Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 00:23:04 -0300
From: Alekz March <alekzmarch@hotmail.com>
Subject: Julian and Bryan 4

Disclaimer: If you are under 18 years of age, do not read this story. If
you are offended by homosexual relationships, do not read this story. If
you are looking for some quick jerk off material, do not read this
story. If you are here to read the continuing story of two guys who fall in
love, please read this story!
     All characters and events in this story are fictional.
     Copyright Alekz March 2001

     This chapter is dedicated my best friend, who makes me a whole person
and fills my life with offbeat amusement. I miss you BBH :)
     Love Alekz
     Also, I received a few emails asking if the story was set in Seattle.
When I wrote about it raining a lot and the Starbucks Auditorium I actually
didn't even think about that. (I know, I'm not the swiftest
sometimes. Leave me alone :)
     Anyway, I just have to say that no, it's not Seattle. There's a big
give away hint in this chapter though, so anyone from the area will
recognize the city right away. Please keep emailing me all of you, I love
to hear from you! And email me if you think you know where the setting is
too. Maybe I'll turn it into a contest of some sort...
     Enjoy,
     -Alekz (alekzmarch@hotmail.com)

Julian and Bryan, Chapter Four

     The two officers, Moore and Hunter according to their badges, offered
to drive Bryan home and asked me to report to the police headquarters at
nine the next morning. I guess they assumed that since I had been out
drinking I was in no shape to answer questions. Little did they know that
their appearance, coupled with the news of Peter's death, had sobered me up
instantly. I wanted to crawl into bed immediately and forget about
everything, but Justin was having none of that.
     "I don't suppose you'd like to explain any of this?" He asked me. His
voice was quiet, and I could tell he was more than a little confused, and
maybe a bit scared.
     I sighed. "I'd rather not, but I suppose I owe you it huh?" He nodded.
"Alright.  Quick version is I knew a guy named Peter Warren a few years
back. He wasn't a very good person, and he's one of the main reasons I had
to go see Dr. Anna."
     "And now this Peter guy's dead?"
     I nodded. "Apparently. I can't say I'm going to miss him a whole lot
either."
     Justin frowned. "And the police think you know something about this?"
     "Apparently."
     "Do you?"
     That hurt. "Jesus Justin! What kind of a question is that?"
     Justin flinched and I could see the hurt rising in his eyes.
     "I didn't think you did, I was just asking. I'm sorry."
     I sighed again. "No, I'm sorry. I know you didn't mean anything by
it."  I pulled him over and hugged him. He hugged me back fiercely and I
could tell everything would be alright with us. "Now go to bed, huh? You've
got school tomorrow."
     Justin nodded and headed off to bed. I followed suite, but not before
setting my alarm. I shuddered at the thought of getting up so early after
so little sleep. As if a trip to the police station wasn't unpleasant
enough.

