After the Fall

Chapter 3





It was well after midnight when the Kinney brothers and their spouses made it back to the loft. The party cemented the feeling of community amongst the Village shopkeepers and the principal investors came away knowing their investments were well placed. There was even talk of forming a Village shopkeeper association.

“Justin, were you here earlier?” Brian asked as he came to the bedroom steps. Even though it had been some time since Brian had stayed at the loft, he sensed something was not right.

“No, I was at the gallery all day,” Justin answered. He looked at Brian with a puzzled gaze.

“John, when was the last time you slept over?”

“Must have been a couple of weeks ago,” John said with a shrug.

“Bri, what’s wrong?” Justin asked as he approached his spouse.

“Not sure. It feels like someone’s been in here,” Brian scowled, as he turned to walk into the bedroom to change. He had an overnight bag and began to rummage through it for his toiletries. “I can’t explain it,” he murmured.

John examined the lock on the door. “The door seems fine, no signs of tampering. Besides, this place has more alarms than Fort Knox. If someone had broken in, you would have been notified.”

“Yeah. I know you’re right, but I can’t stop this nagging feeling in my gut.”

“Brian, I’ve learned to trust your instincts,” Justin said as he encircled his arms around his husband. “Is there any way to check if the alarm was turned off?”

“I’m not sure,” Brian said as he kissed the top of Justin’s head, finding solace in Justin’s strong arms.

“John, didn’t you...?” Bobby began.

“Damn, you’re right, Babe, I did,” John confirmed as he planted a wet one on Bobby’s lips.

“Mind letting me in on the secret?” Brian snarled as he stared at his brother and brother-in-law. “After you finish sucking face, of course.” Brian crossed his arms and arched a brow. Justin elbowed him. John and Bobby simultaneously rolled their eyes.

“When the girls wanted to move in...” John started to explain.

“Girls?” Brian questioned.

“Lacy and Katerina,” Bobby stated. Brian and Justin mouthed, ‘oh.’

“The girls wanted my opinion on some simple renovations. You know, more closet space, shelving, that sort of thing,” John said and the guys all nodded. “It’s their first apartment.”

The boys all resisted saying ‘aw.’

“Not every apartment in this building has an alarm. Since we know all the tenants I took the liberty of checking with them and discovered that they all wanted an alarm or an updated system. It’s not that big of a job so I contacted Ted since he has an eye on this property for you, and we installed an updated system,” John said proudly.

“But the keypad is the same,” Brian noted as he approached the door.

“Yours is the most updated and always has been. I didn’t need to change anything in here. However, the entire system has been upgraded and the alarm company can track who used their password to get into each apartment. You’ve assigned each of us our own password. In other words, we can check who’s been in here and when.”

“Hmm,” Brian mumbled then checked the time. “Damn, it’s late. I don’t suppose we can get access to those records now.” Brian looked disappointed. His curiosity was getting the better of him.

“Patience, brother dearest, patience,” John said as he held up his hand then he crossed the loft to Brian’s desk to boot up the computer. Brian kept a computer at the loft as a convenience for himself and his immediate family that used the loft, John in particular.

“I hope I haven’t overstepped my boundaries, Brian, but Ted wanted me in on this,” John stated pensively. With a few strokes of the keyboard, John accessed the security log of the building, specifically Brian’s loft. Starting with a few months ago, the log showed the date, time and user name of each access.

There was Emmett, who checked in on the loft weekly when he and Drew were in town. If Emmett was staying at his cottage, then Ted took over. There were several entries for John who stayed over several nights when he was working at the Village. There were also a few entries for Brian but it was the next to the last entry that had all four men gaping at the screen.

“Gus!” they all said at the same time. Three heads turned to Brian. The steam was clearly rising.

“Brian, there could be a simple explanation,” Justin said reasonably and calmly, as he placed his hand on Brian’s arm. John and Bobby nodded.

“Oh, I know there is, Sunshine.” Brian walked away from the desk to the kitchen. His refrigerator was all but bare but it did hold several bottles of water. Brian calmly took out a bottle, opened it and took a good long drink. “My son is using my loft as his own private FUCK PAD!” Brian yelled then threw the half empty bottle into the sink with a crash.

Three men scurried across the loft to try to calm the raging beast known as Brian Kinney.



*****



“Hey, baby cakes,” Cole drunkenly slobbered into his cell phone, getting Gus’ voice mail. “Next time, I’m gonna fuck your tight little ass off,” Cole said with all the finesse of a baboon in high heels. Then he giggled uncontrollably, snorted a few times then passed out for the night.



