Justin crawled onto his daybed and pulled the covers over his head.  Brian still had all the power – the power to make him happy, the power to stir his loins, the power to hurt him.  That was the one that he seemed to be most interested in using these days. He couldn't believe that Brian had done that to him again.

His thoughts roamed back to all the other times – Hotlanta, zucchini man, the guy in his bed when he got back from Vermont, Rage, the threesome in the loft.  Now this! Justin fought the tears that threatened to pour out. He didn't want to cry over Brian anymore. He had had his heart broken by that fucking asshole one too many times.

He couldn't believe that he had been stupid enough to think that they had made some progress the other night.  He had hoped they could work together and maybe build a new relationship, but that had been a stupid pipe dream.  Brian would never change. He had just proved that … again.

Then it hit him.  He couldn't believe that he had been so stupid as not to see it before.  Brian was pushing him off the fucking cliff once again. Every time Justin had got too close or too demanding Brian had pushed him away.  He was sure that Brian felt he was doing it for Justin's own good, to warn him that he couldn't depend on Brian, to show him that he could easily replace him, to say that Justin wasn't important to him, or to drive him away to what Brian would perceive as a better life.

Shit!  Fucking shit!  And he had fallen for it once more.

A smile crept across Justin's face as he pushed the covers aside.  This realization drove away the tears and pain. That was what Brian was doing, pushing him away because he had started to get too close.  That was why Brian had left so quickly after dinner. Justin had made progress reconnecting with Brian after all, and it had scared the shit out of the man.  He still cared or he wouldn't have bothered to set up that scene in his office.

Justin's smile grew bigger.  The complicated language of Brian Kinney was so fucking hard to sort out, but he had done it before it was too late this time.  He would go back to the Quoin tomorrow. He was not going to be driven out of the partnership that easily. In fact he had just decided that he was going to expand that partnership.  Brian Kinney was going to regret the day he tried to shove Justin off this last cliff. Justin had no intention of going anywhere.

                                                              -----

Justin walked into the Quoin Tuesday afternoon.  He smiled and looked completely at ease as he walked over to Jake's desk.

"Hey, you look like you own the joint," Jake said with a chuckle.  "Oops, you do."

Justin grinned at him.  "Yes, I do," he said with pride.

"You sure rushed out of here in a hurry yesterday.  Did something happen … again?"

"Something always happens when Brian and I are together," Justin stated matter of factly.

"You two seem to like torturing each other."

"You ain't seen nothin' yet," Justin said with a grin.

"Oh?" Jake said warily.  "Just keep me out of the line of fire."

"I'll try, but no guarantees."

Jake watched as Justin rounded the corner heading for his office.  Justin stopped at his office door and then changed his mind. He walked down the hall to Brian's office.  The door was shut so he knocked and pushed it open without waiting for a reply.

Brian was sitting behind his desk studying some papers.  "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" he demanded of Justin.

"Coming to talk to you.  I thought the element of surprise might catch you with your dick in your pants instead of up somebody's ass."

Brian glared at him.  "I never invited you in last night either.  It's not my fault that you chose to open the door and see me with Ty."

"Oooh, your tricks have names now," Justin said sarcastically.

"He's not a trick.  He works here."

"Was that part of the job orientation session?"

"You could say that," Brian smirked.

"I came for my tour of the Quoin that Jake told me you were going to give me … yesterday."  Brian looked surprised. "Yes, I'm staying in spite of that little scene you set up for my benefit," Justin said pointedly.

"Set up?" Brian asked trying to look bewildered.

"Don't play coy, Brian.  It doesn't become you."

"Let's get this fucking tour over with then," Brian said brusquely standing up and coming out from behind his desk.

Justin couldn't help but give him the once over.  He looked so good like he always did, and he smelled heavenly as he walked past Justin to his office door.

"Are you coming?" Brian asked.  "Or going?" he added as an afterthought.

"I'm coming and staying," Justin said more softly than he intended.  They both remembered that night so long ago. It was emblazoned on both their minds, because it had changed each of them, whether for better or worse still remained to be seen.

Justin followed Brian out of the office.  He wondered if he still had the same effect on Brian that Brian had on him.  Based on what had happened between them already, he thought he probably did.

Brian led him out to the foyer and then opened double doors that led into a large room with couches and loveseats and chairs arranged in groups of two.  A large bar was located across the back of the room. "This is the meeting area where customers can pick out their companion for the evening," Brian said all business.

"Isn't 'companion' a bit euphemistic?" Justin asked.

"All right … they pick out their fuck for the evening.  Does that suit you better?"

"You don't have to be crude."

"Well, make up your fucking mind.  You can't have it both ways."

Justin glared at him but refused to take the bait.  He didn't want another fight with Brian, at least not at the moment.  "What else are you going to show me?" Justin asked.

"Come this way," Brian said leading Justin to a doorway.  "This doorway and the other four around the room lead to what are fantasy suites.  I only have four of them completed so far. The other one just acts as a large bedroom at the moment."

