Kinnetik March 7

“... and that puts us on track, if not ahead of projections for this quarter. I guess that wraps things up,” Ted announced. He started gathering up the papers from the Kinnetik conference room table.

Brian nodded. He still couldn’t believe it. Despite the extreme highs and lows that had been the life of Theodore Schmidt, Ted had finally found his niche as CFO of Kinnetik. And Brian was damn lucky to have someone he trusted managing his millions. Of course, he would never tell Ted that.

The weekly staff meetings with Ted and Cynthia allowed Brian to keep tabs on the back office workings of Kinnetik and Kinnetik Corp’s investments.

“Wait,” Brian stopped Ted as he was moving from the table with his papers. “What are we doing with Tremont and Liberty property?”

Ted sat back down. “What do you mean what are we doing?” Ted asked in surprise.

“The old service station. The for sale sign has been down since last week, and there’s a construction crew out there. What... are... we... doing?” Brian annunciated each word thinking that Ted need to focus.

“We,” Ted responded slowly, “aren’t doing anything. You told me that you didn’t want to act on that property until we had nailed the two adjacent buildings on Liberty and Tremont.”

“Well, someone fucking is. Shit! don’t tell me someone bought the place out from under us.” Brian and Ted had been working with architects and developers on a plan for mixed use space, restaurant, high end condos, mixed retail, and office suites for the three building that cornered the two major streets. The old service station had been for sale forever, but the asking price was way beyond market value. Brian and Ted had agreed to work out the purchase of the adjacent buildings before negotiating the purchase of the service station. Now it looked like the whole project was going to tank.

“I’ll look into it.” Ted responded and quickly left for his office. He was going to call their real estate agent and find out what the fuck was going on.

~~~~~~

Ted knocked on Brian’s office door before letting himself in. Brian was finishing up a call with Leo Brown and motioned Ted to come in and have a seat.

“Yes, yes Leo, no problem. I’ll get to work on the negotiations immediately.... Goodbye.”

Brian hung up the phone and turned to Ted. “Score one for the master”

“What’s that?” Ted asked.

“It seems Leo Brown is willing to up the ante for Drew’s new contract. It appears having a gay football hero touting his sportswear to all the queers out there is bringing in record profits. Now let’s hope Drew’s agent won’t screw things up.”

Despite Brown Athletics dropping Drew Boyd as their spokes person when Drew was outed a couple of years back, once the whole scandal had blown over - and Drew had lead his team to a Superbowl victory - Brian hand managed to get Leo Brown to reconsider the star athlete. Brian had been quick to point out that Brown Athletics could be the first to be able to market to the lucrative gay market with a gay athlete. While the initial contract wasn’t as good as the one that had been cancelled, it put Drew back in the endorsement game. With the green light to renew, Brian knew the increased offer would mark Drew as a powerhouse in endorsements.

“Well, that should make Emmett happy,” Ted smiled at the good news.

“Yeah, and now maybe he’ll get off my case about being a cold-hearted, money grabbing asshole.” Brian smirked.

“Why? that hasn’t changed.” Ted grinned and Brian allowed himself a laugh. Ted had become much more self-confident and relaxed around Brian in the years since he started working for him. He also saw a side of Brian that few others were privy too. For the years before he came to work at Kinnetik, Ted had mostly seen the side of Brian that was marked with excesses and pain management - booze, drugs, sex. But now having spent nearly four years as his right hand man, Ted has witnessed first hand Brian’s drive, determination and dedication to his business and investments. He wasn’t looking forward to breaking the bad news.

“So Theodore, what has it that made you take the long trek down the hall?”

Ted squirmed a bit - so much for self-confidence. “The property at Tremont and Liberty - the service station.” Brian raised his eyebrows, waiting, Ted figured it was probably better to just to get it out in the open. “It sold at auction for back taxes three weeks ago, the property closed on Wednesday.”

“What the fuck?! And where was our helpful real estate agent, Chad, while all this went down?”

“In Boca, working on his tan.” Ted responded flatly. “I called him to ask him what was going on, he told me not to worry, the place was never going to sell. I pointed out to him that the place had sold - idiot! Then I called down to the county Register of Deeds to find out what the hell was going on myself. The property went up for auction for back taxes at the beginning of February.” Ted winced as he imparted the next bit of news. “It went for $30,000.”

Un-fucking-believable. Brian closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose to relieve the tension. A $20,000,000 development deal down the drain.

Ted continued, “It seemed Chad hadn’t been keeping on top of things as previously promised.”

“Ya think?” was Brian’s response. Taking a deep breath, Brian opened his eyes and tried to focus on salvaging what was left. “Well, fire his butt and get me a real estate agent who can do their job.”

“Already done. And,” Ted allowed himself a small smile, “I threatened to sue his ass for loss of income.”

Brian smirked at the thought. “Always the accountant, Theodore. Shit! I’m going to have a good laugh if the loss on the property will pay for itself. However, I’m not sure that we should scrap the project entirely. Let’s see if we can get the folks at Salem Architects to review the project in light of this recent development. It looks like we’re going to have a new neighbor - who bought the property anyway?”

“You’re not going to believe this.” Ted found it a bit ironic himself. “You know that artist who was at Deb’s for Dinner on Sunday, Justin Taylor?” Brian nodded, enjoying a flashback to the Liberty Club men’s room earlier in the week. He almost missed Ted’s next words. “He’s our new neighbor.”

Brian closed his eyes again; this was so not happening to him. “Un-fucking-believable!”

