Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2003 23:15:01 -0800 (PST) From: shannon Savage Subject: Model Me part 11 Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this story is complete fiction. The sexuality of anyone in the story is not necessarily true, but just written to entertain. If you are underage or if it is illegal to read pornographic material where you live, please leave now. Also, if you are uncomfortable with gay relationships, you should not read any farther. For everyone else, enjoy the show.... As they ascended to the eighth floor, all Justin could do was concentrate on Craig. Not just because the man's tongue was down his throat, but also because his hands were down his pants. "You know this elevator is taking way too long," Craig said breathlessly. "You're tellin' me," Justin said moaning a little as Craig shifted his hand. "Babe you're going to have to stop." Craig reluctantly took his hand off of Justin's stiff cock and placed it on the back of his neck, pulling the man into a passionate kiss. "God you are so hot," Justin breathed, leaning against the man. Craig smiled at him and glanced up at the elevator numbers, just as the eight lit up bright orange. "Okay come on," Craig said hurriedly, grabbing Justin's hand. "Honey you have to wait for the doors to open," Justin said laughing. A ding sounded in the small cabin and Craig pulled him though the doors as soon as they opened. Justin slid the key card into the door while Craig slid his hands up and down his sides from behind. "You know you're very distracting," Justin said swiping the card a third time. Craig laughed as Justin finally pushed the door open, letting the other man enter first. When Craig crossed the threshold his eyes lit up just like the first time they had entered. He paused in the doorway, taking in the white candles that seemed to be all over the room. Every surface that could hold a candle was covered with one. He heard soft music playing throughout the suite and saw red and white rose petals sprinkled in a line leading to the bedroom. He took a step further into the room; still amazed that Justin had time to have all of this done, while still focusing all of his attention on Craig. He turned to the man, who just closed the door, and hugged him. Justin kissed his cheek and held him tightly. "Thank you," Craig said leaning back in his arms. "It's beautiful." "You don't have to thank me. You deserve it Craig. You're the sweetest person I've ever met in my life," he said running a hand over Craig's baby soft cheek, "and I love you." "I love you too," he said kissing the man on the lips gently. Craig turned around to face the romantically decorated room again; Justin's arms still around him from behind, and sighed. "What are you thinking?" Justin asked nuzzling against his neck. "How lucky I am to have you," he said stroking Justin's forearm and placing his hand over his. "I'm the lucky one sweetie," he said kissing the side of his neck. "Do you want to dance?" Craig laughed, almost giggling a little. "Really?" "Sure why not?" Justin said releasing him and walking over to the stereo. He switched the CD and turned up the volume a little. "This is one of my favorite songs," Justin said walking back over to Craig. He took his hand and held him close. "Come away with me in the night. Come away with me and I will write you a song..." They began swaying to the music, Justin leading Craig across the plush carpet, almost floating on air. Craig smiled at him and leaned his head on his shoulder, Justin kissing him on the cheek. "...Come away where they can't tempt us with their lies..." "...And I want to walk with you on a cloudy day," Justin sung softly in his ear. "In fields where the yellow grass grows knee high. So won't you try to come? Come away with me and we'll kiss on a mountaintop. Come away with me and I'll never stop loving you..." They continued to dance during the musical interlude, the rain that was now pouring out of the dark sky blowing softly against the glass doors to the balcony. Craig looked into his eyes. Justin smiled at him and kissed his lips. "I don't really know how to tell you how much I love you," Craig said looking down at Justin's chest and then meeting his eyes again, "but I do Justin...very much." "And I want to wake up with the rain falling on a tin roof while I'm safe there in your arms..." "I love you too." "...Come away with me in the night. Come away with me..." They kissed slowly but passionately as the song finished and another one came on. "I have something else to show you," Justin said. Craig nodded quickly, wondering what else the man had up his sleeve for the night. He followed close by Justin through the bedroom, smiling at the hundreds of white candles that lit up that room as well and the red and white rose petals spread over the bed, to the bathroom. That room had the same myriad of candles, this time lined up along the bathtub, which was filled with water. There were candles floating in