Broken Halo (Wander Lust - PT 2)

CH 8: "Ménage à...Troy"

Quiet shakes remained, quivering through his body when Joey awoke the next morning. His stuffy head, clogged sinuses, and puffy eyes alerted him that he had cried a lot in his sleep last night. Joey rolled over and stared out the window. The morning light was pale, signifying it was still quite early as the sun had yet to break over the horizon. He sniffed and rubbed his eyes. They were dry of tears but remained slightly swollen and tight. How long would it be until he stopped crying himself to sleep? At this moment, he couldn't imagine the pain ever going away. His heart hung heavy in his chest, pulling him down; body, mind, and spirit.

His thoughts drifted to Link and...the other guy. He didn't know if the scene he'd witnessed in Link's room had been real or part of a dream. He vaguely recalled someone coming into his bedroom during the night and covering him with the blankets he'd kicked off in his restless sleep, could still feel the distant sensation of fingers combing softly through his hair, and lips against his brow...but he didn't know if all that had been a dream as well. If he'd known for sure that what he'd seen last night was a dream, he would have entered Link's bedroom and asked to join. Sometimes even dreams could provide much-needed distractions.

Joey sat up and dropped his feet to the floor. He rubbed his eyes again and looked at the bedroom door, ears straining to pick up sound within the house. He thought he heard movement out in the kitchen but couldn't detect voices. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that there hadn't been a second man in the house last night. Surely he'd been dreaming. He wasn't certain if that made him feel better or worse. If it hadn't been a dream, then Link was most definitely into guys...just not him specifically. If it was a dream, then that meant Link was still straight as an arrow, and there was no chance of a last minute "conversion" of the man. Joey had given up on that, though. Maybe the next guy he met would be more sexually accommodating.

A slight heaviness pressed on Joey's heart when he thought about leaving here today. With or without the fucking, Link had his appeal and, at least in part, Joey wanted to stay. Maybe to some degree because Link had helped him tap into his forgotten self. But then, that was the same reason Joey felt like he should be going; he was scared to look any deeper. At least for now.

He dressed and left the bedroom. Before he reached the kitchen, he smelled the bacon and fried potatoes. His stomach immediately began to rumble. The barbecue chicken from last night's dinner had been good, but Joey hadn't eaten much. His largest meal yesterday had been back at the diner.

The kitchen was empty when he entered, and the door to the wood shed ajar. Joey looked through the door. "Link?" Sound from the workout room drew him that way. He opened the door and found the man pounding the punching bag, his back to Joey—shirtless, shoeless, and wearing only jeans. "Link..." he stopped short when the guy turned around, and it wasn't Link. "I'm...I'm sorry," Joey mumbled. "I thought you were..."

The man grinned, and Joey's gaze swept helplessly down his naked torso, images from last night exploding through his head. "You must be Joey." The man came toward him as he peeled off his gloves then thrust out his hand. "I'm Troy."

"Hey," Joey whispered, unable to look him in the eye as they shook hands; the man had blatantly seen Joey watching him and Link fuck.

Troy stepped back and boldly surveyed Joey from head to toe and back up again. "Link told me a lot about you."

Like what? Joey thought anxiously. Would Link have told him about Joey wanting to fuck Link? About the kiss?

Troy chuckled. "Don't worry, it was all good." He looked him over again. "All very good."

Joey nodded, unsure what to say.

"I must confess; he did tell me that you wanted to fuck him." Troy stared at him. "That true?"