Chapter 55 - Discoveries. (Friday, August 12th).
*Scritch, scritch, scratch, rubrubrub, scritch*
The constant small sounds from the other side of the bed eventually crept into Brian’s consciousness and dragged him away from his dreams.
“Sunshine . . .” Brian grunted, rolling over and cracking his eyes open just enough to discover that the scritching noises were from Justin’s pencil racing over the paper of one of his sketchbooks. “The sun won’t actually be shining for at least another,” Brian craned his neck to look over at the clock on his bedside table and groaned, “hour and a half. What the fuck are you doing awake this early?”
“Sorry to bother you, Brian. I just couldn’t sleep. I miss Mal . . .” Justin sighed and threw his pencil and book down on top of the bed covers.
Brian propped himself up on one elbow and looked down, noting that Justin had been busy drawing yet another picture of Malik - this one specifically focused on the little Chocolate Twinkie’s perfectly proportioned and well toned torso. Brian shook his head. The Vanilla Twinkie had been like this for the past two days since Malik had left. Brian didn’t know what to do to snap his boy toy out of this funk.
“Justin, Malik is fine. You know that. We just talked to him on the phone last night. He told you he was okay with his decision and to just get on with winning,” Brian was frustrated and it came through in his voice.
“Fuck! I know, Brian. I just miss him and I’m so ANGRY about the whole thing that I can’t even sleep,” Justin slapped the sketchbook away, not even looking as it sailed away and landed on the carpet next to Brian's side of the bed. “I can’t seem to get over the way he just threw himself under the bus for me, Brian. That was so . . . well, it was noble but also just so fucked. I wish that I’d stopped him or something. But I was in total shock at the time - too busy trying to figure out where I was even going to LIVE to even really pay attention. By the time I realized what he was doing it was too late. Why did he do it?”
Brian was missing Malik himself, although he wasn’t going to go on and on about it. That boy could really fuck like a little tiger. He was also easy on the eyes and easy to get along with as well. Not to mention the fact that he’d been a friend to both himself and Justin. A friend in a way that Brian wasn’t used to - he hadn’t asked anything of Brian and didn’t need him, but was willing to be his friend anyway. He was also ready and willing to call Brian on his shit without being judgmental. It was a new experience for Brian and he missed that camaraderie almost more than anything else.
Brian didn’t say anything. He didn’t think anything he SAID would help anyway. Instead he leaned over the bed and picked up Justin’s sketchbook from the floor, pulling the little artist into his side with his left arm as they both gazed down on the drawing. It was - as all Justin’s work - incredibly detailed and exquisitely precise. You could see every ripple of Malik’s muscular chest and abs. Brian thought again how talented this boy was. It was clear to him that the kid had a huge future ahead of him. And Malik’s sacrifice would go a long way towards making that future happen.
Justin was looking down at the sketchbook too, his finger running along the edge of the page absentmindedly. “You know, I wouldn’t have even been in that bathroom if it hadn’t been for this stupid fucking sketchbook. I should toss it. It’s probably cursed or something now.”
There was something in that statement that struck a chord in Brian’s subconscious. “What does your sketchbook have to do with it, Sunshine?
“I’d gone in there to retrieve this book,” Justin said, his eyes unfocused as he walked through the events once again. “Dino told me he’d seen it in the bathroom and put it in the drawer so it wouldn’t get ruined. Then, when I opened the drawer, I saw the bag with my sketches in it and I pulled the whole thing out. I was just astonished at seeing those particular sketches, you know. They were some of the ones from my first book - the one I thought was completely destroyed. It wasn’t until after I started looking at those that I noticed what else was in the bag . . . And that’s, of course, when Scott came in and found me holding a bag of drugs.”
Brian sat up so quickly that Justin was thrown backward, knocking his head against the headboard with a small thud. “DINO told you your sketchbook was in there? Are you sure about that Justin?”
“Yeah. And that was weird, too, because I was SURE I’d left all my sketchbooks up here in the bedroom that day. After losing the others, I was being really careful, you know? I don’t take them out of here except when I’m working on something and then I make sure to bring them back rather than just let them sit around. Or at least that’s what I thought. But the book was there in the drawer just like Dino said . . .”
