Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 21:45:27 -0500
From: Writer Boy <writerboy69@hotmail.com>
Subject: brian and tommy - part 2

Obligatory warnings and disclaimers:

1) If reading this is in any way illegal where you are or at your age, or
you don't want to read about male/male relationships, go away. You
shouldn't be here.

2) I don't know any of the celebrities in this story, and this story in no
way is meant to imply anything about their sexualities, personalities, or
anything else.  This is a work of pure fiction.

Questions and commentary can be sent to "writerboy69@hotmail.com".

***

"Brian, are you really sure about this?" Leighanne asked, watching him
across the remains of the cheesecake on the table between them. "I mean, I
support whatever you want to do, but have you thought about how hard this
is going to be if the guys won't back you on it?"

Brian and Leighanne had been talking for about an hour, splitting the
cheesecake between them as they sat at the small dining table in the
suite. Brian had talked for a while about his feelings, how trapped and
smothered he felt, and how he just couldn't do it any longer. He explained
to Lee how he felt like he was dying inside, and how hard it was for him to
get up every day and act like someone he wasn't. She asked where this had
come from, what happened on the roof, but Brian didn't tell her about
Tommy. The more he thought about it, the more he thought Tommy was just a
figment of his overactive imagination, a hallucination produced by his
subconscious, just another symptom of how unwell he was, how stressed out
and close to breaking. He couldn't be real, because that was just
impossible. That didn't happen, so Brian had neatly filed away the entire
encounter in his mind as a stress-related delusion. As frightening as it
was to think that he might be mentally unstable, it was less frightening
than the alternative.

Still, Tommy had seemed so real. Brian could remember his face, with its
classic lines, the high forehead and cheekbones, the thin mouth. He
remembered his pale blond hair, almost white, glinting in the moonlight,
almost gossamer like his eyebrows and lashes had been. And then there was
his body. Those strong arms, hanging down, veins snaking around muscles
that looked firm, but not overdeveloped and bulging. Brian remembered the
tight white t-shirt clinging to Tommy's chest, stretching across his pecs,
his nipples pressing against it with their swollen tips, almost
visible. The shirt had been just tight enough to offer a hint of abs, but
loose enough to leave them to the imagination.  Tommy's jeans had hung
loosely on his slim hips, so loosely that Brian thought one tug could bring
them to the ground, sliding down his slim thighs, revealing the basket that
had pressed against them with such possibility. Most of all, though, Brian
remembered his eyes, bright blue but icy, like glaciers. Brian remembered
staring into them, seeing them seem to get wider and wider, offering no
reflections, just depth.

At least his brain wasn't conjuring ugly delusions.

"I'm sure, Lee," Brian answered, shrugging. "I have to do this, for me. I
can't go on like this anymore, and if the guys don't support me on it,
well, too bad. We're still under contract, unless they want to buy me
out. Even if they don't, I don't need money anyway.  I have to be who I am,
Lee."

"OK," Lee said again, sighing. They already had this whole discussion once.
She just wanted to make sure that this was definitely what he wanted to do,
because she was worried about him. It was going to be hard, damn hard, and
if the guys didn't support him, he would have no one to turn to. "When are
you going to tell them?"

"Tomorrow morning," Brian answered, shrugging. Once there wouldn't have
been any doubt about whether or not his four friends would accept and
support him no matter what they told him, but that had been a long time
ago. Fame had eaten them all since then, and it had consumed their
friendship as well. They all still went through the motions, but Brian
wondered sometimes if that was more force of habit than anything else.  "We
have a breakfast together to talk about some stuff this week."

Lee stood and stretched, smiling at him.

"Well, news of your divorce should go really well with the bacon and eggs,
then," she said, grinning. "I'm going to fly out in the morning,
Brian. Once you tell the guys, it's going to leak, and I want my mom to
hear it from me before she gets a call from some reporter or something. Do
you want me to fly back after I see her?"

"I don't know," Brian answered, standing as well. "I'll call you after I
tell the guys. If we break this soon, though, it might be easier for you to
lay low for a while.  I'll still take care of you, Lee. I'll still honor
our agreement."

