Screwed (Powertools: The Original Crew Returns Book 1) Read online

  Screwed

  Powertools: The Original Crew Returns, Book 1

  Jayne Rylon

  Happy Endings Publishing

  Copyright © 2020 by Jayne Rylon

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or shared in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means—including email, file-sharing groups, and peer-to-peer programs—without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  If you have purchased a copy of this ebook, thank you. I greatly appreciate knowing you would never illegally share your copy of this book. This is the polite way of me saying don’t be a thieving asshole, please and thank you!

  If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Refer to the don’t-be-a-thieving-asshole section above for clarification. :)

  V3

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-947093-11-9

  Print ISBN: 978-1-947093-12-6

  Cover Design by Jayne Rylon

  Editing by Mackenzie Walton

  Proofreading by Fedora Chen

  Formatting by Jayne Rylon

  Contents

  About The Book

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Discounted Boxset - Powertools

  Discounted Boxset - Hot Rods

  Powertools: Hot Rides

  Claim A $5 Gift Certificate

  What Was Your Favorite Part?

  Jayne’s Shop

  Listen Up!

  About the Author

  Also by Jayne Rylon

  About The Book

  The original Powertools crew is back in a brand new series!

  Joe has it all--a gorgeous wife, two amazing children, four best friends who are also sometimes lovers, and a booming construction business. He never expected to face some sort of midlife crisis. But somehow, he finds himself longing for even more.

  How can he tell his family and the rest of the crew that he wishes they could be closer to his Uncle Tom and the rest of the Hot Rods and Hot Rides gangs?

  An emergency crew meeting turns into a steamy attempt to show Joe exactly what he’d be missing out on if he left the crew and their polyamourous lifestyle behind. Will it work? Will he listen to his heart or parts of him below the belt? Either way, he’s screwed.

  This is a standalone book set in the Powertools universe. All your favorite Hot Rods and Hot Rides characters will be making appearances as well. Some come make new book boyfriends or hang out with old ones.

  Additional Information

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  A complete list of Jayne’s books can be found at www.jaynerylon.com/books

  1

  Joe tapped his fingers on the steering wheel of his truck. He stared at the last red light on the road separating himself from his bed, which hopefully contained his naked wife. He must be getting old—hell, he’d passed forty a couple years back—because the thought of falling asleep with Morgan snuggled in his arms was even more appealing than the thought of keeping her awake half the night.

  He’d originally planned to get home before dinner, but drummed up every excuse he could think of to keep from leaving his uncle Tom and his cousin, Eli, and the place they’d built for themselves at Hot Rides in Middletown, a couple states over. Guilt ate at Joe. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to see his immediate family either. Morgan, their kids, and the rest of the crew. He’d missed each and every one of them.

  Torn, he felt like no matter what he did lately, he was screwed.

  Blinking hard at reality until his negative thoughts dissipated, Joe peered ahead to the apartment he’d shared with Morgan for the past thirteen years. It was perched above her bakery, Sweet Treats, which she’d made from scratch. Annoyed with himself for not arriving before his kids’ bedtime, he studied the window of the room Nathan and Klea shared. Dark. Actually, there weren’t any lights on. Not even the flickering glow of someone watching TV in his own bedroom.

  It wasn’t that late yet.

  What the hell?

  Joe’s stomach cramped. What if something had happened to his family while he’d been away, acting like some confused teenager instead of doing his duty to protect them and provide for them like he should? He snatched his phone from the holder on the dash, where he’d been using it as a GPS, and speed-dialed Morgan.

  Thankfully it wasn’t more than a moment before she answered.

  “Hey, cupcake. Is everything okay?”

  “Yep.” She sighed. “And it’ll be even better when you get back.”

  “Thing about that, I’m pretty much here. Looking at the house now, but it doesn’t seem like anyone’s home. Where are you?”

  “I’m up at Kayla and Dave’s place. I thought you were heading up to the lake to talk to Mike and the rest of the crew about something?” Morgan asked, the background din of his friends talking and laughing growing fainter, as if she’d stepped onto the porch for some privacy.

  “Decided not to tonight. I left later than I planned and I’m beat.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, because it was so much more than the long drive or the manual labor he’d been putting in at his cousin’s place that was causing his bones to feel like they were going to sink through his skin.

  “Oh.” Morgan didn’t say so, but he could hear the disappointment in her voice. “Kate and I sort of got an overnight sitter for the kids. We’ve been holding off on eating until you arrived. Well, most of us. You know Dave can’t resist a potluck for very long.”

  “Ah, shit. I didn’t realize you had something planned.” Joe kept fucking up. Springing for a babysitter for Nathan, Klea, Abby, and Landry meant the crew had been hoping for more than a simple meal together.

  Alone time. Adult time. Sexy time.

  They intended to welcome him home properly.

  The construction crew made up of him and his five best friends did more than work together. They played together, too. Had for more than twenty years now. What kind of bastard was he that he was thinking about betraying them?

  “I know how much you love surprises. So…surprise.” No matter how off Joe was, or how weary, that coy flavor to Morgan’s sugary voice had him perking up.

  Fuck it. There was only so much temptation a man could resist. Even if he knew it wasn’t the right thing to indulge in.

