"Kip Thomas!" Brian repeated the name.

 

"You know him?" Carl Horvath asked, assuming so from the tone of Brian's voice.

 

"That's a fucking name from the past."

 

"What do you know about him?"

"Only that he used to work at the Ryder Agency and he tried to sue me for sexual harassment.  He said I forced him to have sex with me by making promises of promotion."

 

Even Carl had to laugh at that one.  "You forced him?" Carl asked with a chuckle.

 

"He alleged that I did."

 

"What happened?"

"He dropped the charges and disappeared."

 

"Why?"

 

"Fuck if I know!"

 

"That sounds rather strange," Carl mused.  "At least we've established a connection with you, so he bears looking into."

"How did you know they were his prints?  Has he been in trouble?"

"According to his rap sheet he's been involved in some petty thefts, arrested once, but got probation because he had a clean record at that point.  He tried to scam some co-workers out of some money.  They pressed charges but he moved on before he was arrested.  He's been involved in some other shady schemes, but managed to stay slightly ahead of the law.  Sounds like a charming fellow."

"He'd like you to think so," Brian said.  "He always thought he was hot stuff, going to be CEO at Ryder in a couple of months."

"So his impatience with getting ahead may have finally caught up with him.  He sounds like our most likely suspect.  All we have to do is find him."

"And soon."

 

                                                               -----

 

Justin bustled around the kitchen of the loft.  He was cooking a special dinner for Brian to celebrate his first day back at work since the accident.

 

Justin thought about how it was becoming more and more obvious that it had been no accident.  Phydeau's questions about Brian having enemies had surprised Justin and worried him.  He had given the most obvious answers, including his own father.  He prayed to God that his father had nothing to do with it.  How could he ever face Brian if he did?

 

He knew that he had left out one possible person from his list – Kip Thomas.  He didn't want to think about that.  Brian had never found out what Justin had done and he never wanted him to.  He realized now that he had been naïf and gullible to think it would be so easy, but as it turned out it had been easy.  He knew Kip hated him as a result.  He had made that very clear when he threw him out after his aborted blowjob.  The thought of Kip Thomas' mouth on his dick sent shivers up his spine.

 

He finished the chicken casserole he was making and stuck it in the oven.  He began to wipe up the counter when the image of Kip kneeling in front of him flashed before his eyes.  He shuddered involuntarily.

 

He had the apartment all cleaned up and the casserole almost cooked when Brian arrived home.  He was sitting on the sofa drawing when Brian pushed back the loft door.

 

"Hey, Sunshine," he said with a smile.

 

"Hey, yourself.  Did you have a good day?"

"Not bad.  My eyes are killing me.  I had a mountain of reports to read.  Spent all day doing that, except for one visitor."

 

"A visitor?  Who?"

"Carl Horvath."

"Carl came to your office?"

 

"Yes."

"Have they found out something?"

"They don't think it was an accident."

"Neither does Phydeau."

 

"What does he have to do with this?"

"I went to his apartment today to see his artwork."

 

"Artwork?"

"Yeah, he's pretty good too."

"When did you two get so chummy?"

"I've talked to him on and off," Justin said not wanting to tell Brian that he had called him and Chuck the night Brian had walked out and gone to Michael's.

 

Brian looked quizzically at him.  "So what does Phydeau have to say about the 'accident'?"  Brian made quotation marks with his fingers around the last word.

 

"He wanted to know if you had any enemies."

"What did you tell him?"

Justin made a face.  "The first person who came to mind was my father.  He rammed you with his car once before."  Justin looked warily at Brian waiting for his reaction.

 

"I don't think your father would do this."

"I'm glad, because I don't really think he would either.  At least I hope he wouldn't," Justin added.

 

"Who else?"

"Stockwell of course and your family, but Phydeau doesn't think they're likely.  Do you know that the officers who responded to the accident never even questioned Chuck?"

"I didn't know until Carl told me today.  They are the same officers who responded to the call when those guys beat me up."

"They are?"

"That's beyond coincidence."

"I agree.  What else did Carl say?"

 

"He thinks the officers knew what was going to happen before it happened.  Somebody was tipping them off so they could be in the neighborhood.  If Chuck and Phydeau hadn't caught those two guys, I bet we would never have heard anything more about the assault."

"Stockwell," Justin said shaking his head.

 

Brian nodded.  "He's got to be orchestrating the whole thing."

