Wayne Gray

It was Saturday morning and Ike had big plans. His lycra was all cleaned, Devin was due over at nine a.m., and they were going to spend a wild day together. Yet, it didn't start as he had imagined it would. Ike slept long past his typical wake-up of six a.m. and instead groggily came around a bit after eight. "Fuck." Ike sat up, his head swimming. He stood and flinched at his aching legs. "God damn it. I don't need this." Ike shuffled into the bathroom of his new apartment. It was a

Tricky, yes. But ... Grant has a cheat manual when it comes to Troy. 😉

Thanks for the comments, Philippe. This is really an interesting take on things. A sort of ... trust in Grant to steer for Troy while he's suffering from this fugue state that he's in. At least, that's how I'm interpreting the overall vibe of your comments. It's true, that people do things in the moment they later regret. Who hasn't? Troy's "moment" has gone on for sixteen months ... and he's just reaching the end of this particular trial. He's slowly emerging again. You may be right. We'll see.

Thanks, KayDeeMac. There are some really insightful, intelligent, and thoughtful people reading. I have to say, that's tremendously flattering to a guy like me. You're right, of course. What's that phrase? A people shall be judged based on how those with the least are treated. I'm paraphrasing ... as I know it's not quite right. But that's close. There's more ahead of you to read. I hope you enjoy it. 🙂

Thanks! I'm happy to hear you found the chapter interesting. There's a lot more to go! 🙂

drought! You are an instigator! *shakes finger*

Thanks for the comment, Parker. Troy has had to be careful, closed off, and guarded for a long time. He was ready to be helped, though, and Grant was willing. But there's a lot of damage possible. If Troy finds out everything Grant has done, he may never see our green-eyed carpenter again. Or, perhaps Troy is capable of forgiving Grant. Though ... that's very unlikely, if Grant isn't the one to initiate the conversation. So, he'd best find the time. Let's hope he does the right thing, eh?

Those bastard writers! Who do they think they are, toying with emotions like that? They should all be ashamed! Or proud. I'm proud, is that weird? 😛 It's hard to watch someone suffer. More, it's infuriating to watch someone who is suffering through no real fault of their own. So, I get why the first three or four chapters were a bit annoying and emotional. But, here we are now. Troy has food, a roof, income, and a strangely intimate (thanks to that damn book) friend in Grant. We'll see how Troy reacts to all of the steps Grant has taken so far ... if he finds out! Thanks for reading, Canuk. 🙂

Thank you for taking the time to comment, Lamps! 🙂 Well, this story updates twice a week (usually Sunday and Thursday). We'll get that out of the way first, so you know when to expect chapters. It's also a completed work, so there's no danger of it not going to a finish. I'm really glad the story could touch you. That's the goal when I write, to cause emotion in the reader. We've got a few days until the next chapter drops. I'll see you then!

Thanks, Jeffrey! You and @Hawgdad are both of this opinion, it seems (Tom, if I'm wrong feel free to correct me!). What he's doing is from a good place, mostly. Though, @Danners brought up some excellent points about the confusion of undefined attraction messing with Grant's judgment as well. There's going to be conflict in this story. From what quarter? How severe? Well, you'll have to keep reading for that!

Thanks, Tom. Hrm. So it sounds like you're not necessarily in the "Grant messed everything up" camp. Maybe you're more in the "Grant took a chance, and good for him" camp. You're right ... if left up to Troy, it may be some time before he willingly contacted anybody from his past. It's unlikely that he'd be able to avoid the neighbors (Aaron and Georgette), whenever they return, but he was relieved that they weren't about when he had first arrived. Maybe Grant did do him a favor? Maybe ... We'll see!

This is, unfortunately, a place many of us have known and yet never deserved. I'm hopeful the fog will clear, Mac.

