Read Online Homeward Bound (Journeyman Book 1) by Golden Czermak - Free Book Online Page B

wasn't there, nor was he holding him. Perhaps if his brown hair was longer and more tousled things could be different, but he wasn't that girl.
    His mind was far from the chaotic mess of ordered purpose he knew how to handle. It had become plain chaos in there and the trips he was making down Feelings Avenue would most likely remain one way. Gage wasn't coming toward him in the opposite direction and his life was certainly going to keep on trucking whether or not Joey was in the other lane.
    So with that, Joey tried to evict him from his thoughts, or at least keep things focused on the platonic. But shit, before long he was once again thinking about his ripped body, chiseled jaw, and gruff but characteristic manscaping. That's when he found himself reaching to unbutton jeans in order to ease some of the growing tightness. If the statues of Perseus and Poseidon tattooed on his forearm could close their eyes, they surely would right about now.
    Gage had walked out of his room and was stepping down the hall when he paused in front of Joey’s cracked bedroom door. He was about to knock and check on him, when through the thin gap he noticed him lying down on the bed. Retracting his hand from the distressed door frame, he watched for a moment as Joey made his way into the front of his jeans and his head slowly slid back into the soft pillow. His left pec flexed, striations cutting across the musical score and red flowers that adorned it.
    Gage debated watching the entire thing as his eyes followed the few petals drifting down from his shoulder to elbow, but his stomach heeded the call of breakfast and took back over.
    Knock! Knock! Knock!
    Joey's hands shot back up toward his chest, the jolt nearly sending his phone into his face.
    “Morning, bossman,” said Gage without the slightest indication he had noticed what was going on mere moments before.
    “Oh! Um… hey! Hey there G,” Joey stuttered awkwardly as he casually stretched, then buttoned up his pants.
    “Are ya getting up to anything?” asked Gage.
    “Nothing. Just um… chilling a little.”
    “Ya can't beat that first thing in the morning,” Gage said with an amused smirk.
    Joey caught on to Gage’s not-so-subtle wordplay, replying, “Yeah, it's such a stress reliever. So what’s the deal? You seem more chipper this morning than usual. Did you have a good night?”
    “Oh yes,” he responded, “I had a great night. After the downright exhausting fun of the last few days, it was nice to finally unwind. Plus, I have nothing official on the calendar today, so it's a win all around.”
    Yeah, I bet you had such a great night unwinding with her, didn’t you? Joey thought callously.
    “That's just plain awesome,” Joey said, careful not to let his thoughts slip. “I think I'll take the opportunity to play around in the Funhouse today and see what kind of coolness I can devise for our future missions.”
    “Hell yes,” said Gage with a massive Cheshire smile. He took a quick glance out the window and noticed the sun hadn’t peeked out from behind the cloud cover. “Oh and since I can’t tan today thanks to the weather, figured I would get more wood chopping in at the lean-to after breakfast. Speaking of, Ady’s already downstairs whipping us up bacon and eggs. Ya hungry?”
    Joey’s stomach rumbled at the mere mention of food, but the thought of Gage chopping wood wouldn’t leave. “More wood?” he asked, knowing full well there was more than plenty of it stockpiled. He looked down, catching a glimpse of the photo that was still pulled up. Quickly he closed it, hoping Gage hadn't seen anything.
    Of course he already had. “Well, it’s decent cardio as you know and also great practice for sport fucking,” the big guy replied with a wink.
    “What?!” said a bewildered Joey. He looked up to where Gage was just standing, only to find him already gone.
    How the hell could that moose of a man move so fast?
    Just then, one of Joey’s radios began