Chapter 23 - Best Safety Lies In Fear.

Brian was just finishing up Justin’s good morning blow job when he noticed the blond’s phone rattling away on the nightstand. He ignored it long enough to swallow around the fat pink prick that the younger man had shoved down his throat. He hummed a happy little song to provide some pleasant vibration and then pulled back with just enough suction to hoover Justin’s morning load out of him with a whoosh. The boy whimpered and then collapsed back against the pillows. Brian took the opportunity to crawl up his young lover’s body until he was straddling the kid’s middle and proceeded to stroke his own hard cock a half-dozen times until he came all over Justin’s face and torso. Then he collapsed on top of the other man, smearing their cum-coated bodies together in an orgy of stickiness. 

Neither man had yet caught his breath again before the annoying phone began to rattle and vibrate on the side table again. Brian reached over and picked the irritating thing up without bothering to move off his comfortable Justin mattress. He looked at the lock screen which showed several messages from Cara. 

The most recent of which said, ‘Time to rise and shine, Romeos. We have a wedding to get to today, in case you forgot.’

Brian groaned and rolled over, freeing his other hand to type out a reply, ‘We're here. We're queer. And we're registered at both Williams-Sonoma and Prada.’

Fake Daphne popped into the group chat, adding, ‘It’s about time you two got up. Also, if you were trying to hide the fact that you violated Aleksi’s no sex between the grooms the night before the wedding rule, you should have maybe been a little quieter. I think people in the next country over probably heard a few of those orgasms...’

‘Fuck Aleksi’, Brian typed back.

‘I don’t think that’s gonna happen, Stud’, Greg responded. ‘After listening to him spew his homophobic crap all last night after you left, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t approve of same sex marriage. You know that old saying about In Vino Veritas, well, that...’

‘You know, they say all marriages are same sex marriages,’ Fake Daphne interjected. ‘You get married and after that, every night, it’s the same sex over and over and over...’

‘Maybe in your boring het marriages,’ Brian replied. ‘Which is why I’m glad I’m gay.’

‘So you’re saying Justin’s creative, huh?’ Cara added. ‘Good to know.’

‘Well, you’ll have to keep that creativity on hold for a bit,’ Greg cut in. ‘Aleksi was super pissed at the way you went missing last night, Brian. He lit into Beks right in the middle of the club. Accused her and the goon squad of losing you at the top of his fucking lungs. Rumor has it he’s still pissed off that you escaped without him getting compromising pictures of you fucking one of his working girls. So, if you wanna make nice, it’s time for you to reemerge and do some damage control.’

‘I’ll send Brian out as soon as we shower,’ Justin typed as soon as he took his phone back from Brian. 

“Race you to the shower, Sunshine?” Brian suggested, no longer bothering to try and stay silent since it seemed probable that they’d already been found out. 

“First one there gets to top!” Justin agreed, vaulting out of the bed like a lunatic kangaroo, and giggling madly as he sprinted past Brian.

“In your dreams, bottom boy,” Brian teased as he lazily followed his fiance towards the bathroom.

Half an hour later Brian strutted into his fifth floor suite to find Cara, Greg, Michael, and Ben gathered around a breakfast spread on the dining table, stuffing their faces while they waited for him. 

“Well, it’s about time you showed up, Brian,” Michael chided him. “Although, if you’re having second thoughts and have decided not to go through with this sham wedding, I’ll happily pay for your cab to the airport so we can get the hell out of here already and get away from the gold digger who wants to steal your money.”

“Why the fuck would I want to leave now, Mikey?” Brian snarked right back as he grabbed the coffee cup out of Michael’s hand and took a huge slurp. “Have you seen Justin’s ass? Why wouldn’t I jump at the chance to fuck that perfect little bubble butt over and over and over again?”

“Can you please be serious for a minute, Brian,” Michael whined, putting down the croissant he’d been eating the minute before to face his friend with a grim expression. “It’s not too late to change your mind, you know. You don’t have to do this.” When it looked like Brian was going to interrupt his protestations again, Michael rushed to cut him off. “I know what you’re going to say, Brian, but please listen to me. This is all happening just way too fast. Can’t you at least wait a while before you rush into something like getting married to someone you barely know? It’s beyond insane that you, of all people, are rushing into this. How can you possibly know that you want to spend the rest of your life with someone you just met less than a month ago? He’s probably just stringing you along until he can get a divorce and take you for everything you own.”

