THE GENTLEMEN'S CLUB
Jesse

Written by Lady Poetess
egiggles at moose-mail.com
/~bbp

Please do not reproduce on any website without permission. This
story has no resemblance to anyone dead or alive.

ONE

Johnny Hoban was walking out of the library when he saw that pest.
Jesse Metcalfe, his cousin but not really cousin - actually, Jesse
was his dad TJ's half-sister's stepbrother's son, was waiting for
him. Why was that pest waiting for him? He didn't like Jesse at
all.

True, Johnny Miguel Rodriguez Hoban didn't like many people. If he
had to sit down and write an essay about his life, it would begin
with "My life sucked so hard, I could hire myself out as a vacuum
cleaner". His father was only twelve years older than he was, and
for ten years, he thought TJ was his big brother. If that wasn't a
joke enough, his father wasn't the brightest bulb in the vicinity.
TJ fit the stereotype of the big and dumb pretty lunkhead, and
Johnny wasn't being spiteful. TJ just wasn't smart.

Johnny was smart. Maybe that was why he often cringed when his
father inadvertently humiliated him so often in public. Johnny's
teachers and classmates often sniggered about TJ, and Johnny,
being a middle-class kid stuck in a posh school thanks to
scholarship, resented his father for making it harder for him to
fit in. He knew he wasn't fair to TJ, who despite it all tried so
hard to be a good father, but he wasn't a rational person either.

In fact, he resented how his life revolved around TJ. The harder
he tried to break free, the more he found himself going back to
his father.

All his life he wanted to be a different person than his father.
Looks-wise, he was already there. His father was stunningly good-
looking and he maintained a perfectly muscled physique. Johnny was
more on the homely boy-next-door type. But in the end, everyone
else in the world seemed to dump on Johnny all the time; he
realized that in the end, rough and middle-class, uneducated TJ
was his only ally in the world.

At sixteen, when he was hospitalized for two weeks because of
severe food poisoning and TJ spent all of those two weeks by his
side, Johnny realized that his father actually loved him. It
wasn't just words - TJ actually loved him. And maybe, Johnny
decided, he should try making a reciprocal gesture back. But it
was hard to break a habit of a lifetime of being withdrawn in his
shell, and it was not easy.

Now he was seventeen, and he and TJ had a warmer relationship than
before - in a way. The appearance of Johnny's favorite ex-teacher
in their lives helped, too, because in a way Scott "Speedy"
Speedman was closer to Johnny's personality than TJ. But Speedy
was from a rich family, and Johnny learned to secretly follow
Speedy's ways in behaving and talking.

Yet it wasn't easy too living with his father and Speedy. Johnny
never told them, but he harbored a hard crush on Speedy since he
was fifteen. Watching his father - less than smart TJ who always
got all the pretty chicks and now Speedy - touch, kiss, and make
Speedy laugh was painful. Johnny had been exposed to TJ's sexually
active lifestyle early, since he awoke from sleep one day five
years ago and found his father vigorously fucking Johnny's
babysitter in the living room couch. He never could sit on that
couch to watch TV for almost a year after that. Nonetheless, TJ
sat him down soon after and explained all about the birds and the
bees. This followed a blur of succession of women and a few men in
TJ's life - and Speedy was the first man Johnny saw TJ settle down
with for this long.

It wasn't fair. Speedy was smart and too good for TJ. Johnny
resented his father for being so good-looking and Speedy for
falling for pretty looks.

Worse, in school everyone would tell him what a sexy man TJ was
compared to poor lil' Johnny, usually right before they laughed at
him and taunted him for being a freak.

He had only one person he could consider closest to a friend:
Frankie Muniz, a senior kid who had since left for college.
Frankie and he were freaks against the world, but Johnny learned
early that he could never be as important to Frankie as a man
named Brendan Fehr would ever be. And now that Frankie had gotten
Brendan, Johnny found that he was increasingly sidelined by his
friend.

Life was fucking unfair.

So back to Jesse Metcalfe. He came here because his parents were
recently divorced and Jesse wanted to get away from it all. He and
TJ hit it off like fireworks since both were the jock kind of
guys, and Jesse's scoundrel charm won over Speedy in no time.
Johnny refused to be charmed, however. He knew Jesse: the boy just
wanted to be allowed to stay here longer, maybe permanently.

After all, one night Jesse told him just that: he wanted to stay
here with wonderful TJ and charming Speedy.

