Escape
Chapter 18
Michael sat at the corner table in the back of Woody's, drowning his sorrows in yet another beer. Other than the day at the diner when Brian had made his surprise appearance with his new partner, Michael had not spoken to his former best-friend. He was beginning to have second thoughts about what he had done. Maybe it hadn't been for the best after all.
As a man approached the table, Michael looked up, slightly bleary eyed. "Not interested," he said.
"Michael Novotny?" the man asked. When Michael nodded warily, the man took the seat across from him.
"What do you want?" Michael asked. Looking the man over more closely, Michael could tell he didn't belong here.
"I believe I want the same thing you do," the man said, pausing for effect. "To see Brian Kinney and Justin Taylor no longer together."
"Who are you and what do you want with me?" Michael asked, his interest peaked.
"Who I am is unimportant," the man replied. "My employer, however, has a great interest in seeing this farce brought to an end. Perhaps I'm mistaken in thinking we have the same goal." The man made to rise, but Michael waved him back into his seat.
"I'm interested all right. But I still don't get what you think I can do. Brian won't even talk to me since that twink came into the picture," Michael whined.
The man nodded, a sympathetic look on his face. "I can understand how difficult this must be for you." Privately, the man thought this Novotny fellow was a whiny asshole who deserved whatever Kinney did to him. That, however, was not what he was paid for. "Perhaps, if you we to approach Mr. Kinney in genuine contrition, he might be more apt to forgive this grievance."
"Huh?" Michael asked, not sure what the man had just said.
The man inwardly rolled his eyes. "If Mr. Kinney were to see that you were really sorry for what you had done, perhaps he would be able to forgive you."
Michael looked at the man with narrow eyes. He'd read enough comic books to know there had to be more to the plot than just his making nice with Brian. "Then what? Just because Brian's talking to me again doesn't mean that he's going to ditch that blond kid."
"Of course not," the man agreed. "So far, we have been unable to get Justin away from Kinney long enough to talk to him. We're sure that if we could do so, we'd be able to convince him of the regrettable mistake he's made."
"You mean, send him back to Greenhills," Michael stated.
The man raised an eyebrow, realizing he'd underestimated Michael's deductive reasoning a tad. "I'm sure my employer has something suitable in mind. That, however, is not my concern."
Michael listened intently as the man laid out his plan. It was simple and direct and his part in it would be minimal. All he had to do was distract Brian at just the right time. Just long enough for the man across from him to get Justin out of the picture.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Hey, Cynthia. Is my husband in?" Justin asked with a grin as he walked into the office after school.
"Hello, Justin," Cynthia greeted warmly. She'd grown quite attached to the young man in the short time she'd known him. "He's still in a meeting. Can I get you anything?"
"No, thanks. I'll just wait in his office."
By the time that Brian was finished with his meeting, Justin was engrossed in his homework, headphones on as he listened to the latest teen craze. Brian shut the office door behind him softly and slipped up behind his partner, leaning over to nuzzle the blond's neck.
Justin pulled the headphones off and turned to capture the brunet's mouth with his own. A half an hour later, they were both lying naked on the sofa in the corner, letting their breathing return to normal.
"Your employees are going to start wondering what's going on in here," Justin remarked, his head resting on the taller man's shoulder.
Brian chuckled slightly. "I think they can guess."
Justin pushed himself up so that he could see Brian's expression. "That doesn't bother you? Them knowing you're having sex in here?"
"What do I care what they think? It's not like they can fire me," Brian replied, tongue in cheek. "I think they've started using it as a signal of when it's time to go home." Brian grinned as Justin began to turn red.
Justin pouted for a moment, then started giggling. "I can hear Cynthia making the announcement, 'The sofa's started the thump against the wall, Brian's moaning and I'd say they're at least registering 4.5 on the Richter scale. Must be time to leave for the day.'"
"Who's moaning, little boy?" Brian said rolling them over so that he was on top.
Justin tried to hold those moans in as Brian began to work his way down the blond's body, licking and nipping as he went. However, when Brian deep-throated his cock, Justin couldn't hold back anymore. To be honest, he couldn't even remember why he was trying at that point.
Much later, as they parked the Vette at home, Justin looked around puzzled. "Brian, the SUV is gone."
"So it is, Sunshine," Brian replied without looking.
"Did you send it back already?" Justin asked. They had discussed hiring someone to drive it back to South Carolina and return it to its owner, but they hadn't come to any final decision the last time they'd talked.
"Yes, it is now on its way back to the suburban life from whence it came."
"Do you think the owner will drop the grand theft charges?" Justin asked.
"I think the five thousand I sent with it will help him remember that he offered to loan it to us."
"What if he takes the money but doesn't drop the charges?"
"Then his wife will get a very interesting phone call from a distraught man who can't understand why his lover has abandoned him." Brian's sad puppy dog eyes were marred by the slight grin on his face. "You can sound like a jilted lover, can't you, Sunshine?"