"What are the fantasies?" Justin asked.

"This one is king/servant."  Brian opened the door. The opulence of the bedroom was almost more than he could take in.  A huge four poster bed was draped with material that looked like spun gold. "There's a lot of call for this room."

"Wow," Justin responded.  "I can see why."

Brian smiled at Justin's apparent approval of what he had done with the room.  "There's a master/slave room over there. It's set in ancient Rome with togas, et cetera.  The next one is a medieval knight/serf room. The other one is a tropical paradise/clothing optional room."

"What do you think the last room will be?" Justin asked.

"I'm leaning toward a white party scenario, but I haven't really decided.  Maybe you have some ideas," Brian said almost taunting Justin to come up with something.

"I'll think about it," Justin said staring at Brian and refusing to admit that he couldn't think of anything at the moment, except maybe Brian spread out naked on that golden bed and him on top riding his cock.

Justin heard a noise and then Brian's voice said sarcastically, "Indulging in a little fantasy of your own, Sunshine?"

Justin blinked and remembered where he was.  He felt the heat of the blush surge down his cheeks and all the way to his toes.  His cock was uncomfortably hard and Brian seemed to be looking right at the bulge in his jeans.

"Let's go," Justin said straightening up to his full height and ignoring the twinge that caused as his jeans tightened even more around his dick.  "Where to next?"

"Upstairs," Brian said with a smirk.  He led Justin towards the stairs. These are the regular rooms that are used for two hours at a time, or can be booked for the whole night.  The fantasy rooms are only booked for the whole night."

"Are they the $5000 ones," Justin asked remembering what Rick had said.

"And up."

"Up?"

"Yeah, it depends what they want to do in there."

"Oh."

They looked into one of the rooms on the second floor.  Brian said they were all pretty much the same. Certain boys had certain rooms that they preferred and the front desk tried to accommodate that when they booked them.  Justin thought they could use a little more color and some nice artwork on the walls. He'd bring that up later.

"Is that the whole thing?" Justin asked.

"There's the basement."

"What's down there?" Justin asked.

"The S and M rooms and other kinky stuff."

"I … I don't think I need to see that today," Justin said quickly not really wanting to see it at all."

They had been walking back downstairs as they talked.  They arrived in front of Justin's office as Brian said, "Don't want to get up close and personal with a sling?"  Brian smirked at him.

Justin felt the color drain from his face and he felt like he was going to throw up.  Suddenly arms engulfed him and he was in his office sitting in his chair with Brian kneeling in front of him saying, "Justin, Justin."

Justin fought the urge to throw up and croaked, "Water."

Brian went to the bathroom off the office and brought Justin a glass of water.  Justin sipped some and that helped to get rid of the bad taste in his mouth. He took a couple of deep breaths.  "I'm all right now," he whispered.

"You're not all right," Brian said softly brushing the hair back from Justin's eyes.  "What happened?"

Justin shook his head and drank some more water.

"Tell me," Brian said firmly.

"The Sap, his party, drugs, the sling," Justin managed to get out.

"Fuck!  He put you in the sling?  I'll kill that fucking bastard!"

Justin shook his head again.  "No, no, no, he didn't. He tried to.  He wanted to, but I kicked him in the face and knocked out a couple of his teeth.  He let me go after that."

"So they didn't hurt you?"

"No, I escaped in time.  That's why I quit Babylon.  Sap would have fired me anyway."

"Jesus, Justin, you could have been really hurt … or killed.  Those parties get out of hand."

"I know that now, but I thought I could handle it at the time."

"I always wondered what happened to you that night.  You said you had quit when I came home."

"Speaking of which," Justin said taking another drink and beginning to feel like himself, "where were you that night?  You never came home till the next morning."

Brian chuckled.  "In jail."

"What?  What were you doing in jail?"

"I was drunk and so was Ted, so Mikey drove the Jeep.  He was speeding and the cops pulled us over. He proceeded to insult them until they arrested us."

"Why would he insult them?"

"Because a cop was boffing his mother."

"You mean Carl?"

Brian nodded.  "He wasn't exactly feeling all warm and fuzzy about any cops at that point."

"Brian," Justin said slowly, "why didn't we ever talk about this kind of stuff when it happened."

Brian looked sad for a moment and then the old façade went back up.  "Fuck if I know!" He stood up. "I need to get back to work."

"What exactly do you do every night?"

"Are you implying that I don't work hard enough?" Brian asked turning suddenly angry.

"No," Justin said firmly.  "I just don't quite know what's involved in running this place."

"Come to my office and you can watch the monitors of what's happening in each room."

Justin's eyes shot up and found Brian's face.  The smirk told him that he had been had. "You asshole!  Can't you ever give me a straight answer?"

"You want straight out of this queer?  Not bloody likely, Sunshine."

"Fuck you!"

"You wish.  But it does give me an idea of what to do with my evening," Brian said coldly.

