Read Phoenix for Free Online Page B

sight to see. “O-oh, really? You’re welcome,” he
    said.
    Devon just smiled broadly and relaxed back again,
    nodding firmly, content with his decision.

    * * * *

    Blake was perfectly content letting Devon and Riley talk,
    and he knew Ethan was the same way. He was finding out
    very fast that Devon was nothing if not a loudmouth. No,
    more like a motor mouth. He didn’t find himself minding
    very much.
    “So are you guys from here or did you just come here for
    school?” Devon asked, glancing from Riley, to Blake, to
    Ethan, eyes widening expectantly.
    “Well, I moved here from Illinois,” Blake said with a
    chuckle. “Tiny little town, I hope I never have to go back.”
    “Yeah, it kind of sucks,” Ethan agreed with a nod. “I lived
    there, too, from high school on,” he explained as Devon
    pulled a confused expression. The way he pulled it, though,
    was comical to Blake, and he grinned to himself again.
    “Well, I guess I’m the minority in saying that I was born
    and raised here, huh?” Riley said with a teasing smile.
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    Joey James Hook

    Blake nodded. “Looks like it,” he said, and he could tell
    he was starting to relax and ease into this ‘conversation’
    thing. He’d always been weird and mildly paranoid about
    making new friends outside of Ethan, but this wasn’t quite
    as bad as he thought it was going to be.
    “Yep, my dad went to this college and he pressured the
    shit out of me to get a scholarship in football so I could go
    here, too,” Riley said with a roll of his eyes, scratching at the
    back of his neck as he stretched, muscled biceps shifting
    under the light. Blake caught himself staring and shook
    himself, looking away. “He’s the kind of guy who eats,
    sleeps and breathes football. It’s kind of annoying.”
    “My dad’s like that with baseball,” Blake laughed, trying
    to get rid of the feeling of heaviness coming into his
    stomach. Stupid crush. That’d never work. Why was he even
    thinking that anyway? He couldn’t afford to be in a
    relationship, and besides it was probably lust anyway. He’d
    never given into that before, and the thought made him feel
    sick to his stomach. Besides, Devon and Riley would
    definitely be a better match. To distract himself from his
    thoughts, he continued, “Well, maybe not that bad, but you
    can’t get him out of the house when the World Series is on,
    especially if it’s the Cubs playing.”
    “My dad’s like that with soccer, especially the Italian
    team,” Ethan spoke up with a light laugh. “It’s so funny
    because he’ll sit in front of the TV for hours, intently
    watching the game and cursing in Italian if his team fucks
    up.”
    Blake laughed quietly and shook his head, murmuring, “I
    remember that.”
    “Yeah, that’s how my dad gets with UCLA and shit like
    that. He’s a real California teamer and he’s got a bit of an
    anger problem so he has this habit of snapping at the
    television when it’s done absolutely nothing to him. He’s
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    Phoenix

    broken at least a couple TVs before because of it,” Riley
    piped up, but Blake noticed that Devon had gone quiet.
    “Devon? You okay?” Blake asked in a markedly softer
    voice. Devon seemed to shake himself and smiled with a
    nod, but Blake could tell it was fake. Riley nudged him
    gently, and suddenly Blake wished he could, too. He’d never
    been one for physical contact with strangers, but Devon was
    feeling less and less like a stranger the more they all talked.
    “Yeah, I’m good. Just hearing about dads ‘n shit reminds
    me that mine left me when I was nine, so I don’t remember
    much about him,” he said, rather candidly than Blake had
    expected.
    Blake just nodded empathetically and relaxed a little.
    “Oh. I’m sorry,” he said, his expression turning lopsided
    with the emotion that he was feeling, his heart hurting a
    little at the thought. He hated his dad sometimes, but the
    thought of him not being in his life for the past ten