Leighanne hugged him tightly.

"Brian, you know it hasn't been about our agreement for a really long
time," she sighed, her hands on his back. He seemed so sure of himself,
when she would have expected him to be trembling and afraid. "If you were
the husband type, I would have been the happiest girl in the world. As it
is, even if you don't come out, I'm still proud of you, and I'm proud to be
your friend."

"I love you, Leighanne," Brian sighed, letting go finally.

"I love you, too," Lee said, leaning forward to kiss him on the
cheek. "Now, get a good night's sleep, and take a shower before you go to
bed. You stink like bourbon, and it'll get on the sheets, and then the
maids will be telling people that you're a drunk."

"What am I going to do without you?" Brian asked, smiling at her.

"Find some nice boy to replace me," Lee answered, smiling back.

They wished each other a good night, and went to their separate bedrooms in
the suite.  Lee listened to Brian's shower turn on as she looked around and
debated packing tonight or in the morning. She was worried about Brian,
worried about what the rest of the Boys would do. He was already out to
them, but there was a big difference between being out to them and being
out to everybody. Brian might not want to make a big, "Hey, world, I'm
gay," announcement, but the divorce would raise some questions, and he
planned to answer them honestly. It might be really hard for him to do that
without support, and she wondered if she should call one of the guys, but
who?

AJ was out. Too many issues and too much baggage. He couldn't even hold
himself together, much less help Brian cope. Nick was out, too. Brian told
Lee that the two of them had been very close once, but since Brian had come
out there had been a gulf between the two of them, and from what Lee had
seen, Nick had no interest in building a bridge. Kevin should have been the
obvious choice, being Brian's cousin, but there was a lot of pain there, at
least on Brian's side. When Brian had come out to his parents, they all but
disowned him. He could barely talk about it, even with her, but he had told
her that Kevin sided with them, telling Brian that he still loved him, but
could never approve of his choice. Lee shook her head, marveling at Kevin's
ignorance. It was no more a choice for Brian than his blue eyes, but Kevin
didn't seem to understand that. That left Howie, who always treated her and
Brian both with the same aloof politeness.  She didn't know much about him,
but no one else did, either, and he wasn't against Brian, so that left him
as her best choice.

Brushing her teeth, Leighanne decided that she would give Howie a call
tomorrow, after breakfast, and see if she could talk to him. Lee thought
about Brian for a minute as she climbed into bed, wondering if he'd be ok,
and if she should walk across the suite and check on him again. She didn't
want to seem smothering, but she had a nagging, nervous feeling. Once
reporters had asked about the two bedrooms, after some hotel employee had
leaked, and the two of them had given some explanation about Brian getting
up too early for rehearsals and Lee needing sleep. No one had questioned it
since, so she figured they were ok on that, but every once in a while she
wished she could do more for Brian, and that there weren't so many walls
between them. He shared more with Lee than he did with anyone else, but
Brian needed someone to complete him. He needed a partner, and she wasn't
qualified for that, lacking the requisite equipment to make him
happy. Maybe she could find someone to help with that, too.

Over in his bathroom Brian stood in the steaming shower, letting the spray
wash over him. He soaped himself up again, even though he'd already washed
once, because it was so calm and relaxing under the warm water that he just
didn't want to get out. He felt the tension of the day draining out of him
as he went to wash his hair again, and he looked down, watching the water
and the lather course down his body. Brian was proud of his body, proud of
all the work he did to keep himself in shape. It was just too bad he had no
one to share it with. As he thought that, the shower curtain twitched.

"Lee?" Brian asked, ducking his head under the water to rinse it off. "Did
you need something?"

There was no answer, and Brian turned to look at the curtain.

"Lee?" Brian asked again.

