Celebration

Justin and Brian’s 'plot' worked like a charm. They won the first game hands down, then played the twins and did the same. It didn’t hurt that they were so horny they were rubbing against each other when it was their opponent's turn, that a couple of times Brian corrected Justin’s stance basically lying on top of him on the pool table, and that they were both sporting incredibly obvious hard-ons the entire time.

Since they were having an effect not just on their guests, but also on others who were more used to Gillian’s open attitude to public demonstrations of affection, and let’s face it, public demonstrations of fucking techniques, there were quite a few men getting head at the booths, and one who got fucked face to face against the wall.

“You guys really seem to be having a tough time concentrating,” Brian teased. “How about we move this along? Eating, dancing or fucking?”

The brothers high-fived each other, “Fuc.King,” they said.

Steven laughed. “I second that. Or is it third?” Scott looked a little self-conscious, but nodded with a smile. They all made their way to the elevator, on their way to the orgy room. Brian explained that it was ok to circulate, watch, jerk off and join as long as there was no black towel on the bed.

“If there is a black towel, you can watch and jerk off, but not touch or join whomever is on the bed.” He added, “And I’m sorry, but no matter how you do it at home, here condoms are mandatory. Fucking raw will get you kicked out in about ten minutes. Other than that, anything goes.”

They stopped in the locker room and stripped. Again, Steven looked a lot more comfortable with it than Scott, which was weird because though Steven had a nice body, Scott was definitely the better looking of the two. The twins were completely comfortable with their nudity, and were hard with anticipation. They were not very long, seven inches or less, but their girth was very impressive, their cocks really big around. They jokingly got on each side of Justin, asking if he wanted to be roasted on a spit, with the same cock in his ass as in his mouth, and Brian pushed each of them away, getting his Sunshine back.

“You’re always doing that to me, man,” said Rob, laughing. “I have a feeling I’ll never get my fat cock in that perfect blond ass…”

“And you are so right,” Brian said, smiling at Justin. “My Sunshine. Find your own…”

They entered the orgy room. Brian loved it in there. He loved watching all the fucking, the straining bodies, the faces full of pleasure, the chests full of come. The sounds and the smell were unlike anywhere else.

“They’re playing Enigma again,” said Justin. “I love it.”

The music was amazingly sensuous and sexy. Brian searched the room and found Brandon and Todd. They were lying in the middle of a bed, Todd’s legs around Brandon’s back, making slow beautiful love, kissing the whole time. They looked so perfect together, the contrast in their coloring, their slow coordinated motions, their secret conversation a joy to watch. Justin, who had found them as well, squeezed Brian's hand and smiled. There were two guys, sitting on the next bed, giving each other unhurried hand jobs as they watched them.

Brian and Scott both grabbed a black towel. Scott was very aroused, his eyes taking it all in, and Brian remembered Steven telling him Scott had been the one to ask they be exclusive. Steven was walking around, and actually caressed the face of a guy who had two cocks up his ass, and smiled at him encouragingly. The guy’s face was sweaty and flushed as he was lying on one of his impellers, and the other one was sliding in and out of his very stretched hole, trying hard not to come. It was an amazing sight, though Brian had never been tempted to participate in a double penetration, it obviously didn’t leave Steven indifferent.

The brothers had stopped next to a bed where a tall thin guy was tied up. His head was hanging off the edge of the bed, and a short man, muscular and dark haired, as beautiful as a small Adonis, was fucking his mouth, so you couldn’t see the tall guy’s face. Alex stopped, and climbed on the bed, taking the leaking cock of the tied up guy in his mouth, and swallowing him whole, moving up and down rapidly, matching the short guy's rhythm.

Rob stood behind the short guy, lubed his fingers and started finger fucking him. The guy turned around, surprised. Brian thought he had ‘top only’ written all over him, but Rob, who must have had a foot and fifty pounds on the short man, just pushed his shoulders down, and got another finger up his ass.

