Druid II

Chapter 3


“So, did anything interesting happen at Triskele while I was gone?” Justin asked as they drove home.

“Nothing to speak of.”

Justin waited hoping Brian would volunteer some information about Thierry Desmarais, and the meeting, but they drove in silence, Brian not adding to his statement.

“How was your meeting with Thierry?” Justin finally asked when he couldn’t stand the silence any longer.

“It didn’t happen.”

“What?”

“I said it didn’t happen.”

“But…”

“He was a no show, so all your worry was for naught.”

“My worry?”

I know you thought Thierry and I were going to get it on behind you back.” Brian glanced at Justin with an accusatory look. “So, you needn’t concern yourself. It looks like Thierry went back to France.”

“With no explanation?”

Brian shook his head slowly. “No explanation.”

“But, why would he do that?”

“Damned if I know.”

“Did you try to call him?”

“His cell phone goes to voicemail. He won’t pick up.”

“What about calling his hotel?” Justin asked wracking his brain to explain this about-face. He might not like the idea of Thierry Desmarais, but Brian had always seemed to respect the man.

“I tried the hotel. They said he hadn’t checked out, but there was no answer when they called his room.”

“Then why do you think he’s gone back to France?” Justin wanted to know. “Maybe he went out and got hung up with something.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Brian replied.

Justin could tell from the sarcastic tone of Brian’s voice that Brian didn’t think that for a moment. Justin couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to Thierry. “Maybe he’ll call tomorrow,” Justin suggested.

“And pigs will fly.”

“Okay then,” Justin said indicating that he was through with the topic.

“How was your day at art school, dear?” Brian asked in that sickly sweet voice he used sometimes.

“Just fine, sweetheart,” Justin replied, giving back what he had got.

“Anything interesting to report on that front?”

“I’m almost finished a new painting,” Justin said proudly. He felt himself smile in spite of being annoyed at Brian. His artistic side was kicking in, and he always felt good when he talked about his art.

“Am I in it?” Brian asked.

“As a matter of fact…”

Brian turned his head and smiled for the first time since Justin had got in the car. “You’re so predictable.”

“But what I do with that predictability is … awesome.”

Brian laughed out loud. “I’m happy to hear that, and I’m happy that you feel that great about your work.”

“I love this course, Brian,” Justin said so pleased that the topic of conversation had switched. “You’ll love the painting when you see it.”

“You know that, do you?”

“I do,” Justin responded confidently. “I wish Maria had half my confidence.”

“Who’s Maria?” Brian asked with a frown.

“I’ve mentioned her a few times. She’s in this class with me. She’s a really good artist, but she never thinks her work is any good.”

“And you’re trying to fix that.”

“I’d like to,” Justin averred.

“You always were a do-gooder.”

“I took you in, didn’t I?” Justin asked with a smirk that rivaled Brian’s.

Brian snorted. That was one of the things he loved about his partner – his wicked sense of humor.

“We’re home,” Brian noted as he parked the car.



*****



Mrs. Hopkins met them in the front hall. “You have messages,” she informed them.

“Oh?” Brian said. “I wonder if Thierry called here.”

“I don’t recall that name,” the housekeeper said. “These two are from your mother,” she told Justin.

“Really?” Justin asked as he took the two slips of paper that Mrs. Hopkins handed him. Justin scanned the messages quickly. “I should call her right now,” he said as he headed for the library to make the call.

“Are there any other messages?” Brian asked the housekeeper.

“No, but you have some letters,” Mrs. Hopkins replied handing him some envelopes. Mrs. Hopkins was nothing if not efficient. He looked at the mail allowing a smile to play at the corners of his lips as he saw the return addresses on them.

“If there’s nothing else, sir, I’ll retire for the evening. Your dinner is in the usual place.”

“Thanks,” Brian said still staring at the envelopes.

Mrs. Hopkins nodded and left the foyer.

Brian walked to the kitchen and sat down at the table. He ripped open the first envelope and read the note from Pats. She and Mick could come this weekend for a party. They would bring Little Mick if Brian wished. Brian felt the grin spread across his face. He’d love to see his nephew. He’d call Pats right away.