 

"Jesus, Brian, what can we do?"

"Carl had another piece of information for me.  Somebody made a slip up in this carefully constructed plan."

"A slip up?  Like what?"

"They found the car that hit me this morning.  There was a pop can that had rolled under the seat, obviously overlooked by whoever sanitized the car.  There was a print on it."

"Really?  Do they know whose?"

"Kip Thomas," Brian replied, and Justin felt his heart stop beating, just seize up from fear and worry and dread.

 

                                                             -----

 

Justin finished loading the dishwasher.  He set the controls and went to his desk to do some schoolwork.  He could feel Brian's eyes following him, watching him, trying to figure out what was going on.

 

Justin had been unusually quiet during dinner.  He knew that would make Brian suspicious, but he didn't know what to say.  His mind kept returning to Kip Thomas.  The big question was whether or not he should tell Brian what he had done.  He thought if they caught Kip Thomas it would all come out anyway.  And he wanted them to catch the man, he did.  But he feared Brian's reaction.  Brian would be pissed at how big a risk he had taken, but he would probably be even more pissed that he had kept it secret for so long.  Brian hated secrets.

 

For about a half hour Justin made the pretense of doing his schoolwork.  He actually got little done, his mind continually wandering to Kip Thomas and should he tell Brian.  Finally he snapped his book shut and went to get a drink from the fridge.

 

"Get me a beer while you're there?" Brian asked from in front of his computer.

 

"Sure," Justin said.  He got them each a beer and carried Brian's over to him.  He handed it to his partner and started to turn away, when he felt Brian grab his wrist.

 

"Tell me," the man said.

 

Justin glanced at him unable to hold his gaze for long.  He wanted to feign ignorance of what Brian was talking about, but he knew he wasn't that good a liar.  He took a deep breath and said, "I don't think I can."

 

"You can tell me anything, as long as it's the truth," Brian said.

 

Justin knew he meant that and somewhere deep inside he did want to tell Brian.  What he didn't want were the likely consequences.

 

"It's about Kip Thomas," Justin began haltingly.

 

"I figured."

Justin looked at Brian, at the kind eyes that looked back at him demanding honesty.  "It's something that happened a long time ago."

 

"When Thomas first left Pittsburgh without any explanation?"

"Yeah."

"Go ahead," Brian prompted.  He didn't think he was going to like this.

 

"I met him one night in Woody's."

"You did?"  Brian's eyes narrowed.

 

Justin swallowed.  "He … he came in for a drink and I thought I recognized him from that night he came to the loft."

"You saw him?"

 

"I … I kind of peeked around the corner of the landing."

 

"So he came into Woody's?" Brian asked and waited for Justin to continue.

 

"He ordered a drink and I moved over next to him and struck up a conversation.  I knew he had you over a barrel."

"And just what did you think you could do about that?"

 

"I … I didn't know at that point.  It kind of evolved."

"Evolved?  That's an interesting choice of words.  So what happened?"

"He blew me off."

"I always knew he was one stupid mother fucker," Brian stated with a grimace.

 

Justin smiled in spite of himself.  "So … I followed him outside into the alley and … kissed him."  He waited for Brian's reaction.  The man said nothing so he thought he better continue.  "We discussed what an asshole you were."  Brian's eyebrows went up at that one.  "Then he invited me back to his place."

"And you went?  Are you nuts?"

"No, but I had a plan by then.  I let him start to blow me and then I told him he better hurry up because I had a curfew at home.  I told him I was only seventeen and my father had had the last guy I was with arrested.  He asked if I would tell my father about him.  I said no … if …"

 

"If he dropped the lawsuit against me," Brian said and groaned.  "Jesus Christ, Justin, he could have beat you up or killed you."

 

"I know that now, but I never even thought about it then … and it worked," Justin said hopefully.

 

"I ought to kill you myself for being so fucking naïf!"

 

"I'm sorry, but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time."

Brian groaned again.  "Is that the whole story?"

"Yeah, I've never seen him again.  He just disappeared."

"Until now."

Justin nodded.  "Why do you think he's come back now?"

"Duh … revenge!"

 

"I know it's revenge, but why now?"

"I'm mayor.  That makes the stakes higher.  He has a natural ally in Stockwell.  It's all been in the papers."

 

"I'm truly sorry, Brian," Justin said.  "I never meant for this to come back at you."