Alex was now sitting on the bound guy’s cock, fucking himself, and he grabbed the small guy's hands and brought them to his cock. The short guy started jerking Alex off, and Rob slowly pushed his fat cock up his ass.

If, as Brian suspected, this was shorty’s first time being fucked, he certainly was having a hell of an introduction. Rob was gentle and took his time, and it must have helped that shorty was still being sucked by his tied up friend, but still that was quite a first cock to take in… After five minutes, Rob was all the way in and started to move. Shorty let go of Alex’s cock, his mouth opened as he panted at the sensations in his ass. Suddenly, his eyes opened wide, and he let out a sound Justin and Brian could hear from across the room.

Rob had hit his prostate and was now really fucking him, pushing the short guy’s dick deep into the tied up guy’s mouth with every thrust. The short guy cried out as he came, totally overwhelmed. Rob lifted him off the skinny guy’s face, who looked like he was in heaven with Alex fucking himself on him, turned him around like he was a weightless doll, and the short guy’s legs around his waist, started fucking him standing up, lifting him and pushing him back down on his cock like he weighed nothing, kissing him hard.

Alex was untying his partner’s hands, and retying them with the guy’s head on the bed. He started fucking himself faster, his fingers buried in the guy’s ass at the same time. The guy came with a cry, and Alex came off his dick, put on a condom, brought the guy’s knees to his ears, and shoved in his cock, starting to fuck him fast and deep.

Those two were a terror. They obviously loved to fuck and were merciless. Brian and Justin looked at each other and laughed. They looked for the docs. Steve was fucking Scott who was on all four, jerking him off at the same time. From the bed they’d chosen, they had a perfect view of a guy with a cock in his ass, and one in his mouth. Steve leaned down and asked Scott something.

Scott nodded in agreement, and Steve gestured to a young guy, who looked about twenty, and who was jerking off looking at them. The guy approached the bed, eyeing the black towel, but Scott reached for him and swallowed his cock as Steven kept fucking him. Brian was amazed. Scott was definitely the sub in that relationship, which he would have never guessed. The kid came down Scott’s throat, and Steven called another guy over, who happily took his turn in Scott’s mouth.

Steve used the black towel to blind Scott, and just kept fucking him, playing with his dick and his nipples, whoring out his mouth. Scott came, blinded, his mouth full of cock, but Steven didn’t stop, and soon Scott was hard again, a third cock down his throat, Steven speaking into his ear.

All their guests were happily occupied. Brian took Justin’s hand and pulled him to an empty bed, displaying the black towel in an obvious manner. He lay down next to Justin, and started to kiss his face and his neck, running his hand through his short hair, along his beautiful cheekbones, kissing his elastic mouth.

“Look around, Justin, tell me what you want…”

“I want you, anyway you want. My mouth and my ass are yours to do with as you please, all night.”

Justin’s eyes were soft and full of love. He meant it. Brian smelled his neck, his armpits, and got incredibly turned on. Unsurprisingly, he wanted to eat Justin’s ass. Nothing was better than that at the end of the day. He turned Justin over and got him on his knees. He teased himself with the sight of the perfect cheeks, and spreading them, the sight of his gorgeous asshole, closed tight on its hidden delight.

“Justin, I want to eat your ass. Fuck , I always want to eat your ass. You are so tight and beautiful…” He caressed Justin’s cheeks. They were so soft and plump. He bit one, and smacked the other, loving the bounciness. He licked down the crack, and got to Justin’s neat entrance, and he couldn’t wait anymore… He licked delicately at the pink folds, loving Justin’s clean musk, pointed his tongue and slipped it in.

He remembered the first time he had done this, his delight at Justin’s heady scent, at his mewling response, and there, deep inside, at his amazing sweetness. It had been two and a half months ago, and his pleasure at loving Justin’s hole had not diminished. And probably wouldn’t ever. He had felt the folds, he now caressed with his tongue, open like a flower for his naked cock. And in a month that pleasure would be his forever.