The bathroom was silent, and the curtain didn't move. He thought Lee might
have leaned in to ask him something, but there was no shadow on the shower
curtain, and still no answer. Brian peered out from behind the curtain,
water running off of him, his hair wet, his blue eyes darting around the
bathroom, but it was empty, and the door was closed.  Still, there was a
weird feeling, like when you walked into a room and knew that someone had
just walked out. Brian wondered if Lee had stepped in for something, to ask
him something or maybe tell him something, and then stepped out again. He
leaned back into the shower and rinsed off, and then turned the water off.

Brian walked across the bathroom, his feet wet on the tile, which was wet,
too. The whole bathroom was covered with condensation, the mirror
fogged. Looking down, he realized there were not footprints on the floor,
no marks in the water droplets. He must have been wrong about Leighanne
leaning in. Padding over to the mirror, wrapping his towel around his
waist, Brian reached out to wipe the steam off, seeing his own blurred,
dark form reaching toward the glass. As he touched it, the reflected hand
meeting his own, he saw a pale flutter behind him, indistinct, and he spun,
almost losing his footing in the water, but the bathroom was still empty.

"Jesus," Brian sighed, laughing softly. He was freaking himself out
tonight, no question.

Brian wiped off the mirror, seeing himself appear. He needed a tan, he
realized. Any second now, someone from management would start telling him
he was getting too pale, that it didn't look good on television or at
performances. He wasn't naturally a tan person, being so fair, but he tried
to keep some color. He wasn't too white yet, but he needed to book a little
time in a tanning bed somewhere. He looked at himself in the glass, and
tried to work up a smile, but just sighed. He knew he was cute, but he was
sensitive about his chest. It wasn't like Kevin's, all bulging muscles, and
never would be.  He looked at the scar in the mirror and sighed, wondering
about how different things would be for everyone if the surgery hadn't been
successful. He shook his head, combing his hair. That was a bad thought,
the kind of thinking that was getting him into trouble up on the roof.

Brian walked into the bedroom, tossing his towel onto a chair. He went to
the dresser, pulling a pair of boxers from the drawer, and then decided
against it. Why dirty another pair, just to take them off again in the
morning when he took another shower? The only person who might walk in
would be Leighanne, and they'd both seen each other naked lots of
times. Sometimes it was unavoidable, and the two of them had long since
given up worrying about it. Switching off the lights, he crawled into bed,
pulling the sheet up over him and wondering what would happen tomorrow when
he told the guys that he and Leighanne were going to get a divorce. Trying
to fall asleep, he found himself thinking of Tommy again, and then he
drifted off, visions of blue eyes and soft skin dancing behind his eyelids.

"Tommy," Brian sighed, hardly aware that he was speaking, thinking of Tommy
again.

In the suiteroom, silence reigned. Leighanne lay behind her door, and Brian
behind his.  Between them, the couches sat unused, the plates from the
cheesecake sitting on the table, the television screen dark. No one walked
on the carpet, no one pushed in the chairs. Brian's fork, hanging on the
edge of his plate, slid inexorably to side, dropping from the rim to the
tabletop with a soft clicking clatter. It was the only sound in the room,
and seemed to roll off of the walls as the drapes fluttered softly. The
room was empty, but someone was there.

Leighanne rolled over, half awake, suddenly feeling like someone was over
her bed. She felt worried, not for herself, but inexplicably concerned for
Brian suddenly. Something was wrong, and she began to claw her way up from
sleep.

Brian lay on his stomach, drifting in the twilight that comes before
dreams, or between them. The top of the sheet lay across his waist, his
back exposed to the room, and he shivered softly as he felt a fingertip
brush down his spine, feather light, barely there. It was a gentle caress,
not enough to wake him, and he murmured against the pillow as he felt it
again, tracing over his shoulder blades.

"Brian," a voice whispered, the breath fluttering over his ear. The
fingertip brushed him again, gently caressing his jaw before trailing
around his neck to slide down his back again. Brian sighed, his head turned
to the side, his arms flung sideways and upward on the pillows. Another
fingertip brushed over his lips as the first continued tracing gently up
and down his spine, down to the small of his back.

