Chapter 3
Jonah
"I got my friend Jerry from work to take my shift today, I'm going to stay home with Liam, so he can sleep in," I said to Brett as he glanced down the hall at our closed door, probably planning on getting him up.
"Jo, he was fine last night, you spoil him too much, maybe he needs to toughen up a bit."
"I don't spoil him, I just...I want to make sure he really is okay and I need to study for my First Aid/CPR class anyway, we're having an exam soon, he can help me." I don't spoil him, do I? I mean, he's not spoiled, he's perfect...he just little and needs me so it comes off that way...am I deluding myself. Nah.
"You focus more on him than your own life," Brett said, following me into the kitchen.
"Brett...he is my life, you know that." Brett and I had an understanding that had developed over the years and my connection to Liam became clearer. He knew that I loved Liam with all my heart, but he also knew that I wouldn't be taking that love any further than a brotherly type of love until he is not only old enough age-wise, but emotionally ready for a romantic relationship, and not until I was sure that he knew who and what he wanted. I had to be sure I wasn't making that choice for him or pushing him into anything out of loyalty. Only if he truly felt as strongly as me, would I pursue a relationship with Liam...when he was old enough.
"I know, I guess sometimes I just don't get it. Don't you want to date other people, fool around...get laid...I mean, sometimes I'm so horny I feel like I could jump Aiden if he wasn't such a dork."
Aiden whacked the back of his head as he walked into the kitchen and straight to the coffee maker.
"I'd rather suck my own dick," he said bluntly.
"Good luck with that," Brett mused.
"It's not like you haven't tried," he taunted.
Before they got into an all-out bickering match, I held up my hands. "Enough...what do you guys want for breakfast, I'm cooking?" As the biggest one in the house, they all tended to listen to me; Aiden nicknamed me the Alpha, but Brett was the oldest (well Aiden was, but that didn't count because he was an idiot most of the time) so under most circumstances I deferred that title and responsibility to him, just not when it came to Liam. They both knew, when it came to Liam, even Brett let me take the lead...or when the two of them were being immature dickheads, I usually had to intervene.
"Scrambled eggs and toast," the two sang together. It was both of their favourite, especially when I added a little hot sauce.
"Okay click and clack, it'll be ready in 10 minutes."
After breakfast they hustled out the door off to their jobs and I set up my laptop in the living room and started up one of the First Aid training videos from my class to help me review for my first test. Since I was working at the hospital, even though my job was only really taking the food trays to patients or wheeling them to X-Ray or discharge, I was encouraged to take the in-depth training and get certified with the Red Cross. I would need it for school in the fall anyway, since I was starting a pre-med program, so I figured I'd take it over the summer and be one step ahead in September.
Liam had been helpful when I was practicing things like slings, applying dressings and even CPR, until we would get silly and I'd revive him with a massive tickle attack, much to his delight. The video I was reviewing was about penetrating chest wounds and amputation, basically, a very bloody chapter of the accompanying book. But for some reason it didn't bother me, instead, I just focused on the best ways to treat the bleeding, both short term and long term.
"Morning," a half awake Liam mumbled as he fell onto the couch next to me, leaning up against my shoulder.
"Hey peanut, how are you feeling this morning?"
"Mmhmm."
When he was tired that was pretty much his best response, but I took it as affirmative.
I ruffled his new shorter hair, "I'll make you some breakfast right after this section finishes." Liam sat up and began paying attention to the video with me. It was all fake, of course, but they were demonstrating on actors as if the wounds were real, and the blood spurting out of a femoral artery did look quite authentic. "Maybe you shouldn't watch this bean," I suggested as I turned towards him. Too late, he was white as a ghost, his wide eyes blinking and an expression that made me want to rush him to the nearest toilet or waste basket. I quickly closed the laptop.
"You okay?"
"I don't feel so good," he whispered. I touched his face and he felt cool and a bit clammy.
"Lie down, Liam, you're okay." I quickly laid him down on the couch and elevated his legs a bit, grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch and tucked it around him.
"Are you treating me for shock?" he asked.
I laughed at my smart boy, "you have been paying attention when I study."
"Only the parts that don't involve blood," he confessed.
"I'll kiss the colour back into your cheeks," I chuckled as I began planting kisses all over his face while he giggled lightly. "Stay here while I make you some breakfast, you need to eat. If you feel nauseous roll on your side...and puke into this," I said as I put an empty plastic waste basket below him.
"I'm not going to puke," he muttered, "You're not going to work?"
"No! I got Jerry to cover today, remember?"
"Who's Jerry?" he called out, turning to watch me as I got what I needed from the fridge.
"A guy from work."
"Is he your friend?"
"Yeah, I guess he is...especially since he was nice enough to cover my shift."
"How old is he?"
"I don't know...a little older than me. Probably 21 because he can get into bars. Why all the questions?"
"I dunno."
