Chapter 4 Brian groans as the alarm clock wakes him up way too early, at least from his perspective. Shit, he and Mikey and the Professor had stayed at Babylon a little too late last night -- or he should say this morning. He had forgotten how once you were in that place, it was hard to leave. He got in at 2:30, and now the damn alarm clock was going off at 6:30. I'm getting too old for this shit, he thinks. I'm supposed to be an adult now, right? I better get my shit together. Don't want to fuck up my new position, especially since I'm just getting started here. Up, Kinney. Come on, just get the fuck up. After having showered and shaved, Brian steps out of his loft, ready to take the stairs, when he hears the elevator coming from the floor above. He quickly hits the down button on the elevator, hoping he did so in time so that it will stop at his floor. He's also hoping that Justin is going to be inside. The elevator stops, and Brian lifts the cargo up. Standing there with an apple in his mouth, those lucious lips wrapped around it, is just the sight he wants to see. "Hey, Justin. What a coincidence." God, the kid gives me a smile that goes right to my dick. I'm probably going to need to take care of the second boner of the morning at the office after this elevator ride. Or maybe the kid would oblige? After finally having finished his bite of apple, which I might add I would just love to lick the juice off of his lips, he can finally speak. "Hey, Brian. So what time is the party tonight?" "Are you coming? I thought you were pretty noncommittal yesterday. You can show up any time after 7:00." "Well, I need to get out a bit, meet some other people. I'll try to be there. Can I bring anything?" "Nah. Mikey's mom, Debbie, is bringing a bunch of food; plus there's Emmett. You'll like Emmett, everybody does. He has a catering business, and he's bringing some food over." Just then the elevator comes to a more abrupt stop than either Brian or Justin expected, having reached the ground floor. Justin falls into Brians arms, and there is a momentary pause as both men look into each other's eyes and wonder what the hell should happen next? Brian knows what he wants to happen; and so does Justin, but Justin knows that it can't. He can't put anyone at risk for his sake. Geez, Justin thinks, how did I never notice how gorgeous his eyes are? As Justin jerks himself out of Brian's grip, he drops his backpack and the contents scatter onto the elevator floor. "What's all this?" Brian asks. "Just my sketching supplies." "Let me see." "I'm not a professional or anything, I just like to draw." "Let me be the judge of that, kid. Remember, I'm in advertising." Justin and Brian step out of the elevator as Brian starts to flip through Justin's sketch book. He is really impressed. This kid has talent. "I'm impressed, Justin. You should do something with your talent. Have you thought about going to art school?" "Well, first, before going to college, I do believe you have to have a high school diploma. That's something I don't have." "You're kidding, right?" "Nope. Just never had the time, with all of the modeling and everything. Always figured I would worry about it after I got out of the biz." Justin cringes inside. He hates to carry on with this lie, but he sees no other recourse. "You should really think about that. You could go places with your art that modeling would never take you. You only have your looks for so long, you know." "Oh, thank you, Mr. Kinney, for that glowing appraisal of my future," Justin laughs. "Come on, you know what I mean. Where are you going? Can I give you a lift?" "No, everything is taken care of. It's all out of control," he smiles. "Hopefully I'll see you tonight. Later." As they step out of the building, they each go their separate ways, but Brian can't help but look back to just have one more look at that gorgeous ass. Damn, I still have to get me some of that, Brian muses. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After having gotten his fill of walking around and window shopping, a soft snow starts to gently fall. Justin is trying to figure out where he can go to sketch, since the park is definitely out of the question this morning. How about the library? I haven't been there in a while. Nobody will bother me there. As Justin crosses the street, he spots a store that he never really took notice of before. Huh, Red Cape Comics. I'm on Liberty Avenue, I wonder if this is Michael's place, he thinks. It wouldn't hurt to check it out. Justin walks into the store out of the cold, and, sure enough, there stands MIchael behind the counter, involved in an indepth conversation of the attributes of some superhero that Justin knows nothing about with what looks like an 11-year-old. The debate seems to be in full force when Michael hears the bell over his front door. He looks up and there stands the twink from the night before. Oh, be nice, Michael. You don't even know him yet. Plus he did say nice things about comics. "Hey -- Justin, was it?" "Yeah. Good memory, Michael. Great store," Justin says as he walks around and is so dazzled by all of the comic book art he sees. "I really love this stuff. I was so into anime a few years back." "Not many people admit to it." Even though Michael got a bad vibe off of Justin last night at Woody's, he's willing to take a leap of faith here. "Listen, it's lunch time. Want to come to the diner with me for a bite?" "Sure. I've got nothing better to do right now. Plus food is always a priority for people my age." ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael and Justin walk into the diner, and the first thing Justin hears and sees is the loudest woman in the place -- and quite probably one of the few women in the place. "Mikey," she screams. "How is my baby boy?" "Good, ma. Come on, let me breathe," he asks as he tries to extricate himself from the woman's grasp. "And who in the hell do we have here?" she asks eyeing Justin. "Ma, this is Justin. He's Brian's neighbor." As she takes Justin's face in her hands and squeezes, she says, "Well, my, aren't you just a gorgeous piece of ass. Every guy in here has his eye on you, honey." Justin blushes at this, which only makes Debbie like him all the more. Good looking and modest, and probably shy. Where has this kid been hanging out. And how in the hell can he afford to live in the building that Brian does. Her mind begins to speculate on what might be going on there. "Ok, ma, leave Justin alone. You can fawn all over him tonight. He'll be at Brian's party." After having ordered their lunch and finished eating, both Michael and Justin get up to leave, with Debbie following close behind, kissing her son. She turns quickly and gives Justin a kiss, too, which Justin can honestly say makes him feel wonderful. He hasn't had a mother figure kiss him like that in a long time. "Later, Michael. See you tonight, " Justin waves as he walks away. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Since it is still snowing out, Justin decides just to head back to the loft to do his sketching. He has frittered away more than half of the day, might as well just go home, he thought. As he walks into the loft, a sudden realization occurs to him that one usually brings a gift to a housewarming. What do I do? He sat there thinking about it when it suddenly dawned on him, why not a sketch? But what do I sketch? Justin sat their thinking about Brian, what little he knew about him, but his artist's eye had caught a few things: Okay, he was gay -- that's a given -- his hair was always just so, as were his clothes, and especially his furniture. So only one conclusion there, he's pretty vain. A sketch of him would probably make him happy. Justin gets himself comfortable on the sectional and takes out his charcoals and sketch pad and starts on many different versions of Brian, finally picking out the one he likes best, tearing it out, rolling it up and tying it with a ribbon. That should make him happy. Every vain, gay man likes looking at himself. Justin walks into the kitchen to get a bottle of water and notices that Robert's supply of scotch is running low. Shit, I had better get out of here and get some more. He'll have a shit fit if there's no scotch. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- As Justin prepares to leave for Brian's party, the thought suddenly hits him, what if Robert comes over while I'm down there? I have to have some kind of excuse. Justin grabs the new bottle of scotch that he purchased a few hours earlier, grabs the sketch, and heads downstairs, giving the loft one last glance to make sure everything is in its place. Now where to stash the scotch to grab when I leave. He looks around the hall and suddenly spots the cabinet for the fire hose. Opening the door, he wedges the bottle in there. Now just don't forget it when you leave, Justin. After knocking on the door, it is opened by none other than Debbie. Justin thought she was loud at the diner, but he can swear he has become hearing impaired after her greeting of him this evening. "Hey, Brian, it's that gorgeous piece of ass I met today at the diner," Debbie hollers across the loft. Every eye in the place turns to look at Debbie and Justin. He wants to crawl under a rock right now, but Debbie has taken Justin by the arm and is dragging him into the living room area. "Come on, Deb, give the kid a break," Brian finally intervenes. "He doesn't know any of us, and you're embarrassing him. Just look at that color of red you've made him turn." Actually, Justin thinks, you're making me turn more red than she is, Brian. Stop talking about me. Justin hands over his gift to Brian, much to Brian's surprise, it appears. His eyebrows go up as if to say, for me? He hands Michael his drink and unties the ribbon, unrolling the sketch. "Let me see," Debbie pushes her way over. "Wow, Sunshine, that's beautiful." "Of course it's beautiful. It's me, isn't it?" says Brian, sticking his tongue in the side of his cheek. Justin just stands there thinking, 'Sunshine?' Where in the hell did that come from? Brian leaves the conversation as