Leighanne tried to open her eyes, tried to force herself awake. She was
filled with an overwhelming sense that Brian needed help, that something
was wrong, very wrong, right now, but she couldn't pull herself from
sleep. She felt something pressing down on her, pushing her into the
mattress, and a wave of blackness washed over her, pushing her back into
sleep. She tried to fight it, but she was lost.

Brian sighed again, feeling not just fingertips but whole hands rubbing
over him now, brushing across the skin of his back, his neck, his
arms. Beneath the sheet he felt something sliding up his thighs, brushing
over his calves, over the backs of his knees.  Hands slid up over his
thighs, running up the backs of them, and Brian sighed again, a little
sleepy whimper, as he shifted a little. The hands continued their slow,
pressing climb, the fingertips trailing inside a little, caressing over the
soft skin of his inner thighs.  His mouth hung open a little as he felt
hands caressing his ass, sliding over it, the fingers dipping quickly into
his crack. He sighed again, still only half awake, as he felt a cool finger
brush over his hole. His hips slid forward, pressing his cock into the
mattress as he began to get hard.

"Unh," Brian moaned as the hands crawled over him, up and down his back,
brushing again over his ass. His legs slid apart a little, and a finger
bushed feather light over his sack.

"Brian," someone sighed again, so close he could feel lips brushing his
ear, eyelashes fluttering on his cheek.

Sweat broke out on Brian's forehead, a tiny line of glistening beads. He
sighed again, starting to wake up as all of his nerves began to sing. He
pushed himself into the mattress again, trapping his now hard cock between
the sheets and his abs, the pressure sending a wave of warm pleasure
through him. The hands continued to run up and down his body, to caress
him, to stroke him, to wake him up with their sense of need. He sighed
again, whimpering as he felt the finger back at his ass, pressing, firm,
against his hole, trying to get in. Brian's eyes popped open as he lifted
himself up on his hands, blinking, and looking around.

The bedroom, of course, was empty, but he'd been having the weirdest dream,
that someone was here, that someone was touching him. He rolled over,
looking around, seeing no one, as he'd expected. He felt the sheets sliding
over him as he turned, and glancing down saw that the dream had affected
much more than just his brain.  His cock was throbbing, tenting the sheet
up, pressing against it, throbbing. A tiny wet spot formed on the sheet and
Brian sighed, wondering if he should look for some tissues and take care of
himself. The curtains in the room, thin wispy drapes, were billowing,
fluttering up from the windows, and Brian glanced at them and felt himself
go cold as he realized the windows were closed.

What was happening here?

"Brian," someone whispered, breaking the silence in the room. "Brian."

"Tommy?" Brian whispered, squinting, his eyes searching the dark corners.

"Brian," Tommy whispered, striding forward, pushing though the billowing
curtains as he walked toward the bed.

The moonlight streaming through the windows played across his bare body as
Brian watched him walking toward the bed. Tommy was everything Brian had
imagined beneath his clothes, everything he'd thought he'd see when Tommy
had been there with him, holding him, kissing him. His pale body almost
glistened in the light, his hair glowing in its almost whiteness. His pink
nipples, tiny, like dimes, stood out on his rounded pecs. His abs caught
the shadows, rippling a little as he walked, his cock, long and hard,
pointing out in front of him, bobbing as he walked quickly toward Brian. He
stood at the end of the bed, strong arms hanging at his sides. Brian
realized that a sweat had broken out all over his body, but the room was
suddenly cold, like ice.

Tommy stood at the end of the bed, breathing softly, staring down at Brian,
their eyes locked together. Brian stared up at him, his mouth open, sweat
running off of him as his heart raced, and then Tommy leaned forward,
catching the end of the sheet in his fingers.  He stood, pulling the sheet
back with him as he went, and Brian tried to catch his breath as the sheet
went sliding off of him, over his still hard cock and down his legs. Tommy
let the sheet drop soundlessly to the floor, and Brian realized that the
only sound he could hear in the room was his own heartbeat as he stared
into Tommy's eyes, which seemed impossibly wide, impossibly blue, as icy
cold as Antarctica. Brian felt himself falling into them.

"Brian," Tommy whispered again, staring down at him.