I looked up and he shrugged his shoulders.
"Do you hang out with him?"
"I usually have lunch with him at work if he's around...he's asked me to hang out with him and his friends, but I've just been too busy so far. What about you, are there any kids at the Boy's Club this summer your age? Anyone you want to hang out with?"
"Nope."
"Nope, there aren't any kids your age, or nope, not any you want to hang out with?"
"There are kids my age."
I stopped what I was doing and looked up at Liam. He gazed back with his round, innocent eyes, but I saw a hint of a smirk that he was trying to keep off his lips.
I walked back in with a plate full of scrambled eggs (no hot sauce), toast and a sliced orange. "Eat," I ordered as I placed it on the table with a fork and knife. I went back and poured him a glass of chocolate milk.
"What about your studying," he mumbled with a mouth full of food a little while later.
"I'll just practice some of the other scenarios on you later that don't include blood," I chuckled. "I've got that stuff pretty much down anyway."
I spent the rest of the morning studying my book and practicing a bit on Liam, but mostly he had grabbed his sketchbook and was working on a drawing of a funny looking dog we had seen on our walk home the other day. That was what was so amazing about Liam, he had a photographic memory. If he studied something intently for a few minutes, he could sketch it, in detail, several days later.
When it was nearly noon and I thought we should get out of the apartment, I got up to go take a shower since I was still in the old sweats and ripped T-shirt I put on when I got up this morning. When we slept I either wore light sleep pants and a T-shirt, or if I was particularly warm, which I was inclined to be, I would just wear boxers, but I always wore something even though I would have rather slept naked like Brett and Aiden always did. I just didn't feel comfortable doing it with Liam in my bed...at least for now.
"I'm going to go take a shower and then we'll go run some errands," I said to Liam as he worked intently on the drawing, not sure if he even heard me he was so focused. Grabbing a fresh towel from our linen closet I stretched and walked into the bathroom, closing the door before I got undressed. I had changed in front of Liam, I mean all of us have changed in front of each other a zillion times over the years, part of living in small apartments with one bathroom, but I guess under the circumstances, I was slightly more conscious of it around him. Probably part of me repressing my physical attraction, I felt like it could be too easy to roll down that slippery slope. Freud would probably say I was sublimating my sexual desires into a higher standard with him, Benji would have some complicated psychological reason too, but I never really discussed my relationship with Liam too much with Benji. He just seemed like he sensed what was going on and he understood, either that or he was totally oblivious.
I let the strong spray of hot water clear my head of all of these thoughts as I held my face under the shower head. I heard the door click open, so I figured Liam had to use the toilet since we were all used to each other barging right in all the time, we didn't make a big deal of it anymore. I just rocked my body slightly under the relaxing water raining heavily down on my face as the room steamed up.
"Jojo?" I felt a small tap on my elbow.
I shook the water from my face and used my hands to get the rest. Opening my eyes I looked down and Liam was in the shower with me, undressed. "Can I take a shower with you?"
I knew when he was younger he took showers with Brett all the time, but it had been at least a couple of years. I was pretty sure Brett stopped it when he was hit hard by puberty and wanted to take care of some other hormonally charged urges in the shower that he couldn't with his little brother there. Hell, I'd walked in on him more than enough times to know that it was actually best to knock or be scarred for life.
"Um...I guess."
Liam smiled and immediately stepped further in, right in front of me, leaning against my chest and letting the water run over his face. He took my spot! I watched for a few seconds, dumbfounded as he hummed a little tune, a big grin on his face and relaxed back into me. The little bugger.
"Wash my hair?" he peeped.
"Your wish is my command, your highness," I joked, picking up a bottle of the new shampoo I let him pick out after he smelled about 20 of them. It was a soft coconut scent and then the conditioner he chose was vanilla. Odd combination, but it somehow worked, at least on him. But Liam always smelled good.
After I washed and conditioned the little prince's hair, I grabbed a washcloth, poured in some blueberry bodywash and started scrubbing his neck and shoulders. He just stood there, his eyes closed with a wry little smile on his face. Maybe the guys are right, I do coddle him...but who was I kidding, I was powerless not to. After I finished scrubbing him from head to toe (yes, with some difficulty as I kept the mantra of my temporary celibate vow in my head), and he had rinsed off, I turned him to face me, "All done Little Lord Fauntleroy."
"Who's that?"
"A character in an old book I read once."
"Want me to wash you?" He asked with a sweet sparkle in his eyes.
Oh fuck...I don't know if I could handle that. "Um...I got this Leelee, it's faster if I just do it since you can't reach the top of my head. Why don't you dry off and get dressed while I finish up."
He looked disappointed for a split second before he gave a slight shrug and stepped out of the shower, my eyes trained on his cute little butt. Stop it! Bad Jonah! I released a big breath when he left the room and proceeded to quickly finish my own bathing, lowering the temperature of the water a few degrees.
