CHAPTER 4: KNOWING, TELLING AND SHOWING

CARL

I sit back and watch Debs. I know how much she wants to leap in and start on Ben but she stops herself. It took a lot, but she did stop.

“Oh now speaking of beautiful places, like Britin…”  Ems starts looking at Brian. “What was that piece of gorgeousness I saw you sliding into this week?”

The room goes silent. I see the flash of a smirk go across Michael’s face and Mel rolls her eyes.

“What are you talking about Ems?” Debs demands, glaring at Brian. 

“Yes, it was blue, or silver, but my God it was gorgeous. Can I ride in it please?!”

“Oh the car. It’s a Daimler V8-250. I think that’s what you said it was; I was too busy trying to persuade Ruth to let me take it round the car park.” Justin glares in the face of Brian’s smirk.

“She said no, repeatedly, in case you hadn’t picked up on that.”  Brian snickers.

“Your supertwink powers fading Baby?”  Ems teases.

“My powers are absolutely fine. They work on the most important person.” He waggles his eyebrows at Brian.

“Shut up twat.” 

“Must you be like that at the table?” Lindsay grouses. Mel looks at her in surprise but doesn’t say anything.

“So about the car?” Ems presses. “I’d feel like Lana Turner at her best premiere being driven around in that.”

“Sure you can Ems.” Justin looks at Brian and he nods. “I’ll give her your details. We have a designated driver, and I’m sure she can arrange some…”

“That person is your driver?” Lindsay gasps. “How is she still employed after the way she spoke to me? I mean, to us? I have a good mind to put in a complaint.” She sniffs.

“Okay, no car service for you…anyone else want to decline?” Justin looks around the table.

“I didn’t say I didn’t want to use the service. I just think she should apologise for the way she behaved.” Lindsay backtracks. “Maybe we could have a different driver?”

“May…”  Justin begins but stops when Brian shakes his head. “Why not?”

“The way AngelCars works for premium accounts is that you have one driver per account so it’s Ruth in the first instance. And I don’t think she should apologise to you Lindsay.  Or, before you say anything, you either Michael.”  Brian leans back in his chair.

“What’s this about?” Debs demands.

Here she goes again!

“When we were at Britin, she almost left them there because she only had one passenger to pick up and I had to give authority for them to get in…”  He’s interrupted by a snicker from Ted. “And then Lindsay waited for her to get out and open the door.” More snickering.  “Which she didn’t do.”  Ted is starting to giggle. “And then…”  Brian clears his throat.  “Wh-when we got to Liberty Avenue…”  Ted is shaking.

“Teddy leave the table! We want to hear this!” Ems orders and Ted goes outside. “Now continue…”

“So after we arrived, I told them to get out the car because again Ruth wasn’t opening the door for them. Michael slammed the door really hard and Ruth got out and told him off. That’s after telling him to stop playing with the trim of the car unless he can afford the respray.”

“Oh my God!  I have to meet this woman!”  Ems squeals. 

“It gets better…” Justin interrupts and Brian nods for him to continue. “When we were leaving the loft on Friday morning, it was the first time I had seen the car. Then Michael came up and…”

“What were you doing at the loft? I dropped you off at the diner.” Ben asks. He does not look happy.

“Yes, you did but then I remembered I needed to talk to Brian so I walked to the loft.” He looks affronted that Ben should even question that.

“I see.”  Ben’s tone is clipped and again I shake my head at Debs, who glares at me but says nothing.

“Anyway, we were trying to leave for the appointment but Michael wanted a lift back.  Instead, Ruth hailed a cab for him. And she paid him back for the previous door slam; he had to move his head back pretty quickly.”

“She did what?!”  Blake laughs.  “I’m with you Em, I have to meet this woman!”

“I didn’t find that at all funny!”  Michael snaps.  “She could’ve hurt me and…”

“Well I did!” Ted laughs but then stops abruptly. “But about you slamming the door... if you had messed up the lock or chipped the paint, what would you have done?”

“Nothing. She said that Mr Kinney wouldn’t like the bill…”  He replies sarcastically.

“Brian wouldn’t have paid for it. I would make sure of that.” Justin retorts before looking at his watch. “I’ve got an early start tomorrow so we should go.” 