it as well as more rose petals. "I may have gone a little overboard," Justin said looking at Craig's reaction to the newly decorated bathroom. "No not at all," he said squeezing the man's hand lightly. "I love it." He wrapped his arms around Justin loving how they seemed to fit together so well and kissed the man on the cheek. As they undressed each other they kissed lovingly every chance they got. Craig stepped into the warm water after Justin and laid his head back against his lover's chest. Justin reached over the side of the tub and brought up a bottle of champagne, which he poured into a single crystal flute. "Champagne?" he asked Craig handing the man the glass. Craig kissed him on the lips, loving the taste of Justin more then he ever could expensive wine or champagne. He sipped the bubbly liquid and passed it to Justin who did the same. As they laid there just soaking in the tub, listening to Norah Jones sing softly to them, their hands, fingers and legs were entwined together. Justin tilted Craig's head towards him with a wet hand, after setting the champagne glass on the edge of the large Jacuzzi style tub, and kissed him, tasting the sweet sparkling wine on his pink lips. "I love you," he said still close to the man's lips. "I love you too," Craig said. Most of the candles that were placed in the tub with them had gone out, even with their minimal movement, but the room was still lit well enough from the candles placed around the tub for Craig to make out the sparkle in Justin's blue eyes. He imagined that he had the same sparkle in his at that moment, although that sparkle would have dimmed significantly if he had been anywhere near his cell phone at that point. It rang, with the programmed tune not to familiar to him since he never called Craig, and beeped signaling a message left behind on the nightstand by the bed. *** It was odd that Lance could feel so alone in a place with so many different people. He felt like he wanted to just blend into the booth he had collapsed into a minute ago. Or was it an hour ago? Time had seemed to stop moving for him earlier that evening. After throwing back three beers and two more glasses of scotch he thought he would be feeling no pain at this point. It was quite the opposite, though. He felt like he wanted to cry and scream and curse all at once. He had never been a violent person but he sweared that this would be the time he could commit murder and not even bat an eyelash. What was he thinking? Murder? He was so confused and so hurt. How could JC do this to him? He guessed that why was the biggest question at the moment. He already knew how. In the bathroom with Wade, that's how. All of a sudden he got his strength back but for some reason it was in his stomach, he felt like he was going to throw up again. He had done it twice already so he wasn't sure what else was down there, but whatever it was it wanted to come up. He swallowed hard and breathed trying to ward off the dizziness he was also feeling. Tears stung his eyes as he picked himself up from the booth and staggered to the door. He needed something to take the pain away, anything... *** "What are you doing?" Justin asked Craig as he walked towards him. Craig couldn't help but smile at the man. They were both wearing plush bathrobes, compliments of the hotel, but Craig had to admit Justin looked so much more attractive in his. "I was going to check my messages," he said holding up his cell phone for the man to see. "No, no, no," Justin said taking the phone from him and placing it back on the nightstand. "You can check messages and return calls later. Right now you're mine." Justin wrapped his arms around the man and kissed him. "If you insist," Craig said with mock half-heartedness after they broke the kiss. "I do," Justin said simply. "Did you get all of the candles blown out?" "Yeah finally. I thought I was going to need an oxygen tank though." Craig laughed, "It could have helped." "Maybe," he said kissing the man's neck. "Ready for bed?" Justin asked untying the robe's sash from around Craig's waist. "Yes," he said untying Justin's as well. Both robes fell to the ground as they continued to kiss slowly. Their hard unclothed bodies rubbed together as they held each other close, the candlelight that still flickered in just that one room playing off their tanned torsos. Justin laid Craig on the bed softly, the rose petals against his bare back, and placed his body over the man's. They lay there looking into each other's eyes, not searching or longing for anything because they had already found it. They had finally found each other, their soul mate. Craig placed his had on Justin's cheek, which was slightly flushed and warm to the touch, and kissed his lips tenderly. "I want you to make love to me," Craig said softly. Justin looked into his gorgeous sapphire sea green eyes and then kissed him, caressing the side of his face. Their tongues slow danced with each other as they kissed and ran their hands over the other's candle