Johnny felt fear at that moment. If Jesse stayed, eventually TJ
and Speedy would realize that they didn't need Johnny in their
lives after all. And where he would be then? Alone, unwanted, and
desolate.

But Jesse wouldn't leave him alone. Even now, Jesse was waiting
for him.

"Don't you have anything better to do?" he asked Jesse in
annoyance.

Jesse was hot. That Johnny could see right off. The man was built
in a slim but very tightly muscled way - like TJ, Jesse often went
around the house clad only in a pair of shorts. Since he came two
months ago, Jesse had always been seen with a different guy or gal
every time he went out. Another reason for Johnny to dislike him -
Jesse was such a cheap slut.

"Nah, nothing better," Jesse responded with that easy and charming
way of his. He had a smile that could slay even the hardest of
hearts, but Johnny was harder than hard.

Deliberately Johnny plugged his ears with the earphones of his
portable CD player (Speedy's gift to him on his sixteenth
birthday) and let the music from Sunset Boulevard drown Jesse's
babble.

Jesse wasn't a charming rake for no reason, however. He gently
removed the earphones, and he did it in a slow, easy way that sent
a surge of desire up Johnny's spine. If Jesse felt Johnny's
tremble and saw his blush, he didn't say anything. He just smiled
that seductive way of his, damn him.

And Jesse also took off Johnny's glasses. "You look so much better
without glasses," he said softly. "Some guys look good with
glasses, but yours only hide those pretty eyes. Get a better one
or wear contacts, J."

Johnny didn't want to feel the heat burning his face or the heart
of his beating like a drum. "I don't care what you think," he said
stubbornly. "Because you're dumb and stupid," he added childishly,
anything to drive this too-beautiful, too-muscular, and too-virile
man away.

"Probably, but I am very good in bed." Jesse grinned, but there
was nothing playful in the way his hand now rested over Johnny's
heart, the hand covering Johnny's nipple and the fingers teasing
the erect nub until Johnny shivered. "I've been perfecting my fuck
skills for years now, and you won't regret it if you let me fuck
you."

"You made that clear last week when you laughed at me with all
your friends," Johnny sneered, hiding the pain in his heart by
lashing out. "I know your game, Jesse. You probably think that by
making me your besotted idiot, you'll have us all in your thrall
and you will never have to move back to your gutter again. Well,
guess what? I won't play. I won't let you use me that way."

It was amazing how all traces of seduction fell away from Jesse's
face that instant. But it wasn't hurt that flashed briefly in
those eyes, surely, before anger contorted Jesse's handsome face
into a more malevolent mien.

"I won't go back," Jesse only said.

"You don't belong here."

Jesse kept up with Johnny who was trying to walk away from him.
"And you do?" he asked Johnny. "You think you're too good for me?
Newsflash, freak - you are a weirdo. An uptight, rude, and nasty
freak. You probably think you're too good for your father as
well." At Johnny's reluctant flush, realization dawned on Jesse's
face. "You do, don't you? Fucking hell, Johnny, you're worst freak
than I thought. Do you know - no, you don't. You don't care
either."

"Know what?" Johnny couldn't help asking.

"Nothing."

"Tell me, damn you," Johnny snapped.

"Ah, so Dad's Little Boy does care."

Fury overrode Johnny's common sense, and he lashed out. His fist
connected hard with Jesse's face, and Johnny watched in shock as
Jesse touched his bleeding nose slowly.

Jesse stared at the blood on his fingers, and then, to Johnny's
surprise, licked his fingers clean. The sight of Jesse's tongue
slowly licking naked flesh made Johnny's stomach quiver, and fury
quickly melded into a more fiery emotion: lust. He was so aroused
that he trembled in the night - he had to get out of here.

But Jesse didn't let him. He grabbed Johnny, leaving blood stains
on Johnny's T-shirt, and Johnny wanted to yell. No, not yell, he
lifted his head and parted his lips, and Jesse took him. Johnny's
first kiss - and oh, what a kiss it was! Johnny felt Jesse's
tongue slip past his defenses, and at first he didn't know what to
do. Then as Jesse slowly licked and explored his mouth, Johnny
slowly tried to do the same. Their tongues met and mated as the
taste of Jesse washed over him, and Johnny couldn't help but moan
as he tightened his arms around Jesse's shoulder.

Such broad, muscular shoulders that promised to carry the world -
Johnny loved feeling the contour, the muscle, and down to the
center, where Jesse's collarbones met.

