Coming Home: The Davis Brothers

21. The Brothers Give Their Partners Theirs Happy Endings

When Benji got to his car, he found Lonnie in the passenger seat, staring at the cell phone in his lap.

Benji got in the driver's seat and looked at his best friend. His eyes were red and puffy. He had been crying. Benji's eyes welled with sympathetic tears.

Benji reached out and put his hand on Lonnie's. "Are you okay, Lonnie?" Benji asked him.

Lonnie sniffed and shook his head, and turned and looked back at Benji. "Yeah. Um. Is it alright if we just go home now?"

Benji squeezed Lonnie's hand. "Yeah. Of course."

"It's nothing bad," Lonnie said with a smile. "He said he was sorry. Kinda."

Lonnie waved goodbye to Benji as he pulled away. He could hear the lawnmower in the backyard, so he went inside and set down his bag.

He found Ricky in the kitchen at the back door. The little chihuahua mix was highly annoyed that his daddy had locked his doggy door and left him inside. Lonnie picked Ricky up and gave him a quick kiss on top of his head.

"Sorry, baby, you can't go outside while big daddy's mowing the lawn."

He set the little dog down and went out the back door and sat down at the patio and watched Brandon mow the lawn.

Brandon was wearing a pair of work boots with white socks, denim shorts and a wifebeater. He had his sunglasses on, but his baseball cap was on the patio table. He was a sweaty mess. Damn, his big bear looked good.

When Brandon finally saw Lonnie, he stopped the lawnmower and walked up to the porch. He leaned down and gave Lonnie a quick kiss.

"Hey, cupcake. You're back early."

"Yeah."

Brandon's brows furrowed. He pulled off his shades and set them on the table. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" He squatted down in front of Lonnie and grabbed his hands.

Lonnie couldn't help himself. He started to cry. He grabbed Brandon and pulled him closer and gave him a tight hug.

"Cupcake, you're scaring me."

Lonnie laid his head on Brandon's shoulder. Brandon was soaking wet with sweat, but Lonnie didn't care. He needed to be close to his man right now. "My dad called me."

Lonnie felt Brandon's body tense up. "What did he say?"

"It was so surreal."

"Let's go inside and get comfortable, okay?"

"Okay."

Brandon took Lonnie's hand and led him inside, straight to their bedroom. He wanted to crawl into bed with Lonnie, but he realized that he was a mess.

"Shit," Brandon muttered. "I'm all sweaty. Ah shit, I got you all sweaty too."

"We can take a shower."

"Okay," Brandon agreed. That would be a good way to relax them.

Brandon followed Lonnie into the bathroom. When Lonnie got the shower temperature adjusted, they stepped in and shut the glass door behind them. Brandon rinsed the layer of sweat off his body, then pulled Lonnie into his arms.