"I know," Brian conceded.  "Come here."  He pulled Justin onto his lap and began kissing his neck, sucking on his Adam's apple until the boy began to giggle.

 

"You're not mad at me?" he asked.

 

"Mad … at you?  No, I'm amazed at what you risked for me, and you are never, never to do something like that again."

 

"Understood," Justin said pleased that Brian had forgiven him so easily.

 

"Now I want you to kiss me the way you kissed him to convince him to take you home with him."

"You do?"

 

"Um hmm," Brian said.

 

"But I'm much more experienced now.  I'm not seventeen anymore."

"Does that mean that you are no longer attractive or that you can't remember since you've kissed so many men in between?"

Justin giggled.  He knew Brian was teasing him and he was grateful that that was the extent of his punishment.  He had expected a lot worse, at the very least a lengthy and unpleasant lecture.  "I'll try," Justin whispered.

 

His lips found Brian's and he began the kiss tentatively at first.  He wasn't sure what to do.  Kissing Brian was always so instinctual and the man was such a great kisser that he never had to think about it.  Brian didn't respond.  Justin drew back and looked into the hazel eyes.  They seemed kind of blank and he didn't seem to think this was funny.  In fact the eyes didn't reveal anything.

 

"That wasn't much of a kiss," Brian said.  "Is that all it took to hook that fucker?"

Justin dove in again this time extending the kiss rubbing his lips across Brian's and probing into his mouth with his tongue.  He pulled his tongue back and did his best to suck all the air from Brian's mouth with it.  He sat back and looked at Brian's eyes now.  They seemed a little darker and more alive.

 

He claimed the lips again pressing the back of Brian's neck to make the kiss deeper as his tongue caressed every tooth and ridge in the man's mouth.  His hand squeezed Brian's tits and felt them harden.

"How was that?" Justin asked defiantly looking into eyes that had begun to glaze with lust.

 

"Better," Brian whispered.

 

Justin claimed him again, sucking Brian's tongue into his mouth.  They dueled deliciously for a few minutes and then Brian felt Justin grind into his groin.  He bounced slightly and Brian had to groan.  His cock was way beyond hard and Justin's movements were almost painful.

 

"I'd say you're ready," Justin whispered. 

 

He stood up and drew Brian to his feet.  Silently he took his hand and led him up to the bedroom.  Once there he removed all Brian's clothes and then his own.  They stood naked facing each other, their hard-ons straining against their bellies.

 

"I want you," Justin gasped and wrapped his legs around Brian's waist.  He planted another kiss on the man, one just like the one that had got them here in the first place.

 

Justin rubbed his hard cock against Brian's, eliciting moans from both of them.  The kiss deepened impossibly more and Justin felt Brian's finger touch his hole.  He ground harder against the man refusing to break the kiss, but telling him he wanted more.  The finger pushed in and Justin rose up slightly breaking the kiss and gasping.  He flung his head back as Brian's finger pressed deeper.

 

Brian walked towards the bed Justin's legs still wrapped around him.  He pushed the boy backwards onto the bed and fell on top of him.  The kiss started all over again, each man rubbing frantically against the other.

 

"Now!" Justin demanded wanting more.

 

Brian sheathed his cock and covered it with lube.  He used the lube on his fingers to scissor into Justin's hole.  The boy lay on his back, his legs spread wide, his body covered in sweat, his mouth hanging open with desire.  Brian flipped his legs up onto his shoulders and drove home.  Justin cried out at the sudden intrusion.  Brian waited for him to adjust before drawing out and slamming back in.  Justin knew this was going to be rough.  This was part of his punishment for what he had done.  He knew Brian would be merciless.  He was claiming back ownership, not ever to be relinquished again.  The pounding would make that abundantly clear to them both. 

 

If he would have been able, Justin would have smiled at that realization, but at the moment he had other things to do with his mouth – like kiss Brian when his head came near, like gasp for air that his lungs desperately needed, like cry out his pleasure as Brian pounded into him.

 

Finally it was over.  Spent and sated they lay entwined. 

 

"That was awesome," Justin whispered.

 

"Better than Kip Thomas?"

 

"Brian, don't do that.  He was nothing, less than nothing.  We never even did anything, I swear.  I'm sorry that it ever happened."

"So am I.  I'll never mention it again," Brian said, and Justin knew he never would.

 

"I hope they catch him soon," Justin said as he curled up against Brian.

 

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