Thirst Trap

By R.W. Clinger

When mischievous neighbors the Jardonis boys take out half of Joey Pollard’s house by an accidental fire, Joey is given the opportunity to use JD Lawson’s spare bedroom. The two have been friends for years and Joey feels comfortable with the arrangement.

Working remotely for a dishware company, Joey spends a lot of time at JD’s house. Joey thinks the college coach is a nice guy and a total thirst trap. And he’d be fibbing if he didn’t admit to having a secret attraction to the man. But Joey knows the sexy man is straight and only a friend. This doesn’t mean Joey can’t still have a hardcore crush on his roommate.

Things become comfortable between the two men until JD throws a small gathering for a few friends. Unfortunately he runs late for his own event and Joey has to play host for a few hours. During these minimal hours Joey learns JD’s dating and sexual history and ...

Wait a minute! Is JD straight or queer? Are the guests at the evening party drunk and telling true stories or lies? Does Joey have romantic chance with JD?

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Jun 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685501518

R.W. Clinger

R.W. Clinger is a resident of Pittsburgh. He has a degree in English from Point Park University of Pittsburgh. His writing entails gay human studies, and includes the novels Just a Boy, Skin Tour, Skin Artist, Soft on the Eyes, Pool Boy, and The Last Pile of Leaves. He has published many stories with Starbooks Press as well as The Weekender, a novella with Dreamspinner Press. His gay mystery, Cutie Pie Must Die, is published with Bold Stroke Books. For three years he has held the position of managing editor for the literary magazine, The Writer’s Post Journal. For more information, please visit rwclinger.com.

Book preview

Thirst Trap

By R.W. Clinger

Published by JMS Books LLC

Visit jms-books.com for more information.

Copyright 2022 R.W. Clinger

ISBN 9781685501518

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Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com

Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

All rights reserved.

WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which might be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States of America.

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Thirst Trap

By R.W. Clinger

Let’s get something straight: I like JD Lawson. A little too much. And yes…I admit, I’m in love with him. But he might not be attracted to me. Listen to me, kid, here and now: I’m Joey Pollard, and I’m thirty-three years old, and I’m telling you right now, clear as the black night without any of its glittering stars, JD is straight. Everything about him. Everything. We’ve been friends now for almost six years. Best friends. We tell each other the secrets of the world. All the ins and outs of life. The mysteries of the heart. Trust me, I know.

I swear.

I swear.

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I’m getting ahead of myself and have to slow down. I do this a lot. Enjoy a breather. Calm down. Breathe. Just breathe. My doctor, Larry Bodine, says, Joey, your heart has a few extra beats. It’s not normal. It’s called tachycardia. So, pace yourself in everyday life. Take your time with things. Try and stay calm.

Calm.

Calmer.

Calmness.

Here goes:

I currently live with JD in his miniscule Tudor on Hugh Street in a northern suburb of Pittsburgh called Etan. The house sits along the Allegheny River. A bathroom on the second floor splits our tiny bedrooms. This morning, May 13, I work on spreadsheets on my laptop downstairs, seated on the sofa in one of its cozy corners. JD doesn’t have a Keurig, and I wait for the vintage Mr. Coffee unit to do its magical-morning thing with grounds, water, and a filter. Snores echo out of JD’s bedroom from upstairs and creep down into the living room. He never keeps his door fully closed; blames the action on nightmares from his childhood and some kind of invasion and burglary when he was eight or nine. The obnoxious grunts and huffs float and make their decline on the maple stairwell, find my back and earlobes, and eventually fall into my ears. It’s annoying, of course, but I’m slowly growing used to the noise now that I’m living with someone, and experimenting what I like to call Roommate Life.

Roommate Life. It’s happened rather all of a sudden. Long story short: I have my own Tudor in South Side on the Slopes near the Monongahela River. To some extent it’s bigger than JD’s place, but just by a margin. My neighbors, the Jardonis, have three sons in their late teens: Jake, Jonah, and Jameson. They were smoking a joint in one of their upstairs bedrooms and caught the bedsheets on fire. The fire took out most of their Colonial and half of my Tudor. Thank Christ no one got hurt. No burns. No injuries. Bless us all. Anyway, Janice, the mom, has a rich sister in Fox Chapel and the family is living with them until the Colonial