"Tommy," Brian whispered back, licking his lips.

Tommy leaned forward onto the bed, seeming to fall toward it, and Brian
watched him crawl up the bed. He shuddered as Tommy kissed his way up
Brian's thighs, his lips a little cold, but also somehow hot. Tommy's
tongue flicked out, swiping the sweat off of Brian's legs as Brian sighed
beneath him. Tommy's pale body seemed to undulate in the dark room as he
kissed his way toward Brian's cock. His tongue flicked out, long and pale,
brushing over Brian's wet cockhead like a caress. Brian sighed again, his
fingers bunching, gripping the sheets. Tommy licked at him again, and
again, and then kissed it once before pressing his lips to Brian's abs,
running his mouth over them, tracing his tongue around Brian's navel. He
slid higher, pressing his chilled mouth around Brian's nipple, sucking at
it as Brian moaned softly. Tommy let it go, kissed his way up Brian's neck,
and then his mouth was on Brian's finally.

Brian bucked beneath him, pressing himself to Tommy, feeling their bodies
connect all the way down from their mouths to their toes. Tommy was firm,
all muscle, but with soft skin stretched across his body. Brian's hands
came up, settling onto Tommy's back, feeling him twist and flex as he
ground himself into Brian. Their nipples brushed against each other, their
cocks flexed and pushed as they throbbed, trapped, between them.  Tommy's
tongue, slightly cold, like the rest of him, dipped into Brian's mouth,
sliding, seeking, running over his teeth and across his own tongue. Tommy
broke the kiss, pulling back a little, and Brian sucked in a breath
finally, his chest rising up to push against Tommy's as he pressed down on
him.

"Tommy?" Brian asked, wondering if he really was awake. "How?"

"I'm here for you, Brian," Tommy whispered, nuzzling Brian's neck.

"How?" Brian asked again.

"I saw you," Tommy whispered, tugging at Brian's earlobe with his teeth. "I
knew you needed me. Do you need me, Brian?"

Brian sighed underneath him, feeling one of Tommy's hands run up to catch
in his hair, turning his head toward Tommy's, tilting it back a little as
his mouth opened. Tommy's other hand slid over his chest, palm open,
cupping his pec, rubbing across his nipple.  Tommy's tongue snaked into his
mouth again, and Brian groaned as Tommy's hand wrapped around his cock,
squeezing it. Tommy kissed hard at his mouth, seeming to suck the groan out
of him, sucking all of the air out of him as Brian's hips jerked.

"Do you need me, Brian?" Tommy asked again, his breath on Brian's cheek.
Brian stared up into his eyes.

"Yes," Brian whispered as Tommy squeezed his cock. "Yes."

Tommy chuckled softly, and then went back to kissing, putting his mouth to
work as he sucked passionately at Brian's tongue. This was what Brian
needed, exactly what he needed. He needed someone to touch him, someone to
love him. It had been so long, such a long time since he had felt hands on
him like this, since someone had kissed him like this. It had been so long
since someone actually had needed him, not needed something from him, but
actually needed him. It had been so long since someone had cared about what
Brian the person wanted, and had wanted Brian for himself, not for who he
was.

"Oh, God," Brian sighed, closing his eyes, as Tommy began to kiss and suck
at his neck again.

Tommy's head slid back down to Brian's chest, his tongue tracing over
Brian's scar as he kissed his way across, back to Brian's nipple. He ran
his tongue in a circle around it, tracing the sweat, and then flicked it
out across the tip. Brian sighed again, and Tommy grinned, catching the
nipple in his teeth. He bit it lightly, pulling at it, and then let go as
Brian whimpered beneath him. Tommy licked and sucked his way across Brian's
chest to the other nipple and repeated it, sucking, pulling, biting, his
mouth pressed into a tight circle around it as Brian continued to twist the
sheets with his hands, pulling them into tight bunches as his knuckles
whitened.