     I woke the next morning after a brief but sound sleep and stumbled my
way through the motions of getting ready for the day. I had a brief thought
about breakfast, but my stomach rebelled against that idea, so I settled
for some coffee and headed downtown.
     The police headquarters building, oddly enough, is located in one of
the city's worst neighbourhoods. The main street in the area is Gottingen,
which someone cleverly dubbed Got-a-Gun street years ago. I made my way
inside and asked the fat balding cop at the desk if I could see Detective
Moore. Even though I had only met her and Detective Hunter for a few
minutes, I got the impression that she would be the easier of the two to
talk to.
     Detective Moore appeared in the reception area a few minutes later and
beckoned me to follow her back to her office. She was a pretty woman with
shoulder length blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She looked to small to be
a cop, but she carried herself with a confidence and air of authority that
clearly spoke of her competence as a police officer.  Her detective status
at such a young age, she couldn't have been more than twenty seven or
eight, also said volumes about her abilities.
     "I'm afraid Detective Hunter is out on assignment, so I'll be doing
the questioning today." She told me once we were seated in her tiny office.
     I shrugged. "That's fine by me. I asked to speak to you at the desk
anyway."
     Detective Moore smiled. "I don't blame you. He comes off as a bit of a
cold fish, doesn't he?" I nodded. "Well, that's because he is a cold
fish. Most standoffish partner I've ever had, and I don't mind a bit that
he's out of the office today either."
     I laughed. "What happened to partners being best buds and always
having each others' backs?"
     "That's NYPD Blue bullshit. Half the cops in here are so uptight that
it's almost too tempting to be armed around them all the time." We laughed,
and she got down to business. "Are you ready to start?"
     I nodded. "I guess so, there's not much I can tell you though."
     She shrugged at that. "Maybe, but every little bit helps, right? Okay,
first off how long had you known Peter Warren?"
     "I met him three years ago." I told her.
     "And what was the nature of your relationship with Mr. Warren?"
     "He paid me for sex during the summer that we met."
     The detective gave me a questioning look. "I thought you didn't have
anything interesting to tell me?"
     I shrugged. "It was a long time ago, and I haven't done anything like
it since."
     "Well I'm glad to hear that." She shook her head. "That explains why
he had your number on file then I guess. Alright, moving on. When did you
last see Mr.  Warren?"
     "I hadn't seen him since that August, until Wednesday night."
     That certainly got a reaction.
     "You saw him the night he was murdered?" I nodded, and Detective Moore
shook her head at me again. "We need to get you a new definition of the
word interesting. So what happened Wednesday night?"
     "I was on a date at the Galley when he came up to my table and started
making obscene comments about me."
     "Then what happened?"
     At this point I realized that things were about to look very bad for
Bryan. I didn't want to get him in any trouble, but I couldn't lie to a
detective investigating a murder either.
     I sighed. "Bryan, my date, got up and punched him."
     Detective Moore gave me a look I couldn't really interpret, and didn't
really want to.
     "Well be speaking with this Bryan guy too then."
     She asked a few more questions, and finally let me go. Although she
refused to come right out and call me a suspect, the detective did warn me
not to leave town for the next few weeks. I hadn't been planning on it, but
I certainly felt like getting away now. As soon as I arrived home, I got on
the phone and called Bryan.
     "Hey babe, how did it go with the police?" He asked.
     "Um, well. Not so good." I sighed. I wasn't looking forward to telling
him what happened, so I took the best option available to me. I
stalled. "Why don't we go have lunch and I'll tell you all about it?"
     Bryan agreed, and we decided to meet at my favourite diner, Soy to the
World, for veggie burgers. I think Bryan was more concerned about trying
soy for the first time than about what I had to tell him, so I managed to
stall until after our food arrived.
     "Hey, these are actually pretty good!" Bryan told me after taking a
big bite.
     "Glad you like them. So, I accidentally made you a murder
suspect. What did you do with your morning?"
     Bryan spent the next minute or so choking. I passed him his glass of
water, which he gulped down. Then I passed him mine, which he drained
also. Despite my assistance, he didn't look very happy with me. Go figure.
     "You did what?!" That little outburst got everyone's attention away
from their soy, and onto us.
     I sighed. "I'm sorry okay? The detective asked me what happened
Wednesday night when we saw Peter. I couldn't really lie to her could I?"
     Bryan just stared at me for a minute, and I could see him gradually
calming down.  "No, I guess not. So I'm a suspect now?"
     I nodded. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm a suspect too."
     "That doesn't, but thanks."
     "Anytime." I didn't want to ask what I did next, but I thought it