The muscular rings were soft and relaxed. Some men never learned to control their inner sphincter. Justin had done it out of love, surrendering that to Brian just like he did his mouth, accepting him inside of his body in every way. Brian fucked the offered hole with his tongue, his cock hard as a rock, Justin’s wonderful sweet taste in his mouth, and his cries of pleasure driving him wild. He stopped for a second to breathe in Justin’s balls, and then fucked him with his tongue again.

It was a powerful turn on to see a gorgeous man take such joy at eating some twink’s perfect ass, and hearing the resulting moans of pleasure. Too many guys were scared of doing this, though they all wished it would be done to them… Guys were watching and jerking off. Brian wanted to plunge his cock into Justin’s ass, but he was enjoying Justin’s reaction and the reaction of men around them to it, so he turned him over and took Justin’s gorgeous cock in his mouth, pleasuring him as much as he could, finger fucking him at the same time.

Justin was in a world of bliss, lost in Brian’s power, moaning, mewling, panting out his pleasure beautifully. His orgasm hit him like a tidal wave, his back arched, his hands in Brian’s hair, his eyes closed, and his cry of pleasure bringing four other men to completion, as usual almost undoing Brian. Jets of spunk hit the floor around the bed, and two guys started fucking on an adjacent bed just to share their impending orgasm with someone.

Justin opened his eyes and smiled at Brian who was unrolling a condom on himself and covering it with lube. He plunged into Justin’s open, welcoming body, his ankles on Brian’s shoulders, and Justin tightened around him. Brian lost control, and after pumping deeply in and out of Justin only a handful of times, he looked in Justin’s eyes, and said, “Justin, I can’t stop, here I come, oh god…” and he exploded in the condom.

But again, just like the first time they had made love, Justin did not let him leave his body. He wrapped his legs tightly around Brian's waist, and his arms around his neck, moving sinuously to keep fucking himself on Brian’s cock, and Brian’s pleasure did not end. He was stuck on the wave of one orgasm and on the rise of another for what seemed like hours, conscious of nothing but Justin’s heat, his smell, his sounds, his kisses, his softness and tightness, and his words of love. Finally Justin reached his peak. “Brian… Brian… here I come again… come with me… come with me… this is so perfect… I love you so much…so perfect…” and Justin’s channel tightened rhythmically with his orgasm as he cried out his pleasure and love, and took Brian away with him, Brian’s climax seemingly never ending. He collapsed on top of Justin, his breath ragged, his body spent.

The mattress dipped and someone was caressing his hair and his back. He looked up to find Brandon smiling at him. “You two are so beautiful when you make love,” Brandon said.

On their other side, Todd was caressing Justin’s face. “You are so gorgeous when you come, Justin, so beautiful.”

“Can we come back with you to the loft to shower and sleep?” asked Brandon. “I’ve missed you guys, and, well, we didn’t talk much tonight…” He chuckled.

Brian looked at Justin, who smiled. “Yeah. I think we’re ready to head home. Let’s make sure the docs and the twins are ok, and let’s go.”

Rob was on a bed with his new little friend, whose cock was buried in his ass, and he looked very happy indeed. Alex was on another bed with a couple of Asian guys. They were beautiful, their skin golden and their bodies nothing but muscles. One was fucking him standing up, Alex’s ass on the edge of the bed, and the other one was straddling his shoulders and jerking off, about to spray come all over his face.

Steven and Scott were still at it, Steven lying on his back now, and Scott fucking himself on his cock, jerking himself off while looking at him with eyes full of love.

Well, they all certainly looked OK. The four friends left the room and got dressed, leaving a note on the doctors' locker, telling them to take advantage of the restaurant and have an early breakfast with the twins, or whatever. It looked like they might be in there for quite a while yet.

