Image Is Everything

Chapter Ten

Brian developed the photographs he had taken of Justin. He noticed that the young man needed a haircut. Brian liked the longer hair but it was a little ragged. It needed a good stylist to make it perfect like the rest of the blond.

Ever since their encounter in the studio Brian had been bombarded with conflicting feelings. He wanted to murder the fucking fiddler for interrupting them. He wanted to strangle Justin for starting something they couldn't finish. He wanted to slap Justin on the back and tell him how proud of him he was for going after what he wanted. He wanted to smack himself upside the head for opening that fucking door to Ian. But most of all he wanted to finish what they had started.

It was rare for Brian to remember his dreams, but the last few nights had produced vivid dreams of Justin Taylor, dreams that he could remember when he awoke, dreams that he found equally erotic and disturbing. He knew he was going to have to do something about the situation or he would never get any peace. And what he was going to have to do was fuck Justin Taylor.

The ringing of his phone brought Brian out of his reveries of fucking Justin. "Yeah," he said abruptly.

"Hello to you too," a familiar voice replied.

"Mark, what can I do for you?" Brian asked. He hadn't heard from the clothes designer for a couple of days.

"I wanted to run a few things by you."

"Such as?"

"First, how do the preliminary photos of Justin look?"

"Fabulous, like all my work."

Mark chuckled. "Seriously?"

"He looks seriously delicious, but he needs a haircut."

"Take him to a good stylist," Mark said.

"I can get him an appointment with the guy I use."

"Good, but I don't want a haircut like yours. I like the long blond locks. Just get them trimmed up a bit."

"My thoughts exactly. So what did you want to run past me?"

"Is Justin about finished with his fittings?" Mark asked.

"We go back tomorrow to have him try on the casual wear. If it fits properly we're done."

"Good. I've been thinking of doing the shoot at my house in Puerto Vallarta. What do you think about that idea?"

"It would work well for the casual/cruise wear. I guess I could work around the business look with house shots."

"A friend of mine has offices there and you could use them for the business clothes."

"Sounds good."

"I'm going to throw a party to celebrate my new line. Maybe we could use it as a backdrop for the tuxedo. It will be black tie."

"Can do," Brian said matter-of-factly.

"One other thing, have you given any more thought to doing the shoot paired with Justin?"

Brian noted that Mark had carefully worded his request to avoid words like mature or older. "I told you I'm not interested."

Mark sighed. "Then I guess Justin will be paired with Chuck Martin."

"Chuck Martin? Chuck Martin?" Brian repeated. "He's far too old and much too pale and grey to be with Justin. It'll look like father and son."

"I was afraid you might say that, but all the people I have tried to get are busy or like you don't want to be shown with someone so much younger."

"That isn't why I refused, Mark," Brian explained. "I just don't want any more photos of me made public. I want people to remember the way I was, the perfect image I portrayed."

Mark snorted. Sometimes Brian was too vain for words. "You're still perfect, Brian," he said as truthfully as he could make his voice sound. And he did mean it. Brian was perfect, especially perfect for what he wanted to show off about his clothing. He had seen Brian and Justin together and they contrasted each other perfectly.

"Flattery will get you everything," Brian smirked.

"Are you softening to the idea?" Mark asked.

"Justin asked me to do the shoot with him. He's a little scared."

"Then it would probably be for the best if you did it with him. I'm taking a very big chance with someone so inexperienced, but I want him … and I want you. He seems very comfortable around you."

"Until a couple of nights ago," Brian thought. "Look, Mark, if I said I'd do it, I would still want to take all the photos of Justin by himself. You would have to get a second photographer to take the pictures of us together."

"Already have one lined up. Jon Holstrom." Mark knew that as a model Jon had been Brian's favorite photographer to work with.

"Pretty cocky, aren't you?"

"Not at all. I merely made some contingency plans."

Brian chuckled. He did like Mark and he liked his clothes. "All right, I'll do it. You got me."

"That's super, Brian. Thank you."

"What about the clothes for me?"

"Your tailor has already altered them to your usual specifications. I know you never gain an ounce."

"I told Alphonse not to touch them," Brian said.

"I told him to do it anyway."

"What were you going to do with them if I refused?" Brian asked.

"They'd be a very expensive token of my affections to the fabulous photographer of my new line."

Brian laughed out loud. "You're a fucking devious bastard, but I love you anyway."

It was Mark's turn to laugh. "Go get Justin a haircut, try on your duds with Alphonse and be ready to fly to Mexico on Monday."

"That's fast work."

"I have a timeline that we need to meet. You can photograph Justin on Tuesday and Wednesday. Jon arrives Wednesday afternoon and he can set the schedule for your shoot and the one with both of you. My party's Saturday night and you fly back on Sunday afternoon."

"You don't waste any time."

"Make sure Justin has a passport. If he doesn't we have a major problem."

"Will do," Brian said.

"And thanks, Brian. I am so happy that you agreed to do this. I don't think you'll regret it."

"I fucking hope not," Brian said graciously as he hung up the phone. He needed his head read. He had always said he would never come out of retirement and here he was. He couldn't believe that he had agreed to the shoot. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he was doing this for Justin, because he had asked and because he would be nervous about his first shoot. He also knew that a week in Mexico with the blond might have other perks, especially when a certain fiddler would be stuck here in Pittsburgh.