The next envelope was from Maggie. She said she could get away this weekend, but her husband wasn’t thrilled about being left on his own at the pub. Too bad, was her comment about that. Brian chuckled. Maggie went on to say that Pats had called her and volunteered a ride for Maggie. She had taken her up on that offer.

The third envelope was from Quinn. Brian knew that would be the most problematic. He ripped it open. Quinn wasn’t sure he could make it, since the weekends were the busiest days at the quoin, and often they were the ones when trouble might arise. He was looking at some ways of making the weekend work without him. He’d call Brian before the weekend to say if he’d be able to attend. He hoped he could manage to make it.

Brian flipped through the replies again. He did have good friends. It would be good to see them again on the weekend.

“Brian,” Justin said enthusiastically as he entered the kitchen. “Guess what?”

“Um…your mother is kicking your father out and taking up with a hot young thing.”

“Jesus, Brian!” Justin responded with his eyes wide. “Sometimes you say the most unbelievable and scary things.” He shuddered violently to punctuate his words.

“Um…sorry.”

“You don’t sound very sorry.”

Brian made a face. “So what’s got your tits in a twist?”

Justin burst out laughing. “You are so silly sometimes.”

“I know, and that’s why you love me,” Brian replied with a smug expression on his face.

“My mother and Molly are coming this weekend,” Justin said plopping his ample bottom on Brian’s lap and kissing his partner lustily.

“Th…this weekend?” Brian asked when Justin’s lips finally let him go.

“Yeah, is something wrong?” Justin leaned back so he could look into Brian’s eyes. His arms were still firmly wrapped around his partner’s neck.

“Um…no, I guess not.”

“Your words say one thing but your eyes are telling me something else,” Justin stated.

“It’s fine.”

“I thought you wanted my mother to come for a visit.”

“I wanted your mother to come for a visit because you wanted her to come for a visit,” Brian reminded his not so happy partner.

“So you don’t want her here?” Justin asked releasing Brian and standing up.

“I didn’t say that.”

“Then what are you saying?”

“You remember when I suggested we invite my friends for the weekend?” Brian began.

“Yeah, so?”

“Pats and Maggie are coming for sure this weekend, and probably Quinn if he can arrange it.”

“So?” Justin asked with a bewildered look on his face.

“But now your mother and Molly are coming this weekend?”

“I think it’s great that they’ll all be here,” Justin reacted.

“It is?”

“My mother and Molly will get to meet your friends,” Justin said happily.

‘And they can see how much she dislikes me,’ Brian thought to himself. “Oh yeah,” Brian said aloud. “But we’re going to be crowded if anyone wants to stay overnight.”

“Did they say they wanted to stay overnight?”

“No, but if we drink…”

“Oh, right.”

“So, it’s kind of not the best time,” Brian said lamely. He was not looking forward to a visit from Mother Taylor.

“But mom got a great deal on the tickets. She decided to pull Molly out of school before the spring break so she could take advantage of them.”

“We could send her some more money so she could come later,” Brian said hopefully.

“I’m beginning to think you don’t want my mother here at all,” Justin said in an accusatory tone.

“I want her to be here for you.”

“But not for you,” Justin persisted.

“I don’t think she likes me,” Brian admitted.

“She hasn’t even met you.”

“I hear it in her voice on the phone, and when you tell me how she reacted to something that I did.”

“Brian…”

“I think I’ll go take a shower,” Brian said, trying to avoid further discussion of this topic.

“But you haven’t had dinner.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Well, I am,” Justin said defiantly.

“Enjoy,” Brian threw over his shoulder as he walked out of the kitchen.

Justin bit his lip before walking over to the oven. He opened the door and looked in at the dinner that was drying up by the minute. He grabbed some potholders and pulled the meal from the oven. He knew he wasn’t really hungry anymore, but eating would give him something to do while he tried to figure out what to do about Brian and his mother. He wasn’t ready to face Brian. And he’d have to face his mother in a couple of days. He didn’t want to be on the outs with Brian when his mother arrived.

