New Eyes

By T.K. Paige

Sometimes, all it takes to find what you need is to look closely at what has been there all along.

Roommates Jed and Doyle have been best friends since meeting in college. They have supported each other through all their ups and downs. Now that they've graduated and are starting new jobs, they have no intention of letting that change anything. Doyle is everything Jed isn't—smart, cute and active at the LGBT center. Jed has always looked out for his friend and been there for him. They have plans and an amazing friendship, everything planned out to the smallest degree.

Any changes could make it all go off the rails. So why can't Jed get over how annoying he finds Doyle's ex, turned friend, who seems to be around way too often? Why can't he stop noticing Doyle in new ways?

If Jed doesn't take a risk, he could miss what's been there all along.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pride Publishing
• Release date: Dec 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781786515100

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New Eyes

ISBN # 978-1-78651-510-0

©Copyright T.K. Paige 2016

Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright November 2016

Edited by Jamie D. Rose

Pride Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Pride Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Pride Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2016 by Pride Publishing, Newland House, The Point, Weaver Road, Lincoln, LN6 3QN

Pride Publishing is a subsidiary of Totally Entwined Group Limited.

NEW EYES

T.K. Paige

Sometimes, all it takes to find what you need is to look closely at what has been there all along.

Roommates Jed and Doyle have been best friends since meeting in college. They have supported each other through all their ups and downs. Now that they’ve graduated and are starting new jobs, they have no intention of letting that change anything. Doyle is everything Jed isn’t—smart, cute and active at the LGBT center. Jed has always looked out for his friend and been there for him. They have plans and an amazing friendship, everything planned out to the smallest degree.

Any changes could make it all go off the rails. So why can’t Jed get over how annoying he finds Doyle’s ex, turned friend, who seems to be around way too often? Why can’t he stop noticing Doyle in new ways?

If Jed doesn’t take a risk, he could miss what’s been there all along.

Dedication

For anyone who has ever dared to look through new eyes

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

Facebook: Facebook Inc.

The Dresden Series: Jim Butcher

Dracula Untold: Universal Pictures

Oklahoma University: The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma

Crayola: Crayola Properties Inc.

Honda Civic: Honda Motor Co. Ltd.

Scorpius/Farscape, The Peacekeeper Wars: Rockne S. O’Bannon and David Kemper

Red Bull: Red Bull GMBH Corporation

The Finishline: Habana Inn

G.I. Joe: Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Universal Pictures

Dr. Who: British Broadcasting Corporation

Cheerios: General Mills IP Holding II LLC

The Home Depot: Homer TLC Inc.

Chapter One

I moved to stand next to my best friend Doyle, appreciating once again how he was the perfect height—shorter than me just enough that I could comfortably rest my arm across his shoulders. Then I waved the other one in a wide sweep at our—finally, thank all the gods—completely unpacked living room.

Well, roomie, I said, pitching my voice to sound like a game show host—albeit, one that sounded more campy than professional. Or was that smarmy?—with enough sound financial planning and penny-pinching, all of this will never be ours.

Doyle rolled his brown eyes at me. Well, thank God for that. If I thought for even one moment, that all we had to look forward to was ending up trapped in cheap apartment hell for the rest of our miserable lives, I’d…I’d—he paused briefly, his roundish face scrunching up as if the thought was too horrible for even him to find the words—probably order two of those jumbo-sized, meat monstrosity pizzas you love so much and eat all of them in one sitting. Go out in a blaze of gastric and coronary glory.

I clutched at my chest, miming horror and disbelief. You? Poison yourself with one of those gastric biohazards? I grinned widely at him. I still say you don’t know what you’re missing. Those things are the bomb.

Doyle snorted. "Exactly my point. You try walking into an innocent-looking room and getting hit with a stench that could rival three roadkill skunks because you don’t have the decency to go into the bathroom and turn on the fan!"

That just proves my point. You can’t defeat my addiction, I said in an entirely serious voice. You should give in to the dark side. I waggled my eyebrows at him. We have sausage.

His thin lips twitched at the corners, but he kept the irate expression pasted on his face, mostly anyway. I was pretty sure he was biting his cheek to keep from smiling.

Jed, if I joined you in the most drawn-out, culinary suicide known to mankind, the Environmental Protection Agency would be on us like a military operation. This place would be immediately condemned as unsafe for at least twenty years, and we’d lose every penny we’d shelled out for it.

I started to deny it, but when he cocked one eyebrow at me, I shrugged. More like thirty. What else could I say? He had a valid point.

Doyle’s voice softened. Do you believe we’re as crazy as the guys think we are? He turned his face to me, lifting his chin slightly as if he were bracing himself for bad news. His chocolate brown eyes—just a shade lighter than his hair—darted off to the side just slightly. All of them are enjoying having their own places now that we’re all out of the dorms. They’re looking forward to no curfews, clubs all the time and being able to have anybody over at all hours, not planning on scrimping for their first down payment on a house.

I dropped all humor immediately. No, not for even one fraction of a second. Admittedly, my first reaction when he’d told me his idea a few months before graduation hadn’t been my finest hour. No, the chuckles and jokes about cramping my single lifestyle had been outright juvenile, but, in my defense, I hadn’t realized he’d been serious. I’d kept yammering on, trying to draw out that laugh of his that always