And he loved it when Jesse pushed him against the wall, and
instinct made him spread his thighs and lifted them so that he was
clasping them hard around Jesse's waist. And as Jesse's mouth and
tongue brought him to paradise, the hard grinding of Jesse's rock
hard erection against his aching pucker gave him hell. He wanted,
he craved, and he desired.

"Johnny, you're so beautiful," Jesse murmured before he licked and
sucked at Johnny's Adam apple.

Johnny wanted so badly to believe him. Maybe, deep in his heart
where he wasn't so wise after all, he already did.




TWO

Johnny watched, aroused and still quite disorientated, as Jesse
slowly used his mouth to unzip his pants. And Johnny's cock sprung
free for a second before Jesse covered it with his mouth. Johnny
gasped as indescribable sensations exploded in his head, and every
nerve on his cock burned wildly as Jesse licked every sensitive
spot - the underside of the ridge, the slit, and the smooth wet
crown.

They were in Johnny's bedroom, late at night, or maybe it was
morning already, but they were blind to all but each other. Johnny
groaned as his inexperienced balls began churning with the need to
expel his juices, and he thrust his hips up, gasping as his cock
found its way down Jesse's hot throat. And knowingly, Jesse slowed
down his orgy of sucking and licking, until Johnny settled down
and mewed impatiently. Then Jesse started again. And this went on
until Johnny was almost mad from the need to ejaculate. Finally,
Jesse took pity as much as his own need to have this boy's juices
in his mouth, and he finished Johnny.

Johnny came hard and harsh. Jesse was taken by surprise just how
much the other boy had to give, and even his experienced mouth
couldn't swallow all of it.

Victory, Jesse thought, and he moved over Johnny. Johnny's eyes
widened, but Jesse's fingers gently eased apart Johnny's anal
pucker folds, and there were only acceptance in Johnny's eyes as
he relaxed and Jesse fitted his cock against the tight virgin
asshole.

Johnny didn't cry out - insensate and eased by his powerful come,
his ass readily accepted Jesse's thick cock. There was no pain,
only this blissful sense of completion and intimacy. As Jesse
became fucking him, he fucked back. Their hips moved in a perfect
rhythm, and it wasn't long before Jesse spewed his fiery ejaculate
into Johnny's hungry ass.



Kevin Zegers pulled himself out of the pool and sat beside Jesse.
Both of them were eighteen but while Kevin was fair and
angelically beautiful, Jesse was darker and his beauty had a hint
of roguish danger where Kevin's hadn't. Both of them became good
friends the moment they met at the local pool club, and they
bonded over parents both hated, broken homes, and fake IDs.

They made an obscenely beautiful pair, and there were many eyes in
the pool surreptitiously checking out their firm, well-muscled
bodies and tightly packed crotches. Kevin preferred Speedos while
Jesse wore more conservative shorts, but there was no doubting
that both boys were men in at least one aspect. More than once,
they had been propositioned to do nude photo shoots or films
together, but it was silly, really.

Kevin might do it, once, a year ago. But not today, as Jesse had
learned when he tried to make the move on Kevin soon after they
met. Kevin refused to fuck or be fucked by anyone but his steady
boyfriend. He refused to tell Jesse who the boyfriend was, but
Jesse had secretly followed him one evening and found Kevin bent
over in the backseat of a car, taking in the obscenely well-hung
cock of a much, much older man like a pro.

If Jesse was evil, he would have blackmailed the then under-aged
Kevin into letting him fuck that boy in return for his silence.
Kevin's panicked look when Jesse deliberately told him what he
knew told him that Kevin actually cared too much for his man.

But Jesse didn't blackmail Kevin. He envied Kevin, actually.

"I did it," he told Kevin.

"Virgins," Kevin snorted, sounding much older than his years. In a
sense, he was.

"Yeah? This virgin is hot," Jesse said.

"That's because you're crazy about him." Kevin stretched his arms.

"I'm just fucking him because if he likes me, his father will too,
and I will never have to go back," Jesse reminded him. His own
words sounded weak even to his ears. The memory of Johnny's tight
ass was giving him a hard-on even now.

"I told you it'd probably be less complicated to seduce the
father," Kevin said.

"True, and I've dropped hints that I'm available, but the man
doesn't even get them. All he cares about is making his son and
boyfriend happy. Besides, I like TJ. I don't want to spoil this,
Kev. He likes me too, you know."

