Away From the Sun - Part 5
Justin reached his hand to the back of his neck and massaged it with his fingers, circling away the tension in his neck and shoulders. He wasn’t sure how long he had been sitting in that room – small, barely lit, and empty except for a worn out wooden table and two chairs. He guessed it was the interrogation room by the looks of it and he couldn’t help but wonder if this was where Brian had been beaten repeatedly.
Then again, it didn’t matter now. Brian was safe and sound – Justin hoped. He could only hope that Brian did as he instructed and drove straight to Kiev where Ben was waiting for him. Justin hoped that he would be on that plane with Brian, flying to Paris, but he didn’t discount the abilities of the Ukrainian army and he knew that there was a very good chance that they would be tracked down. Turning himself in was the only way to keep Brian out of their hands for good.
Justin carefully touched the left side of his face. The cut that Justin sustained when he was thrown down on the ground, with his face into the mud, had stopped bleeding hours before and now it was just a dull persistent pain. Without his watch, which had been taken away as soon as he was brought in, and windows, Justin wasn’t sure if it was day or night. He only hoped that his plan would work out in the end.
He knew even before he was captured that he would have only one card to play and one card only – being the son of Craig Taylor. Sure enough, as soon as he was asked who he was, he let this information slip. By the expression on the officer’s face, Justin knew that the name rang more than a couple of bells. The officer left immediately after.
He heard the locks on the door being unlocked and a few seconds later the heavy door opened. Justin’s face remained emotionless as his father walked inside. The door shut with a loud sound behind the older man, but Justin didn’t so much as flinch and kept his eyes glued to his father’s.
Craig Taylor didn’t move, assessing Justin’s condition for a moment. Finally, he walked over to the table and sat down in the chair opposite from Justin.
“You know, when I agreed to help you, I didn’t expect that I would have to come down here to bail you out of trouble,” Craig finally said.
“I’m sure it’s not that big of a problem,” Justin replied, “Considering you have everybody here in your back pocket.”
“That’s not the point.”
“Actually, it is,” Justin shot back, suddenly remembering Ben’s words. “It’s you, isn’t it? You’re the one who’s developing bio-weapons. That’s why Brian was here.”
If Justin expected to get any rise out of his father, he didn’t accomplish it with his accusations. Craig’s face remained the same.
“Contrary to popular belief, Justin, I am not the only player in town,” he said calmly. “And for your sake I hope you remember that. There are other people – people who are more powerful – who can make your life…and mine…a living hell.”
Justin felt like he was a teenager again and was being scolded by his father for doing something he shouldn’t have. And he resented being made feel that way. “Why should I believe anything you say?”
“I don’t care whether you believe me or not,” Craig simply replied. He stood up and handed Justin a handkerchief. “Clean yourself up. We’re leaving.”
Justin startled at that. He knew that his father would get him out of this, but he suspected it would take a little more than him just showing up here. “How much did you pay them? How much is your son worth?”
Finally, Justin got what he wanted. Craig grimaced in anger. “You came to me! Not the other way around. Remember that.” The two men stared off for a few seconds, then Craig took a step back and smoothed his coat. “We’re leaving now. The plane is waiting.”
Justin looked down at the white handkerchief in his hand, then back up at his father, unsure of how to say what he needed to say. “I’m not.”
“You’re not what?”
“I’m not coming with you. Not yet.”
For the second time in minutes, Craig showed anger. “Justin, we had a deal. I help you and you…”
“I know what the deal was!” Justin shouted. “I come to work for you as soon as Brian is safe back home. Which he’s not. He’s waiting for me in Paris. And if I don’t meet him there, he’ll think that something’s wrong and he’ll come back here looking for me.”
Craig grimaced, probably realizing what would go on when Justin went to Paris. “How can you have faith in someone like him?”
“You mean someone like me, don’t you? A fag?”
Craig cringed. “I don’t want to talk about this, you understand? Ever!”
“Fine,” Justin’s voice was once again emotionless. “But I have to go to Paris.” He looked down, then back up at his father. “I have to say good bye,” he said quietly.
~~~***~~~***~~~
Unable to sit still, Brian paced the room. He tried to remain calm, but with the hours passing by, the nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach was quickly turning into a raging panic.
He knew it was a mistake to leave Justin there alone, he knew it before Justin forced him into that car, but somehow he let himself trust his lover’s words, he let himself believe that Justin knew what he was doing. He was barely a mile away from the house when he wanted to turn the car around and go back, but Justin’s words echoed in his head – “trust me…trust me…trust me…” That was all Brian could hear, so he forced himself to drive forward. Besides, he knew that if Justin was captured, he would have absolutely no chance of helping him – not with just a gun at his disposal. He would need help. So he drove to Kiev, hoping Ben would be there as Justin said.
However, when he got to Kiev, Ben kept saying the same thing Justin had – go to Paris and wait there. Brian tried to argue, but Ben seemed to be ready for that.
“Look, I might not know him as well as you do,” Ben told him. “But I have come to realize that with Justin there is always a good reason for his actions. He has a plan, Brian. I really doubt that he would pencil his own suicide into your rescue mission. At least, not before a few reunion sex sessions.”
And while Brian did not find Ben’s joke particularly funny, his logic made sense and had calmed him down a bit. The two CIA agents flew to Paris and Ben dropped him off at the address Justin indicated. But that was over twelve hours ago and Brian started to doubt his decision once again.
He sat down on the couch, his head in his hands. He was ready to scream in frustration when suddenly he heard a car pulling up to the house. Brian stood up so fast, he got dizzy, but he didn’t care. He rushed to the door and opened it. He could not remember ever feeling the amount of relief that rushed over his body when his eyes fell on his lover’s form behind the wheel of the black Renault.