Grabbing a plate from the cupboard, Justin served up some of the vegetables and chicken. He carried it over to the table and sat down. With a sigh, he sliced off a piece of chicken and placed it in his mouth. He chewed slowly thinking about Brian’s reaction. The upcoming weekend was going to be tricky – all Brian’s friends together with Justin’s mother and sister. And Brian was in a right funk. Life was just peachy.

After a few bites of the usually delicious dinner that Mrs. Hopkins had prepared, Justin realized that it had somehow lost all its flavor. He dumped the rest of it in the garbage and stuck his plate in the sink. He drew in a deep breath and decided that it was time to face his partner.

Brian was lying on their bed wrapped in a towel. Justin came into the room and stopped at the end of the bed.

“Brian?” Justin said.

“Don’t start,” was the reply. Brian’s eyes studied the ceiling intently.

“I don’t want to start anything. I just want you to accept that my mother’s coming. I need to know that you’ll be nice to her. I haven’t seen her in almost a year.”

Brian slowly brought his eyes down to look at the man he had committed to. “I know this is important to you,” Brian stated. “I won’t do anything to screw it up, but…”

“But…?”

“What about your mother? I don’t know how I’ll react if she starts telling me I’m not good enough for her son.”

“Not good enough?”

“Yeah, you know how mothers can be.”

“My mother would never say such a thing,” Justin averred.

“She might not say it in words, but I’ll see it in her eyes.”

“Let me worry about my mother. I love you, and nothing’s going to change that.”

“Don’t be so sure.”

“I am sure,” Justin replied. He started taking off his clothes. “I’m very sure,” he continued.

Brian studied the young man disrobing in front of him. His life had changed so dramatically when he had met Justin Taylor. Everything was so different now, so good. Brian didn’t want all that to end.

“We can make this work,” Justin said as he slid naked onto the bed next to Brian.

“How do you figure that?”

“Mom and Molly can share a bedroom if some of the others want to stay. Quinn will probably go back to the quoin anyway. And Pats and her family can share a bedroom. That leaves Maggie with a room of her own.”

“And if Quinn decides to stay?”

“We could get him a hotel room, or he could sleep on the sofa in the library,” Justin suggested.

“He’d love that,” Brian said sarcastically.

“I’m just saying that we can make it work … if you want to.”

“So it’s all up to me?”

“Pretty much,” Justin said. He pulled the towel open from around Brian’s hips and his hand started to play in the pubic hair above Brian’s flaccid penis. “We can do this.”

“We can?”

“Yep.” Justin’s hand slid lower between Brian’s thighs finding the heavy sack hidden there. He played with Brian’s balls rolling them in his palm and tugging gently. He watched with fascination as Brian’s cock began to straighten and expand.

Brian looked down through hooded eyes. “You have the magic touch, me laddo,” he said. “Even when I’m not in the mood you can get me all worked up.”

“And that’s why you love me,” Justin grinned letting his hand run up and down the circumference of Brian’s burgeoning dick.

“I do love you, but…”

“But what?”

“Justin, you know I never had much chance to use social skills when I was at the quoin, especially the kind that your family is used to. I don’t think I’ll live up to your mother’s expectations of who you should be with.”

“You’re going to be just fine,” Justin promised with a soft kiss. “Now fuck me.”

“Is that an order?”

“Yes,” Justin whispered huskily.

Brian rolled atop his lover. He held Justin’s head between his hands and stared into the trusting blue eyes.

“I love you,” Justin murmured as he felt Brian’s dick rub against his own.

“I love you too,” Brian said, never meaning it more.

“Then everything will be all right,” Justin promised, as Brian grabbed the lube. He entered Justin in one swift thrust causing them both to gasp. It was going to be a fast and furious fuck, Justin knew immediately. But that was fine. It would reassure Brian, and any sexual encounter with the magnificent former Druid was to be relished.



*****



Brian lay awake long into the night. He watched Justin as he slept, knowing that his lover had tried to make him feel better about his mother’s imminent arrival. Too bad that hadn’t worked.