CHAPTER 12 – FULL DISCLOSURE ABOUT RUTH AND HUNTER…AND MEL ASKS QUESTIONS

OUTSIDE BEN & HUNTER’S HOUSE

RUTH

I watch him close the door with a look of regret. Seems that I’m not the only one with a deal!

“Who the fuck it is this?!” I hear a shrill tone and keep my helmet on as his other dad confronts Hunter. “We’re not out of the house 2 minutes and already you’re shipping in your hustler friends!”

Holy mother of God! What a dickweed!

“Wait until Ben hears about this! You will be fucking gone, you insect! Ben will listen to me!”

I’m tempted to jump in but he needs to do this himself and I pray he doesn’t buy into shouting back. “No he won’t.” He replies. “I will do everything in my power to make sure that you remain gone.  Remember that he called you Mr Novotny, not me.”

“Hunter!” A voice calls out and I turn around. “Hunter, is everything okay?”

“Eli?! Uh hi…”  Hunter looks surprised.

“Eli, can you believe this?!  He has…”  Dickweed begins.

“Michael be quiet! I am speaking to Hunter! Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I had to come back for a…something and…”

“You get on your way Hunter. I’ll deal with this. So great to see you! You are looking very well and we’ve missed you.”

Ah that’s the deal!

ELI

I watch Hunter get on the back of the bike and roar off to where he’s going then turn to Michael.

“Wow! Insect, you called your son an insect? How could you? Get out of the Avenue Michael! We know the real you now.”

“Eli, you don’t know as much as you think. I’m not sure what…”

“I know you called your son an insect and that’s all I need to know. If you have not gone in the next minute, I shall call the police.”

He regards me coldly for a few seconds before he stalks towards the main street and I wait until he gets into a cab. As I head back to my house, something feels off and I wait at the door. Sure enough a cab pulls up five minutes later. He gets out and then sits outside their door. After another 20 minutes, a locksmith drives up. I’m out of the door in seconds, calling the police at the same time.

“Excuse me! Excuse me! What is happening here?!” I shout. “Police, yes I need someone here immediately. There is an attempted breaking and entering in progress!”

“Hey! Hey! No breaking and entering! Just opening up the locks as his key got jammed!” The locksmith protests.

“No, that’s a fucking lie!” I shout and stand in front of the door. “The police are on their way!”

Within 5 minutes, two squad cars pull up and an officer gets out. “Okay someone want to tell me what the hell is going on here?!” And I have no problem telling him what I know so far. Of course, Mr. Insect pleads his case as well. God, what a creative liar he is! He makes himself sound so innocent! The officer asks the locksmith to see which one of our stories is actually the case.

The locksmith checks the lock and confirms that there is no key in there. Within minutes, Michael is in the back of the squad car. While the scowl is firmly planted on his face and his whine blaring at full blast, I’m on the phone to Ben.

As morning’s go, it has been very eventful!

HEAVENLY RETREATS – AN HOUR LATER

JENNIFER’S SUITE

BEN

I sigh as I hang up.  “I just can’t believe he did that.” I feel my throat start to clog.

“Ben? What’s happened?” Emmy asks, coming to sit by my side.

“Michael tried to get into the house by getting the locks changed while we were out.”

The room explodes in fury.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Emmy shouts. “Where is he now?!”

“Last time he was seen he was in the back of a squad car.” I mutter.

Hunter takes that moment to come in and he looks a little red eyed. “Hunter? Hunter what’s wrong?!”

“Insect. He called me an insect.”  He whispers as he leans against the closed door.

“Who did?” Brian, of all people, is at his side in seconds and takes him to the couch. “Who called you that?!”  He growls.

“Michael.”

The door knocking again heralds the arrival of Ruth. “How you doing, sweetheart?” She looks Hunter and then at Frick and Frack. “Give him some love.”

We watch incredulously as Frack settles in his lap and Frick goes to get his squeaky toy, placing it gently next to him. I can’t help the tears that slide down my face and Emmy is handing me tissues.

“As dog sitters go, you have them well trained.” Justin is only pouting a little because Frack was in his lap before.

“You have to tell him.” The firmness of Ruth voice silences the room.

“You first.” Hunter wipes his cheeks.

“No sweetheart, you first. I promise I will tell but you need to do this.”

“Hunter?” I look at him. “Just tell me. Whatever it is, we will deal with it.”

“I wan…I want to come home.” He looks so scared.

“What? That’s it? You’ve not gotten sicker or anything?” I demand, swallowing down the nausea.

“No. It’s just that…I like school, don’t get me wrong. But I miss…here.  I miss you.  I have friends but it’s not the same. I want to come home.”

“Then come home! Come home, son! Why the hell didn’t you tell us earlier? We would’ve…”

“No, you wouldn’t! You wouldn’t have let me come home because he wouldn’t have let me come home.” Hunter’s normally strong voice is quiet and full of hurt. “And you would’ve agreed.”