“Fuuuuuucccckkkkk!” Brian fell back onto the pillows next to Justin rubbing at the bridge of his nose as he thought. “I just remembered where I know Dino from, Sunshine. Shit, Ted, where do you find a loser like that to work SECURITY for you? I would have thought Ted would do better background checks on his staff . . .” Justin had put a hand on Brian’s bicep, pulling the distracted man’s attention back to his questioning face. “Dino used to hang around Babylon a lot . . . until a bunch of stupid twinkies started to overdose on a bad batch of crystal about five or six months ago. Nobody ever proved anything, but the word at the club was that Dino was the one pushing the shit. The rest of the dealers forced him out in order to protect their own business. I KNEW I recognized him from somewhere.”
“Dino’s a drug dealer? But . . . that’s . . . Shit!” Justin was speechless.
“Exactly! Now it all makes sense . . .” Brian was quietly fuming with anger now. “I couldn’t figure out how Daniel’s stash got into that drawer. I’d looked there myself a couple times back when we were searching for Daniel’s drugs. I mean, it was a long shot because not even Daniel was stupid enough to leave his drugs out in a fairly open and easily accessible place like the drawer of the cabinet in the main floor toilet, but I’d looked anyway just because. So when you found that shit there I was pretty much amazed.” Brian rolled onto his side so he and Justin were now face to face. “But if it was DINO who sent you there to find your book, it makes perfect sense. You were fucking set up, Sunshine!”
“He must have taken my sketchbook from up here and planted it there in the drawer WITH the drugs,” Justin finished Brian’s thoughts. “That fucking shit! He fucking set me up! It might not even have been Daniel’s drugs for all we know. But . . . why? I mean, what does Dino get out of my getting kicked out? If it had been Daniel setting me up, it would make more sense . . .”
“I don’t know, Sunshine. I’m thinking the two are connected somehow, I just don’t see how yet . . .” Brian reached over and ran his fingers along the edge of Justin’s jaw, the affectionate gesture not even really registering as Brian’s brain worked through all the possible permutations of their situation. “Well, I don’t know what the connection is - other than the drugs, but that doesn’t make sense either since Dino just got here last week . . . Whatever. Until we figure it out, let’s just try and steer clear of both Dino and Daniel. And I plan to have a long conversation with Ted about his choice of security staff . . . but not until it’s at least light out.”
Brian tried to wrangle his twink back down into the bed, intending to get in a few more hours of sleep before they had to get up, start their morning and, inevitably, spend another challenging day dealing with Daniel. Now that there were only the three of them left, there was no way at all to escape from interactions with the man they both hated. Everyday now was just one endless struggle to deal with the creep. Brian was getting seriously tired of having to fuck the loser over and over again. Even assuming those WERE Daniel’s drugs, the fact that they’d been confiscated and he assumedly wasn’t shooting up anymore hadn’t helped his sexual performance much yet. Although Brian wasn’t sure he wanted Daniel to be able to get it up again - not if that meant he’d be demanding to top. But, whatever. All Brian knew was that he needed lots more sleep before he had to deal with the idiot for another day.
The squirmy little blond bed warmer in his arms didn’t seem to feel the same, though. After about the third time Justin turned over and sighed, Brian gave up and let the boy wriggle free. That didn’t help much, though, as the kid just tossed and turned even more violently, shaking the bed to the point that Brian was jostled even when he scooted over to the far edge.
“Sunshine, short of tying you down to the mattress - although I might even be open to that idea - is there anything else that will make you calm down and stop shaking the bed?” Brian asked with evident exasperation.
“I’m just too fucking pissed off to sleep, Brian. And worried about what Dino and Daniel are going to try next. And I still miss Mal . . . And I’m horny.” Justin whined, which was NOT a good state to be in for the boy, in Brian’s opinion.
“I’m too tired to fuck you right now, Sunshine. And in about an hour we have to get up and fuck Daniel again all day long, which is not a pleasant thought at all . . .” Brian heard himself starting to whine too and knew something had to be done before this infectious whining spread. “Oh, fuck it! I guess this is what I get for associating with randy teenagers.” Brian sighed dramatically, but at the same time reached over and grabbed a condom out of the bowl on the bedside table. With a playful glint in his eyes, Brian held it up and waved it in front of Justin’s face, enjoying the way the kid’s eyes got big and round and filled with lust. “Since you seem to have so much energy, Sunshine . . .”
Without waiting for Brian to change his mind, Justin snatched the condom out of Brian’s hands and tore the packet open, donning the latex wrapper at light speed. Brian was feeling lethargic enough that he was just lying there on his back and really rather happy to let the eager little twink have at it. Well, he was until . . .
Justin moved so he was straddling Brian’s left leg and then, without a word of warning, he lifted Brian’s right leg up almost perpendicular, bringing it quickly over across the front of his own body until that leg was resting against Justin’s right shoulder. This left Brian lying with his shoulders flat on the bed but his hips angled a bit to the left so his ass was almost sideways. Not exactly a beginner move . . . Brian’s boytoy must have once again been watching that filthy porn that was constantly showing on the Greatroom TV.