Brian started to respond in his usual flippant, snarky way, but then stopped with a sigh. Yes, he was still pissed off at Michael for betraying him to Aleksi like he had. And, yes, he was tired of the jealousy and possessiveness. But, if he were being honest, Michael did have a point. Although it somehow felt like much longer, it was true that he and Justin had only known each other a short time and, if this were a real wedding, Michael would have been within his rights to question the rapidity of Brian’s change or heart about marriage. So he supposed that he owed Michael a real answer. But what could he say to reassure his friend without giving away the sting operation they were on?

Thinking back on the vibrant and tantalizing man whose bed he’d just left, Brian had to smile. Their night together had been one for the record books. They’d fucked at least a half dozen times, all over that fucking hotel suite, and yet never seemed to tire of each other. That was something he’d never experienced with another man before. Hell, before Justin, the longest he’d ever spent with one guy had been the weekend he’d taken Matt George to Cabos. But, after those three days with Matt, Brian had been more than ready to be rid of the guy. Being with Justin, though, seemed to have the opposite effect. The more he was with the young blond artist, the more he seemed to crave him.

For a brief moment Brian thought back to the joke Azaria had told that morning, about how all marriages were same sex marriages because you’d only have sex with the same man forever, and wondered if that would really be so bad if the other man were Justin.

There was just something about that little blond kid that Brian couldn’t put his finger on. Some connection that he’d never had with anyone else. Like when they’d rolled over in the middle of the night and instantly found each other’s eyes, their hands and lips coming together like a pair of magnets. That time around they’d touched each other so gently as they’d made love. And, yes, Brian realized he’d just used the term ‘made love’ instead of fucking, but he couldn’t find it in himself to correct the term. Because it had actually felt like they’d made love; not that Brian knew for sure what that was supposed to feel like. He knew it wasn’t just your standard, run of the mill fucking though. 

If he really were about to get married - if it were real - Brian thought that the night he’d just spent with Justin would have been the way he’d want to have celebrated. 

So, instead of blowing off Michael’s question, Brian decided to be honest with him for once. “I don’t know what to tell you, Mikey. It’s just different with Justin. He’s . . . Special. And whether you like him or not, I trust him. And it looks like I’m marrying him in about four hours. Please don’t make me choose between you, Michael, because you won’t like my choice.”

Brian’s declaration, said in that solemn tone of voice, completely shut everyone up. Michael just stared at him, as if he suddenly didn’t recognize his best friend. Ben was smiling soppily at Brian from across the table. And Cara and Greg were busy looking at their phones while pretending they hadn’t heard anything so intimate about one of the assets. 

Luckily for all, the moment of silence was interrupted just then by a knock. Cara answered the door and took Brian’s freshly pressed tux from the staff member who’d come to deliver it. After which, the spell was broken and they all went back to eating their breakfast and joking with Brian about his wedding. But in his own mind, Brian was still remembering the night before and internally questioning himself. Because it was true; Justin was special.

Meanwhile, the rest of the morning sped by. Brian took his time getting ready because even though it was only a fake wedding, he wanted to look his best. When it was finally time to put on his tux, he got a round of catcalls and whistles from his audience, attesting to just how handsome he looked. 

Michael had just offered to help him with his bowtie when Cara’s phone rang and she stepped into the other room to answer the call. When she came back, not thirty seconds later, she looked worried. Brian felt his stomach do a flip-flop and his mind immediately went to Justin, hoping nothing bad had happened to his blond. 

“You look fabulous, Brian,” Cara spoke up. “I like the tux much better than that ‘Maid of Honor’ get up you were wearing last night.” Greg snickered from his corner, obviously having been told of Brian’s nighttime adventures. Then the lead FBI Agent got serious, turned to Michael, and said, “I think we forgot to pick up Brian’s boutonniere last night, Michael. Could you run down to the florist really quick and pick it up for us?”

“What? Why me? Can’t you go get it?” Michael griped.

“I can’t,” Cara was quick to respond. “I still need to get my makeup on, and besides that, you are the Best Man.”

“Ugh. Fine. I’ll go.”

“Why don’t you go with him and keep Mikey out of trouble, Ben,” Brian suggested, adding a wink to encourage the man to join his husband. 