"That's because you're both big, dumb, and pretty," retorted
Kevin.

"And I respect Speedy. Speedy's cool, so I won't move into his
turf." Actually, Jesse wasn't sure if he could actually steal TJ
away from Speedy, but Kevin didn't need to know that. Besides, he
saw TJ as a father he never had rather than a fuck buddy. It was
Johnny who made his cock throb since they first met.

"Yeah? You better sort this out before you end up like me, nuts
and in love," said Kevin. "I'm hungry. Let's go grab a bite."

"So how was it?" Kevin asked over hamburger an hour later.

"Tight and hot. Man, he takes my dick like a trooper. If he wasn't
sore, I would've taken him again," Jesse said. "The best I've
had."

"The best?" Kevin raised a brow skeptically. "Virgins never give
the best fucks."

"But Johnny's a smart guy. He may be a virgin, but he has read all
those books that teach him how to take it good." Or at least Jesse
would like to imagine. He hated the idea of Johnny giving head or
receiving head from anybody but him. "He actually knew when to
tighten his ass and he lifted his hips high enough to make me
plunge just the right amount of depths. Shit, man, Kev, he is
good."

"Yeah," Kevin said, still skeptical. "I've had virgins before,
Jesse. They aren't that good. You're probably imagining it all
because you're hot over Johnny."

"I'm not!" Jesse snapped.

"Yes so. You talk of nothing but him since we know each other.
'Johnny will do this if he's here, Johnny will like this, Johnny
will say that' - it's quite ridiculous. You have a big case of
hero worship over that guy, Jess, and you're officially a goner
when you start telling me how you love all that Andrew Lloyd
Webber shit just because he keeps playing it in his room."

"I - " Jesse just stared at Kevin.

"So don't tell me you're doing this to get his father into liking
you, Jess," Kevin continued. "His father likes you already. You're
just finding excuses to nail that guy, when in fact you are nuts
about him."

Jesse thought about that. Hmm. "I've never really been nuts about
anyone before."

"That I believe," Kevin said with a chuckle.

"Why are we friends?" Jesse growled. "I'm starting to hate you."

"Because I'm the only guy around who isn't dazzled by your looks
to know what a jerk you can be inside, and you like that," Kevin
said bluntly. "The same reason why I like you - you know I'm a
jerk. We will never fuck each other, because I will never let you
and you probably don't care anymore after that time when we first
met and I punched you for cupping my crotch."

"You're scary when you go into all that expressive shit," Jesse
said, but his expression was one of thoughtfulness. "But you're
right. Amazing. Who taught you this shit? If I know how, I'd
probably get Johnny eating out of my hands. Guys like him love
that expressing yourself sensitive shit."

"Dan's an expressive guy, and he has been good to me," Kevin
admitted.

"How is he different from all those dirty old men?" Jesse asked.

"He's not old, he's just 32. And he respects me." Kevin shrugged.
"I guess everyone will see him as a dirty old man, and I guess
this is why we keep it a secret until I'm older, but he's just
not. He likes me a lot, and I like him back. He's the only guy
right for me, you see?"

"Hey, don't have to justify yourself to me, Kev. This is me you're
talking to, remember?"

"It's fucking embarrassing, but I want to be with him always.
Always, Jesse," Kevin said quietly. "Sometimes I think I would've
been dead by now if it weren't for him."

Jesse was quiet, and so was Kevin as they studied the food at the
table, somewhat embarrassed by their talk. Finally, Jesse just had
to say something. "Johnny socked me in the nose," he said,
pleased.

"You're sick, Jesse," Kevin said.

"Yeah." Jesse stabbed his fork at the fries at his plate.
"Probably. But he's cool."

"Just because both your parents beat you doesn't mean beating is
the same as showing love."

Why did he ever tell Kevin that? Jesse scowled. "I know that," he
insisted.

"I hope so. I'm not very good at being someone's friend, so I hope
you don't screw up enough to depend on me," Kevin told him. "Take
care of yourself, man."




THREE

Jesse watched from afar as Johnny studied in the library. The boy
was always reading, he noticed. Johnny was always reading with
Andrew Lloyd Webber playing in the background in the bedroom if he
wasn't at the library. He wasn't lying when he told Johnny that he
found Johnny beautiful. The boy may lacked his father's looks, but
he had an innate intelligence shining through.

Maybe it was just the novelty, since Jesse had never had any
brainy fellow before, but now that he'd had Johnny, why did he
want more?

