It hadn't taken long for every member of Brian's household to recognize the change in the dynamics of the house after that fateful trip into the desert for the camel races. By the third day, the housekeeper had already changed Justin's bedroom back into a guest room and transferred all of the items that Brian had bought for the young man into Brian's room. Justin was extremely well liked by the entire staff, so no one had a problem with the new arrangement.
The first day that Brian and Justin visited the Liberty Cafe after the desert trip, Debbie noticed the change immediately. It was as if the woman had built in sex radar. She took one look at their faces when the couple took a seat in the corner of the cafe, and began grinning from ear to ear. She was particularly fond of young Justin and it broke her heart that he knew nothing of his family. Family meant everything to Debbie, whether they be linked by blood or affection. She thought of all the homosexual boys she knew as her own, well aware that almost all of them lived in fear of their real families discovering who they truly were. It might be the beginning of the twentieth century but it was still the Dark Ages when it came to accepting man on man love in most places, especially the male dominated countries of the Middle East.
It had always disturbed Debbie that her own son and his friends had to be so careful not to show affection for one of their own publicly. It had also made it difficult for them to find someone to truly connect with. Her own son, Michael, had had a particularly hard time until just recently. He was a romantic at heart, but all he'd ever found were a few short term relationships with men who were scared shitless that they'd be caught. Just a couple of weeks earlier things had begun to look up for Michael. It had been a particularly busy night at the cafe. A large group of teachers from the University in Cairo had come to visit the site of the Pyramids of Giza and were staying at the Liberty Hotel. They had piled into the cafe for dinner after spending the entire day visiting the sites.
Debbie had gotten into a lively discussion with one table that consisted of a group of foreign teachers. One in particular, Professor Ben Bruckner, was of particular interest to Debbie. She wasn't sure why but her antennae kept tingling, which it often did when meeting a man who was like her son. She ended up taking a break and sitting down to engage in a lively conversation with the handsome young man. She discovered that the Professor was in his first year of teaching ancient history at the University. When Debbie heard that, she immediately thought of young Justin and wondered if this man might know Brian's new friend or at least something about him. She had made a mental note to check on it further.
It turned out that Professor Bruckner was in a transfer program from a University in the States and was homesick for conversations with more Americans. He became a frequent visitor to the Cafe. Eventually he struck up a friendship with Debbie's son, Michael. It took the two men only a week to discover that they had more in common than the country of their birth. Debbie, as usual, had been perceptive. Dr. Ben, as Michael liked to call him, was on a three month leave to study the Pyramids and, before the end of his first month, he found himself with a new boyfriend. Debbie had never been happier for her son who was quite obviously totally smitten.
Now Debbie could see that Michael wasn't the only one who had gotten lucky in love. The minute she had them seated she sat down between them and looked back and forth between their two faces.
"Uhhh! Deb, is there something we can do for you?" Brian asked.
"You can tell me when and how it happened," she said, grinning even broader.
"When what happened?" he asked again, sensing where this was leading.
"You know what I'm referring to, young man."
"I haven't the foggiest," Brian answered innocently.
Debbie turned to Justin. "Hmmm, maybe I can get a straight answer from our young friend here."
"Now don't start picking on Justin."
Justin had been sitting there looking confused, but the light was beginning to dawn. He suddenly flushed a light pink. Debbie was amused since she seldom saw any of her boys embarrassed by much of anything. She patted the young blond on his hand in a motherly gesture.
"It's alright, Justin. I thoroughly approve, my dear. Brian here is a good man and even though I didn't think he had it in him...." She looked over at Brian and smiled. "......I think this time is different and he will take good care of you. Am I right, Brian?"
Brian looked over at Justin and then back to Debbie. "I can promise you, I'll take good care of your...our young man," he vowed.
Justin blushed again. Then he leaned over and whispered in Debbie's ears. "Don't worry Debbie. I'll take good care of Brian too."
Debbie's face lit up and she let out a happy laugh. "I didn't doubt it for a minute, kiddo," she told him. She leaned over and gave the young man a quick peck on his cheek. She gave Brian a matching peck and hurried off to get their drink orders.
Debbie, of course, could hardly wait to pass the word to their circle of friends that the perennial lone wolf of their group had finally been tamed. It took seeing the couple together a couple more times before some of the others were convinced. There was no denying it, however. It had nothing to do with physical contact. The couple seldom even touched, especially out in public. It was something about the way they looked at each other. The longing to touch was clearly written on their faces, especially when separated by a little distance in the room. Their voices changed when they spoke directly to each other. There was a softness in their tone that any observant listener could not miss. The only fly in the ointment for Debbie came when her son's new boyfriend informed her that he had never seen the young blond before anywhere on campus. He assured her that it didn't mean he'd never been there, but it fostered a feeling of doubt as to Brian's story of where he'd met young Justin. She was so happy for them, however, that she decided to keep her doubts to herself...for the time being.
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It was just as clear to Brian's other circle of friends that something had changed with the sexy American. Brian had always been among the first to participate in any of the outings and extremely private parties that Prince Ahmad arranged. The other members of the clique always welcomed Brian's presence since he provided a great deal of sexual satisfaction, often with several men throughout the night or even at a single session. Brian enjoyed experimenting and was open to a wide variety of ideas, the only taboo being a continuing relationship with any man he spent an evening with. In the beginning, when the Prince first introduced Brian to their society, there had been a couple of the Egyptian men who found the tall lanky American irresistible. Once they had a sexual encounter with Brian, they went out of their way to entice him into further relations. Brian, forthright as always, made it clear that wouldn't happen. Rather quickly, the men got the message.
