn’t breathe, the pressure against his chest completely

dizzying. He wrapped his arms around his chest, hating the

softness that hit his forearms. He shuddered in disgust and

groaned, burying his face into his pillow.

“I don’t wanna be awake,” he mumbled into the pillow.

He hated the idea that Devon could be on the other side of

the room, witnessing his dysphoric freak-out, but at the

same time it was hard to lock that shit away when he first

woke up and his mind hadn’t caught up with his body yet.

After a moment, he lifted his head and looked around,

brows furrowing. He let out a sigh of relief when he found

the room empty. He sat up and wrapped his arm around his

chest even as he stripped his shirt off as quickly as he

possibly could and vigorously pulled on his binder.

After pulling one, two, three shirts on, Blake pulled on

one of his hoodies and left the room with one of his many

books tucked into the front pocket of his sweatshirt. He

wandered down to the cafe and got a bagel, settling down

on the couch in the corner of the cafe and pulling out his

book.

His head lowered as he began to read and nibble on his

bagel, and it didn’t lift for what felt like hours. He was just

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Joey James Hook

fading into the background, not wanting to garner too much

attention to himself. His nerves were raw and every

movement felt like it was being watched.

It was so obviously going to be a bad day.

As he read, his mind wandered to Ethan and the

conversation he’d had with his mother the night before.

Could Ethan really be in love with him? It could be possible,

especially if his mother was the one pointing it out. They

had spent so much time together recently and Ethan was his

biggest supporter and his best friend in the entire world.

Honestly, he’d thought about dating him before, but he felt

like he wasn’t worthy of that kind of attention so he hadn’t

even bothered with the idea.

The moments he’d spent alone with Ethan were some of

the best. The way they could spend hours around each other

and he could feel completely comfortable in his skin around

him was a miracle in and of itself. Blake had to wonder if

that was indicative of something. He always got a flicker of

excitement in his stomach whenever he heard Ethan’s voice

or saw his face. Maybe it was more than that, those

proverbial butterflies he’d heard about when people talked

about being in love.

Maybe he
was
in love with his best friend. It’d be better

than chasing after a frat boy like Riley, no matter how nice

and laid-back he was. Besides, he and Devon had much

better chemistry. Riley didn’t know about him. Ethan did.

Sometimes that made him just want to crawl out of his skin,

but other times—most of the time, really—it was nice to