Brian remained still as he watched Justin open the door and get out of the car, their eyes meeting immediately. Justin paused for a moment before shutting the door and moving toward the house. As he neared Brian, his lips stretched into a tiny smile.
Seconds later the two men were standing face-to-face.
A part of Brian couldn’t believe this was real, couldn’t believe Justin was really here – safe and sound. He reached out his hand and pulled Justin toward him, wrapping his hands around his lover. Brian let out a sigh of relief when he felt Justin’s hands wrap around his back. He wanted nothing more than to melt their two bodies together, but quickly realized that Justin was probably exhausted. Reluctantly, he let go of the other man and led him inside.
The blond collapsed down on the couch the moment they reached it. Brian sat down next to him. With Justin having his eyes closed, Brian had a moment to survey the condition of his lover. Aside from a large cut right above the jaw on the left side of his face and looking extremely tired, Justin seemed to be unharmed.
Brian carefully ran the tips of his fingers around the nasty cut. Justin’s eyes sprung open and settled on Brian’s.
“You’re ok?” Brian asked, his fingers absently running up and down Justin’s left cheek.
Justin nodded his head slightly. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “You?”
“You mean, aside from losing ten years of my life and probably prematurely getting grey hair because of you?” He smiled.
Justin’s mouth twitched at the corners. “Yeah.”
“Then, yeah, I’m ok.” He ran his fingers through Justin’s hair, massaging the blond’s scalp.
Justin closed his eyes once again and leaned into the touch.
“It’s over,” Brian said quietly. It wasn’t until Brian said the words out loud that his body finally began to relax, that he finally began to believe it himself.
Justin opened his eyes slowly and stared at Brian for a moment with a sad smile on his face. “Yeah…over.” He looked away.
Unsure of what to make out of Justin’s reaction, Brian decided to ask what really was on his mind. “What happened out there?”
Justin exhaled sharply and sat up straight, moving away from Brian. “It’s a long story,” he said, leaning forward, his elbows pressing into his knees.
Brian moved closer to him, his hand touching Justin’s back. “We’ve got time.”
The blond turned to look at him and Brian could have sworn that there was something that Justin wanted to say, but at the last minute stopped himself.
Brian, once again felt uneasy, even though this time it was different. The unease was coming from Justin. “Is everything ok?”
Justin turned away. “Fine. I’m just…” he exhaled loudly. “I’m just tired.” He stood up. “I’m gonna take a shower.”
Brian nodded in response, the uneasiness in the pit of his stomach growing. He remained seated as he listened to Justin’s footsteps fade down the hall, the door into the bathroom open, then close. A couple minutes later he heard water running.
He could have sworn that there was something that Justin wasn’t telling him, but a large part of him wanted to chuck that feeling off to being paranoid – a part of being a CIA officer. All he wanted was to be close to Justin once again – it has been weeks since they’d kissed, months since they’d had sex and only now that the danger of losing their lives has waned that Brian realized just how much he missed the other man.
Intent on not wasting another minute, Brian stood up and moved across the room and down the hall toward the small bathroom.
Opening the door slowly, he peeked in. The room was filled with steam. Justin was standing under the shower, the water flowing over him – from head to toe; his hands pressed against the tiles on the wall, his eyes closed. For a moment, Brian just stood there staring at the sight before his eyes – the pale skin slightly flushed by the hot water, the smooth lines of his lover’s body – so beautiful, only an artist – only Justin himself – could do justice in describing it.
Brian walked into the room, his fingers already working on unbuttoning his shirt when he suddenly paused, startled. For a moment he thought that he just imagined it, but it wasn’t. Even through the thick fog Brian could see Justin’s body trembling as if the water in the shower was ice-cold.
He stood frozen, completely at a loss for what to do, how to react. Then a pair of blue eyes fixed on him.
Completely forgetting the fact that he was fully dressed, Brian quickly crossed the distance between them, his only concern for his younger lover. He stopped inches away from the shower stall, trying to decide what the next move should be. It was decided for him seconds later, when Justin reached out, his fingers wrapping tightly around Brian’s left arm, and pulled the brunet under the running water.
Brian didn’t even have time to adjust to the extremely hot liquid that hit his skin when Justin’s lips covered his – the kiss so completely filled with desperation and necessity. Justin pushed Brian against the tiled wall and pressed hard against him, as if trying to melt his body into Brian’s, his fingers working vigorously at trying to unbutton Brian’s shirt. Brian tried to give him a hand, tried to take it down just a notch, but Justin didn’t seem to notice, didn’t seem to comprehend anything going on around him.
He frantically tore the buttons away and pulled Brian’s shirt down, letting it drop to the wet floor. Immediately, Justin’s arms enveloped him, running over every part of Brian’s body as if trying to convince himself that Brian was real, that he was, in fact, there.
Brian put his hands on Justin’s shoulders and tried to pull away, just far enough so that he could get a good look at his lover, to make sure that Justin was ok. But as soon as he did that, Justin only began to shake harder and latched onto Brian so hard, the brunet was sure he’d have bruises the next day.
He tried again, this time taking Justin’s head in his hands, forcing the blond to look up at him. Justin struggled against him; his eyes squeezed shut, his body shuddering violently.
There was only one time before that he had seen Justin in a similar condition – on the verge of slipping away from reality, of losing it. The last time it happened, Brian managed to bring him back before Justin went over the edge. He had to do the same now.
Brian took a step closer and wrapped his arms tightly around the smaller man’s torso, hoping that the feel of his skin against Justin’s would ground the other man, make him feel safe and protected.
“It’s ok,” he whispered in Justin’s ear. “Everything’s ok.”
Go to Part 6