Screwed - Jayne Rylon Page 0,1

that didn’t mean shit, because when you were part of the crew, home was where they were. And they all knew it.

Which meant the possibilities Joe had been mulling over the entire trip back from Middletown were even more preposterous than he’d already considered them. Thank God he hadn’t rushed home and blurted them out without thinking about it some more.

No, tonight he was going to eat, laugh, fuck, and forget about dumb ideas that could only ruin the best things in his life.

2

Joe crept up the long, windy gravel road that snaked through the forest to the lodge at Bare Natural. The fact that his friends owned a booming naturist resort where guests could roam around the serene landscape in their birthday suits no longer even fazed him. A lot of things that might have once seemed impossible or outlandish to him now felt normal, because it was for them. It had been so long since he’d felt awkward about his sexuality or worried about censure that he’d grown comfortable.

If he left this bubble they’d created where they were safe and happy and prospering, he’d have to deal with shit he hadn’t struggled with in years. And so would his wife and kids. He really must have temporarily lost his mind to even consider it. But when he’d sat at Hot Rides, talking to his uncle Tom, Eli, and their friends, none of these roadblocks had seemed insurmountable.

Joe blinked, trying to navigate his way along the path in the dark. The beam of his headlights glinted off animal eyes in the underbrush, which blanketed the ground between soaring pine trees. Though he knew every acre of this lakeside refuge, he still felt like he was trespassing on sacred ground.

But maybe that was because he knew how close he’d come to deserting his crew. The same people who were about to welcome him back with very warm, very open arms…among other things.

He clenched his jaw as the truck rolled over a few potholes left from the harsh winter, making a mental note to offer to help Dave fill them sometime soon. With his bum leg, jobs like that weren’t always easy for him, but asking for help seemed even tougher.

That was how the crew worked, though. Each of them had their own strengths and weaknesses. Together they were unbreakable. United they could survive anything. On their own…not so much.

Joe would do well to remember that. Hell, without his partners he wouldn’t even have the family he adored so much. They’d been there to make his first date with Morgan so special that she’d seen he was serious about building a life with her. And when they’d struggled to conceive, the guys had lent…well…something other than their hands.

He owed them everything. And he planned to let them fuck this midlife crisis right out of him.

Joe rolled into the clearing around Kayla and Dave’s personal cabin, not far from the resort’s lodge. He shut off the truck and sat there for a few moments. The familiar golden glow streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows brightened the gloomy thoughts he’d mulled over for too many miles. Gray tendrils of smoke snaking into the air above the chimney made him sure the crew was safe and toasty warm inside, despite whatever they may or may not be wearing.

His knee cracked when he hopped down. His back ached, forcing him to stretch it out before he headed for the house, but those minor symptoms of his maturity weren’t going to stop him from playing his part when he rejoined his friends. The more years they spent together, the better they got at taking care of each other, whatever that required.

It might have been selfish, but Joe was looking forward to letting go of responsibility and allowing them to settle him. He took the stairs to the porch two at a time, then entered without knocking, shutting the door quickly behind him to avoid letting in a brisk early spring breeze.

As eight faces turned in his direction, all with wide, glad smiles, he felt his muscles begin to relax. Especially when he caught sight of Morgan, who was lounging on the deep, shaggy rug in front of the fire with a glass of wine in her hand while wearing a silk robe. He licked his lips as he took in her shapely legs and the cleavage on display between her lapels.

“Damn, that looks good.” Joe briefly eyed the buffet piled with food and then the group of