Kevin's words haunted him. Was he crazy over Johnny?

If so, why wasn't it an unappealing notion?

Unbeknownst to Jesse, Johnny was aware of the other boy's
presence. He should be scared or annoyed, but instead he had Tell
Me On Sunday playing in his head. No, it was not a perfect love
song, but it was an ominous sign nonetheless. "Don't leave me
silent, with no words at all..." And funny thing was, he suspected
that this was actually Jesse's song rather than his. He had
deliberately avoided Jesse since his marvelous deflowering at
Jesse's educated cock, and for the first time, he considered the
notion that Jesse might be hurt.

Silly, really. Wasn't Jesse supposed to be a sophisticated fuck-
'em, leave-'em type?

Probably, a voice sneered in his head, but Johnny was proving to
be just as good in that, right?

No. His body still ached for Jesse, even as his eyes yearned for
that smile, that light in those eyes.

"Johnny," Jesse said, finally coming up to him.

"Hi," Johnny said awkwardly. "We need to talk."

"Okay."



Johnny bit down on Jesse's hand to stifle his scream of pleasure
as Jesse gave one hard and final thrust and unloaded his boiling
juices into Johnny's boiling ass. And Johnny barely recovered when
Jesse roughly pulled out and turned Johnny around for a hard,
hungry kiss even as he roughly plunged his still hard cock back
home. This time, they fucked against the library bookshelf in the
darkest and most deserted corner of the library face-to-face,
Jesse whispering and moaning obscene and sweet nothings as he
balled Johnny into yet another explosive come.

Johnny clawed at Jesse's bare buttocks, and Jesse grunted as
Johnny's fingers bit into the sensitive cleft between his cheeks.

And Johnny did something he never thought he'd do. He touched
Jesse's cheek, and his skin reveled in the burn of the boy's
stubble. And he closed his eyes as his orgasm swept him, not
because of urgency of this admittedly seedy coupling, but because
he was actually at peace. He could even hear a song in his head.
Think Of Me.

"Oh, Johnny." And probably Jesse knew it too, from the way he
eased Johnny back a little, they still joined cock to ass, to look
at the boy. "If I say I'm fucking you because I wanted to, will
you believe me?"



"I don't like you, you know." Johnny pushed his hands into his
pockets, and winced when his left hand connected with his soiled
shorts in his pocket. He decided to just ditch the shorts in the
trash. "I am so afraid that you will steal TJ and Speedy away from
me."

Jesse chuckled. The wind blew on his shirtless torso, his shirt
carelessly slung over his shoulder as he walked with Johnny home.
"They love you more than me. I should be the one who is jealous,
you silly ass."

"Ass, yeah, that's me." Johnny sighed. "Look, I don't know if you
will stick around or not, but I've been thinking, and I think I
want to be fucked by you a lot longer."

"No problem. I plan to stick around a lot longer."

"You'll probably break my heart, you son of a bitch."

"If I do, I don't mean it. Because I want to stick around,
Johnny," Jesse said urgently. "Life with you guys here are like
fucking heaven, man. Nobody fighting, and there's no one beating
me up because they think I need to be beaten so that I can be
good, you know?" He hesitated. "Maybe you can beat me a little,
though, if you want to."

Johnny shook his head. "I'll never beat you," he said. "What the
hell did your parents do to you?"

"It doesn't matter, I guess. You'll be good to me, and I'll be
good to you, okay?"

"On two conditions."

Jesse shrugged. "Okay, deal."

"You don't cheat on me when we're in this, and if we're breaking
it up, we'll be honest and tell it upfront instead of sneaking
around."

"Okay," Jesse said easily. "I have my own conditions too."

"Deal," Johnny told him.

"You don't cheat on me - yes, I'm serious, don't give me that look
as if you don't believe you're a hot fucker, you are hot, you
know, and I worry whether someone will steal you from me. No
fucking around on me, and you'll be patient with me when I'm a bit
slow. I know I'm not smart, but I will try to keep up."

"Okay."

They were at the door now, and Jesse placed his hands at each side
of Johnny's head and bent down to kiss him. Johnny responded,
kissing him back, and that was when TJ Hoban opened the door and
the two of them fell onto the floor in a tangle of limbs.

"Mr Hoban, can I marry your son?" Jesse asked before TJ could
throw a fit.

"No!" TJ bellowed.

Johnny just had to laugh.




