Brothers by Bond (7 page)

"Actually, I need to run to the store unless you want to starve?" Mike said as he grabbed his truck keys from the end table where he had dropped them on their way in.

"You're going to cook for me? How romantic," Johnny laughed.

"Yeah, right, asshole," Mike bantered back. "More like the only time you ever shut up is when there's food in your mouth and I don't want to starve."

"We can't have you hungry now, can we?" Johnny retorted and Mike bit back his reply that he was already hungry but not for food.

The suggestive bantering from his brother was why he had started to avoid him the week before Johnny was shot. Almost everything that came out of Johnny's mouth could have a double meaning. Mike's mind was so far down in the gutter that his body tended to respond faster to his best friend's words than his mind. Just like it was doing now.

"I have your scripts and will get them filled." Mike kept his back to his best friend and made his way to the door. "Any requests while I'm out?" Mike looked back over his shoulder as he stood in the doorway.

"Yeah," Johnny replied and shot him a glance, "Bring home something tall, dark and sexy that I can have some fun with." Johnny chuckled and shot him a wink.

"Doubt they sell that at Walgreens," Mike shot back and made a hasty exit.

As he climbed into his truck, he willed his almost painful erection to go away. Only his brother would be thinking about getting laid when he could barely walk.

Fucking horn ball
, Mike thought as he pulled out of the drive and made his way to the store.

Three long hours later, Mike returned to the house. The living room was empty when he entered with his arms full of groceries. The TV was still on even though the couch was empty.

"Johnny?" Mike called out as he kicked his door shut behind him.

Must be in the kitchen
, Mike thought as he made his way toward the back of the house. As he entered his kitchen and set down the bags, a wave the panic hit his gut. Johnny was not there.

"Johnny?" Mike yelled as he backtracked into the living room.

He could see into the dining room through the two by fours that framed out wall the and there was no sign of his brother. Mike's heart was racing as he forced himself to stop and think. That was when he heard the thump that came from upstairs. Mike took the stairs two at a time and was barely out of breath when he burst into his bedroom and heard the shower running in his bathroom. He came to a dead stop in his bathroom doorway and just stared.

Johnny stood shirtless in his large bathroom. Mike was frozen to the spot as he watched his best friend. The toned muscles of his back flexed as he attempted to push his track pants down while balancing with one crutch under his arm. The other crutch lay on the floor and that was what must have caused the thump. Johnny's shield tattoo, surrounded by the words 'To Serve and Protect' flexed along his pale skin as beads of sweat ran down his spine from his exertion. The thought of licking that sweat from Johnny's waist to his neck briefly flashed through Mike's mind before he snapped out of the trance Johnny's half naked body had put him into.

"What. The. Fuck." Mike's voice echoed off the tiles in his bathroom.

Johnny looked under his arm that was supporting the crutch and actually looked guilty. "Hey bro," Johnny said sheepishly and stood upright.

"Don't 'hey bro' me Johnny. What the fuck you think you are doing?" Mike knew his voice was harsher than he intended but it was better for his best friend to hear anger than the panic that Mike had felt surging through him at seeing Johnny wobbling in his bathroom.

"Relax, M&M," Johnny tried to calm him. "I am just trying to wash the hospital off." When Mike didn't reply, Johnny continued. "Come on bro, I haven't had a proper shower in three weeks. I mean, the sponge baths weren't so bad as long as I pretended the nurses were hot..." Johnny's voice died as Mike stepped into the bathroom.

After his kitchen, this was Mike's favorite room. It was big and roomy. A man sized bathroom that still seemed big even with two fully grown men standing in the middle of the room. Mike kept his eyes on Johnny's face as he grabbed a hold of his brother's arm to steady him.

"Can you blame me?" Johnny kept talking.

"No, I understand bro." Mike replied. "I'd want a real shower too."

"Good," Johnny's grin returned. "Then help me out, will ya?" Mike almost froze at the thought and looked at the towel rack on the wall. "It's not like you haven't seen this hot bod naked before bro." Johnnie nudged him and when Mike glanced back at his brother, he was rewarded with a wink.

God, doesn't he know what he is doing to me? No. This is Johnny. How could he know?

Mike nodded. "Hold onto the rack and I'll help you get out of your pants."

Just the thought of undressing his best friend made his cock uncomfortably hard in his jeans as he stood behind Johnny. Mike rested his hands on the waistband of Johnny's track pants and swallowed hard. Thankfully the sound of the shower hid his gulp. He briefly closed his eyes in an effort to get control of himself but then Johnny spoke.

"Enjoying yourself back their bro?" Johnny's voice was like being hit with cold water.

Fuck!
Mike thought but instead said, "Don't you wish." Mike didn't hesitate any longer to pull down Johnny's track pants and briefs but thought he heard his brother mumbled something.

"What?" Mike asked, keeping his eyes on Johnny's feet instead of his firm ass that was now in front of his face, as Johnny stepped out of his pants.

"What?" Johnny echoed him over his shoulder as Mike stood and shook his head.

"Get in the shower." Mike ordered and waited to help him step over the tile ledge.

"Since when do you shower with your clothes on?" Johnny smirked and Mike realized how truly fucked he really was.

"Oh, yeah," Mike responded and stepped away from Johnny. "I was going to get you settled first." Mike knew it was a lame excuse as he pulled his T-shirt over his head. He toed off his sneakers and socks followed before he hesitated to undo his jeans.

