Phoenix (5 page)

got himself closer to the person he thought he should be. He

still had a hard time with his gender sometimes, dysphoria

driving him crazy and people like Dominic and the RA

pushing for the fact that he wasn’t really a guy.

He was stronger than that, though, and Ethan had always

told him that. He was away from his small town, and the

condescending glares he got when he bound his chest and

wore baggy jeans and
boy
shirts instead of skirts and dresses

and heels. The idea of him in heels was laughable at best. He

could see Ethan in heels more than he could actually see

himself.

He was so lost in thought that he jumped hard when the

door to Ethan’s dorm slammed open and Dominic stormed

into the room, apparently not even looking around before he

threw himself into his dorm bed, seething.

“Fucking asshole,” he muttered, his voice distorted and

nasally, and Ethan and Blake looked at each other. Ethan

chewed on his snakebites nervously and apparently decided

to speak up because he stood slowly.

Ethan gasped, and Blake stood to see what he’d gasped at.

What he saw was shocking. Dominic’s nose was obviously

broken and his cheek and jaw were discolored from bruises.

That would explain why his voice sounded horribly off.

“What happened?” Ethan asked, approaching the other

bed with caution.

“Riley fucking Sanders, that’s what happened. And it’s all

your fault, you fucking bitch!” Dominic shouted at Blake,

who flinched and stepped back. “Better get her out of here

before I punch her in the fucking face.”

“Fucking try it, asshole! And I’m not a girl, how many

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Joey James Hook

fucking times do you have to hear it before you fucking

figure it out?!” Blake snapped, standing straight and balling

his hands into fists.

“Oh yeah? Then why’s your name Jillian on everything,

huh? If you’re not a girl, fucking explain that,” Dominic

replied, a hard edge to his voice—even though the sound of

his nose being broken was comical—that Blake scoffed at.

“You’re too fucking ignorant to understand,” he said

simply, grabbing Ethan’s hand and turning to walk out of

the room. Ethan made a soft noise in the back of his throat

but went with Blake, who slammed the door hard behind

him. “Fucking
douchebag
,” he seethed as he walked his way

toward his dorm room.

“Be glad he’s my roommate and not yours,” Ethan

murmured, grasping hard onto Blake’s hand as he led him

down the hall. Blake stopped and turned to face his best

friend, frowning deeply and brushing a lock of hair off his

face.

“I’m sorry you have to deal with him, babe,” he said

softly as a surge of guilt roiled through him, and Ethan just

shrugged with a sigh.

“He normally doesn’t bother me unless I’m with you,”

Ethan said, and Blake chuckled without amusement. That

just figured. He couldn’t even go visit his best friend at his

dorm anymore for fear of Douchebag Mercante being there

and losing it on the both of them. The guilt was suffocating

for a moment and he hated the idea that Dominic fucked

with Ethan whenever he was there.

“I’m so sorry, Ethan. I don’t know what to do about that,”

he said with a helpless sigh, emotions crumpling.

Ethan shook his head and cupped Blake’s face gently.

“Don’t worry about it. Okay? It’s no big deal. We can just

hang out at your dorm from now on. I wanna meet Devon

anyway,” he said with an encouraging smile, the same one

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Phoenix

that always eased the pain out of his chest just a little bit.

He let out a long-suffering sigh in the form of an assent

and turned back around to lead Ethan to his dorm,

wondering what Devon was doing and what mood he was

in. His roommate had been passed the fuck out when he’d

gotten up for class, so he hadn’t spoken to him all day.

When they reached the dorm room door, Blake pulled his

keys out and unlocked it, letting Ethan in before he stepped

in, glancing up when he heard Devon’s voice, laughter

following it. He furrowed his brows and stepped past Ethan

to walk into the room.

He didn’t expect Riley to be sitting in the computer chair,

laughing right along with Devon, but it was a pleasant

surprise. He smiled a bit at the two of them and crossed his

arms over his chest.

“Hey, Blake!” Riley greeted him enthusiastically even

though he was sporting a nasty bruise on his jaw. Blake just

smiled even wider and cocked his head, nodding to the

bruise. Riley just laughed and twisted in the chair that

twirled around just like Blake always did. “Oh, just got into

a fight ‘s all. No surprise there.”

“With Dominic?” Blake offered, and Riley nodded as he

laughed. “Why?”

“‘Cause he was being a dick about you,” Riley said like it

was the simplest, most obvious thing in the world. Blake

frowned.

“You didn’t have to do that, you know,” he told him. He

felt a little squirmy that someone had fought for him like

that when he could fight for himself, but at the same time he

was flattered and it cemented in his head how good of a

friend Riley really was.

“Yeah, I know, but he’s been pissing me off for weeks

now,” Riley said, relaxing back into the chair. “Anyway. I

didn’t know Devon here was your new roommate.”

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Joey James Hook

Blake cocked am eyebrow and looked at a grinning

Devon. He idly wondered if it was him that they were

laughing about, but he kept himself quiet and pushed those

insecurities away. “I didn’t know you two were friends,” he

said instead.

“Only since about four this afternoon,” Devon interjected,

and Blake smiled at him with a nod. It was kind of starting

to amuse him how everyone seemed to be interconnected in

one way or another.

“Oh, hey, Ethan. Didn’t see you there,” Riley said with a

broad smile as Ethan stepped closer and tucked himself

under Blake’s arm. He looked down in time to see Ethan

giving him a sheepish smile.

