April 10, 1935: 9:20 p.m.: Hollywood, California

Brian wrapped his arms around Justin the moment he pulled him into his hotel room, giving him a welcome kiss that curled the young man's toes. Brian had been feeling tense all day, knowing that his time was almost up. It was already Wednesday night and he was expected to take the train back to New York City by Friday in order to be back on the job at the beginning of next week. He and Justin knew that the time in which to draw the killer out in the open was now severely limited. Whatever they came up with could be their last chance. The orchestra had worked on the set most of Monday, Tuesday, and today, but they now had a break until the following Monday.

Brian had shown Justin all the photos and paperwork he had received from his boss as soon as the young man had paid his nightly visit to Brian's hotel room. Justin had been unable to recognize the man named Johan, but he got an immediate vibe that was far from pleasant when he looked into the man's face. Brian told him to memorize the face because he had a strong gut feeling about the man. Justin, being an artist, was able to imprint the man's image on his brain as if it was a snapshot inside his head. Ever since that night he always scanned the faces around him looking for that one face, but Johan had always stayed out of sight... not knowing if the young man knew who he was or not. No matter what, Justin stayed on his guard, even though he felt protected simply knowing that Brian was nearby laying low and watching his back when he was out in public.

Tonight, however, there was no public threat to either of them. Brian maneuvered Justin over to his narrow bed and the two fell to the mattress with their arms still around each other. Justin lay under Brian and felt his hunger for the man growing by the second. The tight undergarments that held his manly package firmly restrained in case the wind blew his skirt up, or he sat wrong, was now causing him a great deal of discomfort. He let out a tiny groan as Brian's lips kept meeting his over and over. Brian's tongue snaked out several times and licked those lips as if teasingly requesting entry between them. Justin happily obliged. His mouth opened and he could feel Brian's silken tongue exploring inside, as if looking for a treasure. He obviously found one.

Justin was stimulated by what Brian was doing with his mouth, not to mention the busy hands that kept exploring other parts of him. Justin felt it the instant Brian's hand touched his manhood, even through the tight clothing. It was like an electrical spark ignited. Justin could no longer stand the intrusive clothing that kept him from feeling Brian's naked skin and being felt by Brian in return. He laid his hands on the sides of Brian's face and pulled him away from his mouth. Brian was about to protest, but before he could, Justin spoke up.

"Take these feminine things off me, Brian. I need to be the man you want."

Brian smiled down at Justin. "There's no feminine clothing that can hide the man I know is underneath them, Justin. But I am more than happy to oblige you."

With that said, Brian moved back from Justin, pulling him up from the mattress. He made quick work of removing every feminine piece of clothing from head to foot, saving the undies for last. As Brian slipped off the last piece of clothing and watched Justin's manhood escape its confines, he stopped to stare in awe of the young man who sat before him. Justin had the alabaster skin of a true blond, with a thatch of pale, curly hairs at his crotch to prove the naturalness of his coloring. He had shorter legs than Brian with just the right amount of muscles for a young man who enjoyed exercise, but not to excess.

Brian lay Justin back on the mattress and stepped off so that he could hurriedly remove his own clothing. He looked down at the young man, who lay with his arms above his head. Brian could see the pale hairs exposed under Justin's arms. He loved the sight of Justin's small nipples. They lay flat on his chest in the center of their light brown orbs and waited for the special attention they knew that Brian would give them. Brian quickly straddled Justin's body. He slowly descended downward and clamped his lips over one of Justin's nipples, as if he heard them calling to him. Brian let his tongue and teeth nibble and soothe the tiny nub until it rose up to the challenge to awaken. Once that was accomplished, Brian moved over to provide the same enticement for the other nipple.

Justin could not refrain from voicing his pleasure. Mewling sounds began to pour out as the young man started to writhe under Brian's skillful treatment. When Brian abandoned the nipples and began an ascent upwards with his tongue trailing a damp streak to his neck, Justin had reached the point of moaning deep in his throat. He wanted more than anything to wrap his arms around Brian's neck and pull him in for a kiss, but Brian had entrapped Justin's hands above his head. It made it easier for the older man to let his tongue move from the center of Justin's neck over to his shoulder and then to his underarm. The tongue tickled the soft hairs there, eliciting a giggle in between moans. Again, Brian serviced the other side equally.

It soon became obvious that tonight was entirely for Justin's pleasure. Brian was in a giving mood, and how he could give! Brian had tongued every inch of Justin while the young man lay spread-eagled on the bed. When he was done, he prepared Justin for the assault that he had discovered Justin enjoyed with all his heart. Once he had the young man ready and he had lubricated himself as best he could, he entered Justin with the same care he always used on the beautiful blond. It didn't take much effort on Justin's part, with the way he pushed himself against Brian every time he thrust forward more deeply, to bring Brian to a thoroughly satisfying climax. As he spilled himself into his lover, Brian worked on Justin a few seconds more until he too fell over the edge.

