Brian

Brian lay on his back with Justin on top of him, his arms wrapped around the blonde's back. Justin's head was nestled in the crook of Brian's arm. They were naked on a bluff overlooking a lake. Although it was nighttime, someone could still stumble upon them, but Brian couldn't bring himself to let Justin go. He wished they could just leave this whole mess behind and run away somewhere together, somewhere no one knew them or their problems.

Justin's eyes fluttered open and he released a contented sigh. "I want to forget about the wedding that's supposed to take place in less than two days and just be in this moment."

Brian's arm tightened around him.

"The only thing that makes sense right now is you," Justin whispered.

Brian grinned. "How do I make sense?"

"That's just it, I don't know. I only know it feels more right than anything else. Ever." Justin lifted his head. "Who falls this hard for a guy within twenty-four hours of meeting him?"

Brian grabbed a strand of Justin's hair and brushed it back. "Well, this isn't love at first sight. More like lust." He kissed the blonde with a passion that showed him how much he still wanted him.

Justin frowned. Was Brian right? Was what he was feeling no more than lust? No, he knew that wasn't it. Brian wasn't sure how to fix the mess he'd created but he didn't need a solution right this minute. While the likelihood of losing Justin was higher than not, he had a choice to make: He could start mourning his impending loss of him now, or he could spend every minute with him while he could.

He chose the latter.

He rolled Justin onto his back and the blonde giggled as he lowered his face to his neck. "So what are your plans, Mr. Taylor? Are we going back to your parent's house?"

"Oh, God, no."

"So we're camping under the stars?"

"Unless you have a better idea."

"I can't think of one." Brian pushed up on his elbow.

"We either need to get dressed or cover up with your blanket. Unless you're a nudist like my gram."

Justin laughed.

Brian grinned. "I'm not, but getting dressed is a waste of time, don't you think?" The sparkle in his eyes made it impossible for Justin to resist him.

The blonde rolled on his side to face Brian. "So tell me more about your family. Is it anything like mine?"

"No offense, Justin, but I don't think there's any family like yours."

Justin rolled his eyes. "Fair enough." His hand slipped into Brian's hair and his face hovered over the other man's, the blue eyes bright and large. "By the way, you really were a hero tonight. You saved my cousin."

Brian shook his head, cringing. "It wasn't anything. Anyone could have done it."

"But you did."

"I suspect Ted wishes I'd left her at the bottom of the pool after the way she bit him."

Justin chuckled. "Nevertheless, you saved her. And you saved me too."

Brian sat up, grabbing Justin's hips and settling him on his thighs. The nearness of the blonde drove him crazy and made his thoughts stray from their conversation. "I could try to save you again," he said with a playful smirk.

Justin grabbed his face in his hands and gave him a deep, lazy kiss that reached down to Brian's soul, stirring a feeling of which he'd never believed himself capable. He wrapped an arm around the other man, his hands splaying on his back as he held him close. In only a few minutes he was inside the blonde again, keeping him on his lap this time. The blanket was down by their feet, leaving them clothed in nothing but moonlight and sweat. Justin's hands dug into his shoulders and his eyes were closed in pleasure as he arched his back, trying to push him deeper with every movement. Suddenly, right in this moment, Brian was sure of two things. One, Justin was the most beautiful man he had ever known, and two, there was no way he could walk away from him. His only hope was for a miracle.

But no matter what, Justin was his for tonight and he wasn't going to waste a single minute.

Justin

Justin awoke in Brian's arms. He expected to be more startled by that fact, but lying next to him felt like the most natural thing in the world.

He watched Brian's chest rise and fall. The edge of the blanket rested above his waist and Justin saw a hint of his abdomen. Memories of the night before rushed back, making him burn, but not with embarrassment. Not for one minute did he regret sleeping with Brian. What happened next was a whole lot trickier. He wanted this man. He lusted for him. A lot. He wanted Brian like he'd never wanted anyone. He made him laugh and made him feel safe. Would they have a tomorrow? After Brian broke up with him and Justin's family sent him back to New York. They'd gone along with this deception for so long, how could they step back and say, "Sorry everyone, this was all one big mistake?"

Brian

"Hey," Brian murmured sleepily, cracking his eyes open. "It's actually kind of creepy for someone to watch another person sleep all night."