  Joe checked his side and rearview mirrors to verify there was no one about but him before swinging his truck around in a U-turn. He accelerated toward the mountains and the place he belonged. He should have known better than to doubt it even for a moment. This was who he was and he couldn’t change it. Not even if he wanted to. “Okay. I’m on my way.”

  “If you’re not up for it—“

  “I am. I always am.” Whether Joe was trying to convince her or himself was debatable.

  “There’s my guy.” Morgan laughed. He could picture her bright eyes as she did. “Hurry home, okay?”

  Home. It wasn’t their house she was waiting at. It was one of their best friends’ places
. But 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 naked people beyond it for far longer. “Is it all for me?”

  “Guess we missed you. Lucky bastard.” Mike’s mouth tipped up on one side in his characteristic wry grin as he spread his arms. “What are you hungry for first?”

  “No offense, Kate, but it isn’t your world-famous mac and cheese.” Joe could ignore the rumbling of his stomach, but all of a sudden he couldn’t dismiss his need to be part of this group. To ground himself and remind himself where he truly belonged and to whom.

  “Damn it. I told you guys he wouldn’t care if I ate without him.” Dave pouted. “Those buffalo wings were calling my name.”

  “Just think, now you can work up an appetite and have room for more of them after you’re done.” Kayla distracted him with a brush of her hand across his mammoth pecs. His nipples were tight around the studs through them. After so many years together, Kayla’s penchant for piercings and tattoos—not to mention strolling around in the nude—had rubbed off on her husband.

  “Yeah, we were saving you from yourself,” Neil teased, making Joe wince, since he needed them to do the same for him. “You wouldn’t want to be full of greasy chicken or in a food coma when it came to the good stuff. Isn’t there some kind of saying like that? No eating thirty minutes before an orgy?”

  “I think they were talking about swimming.” Mike laughed, his stare growing a lot more serious and steamier as he looked at his wife, Kate. Even all these years later, any time they talked about a pool party, every one of the crew flashed back to the fateful summer day they’d first bonded with Kate and made her one of their own. That moment had changed the course of their lives, steering them in the direction that had made each of them unbelievably happy. Joe should be ashamed of his greed. “But I’m sure someone would be willing to take care of Kayla for you if you’d rather pig out.”

  Dave practically purred as he stroked her hair. “You know, it might be worth it to watch her getting off on that. But I’m selfish. And starving. It’s been too long.”

  He stared pointedly at Joe.

  “Sorry,” he muttered, and they knew it wasn’t because he’d stayed longer than he’d intended in Middletown that day. It was more than that. Lately his head hadn’t been in the game and he’d passed up a few other opportunities for a good time that he otherwise would have jumped on.

  He was hurting his friends, his lovers, and he didn’t intend to do that again that night. He planned to give them all of himself. As much as they would take.

  “It’s fine.” Morgan was quick to shoot Dave a warning glare as she rose and passed him in order to cross to Joe. Her hair bounced, curling over her shoulders when she swiveled her head toward him again. The last thing Joe wanted was to come between the people he loved most. So he distracted her by opening his arms and wrapping her up in them.

  “I missed you,” he whispered, drawing a deep breath and letting the scent of her shampoo and light perfume fill his lungs. She was right there with him, her arms going around him equally as tight until they made one complete unit standing there together.

  Though the night would certainly become more involved, a simple hug was exactly what he craved from her then.

  What he had, what he’d found, was so damn special that the fact that he couldn’t seem to appreciate it lately was making him feel like the shittiest partner in the world. He’d heard once that guilt was a useless emotion. Ironically, it didn’t seem benign. It felt paralyzing.

  As if she could hear the struggle in his heart—with her cheek mashed to his chest—Morgan grabbed his wrist, guiding his hand into the V of her robe. He felt her breath hitch, and looked down in time to spot her lick her lower lip. Desire, simple and familiar, swelled inside him, pushing aside everything else.

  Joe cupped Morgan’s face in his hands, hoping she didn’t notice his fingers trembling as he tipped it up. He lowered his head and sealed their mouths,
drawing strength from her even as he fed her his own pent-up frustration, released by their mutual desire.

  It was always like this. She had the power to transform even the most ragged of his emotions into something beautiful and sweet for them both to gorge on. Joe nudged her robe aside until her chest was fully bared to him, then froze. The delicate gold chain draped around her neck and between her breasts made her skin look even more flawless than it was. He traced the fine metal down to the setting that dangled from it, swirling around a rock. Not a diamond, but a simple pebble.

  From the date that had started it all for them.

  The one he’d taken from the pumpkin patch the night he’d known without a doubt that they were made for each other. Had he gotten so used to being incredibly fortunate—with a successful business, a loving family, a spicy sex life, and the best friends a guy could hope for, that he was willing to sacrifice it all for one tiny thing he couldn’t have otherwise?

  What the hell was wrong with him? Welcome to your midlife crisis, dumbass.

  “You okay?” Morgan murmured against his cheek when he paused. “We can go home if you’d rather.”

  “You were right. This is home.” He rested his forehead on hers for a moment before lifting his head and staring at their friends, gathered around them, their expressions ranging from curious to downright concerned.

  “Sorry, guys. Sorry.” He scrunched his eyes closed, then stared at Mike, hoping the other man would understand what he craved when he said, “Be my foreman tonight.”