He opened the door, stepped out and slammed it behind him.

Justin stared at the door.  Well, that didn't go quite the way he had hoped.  Funny that he was learning more about things from the past than he ever thought he would.  But they seemed unable to deal with the present. He still had no idea what Brian did at the Quoin and he really had no job to do either.  The place seemed like it would go on quite well without them. He knew that wasn't really true, because it had taken Brian to really get the Quoin on its feet.  Justin felt like a fifth wheel in the whole operation. He decided he might as well go home.

At the front desk he asked Jake if there was a catalogue of office furniture that he could take with him and maybe select some stuff for his office.  Jake handed him a couple of catalogues.

"You have the shortest hours here of anyone I know," Jake said teasing him.

"There's only so much of his royal highness that I can stomach at one time," Justin said sarcastically.

"He feels the same about you."

"What do you mean?"

"He's been in a foul mood and has told me to keep you occupied and out of his hair."

"That fucking piece of shit!"

"You guys need to quit torturing each other.  It can't be good for either of you, or for the business."

"If you see him, tell him I'm gone for the day but I'll be back tomorrow afternoon to torment him some more."

"Will do," Jake said breezily.

                                                               -----

Justin made sure he returned to the Quoin every afternoon.  He could see that it bugged Brian but he wasn't going to let him push him away again.  He felt like he was accomplishing nothing at the Quoin, however, and that bothered him.

He picked out some furniture that he wanted for his office and then decided that he was going to come up with the best idea for the fantasy room that Brian had ever heard of.  He took out his sketchbook and began to doodle waiting for inspiration to hit. Before he realized what he was doing, he had drawn a sketch of Brian spread out wantonly on the four poster, the way he had envisioned him the day of the tour.

"Shit!" he grumbled looking at what he had done.

He needed an idea for a room.  Other than Brian stretched out on that huge bed, he wondered what else might turn people on.  He wondered what would turn Brian on, although it didn't take a whole lot for that to happen. Suddenly the perfect thing came to him.  He sketched furiously for the next hour.

When he looked at his sketches he smiled and knew it was time to stop.  He would show these to Brian. He buzzed Jake and asked if Brian was in his office.  Jake said he'd check it out and let him know. A few minutes later his phone ran and Jake told him that Brian said he could come to his office any time.

Justin gathered up his sketchbook and marched down the hall.  He didn't bother to knock since Brian had said he could come anytime.  He opened the door and drew in a sharp breath.

Brian stood at the side of his desk, his pants around his ankles.  Some guy was lying on his back on the desk and Brian had his ankles one in each hand so that the man was fully exposed and open to Brian's dick that was plowing his ass.

Justin fumed.  Brian had done it to him again.  He was about to turn and leave when he decided to take a different tack.  "Shall I wait or come back later?" he asked icily.

"Suit … yourself," Brian said between thrusts.

Justin sat down in one of the chairs and watched Brian bring himself and the young man to orgasm.  When Brian pulled out the man gasped and said, "That was amazing."

Brian just looked at him and then mumbled, "Yeah, amazing."  He proceeded to dispose of the condom and then pull up his pants.

Justin sat with his arms crossed, his sketchbook on his knee.  The man on the desk reached for a tissue, wiped himself off and retrieved his pants.  He glanced at Justin with a somewhat triumphant look on his face.

"Get out!" Justin ordered.

"I don't have to…" the man began.

"You heard him," Brian said.  "Get out!"

"But…"

"Now!" Brian said.

"Fuck you both!" he said and stormed out.

"That won't do much for employer/employee relations," Brian said.  "What do you want?" he asked Justin.

"Are you going to put on a show like that every time I come to your office?" Justin asked ice in his voice.

"Maybe," Brian replied sticking his tongue in his cheek.

"Don't feel you have to on my account.  It's not going to drive me away."

"What makes you think that's what I was trying to do?" Brian asked innocently.

Justin huffed in response.  "Pulleeease," he said.

"So what do you want?"

"To show you these," Justin said handing Brian his sketches.

"What's this?"

"The theme for the last fantasy room."

"A schoolroom?"

"Yes.  You have a fantasy about your coach that you sucked off in the shower.  I seem to remember that you got off on me in my school uniform."

"I got off on you in anything … or in nothing," he added as an afterthought.

Justin smiled in spite of himself.  "I thought other men probably had fantasies about a certain teacher or a coach or a jock.  The possibilities are endless. We can have a classroom complete with a paddle and a locker room and shower.  Then we can have the teacher's bedroom off to one side."

Justin saw the smile that spread across Brian's face.  He wondered what he was thinking. The bulge in his trousers was becoming quite noticeable.  Obviously he liked the idea.

"So what do you think?" Justin asked.

"It has … possibilities."

"Can we start on it right away?" Justin asked his face lit up with the excitement of a new project.

"I don't see why not," Brian said with a look of admiration as he gazed at Justin.

Justin felt for the first time that he had earned a place at the Quoin.