They took two cabs to the loft, and showered as soon as they got there. Then, towels around their waists, eating oranges and Granny Smiths, they talked a bit about Tuscan and his thugs, about Brandon's apartment in Pittsburgh that had sold faster than expected, so that he now lived on Emmett and Daphne’s sofa, about Todd who wanted to take Brandon home but was worried he would be overwhelmed by the Bourekis special brand of welcome, about Justin’s deadline for his paintings and his beginning anxiety about the whole thing, and about Brian’s business trip to Vail coming up to check out a new resort and plan their campaign. It was too close to Justin’s exposition for him to come along, and was during the week anyway, when Justin had to work and go to school, but he hated going without him.

They went to bed and laughed, Brandon and Brian spooning their lovers in such similar fashion. Brandon and Justin fell asleep immediately. Todd and Brian talked a while longer, the darkness and the intimacy making them more open than they would have been ordinarily. Todd confided how hard it had been for weeks to be second in Brandon’s heart, and how amazing it was to realize his love was now fully returned. “There were times when I wasn’t sure I could continue,” he said. “It hurt, even though Justin never rubbed it in, never took advantage of it. Justin is so… perfect, you know? I just didn’t think I’d ever be enough for Brandon. But then tonight… God, Brian. He loves me. He is in love with me. I can’t believe it.”

“I can. What’s not to love. You’re gorgeous in your own way, you have a great body, you fuck him better than anyone, you're smart and sweet, and the curls, the curls are irresistible.”

Todd tried to laugh silently. “Shut up.”

“I mean it, Todd. He is lucky to have you. You make him happy. Brandon and I… We have a lot in common. The most obvious being that we fucked and fucked and fucked for years, a new guy or two every night, never getting enough. But we never got enough because none of these tricks gave us what we needed. What Justin gives me, and what you give Brandon. Friendship. Laughter. A chance to be a man, not just a walking dick. A chance to be loved. And a chance to love back.

“Brandon was not as stupid as I was. He knew he was missing something in his life after he met Justin. And that was you. It was your burden to have to wait for his infatuation with Justin to fade, and I admire you for being strong enough to do it.

“I was a lot stupider. I had myself convinced that my life was perfect, and that after a one night stand with Justin it would be perfect again. Justin’s burden was to have to wait for me to realize that I wanted him, and to put up with my shit until I admitted to myself that he was the most important thing in my life. He lived with you for a month. You know what he had to go through. I’m really happy for you, Todd. But I’m even happier for Brandon. He’s figured it out.”

“You have figured it out too, I think,” said Todd with a smile. “Justin looks really happy.”

“I keep thinking I have, and then something comes up and I realize I was wrong. He is so good at making the best of it, sometimes I don’t think he even knows when something’s wrong. He thought I fucked tricks when I went out on my own. And he had decided to live with it, because that was just the way things were, and he just didn’t let himself think about it. But you should have seen his face when I told him the truth, that I’ve been with him and only with him since Pittsburgh. I love him so much, and I didn’t even know he was hurting.” He looked at Todd. “What about you? How much does it bother you that Brandon is the stud of Babylon, that he fucks other guys when you are not together?”

“How would you feel if Justin was the Stud of Essengy? If he fucked one or two guys per night, giving them pleasure, having orgasms with them?”

“I would hate it. What if he liked the way one of these guys gave head better than the way I do it? What if he came harder in someone else’s ass than he comes in mine?”

“Then you know how I feel.”

“Are you going to tell him?”

“No. I don’t want him to stop because I ask him to. I want him to stop because he wants to. Like you did.”

“It might take a while.”

“I know. But tonight I found out he loves me, and I never thought that would happen. So I’ll just wait, and be happy with what he gives me. He’s never so much as looked at someone else when we are together, and he is affectionate, and possessive. I like it. For now, it will have to do…”

“You really love him, don’t you.”

“About as much as Justin loves you…”

They smiled at each other, and went to sleep.

*****

Morning came, and Brian made love to Justin from behind, covering his smaller body completely, their fingers interlaced, as he told him between bites and kisses all the reasons he loved him, from his great smile to the way he put on his sock and shoe on one foot before putting the sock and shoe on the other. He was nowhere near finished when they both came.