Tommy began to kiss his way back down Brian's abs, running his mouth over
them again, painting a trail down the middle of Brian's hairless stomach
until his mouth collided with the head of Brian's dripping, throbbing
cock. Drops of precum were rolling from Brian's slit, and Tommy flicked his
tongue out, scooping them up, and then began to lap at the head of Brian's
cock like a lollipop. He dipped his tongue into the slit again and again,
spearing each drop as Brian's cock throbbed, pushing them out, leaking like
a faucet, and Brian continued to moan and whimper, pressing himself into
the bed. Tommy began to paint his tongue up and down Brian's shaft, the
cool sandpaper texture sending radiating waves of shuddering pleasure up
through Brian's body.

"I waited, Brian," Tommy sighed, bending a little to lick at Brian's balls,
lapping at them as well, mouthing them gently. "I waited to see what you
would do."

"Do?" Brian asked, almost panting it.

"What you would decide," Tommy whispered, still licking at Brian's sack. He
sucked one ball into his mouth, gently, and then spit it out and sucked in
the other. "You need me, don't you?"

Brian groaned.

"Don't you?" Tommy asked again, licking his way back up Brian's shaft.

"Yes," Brian panted. "Yes, I need you. I need you, Tommy."

Tommy smiled.

"I know," he answered, licking at the head again. "I'm here for you, Brian.
Only for you."

"Oh, yes, Tommy," Brian sighed. "Yes."

Tommy smiled, and then folded his lips over Brian's cockhead, bobbing his
head down as he swallowed him completely. Brian yelped, his hips jerking
up, as Tommy's nose buried itself in his pubic hair. Tommy's mouth was
cool, but at the same time, somehow hot, and it sucked at Brian, seeming to
pull him in. It had been so long that Brian knew he wouldn't last, knew he
wouldn't be able to hold out, especially with someone so skilled.  It was
like nothing he'd ever felt before, Tommy's lips wrapped around his cock,
his tongue flicking and painting over it as he sucked and sucked, bobbing
up and down on him. Brian looked down and saw Tommy staring up at him, his
blue eyes wide.  They locked together, staring into each other, Brian
falling into him, sinking into him, as Tommy began to bob faster and
faster.

"Oh, God, Tommy," Brian squeaked, sweat dripping down his forehead, running
down his neck.

Brian's hips rotated up, almost against his will, as he began to thrust
into Tommy's mouth, pushing harder, almost brutally. He was worried that it
might be too hard, too much, but Tommy seemed to enjoy it, swallowing Brian
over and over again. He groaned, purring a little, the vibration of his
throat humming up and down Brian's cock.  Brian felt the sheets pulling all
the way off the bed, sliding over the corners of the mattress, as his arms
flexed, the veins standing out. One of Tommy's hands slid up between his
legs, and Brian let them fall open a little as he continued to pound
against Tommy's face. Tommy's finger slid down over Brian's balls, and then
behind them, and Brian felt it brush his hole as his whole body locked, his
back arching, and he began to shoot into Tommy's mouth.

Brian looked down, feeling himself tense, and saw Tommy's eyes locked on
his. They seemed wider than before, and bluer, so much bluer, blazing blue
like the flame on a stove. Brian lost himself in them, seeing nothing else,
feeling himself fall into them completely, losing himself in the blue
flame, consumed. Tommy's mouth sucked at him as he shot into him, sucked
tightly at him, and it felt like Tommy's tongue had somehow made its way
inside, all the way inside, snaking down through Brian's cock to wrap
around his balls, and even deeper. Brian felt himself spurt, and then spurt
again, tossing his head back. Tommy broke the seal suddenly, letting
Brian's cock slide out of his mouth, and he lunged quickly up Brian's body
to clamp his mouth down over Brian's as Brian fought for air.

He tried to catch his breath, but Tommy was right there, his lips sealed
over Brian's, his tongue fighting its way inside. Tommy seemed to weigh a
thousand pounds suddenly, his chest pressing down onto Brian's, his mouth
sucking and pulling at Brian, seeking something as Brian fought to
breathe. Brian's eyes bulged, and he saw those blue eyes above him again,
staring down into him, and he noticed as he stared back up at them, his
heart hammering, his lungs screaming, that he had no reflection. Tommy's
eyes were completely empty. Blackness rolled over him, seemed to roll right
out of the center of Tommy's eyes, and Brian fell into it.