“Will do, Brian,” Ben readily agreed and then escorted a still disgruntled Michael out of the suite. 

As soon as the pair was gone and the door closed behind them, Cara nodded to Greg, who took a small black box out of his pocket, set it on the coffee table in front of where Brian was standing, and pushed a button on the side of the device. 

“Okay, that should block any listening devices. We have about three minutes before we’re detected so talk fast,” he advised.

Cara immediately began talking. “That call I took was from Mercury. They don’t have what we need to arrest Kacmar yet.”

“What do you mean, they don’t have enough?” Brian’s voice rose till he was not quite yelling, causing both Greg and Cara to violently gesture at him to be more quiet. “But you said you’d have this wrapped up in more than enough time to call off the wedding. Now what are we supposed to do?”

“We just keep going as is,” Cara advised, placing a hand on Brian’s shoulder to try and keep him calm. “I’m sorry. We thought we’d have more by now, Brian. But Kacmar is being cagey.” 

“What about the way he threatened Justin? Or the shit that Laura told me last night?” Brian objected. 

“The stuff from Laura is all hearsay; we can’t make a case with that. And, although his threats to Justin probably constitute extortion, Interpol really wants to hold out until we have enough to get him on the big stuff. The money laundering, wire fraud, and international banking law violations. Those are the kind of charges that’ll get him thrown in jail for life. Extortion is, at best, a local crime and we know he’s already bought off most of the Croatian judges. We have to get him on something that’ll allow us to try him in New York or the Hague if we want the charges to actually stick. So Mercury wants us to ride this one out as long as possible.”

“How long is ‘as long as possible’?” Brian asked. “The fucking wedding is in,” he looked at his phone to check the time, “two fucking hours.”

“I know we’re cutting it close, Brian, but we just have to give the rest of the team time. Beks was able to leave bugs in Kacmar’s office, so we might still get something there. And she’s trying to get another run at Aleksi as we speak. You have to be patient. If worse comes to worst, you can just say you have cold feet and refuse to walk down the aisle. Okay? But the longer you and Justin can maintain this ruse, the better. Because if we don’t get Kacmar now, then he’s sure to retaliate against the both of you, and I’m pretty sure you don’t want to give up Kinnetik in order to take your family into witness protection for the rest of your life. Right?”

“That’s the only alternative?” Brian asked, getting brusque nods from both the FBI agents in the room. “Fuck . . . Okay. Whatever. As long as Justin’s onboard. It’s not like we have a real choice . . .”

“Give me a break, Serjay,” Beks argued with the stoic man who was still blocking her access to Kacmar’s office with his mountainous body. “I just want to talk to the man for one minute. I know he’s probably still pissed at me but how can I make it up to him if you won’t even let me in to see him for fuck’s sake!”

She’d been arguing with the guy for more than ten minutes already and was getting more and more desperate as each second ticked by. They were running out time. There was less than two hours until the wedding was scheduled to take place and they still didn’t have enough for Interpol to arrest Kacmar. If they didn’t get the goods on this scumbag soon, their entire operation was going to blow up in their faces. She knew if she could just get inside to talk to Aleksi, she should be able to antagonize him enough to get him to let something slip. He was already pissed off at her, it shouldn’t take much more to bait him. But first she had to get past his fucking ogre of a doorman.

“Mr. Kacmar is not available at the moment,” Serjay repeated disdainfully.

“Yeah. You already said that but . . .” Beks broke off when she heard a familiar raised voice coming from down the hallway behind her. 

“I know I’m the Best Man, Ben, but why should that mean I’m the one who has to run all the errands like some loser gofer?” Michael Novotny’s nasal voice was pitched perfectly to carry clear down the hall to where the hotel’s administrative offices were located. “Why couldn’t Cara go get the fucking boutonniere? I should be up there helping Brian get ready, not some fake cousin who doesn’t even know him. I thought that’s what a fucking Best Man does. But, no. I’m the one who’s getting kicked out by some bitch Brian barely knows . . .”

“Michael, it’s not that big a deal, is it? I mean, getting his boutonniere is helping him get ready,” Ben tried to be the voice of reason but, as usual, it fell on deaf ears. 