Brian didn’t say anything. He just scrutinized the intrepid and determined little twink with astonishment. Justin was blushing so hard that his cheeks were almost fuchsia and he was carefully avoiding direct eye contact with Brian as he filled his palm with lube and started preparing Brian with one and then two slick fingers. Two or three times Brian opened his mouth, intending to protest these high-handed actions, but then Justin would stretch him just right and that delicious burn would distract him. Or the boy would brush lightly against his sweet spot and it would just make Brian feel like melting. Eventually Brian forgot that he’d ever intended to speak up. He really had trained the boy up right. The kid was thorough but gentle at the same time. It was far too easy to let himself be carried away . . .
By the time that Justin appeared satisfied with his prep work, Brian was drifting in and out of a pleasureable daze. When the boy’s big boner edged into him, with that large spongy head of Justin’s amplifying every single tiny ounce of friction, Brian had really ceased to care that his twink was topping him with such an unexpected maneuver. What the hell, right? Brian liked that his protege wasn’t timid or inhibited. The boldly adventurous move and confidence the boy was showing were some of the sexiest things about his Sunshine. So, yeah, Brian would let the boy play a little. And enjoy every fucking minute of it.
It didn’t take the little love machine long to ramp up to full ramming speed. He was balancing on his knees and holding onto Brian’s extended leg with all his might which, considering the powerful thrusting Justin was engaging in, was really the only thing that was keeping Brian in place. The older man rapidly decided he’d better hold on a bit tighter himself, lest he run the risk of being sent flying into the wall behind the bed. Brian reached up with his right hand and gripped tightly around the boy’s upper arm - feeling the wiry muscles hidden beneath the deceptively soft skin. Yeah, the kid might have all the makings of a yummy cream-filled twinkie but there was a lot more to him underneath, and that made Brian smile.
And, tired or not, it didn’t take Brian long to wake up enough to reach full arousal. Justin was really working this position, holding Brian up slightly, ramming into him at that awesome new angle and already dripping with sweat from the effort. Brian watched the younger man with fascination. The sheen of perspiration on his face and that fucking halo of golden hair made the kid even more beautiful - if that was at all possible - than normal.
Before he could stop it, the thought that Brian wouldn’t really mind seeing that face hovering over him a LOT more in the future, popped into his head. When he groaned, he pretended to himself it was because of an extra-enthusiastic thrust on Justin’s part and not the fact that he was feeling overwhelmed again by that love thing that he still hadn’t really dealt with. Damn shit kept coming up at the MOST inopportune moments. But, well, Justin really was beautiful and the way he was beaming down at Brian with that adoring Sunshine Smile, and the happy glint of lust/love/longing in the boy’s eyes was swamping Brian’s usual sexual stoicism.
When Sunshine bent slightly forward, creating a whole new world of sensations because of the change of angle, and at the same time reached out to stroke down the side of Brian’s face with one gentle finger, it was all over for the Big Man. That tender touch did him in. Brian felt his heart melting about a millisecond before his orgasm exploded over him out of nowhere. It wasn’t a slow build up or a gradual rising of sensations. This was a firestorm of feelings and emotions that sent him reeling. Brian came with a spontaneous combustion of pyrolytic proportions - feeling like his whole being was catching fire and sublimating at the same time and the resulting change to his life would be irreversible.
He didn’t even notice when Justin, a minute after him, reached his own loud and lusty climax. Brian was still blinking and trying desperately to remember what order all of his molecules were supposed to be in back when he was still a solid. He barely noticed when Justin carefully lowered his leg, conscientiously pulled out, and then tenderly rearranged Brian so he was lying comfortably. A quick trip to the bathroom and, a minute later, Justin was cleaning Brian off with a warm wet washcloth before solicitously tucking him under the covers.
“Thanks, Brian. I feel sooooo much better now. I think I can finally sleep.” Justin whispered as he climbed in behind Brian and spooned up against his back.
Brian thought he might have responded with something along the lines of “whhhhoooommmnnnnnnnaaa”.
“Go back to sleep, Stud.” Justin chuckled and kissed the back of Brian’s neck, holding on to his insensate lover with all his strength. “Oh, and in case I didn’t tell you lately, Big Guy . . . I love you.”
"It's too fucking soon, damn it. The dust hasn't even settled after your last intervention and Malik leaving," Daniel hissed at Dino, trying to keep his voice down and look disinterested even though he was boiling angry.
