A/N Thank you lovely readers and reviews for your continuing support. Enjoy! WBx

Chapter 4

Brendan pushed open the door to the locker room. The sound of the shower running filled the air, along with some unusual grunts. Brendan stalked up to where the noise was coming from.

Ste had the curtain half pulled closed but it wasn't enough to conceal his body or his actions. Brendan could see him, skin silky with water and hair slicked back, one hand pressed against the wall and his other hand tugging frantically at his cock. His lips were parted and forming into an 'o' that told Brendan he was close.

Brendan moved like a predator. He tore the curtain aside, alerting Ste to his presence. Ste jumped and blushed, looking like a rabbit in the headlights. As he began to protest that this wasn't what it looked like, Brendan began stripping his own clothes off. Within second he was under the spray with Ste, backing him up against the wall of the cubicle, his eyes burning into Ste's, one hand pressing the wall next to Ste's head, pinning him just where he wanted him.

In his panic, Ste's first thought was that Brendan was about to kill him. This was it. This was how it ended. He couldn't think clearly enough to understand why Brendan had taken his clothes off to do it. He could barely breath. Their skin wasn't touching but the heat coming off their bodies filled the mere millimetres of space between them.

'Don't stop.' Brendan was purring into his ear. 'Show me how you want it.' He licked his lips. 'Come for me, Steven.'

The way Brendan whispered the words was almost enough to make his command come true and push Ste over the edge.

Ste was used to obeying Brendan's orders that almost without realising he slowly started moving his hand up and down his own shaft again. Only then did he notice that Brendan's other hand was gripping tightly to his own rock solid dick, pleasuring himself as he watched the display Ste was putting on for him, their naked bodies so close they were almost touching. Ste keened his hips towards Brendan hungrily, but to Ste's desperate infuriation, the Irishman inched himself just out of reach.

Ste's groan was filled with despair and desire. 'Please…Bren..' He tugged hard at his cock as Brendan continued to wank himself off, not taking his heavily lidded eyes off the naked boy in front of him for a second. But it wasn't enough. Ste was desperate for touch, for friction, to feel skin on skin…

Before Brendan had a chance to stop him, Ste turned and pressed their lips together. His heart was beating so hard in his chest that he was sure the other man could feel it.

After a moment Brendan forced himself away, though the tone in his voice held no conviction that it was what he wanted.

'Steven, please.'

'No, you never said I couldn't…'

Their foreheads pressed together as their mouths danced in the air next to each other, almost touching, tantalising…

Then as though it was inevitable, they pulled together like a magnet. Their kisses were hungry and desperate, charged from the weeks of longing, as their hands roamed freely, unable to take in enough of one another. Ste clasped Brendan tightly by pulling his fingers through his hair and Brendan reached around to Ste's waist, running his hands over his smooth buttocks, his thighs, pulling him up against his groin as the water splashed around them.

They kissed as though they were trying to devour each other, their rock solid dicks pressing hard together as they gyrated.

'Please…' Ste was using every inch of his body against Brendan to beg.

Brendan kissed him hard by way of an answer. He would have given anything to fuck Ste as hard up against the wall as he had been doing in his fantasies for weeks now. He was going to have him everywhere, in every imaginable position - up against the wall in the shower, over his desk, in his bed…he promised Ste as much as he whispered his dirty fantasies into Ste's burning ear. He needed more.. more touch, more friction, more…

'Ste? Ste?' He felt a hand on his shoulder but he knew immediately it wasn't the one he wanted. 'It's alright, it was just a bad dream.' Amy was rousing him, snaking her arm around his waist in an attempt to comfort him. She ran her palm along his damp forehead as he inhaled deeply to recover his breath.

It was still dark outside. He reached his hand towards his phone. 20 minutes til his alarm was due to go off. No point going back to sleep now. He shifted but Amy gripped him tighter, muttering something that sounded like 'Sleep' as he peeled her arms off him and made his escape.

Ste jogged to the gym that morning, desperate to let of some of the shame and nervous energy that was flooding his system after the vivid dream he had had. He was sitting on the steps when Brendan arrived and it was clear from the way the older man pushed past him to unlock the door that he was in no mood for small talk. That suited Ste just fine. For once, he wasn't sure he had the words today either.

Once inside, they settled into their usual routine without having to speak.

When the warm up was through, Brendan held up the pads and barked out commands for Ste to follow. Brendan had upped the intensity of the training now that the fight was less than a fortnight away. Ste stared hard at the target in front of him, putting all the power he could into each shot. His muscles burnt and the sweat stung in his eyes but he needed this. He wanted this.

By the end of the session, he collapsed back against the cold stone of the wall and gulped thirstily at his bottle as he wiped the sweat from his brow. Brendan chucked the equipment he was holding to the side and came over, leaning back next to him.

Brendan's mood seemed to have eased over the course of their session and was now talking expansively about combinations, tactics, how best to get inside an opponent's reach, demonstrating with his arms the moves as he talked. 'But you gotta make sure you…'

'Don't drop my hands. I know.' Ste interrupted. As if he hadn't been told enough times already. As if he didn't still have the black eye to remind him.