By this time, the men were in the lift going up to the loft. "Why do I have to make the call? It was my idea to send it back," Justin protested. "Besides, you're the one that fucked him. I never even spoke to the man."
"Neither did I," Brian responded. "Sometimes, words are just not necessary."
Justin could attest to that as Brian gazed down at him, the brunet's eyes raking suggestively over his smaller partner's body. As Brian pulled the teen into the loft, Justin's last coherent thought was Brian saying, "Let's see if we can get a 5.9 on that scale."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Brian?"
"Mmmm." A sleepy voice answered.
"Can we go dancing tonight? I really like that place, Babylon, that you took me to."
"Dancing, huh. Next thing, you'll be wanting to visit the backroom," Brian replied, sitting up in the bed only to be tackled by an enthusiastic teen.
"Could we? I'd like to see it," Justin asked, eyes bright. "As long as you're with me." He added, straddling his partner.
"Keep that up and we won't make it off the bed," Brian replied as the blond began to rock his hips slightly, rubbing Brian's cock between his ass cheeks.
Justin grinned, enjoying the effect he had on the brunet. "Trust me, it's staying up."
Brian lay back and let the blond have his fun. After all, he couldn't deny his hot, blond partner the pleasure of riding his cock.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Justin was almost bouncing with excitement as they entered Babylon later that night. He had always loved to dance and being here with Brian was an added high. His exuberance was dampened a bit when he noticed who else was at the bar. "Aren't those your friends?" Justin asked.
Brian gave the men a cursory glance. "Not anymore," he replied as he steered Justin to a different part of the bar to order their drinks.
Michael watched Brain and Justin enter the club, his mood darkening even more as Brian deliberately avoided them.
"Looks like somebody is still giving us the cold shoulder," Emmett observed.
"Well, I can't say I blame him," Ted defended his boss. "I'd probably be pissed if you sent me to that place too."
"You didn't seem to have any problem with it at the time," Michael reminded them. "It was for his own good."
"I didn't know what kind of place you were sending him to," Ted replied. "After he got back, I looked into it. The rumor mill says they 'cure' people by using drugs, isolation and brain-washing. There are even a few rumors of people not coming back from the place."
Emmett gasped in horror. "You don't think they died, do you?"
Ted shrugged. "Don't know, but I don't think Brian was exaggerating when he said he didn't think he would have made it much longer."
Michael blanched. He'd known that the place used unconventional methods, but they had assured him that what they did was safe. Never in a million years, would he have done anything to deliberately hurt Brian. Looking around, Michael noticed that the man he'd spoken to at Woody's earlier was watching from the catwalk. He had said he would be keeping an eye on Brian and Justin and must have come in shortly after the couple.
"Brian, that guy's still following us," Justin observed as he danced with his partner. "Good thing Cynthia warned us."
"She does come in handy on occasion," Brian replied.
"Uh-oh, Michael's coming this way," Justin warned.
"Hey, Brian," Michael greeted. "Want to dance?"
"I think I need a drink," Brian told Justin, wrapping an arm around the smaller man and steering him towards the bar.
"Brian, I'm sorry," Michael called after his friend, scurrying to keep up. "I just want to talk to you."
Brian ordered two beers and continued to ignore Michael. Ted and Emmett moved closer, trying to hear what was going on.
"Brian, please. We've been friends for too long," Michael whined. "Just give me a chance to explain."
Sensing that Brian might need a moment to speak with his friend alone, Justin said, "I need to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back."
Brian nodded and ignored Michael as he watched the blond make his way across the room. Knowing there was no exit from that part of the building, Brian finally turned towards his former friend. "There's nothing you can say that will change what you did, Michael. I trusted you… but no more."
"Brian, you were killing yourself," Michael said. "I just wanted to help you. I wanted you to be happy."
Keeping his gaze calm, even though he was seething inside, Brian replied, "And I am happy, Michael… with Justin."
"With that little twink?" Michael scoffed. "And how long do you think that's going to last? You'll get bored with him, just like all the rest."
"Well, so far I've found him quite…stimulating," Brian stated.
Emmett and Ted exchanged glances as Michael continued to rail about Brian's new partner and Brian easily deflected each argument Michael came up with.
Tiring of Michael ranting, Brian finished his drink and walked off in search of his partner. Michael frowned as he watched Brian leave, then a slow smile spread across his face as he spied someone else across the room.
Noting Michael's sudden change in attitude, Emmett followed the man's gaze across the room to where Justin was stumbling towards the backroom lead by an unfamiliar man. Emmett knew that Justin hadn't had that much to drink. Someone must have given him something in the restroom. From Michael's malicious grin, Emmett had a bad feeling about what was going on. A quick search told him that Brian hadn't seen the two men.
Emmett leaned over and spoke into Ted's ear. "Find Brian. Tell him Justin's in the backroom." Ted nodded, for once catching the urgency in his friend's tone.
Michael scowled as his two friends abandoned him without a word. His expression darkened even more as he realized that Emmett was making a beeline for Justin, and Ted was heading in Brian's general direction.