-----

Brian spent the next few days getting everything ready to go to Mexico. Justin did have a passport. His father had insisted that they all have one since they had spent several summers in Canada. Brian had gone back to Alphonse to find that Mark's clothes had been altered to fit him perfectly. He always knew that Alphonse was extremely good at his craft.

Justin went with Brian to the salon where Brian regularly had his hair cut. He got his stylist, Paolo, to trim Justin's hair. It looked perfect when he was finished. Justin was very pleased and Brian couldn't keep his eyes off his newest model. He looked hot. Justin was rather stand-offish with Brian and pleaded a prior commitment so he could leave as soon as the haircut was completed.

Brian was to have a final meeting with Justin on Friday afternoon. He would have the airline tickets by then and they would synchronize their schedules. Brian wanted to make sure Justin brought all the necessary things with him. They would also arrange how they would meet at the airport. Brian fully intended to pick Justin up and leave the Corvette in long term parking. If he did that there would not be room for Ian to come to the airport with them. Brian wanted no part of the greasy fiddler hanging around with puppy dog eyes trying to make Justin feel guilty about leaving him behind.

They had talked several times on the phone since Ethan had come pounding on the door and interrupted them. They had not, however, met face to face other than the brief moments at the hair salon. They had not talked about what had happened between them. Brian had decided to back off and wait for Mexico. Justin had somehow appeased Ethan and didn't seem to want to start up again where they had left off so abruptly. Brian wasn't sure what had happened between the young lovers after they left his studio, but he was sure he wouldn't like it if he ever found out.

Justin had gone to Alphonse for his final fitting. Brian had asked him to take the bus since he would be involved in another shoot that day. There was a shoot, but it would have been over in plenty of time to take Justin to the tailor. Brian planned to drag it out wanting to be able to truthfully say he couldn't deliver the boy personally. Alphonse dropped the clothes off at Brian's studio afterwards. Brian had them all bagged and crated along with his clothes, sent to the airport and off to Mexico so they would be there when the two men arrived.

As Friday rolled around and Brian had gone most of the week without interacting with Justin, he knew he was waiting to see what would happen between them. He was also looking forward to spending time alone with Justin in Mexico. He had missed the blond.

When Justin arrived at the studio, Brian looked up expectantly from the pictures of Justin he was studying. He started to smile. The smile froze on his face as Justin walked in hand in hand with Ethan.

"Hey," Justin said with that wondrous smile.

"Hey," Brian responded.

"So what do we need to arrange?" Justin asked the smile never wavering.

"What are you so happy about?" Brian asked.

"I'm going to do my first modeling job … in Mexico. And my boyfriend just gave me this," Justin gushed holding out his hand to reveal a cheap silver ring on his fourth finger.

Ethan held up his hand to show the matching ring that he wore. He smirked at Brian.

"How sweet!" Brian said sarcastically.

"Ethan gave it to me a couple of days ago. It was so romantic."

"I bet," Brian grimaced. "Have you picked out your china pattern?"

Justin looked confused. "Are you mad at me?"

"Mad? Why would I be mad?" Brian asked. "Can we get the arrangements made now?"

"Um … sure," Justin said.

"Here's your ticket." Brian handed him the airline envelope. "The flight leaves at nine-thirty Monday morning. Have you got a way to the airport?" Brian asked innocently.

Justin looked at Ethan. "I guess we could get a cab."

"I'm driving my car. I'll leave it in long term parking. Do you want me to pick you up?"

Justin looked at Ethan again. "We'll take a cab," Ethan said firmly.

"Suit yourselves," Brian retorted. This was not going the way he had hoped.

"Is there anything else I need to do?" Justin asked.

"Pack what you will need for a hot climate. Don't forget the sun block."

"You don't want me looking like a lobster for the photo shoot?" Justin giggled.

"Preferably not."

"Are those my pictures?" Justin asked seeing the pile of photos on Brian's desk. Brian nodded. Justin picked them up and began flipping through them. "They look great," Justin said, "but I see why you wanted me to get a haircut."

Ethan craned over Justin's shoulder looking at the photos. "When did you take the ones in the tux?" he asked suddenly. A look of panic crossed Justin's face. "I thought you were just changing into the tux when I got here?"

Justin opened his mouth and looked helplessly at Brian. Brian was tempted to say, "I was fucking your boyfriend and we only pretended he was putting on the tux because he would have been naked otherwise." Instead he said, "Justin came back here the day we did the first casual wear fitting and we took them then."

Ethan stared at Brian. Brian knew he wanted to call him a liar, but he had no proof. "I see," he said slowly.

"We better go," Justin said.

"Be at the airport by 7:30. You need at least two hours these days."

"Sure," Justin agreed, "and thanks for everything."

"Don't thank me; just make this shoot a spectacular one."

"I'll do my best."

"Justin always does his best at whatever he does. I know he'll be wonderful, and I'll be waiting to tell him that as soon as he gets home from Mexico," Ethan said proudly. He glared at Brian daring him to contradict what he had said.

Justin leaned over and kissed Ethan. Brian wanted to throw up.

"See you Monday morning bright and early," Brian said opening the door to his studio indicating they should leave.

Ethan and Justin still hand in hand exited the building. Brian leaned against the door once he had closed it. This week in Mexico might prove to be the longest one of his life.

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