Johnny still had his back to Mike and was feeling the temperature of the water. Mike's eyes couldn't resist roaming over his brothers toned body and the sight did nothing to make his hard on go away. He was so fucked. Johnny's voice broke through the list of excuses Mike was mentally trying to come up with.

"Good thing we put in that new hot water heater." Johnny didn't look over his shoulder as he spoke. "That old one never would've put out water this hot."

Mike knew his best friend was just making idle conversation but he also knew he didn't have an unlimited supply of hot water. With a mental groan, he bit the bullet and stripped out of his jeans. There was no hiding his arousal in his boxer briefs but there was no way in hell he was removing them. Mike stepped closer to Johnny, standing behind him again but careful to keep his arousal as far away from Johnny as he could.

"Alright, you ready?" Mike asked as he rested his trembling hands on Johnny's hips again.

"Thought you'd never ask," Johnny quirked and Mike felt his cock twitch in his briefs.

Mike knew Johnny wasn't flirting with him,
don't I wish
, he thought. Johnny was just being Johnny.

Chapter 6

They stepped in to Mike's shower, which could easily hold four full-size men, without incident. Warm water, from dual showerheads, sprayed them both and Johnny moaned in pleasure. As long as Mike didn't allow his best friend to turn around or back into him, he should be fine. If only his aching prick would go down…fat chance of that happening anytime soon with Johnny so wet and so close to him.

Mike kept his hands loosely on Johnny's hips, aware of the surgery scars, in order to keep him at arms length. His eyes he glued to the back of his best friend's neck and resisted the urge to look down. Water cascaded in rivulets down from Johnny's military cut blond hair and over his trapezoid's as he raised his arms to wash his chest.

Visions of running his tongue along those muscles until he could bite the side of his brother's neck flooded Mike's mind and made him ache all the more. It took all of Mike's control not to tighten his grip on Johnny's hips and to resist the urge to play out his fantasy.

So focused was Mike with his internal battle that he almost didn't catch Johnny in time when he slipped. Mike's hands slid around Johnny's waist as Johnny's arms spread wide, flailing to brace against the tile walls of the shower. It was a lost cause. Mike knew they were going down. And down they went. All Mike could do was make sure that Johnny didn't land on his bad hip. Gravity did what it always does and Mike twisted and locked his arm around his brother's chest.

"Fuck!" Johnny yelled as they hit the tile floor.

Mike groaned as the impact of the tile was jarring through his bones and briefly wondered what his brother was complaining about since he wasn't the one on the bottom.

"Shit, Mikey! Are you okay?" Johnny asked but didn't move out of Mike's grasp.

No. I am definitely not okay
, Mike thought as he felt his hard on pressing into his best friend's back. His first instinct was to throw Johnny off of him and get the hell away. He trampled that instinct and tried to ignore his arousal.

"Yeah, I'm good." Mike replied and prayed Johnny wouldn't crack any smart assed jokes about what was currently poking him in the back. His prayers seemed to be answered when Johnny spoke.

"Shit bro, I'm sorry. I don't know what the fuck just happened.

"As long as you're alright," Mike replied to diffuse his best friend's guilt over the fall.

"Yeah, I'm good," Johnny said but still made no move to get off Mike's lap.

It seemed like several moments passed and when Johnny still hadn't moved, Mike finally spoke.

"Let me up Johnny."

Johnny shifted his weight and Mike slid out from beneath him. He had his back turned to his best friend as he stepped from the shower and wrapped a towel around his soaked briefs to hide his erection and then he turned off the shower. Why he was bothering to hide it, after Johnny surely felt it pressing into him, he didn't know but he did it anyway.

Johnny lay sprawled naked on the tile floor of the shower. Mike's eyes had a mind of their own as they took in Johnny's fit body and Mike quickly grabbed a towel for his brother and helped him stand. In no time at all, Mike had Johnny settled in his own bed.

***

Mike hid downstairs after he got Johnny to bed and gave him his pain meds. He made them both a simple dinner of grilled cheese with tomatoes and only stayed with Johnny long enough to ensure that he ate. Neither of them said anything about the shower incident but Mike knew that Johnny was enough like him that he had to have been thinking about it. However, Johnny wasn't giving Mike any clues as to what he was thinking or feeling about the whole ordeal and Mike knew he wasn't ready to confess his true feelings to his best friend yet.

"Damn it!" Mike muttered as he cleaned the frying pan and he had just set the pan on the drain board to dry when there was a knock on his door.

Mike was surprised to see Mr. B. on his doorstep but he quickly covered his surprise by inviting his adoptive father into the house. Mr. B. sat on the couch and placed the duffel bag he had been carrying at his feet.

"How are you doing, son?" Mr. B. asked and for the first time in his life Mike felt like Mr. B. was looking into his soul.

"I'm good, Mr. B." Mike replied and sat on the other end of the sectional. "Wasn't expecting you to stop by and Johnny is zonked out on his meds."

"Sophie wanted me to bring by some of Johnny's things from his apartment and I wanted to make sure you were both settled in."

Mike's cop instinct decided to make an appearance and let him know that something was wrong. He had no idea why he suddenly felt that way but he never before dismissed the feeling.

Mr. B. sat calmly looking at him and waiting for a reply. Mike could only imagine that this was how suspects used to feel under Mr. B's gaze when he was an arson investigator. The urge to squirm under his adoptive father's gaze was strong but unfounded. Mike had done nothing wrong. Flashes of him holding Johnny's naked body ran through his mind but he pushed them aside as he focused on Mr. B.