"You think I spent the night watching you sleep?" Justin buried his face in the crook of Brian's neck, his mouth finding his earlobe.

"I guess we didn't have much of a chance to sleep."

"That's true."

Brian yawned. "You're not one of those happy morning people, are you? Because if you are, I may have to end this fake engagement right now."

"Let me guess, you don't function until after a cup of coffee?"

"Actually it's two cups. And yes. Coffee is the elixir of the gods."

Justin's blue eyes danced in amusement. "Are you calling yourself a god now?"

"You were a participant in last night's activities, so you tell me."

Justin laughed and settled his face into Brian's chest. An ache filled Brian's heart as he held the smaller man close, stroking the silky blonde hair. He had to figure a way out of this. Could they just come clean and tell Justin's family the truth, making it into a funny story? One thing was for sure: Justin's mother would never forgive him, and Jennifer's opinion was important to the blonde. And that wasn't even taking into account the problem of Craig Taylor's business.

What a screwed-up mess.

"How about some breakfast?" he asked.

"Are you asking me out on a date?" Justin asked in a playful tone.

Brian grimaced, but decided to give the blonde what he wanted.

He leaned back, tipping Justin's chin up to look at him. "Justin Taylor, would you do me the honor of letting me escort you to the International House of Pancakes?"

Justin's laughter lit his eyes. "How can I refuse such a gallant request? But I'm warning you, I eat a lot, so don't expect me to order an egg-white omelet and black coffee."

Brian tried to keep his face serious. "I wouldn't dream of letting you order anything smaller than the Breakfast Sampler Plate."

"Hmm. I'll agree to go out to breakfast with you, but I get to pick the place."

"Deal." Brian sat up, pulling the blanket down. "Although I might want something else first."

"Later. I need food."

Justin got on his hands and knees to search for his clothes and Brian couldn't drag his gaze away from his bare ass.

Justin looked over his shoulder at him. "Didn't you get your fill last night?"

"I didn't get to see as much of your backside as I wanted."

Justin smirked in amusement. "Yeah? Well, you might get to see plenty of it if I don't find my shorts."

"We got a little creative last night, who knows where everything ended up. We just get up and look."

"Great in theory," Justin said, motioning his head toward the water. "I'm sure those fishermen are going to appreciate the view."

Brian's head turned to see a fishing boat coasting into view. He tackled Justin flat onto the pallet and covered him with the blanket.

Justin laughed, pulling him down on top of him. "I think it's too late to save my virtue."

"Maybe so, but you gave your virtue to me and I don't plan on sharing it."

"Oooh..." Justin grinned, pulling Brian's mouth to his. "I like it when you get all possessive."

"Really?" Brian pulled Justin down to him for a slow, hypnotic kiss that held the false promise of being the first of a thousand more. Justin's hands dug into the auburn hair, keeping Brian firmly in place.

Brian lifted his face and gave his partner a genuine smile. "I promised you breakfast and the opportunity to not be gawked at by old men fishing on the lake. I'm neglecting my duties."

"You haven't heard any complaints from me."

Brian looked out onto the lake. They were low enough to the ground that they'd gone unnoticed by the fishermen. He glanced around the pallet and surrounding grass. "So any good leads on our clothes?"

"Just what you see before you."

Brian saw his jeans, Justin's shirt and nothing else. "Where the fuck is the rest of our clothes?"

He pulled his jeans on and zipped them up. He moved to the edge of the trees and spotted Justin's shorts several feet away. He held it up. "How'd this get over here?"

"Those damned raccoons," Justin grumbled.

"You're kidding."

Brian dropped the shorts by Justin on the sleeping bag and spotted his shirt on the other side of the clearing. After shaking it off, he pulled it over his head and decided not to put any effort into finding his underwear. Thank god it wasn't Armani.

Justin was just about to pull his shirt over his head when Brian froze.

"Uh, Justin....how frightened are you of bugs?"

"You mean like ants and mosquitos?"

"No...more like ticks."

"What?" Justin screeched, jumping to his feet and dancing in place. "Get it off! Get it off!"

Brian ran over to him and pulled him into his arms to settle him down. "Calm down, they just appreciate your sweet blood."