lit body. If Craig had made his request at any other time Justin probably would have been to nervous and worried to even perform. Since he hadn't expected them to "go all the way" on the trip he hadn't brought condoms or what ever else they would need. Honestly he wasn't exactly sure how it even worked. But now, in their little hideaway by the sea, he didn't think about how to do things and didn't second-guess himself. He just let his body do what it was programmed to do. Craig instructed him minimally, but he wasn't really sure what to do either because, for all intensive purposes, he was a virgin. He had never actually had sex with anyone, male or female. He never pictured his first time, and wasn't even sure why he waited, until that first time he looked into Justin's eyes at the fashion show. Justin began to enter him slowly, having used lotion for lubrication. "Are you okay?" he asked when Craig grasped his back a little tighter. "Yeah," he said blinking a few times. Justin continued, stopping every inch or so to ask Craig if he was alright. "I'm fine," Craig said again, kissing his lips. As Justin made love to him he stared into Craig's eyes, kissing his lips every few seconds, and whispering in his ear how much he loved him and wanted to be with him forever. *** Through the large bay window in the bedroom Justin could see the rolling waves from the ocean as the sky turned a light yellow, among bright orange streaks, with morning approaching. He looked over at Craig who had just fallen asleep in his arms and kissed the man softly on the forehead. It wasn't as though Justin wasn't tired, he was just almost too happy to sleep. He had never felt like this before. Almost like the universe made sense to him now. He ran his hand idly up and down Craig's toned smooth chest as he thought. He had been in love before, or at least he thought he had been with Britney. He figured when they were together and everything was good that they were in love, but not like this. He cuddled a little closer to Craig. Never like this. Just as his eyes were closing Justin's hand touched the necklace around Craig's neck. The sliver pendant was warm from lying on the man's skin and Justin ran fingers over it. It was just a simple circle, well not a perfect circle, more like it was hand carved, if you can even carve something out of silver. There were grooves in it that gave it the appearance of age. Since Craig hadn't talked about it much, even when asked, Justin wasn't sure how long he had had it or if it was just meant to look aged. He held it between his thumb and index finger feeling the grooves on each side. The ones on the back felt different, almost like writing. He flipped it over and read the engraved message. I Luv U, Jeremy It was a simple message but it spoke volumes to Justin. He thought back to all the times Craig had acted strange or aloof when asked certain questions. The pieces started falling together, it was less like a puzzle though and more like a brick house because it felt like he was being crushed all of a sudden. It felt like a ten thousand pound weight had been placed on his chest and he struggled to catch his breath. He thought back over all the times Craig had confessed his love for him, while hiding the fact that he was seeing someone else. The photo shoot with his ex boyfriend, the mysterious visitor with the letter, the times he showed up almost in tears over something but refused to tell him, the restaurant that night... the list went on and on in Justin's mind. He untangled himself from Craig trying not to wake the man, not because he wanted him to get quality sleep but because he didn't want to have to talk to him. He stood there in the middle of the bedroom, naked, which is exactly how he felt inside. He threw on some clothes and left the bedroom to pace the living room. Justin had a few options at this point, wake Craig up and have it out right then and there or just leave. He could walk out of the man's life forever. His eyes welled up with tears with that thought, but he didn't have anything else better in mind. He crept back into the bedroom and fished his cell phone and wallet out of the jeans he was wearing the night before. He thought about packing, glancing at his suitcase sitting next to the closet and then at the closet itself. It wasn't really worth it to him. He could buy new clothes; he just needed to get out of that hotel and away from Craig. He turned towards the bedroom door after slipping his wallet in his back pocket but turned back towards Craig, who was still fast asleep. Could he really walk out of the man's life forever? Justin blinked back his tears, swallowed hard, and let his eyes fall from the slumbering man. He turned again, but this time kept going to the front door of the hotel room, not even glancing at the melted candles and wilted rose petals underneath his feet. *** "What's wrong?" Wade asked kneeling on the bed behind JC. He placed his arms around the man's neck and kissed his