Next to them, Todd was fucking Brandon face to face, and Brandon’s relaxed pleasure was a wonder to see, considering how far he’d come. His body was magnificent, his abs tensing rhythmically when he came, crying out Todd’s name, right before Todd followed him, saying. “I love you, I love fucking you so much…”

After their shower, once again Brandon and Justin cooked breakfast, listening to one of Brian's CD's Justin really liked, by BB King. Brian and Todd were sitting at the bar drinking coffee. Brian wanted to take Justin shopping for casual clothes, telling him how gorgeous he looked in black, and that he couldn’t wear a shirt and tie to the birthday party and that his only decent casual outfit was covered in come.

Justin remarked that without having sold a painting that month, and after paying rent, he couldn’t afford to shop the Brian way.

“Where do you shop, Todd? You always look great,” asked Brian.

“I shop at consignment stores, one in Chelsea, one in Soho... Second hand designer clothes.”

Ew. Wearing someone else’s old clothes. Todd did look good though. But if you bought second hand, weren’t you buying last season’s fashion? Todd never looked last season. He looked hot. Justin could look hot in 501’s and a too small sweatshirt…

“How does that sound, Sunshine?”

“Affordable. Can you take me, Todd?”

“Hey! I wanted to shop with you!” protested Brian.

“Brian,” Justin teased, “you might be seen… And I’m pretty sure you actually have to look through racks instead of having some personal shopper prepare everything for you… Why don’t you work out with Brandon or something?”

Looking on a rack for the right size was not his idea of shopping, Justin had a point. And he hadn’t worked out in a couple of days.

“Brandon?”

“Sounds good. But after working out I need to go to the studio and dance for a while.”

“Can I watch?”

“Sure. You won’t be able to stand in for a ballerina though… you’re too big.” They cracked up.

The birthday party was at 5:30. They would leave from the loft at 5:00. Before they did anything, though, they had to go to the police station to give their statements to Detective Hamill. Taking a page out of Brian’s book and how he had handled it the last time, they all wrote out their statements ahead of time, to shorten their visit to the delightful 10th precinct station.

Detective Hamill was as nice as ever. She read what they had brought, declared it good enough, and told them that all four wannabe head bashers, still in the hospital, had volunteered to give details on how they had been sent to finish Kinney off by Tuscan himself, making it look like a gay bashing.

They had followed Brian from work to the loft, and from the loft to Gillian’s. Attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder would be added to Mr. Tuscan’s list of sins. They were all shocked. They had expected those guys to have been sent to hurt Brian, not kill him. They had been so amazingly bad at it. It would be funny if it wasn’t so scary. Thank god it was over.

Brian kissed Justin goodbye when he and Todd left to shop. His mouth tasted of toothpaste, he smelled of clean Justin and he looked really happy. Idiotically, Brian didn’t want him to go. He wanted to hold his Sunshine all day.

“Black,” he said. “buy lots of black. You look hot in black, and this is New York.”

Justin gave him a sunshine smile, and left with Todd to hit the Chelsea store. Brian and Brandon went to pick up Brandon’s workout clothes, his dance clothes, and what he was going to wear at the party, and went to work out on the 34th floor at Plexus. It reminded them of the commercial, though this time, they really ran, and worked up a sweat, pushing each other on the different apparatuses. Brian figured he would be sore later.

Postponing their shower, they headed for the studio. Brian did some stretches with Brandon, and though he usually thought of himself as pretty limber, he could only laugh at how stiff he looked next to the dancer.

“Do you know yoga positions?” asked Brandon.

“No, not really.”

“This,” said Brandon, “is the plow and the best part about being limber. If I do this naked, I can suck my own cock…”

Brian could totally see the truth of it and burst out laughing. He watched Brandon dance, and was amazed when two hours had passed. He had never thought about ballet before that commercial, and certainly had never thought he could spend two hours sitting on his ass on some hardwood floor, watching some guy dance, and enjoy himself. He really wanted to go with Justin to see Brandon on stage when he danced next season. That would be so cool.

