Joey

Does that mean he’s a bottom?

 

It’s Sunday morning – my favorite day of the week. The day I can lay in bed all morning if I want. The day I can just lounge around in my sleepwear, make pancakes or waffles – adding as much whipped cream and syrup as I can digest - and get caught up on reading.

Except not this morning, because there’s someone pounding on my door who obviously doesn’t want me to indulge in any of that. Bastards.

Rolling my head on my pillow, I glance with blurry-eyed focus at the time on my phone. Eight-thirty-seven. Who the hell is so rude to wake we so early on a Sunday morning? Do they have a death wish?

I pull the sheet over my head and hope they’ll just go away. Maybe it’s my neighbor in 2C. I think his name is Devon. He’s a United Flight Attendant and semi-professional opera singer. He and his lover get in spats all the damn time. One minute they’re hurling insults and the next I can hear them…well, it gives new meaning to gay tenors.

A few minutes pass and the knocking stops. Peace and quiet. Now that’s more like it. Closing my eyes again, I turn to my other side facing away from the sliver of light from the window, plump up my down-filled pillow and sigh.

Much better. I’m just about to fall back asleep again, with just the fleeting glimpse of a naked Kris Bryant, third baseman for the Cubs, pulling me back into dreamland, when my phone vibrates on the table next to me.

Ugh. Mother, go away!

Reaching out blindly, I grab the phone and pull it to my face. My eyes are slits as I try to read the number on the display. It does not say, MOTHER.

Instead, it shows up as Unknown caller.

Yeah, nope. Not gonna happen.

I press End and toss it on my bed and it lands in a poof of downy comforter.

The phone vibrates again.

And then the knocking on my door resumes.

Are you freaking kidding me?

Is there a fire in the building I’m not aware of? I lift my head to listen for any shouting or sirens. It’s quiet, even for my Chicago city neighborhood.

Frustrated and extremely crabby from the interruption of my perfect Sunday agenda, I swing my legs out from under the blankets, and trudge to the front door.

Peering through the peep hole, I notice a man who looks vaguely familiar, his phone to his ear, looking exasperated. My phone continues to ring in my hand.

I peek again at my phone and then squish my eyeball to the hole for another look. Taking a chance, I answer.

“Hello?”

Big sigh. “I need your help. Please.”

“Who is this?” I’m still a little foggy from sleep and don’t know for certain I’m talking to the same guy that’s out in the hallway.

“It’s Theo, Patrick’s friend.”

Then I hear a yip.

Yip, yip, yip.

I go through the motions of unlocking the three bolts of security and swing the door wide open, completely unconcerned with the fact that I’ve just been woken up and am standing here with bedhead and rumpled pajamas.

Wait, I am wearing pajamas, right?

Alarm races through me based on Theo’s wandering gaze up and down my body. I look down my legs and am filled with relief to find I do have on a pair of my sleep shorts. One of the very important lessons my mother instilled in me at a young age. “Never sleep naked! What if you had to evacuate in the middle of the night and all you had on was panties? How shameful.”

Yes, that is my mother. A prude to the Nth degree.

But this morning in this situation, it wouldn’t really matter. Standing here naked in front of this guy probably wouldn’t phase him since I’m not a dude. Plus, he’s one of Patrick’s boyfriends. No potential for interest from him.

Woody scurries through the door seeming a bit freaked out and I look back behind my shoulder to see him hiding underneath a chair, his tiny teeth bared like he’s some terrifying monster.

Turning back to Theo, my face scrunches in question.

“What the hell is going on here?”

“I’m sorry,” he pants. “I can’t do it. I’ve tried to do exactly as Pat instructed, but he’s a little terror and won’t do as he’s told!”

Theo runs a hand down his stressed-out face and I sort of feel bad for the guy.

Not too bad, considering he interrupted a potentially really good dream.

“What are you talking about? And where’s Patrick?”

Theo takes a step forward into my entryway and then stops.

“Uh, is it okay if I come in?”

I give him the go-ahead and gesture him in. I’m already awake and out of bed, what’s another few minutes? Theo moves into the hallway as I close the door behind him and I hear Woody growling like a mad dog.

Turning to face him, I cross my arms underneath my boobs and ask again.

“Care to tell me what’s going on? Why do you have Woody and what is it that you’re trying to do?”

The first thing I notice is that Theo’s eyes move to my chest, landing there for a moment before returning to my face. I’m not sure what he’s looking at, so I follow his path down and see my nipples are poking out of my t-shirt. I guess they are a little hard not to notice, even if he is gay.

He continues with shaky breath, as if he’s just run a marathon. “Patrick is gone. Left for China yesterday. I’m watching his apartment and Woody for the next two months while he’s overseas.”

Theo bends over at his waist and his hands land on his knees. I think he might be hyperventilating.

His breaths are choppy. Winded. When I place my hand gently on his back, he startles.

“Sorry…why don’t you come sit down. You’re not looking well.”

I guide him over to my couch and he sits down, as I stand over him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Woody slowly slink out from underneath the chair.

“Come ‘ere, Woody.”

Woody prances over to me and I pick him up, cradling him in my arms and stroking the top of his head.

I’m kind of surprised to hear that Patrick left the care of his precious pup to this guy, who obviously doesn’t know Woody at all. Or even seem to like him. And it’s obvious how Woody feels about him.

Why wouldn’t Pat leave him in my care? He knows I love the furry little guy as if he were my own. And for that matter, why didn’t Pat inform me he was leaving? I knew he was going on a business trip because he mentioned it the other night when I came over. The night I met Theo. But it seems weird that Pat didn’t come say goodbye to me.