“Fuck that, Ben. I don’t know why I’m even bothering to help him. Brian has been a total asshole to me this whole trip and you know it. When he’s not ignoring me, he’s giving me shit and telling me off for hurting the poor little gold digger’s feelings. Well, I’ve had enough. I should just leave already. I don’t want to be a part of this sham wedding anyway. I can’t believe he’s falling for that fat-assed blond boy’s lies,” Michael ranted, getting so upset that he stopped right in the middle of the lobby in order to whine even more effectively.  

Ben looked around at the crowd of onlookers Michael’s shouting was beginning to attract and tried to get his husband to quiet down, but to no avail. 

“If Cara - the fucking fake cousin - wants to be in charge, well let her. I could care less about Brian’s fucking flowers.” Michael was so upset by that point that he crossed his arms over his chest and pouted, digging in his heels when Ben attempted to get him to move off to the side so everyone wasn’t looking at them. “I don’t trust that gold digging whore; I know that he’s just using Brian for his money. And, seriously, what is with this Cara person anyway? Huh? I know for a fact she isn’t Brian’s fucking ‘cousin’. Brian doesn’t have any cousins. Brian told me his father was an only child and his mother’s only sister was a nun; I remember because I told him if he wanted cousins I would loan him some of mine, only none of them were still talking to Ma because she stood up for Uncle Vic, and we laughed about it all night. So who the fuck is that cow anyway, huh? And why the hell would Brian invite someone he doesn’t even know to come halfway around the world to his wedding? It doesn’t make any sense, Ben. Plus, they’re always whispering together - Brian, the blond whore, and that Cara bitch - I tell you, Ben, there’s something fishy going on here and I don’t want to be mixed up in it any more. Brian can get his own fucking boutonniere . . .” 

Beks felt her heart drop into her stomach as the little idiot’s words rang throughout the lobby and clear down the hall to where she and Serjay were standing. There was nothing she could do. She couldn’t stop him this time. Shit was about to hit the fan in a most spectacular way and she didn’t know what she could do to stop the destruction. 

She looked up, hoping against hope that Serjay hadn’t understood the import of what they’d just overheard. Unfortunately, Serjay was already moving towards the door to Aleksi’s private office. Beks scrambled after him. At the very least, she’d maybe be able to overhear whatever it was Aleksi was going to do. Maybe she’d be able to run interference or at least warn Cara somehow . . .

“Sefe, imamo problem,” Serjay warned before they’d even got all the way inside the office, his voice ringing out down the hallway almost as loudly as Michael’s had. 

Aleksi, who was hunched over a laptop computer at his desk, looked up with a furious expression. ‘Sto?” he asked, looking over Serjay’s shoulder to where Beks was standing just inside the doorway. 

Serjay, following his boss’ line of vision, realized he’d been followed and immediately took two giant steps backward so he could grab hold of Beks’ arm and tow her all the way into the office. Then he slammed the door closed and turned the lock. And, finally, the big goon shoved Beks roughly into one of the guest chairs, flipped open the box sitting on Aleksi’ desk that she’d thought was a humidor, and hit a small silver switch on the device that was hidden inside. 

Only then did Serjay begin to explain to Kacmar what they’d overheard out in the lobby. The two men were talking in such rapid-fire angry voices that she only got about a third of what they were saying with her rusty Croatian. She heard something about ‘a setup’. She thought that Serjay was warning Aleksi about someone listening and when he pointed to the box with the device inside she understood the word ‘bugs’. Brian’s, Justin’s, and Michael’s names were mentioned as well as the name ‘Cara’. And then both the men looked directly at her. She was actually kind of glad that she hadn’t fully understood what they said next, because just the way Kacmar said her name was enough to make her blood run cold. Shit! They were fucked now. So very, very fucked.

“Bring the pederu and his little bride boy to me,” Kacmar ordered. “NOW!” 

Serjay obeyed immediately, stomping out of the office like a man on a mission. 

“Now, Ms. Beks,” Aleksi turned his attention to her. “While we wait for Serjay bring the pederus so I can teach them their lessons, you will tell me what the JEBATI is going on!” Beks hesitated, her brain scrambling to come up with something to say that wouldn’t make things worse. “SPEAK!” Aleksi’s fist slammed on the desk, making Beks jump.  “Or I make you be fish food before dinner.” 

Brian was on his way downstairs to check out the little wedding chapel that the hotel boasted when he heard his name being called. 