shoulder. "I'm just worried about Lance," he said looking down at the cordless phone in his hand. "Still no answer?" "No, and Joey and Chris didn't see him leave last night." "Try his cell phone again." "I already did," JC said standing. "He's a grown man Josh," Wade said. "I'm sure he can take care of himself. Maybe he's actually having some fun right now." JC looked at him and shook his head, "He isn't like that anymore. I know for a fact that whenever we go out he tells at least one of us when he's leaving." Wade sighed sitting crossed legged on the bed. He figured the whole Lance situation had ruined any chance of them fucking again in the next few minutes. "Did you talk to him last night at all?" he asked. "Yeah of course." "What'd he say?" "Nothing really," JC said trying to remember about four hours and six beers ago. "Well what was the last thing he said?" Wade asked placing his elbows on his legs. "Something about his company and then he just said he'd see me later." "Well there ya go," Wade said throwing his long arms in the air dramatically. "It wasn't a goodbye for the night, it was a see you later on tonight." "How do you know?" "I guess I don't," JC said sitting next to him on the bed. "You want to go over to his place, don't you?" Wade asked reluctant to let the half clothed singer out of his grasp. "Yeah I do. Do you mind?" JC asked placing a hand on Wade's thigh. He wasn't sure why he was so concerned with what the man felt at this point, it wasn't like they were dating, but for some reason it felt right. "No go ahead." "You're sure?" JC asked already pulling on a pair of khakis. "Yes go," Wade said laying down and closing his eyes. JC slipped on a white t-shirt and looked at the man he had just shared his bed with once again. He walked over to him and stood above him for a second, then leaned down and kissed his forehead. "I'll be back soon," he said moving a few strands of Wade's bleach blond hair that fell in his face. When JC got to Lance's house the sun had officially risen but the town didn't seem quite ready to wake up yet. He noticed the abscence of Lance's car in the driveway but knew the man always tucked her away in the garage. He opened the front door with his key, turning off the alarm as he walked through the entryway. Lance's house was a smaller style then his or Justin's but it still had the essentials for their line of business, plus some. He called Lance's name as he walked through the downstairs of the five-bedroom home towards the garage, but received no answer. He opened the garage door and flicked on the light. Lance was definitely the opposite of Justin when it came to cars. Where Justin had every make and model of anything over fifty grand, Lance had two cars, a Cadillac Escalade and a midnight blue Bentley. The Escalade was parked to the left of the garage, leaving space for the Bentley, which was not in attendance. JC thought for a moment, letting everyone of Lance's friends tick through his mind like a police computer ran down possible suspects. He walked back into the house and started to dial number after number, with no avail, but waking up plenty of people. He called Justin's house just to see if maybe Lance crashed there for the night but received no answer. He didn't want to call Justin on his cell phone and worry him for no reason, but as time ticked on he thought it might be a good idea to put everyone on alert, just in case Lance got in contact with one of them. Interrupting Justin's vacation with Craig wasn't what he wanted to do, but he couldn't really come up with anything else. Chris had already mentioned wanting to call Justin. It took everything JC was for the man to get his friend to change his mind. Obviously no one else saw the big deal because as far as they knew Justin was in California for the weekend handling some last minute album stuff. JC paused for a second, his thumb over the seven, the last number to Justin's cell phone. He almost dropped the phone on the kitchen table when it started ringing in his hand. *** When Lance woke up, he couldn't have exactly called it a good morning. His head was throbbing, his body ached, and for some reason he was unable to turn over in bed and go back to sleep. He tried again hitting his leg against something hard and cold. Pain shot through his knee, up his thigh, finding its home on his ribs. He moaned a little and brought his right hand up to his stomach, almost blacking out from the pain when he touched himself. He opened his eyes slowly, looking down at his chest. His vision was a little blurry but it looked like there was blood on his white collard shirt. He ran his fingers through the red liquid and it smeared over his shirt. He felt so confused for some reason. He lifted his head, moaning again at the pressure that built up in his skull from the small movement. He blinked at the view in front of him not really comprehending what he saw. How was his pillow flying in front of him in mid air? Why was it so big? He looked to his