By the time they got back to the loft, Justin and Todd were already there. Justin was wearing fitted thin black cords with a gorgeous black cashmere sweater. He had done something to his hair, and he looked fucking hot. The pants… God. They looked perfect on his ass.

“I’m going to hit the shower,” said Brandon.

“I’ll come scrub your back,” said Todd.

“And I’m going to suck your cock,” said Brian, which he proceeded to do with zeal, caressing Justin's delicious ass at the same time. Justin came, crying his name, and Brian put him back into the fantastic pants.

“I take it you like my new clothes,” said Justin, smiling.

“Do you have more?” asked Brian.

“Yes. I got all kinds of stuff. Half of them still had the original tags on. I guess people buy them, never wear them, and put them on consignment.”

Brian gave him a meaningful look. “Can’t wait to see the rest,” he said.

It was his turn to shower. Justin came into the bedroom to help him dry his back which somehow included getting his dick wet again, with spit, this time. His knees having given up again, Brian thought he had never spent so much time with his ass on hardwood as he had that day.

As he was getting dressed, he realized he was choosing clothes that would look good with what Justin was wearing. He knew he still had a cock, since it had been so effectively hoovered by his own blond tornado just minutes previously, so he decided to accept yet another lesbianic trend in his life.

The birthday invitation they had gotten a week ago specified “No presents for heaven’s sakes” so Brian was bringing flowers, peonies again, just as gorgeous as those he had given Cynthia a while back.

He knew Brandon was bringing a present anyway, and Sunshine had given his painting, so he did not want to arrive empty handed. Todd was a little nervous, and they tried to reassure him that she would love him, and that if Brandon came without his boyfriend, she would hurt him.

Brian had ordered a large cab, and they all rode to the upper eastside where Jessica Hammon had her residence. The building was impressive, right on Fifth Avenue. They went up to the twenty-sixth floor, and the elevator opened in the lobby of Jessica’s apartment, which apparently occupied all of the twenty-sixth floor.

A young woman with a maid's uniform took them to the “grey living room”. One entire wall was windows showing a breathtaking view of Central Park. Jessica was sitting on the floor with a young girl, braiding her hair, laughing with her. Jason was there, sprawled in an armchair, listening to his mother, an indulgent look on his face..

There were three young men, one Justin’s age, and two younger, fourteen and eighteen, perhaps. They looked a lot like Jason, and were sitting on the floor, arguing the pros and cons of investing in gold at a time of crisis. A lovely woman who looked like Sam and must be Carrie, his little sister, was speaking to none other than Lindy Holmes, though it took a second for Brian to recognize her because she looked amazingly different than the last time Brian had seen her. She was wearing no makeup, black instead of white, and had apparently let her hair dry naturally. It was extremely curly. She looked relaxed and happy.

“The boys are here!” said Jessica, getting up from the floor with a swiftness and grace that no person over seventy should possess. “Thank you so much for coming and brightening my day.” She grinned. “Though you know I only invited you to meet the fourth musketeer. Todd! It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance!”

She turned to Brandon. “I know what you mean. I just want to run my hands through these curls…” Brandon just chuckled.

“So,” she said to Todd, “you are the young man my dance pupil has fallen so hard for.” She leaned toward him and whispered loudly, “You’ll have to show me your abs… but not today, there are children present.” Todd cracked up.

“Justin, how are you, my love? No need to answer that, you are glowingly happy, and it suits you. How is the painting going? How many more do you need?”

“Just two. And I love my last one. I love painting, Jessica. I just love it. I can’t believe people will pay me to paint. I should be paying them!”

“And that’s why you have Jason, love! So in spite of your best efforts to the contrary you can someday be rich and famous…”

The maid came in with drinks for everyone.