"Fuck that!" Dino smiled evilly. "Have you looked at a calendar lately, Dan? There's just over two weeks left till the end of August. You don't have a ton of time left and we still need to get rid of both the stud AND the twink. You don't have time to dilly dally."
Dino put down his coffee mug on the kitchen counter and picked up the newspaper so he'd look busy for the always present cameras. Daniel, who'd been sitting a stool away at the kitchen island, tossed his fork down, the stainless steel utensil clattering against the earthenware plate. He wasn't really hungry anyways - he felt nauseated and feverish and achy all over. He'd just been going through the motions to try and look busy while he surreptitiously spoke to Dino. Now, though, just the sight of that plate of runny eggs and greasy bacon was making him feel even sicker. Daniel pushed the practically full plate away and turned to look directly at the tall thin man in the leather half-mask next to him.
"Yeah, but if we're caught I get kicked out and WE get nothing," Daniel whispered urgently. "We'd be better off taking our time and making sure we get it right this time. No more flub-ups like having the WRONG person leaving."
"What the hell are you complaining about? We set out to get rid of a contestant and that's exactly what happened. How the fuck could I have known the black kid would take the fall? Does it really matter which twinkie left anyways?" Dino fluffed the pages of his newspaper to cover his discomfort at being taken to task over the little mix up.
"Yes. It does fucking matter. The POINT was to separate Kinney and his favorite plaything. Those two act like a team and together they've been able to overcome every single challenge thrown at them. If we had been able to get rid of the twink - like planned - Kinney would be alone, reeling from the loss of his pet, off-balance and easier to get rid of himself. He'd be easy pickings then. Now, him and the twink have just closed ranks. They're acting even more careful and suspicious. Your little goof has just made everything harder."
"Yeah, well, what the fuck would you know about getting harder, Dan?" Dino smirked and patted his co-conspirator on the thigh under the cover of the overhanging countertop. "You just leave this to me. I'm going to work on getting Kinney out of here by the time the weekend's over. You, Dan," Dino got up and carried his mug over to the coffee maker, pouring himself a refill, "should be concentrating on your own, shall we say, underwhelming, performance." Dino took one last sip of his coffee, smiled menacingly at Daniel and then sauntered out of the room.
"Fucker!" Daniel muttered under his breath and pushed his own coffee mug away from him so hard it sailed right across the width of the small island's counter, falling over the edge and crashing in a liquid brown puddle on the tiles below.
"Theodore Schmidt! Just the man I wanted to see," Brian announced loudly as he clattered down the stairs into the Greatroom, towing Justin along behind him by the hand. "Wow! Now doesn't that sound strange? Someone as fabulous as ME admitting out loud that someone as NOT fabulous as YOU was who I wanted to see. What IS this world coming to, Sunshine? Hhmm?"
"Stop teasing your friend, Brian," Justin chided his lover affectionately, but nonetheless pulled him over for a big kiss. "Shit! I'm starving. I hope there's lots of bacon. And eggs. And coffee." Justin grinned shinily at the two men before extricating his hand from Brian's grasp and skipping off towards the kitchen to refuel.
Brian watched that perfect little butt flouncing out of the room and let out a very unmanly giggle.
Ted watched this inexplicable interaction with wondering eyes. "Excuse me, Sir. Have you seen Brian Kinney around here somewhere? He's this big, grouchy, heartless stud who is incapable of showing any emotion except disdain?"
“Nope. Haven’t seen THAT guy around here in weeks, Theodore,” Brian replied as he turned back around to smile foolishly at his friend.
“Shit, Brian. What the hell has gotten into you lately.” Brian’s smile stretched so widely in response to that question that Ted actually gasped. “Never mind. Don’t tell me. I think I already know and I don’t want to further tarnish the image I have in my mind of you as the perfect top.”
Thankfully, before Brian felt the need to elucidate on this particular topic, Ted was saved by Justin coming out of the kitchen with a huge mug of coffee in his hands, which he immediately brought over to Brian. “Hurry up, Stud. If you don’t get in the kitchen in the next five minutes I’m going to eat YOUR cinnamon roll,” the cheeky little blond brat added and giggled as he jogged back towards the kitchen with Brian’s own laughter following him closely.
“Seriously, Brian, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so relaxed and easygoing and fucking content. I think it’s great. Weird and totally out of character, but great.” Ted spoke out, patting his friend on the shoulder appreciatively.