Brian, as had become his practice, had a small hotel towel waiting by the side of the bed and used it to clean the two of them off. They would take a bath together in the tub before retiring for the night, but that would come later. For now, they lay squeezed close together with their arms around each other. Brian was still surprised how making love to Justin was so different from what he was used to. He could not think of a single man that gave him this contented afterglow once the actual sex was over. He had no desire to part from his closeness to Justin's body when they were done. Even more amazing was the fact that Brian wanted to talk about things... all matter of things, not just what was uppermost in their minds right now, until the wee hours of the morning. He loved the sound of Justin's voice, whether talking or singing.

Justin lay close enough to Brian to feel his heart beating in his chest and found himself thinking along the same lines as his companion. He had put aside the notion of falling in love some time ago and only wanted to be a big success as an artist. It would be his way of thumbing his nose at his father. The man may have resented how his son turned out, but he would certainly have no problem bragging to all his hoity-toity friends if his son became famous and made a ton of money. Now, in such a remarkably short time, he had no thought of how he could show up the old man. His only thought was how he could keep this magnificent man in his life once all the drama which had brought them together, and continued to surround them, was finished and over with.

They continued to lay in comfortable silence side by side for quite a while until Brian spoke up.

"I just had the wildest image flash in my head," he stated with a small laugh.

"What's that?" Justin queried.

"Here we are lying here together in this dingy hotel room and worrying about keeping you alive, and all of sudden all I can picture is you and I on some nearby beach with the sun pouring down on us and not a soul around. At the moment, I really want nothing more than to make love to you right out in the open with the smell of ocean water in the air and the sun warming our naked skin."

Justin turned on his side and ran his hand lovingly along Brian's torso, feeling the taut muscles of his chest and abs.

"Your skin is so warm right now and you smell better than anything I can imagine. But, Brian, I would want to make love with you anywhere on this earth," Justin sighed.

Brian lifted his head and pulled Justin to him. He kissed the young man fervently. He could feel Justin relaxing into the kiss when all of a sudden Justin pulled away from Brian with a strange look on his face.

"Wha...?" Brian began.

"Oh my God!" Justin almost shouted. "I just remembered something!" he said excitedly. "Why in the world didn't I think of this before? It was staring me right in the face all this time. I think I know the perfect place to set the killer up. We won't have to worry about anyone else getting hurt or anything. Oh my God! I even still have the key. All we have to do is figure out a way to get the guy to follow us there."

Justin's voice had risen in his enthusiasm. Brian grabbed the naked young man by the arms and told him to calm down, because he was babbling. Justin was too worked up. He slapped his hands on both sides of Brian's face to hold him steady and force him to look right at him.

"Listen, Brian. You know all about my friend, Daphne, now. I told you how she helped me with this whole female charade idea and has protected me from the beginning. One thing I had forgotten was that she also told me about her family's vacation home in Malibu. It is just down the coast and less than an hour's drive from here. We can rent a car and lure the killer down there. It should be isolated enough to make him feel bold enough to make a move, but we can be ready for him. She told me her family never goes down there until they take a Summer break. I have a key to the place too. She told me they have a caretaker who comes once every couple of weeks to check on things, but otherwise it is empty."

Brian couldn't help smiling at Justin's enthusiasm. In addition to that, the idea didn't sound so bad. Brian only saw one flaw in his scenario.

"It sounds like a good idea, Justin, but one small problem. How do we get him to find you there? We don't want him following you because that wouldn't give us any time to set up a trap. I couldn't go with you that way either. Then he would see that you had me there to keep an eye on you. Right now, we don't really know how much he is aware of you and me together or even as fugitive and cop. If the killer is this Johan guy then apparently he has plenty of resources from what little we've learned about him."

Justin suddenly snapped his fingers. It was as if everything was falling right into place. He had been struggling for some time now on what he was going to do about the orchestra and, Miss Debbie, in particular. He had become exceedingly fond of the old girl and his faux roommate, Cherry. He already knew that he wasn't going to leave her high and dry without a singer if he could help it. But he knew that either he would be outed by circumstances beyond his control, or he would have to out himself sooner or later.

Justin now realized that the time had come to be honest with Miss Debbie. If he could convince her to forgive him for the hoax he had perpetrated on her, then he could ask for her help in setting his plans in motion at the Malibu house. He knew exactly how she could help him too, but only if she was willing to go along with his plan, and he couldn't be certain of that...not after he made his confession to her. Brian had been looking at Justin quizzically. Justin leaned in and gave Brian another sweet kiss and then proceeded to lay out his scheme of how he would enlist the help of his boss, the feisty (and hopefully forgiving) Miss Debbie.

To be continued.....