I look at the floor full of shame. “You’re right. I would’ve agreed and for that I’m sorry. But you’re home now and that’s all that matters.”

“Wait a second! You said, I promise I will tell but you need to do this.”  Emmy turns to Ruth.

“You done, doll?” She looks at Hunter and he nods.

RUTH

“Justin, please do not get mad this was my idea. My name is Ruth Masterson and I own both Heavenly Retreats in New York and Pittsburgh as well as AngelCars. I have known Brian since I was seven years old.”

“Okay, so why would I be mad about that?” Justin looks confused.

“You know he has a friend in New York he’s very close to. Well that would be me….” As I explain our ruse, I can see Justin getting more and more pissed off. When he stands up in a full snit, I have had enough.

“So you lied to me!” He yells at Brian.

“No! He didn’t lie! It was my idea and besides, how’s your writer friend? You know the one that was having all those problems with her fiancé? Did you think I didn’t know it was you that you were talking about?!” He closes his mouth and sits down. “And look how that worked out. Someone kicking some sense into your ass got what you wanted…Brian!”

“Why? Why did you come up with this?”

“Nobody tends to notice the help and from personal experience, there was no way I was going to let him go through that. The man adores the bones of you and was gutted when you agreed to cancel the wedding. He wanted you to fight and you didn’t!  Neither of you did!”

This time Justin looks at me carefully. “What happened?” He asks quietly.

“Oh I was great as a filler between princesses but when he proposed all of a sudden, I wasn’t good enough. Bit by bit, they wore him down until he dumped me and married what they wanted. One even said I would be perfect if I was a bit lighter. He was divorced within 5 years. And his friends sided with her so now he’s completely alone.”

“Jesus.” Brian sighs and then get up and smacks Ruth on her arm. “You should’ve told me!”

“Life went on and look what I have now.” She shrugs. “I poured my heartache into my businesses.” She turns to look at a teary eyed Justin. “Sweetheart, he just wanted to know how you felt and you weren’t telling him; the same goes for you Brian. You guys are starting to talk to each other without listening to anyone else. Keep it going and it will be fine…”

“Brian, in front of one of the people who means the most to you, one who cares and loves you enough to do this, I want to ask... Will you Brian Aiden Kinney marry me Justin Cole Taylor?”

“Yes, Justin Cole Taylor, I Brian Aiden Kinney will marry you.”

“Shit!” Hunter exclaims. “We need champagne!”

Greg takes that moment to come in with the food. “Honey, can you get the appointment book? We have a wedding to book in?” Ruth grins and Emmy claps his hands.

“So in a couple of months over a weekend, because you have Britin to fix up, correct?”  Emmy asks.

“Yeah.” Brian smirks as Justin retrieves Frack from Hunter’s lap and pokes his tongue out at him.

“Hunter, do you have a licence?” Ruth asks, helping Emmy plate up food.

“Oh yeah. Why?” Hunter reaches for a wing.

“We need a driver…”  She lets the sentence hang and winks at me.

It takes a minute or two for Hunter to cotton on. “What!  Seriously?!  You’d let me drive one of those beauties!”

“And the bike. What we do here at Heavenly Retreats is have a concierge go to the guests’ homes, a couple of days before, to confirm what they’ve asked for is what they want. The bike is quicker when zipping from appointment to appointment as you can imagine. And it’s a concept that’s worked well in New York…”

“Wait. Can I…?” Justin looks eagerly at Brian.

“No!” He and Jennifer say at the same time and laugh while he snorts in annoyance.

“He can go around the grounds.” Ruth suggests. “I have a BMW K1600GT that feels incredible throbbing between your legs.”

“Keys!” Brian growls, taking Frack out of Justin’s lap and pulling him to his feet.

“Go see Greg and he’ll get it for you.” Ruth chuckles.

GREG

I look around the grounds and can’t see let alone hear the BMW roaring around. I head back to the garage and see the bike. Then see them in the back of the Daimler and grimace.  Ruth is going to go mad if they are doing what I think they are doing in there. I approach slowly and ready to interrupt but there is nothing to interrupt... well nothing like that! They are just kissing.  And talking between kissing.  I make my way back to reception grinning.

57TH PRECINCT – 2 HOURS LATER

MEL

I’m heading to the interview room full of confusion. I don’t understand why Michael was arrested. I step into the room and Michael looks up tearfully at me. “What the hell happened?”  I ask and sit down.

“Eli had me arrested!” He snaps. “It had nothing to fucking do with him!”

“What didn’t have anything to do with him?” I ask him before reaching for the paper in front of me. “Is this the statement?” The officer nods and I start to read. “A moment with my client, please.”  He nods again and he leaves.

“Mel, what am I going to do?!”

“Well first, you are going to tell me why you called Hunter an insect and why you had a locksmith at the house?”

Silence, nothing but silence.

“Michael you tell me what the fuck happened and honestly or you can get another lawyer!”