there's another knock on the door. "Well, hello there, Carl. So glad one of Pittsburgh's finest could make it." At the sound of that, Justin's mind jumps to attention. No, not a cop. Was he one of Robert's cops? If he was, did he know about Justin? Had he ever fucked Justin? Was he one of the ones he had upstairs in his vast video collection that he kept just in case he would ever need it? Slowly Justin turns around and sees a face he has never seen before. No, I don't think this one is on the payroll. He actually looks like an honest working schlump of a cop: Old suit, old shoes, nothing fancy about him. Debbie walks over to Carl and throws her arms around him and gives him a big kiss. Apparently they're a couple, Justin realizes. "Come over here, Carl," Debbie says as she drags him over in front of Justin. "I want you to meet a gorgeous, and obviously talented young man. Carl Horvath, meet Justin" -- "Taylor," Justin offers. Justin sees no recognition in Carl's eyes. Well, at least I appear to be home free with this cop. Debbie has dragged Carl over to look at the sketch that Justin drew, and starts talking animatedly about who knows what. Justin makes his way over to Brian's office area, and notices all of the framed photgraphs sitting on the desk. He picks one up and looks at it and smiles. It has Brian, Michael, Ben, Debbie and Carl all standing in front of a cabin somewhere, holding a piece of paper up for the camera and looking very happy. Brian walks up behind Justin, leans his chest into Justin's back, and reaches an arm over Justin's shoulder, resting his arm there, to also hold the photograph. "Ah, this is a great place.' "Where is it?" "Maine," Brian says, as Justin quizically half cocks his head, trying to get a side glance of Brian's face. "What the hell is Mr. Armani doing in Maine? Isn't it all woods and water up there?" "Oh, contrare, my gorgeous one. Have you not heard of the Mecca known as Freeport? Home of outlet stores for Ralph Lauren, Cole Haan shoes, not to mention L.L. Bean? I, of course, have no desire to buy anything from L.L. Bean, but Mikey and the Professor have a need to buy their clothes there. We were driving around the surrounding countryside when we came across this cabin for sale, and just couldn't resist pooling our resources and buying it. That piece of paper is the deed. It's all ours, free and clear. Maybe one day we can go there." Brian hopes that this offhand invitation is the thing that lets Justin know that he's a bit interested, but the kid doesn't seem to bite. All Justin can think is that will be a cold day in hell, before I'm allowed to leave this city with you. After a couple of hours had gone by, and Justin had been engaged in conversation with everyone in the room, Ted and Emmett included, Justin glances at his watch, seeing that it's going on 9:30. I've got to get out of here soon. What kind of excuse can I make? As Justin walks up to Brian, he touches him on the arm to get his attention. "I've had a really great time, Brian, but I need to get going. I've got an early call tomorrow. Can't have bags under my eyes, you know?" After saying goodnight to everyone, Brian walks Justin to the door. Brian knows what he wants to do right now and throws caution to the wind. He's wanted kiss those lips since the first time he saw them, and damn if he wasn't going to get his way. "Thanks for my gift. I really like it. It will hang in a place of honor in my home; a place where I can always look at myself, " he smirks. Justin smiles at this, and that's when Brian takes his chance. He leans down and firmly plants his lips on Justin's. He has been desiring to do just this for the last two days. To his surprise, Justin returns the kiss and then backs off, opening the door and blushing deeply and telling Brian later. Once the door is closed, Justin grabs the bottle of scotch from the cabinet and heads upstairs. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Justin's hand rests on the key before he turns it in the lock, saying a silent prayer. Please let him not be here. He's going to ask too many questions. Please let him be spending time with his family for a change. As Justin walks in, the loft is dark. As he breaths a sigh of relief, the light in the living room area clicks on and Robert is sitting in the chair by the coffee table, holding an empty bottle of scotch. "Welcome home," Robert says. "You frightened the fuck out of me." "It's quarter to fucking 10:00. Where the fuck have you been?" "Down to the store getting your fucking scotch," as he shows Robert the new scotch bottle. Justin leans up against the beam as Robert gets up and walks over to him. As Robert puts his arm on the beam above Justin's head, he says, "Don't fuck with me." "What?" "Don't fuck with me ." At this, Justin reaches his hand up and gently rubs the side of Robert's face. "I've been calling here all fucking evening." "I went for a walk. What's your problem?" Robert stares into Justin's eyes, and then he reaches down and grabs Justin by the balls, squeezing and lifting him up