Chapter 23

Andy soaped up his hands again.He picked up Luke’s soft penis in his right hand and stifled a moan.It was smooth,soft and,yes,beautiful.He knew he’d have to come up with another term to describe Luke and everything about him,but‘beautiful’just fit so perfectly.Luke’s penis twitched.Andy stared.It was straight from base to tip,with only the slightest bulge atthe crown,which was fully sheathed in foreskin.The whole thing was flawless.There was no curve,no irregular bumps or wrinkles.Only the faintest veining could be seen under the skin.The colour was slightly darker than the rest of Luke.The nest of white-blond pubic hairs proved that Luke was a natural blond,Either that or he bleaches this too,Andy told himself,as the fingertips of his left hand ran through the neatly trimmed bush.

“Are you going to wash it?”

Andy looked up at Luke’s face.“Sorry.”

He lovingly stroked Luke’s manhood,even reaching underneath to rub at his scrotum,which was smooth and hairless.Andy shifted position.His own penis was rock hard and painfully kinked inhis pants.

“It’s perfect,”Andy whispered.

“Thanks.”Luke’s voice was equally as quiet.

“Uncle Andy!Where are you?”Craig called from downstairs.

“Shit!”Andy exclaimed,letting go of Luke’s dick.“What’s he doing here?”

“Oh,sorry.I forgot to tell you.He rang up yesterday when you were seeing to your pigs.He wanted to know where you were when he couldn’t reach you a couple of nights ago.I meant to tell you he’d rung,but—”

“It’s okay.Thanks to me,you had a lot more important things to worry about yesterday.”

“Uncle Andy?”Craig asked again.

“We’re in the bathroom.”Andy called out.“I’ll be down in a minute.”Shit,Andy told himself.Why’d I say that?

“Oh,yeah?”

“I’m giving Luke a bath.Put the kettle on or something.”He turned back to Luke and in a quieter voice,“Sorry.”

“No,it’s fine.”Luke shook his head.“I should have told you he’d called.”

“Wonder what he’s doing here during the week?”But Andy had a pretty good idea.Once Craig had found out that Luke was at the farm,he’d have pestered Jessica to drive him over.

Shit,Jessica!She’d be downstairs too.But then Andy took a hold of himself.He wasn’t the least bit ashamed of having Luke as a friend,though he hoped—for various reasons—Luke’s occupation wouldn’t be revealed.

“Will you be all right for a minute?My sister,Jessica,will be here,too.I’d best go down and—”

Luke shook his head.“No worries.”

Reluctantly,Andy left the bathroom and headed downstairs.His T-shirt was wet all down the front,but he didn’t think it mattered.

Jessica had parked herself in the living room,and judging by the noises coming from the kitchen,Craig was making tea.

“Hi,sis.This is a surprise.”

“Our Craig wouldn’t give me any peace.When he found out your friend,”—Did she put emphasison those words?—“was staying,he nagged me until I agreed to drive over.”

“Typical Craig.”Not wanting to leave Luke on his own any longer,he said,“Look,you’ll have to excuse me,I’m helping Luke take a bath.”

Jessica raised an eyebrow.“Craig said he’d hurt himself.I didn’t realise he was that badlyinjured.”

“His right arm is in a cast.”

“Oh,I see.”Andy wasn’t sure what Jessica did see;and wasn’t particularly interested.

“Look,I’d best get back up there.We’ll be down in a few minutes,all right?”

Jessica nodded and Andy escaped back upstairs.That’s all I need,my big sister poking her nose in,he thought,re-entering the bathroom.“Sorry about that,”he said to Luke.

“S’all right,we’d almost finished,hadn’t we?”Did Luke sound regretful?

Andy couldn’t help gazing at Luke,reclining in the bath,surrounded as he was by bubbles.Hisright arm in its cast hung over the side.Luke’s bruises had lost their green and purple colour and were starting to fade.

“Andy?”

“Uh?”Andy shook his head.

“I said,we’ve almost finished,haven’t we?”Luke smiled,probably guessing where Andy’s mind had gone.

“Just need to wash your hair.”

“Oh,I think we can leave it for today.”

“Okay,up to you.”Andy shrugged.He’d enjoyed washing Luke’s hair the previous morning,the intimacy of the act,the need to touch,lightly massage and…

“Unless you really want to that is?”

Andy felt himself blush.He touched his face;it certainly felt a bit hot,but that was the steam.Wasn’t it?

Andy knelt and got to work.Luke’s hair was so fine.He’d heard the term spun gold before,butLuke’s was more like spun platinum.And wasn’t platinum more precious than gold?

“Okay,close your eyes,it’s time to rinse.”Andy scooped up a plastic jug full of bath water and poured it over Luke’s head.

Normally when he washed his own hair,he didn’t follow the shampoo manufacturer’s instructions about repeating the wash.But his inborn thriftiness about wasting shampoo warred with his desire to touch Luke’s hair some more.

“I don’t think I need a second wash,”Luke said,making the decision for him.

“Okay.Let me just run some fresh water to rinse with.”Andy shuffled over to the taps.

“Thanks.”

“Ready to come out now?”

“Yes,thanks.”

Treating the occasion almost as if it were a military operation,Andy had come up with a strategy to make things as easy as possible for Luke.He recalled Paddy had a bath seat that he’d bought for his now late mother.Andy had telephoned Tom and Paddy earlier that day to ask if they still had the seat.They did,but Andy had had to listen to a fair bit of ribbing from his friends when they’d come round to deliver it.

“Okay,let me put this behind you again.”Luke scooted forward and Andy positioned the seat.Earlier,when he’d got into the bath,Luke had lowered himself onto the seat before finally sitting on the bottom of the bath.

With some effort and Andy itching to help—but knowing he would hurt Luke’s ribs if he tried—Luke slowly raised himself onto the seat,then finally onto the lip at the back of the bath.

“Fuck!That hurts!”Luke wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“I’m sorry.”

“Why?”Luke looked at him.“Isn’t your fault.”

“No,but…”Andy didn’t like seeing his friend in pain.

Drying Luke was quite enjoyable,or at least Andy thought so.Dressing Luke was even better.Finally they were ready to face the music downstairs.

****

“Craig tells me you work in entertainment,”Jessica said to Luke just as Andy had taken a gulp of tea.The choking and coughing noises which resulted distracted Jessica from Luke’s reply,though Andy wasn’t certain that Luke had made one.

“Sorry,it went down the wrong way,”Andy said,sounding hoarse and shooting a murderous glare at Craig,who had the decency to look sheepish.

“What exactly do you do?”Jessica persisted.

Andy groaned.When his sister got hold of a subject,she rarely let go.

“Uh,well,I’m an actor.”Luke went on before Jessica could ask more questions,“But I don’t appear on TV programmes.It’s mainly things of a limited appeal.But enough about me.Andy said you’re a secretary.That must be interesting.I’ve always wanted to learn how to type.Gets kinda old just using two fingers to enter stuff into a computer.”

“Yes,touch typing is even more important now;what with the increased use of computers.”

But secretaries don’t just type,you know.”

Andy breathed a little easier.Luke had managed to steer his sister away from one subject,but knowing her as he did,they weren’t out of the woods yet.

“How did you hurt your arm?”she asked,once Luke had exhausted his obviously limited knowledge of all things secretarial.