“It must be all this clean living, Theodore. I mean, you won’t let me have hard liquor or drugs and I’ve been getting a pretty much unlimited supply of hot sex for the last two and a half months. Why the hell wouldn’t I be happy?” Brian tried, as usual, to blow off his friend’s comments.
“I think it’s more than that, Brian. You’ve always suffered from a surfeit of willing sex partners but I’ve never seen you like this.” When it looked like Ted’s comment was going to elicit another denial from his subject, Ted hurried on. “I like it, Brian. And I like Justin too. You look good, happy. You should definitely keep that boy around.”
“I plan to, Theodore,” Brian answered with a shy smile and Ted thought the big lug might actually be blushing even. “Now, enough of this palaver. I did have a reason for accosting you first thing this morning and it wasn’t to hear you proselytize over my psychological health.” Brian’s countenance assumed a more businesslike mien. “I wanted to ask you if you’ve been outsourcing your HR decisions or if you’re doing it yourself?”
“Um . . . I’m doing it myself. Why?” Ted was confused by the rapid change of subject.
“Because if you had an outside company doing it you could at least fire them for fucking it up so badly, Theodore.”
“What the hell are you talking about, Brian? I haven’t fucked up anything . . . I don’t think.”
Brian took Ted by the shoulders and physically turned the man around until they were both facing the far side of the Greatroom where Dino was sitting at one of the computer stations, assumedly doing something related to his security duties.
“I can’t believe you don’t recognize the guy you hired as your security chief, Theodore,” Brian huffed at his friend. “I admit it took me a while to remember where I knew our pal Dino from, but you of all people should remember him . . .” When Ted’s face was still blank, Brian shook his head disappointedly and continued. “Come on, Ted. You recall your own little blond-haired twinkie . . . The one who put you into a coma, then later moved in with you, made you the happiest fag on the planet before breaking your heart and running off to live happily ever after with his crack pipe? What was his name . . . Blaine, Burke . . . something like that?”
“Blake? What the fuck has Blake got to do with . . .” Ted had stiffened up at the mention of his one-time crackhead boyfriend, ready to shut Brian down before he dug further into that painful subject. But, when Brian mentioned that particular name and then pointed to the seated security chief, suddenly it all came clear to Ted. “Fuuuuuuucccckkkk!”
“Exactly!” Brian replied, letting go of Ted’s shoulders. “Your newest employee also happens to be your old boyfriend’s drug pusher.”
“Shit! I only met him that one time at Babylon. The time he helped us get Vic’s bail posted when he got arrested by that dirty cop,” Ted turned to Brian, scrambling for excuses or at least explanations. “And it was dark and I was distracted by Debbie’s hysterics and . . . it didn’t even dawn on me that Dino’s the same guy . . . But his background check came out clean. I run one on every employee, Brian. His didn’t show any red flags.”
“Yeah, well, I guess he’s been lucky so far. But I remember Anita pointing him out and telling me that she and other reputable dealers had to run him out of the club last spring after he passed off a bad batch of meth and a couple idiots OD’d,” Brian added. “He’s bad news, Theodore. NOT who you want on your payroll and especially NOT as the head of your security team. In fact, the thing that finally triggered my memory about the scumbag was when Justin told me that it was Dino who told him he’d put Sunshine’s sketchpad into that drawer in the bathroom where the drugs were found . . .”
Brian didn’t have to elaborate. He could see the moment that Ted put the facts together for himself. He debated with himself for a minute or two before saying more - they really still didn’t have any proof but staying silent hadn’t helped them before so, in the end, Brian decided to speak up and let the chips fall where they may.
“And, Theodore, while I don’t have any proof, you and I both know that dear little Daniel didn’t get muscles like that on that smallish Asian frame without a little help from his best pal ‘Andy’,” Brian redirected Ted’s attention to the new subject of his discourse, who was seated reading just a few feet away on the couch. Daniel looked even more unwell than he had just the day before and was lounging around apathetically. “Do you really think Danny Boy’s health issues and his little performance problems lately are just psychosomatic? If you do, you’re a bigger fool than I took you for, Ted. But you can put two and two together as well as I can. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Daniel and Dino had more in common than the first letter of their names. I mean, he has to be getting his juice from somewhere . . .”
Ted didn’t say anything. He just stood there looking back and forth between Daniel and Dino with a shrewd, contemplative look on his face. Brian figured his job was done. Whatever Ted chose to do with the information and innuendos Brian had just supplied, was up to him. Brian had at least tried to open the man’s eyes. Hopefully it would also help protect himself and his Sunshine for at least the next two and a half weeks.