Now it was clear that someone had finally captured Brian's attention, and in more than a casual way. He never went to a gathering with Ahmad or his companions without Justin by his side. He really seemed to take pride in introducing the young man, whom all the others knew Brian had actually purchased, as his companion and friend. It felt foreign to the men, but Brian was American so that probably explained it. Brian obviously did not consider Jusin to be his indentured servant, as he would have been if one of them had made the purchase. As a result of Brian's attitude, in addition to their Prince's attitude, the circle of friends quickly began showing Justin the same respect they bestowed on Brian.
Brian enjoyed spending time visiting clients with Justin at his side. Many of his visits were to merchants and explorers who had wonderful items to sell to the antiques dealer. Brian was extremely careful in his dealings since a great many items were protected from export out of Egypt itself. He had no intention of going to prison or being expelled from the country because of some foolish or greedy business maneuver. He had done quite well for himself by staying legit thus far.
As the weeks flew by, Brian had begun showing some of Justin's artwork to other dealers and influential friends. The young man was very slowly building up a name for himself. With a new semester about to begin at the American University of Cairo, Brian sought Prince Ahmad's help in recommending Justin for an interview to attend classes. Cairo was only seventeen or so kilometers away from home and Brian was more than happy to hire a driving service to get the budding young artist back and forth. He would miss having the blond close by all the time, but he couldn't bear the thought of Justin's talents being wasted. By this time, both men had begun to care a bit less about Justin's mysterious past. Justin sensed that whatever memories were left behind could never be as good as the memories he was making each day and night with Brian. There was even a part of Brian that had reluctantly begun to think that he could lose Justin if his past came back into the picture. By the third month of their relationship, they no longer talked about the past at all.
Nights with Brian had become the very air Justin breathed. He couldn't make up his mind whether he loved their times soaking together in the large sunken tub (which inevitably ended up with Brian firmly planted inside his lover), or their glorious lovemaking in every corner of their bedroom the most. And of course their lovemaking in the occasional out of the way spot held its charms too. One night that they spent in the desert in a rather luxurious tent while on a pilgrimage to a distant village because of a find that Brian was interested in seeing, always brought a rosy glow to Justin's cheeks when he thought of it. He could still feel Brian throbbing deep inside him as he poured his love into Justin between the warm blankets inside their tent. Brian often stayed inside Justin's heated walls for as long as humanly possible after making love and it made Justin feel safe and protected. He still felt jittery whenever he was out in the desert, but he knew no harm could come to him inside Brian's arms. As far as he was concerned, the rest of the world didn't exist when he lay with Brian.
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Well over five thousand miles away from the loving couple, a mother still mourned the untimely death of her only son. Jennifer Taylor's marriage had slowly disintegrated from the strain of her anger over her husband's seeming lack of concern that they still had no proof that Justin was actually dead. She knew in her heart she could accept his passing if she just had proof and was able to bring his body home. Not having that had left the grieving mother with a hole in her heart that simply couldn't be filled, especially by her increasingly estranged husband.
Craig Taylor had returned home and diligently went about the business of carrying on. He made it a point to avoid thinking of his lost son as much as possible. He returned to his latest mistress and company business with the intention of letting those things distract him from the emptiness that now seemed to fill his home life. After all these many months of being home, he had expected his wife to adjust to the changes and concentrate on her young daughter. She had done her best to be a good mother to Molly and the truth was that the only time Craig saw his wife smile was when Molly was in the room. He couldn't help but resent his wife for losing all interest in helping her husband with his business, most notably in throwing business related parties as she had once accomplished so brilliantly.
Craig also resented the extremely high cost his wife was causing with her incessant calls and telegrams to Egypt to check on any progress the police had made in finding Justin's remains. The burden was becoming too much to tolerate. As a result, he was more than agreeable when Jennifer first broached the idea of her taking an independent trip back to Egypt with her Aunt Frances and Uncle Fred who had talked for some time about visiting the exotic site for their next annual vacation. The couple were retired and usually took along a hired companion to help them out. Jennifer reminded Craig that the elderly couple were more than happy to pay her fare on the cruise ship over and back and all expenses outside of personal items. The thought of not having to deal with his wife's obsession over getting to the truth of the loss of their son coupled with the ability to do as he pleased whenever he pleased with his wife gone was more than enough to win his approval.
They hired a live in nanny to help with Molly, and Jennifer immediately began preparations to join her relatives on the cruise ship leaving New York City for London. From London they would take a cruise that went to the Greek Isles and then on to Alexandria in Egypt. From there they would take the train to Cairo and then on to the Great Pyramids of Giza. It would be a long trip but Jennifer didn't care as long as she was finally doing something positive in her search for answers. As Jennifer hung up the phone after confirming with her Aunt Frances that she would be joining them in New York in three weeks time, she promised herself that she would close the book on the search if no answers came from the trip this time.
Meanwhile, the object of her focus was wrapped in his lovers embrace in their bedroom in Giza and dreaming of the adventures that lay before him when he got the chance to present his sketches to the admissions board of the University in Cairo the following week. This could be the beginning of a whole new life, Justin thought to himself, and it was all thanks to Brian. He gathered Brian's hand closer to his heart and snuggled deeper into the embrace of his lover lying behind him. He brought Brian's hand to his lips and placed a tender kiss on the brunet's knuckles. Such a strong hand, Justin thought to himself. Such a strong man! As Justin joined Brian in peaceful sleep, he smiled into the darkened room. He blessed whatever circumstances brought him to this room, this bed, this man, this life.
To be continued..............................