Coming Home: The Davis Brothers

3. Brandon And Lonnie Meet

He expected little ugly to come running as soon as he walked in. Brandon whistled and he heard the pattering of the little dog's feet. When he saw Brandon, he yipped softly and wagged his tail.

"Hey there, little ugly. I brought you some food. Don't say I never done nothing for ya."

Brandon shook the baggie of kibbles and the little dog yipped and ran out of the room.

"Come back here."

Brandon followed the dog into the living room, who padded down the hallway towards the bedrooms. When the pup got to the master bedroom he stopped and looked back at Brandon and then ran inside.

Brandon followed him down the hall and froze when he stepped into the room. Something was different. The bathroom door was open and the light from the vanity overheads spilled into the bedroom. The little dog was standing in the middle of the room wagging its tail back and forth as if he was pleased with himself. He barked again.

A soft voice called out from the bathroom, "What is it, boy?"

A skinny young man walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. When he saw Brandon, he gasped and covered his chest with an arm, while the other clutched at the towel.

Brandon dropped the dog food and raised his fists as he took a step closer. "Who the fuck are you and what are you doing in my house?!"

***

The boy's eyes widened and he pressed his back against the wall, scooting into the corner, trying to get away from Brandon. He had never seen a man so large. The guy was a freaking mountain. And he looked beyond pissed. He had had his share of ass-kickings back in school and it was an experience that he wasn't looking to re-live. He was positive that he wasn't going to get out of this in one piece.

Brandon stepped closer and stared down at the delicate little man, shaking in his skin. Brandon knew he was scaring the boy, but he didn't care. "I asked you a question."

"I-I-I... I didn't think anyone was living here; I thought it was abandoned. I'm sorry."

"How long have you been squatting here?"

"Um.... three months or so, I guess?"

Brandon looked the boy up and down. He couldn't be any taller than Benji, and actually looked shorter, which would put him around five-five or five-six maybe? He was a skinny little thing, but looked like he was at least getting enough to eat. He had long, black hair, which was hanging wet, down past his shoulders. His chocolate brown eyes were wide open and frantically searching around the room, probably looking for an escape. Looking closer at his face, Brandon guessed that maybe he was Chinese or something. Yeah, somewhere in Asia, he decided.

The boy clearly wasn't going to hurt Brandon. He was a little weakling, 98 pounds wet. And it's not like he was concealing a weapon under that towel. From the looks of it, he didn't have much of anything under that towel.

Brandon relaxed his stance and took a couple of steps back.

"Is that dog food?" the boy asked, nodding towards the plastic baggie at Brandon's feet.

"Yeah."

He looked down at the baggie and then back up at Brandon. The surprise was written all over his face. "You brought Ricky food?"

At hearing his name, the little ugly dog turned and yipped at his owner and wagged his tail.

Brandon picked up the baggie and held it out. The boy slowly leaned forward, quickly grabbed the bag and pulled back against the wall. He looked down at the garbage bags, then back up at Brandon, not quite meeting his eyes. "Can I get dressed?"