until he has to stand on his toes, groaning in pain. "We weren't working, were we? Doing a bit of business on the side?" At this point Justin is in so much pain that all he can do is shake his head. "I'll have to cut this off if you've been sharing it with some other fag." "There's no one else, and you fucking know that," Justin manages to get out. Robert continues to stare into Justin's eyes, seeing the truth there. His boy hasn't been with anyone else. Justin is still squirming under Robert's grip, when the buzzer sounds. As Robert goes to answer the door, Justin leans against the beam trying to collect himself. Robert opens the door, and standing there is Jim Stockwell. "Jim, good to see you. I just got here myself. Do you want something to drink?" I'll have a vodka tonic, no lemon or ice." Robert looks to Justin, who goes into the kitchen to make the drink. "How's the family, Jim?" "Fine." Both men settle onto the sectional, making themselves comfortable. Justin brings a drink over for both men, and puts them on the coffee table. Robert looks up at Justin and asks Jim, "Are we partaking tonight?" "It would be rude not to," says Jim. Justin, knowing exactly what this means, puts his game face on. He starts down the hall, unzipping his jacket, with Stockwell following close behind. Robert sits on the sectional getting his lines of coke ready and smoking a cigarette. As Justin shuts the bedroom doors, Stockwell comes up behind him and rips open his shirt, licking along the back of his neck. Justin turns around and starts to unbutton Stockwell's shirt, and then starts on his belt and his pants. Stockwell throws Justin down on the bed and starts to pull Justin's pants down. He takes Justin's head in his hands and brings it to his cock and forces it in Justin's mouth. God, this kid is good. Never had a blow job as good as this, even from a woman, Jim thinks. Before it's too late, he pulls out of Justin's mouth and puts on a condom and throws Justin face down onto the bed. He grabs Justin's hips and pushes into the nice tight ass that's in front of him. Justin grunts at the intrusion, not having been prepared. You would think I would expect this by now, Justin wonders. After having had his pleasures with the kid, Stockwell walks out of the bedroom, leaving Justin there trying to compose himself. All he can do is sit on the edge of the bed and try to bring his mind back to the present. Having heard the bedroom door slam, Justin walks over to a cupboard, opens it, rewinds a bit of tape and views it just to make sure it was taping. Ah, another classic for the collection. He looks up at his collection of tapes. Two for Stockwell. This will make three. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jim sits back down on the sectional across from Robert. He reaches into his coat and pulls out a bundle wrapped in plastic and packing tape. "We had a good bust a while back. Here it is," as he hands over the package to Robert. Robert smiles. "Fuck me. This will keep a few people bouncing off the ceiling." "Robert, this has got to be the last time. All of the procedures are changing. They're starting to do random checks on the drugs they're sending to the incinerator. I'm getting a bad feeling about all of this." "You didn't join the police force without knowing there would be risks." "If they find out they're burning baking soda instead of cocaine, I'm fucked. We had a good run. Let's find another scam." "I'll do a deal with you. One more time, and then we'll call it a day." Jim rubbed his head and nodded. "That's the spirit, Jim. You only get out of life what you put in it. Want another drink?" "No, I'm driving." Robert shows Jim to the door. "Look, I'll see you next month. Maybe we'll do lunch." Robert turns around and walks back over to the sectional to grab the phone. "Justin, come here." Justin walks out of the bedroom after having put jeans and a sweatshirt on. He leans up against the beam as Robert says into the phone, "Charlie, come and get me. I'm ready." Robert walks over to the beam where Justin is leaning, and reaches out to run his finger down the side of his face. "Justin, have I ever told you how gorgeous you are?" Justin pauses. "Lots of times." Justin reaches out to Robert and straigthens his tie as Robert runs his hand up and down Justin's arm. "How about lunch in New York on Monday," Robert asks. "Find out the times of the planes and make the arrangements. I will be out of town until late Sunday night. We can get together then, okay?" "Okay." Robert leans into Justin and softly kisses his lips, running his hand through his soft hair. The buzzer sounds from downstairs, indicating the arrival of Charlie. As Robert closes the door behind him, all Justin can feel is freedom. All right, it's not true freedom, but four days without Robert around will be as close to freedom as he can come. Of course, he will be watched, so he still has to be careful, but he still feels a sense of elation. Justin lays down on the sectional, curls up into a ball, and lets a smile spread across his face.