*****



Gus listened to the message on his cell phone. He frowned when he realized Cole was drunk. He was surprised at that. He thought Cole was a pretty cool guy, but he didn’t like the idea of being with someone who was drunk. Things could get out of hand.

And yet! His cock twitched at the idea of Cole “fucking his tight little ass off”. Gus groaned as he felt his cock swell just at the thought of what that would be like. He wondered if he was ready. He and Cole had done quite a few things, but Gus knew there was a lot more still to experience. He wondered if he truly was ready to fu… He shook his head. He couldn’t even think the complete word, let alone say it. Maybe his father was right. He needed to be able to say the word and understand all its implications before he could actually do it.

He hit the number of Cole’s cell phone. It rang several times and went to voicemail. Gus wondered if Cole was passed out somewhere. He had sounded pretty wasted when he had called Gus’ phone.

“Hey Cole, I hope you’re okay. You sounded … funny in your message. I’m heading to my father’s place for the weekend. I hope I can see you when I come back Monday morning.”

Gus closed his phone hoping that Cole was all right. He really did care about the guy, even if he wasn’t exactly the knight in shining armor that Gus had hoped for.



*****



Brian tossed and turned. He wanted to beat some sense into his son. He wanted to eviscerate Cole Adams … with a dull machete. He wanted to put the fucker on a slow boat to China never to return to Pittsburgh. He wanted to cradle Gus in his arms and protect him from the fucking world that threatened to hurt him.

Brian threw back the sheets and got up. He went quietly down the steps to the fridge where he got a bottle of water. He walked over to the windows, as he unscrewed the cap on the bottle. He stared out into the night as he took a long drink of water.

“Gus will be okay, Brian,” John said as he came up behind his brother.

“Shit! You scared me,” Brian said.

“I heard you tossing around in there.”

“Sorry if I kept you up.”

John shook his head. “I know you’re worried about Gus. We all are, but he’s growing up. You have to let him do that. He’ll make some mistakes, but they’re his mistakes. He needs to be given the freedom to do that.”

“And his first mistake is Cole Adams.”

“You could very well be right about that, Brian, but you can’t stop him. He has to learn things for himself.”

“But … I don’t want him to get hurt.”

“He’s a good kid. And we’re all looking out for him, you know. That’s why everyone told you about what they had seen. Nobody wants Gus to get hurt. We’ll all do our best to protect him.”

“I know,” Brian sighed. “But…”

“There is no but. Gus is coming to the cottage for the weekend, isn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“Then he’ll be away from Cole for a couple of days. Try to talk to him … gently. Don’t accuse him; just try to help him see how things are. Make sure he knows you’re on his side if things go bad with Cole.”

“They’re already bad,” Brian sighed.

“Gus doesn’t think so.”

“Yeah, I know. Okay, I’ll try to talk to him.”

“I know you will.”

“Thanks, big bro’.”

“Anytime,” John said as he gave his brother a hug. “Now get some sleep.”



*****



The ride to the cottage the next morning was very quiet. John and Bobby had headed out right after breakfast. They were going to pick up Patrick and head to the farm to get everything ready for the riding lesson. Brian and Justin picked up Gus and JR from the Munchers, and were in the process of driving to Edna’s Treasures. Gus was very quiet in the back seat. JR sensed that something was wrong and kept her mouth shut. Justin realized he was holding his breath half the time waiting for the explosion between father and son, when Brian finally lit into Gus.

“So, what’s new, Sonny Boy?” Brian asked, trying to sound nonchalant, as they passed the general store on the road to the cottage. That always signaled that they were getting close to Edna’s Treasures.

Justin felt his heart skip a beat as he waited for Gus to rely.

“Nothing much,” Gus said wondering why he father had been so quiet and now all of a sudden was asking him what was up. Something wasn’t right.

“Really?” Brian queried.

“Just the usual,” Gus said trying to give a non-committal answer without downright lying to his father.

“Really.”

“Pop, is something wrong?” Gus asked. He sensed that he was being cornered, but wasn’t sure how his father could have found out about Cole.

“Yes, something’s wrong,” Brian answered.

“What?”

“You tell me.”

“I … I don’t know what you mean.”

“I think you do,” Brian stated.

“Who told you?” Gus asked with a sigh, realizing that he was busted.

“You nearly ran Ben down in the street yesterday. He said you were with a guy whose description sounded an awful lot like Cole Adams.”

“Okay, Pop,” Gus replied. “Cole is here. He came to Pittsburgh yesterday. I met up with him.”