“You have an early start, Brian doesn’t.” Michael sneers before looking at Brian. “The thing I wanted to talk to you about on Friday, can we talk now?” Michael gives him his usual look.

“Sorry Mikey, but I do have an early start and there’s no need for Ruth to come back twice…”

“Ruth is outside?!” Ems is out of his chair and out the door in seconds, followed swiftly by Blake. 

RUTH

This has got to be Emmett! When I got the text from Brian about two hours ago, I wasn’t surprised. He told me that it was key day. But when he said that Justin apologised for the way he reacted to the stag do, I was delighted. 

“You are Ruth, correct? I am Emmett. And this is my business card because I want to be driven by you!” 

I take the card and shake his hand. “Wanna get in?” He clutches at his pearls and starts tugging on the handle. “Excuse me, let’s do this right!” I admonish him with a smile.

“But of course…”  He steps back with a grin and waits for me to open the door and slides in.  “Is this the Daimler?”  He sighs, stroking the seats.

“No Rolls Royce Phantom.” I reply as he starts to stretch out. “Um Emmett…feet please.”

“Oh sorry sweetie!” He immediately takes them down. 

“Shove up Ems, I want in!”  A redhead demands.

“Oh wait Debs! She has to get permission from the lead passenger first. I’m surprised she let you in Emmett!” Lindsay snipes. 

“I have a list of people that are allowed under the Kinnetic account and he’s on it. Received it about 40 minutes ago, so Emmett’s fine.”  I reply coolly and that seems to shut her up.

“So you could drop us off afterwards, then?”  She declares.

“I’m afraid not.”

“Why not?” A brown haired woman bridles and glares at me. 

“And you are?” I put out my hand.

“Mel, Lindsay’s wife. Why can’t you…”  She looks in the car and turns around.  “I see. It is a gorgeous car though.”

“Why can’t she takes us Mel?” Lindsay demands.

“Car seats for the kids.”  Ben replies, peering in and whistling. “May I get in? I’m Ben by the way. Who else don’t you know?”

Soon I’m introduced to my protagonists. I told Brian not to tell me anything about them. I want to form my own opinion. So far only Emmett, Carl, Ben, Ted and Blake aren’t on my shit list.

“Mr Kinney, Mr Taylor, are you ready to go?” I ask fed up with the glowering from the two morons I’m getting. 

“Yeah. Come on guys, we’ve got to get home.” Justin orders and Ems reluctantly gets out.

“Debs?” Justin prompts but she doesn’t move.

“Michael wants to talk to you Brian...” Debs begins. “Can’t you speak on the way back to the loft and get Ruth to drop him off on the way back to wherever she’s going?”

“He made it clear earlier that he wants to speak to Brian alone, Debs. What do you suggest Justin does?” Carl leans in the car to ask her.

“He could…”  Debs begins.

“Michael, we can meet for lunch tomorrow. In the diner or at your store, okay? But we need to go home now.” Brian interrupts.

“Debs, come on. You’re not only delaying them. You’re delaying Ruth.”  Carl taps her arm.

She reluctantly slides out of the car and sighs.  “It was nice to meet you Ruth.” 

I smile and nod but think to myself…shame I can’t say the same!

BEN AND MICHAEL’S HOUSE – AN HOUR LATER

LOUNGE

MICHAEL

“Can you believe that?!”  I look at Ben, who has been putting away the leftovers.

“What? The car and letting us use the service. That’s very generous of them.” He replies, sitting down. 

“Not that! The keys! I will be talking to Brian about that tomorrow, too.”

“What is it that you can talk to Brian about and not me?”  He asks.

I pause and smile. “I’m arranging a surprise for you and if I talk to you about it then it won’t be a surprise.” 

“I see. Well I look forward to it. But I don’t think that Brian will be backing down on the keys.”

“We’ll see. We’ll see.” I tell him with a smirk. 

“Yes we will.” He replies. “Well I’m going to get ready for bed, you coming up too?”

“In a bit. I want to make a call first.” 

“Okay.” He heads upstairs and I grab my phone.

“Lindsay, it’s me. I’m going to meet Brian at the store for lunch, can you bring JR? Great!  See you tomorrow!” 

BEN

I shake my head as I make way to the bathroom. I had a feeling that Michael had accepted the keys too easily. He and Lindsay need to stop pushing…especially now that Justin seems to be pushing back and with Brian’s support.