“Yeah, I’m pretty quiet generally,” he said in a tone that

proved his point. “I’m like a mouse you don’t notice.”

Riley laughed and nodded. “Well, you should speak up

from now on,” he told him. “In fact, I think we should all go

out, get a bite to eat, just talk ‘n get to know each other.

What do you guys think?”

Devon lit up immediately and straightened, proclaiming,

“Hell yes, I’m up for it!”

Blake turned his attention to Ethan, seeing that he was

chewing on one of his snakebites nervously. “You wanna?”

he asked, nudging him gently with the arch of his hand.

Ethan looked up at him with a nervous expression,

swallowing hard before nodding a little. “I think it’ll be

fun,” he said, and the tone told Blake he was anxious about

going out with a bunch of people, but he was willing to do it

if Blake wanted to.

“What’s the verdict, guys?” Devon asked, and Blake

looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, chuckling and

shaking his head. This guy was something else, but every

time he was around him, he seemed to find himself smiling.

“Yeah, come on. I think we need to get out of the dorms

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Phoenix

for a while anyway,” he reasoned with a shrug, feeling

Ethan’s meek nod next to his chest. He was nervous, hell his

stomach had just erupted into a fit of butterflies, but he

figured why the hell not. Riley and Devon seemed interested

enough in doing it. It wasn’t like they were going to

suddenly turn around on them, right?

Riley grinned broadly, dimples pressing deep into his

cheeks as he said emphatically, “All right, awesome!”

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Joey James Hook

evon was quite intrigued by the way Ethan clung hard

D onto Blake as they spoke, and he had to wonder if they

were dating or not. It was blatantly obvious that Ethan was

in love with Blake, but he was wondering idly if it was

mutual or not. He couldn’t quite pin down Blake’s body

language.

Riley led the way down to the small town the school

owned and operated, and Devon was happily following

him. He’d found the larger man very,
very
interesting,

mostly because it was obvious that he was a total frat boy,

but he was fucking awesome at the same time. He was very

caring, and very easygoing. It wound down some of the

tension that was almost always thrumming through his

body.

Blake and Ethan hung back behind him, and he could

hear them talking, but he tried not to eavesdrop. It was

probably none of his business anyway. He hurried up to

walk next to Riley, bouncing with every step just because

that was just how much energy was coursing through his

system. He needed to go on a two mile run every night to

calm down, and he swore by that.

They reached the restaurant quickly, a burger joint, and

sat down. Riley and Devon sat on one side of the booth and

Ethan scooted in beside Blake, staying very close to him.

“So, how long have you been going to school here?” he

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Phoenix

asked Riley curiously, and he could see the way Riley’s lips

curled into a small smile in the half-light.

“About two years, and I’ve got about two years left. Got

in on a football scholarship, but I’m going for a bachelors in

medical studies,” he explained, and Devon smiled widely,

letting a chuckle slip through. He could definitely see Riley

as a doctor.

“Fitting. God, I made friends with a bunch of

overachievers! What’s wrong with me?” Devon said, with

theatrics hearing Riley chuckle huskily and watching him

shake his head a little. “Seriously, I’m a slacker.”

“It’s not good to be a slacker at this school,” Ethan said in

his quiet way, and Devon smiled a bit, shaking his head and

playing with one of the napkins in front of him, shredding it

idly.

“Nah, I know. I’m trying to be more focused. After high

school they kinda figured out I had ADD, so it was really

hard to concentrate on things. I’m doing better now with

meds,” he explained, and Blake gave a tiny sort of smile that

he half-hid. “What?”

Blake looked back up with wide eyes and raised his

brows. “What?” he asked, running his hand through his

hair. Devon was starting to notice that was a tic of his when

he got nervous.

“Nothing, you just smiled when I mentioned the

medication,” Devon said with a shrug, relaxing back into the

booth.

“Oh. It’s nothing, really,” he said with a nervous, quiet

sort of chuckle. “Just that I was depressed for a long time in

high school, and medication helped me get through school.

Well, that and my friends.” He shot a grateful, loving smile

to Ethan.

“Yeah, I don’t think I would’ve gotten through high

school if it hadn’t been for my best friend Andy back home,”

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Joey James Hook

Devon said with a fond smile. “I’m trying to get him to at

least move here or go to the school or something, but he says

he’s not fit for college and that he’s still got a six-month lease

on his apartment.”

“Aw,” Blake said with a small, empathetic sort of smile on

his face. Devon just shrugged a little and let his head roll

back on his neck.

“It’s fine, I talk to him pretty much every day anyway so

it’s no big,” he said with a grin. “He’s pretty much the only

one who brightens my day sometimes.”

Riley chuckled and shook his head. “Get all sappy on us,

why don’t you,” he teased, and Devon looked at him with

his face all scrunched up.

“Well, you told us to get to know each other, so eh,” he

said, and Riley just hit him on the back with his big palm,

almost knocking him all the way across the table only not

really. “Oof, you are a fucking oaf.”

“Yeah, he’s a big oaf,” Blake laughed, glancing at Ethan

probably to make sure he was okay. That brought Devon’s

attention to the other man, and he’d realized that he hadn’t

said a damn word since they’d sat down.

“So hmm, what’re you studying here, Ethan?” Devon

asked him, and he watched the way his cheeks colored a