right. Was he still in his car? He touched his head that was still pounding with his other hand and felt a sticky wet substance, which he assumed was blood. He let that hand fall to his lap, wincing from the pain that shot through his wrist. He undid his seat belt, which took a little more effort then normal because of the air bags, and tried to open his door. "Fuck!" he said loudly when the door didn't budge. He leaned the seat back all the way and climbed into the backseat. The rear doors wouldn't open either. He kicked his foot through the rear window causing it to crack. He kicked again and the glass shattered, raining tiny shards on the ground near the car. He crawled out of the window, trying not to jostle his left arm too much, and fell to the cement. He lay there for a minute, on top of broken glass, and then stood collecting himself as best he could under the circumstances. After searching, for what seemed like endless hours, for his cell phone he gave up and started walking down the side of the road not even glancing at the twisted metal that used to be his car, or the tree he had ran in to. It was pretty deserted, but he figured it had to be at least four in the morning maybe a little later. His watch was all smashed up so he couldn't know for sure. He reached a line of shops, which of course were closed, and made a phone call on one of the pay phones. "Can you come get me?" he said wearily into the phone. *** JC wasn't sure exactly where Lance was but he was on his way. He talked to the man as he drove trying to figure out where exactly he was and what the hell happened to him. By the sound of things JC figured another trip to the hospital would be inevitable. "Why would you drive after all that?" he asked. "You should have asked one of us to take you home." Lance bit his tongue, literally. It was the only way he could stop himself from saying something like, "Well you were a little too busy fucking Wade," or "I didn't want to interrupt the bathroom Olympics you and Wade had going on." "Lance?" JC asked when the man didn't answer. "Just keep going down that road and then make a left," he said. JC was about to repeat his question when he heard a click. "Hello? Lance?" he said into the phone. While he drove he called Chris and Joey to let them know everything was somewhat okay. "We'll meet you at the hospital," Chris said. "I don't think he's going to want to go," said JC making a left at the stop sign. "Make him," Chris said. "And tell Justin to get his ass back here or I will." JC sighed; he was getting really tired of people hanging up on him. *** Craig turned over in his sleep and reached for Justin. All he got was a handful of cold sheets and a pillow that faintly smelled like his love's cologne. "Justin?" he said not opening his eyes yet. When he didn't receive an answer he opened his eyes and looked around the room. He yawned as he got out of bed and slipped on one of the discarded robes. He thought for a moment as he tied the sash around his waist. Justin can't stand for clothes to be all over the floor. If he was up why weren't the robes put away? Craig shrugged it off and searched the suite for the man coming up empty handed. He wasn't really one to start panicking over potentially nothing but he did wonder why Justin hadn't left a note or better yet woken him up before leaving. Justin had mentioned that that day would be full of stuff he had planned. Maybe he went to go check on things. Craig sat down on the large couch looking around the room at the candle wax and rose petals. He smiled thinking about how magical last night had been. He thought it was definitely one of those things that only happened in sappy romance novels. Well gay romance novels anyway. He sat around for a minute or two, but was just way too impatient, and now wide-awake, to wait for Justin to get back. He grabbed his cell phone from the bedroom and sat down on the bed dialing two on his speed dial for Justin's cell phone number. The phone went straight to his voice mail. Craig thought a moment, and then left a quick message. Craig remembered about his own voice mail and wondered if Justin had left a hint of where he had gone. Just as he was dialing in his password he heard the door open to the room. He jumped up and ran threw the bedroom door just in time to almost knock Justin over. "Sorry," Craig said laughing. Justin stared passed him. "What's wrong?" Craig asked. The man in front of him didn't look like the same Justin he had fallen asleep with the night before. "Lance was in a car accident," he said walking past the man. "Oh my God," Craig said following him. "Is he okay?" "Just a few scrapes and bruises," Justin said opening the closet. He took out all of his clothes in one motion and threw them on the bed. "What are you doing?" "I have to leave," he said throwing stuff into his duffel bag. "But I thought you said he was okay." "I need to be there." "Okay, what time does the flight leave?" Craig asked grabbing his bag. "In an