DEBS AND CARL’S HOUSE – SAME TIME

BEDROOM

DEBS

“What do you mean I can’t just help myself?!”  I demand.

“I was so proud of you when you didn’t say anything to Ben, thinking that you were leaving it alone but no you were just biding your time, weren’t you?”

“Biding my…what are you talking about?”

“You waited until you had Brian and Justin alone in the car to get Brian to speak to Michael.” 

“I’m not doing anything of the sort!” I bristle.

“Yes you are! Did you see Mel’s face when she heard about the keys to the loft and Britin?”

“Yeah, for once she wasn’t scowling like she’s PMSing!” 

“No it’s because she was relieved. No more Lindsay going to the loft at the drop of a hat!”  He pauses. “And why were you pissed at Ben?”

“I didn’t like the way he was talking to Michael like…”

“He was pissed off because Michael had kept things from him. Do you know what happened on Friday night?”

“No.” I answer warily.

“Michael arranged to meet with Brian to speak with him but Ben was there.” 

“So…”

“Michael kept Justin away from the drinks by giving Brian the impression that it was going to be the two of them.”

“How do you know that?” 

“Ben told me. If you spoke to Ben a lot more than you do, you’d know more about how Michael behaves when you’re not around.” He holds up his hand when I go to speak.  “And I’m with Brian... I don’t see why he needs a key to their homes or here.”

“This is his house!”  I exclaim.

“No, this is our house. When was the last time he used it? He has a house with Ben, you know his husband. Ben is the man who should fight for Michael, not you. And that’s what Ben does, when Michael is the wronged party.”

“But…”

“Think about the keys to here, he’s not used them in months. And for God sake, stop trying to put Michael first in Brian and Justin’s relationship!”

RED CAPE COMICS – MONDAY LUNCHTIME

BRIAN

I sigh as I look at Michael and Lindsay. He’s bouncing JR in his arms and she’s coolly regarding me.

“What’s this about?” I ask, having a feeling I know exactly what it’s about.

“About yesterday...  I thought it was very sweet of you to not embarrass Justin by…”

“I back Justin 100%. No keys. Is that all you wanted to talk to me about? If so, I’m done talking about it.”

“But Brian, Justin needs to concentrate on his art for future shows…”

“Lindsay.” I rake my hands through my hair. “Let him manage his career his way.”

“I’m just saying that it would…”

“I’m going. See you guys later.” 

“But Brian, I didn’t get to talk to you about what I wanted to talk to you about!” Michael calls out.  “And you’ve not spoken to your goddaughter yet.”

“Goddaughter?” I stare at him. “She’s my goddaughter?” 

“Of course she is!” He smiles at me. “Who else would I pick but my best friend?”

“Wow, how does Mel feel about this?” I glance at Lindsay, who has the same smile on her face.

“Don’t worry about Mel, she’s fine.” Lindsay grins.

I see a familiar flash of blonde hair run pass the door and open it.  “Hey twat, where you going?!”

“Hey!” He stops and comes back but doesn’t come in. “Home. I forgot the plans. It was quicker for me to run than for Ruth to drive back up.” 

“Want me to help you find them?” I pull him into my arms and grind my hips.

“Tempting but alas no. Hold that thought for tonight though.” He grins up at me, having given my cock a quick squeeze.

“Bad boy.” I growl in his ear and he snickers. 

“I’m good at being bad. Now come on, I’ve got to go!”

“Oh alright.” I swat his butt and after a quick kiss, he’s off and running again. “Hey, by the way, I’m a godfather to JR. Think we should celebrate that!”

“You’re what?!” He runs back again. “When did that happen?”

“Just now.” I grin and then frown. “What?”

“Nothing, I’m most likely being sceptical and unfair but…” 

“Justin…”

“I know. I’m sorry but she’s almost a year old now and…it just seems a little odd, that’s all.”

“I’ll see you tonight.” I sigh and he nods, beginning to run back off again.

I head back inside and Michael and Lindsay are plating up the food. I look at my watch.

“Guys, I have to get back…”

“Before you go, perhaps we can have a christening party for your goddaughter?” Lindsay smiles again. “Maybe at the loft now it’s finished or…”

“At the homes of her parents.” I interject. “Great idea! Give Emmy a call. I’m sure he’d love to organise it. See ya.”