We grabbed some lunch at a sandwich shop while we were running our errands which included stopping at Liam's favourite art supply store to get a new sketchpad since his current one was almost out of blank pages, plus a few new pencils. I stopped at a uniform store and got another two sets of scrubs for work since we didn't always have time to keep up with the laundry. We also hit a bookstore which entertained us for the better of an hour, and lastly, we did some grocery shopping before finally heading home just about at the same time that Brett and Aiden returned from work.
For once Aiden made dinner. Granted, it was Hamburger Helper, canned corn, and sliced tomato salad, but for him it was a gourmet meal. Aiden wasn't the greatest cook, but I had taught him to make a few things so that we could take turns cooking and he could still make something besides a can of chili. After dinner, I did another hour of studying while Brett and Liam played a game of chess. Yeah, we weren't the most typical kids. We didn't play video games, we couldn't afford them so we never got into them, but their Grandfather had taught them how to play the classic game and then after he passed away they inherited his beautiful antique set, so once in a while they sat down and played a match and reminisced about their beloved Gramps. Aiden? Who knows what he was doing, he was in his room and quiet, probably texting some friend, so we were happy with the peace and quiet since he was usually the louder of us four.
We ended our evening with a movie on Netflix. One of our few luxuries since we didn't want to spend the money on cable which was more expensive.
"You should get to bed Li, it's getting late," I suggested as I cleared the dishes from our evening snacking.
"Do I have to go back to the program tomorrow?" he asked, referring to the Boy's Club.
"Yes Liam," Brett answered before I could open my mouth. "You know it was our deal with Sherry, and that kid is gone, nothing to worry about."
Liam looked over at me and I just nodded so he stood up and trudged off to the bathroom to brush his teeth. I stayed up a bit longer talking to the older boys. Aiden was telling us that he wanted to get a motorcycle. Brett was intrigued and the two boys talked about makes and engines and things I had no clue about. Aiden told us about a Club that some of the guys at the construction site were talking about and did we want to go with him some time.
"Can we get in?" I asked, since the drinking age was 21 some clubs were wary about letting in people between the ages of 18 and 21, scratch that, most girls could get in, but guys, not so much.
"We won't be able to drink, but as long as we have a sponsor we can get in the door, it's a private club," he explained.
"I don't know, I'd hate to leave Liam home alone, you guys go, I don't really like the club scene anyway. They're crowded, loud...what's the point?"
"Babes, grampa," Aiden retorted.
Brett snickered and I just flicked him the back of his head as I headed to bed after brushing my teeth and using the toilet. Liam was already asleep so I stripped down to boxers and a T-shirt and climbed in next to him. Almost automatically the small body rolled over and tucked into my side like a heat seeking missile. I wrapped my arm around him and leaned down breathing in the scent of his hair, reminding me of our impromptu shower this morning.
Liam had no nightmares and slept quietly the whole night, or so I assumed since once I fell asleep I wasn't awoken until the early morning light was starting to stream in through the window. I often woke up an hour or two before my alarm, but often just stayed in bed cuddling Liam and often falling back asleep. But this morning, I had a bit of a problem. As I looked down my body, Liam's leg was draped over me, not more than 1 inch away from a raging morning hard-on. Fuck!
I quickly rolled on my side, facing away from Liam while I decided what to do. Getting up and dealing with it in the bathroom seemed like the ideal solution.
"Jonah, what's the matter," a small voice sounded before I could make my escape, Liam's face popping up behind me, leaning on my shoulders as he peered over at me. His clear blue, innocent eyes shining with confusion.
"Nothing Li, you should just go back to sleep."
His inquisitive eyes ran over me and I cringed as I tried to subtly hide myself, and felt my face burn as a deep blush spread across my cheeks. "Is that an erection?"
I wanted to die, but all I could do is be honest. "Yes."
"We learn about them in health class every year in the 'what makes you, you' module...you don't need to be embarrassed Jonah, all boys get them when they go through puberty. Are you going through puberty?"
Oh jeez!
"No Liam, I went through puberty a while ago, like several years ago," I chuckled, "but it still happens a lot after, especially in the morning."
"Have you ever had a nocturnal emission?" he asked innocently.
"Yes."
"The boys in my class got really embarrassed when Mr. Simons told us about them, but I thought it was kind of interesting. Do they hurt?"
"No."
"Do they feel good?"
"Well, you're mostly asleep when you have them..."
"Oh yeah, nocturnal...but if you wake up?"
"Yes, they feel good."
"When will I get one?"
"I don't know, probably pretty soon, it's different for everyone."
"Okay. I'm going to go back to sleep now Jonah, I'm tired"
Liam snuggled up against my back and I could hear his breathing even out within minutes and he was back to sleep. And now I was wide awake. I waited for about 10 minutes, then when I was sure he was back in a sound slumber and I slowly and carefully got up and went to take a cold shower.