'Mmm. Good.' Brendan nodded as if he was satisfied. A pause drew out into a comfortable silence between them.

'What?' Brendan asked when he saw Ste looking at him with a thoughtful smile on his face.

'Nothing. I just… I never thought I'd be here, y'know. Let alone any good at this.. But you really think I can do it, don't you?'

'You gotta believe in yourself a bit more Steven.' He looked around again and met the intense blue of Brendan's eyes.

He wanted to tell Brendan that it was hard to have any self-confidence left when you had spent your whole life having it knocked out of you. But despite the bravado, Ste felt that somehow Brendan already knew.

They were leaning into each other so close that he could feel Brendan's breath ghosting across his skin. Without thinking Ste closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, his breath catching in his throat.

When Ste opened his eyes again he saw that Brendan's eyes were fixed on his lips and Brendan's own mouth was curling in the most seductive grin Ste had ever seen.

Then all of a sudden, Brendan moved his gaze from where his eyes had been resting as if he had been burnt and pushed himself up from the wall.

'Those paninis aren't going to make themselves, Steven.' He called as he pushed through the door towards the car park.

Ste took a deep breath and followed.

xxxx

Brendan had finished his toast and they were sitting side by side on the sofa in the corner of the deli, laughing over a video Brendan was showing Ste on his phone when the front door banged open.

'Is this him then?' Amy spat. 'Brendan Brady?'

'Ames, please..'

'I hope you're proud of yourself.' Her eyes were cold, narrowing with her stare as she looked Brendan up and down.

Brendan looked shocked, if not a little guilty. Ste could feel the blush rising in his cheeks.

'Gives you a thrill does it?' Amy taunted.

'Hey, what's going on?' Great. Now Cheryl had arrived. Just what the situation needed.

'Are you going to tell her or am I?' Amy looked between the two men as they passed a sheepish sideways look at one another.

'Don't tell me you didn't know, Cheryl.' Amy shouted. Ste forced himself to take a deep breath. 'Your darling brother here has been beating seven shades out Ste. Look at the state of him!' She waved her arm towards Ste's face where the deep purple of his bruise was starting to turn yellow and green at the edges. 'He's even been having nightmares about it!'

Ste felt the colour rise in his cheeks again and looked down at his feet, realising what she was talking about. He hoped the ground would swallow him before anyone worked out what had really been going through his mind as he had slept.

'Oh Amy love, it's just boys being boys. Training, you know?' Cheryl had put her arm on Amy's shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. 'These things happen. Brendan never meant to hurt Ste, did you Bren?' Amy didn't look so sure. 'In fact, it's quite the opposite. If Brendan doesn't put his all into teaching him then it'll be a lot worse for Ste when he gets into the ring for his match next week.'

'Your what? You're actually going to fight?' Amy was fuming. 'I don't believe this. And when were you going to bother to tell me? When you came home to your children afterwards beaten black and blue? Actually don't answer that.'

'Ames! Amy! Just wait, I can explain!' Ste made a half-hearted attempt to go after her as she stormed out of the deli but he knew it was no use as the door slammed in his face.

'What did I say?' Cheryl looked on, bemused.

Brendan sighed and pressed his fingers to forehead.

xxxxx

Ste knew he was in the doghouse when he got home that night. Amy gave him the silent treatment until the kids were safely tucked in their beds.

As soon as the kids' bedroom door was closed the interrogation began. She didn't need to say anything. She came into the kitchen and eyed him with that look that he knew was a demand for an explanation.

'I know I should have told you..'

'Yeah you should have. How long have you known about this Ste?'

'Couple of weeks.' He looked shame-faced. 'I just didn't want to worry you, ok?'

'Should I be worried?'

'Course not! It's normal. It's not like I'm going cage fighting or nothing.' Shit, he shouldn't have said that. He could see her eyebrows shoot up in alarm. 'You were the one who wanted me to do it in the first place!'

'But I didn't think you'd end up doing this!'

'It's no big deal Ames, I promise. And I've got Brendan looking out for me.'

'Oh and that's supposed to make me feel better, is it?'

'It's one night Amy. One fight. Three rounds. Six minutes, Amy. That's all I'm asking. Please?'

'Doesn't look like I'm going to be able to stop you, does it?' She looked at him hard. She still obviously disapproved but he could tell she was softening. 'Just promise me you'll be careful. And come home in one piece.'

'Come here.' He pulled her towards him and kissed her hair. He loved her, he really did. He wanted to keep her safe, make her happy but…

'Fine. But I don't think I can watch you get your face smashed in.'

'Amy!' He chastised as he hugged her tighter.

He hadn't liked to mention to her the extra time commitments the fight would require - not just on the night itself, but the weigh-in the night before, some extra evening and Saturday sparring sessions, a social afterwards... He'd break it to her slowly. He couldn't have anything getting in the way of training. He'd promised Brendan and that was unbreakable.