CAR BACK TO THE LOFT – EARLY EVENING

RUTH

“Want to tell me what’s wrong?” I lower the partition. Brian has been brooding since I picked him up from his last meeting.

“I’m a godfather.” 

“Great. That’s great, right?”  I ask, sighing as I hit traffic.

“To JR. That’s Michael and Mel’s daughter.” 

“And…I’m not a dentist; stop making me pull teeth!”  I grouse and at least he laughs a bit.

“She’s almost a year old now and suddenly, I’m a godfather, right after…”

“You took his keys away. How does Mel feel about that?”

“Lindsay says she’s fine with it.”

“One way to find out.  Call her and thank her.”

He seems to hesitate before pulling out his phone. “Put it on speaker.” I order.

“What do you want? I’ve had a long day and am not in the mood for your witticisms.”

Jesus what a bitch!

“I was just calling to say thank you that’s all and to say that I’ll pay for it but it can’t be at the loft.”

“What are you talking about, asshole?!” 

Holy crap!

“The christening party for JR. I’m sure Emmy would love to host it.”

“Why would you be interested in a christening party for JR?”

“Well since Michael and Lindsay told me today that I’m her godfather, I should show some interest, shouldn’t I?”

Silence.

“Mel, are you there?”

“Yes, yes, I’m here. Yeah, I’ll speak to them about that. I’ve got to go. I need to tend to Gus.”

She hangs up without saying goodbye.

“Well now, didn’t that just help clarify matters?”  He grumbles.

“What did Justin say when you told him?”

“Exactly what you’re thinking. It’s a way in, isn’t it? Trying to tie me to her.”

“Hey, I’m only the slightly biased devil’s advocate.  And you sir are home.”

“Let’s hope he is.”  He mutters.

THE LOFT

JUSTIN

“Don’t. Don’t say you’re sorry.”  Brian tells me as soon as he’s in the door.

“But…”

“I spoke to Mel and I got the feeling that this was the first time she’d heard of it.”

“Oh.” I reply, wondering what to do now. 

“But that’s their problem, not ours.”  He pulls me to my feet.  “So twat, what’s for dinner?”

I grin up at him. “Well for me, I was thinking this?” I palm his cock again and he groans and squeezes my ass.

BLOOM GALLERIES – WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON

LINDSAY

I’m not altogether sure what’s wrong with Mel but she’s not been speaking to me properly for a couple of days now. I’m meeting Michael for lunch in a few minutes because I have a plan. 

“Hey Lindz!”  He calls out as he comes through the door.

“Hey.  Come on through.”  I take him to the meeting room, where I have ordered lunch for us.

“Well, what’s got you so excited?”  He asks round a mouthful of sandwich.

“This!” I show him the article. He looks at it and then looks at me blankly.  “So what is it?”  He asks.

“It’s for a show in New York. I spoke to Robert Crasswell, the guy who wrote the first article about Justin’s work, and he recommended Justin enters his pieces.”

“He doesn’t want to go. He’s made that more than clear. He’s being so selfish, letting Brian support him.”

“My thoughts exactly. Which is why I have submitted a couple of pieces that Sidney had on his behalf and they have been accepted!” 

“So what does that mean?”

“It means that he will be going to New York or it looks like a huge snub to the art world over there and they won’t let him back in.  Ever.”

Michael smiles. “So now what?”

“Well, just think how upset Brian will be when he finds out that Justin went behind his back and submitted works without telling him.  He’ll feel like Justin was lying to him... again.”

“Absolutely!”  Michael laughs.  “So how do we do this?”

“Leave this with me; I’ve got the ball rolling. Justin needs to go to New York. Meanwhile, we can take care of everything here until, and if, he comes back.”

“Here’s hoping for if.”   Michael toasts.

OUTSIDE THE MEETING ROOM

RUTH

Ooh you bitch and weasel!  We’ll see about that.

She had called me to take her to something or other and now she’s running late. So I headed to the meeting room as instructed by the receptionist but they didn’t shut the door properly. I make my way back to reception and claim I can’t find her. The receptionist was so sweet and located her. 

I head out and let in her majesty and her minion. Immediately, she orders me to put up the partition. She said nothing about not turning on the intercom.

As I listen to them plot and plan, I think to myself, what the hell are his enemies like?!