“And…”

“And … nothing,” Gus said. He didn’t think his father could possibly know about them using the loft.

“Really?”

“I don’t know what you expect me to say,” Gus protested meekly. He knew he had been wrong to take Cole to the loft, but they needed a place to be alone. They hadn’t done anything they didn’t do in New York.

“The truth would be nice,” Brian said cuttingly.

Gus winced. “I just told you that Cole was here.”

“But you wouldn’t have told me if I hadn’t already found out, would you?”

“Maybe not,” Gus admitted. “I know you don’t like him.”

“That would be correct.”

“But I like him, Pop … a lot.”

Brian was ready to start in on his son about what creeps like Cole Adams did to innocent young boys, when he felt Justin’s hand on his thigh. He looked down at it, as Justin squeezed his leg gently. He looked into Justin’s troubled eyes. Justin shook his head just a fraction.

“Anything else I should know?” Brian asked his son.

“No, Pop,” Gus replied, feeling guilty for not confessing about the loft. “I … I just really like Cole. That’s all.”

Justin squeezed a little harder, and Brian let out a breath. They turned into the lane at Edna’s Treasures. Brian decided to let it go for the moment.



*****



A while later they were all at the farm. Ashley and Sheldon had joined them and the children were all getting on their horses.

“I was riding all the time you were gone, Bree,” Patrick bragged.

“No you weren’t,” Bree retorted with a scowl. She never liked Patrick to be one up on her.

“Was too,” Patrick replied.

“Were not!”

“Briana, Patrick was riding while you were in New York,” John told the little girl, as Brian helped her onto Brandy. “I brought him to the farm several times.” John was hoping to diffuse a possible fight between the children.

“See!” Patrick said smugly.

“Well, I had more fun in Nyork than you had here,” Briana stated.

“Did not!”

“Did so!”

“Enough, Squirt,” Brian said sternly. “We’re here to ride the horses, not fight with each other.”

“’Kay, Dada,” Bree said with a sigh. “Sowwy.”

Brian shook his head. He was about to tell Bree to say the word correctly, but he knew she was already feeling put upon by Patrick having more riding lessons while she was away. Brian glanced over at Little Red who had his nose up in the air, looking very pleased with himself.

“I can ride real good now,” Patrick said to no one in particular.

Bree frowned. “I can ride good too, can’t I, Dada?”

“Yes, Squirt. You can ride very well for someone your age.”

Bree frowned. That didn’t sound quite like what she had wanted to hear. Her Dada was supposed to tell everyone that she was the best. Bree was about to say something to Patrick when she noticed that her Uncle John was adjusting the stirrups on her saddle.

“What’s wrong, Unca John?” she asked.

“These need to be a little longer. I think you grew a few inches while you were away,” John told her.

Bree smiled smugly at Patrick. That made her feel much better.

“Dad let me ride all by myself,” Patrick suddenly felt compelled to tell Bree.

“Did not,” Bree responded.

“Did so! Didn’t you let me, Dad?”

“Yes, Patrick,” John said as he finished fixing Bree’s stirrups.

“Can we get this fu… this show on the road?” Brian asked. He was getting fed up with the bickering between the children. This day was not going the way he hoped it would. He glanced over at Gus who was holding the reins of Ashley’s horse. Brian wished his son would be honest with him, but it didn’t seem like that was going to happen either.

“Okay, everyone,” John began. “Let’s get moving. Give your horse a gentle nudge with your knees and see if you can get the horse to move forward. Tell him what you want him to do.”

The children did as instructed and the horses moved forward. They walked around the yard with John indicating when to pull the reins to get the horse to turn. The children were very excited to actually feel that they were controlling the horses instead of just having someone lead the horse for them. They hardly realized that each horse was firmly held under control by the person at its head. But they all had fun.

As the lesson came to an end, Patrick asked his father if he could show the others what he had learned while Bree was in New York.

“Okay,” John said, “but go easy.”

Patrick nodded. John let go of the reins and Patrick kicked his horse gently in the side. The horse began to trot and Patrick bounced along on the animal’s back. He smiled broadly as the other children, and particularly Bree, looked on jealously.

“Watch me, Bree,” Patrick called gaining confidence with each step the horse took. “I can go fast.”

“Patrick!” John said sternly, but it was too late.

Patrick kicked his horse hard with his heels and the animal bolted. It took off at top speed toward the barn. Patrick gasped and hung on for dear life … for about thirty seconds. Then he lost his stirrups and the next thing he knew the earth was rising up to meet him.