My Brother’s Keeper - 17

“That smells good,” Roy said fifteen minutes later as he came to stand by the kitchen door. Like Jerry earlier, he had a towel was wrapped around his waist. He was using the other one to dry his hair. “I know what Jer meant,” he told Tad somewhat apologetically.

Tad chuckled. “I think I might have one more pair of sweats. Why don’t you gather up what you two were wearing and anything else that needs washing, and I’ll run a load or two of laundry.”

“You’d do that?”

“No, I just said it to torment you. Yeah I’ll do that. This place comes with its own washer and dryer, back there.” He nodded towards a door off the rear of the kitchen before he headed to his bedroom.

Roy watched him walk away, admiring for a long moment the fine ass defined by Tad’s tight jeans. Then he shook his head, dragging his thoughts from where they had no right to go. Needing something else to think about, he lifted the lid of the pot on the stove.

“Stew,” Tad said from behind him. “And I didn’t just whip it up. I keep containers of it in the freezer for emergencies, like when I don’t feel like cooking.” He handed Roy sweatpants and a T-shirt. “They should fit, you’re not that much taller than me and you’re definitely thinner. Go change and get the clothes together. They can wash while we eat.”

“Why does everyone in my life seem to like ordering me around?” Roy muttered as he went to get dressed and gather up the laundry.

  

Because you’re cute and sexy Tad thought, immediately followed by Where the hell did that come from? Not that he didn’t know, but it was something he rarely if ever dealt with. That particular half of his sexual being was definitely hidden so deeply in the closet it hadn’t seen the light of day since he was fifteen and experimenting with both boys and girls. He’d discovered he liked both equally, making him truly bi-sexual, but common sense had prevailed and since then he had kept his relationships to females only.

Even at that he rarely slept with them. Melodie was the perfect example. He liked her well enough he supposed, despite her obvious flaws, but when it came down to it he didn’t feel the urge to jump into the sack with her at every opportunity.

Tad’s musings were interrupted when Roy reappeared with an armload of dirty clothes. He marched past Tad to the laundry room door then looked bemused as he tried to figure out how to open it without dropping everything. Tad nudged him aside so that he could get the door and said, “Soap, bleach and softener are in the cabinet above the washer.”

Roy nodded his thanks and began to make two piles of clothes. Tad watched with amusement. “Someone trained you right.”

With a laugh, Roy replied, “I’ve found that if I separate the dirty gray-whites from the rest they don’t get grayer. Not that they get any whiter either at this point.” He put the first pile into the washer as he talked, added soap and dry bleach, and turned it on before coming back into the kitchen. “What can I do to help?”

“Go wake Jerry while I set the table.”