Aleksi’s tour the day before had skipped the chapel and the rest of the resort’s wedding facilities so Brian was curious to see that part of the facilities. He figured he should at least know where his own fake wedding was supposed to be taking place. Besides, he didn’t have anything else to do at the moment - he was dressed and ready, except for the fucking boutonniere which Mikey would hopefully be bringing soon - and he was too nervous to just sit around in the hotel room waiting for Cara to finish putting on her makeup. So he’d told the agents he was going to check out the chapel and would meet them in the bar for a pre-ceremony drink in fifteen minutes. Then he’d headed for the elevators. 

The second he’d poked his head out of the door of his room, though, he was assailed by a frantic looking Laura. “Mr. Brian! Quickly. You must come!” she hissed breathlessly and began to tug on his arm. 

“What the fuck? What’s wrong?”

“Aleksi. He think you betrayed him,” Laura explained briefly as she led him away towards the back stairs. “We must find Mr. Justin. You both need hide. Now!”

Brian followed her down the stairs, both of them running, as he continued to question the woman. “I don’t understand. Why would Aleksi think I ‘betrayed’ him?’

“Your friend - the Blebetanje - he come downstairs, yelling in lobby, saying your ‘fake cousin’ up to something. Everyone in hotel heard. Serjay go tell Aleksi and I hear them yelling in office. I come to get you right away. You no want to face angry Aleksi,” the woman answered as they reached the ground floor and paused before exiting the stairwell. 

Laura motioned Brian to wait before she peeked her head around the jamb and scanned the hallway. This stair led out into a small back corridor that was mainly used by hotel staff, so it wasn’t very busy. Thankfully, it appeared that the coast was clear, so Laura cautiously motioned Brian forward. They managed to sprint down that hallway and took the turn into the wing that housed the wedding facilities without being seen. Brian was glad Laura seemed to know where she was going when she led him directly to a room with a little plaque next to the door announcing it was the ‘Bridal Room’. They barged in without bothering to knock to find a surprised-looking Justin standing in front of a mirror admiring himself in his new tux. 

“Brian? What . . .” Justin didn’t get to finish his sentence before Laura had grabbed him by the arm and started towing him along as well.

“I’ll explain later, Sunshine,” Brian said. “This is Laura, by the way. She’s the one you stole those place tickets from.”

“Oh. Uh, hi . . .” Justin didn’t know what to say.

Laura wasn’t listening, though. She quickly led her charges out of the little Bridal Room, which was typically used for one member of a wedding party to get ready in, through a door that connected to the vestibule for the Chapel. They were headed towards the big double doors that would have taken them back out into the hallway that led to the lobby, but before they got there, they heard loud voices coming from that direction and Laura changed course. Instead, she led Brian and Justin into the Chapel itself. Unfortunately, that appeared to be a dead end and the angry voices out in the corridor were getting nearer. 

“This way,” Laura ordered.

She led the two men towards the back corner of the relatively small room where, at first glance, there didn’t seem to be anything of interest. However, as soon as they reached the corner, Laura reached out and pressed against one of the wall panels which subsequently popped open to reveal what appeared to be a small walk-in storage closet filled with priests’ vestments, altar cloths, and various other wedding chapel accouterments. She immediately began to shove first Brian and then Justin into the small space.

“You hide here. No one look. Only working girls know this place. I come get you when safe,” she dictated, closing the door behind her without waiting for their okay.

With the door panel closed, the small space was pitch black. If Brian hadn’t heard Justin’s rasping breath and felt the warm body shivering next to him, he would have thought he was all alone. He put his arm around Justin, which was reassuring for the both of them, and then they just stood there and panted. Outside, in the chapel itself, they could faintly hear voices - one of which sounded like Laura - arguing about something. The argument lasted for only a few minutes and then there was nothing but silence both in the chapel and inside their hidey hole

Eventually, when everything outside had remained quiet for long enough that he thought they’d escaped - at least for the time being - Brian finally whispered into the top of Justin’s thick blond hair, “You okay, Sunshine?”

“I think so,” Justin replied, his voice sounding shaky.

“So, I’m thinking that eloping to Croatia to get fake married probably wasn’t the best wedding plan we could have come up with,” Brian concluded, earning himself a snicker from the scared Male Order Bride in his arms. “How about, for our next fake wedding, we try Ibiza instead?”