“In honor of Lindy, all ladies present will indulge in pink champagne!” Jessica said laughing. “And I have your favorite bourbon, Mr. Kinney. I must say I am thrilled you are alive to drink it despite my grand nephew’s attempt to have it otherwise…”

“Your grand nephew?” said Brian. “Well, if a member of your family has attempted to murder me, I think that from now on you can call me by my first name…”

“On behalf of the family, I apologize, Brian. He is the black sheep. Alfred Tuscan married Lillian Hammon, Arthur’s little sister, and they gave birth to that idiot. The only thing he ever did right was to be on his best behavior for two months and dazzle poor Lindy into marrying him so they could have those lovely children. Speaking of children.” She turned to her family.

“This is Jason, my son (this to Todd, the only one who had not yet met him) and his beautiful wife Carrie, and their four children, Raphael, David, Jonathan and Maya.

“This is Lindy, my grand niece, and these are my dear friends, Justin, Brandon, Brian, and Todd whom I am sure will be dear friends soon enough.”

“Now we are all here today because my beloved son decided that three quarters of a century made a good excuse for eating cake. (Seventy-five, can you believe it? This better be good cake!)

“So let’s move to the tea room and have some cake.”

The maid had arranged the peonies so they made a glorious bouquet, and had placed it on the sideboard.

Jessica looked at all four of them, and said, “Brian, thank you so much for the flowers. Peonies are one of my favorites. So, boys, which one of you has a gift?” Bandon handed over a gift apparently wrapped by a chimpanzee, or maybe a two year old. With his feet. Jessica laughed. “Nice wrapping job, Brandon.” She opened it; it was a silver charm, a small articulated dancing bear. Her lovely rich laugh was a pleasure to hear.

The children also had gifts for their grandmother, a book, a poem, a picture of all four grandchildren, and a bag of candied Ginger.

Finally, Jason told his mother, “Eema, there is one more gift for you. It’s a double gift because Justin painted it to give to you as a gift. However, when I saw it, I wanted to give it to you. So I twisted his arm into selling it to me for me to give to you. It’s a gift to tell you that I love you, that twenty years ago I was an idiot and that I apologize, and that I am so proud that you are my Eema.”

He had the painting on an easel hidden behind a heavy cloth. Jessica got up, and removed the cloth. Jason had had the painting framed. It looked beautiful. Jessica looked at her portrait, stunned. She ran her fingers over some of the details, the apple, the flowers, Arthur’s portrait. She turned around, and there were tears on her face.

“I don’t know which of you I should hug first,” she said.

Jason took her in his arms and said again, “I love you, Eema,” kissing her forehead.

Jessica walked to Justin, who got up from his chair. “I hope you charged him an arm and a leg. It’s the best portrait of me I have ever seen. Thank you so much, Justin.”

“I’m really glad you like it.”

“I want to live another twenty years, so I can see you become the world renowned Justin Taylor… and so I can dance at everyone of my grand children’s weddings.”

She looked very happy. The maid came in with the cake, and it was very good. They talked about Brandon’s new job, about Jason’s clients, about the gallery where Justin was going to have his show.

Brian noticed Justin yawning discreetly, and wanted to take him home and get in bed with him, holding him as he fell asleep, as he had done a few days ago. He would go to Pratt tomorrow, and paint all day, so Brian wanted to enjoy holding him tonight. It was actually amazing the amount of work he could get done in the quiet of the bedroom with Justin asleep at his side.

“Jessica, I’m sorry to have to leave the festivities early, but I promised to call my son tonight, so Justin and I are going to have to head home.”

“That’s fine, Brian,” said Jessica with a smile that told him she was not fooled. “Thank you for the flowers, and Justin, I cannot tell you what this painting means to me. I’ll talk to you soon.”

A cab was waiting downstairs. As they got in, Justin said, “You were lying through your teeth, but thank you. I was falling asleep. I guess I’m still in the negative at the sleep bank. Will you hold me like you did last time? It was so nice, Brian.”

“Yes it was, and yes I will.”

“Good.”

Brian held Justin in the taxi, kissing his temple, holding him tight, looking forward to being home.

To be continued...