"It's not funny, Brian!" he shouted, trying to pull free. "Get it off!"

"Relax. I'll pull it out."

Justin took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "Where is it?"

"Close to your armpit."

Justin released a horrified gasp, his feet running in place, and Brian couldn't help laughing.

"Stop laughing at me!"

Brian pulled the blonde's shirt down. "I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing with you!"

Justin swung his face around to glare at him. "I'm not fucking laughing, Brian!"

"Well, okay, hold still so I can get it off." He lifted Justin's arm over his head and examined the skin, surprised it was gone. "I don't see it."

"What do you mean you don't see it?"

"It's gone."

Justin looked up at him, his gaze fierce. "Ticks just don't leave, Brian. They wait until they're engorged and drop off. Did it look engorged?"

"I admit to seeing more than my fair share of engorged objects in the last ten hours, but that tick wasn't one of them."

"Then where is it?" Justin screamed.

"Relax, it's just a tiny tick."

"Just a tiny tick? It's a creature that embeds its head deep inside-" The blonde glared up at him again when he began to snicker.

Brian grabbed Justin's shoulders. "I'll make sure you don't have any ticks, okay? I promise."

Justin dragged in a breath and let it out. "Okay."

Brian gave him a soft kiss and released his shoulders, then moved behind him to examine the blonde's back. "Nothing. You're good."

"Then where did it go?"

"I don't know. It probably fell off when you were getting dressed."

Justin started to put on his shirt again,when he released a gasp and jerked it off again.

"It's crawling inside my shirt!"

Brian sighed and picked up Justin's shirt, shook it out, and checked it twice before handing it to the other man.

"I'm not wearing that!"

"So you're Lady Godiva now? Maybe you want to follow in Gram's footsteps." He gave an involuntary shudder. "I'm not they'll serve you pancakes at IHOP if you're not wearing clothes."

"We're not going to IHOP!"

He heard a gasp behind him. When he turned to look, he saw two boats in the cove, everyone onboard mesmerized by the Brian and Justin show.

"Come on", Brian said. When Justin didn't answer, he pressed on, "I made sure there weren't any ticks. I checked twice."

Justin's eyes narrowed as he jabbed his finger into Brian's chest. "If I even find the hint of a tick in this shirt, I'm going to make you suffer."

"I accept the consequences."

Justin's mouth pursed in disapproval, but he let Brian slip the shirt over his head. After that, Justin marched over to the edge of the bluff, looming twenty feet over the water. "You can all go home now, you freaking perverts!"

Brian moved behind him. "You told them, so let's go now."

They returned to the car and got inside.

Justin still glared at him.

Brian cleared his throat. "I didn't mean to laugh at you when you were clearly terrified."

"I was not terrified!"

Brian rested his hands on either side of Justin's head and leaned in to kiss the blonde. There were tears in Justin's eyes when Brian pulled away, but he blinked them back and smiled again.

"You owe me breakfast."

Justin

Justin studied Brian out of the corner of his eye, trying to determine if their inevitable breakup tonight bothered the brunette as much as it did him. Ever since last night, there was this one thought in his head....what if they just went through with the wedding?

Justin turned over the engine and picked up his phone from the console where he'd left it, not surprised to see all the missed calls and texts. He and Brian had taken off without telling anyone where they were going, not even Daphne knew.

Justin scrolled the list- calls from his mom, his dad, multiple calls and texts from Daphne, one from Molly this morning, and one that came in at two a.m., which would have been midnight Pacific time.

Ethan.

Justin's chest tightened. He hadn't talked to the other man since telling him the wedding was off and walking out of his apartment six weeks ago. Why was he trying to get in touch with him now?

Justin glanced up at Brian, whose questioning gaze told him he'd noticed his reaction. "Is everything okay?"

Shaking his head, Justin forced a smile. "Yeah. I'm just overwhelmed by the number of calls and texts I missed. Did Ted try to reach you?"

Brian grimaced. "My phone went in the pool with me last night. It's on your bathroom counter awaiting its funeral."

"So we need to get you a new phone."

"Yeah." Brian was still watching him.

Justin decided to ignore Ethan's call and texted Daphne back instead.

Nevertheless, he suddenly had a bad feeling in his gut.