necessary. "Look, before we go any further, I've got to ask. Did you have
anything to do with this?"
     "Jesus Christ!" Again, people found us much more interesting than
various soy based products. "Do you honestly think that?" Bryan looked
furious, and I can't say I blamed him.
     I shook my head. "No, but I figure that if we're going to have a
relationship here than we have to put everything out in the open."
     Bryan's anger faded as quickly as if someone had flicked a switch deep
inside his head. "You want us to have a relationship?"
     Would you believe I actually felt embarrassed? I was blushing like
mad.
     "Uh, well yeah. If you do, I mean."
     Bryan's anger was gone completely, replaced with a wide, bright smile.
"Yes, I do."
     That taken care of, he leaned forward and gave me a long, passionate
kiss. I was too dizzy to take much notice, but I was pretty sure that
everyone else had finally lost any interest in soy whatsoever. I had a mad
thought about charging for our performance, like a dinner theatre of
sorts. I pushed that aside and got back to the conversation at hand.
     "I'm glad that's decided," I told him. "But the question still
remains."
     Bryan sighed. "Yeah, I know. Honestly, I didn't have anything to do
with Peter's death. No offense, but I've only known you three days Jule,
I'm not quite ready to kill for you." We laughed over that, and then it was
his turn. "Okay, so now I have to ask. Did you have anything to do with
this?"
     I shook my head. "No. I had a lot of anger towards Peter once, but I
hadn't even thought about him in a long time. I won't miss him, but I
wouldn't have been able to kill him either."
     Bryan nodded. "That's what I thought." He sighed. "I suppose I should
go home, the police have probably called by now, and my mom's undoubtedly
freaking."
     "I was kind of hoping we could spend some time together today." I told
him.
     He smiled at me. "Okay, why don't you come home with me, we'll calm my
mom down, and then we'll go see a movie or something?"
     I nodded. "Sounds like a plan."
     "There's only one thing." Bryan told me as we got up to leave. "You're
probably going to be a little surprised by my family, but I hope they don't
freak you out."
     I laughed. "It's only fair. Haven't I freaked you out enough? Since
you've met me you've had to punch a guy out in a restaurant, play therapist
for me while I confess to being a former hustler, and now we've got a
corpse piled on to of everything else."
     "You're right." Bryan smiled. "Actually I should enjoy turning the
tables on you.  This might not be as bad as I thought."
     Bryan and I left Soy to the World and made our way downtown. Oddly
enough, Bryan led us right to the downtown core to a small nightclub called
Charlie's Cabaret. I had heard of Charlie's of course, but had never been
in. I gave Bryan a questioning look as we headed inside.
     "Charlie was my Dad." Bryan offered by way of explanation. "We live
upstairs."
     The main room of the club was dominated by a brightly lit stage at the
rear. A scantily dressed young blonde woman stood onstage in a green
sequined dress that left very little to the imagination. The woman was
singing an old blues song that I recognized but couldn't put a name to
immediately. Her voice was deep and husky, and she sang beautifully.
     "My sister, Lynna." Bryan said with a smile as I stood silently,
struck by the young woman's talent. I could hear the pride in Bryan's
voice. We stood and listened until Lynna finished her song, and I was about
to applaud when a fat, pasty-faced man burst onto the stage.
     "Terrible! Absolutely awful!" The man screamed in a shrill little
voice. "Why haven't you been practising!" He demanded of her and threw his
hands up in the air.  "Honestly, I can't work like this."
     "My sister's pianist and boyfriend, of sorts, Arnie." Bryan shook his
head.
     "I see what you meant." Bryan looked at me. "She has great taste... in
restaurants."
     Bryan laughed, which unfortunately drew Arnie's attention to us.
     "Bryan! Can't you see we're practising?" Arnie threw his hands up
again. I began to suspect that was something of a signature move for
him. "I can't work with interruptions Bryan, you know that!"
     "Sorry Arnie," Bryan told him. He didn't sound sorry, but he certainly
sounded amused. "I'll try to remember for next time. You sounded great
Lynna."
     Lynna smiled, and I could see she shared her brothers' natural good
looks. She also looked oddly familiar.
     "Thanks hon." Lynna replied, ignoring Arnie's silent arm throwing.
"Who's your friend?"
     "This is my boyfriend, Julian Tadeschi."
     I could feel the stupid grin spread across my face, but before I could
comment on Bryan's new designation for me, a familiar voice interrupted us
from behind the bar across the room.
     "Julian Tadeschi. Now there's a name I haven't heard in quite some
time."
     I turned to see who had spoken, and saw just about the last face I had
expected to see, looking back at me in silent explanation of Lynna's
familiar appearance.
     "Hey Ma." Bryan greeted her. I simply shook my head. He had warned me
that I'd be surprised after all.
     "Hi Anna." I greeted his mother, realizing now just why playing
therapist to me came so easily to my new boyfriend.

To be continued...