hour." "Are you sure you're okay?" Craig asked pausing at the dresser. He had just noticed that Justin hadn't looked at him once, even when they almost ran into each other. "You can stay here if you want," he said ignoring the question. "Why would I? Are you coming back?" "Probably not." "I'm not going to stay here by myself," he said smiling. Justin glanced at him then zipped up his bag. "I'm sure you wouldn't," he said under his breath. "What?" Craig asked pulling on a pair of boxer briefs. "I'm going to go check out," Justin said leaving the room with his bag. "I'll meet you downstairs," Craig called after him. He continued dressing and finished packing. He wasn't sure what exactly was eating Justin, unless he wasn't telling him the truth about Lance's condition. Craig figured there was no reason to keep that a secret from him so it must have been something else. When he got downstairs Justin had a taxi waiting for them. The cab ride to the airport was the quietest the two men had ever been. Craig thought Justin just needed some time to deal with the whole Lance being hurt situation but that wasn't what bothered the man. Sure he was concerned about his friend, but once JC told him that Lance was still alive and kicking and there was no need to come home, all of his thoughts turned back to Craig. When he got the call he had been walking along the beach debating whether to leave like he had planned or to go back and talk to Craig. He couldn't bring himself to just leave the man on a whole different continent. But he also couldn't bring himself to actually talk to him about the situation at hand. He just wanted to get away from him for a while and think about some stuff. He had been thinking on his walk, but everything was still all muddled in his head. He needed some quiet time at home to lay everything out on the table. Maybe he would talk to JC about it. His best friend said that he was okay with the whole Craig thing but he may have not been as comfortable with it as he thought. "He'll be okay," Craig said placing a hand over Justin's. Instead of squeezing his hand like Justin normally would have done he just looked down at the hand over his and removed it. Craig's heart almost broke in his chest. He looked out of his window and bit his bottom lip. There was no way Justin was that upset about Lance still being alive. Craig figured that he must have done something to upset him, but just couldn't figure out what it was. Once they got to the airport Justin excused himself to go make a phone call when Craig asked him if there was anything wrong again. Craig sighed and just sat there watching Justin on the other side of the first class lounge talking quietly into his cell phone. It was almost as if the man was trying to get as far away from him as possible. He finally pulled out his own phone and checked the messages he had been trying to at least twice that he could think of. His right hand, which was holding the phone to his ear, went completely numb and all the color drained out of his face when he heard his first and only message. He started to shake uncontrollably and tears welled up in his eyes. He stood to make a run for the bathroom before he started blubbering like a little baby but fell back down in his seat when his knees gave out. He breathed slowly a few times warding off the light-headedness that flashed through him. The breathing helped his inevitable fainting spell but did not fend off the feeling in the pit of his stomach. Craig used his phone to call Brian. "What's up? Wore out the nsyncer already?" Brian asked before Craig could even say anything. "Um..." Craig said trying to find the words. "Can you meet me at the airport?" "Why? What's wrong?" "I'm coming home. I'll be there in a few hours, flight um..." Craig covered his face with one hand. "I don't know what flight number it is," he said between sobs. "It's okay calm down babe. I'll be there. Tell me what happened." "No not now," he said collecting himself. "Dude I've known you for a long time and you don't cry over nothing." Over the loud speaker a woman's voice called Justin and Craig's flight to board. "I have to go. Just be there," he said hanging up. He wiped at his face quickly as Justin made his way slowly back over to Craig. Justin said nothing to him. He just stood near him, if the definition of near is about five feet behind someone. Craig dragged his feet as they boarded the plane. It was almost like this was all happening to someone else, not to him. He walked along the terminal in a catatonic state, everything meshing together in front of him. Everyone was just one long streak of color, as if they were all moving in fast forward and he was moving backwards. The people talking and chattering around him sounded like bees buzzing in his ears. He wanted to kill himself. To be continued... Credit: "Come Away With Me," by Nora Jones. **Any comments or criticisms you have are extremely appreciated and much needed. You can email me at Swimfan_777@yahoo.com. **