FOUR

"They're probably fucking in Johnny's room now," TJ Hoban said
indignantly. "I won't let that happen. I will kick him out of the
house now."

Scott Speedman just smiled agreeably as he put his arms around his
lover. TJ just made a low grumpy sound, but he buried his face in
Speedy's freshly bathed shoulder and let the towel around his
waist fall carelessly onto the floor.

"I think we should just let them do their own thing," Speedy said
as TJ began kissing his shoulders.

TJ stopped and scowled at Speedy. "I won't inflict that... that...
younger version of me on my son! We both know full well what a
lousy useless bastard I was when I was his age, and my son
deserves better!" he told Speedy.

"Yeah? And are you saying I am too good for you?" Speedy asked.

"Yeah, and we both know it. But I'm mellowed now," TJ told him. "I
have a job, a life, you, and I am a pretty good family man.
Right?"

"Yeah, you are." Speedy rubbed TJ's shoulders soothingly. "But
they're young, TJ, and when I was Johnny's age, I would do
whatever it is you don't like if you forbid me to do it. You know
what I think?"

"No. I just want to fuck you," TJ said, slightly surly, always
aroused when he was with Speedy.

"I think you should let Johnny learn from his mistakes. If Jesse
hurts him, at least let it be his mistakes. He'll respect you for
it."

"And I can beat Jesse up if he breaks Johnny's heart," TJ said.

"Yeah. Although not everything can be solved using physical force,
you know that. Besides, Jesse's not that bad, right? He's pretty
mellowed when he came here. He will start working with you next
week, and he is talking to me about night classes..."

"I think you like that guy," TJ said, grinning despite himself.

"Like you said, he was a younger version of you."

TJ nodded, conceding to Speedy, "Okay, I'll let Johnny decide,
although I still think he's too young - oh fuck it. Fine." He
sighed. "My son is growing up. But at least he's not me, huh?"

"Don't depreciate yourself so much, TJ."

"Impossible. You love me. That means I'm the greatest in the
world."

Speedy chuckled, and lay back on the bed. "It's been two days, TJ,
and I kinda miss that big old cock of yours," he purred.

TJ grinned as he moved over Speedy. As they kissed, TJ's engorged
cock zoned in, and for the next few hours, the world was theirs
and only theirs. TJ was still the greatest in Speedy's world.



"Dad?" Johnny turned away at once when he realized that his father
was naked and worse, his father's cock was coated in sultry mucus
that could only come from fucking Speedy. The same mucus on a
sleepy Jesse's quiescent cock back on Johnny's bed. "Shit!"

TJ was frantically grabbing a towel from the hanger and wrapping
it around his waist. "Fuck!" he yelped. "I..."

What could they say? Johnny was very aware that telltale creamy
fluids were seeping down his thighs, and there was no mistaking
what he'd seen on TJ's cock. "Sorry," he said sheepishly, trying
to wipe away at his thighs with some toilet paper. "I thought
everyone was asleep."

"Are you cleaned up?" TJ asked, having looked away a long time
ago.

"Yeah."

TJ sighed and studied his son. "I'm going to trash that Metcalfe
boy," he finally said.

"Dad," Johnny exclaimed. "You kick him out and I'll move out with
him."

"So you've been fucking around behind my back all this while?"

"No. It started only recently. Jesse's kinda cool."

"Cool's not a good reason enough," TJ pointed out. "But I agreed
with Speedy when he asked me to let you do what you want. But if
Jesse hurts you in any way, Johnny, you can tell me and I will
teach him a painful lesson for messing with my son."

Johnny stared at his father. How could he once thought TJ dumb,
boring, and embarrassing? TJ looked ridiculous, standing there
with only a towel and a very sheepish look on his face, as if this
talk embarrassed him like hell. He looked like a powerful father,
the best in the world.

"Thanks, Dad." He paused. "This is embarrassing, isn't it?"

"Yeah. You go clean up first. I'll wait until you're done." TJ
stepped aside from the bathroom.

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

Johnny realized for the first time that TJ had always answered him
eagerly, never impatiently or condescendingly. Why hadn't he
noticed this earlier? Good old Dad.

"Consider this payback for me catching you with that babysitter of
mine when I was twelve."

"Uh? Oh, that." TJ actually blushed. "Shame on you, Dad. I hoped
she was at least eighteen."

"Fuck, get in there and wash up before I tan you, you son of a
bitch."

Johnny laughed as he closed the bathroom door behind him.