Very apt analogy there. You're so right. If he tries reeling back connecting to Troy that could cause hurt feelings on both sides. If he continues along his path, he might blunder into awkwardness and perhaps painful self-reflection that he may not be ready to deal with. Troy and how he handles Grant's meddling really will determine how things go. Let's find out. Thanks for the comments, and for reading, tim. 🙂

Great comments, Danners. He's leaning hard on the journal, that's true. I think most people now believe Grant crossed a line. Importantly, it was one that he didn't have to cross ... yet, he's sort of stuck in an echo-chamber. He doesn't really have anybody to bounce things off of, to ask what they think of how he feels or what he has planned. He's too new at his work to trust people there, and his family ... well, we'll get to that. Would time have made things better for Troy? Certainly. Grant seems to be trying to accelerate things beyond the natural course of recovery. He really is trying to help, but as you mentioned, his emotions are playing havoc with him, and he's not thinking through what he could do to Troy. Hell, maybe Brian is someone Troy is glad to be rid of? We just don't know yet, and neither does Grant. Grant is certainly flawed. We can sorta see why he did it ... but, we're not falling for Troy either. We have emotional distance, while that is getting harder and harder for Grant to find. Troy's doing well. If Grant can slow his roll a bit, there's no reason he can't continue to improve. Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment. There's more to come ... on Thursday.

Well, think of who Troy is when he's not under soul-crushing stress. When he's the person in the Journal. He's slowly turning back into that guy. He'll be changed, somewhat, but he won't be in such a reactive frame of mind as he was when we first met him. That said ... nobody likes being tricked. We'll have to see what develops between our guys when it comes out what Grant has done. Thanks for the comment! 🙂

It feels like Grant might have gone just a tiny bit too far, eh? That seems to be the prevailing opinion here. Though a few good things happened. Troy's not homeless anymore, his van is getting fixed - for less than he thought, and Grant gets that inner glow a person feels when they help somebody. Sort of a mixed bag, eh? Thanks for the comment, Chris. 🙂

Thanks, JACC! I'm happy you enjoy the story. It was great fun to write, but it's probably more fun to respond to readers of the work. 🙂 So, thanks for commenting!

If you agreed with the reasoning of every character then that'd be a very boring story. So I'm happy you don't quite agree with Mr. Meddler Grant. Good theory concerning Brian. Time will tell if you're right! Thanks for the comment!

Thanks for taking the time to read back through again, Butcher. I'm glad it's still a fun read to you. Troy is indeed back home. It may not be how he envisioned things, but maybe this is what he needs. We'll see, eh? Thanks, again!

Frankly, I'm very glad to hear you are anxious when this story updates. 🙂 In the eyes of almost everybody, yeah ... Grant overstepped in a big way. And from the messaging Grant sent Brian, you're probably right about his friend thinking Troy has his home back! Oh, Grant ... what have you done, you goofy thing? Grant has done a lot for Troy, but all of this stuff ... man. It's adding up. How will Troy take it if he finds out? I suppose that's why you're anxious, eh? 🙂 Thanks for reading!

We can convince ourselves of just about anything if we try hard enough. Grant did exactly that, a few times! lol. It is a bit soapy, isn’t it? Thanks for reading and commenting, droughtquake!

16 November 2018, Friday 6:40 a.m. A gentle knock on his bedroom door startled Grant awake. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Yeah? Hello?" "Hey, Grant? Uh, are you late?" It was Troy's voice on the other side of the door. Grant swung his legs over the edge of the bed and padded across the large area rug over the hardwood floor. The house had been warm when he had gone to bed, so he only wore his briefs. He opened the door a little. "Hey. No, I don't work Fridays." He blinked in the la

Thanks, Tom. I'm not sure what has gotten into both Thorn and me, but chapter seven is ready to go. I'll go through it a few more times though, so it's as pretty as it can be. So, by Sunday I'll be able to tee up a really sweet chapter for everybody. 🙂 Thanks for reading, and for sticking around!

Really cool! I'm impressed you got a picture of it!

At least you know what is going on. Feel better, Kitt.