I’ll deal with giving Pat a piece of my mind later. For now, I need to resolve this problem so I can climb back into my bed.

Theo leans forward, places his elbows on his knees which make the cut of his biceps underneath his t-shirt bulge, before looking up at me with imploringly eyes.

The other night when we met, all I really saw was his face shielded by his baseball cap and within minutes, he had fallen asleep. His eyes hadn’t been on display like they are now.

But now that I have a good vantage point, I can see what Pat finds appealing about him.

Theo’s very handsome. Not in a rugged way, but not complete pretty-boy either. He has a nice jawline that dips down into a pointed chin, his narrow nose creating a perfect symmetry in his face. His dark blond hair is swept to the right as if he’s run his hands through it all morning.

And then there’s his hazel-green eyes that have specks of silver and gold in them. They remind me of the old bowling ball my dad used to own when he was on a league. I used to get a kick out of taking it out of his bag and placing it on the conveyor. It was a swirling kaleidoscope of color. His eyes are just as fascinating.

Theo’s voice houses frustration. “I’ve tried for the last hour to get him to take his medicine. I’ve gone through six of these snack thingies,” he explains, holding up a small baggie filled with treats. “He just eats around it and spits out the pill.”

Woody licks his lips as if to say, ‘sucker.’

I almost laugh out loud, but bite my tongue.

“Patrick made it sound so easy – you know, bada bing, bada boom. Pop it in, hold his mouth closed, blah, blah, blah. But that dog is just messing with me. I know it.”

I can no longer hold it back, as the laughter spills out of my mouth. My self-control is shit prior to coffee. That’s why I never go to class without first having a pot of the strongest stuff possible.

Theo looks wounded.

“I’m sorry, but it’s kind of funny that you think Woody’s messing with you just for kicks. Here you are this big, strong man and he’s just this teeny, tiny, itty-bitty dog. Of course he’s not going to do anything you want if you don’t first prove that you’re the alpha in this situation.”

It makes me wonder if Patrick is the top when they’re intimate. My face flushes a bright red, which I’m sure he can see the minute he quirks a brow at me.

“Alpha. Hm. I see…since you’re so smart, why don’t you give it a try.”

He holds out his hand and thrusts the bag of treats into mine.

“Fine,” I capitulate, gently placing Woody on the floor between us.

I open the baggie, pull out the sticky snack that smells weirdly of stinky feet, stuff one of the pills in it and pinch the treat closed.

Dropping to my knees, I command Woody to come with a hand gesture.

“Good boy. Sit.”

He sits.

I hold the treat a little higher than his head in front of his snout so he’s craning his neck, he opens, I place it on his tongue, he closes, I grab his snout gently and hold.

“Good boy, eat it all gone. Now swallow.”

And just like that, I’ve demonstrated to Theo how to be alpha.

When I finally glance over to him, he’s shaking his head, rolling his eyes in disbelief.

And then he smiles. It’s this bright, wide smile that has me losing my balance. I teeter on my feet, since I’m in the squat position, and begin to topple back about to land on my butt. His reflex is fast as he reaches out to grab my arm to steady me.

His smile is way too disarming for this time of day. And let me state again for the record, prior to my morning coffee. I’d need a Starbucks warehouse and a pair of strong UV Ray Bans to protect myself against the effects of Theo’s smile.

“Whoa, you okay there?”

I try to recover. “Yeah. Damn vertigo.”

He helps me to my feet and pats the cushion next to him on the couch. “Come sit, otherwise we might need to find you a helmet.”

He snickers to himself as I look to him, then to the spot on the couch, and back to him. I can’t trust myself sitting next to him when I now know what he looks like. He’s too gorgeous and I’m too off kilter to trust myself in not trying to jump in his lap.

I remain where I’m at.

“Okay then,” he says in a self-deprecating tone. “I guess I’m not alpha with women, either.”

Oh geez. I’ve insulted his manhood.

Because my mother taught me never to be intentionally rude, my butt hits the cushion next to him begrudgingly. Our legs are inches apart and I can feel the warmth and heat from his body. He’s like an inferno and I suddenly have the chills and fever, shivering from the electric energy he gives off.

Theo catches my reaction and reaches behind us to grab my favorite blue cuddle blanket off the back of the couch.

“You cold?” he asks, handing me the bundle of downy-softness.

I love this blanket. It’s old and familiar, containing hundreds of memories within every fiber of the fabric. I pull it up to my chin trying to hide my reaction to being so close to him. Which is stupid, really. It’s one-sided. Kind of like the crush I had on Mr. Anderson in the eleventh grade.

Woody jumps up on my lap, aligns his little hotdog sized furriness into the crevice between my legs and lays his head down with a little sigh of contentment.

Theo just looks at me with wide-eyed awe. Or jealousy, whichever.

“How do you do that?”

I lift my shoulders and stroke the little radiator on my lap.

“I’ve known Woody for a while. We’re buds. Speaking of which, I’m curious why you’re watching him while Patrick’s gone. He normally asks me.”

In fact, when I talk to Pat next I’m going to give him hell for skipping out before telling me about any of this.

Theo shifts uncomfortably, picking at his thumbnail, his hands between his lean, jeans-covered thighs. Theo has thick veins that run down his forearm and into the bed of his knuckles.

Strong. Masculine. Virile.

When he looks over to me, I try to disguise my thoughts but notice a sadness in his expression. It doesn’t distract from his handsome face, but there’s a story there.

“Ah, good question. I guess he did it more as a favor to me. I needed a place to live for a while.”

And now I know there’s more to Theo than meets the eye.