The last thing he heard was Tommy's voice, whispering in his mind.

"I love you, Brian. I love you."

Brian woke up again, sometime later, although he couldn't tell when. It was
still dark out, and he was still on his back in the bed as Tommy straddled
him. Brian's hard cock was inside Tommy, gripped in his hot tunnel, and
Brian was again covered with sweat.  Tommy, above him, was dry and
completely smooth, his muscles standing out like alabaster sculpture, and
he looked down at Brian, his mouth twisted into a slight smile.  Brian
groaned as Tommy's hips flexed, pulling him inside again, and Brian
realized that Tommy must have been on him for a while, must have worked on
him while he was asleep, because he could feel that he was close again. He
could also feel that he wasn't wearing a condom, and he reached out for
Tommy's hips, meaning to stop him long enough to put one on, but Tommy's
pale hands flashed out, gripping each of his, twining Tommy's fingers
through his own.

"Tommy," Brian panted, barely recognizing his own voice. It was a high,
thready whine, squeaky almost.

"Brian," Tommy said, grinning.

Tommy leaned down, still gripping Brian's hands with his own, and plastered
his mouth over Brian's again. As he felt Tommy's tongue snake into his
mouth, Brian felt himself tensing, shooting again as his whole body locked
and strained its way into orgasm.  Tomy's ass seemed to pull at his cock,
clamping tight around it, squeezing and sucking as if he was caught in some
kind of machine, and Brian's yelp of pleasure was sucked into Tommy's
mouth. Again Brian stared up into those blazing eyes, and again felt
darkness rolling over him.

Brian's eyes popped open when he felt a hand brush over his shoulder, and
he saw Leighanne above him, looking concerned. Sunlight streamed through
the curtains behind her, and he squinted, raising an arm to shield his
eyes. The sheet was pulled up to his waist again, and he was alone in the
bed. Tommy was gone, and Brian wondered if it had all been a dream. His
whole body felt kind of sore, and he wondered if he had drank more last
night than he remembered.

"Brian, you up?" Lee asked quietly, leaning back when she saw his eyes
open.  She felt her heart fluttering a little, and mentally kicked herself
for getting so worried. When she had walked in Brian had been so still, and
she'd had a fleeting thought that he wasn't breathing.

"Yeah," he said, starting to sit up. His arm slipped, and he fell back into
his pillows.

"Brian?" Lee asked, alarmed. "Brian, you ok?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," he said, sitting up a little more slowly, still
shielding his eyes with his other hand. "Just a little dizzy."

"You have breakfast in a half hour," Lee said, stepping back. She knew he
wouldn't want to get out of bed until she was out of the room, because he
was still a little modest southern boy at heart, and she didn't want to
make him late. "Brian, did you sleep ok?"

Brian looked up at her, surprised. Had she heard something? And had there
even been anything to hear?

"Yeah, why?" he asked.

"You have circles under your eyes," she said quietly, watching him. Why did
he look so panicked suddenly? "Just thought I'd ask."

"No, I'm fine," he said, shrugging. He mustered up a weak grin. "It was
just, you know, a rough night."

"OK," Lee said, letting it drop. She remembered her feeling last night that
something was wrong, but everything looked ok now. Still, the feeling
continued to nag at her. "I'll just leave you to get ready, ok? I'm in my
room if you need me."

"Thanks, Lee," Brian said, watching her close his door. He caught a glimpse
of himself in the mirror above the dresser as he sat in the bed and saw
that Lee was right. He looked like hell. "Freaky fucked up dreams."

He slid out of bed, walking toward the bathroom. None of that could have
happened, no matter how real it felt at the time. The bedroom was spotless,
and other than feeling a little sore, there wasn't a mark on him. He turned
on the shower and stepped in, not noticing the curtains in the bedroom
gently rustling against the closed glass panes, as if there was a breeze.

***

To be continued.