~~~~~~

Jennifer Taylor tried to guard her expression, but she just couldn’t hide the look of disappointment that marred her face as she turned to take in the empty service station bays. “Justin, honey...” she started, then stopped. What could she say? She tried again, “Of all the places we looked at in December? This is what you chose? This... this...?” she sighed in frustration.

“It’s called a home, mother.” Justin tried to school the disappointment from his tone.

“But Justin...”

Trying to hold onto his temper, Justin started to recount what factored into his decision to purchase the 1930s service station. “Look, I know it’s not a three bedroom, two and a half bath starter home in the suburbs. But it’s got good light and a large space that I can use for my studio. I can move canvases in and out without having to worry about how I’ll get them up and down stairs and around narrow stairwell’s. The floor’s cement so it won’t matter what splatters or spills. The rest of the place will work for an apartment. And if I feel like I need to paint in the middle of the night I can roll out of bed and right into the studio without having to deal with weather. It’s what I want. It’s what I need. And, it’s what I can afford.”

The earnestness of her son’s words and the stubbornness on his face, Jennifer knew better than to argue, so she asked, “Actually, that’s a question I had, how can you afford all... this?”

Justin smiled, he could see she was going to come around. “I took my settlement from the studio when the movie got cancelled and I got laid off. Then I researched real estate auctions - something I learned from you. The property went up for auction at the beginning of February for back taxes. I was the only person who showed up to bid on it. I got it for $30,000.”

Well, she couldn’t fault him for the price. Besides, he’s already closed on the property. Jennifer shook her head one last time and smiled. With a sigh she said, “I just wish you had let me help you with the closing.”

Justin shook his head and grinned at his mother. “You would have just tried to talk me out of it.”

“You’re right,” she agreed with a chuckle. “So give me the grand tour! Does this place even have a kitchen or a bathroom?”

“Right this way,” Justin ushered his mother into the former service station lobby where at least ten laborers were doing various tasks. The entire service station space appeared to have been gutted. Jennifer took in the construction workers who were busy putting up sheet rock.

“You remember Julio and Miguel?” Justin asked, getting his mother’s attention.

“Sure, from when you worked for that construction company the summer between your freshman and sophomore year.” Jennifer had always like the young hispanic men. They were good friends to Justin.

“Well, they have their own construction company now. And they’re doing all the renovation work. They think that they’ll have it done by the end of the month.”

Getting excited now, Justin detailed the work to be done. “I’m combining the two restrooms into one large bathroom - it’s great, I had the place steamed cleaned and you wouldn’t believe the beautiful tile work that was uncovered when we lifted out the formica floor and removed the drywall. When we removed the flooring from the rest of the space, it turned out that there were hardwoods underneath.” Justin pointed down to the flooring covered in thick cardboard-like paper pieced together with duct tape.

He continued. “The parts storage had sink hookups so it’s being converted into the kitchen - the room is huge, and we’re going to put in laminate. The office will be my bedroom and the lobby/store area will be living space.”

Jennifer looked out lobby’s huge glass window onto Tremont. “Aren’t you going to feel a bit exposed here?”

“I have a friend, Guy, from PIFA. He’s an interior designer. He promised to help me with figuring out window treatments. Of course, I may just entirely rework the window.”

Jennifer hugged her son and smiled at him. The space may work out after all. “Well, if you get tired of living in a fishbowl, you can always turn the place into an art gallery, and still have your studio space. I’ll keep an eye out for condos in the area.”

“Mother!” Justin pulled a face, but knew she was kidding. “So how about taking the starving artist to lunch? Now that I’m part of the mortgaged poor?”

“Sure, we’re just around the corner from the Liberty Diner.” Justin stopped and stared at his mother. “What? Hungry realtors need to eat too you know. Besides, I often stop by in the afternoon to have a cup of tea with Debbie - she works there, you know.”

~~~~~~

“Brian?” Cynthia took a chance and called into Brian. She knew his work load was light this afternoon. She thought he might even head home early - at least she wished that so she could leave early herself.

“hmmm?” Brian answered back into the speaker phone.

“There’s a Jennifer Taylor here to see you. She’s a realtor with Taylor Associates.” Normally, Cynthia wouldn’t have bothered Brian. But being privy to the morning’s dealings about the Liberty and Tremont properties, she figured that the Taylor woman might be someone Brian would be willing to speak with.

“Do I know her?”

“No, but Debbie at the diner suggested she stop by.”

How the fuck did Debbie know what was going on? Theodore. “Set her up in the conference room, and tell Theodore to get his ass down there. See if Celia can find her something to drink and tell them I’ll be down in 5 minutes. I have to wrap things up here before I can meet with them.”

~~~~~~

Jennifer was ushered into a large, open conference room furnished in tasteful -- and expensive she was quick to note -- pieces. A young woman popped in to offer her something to drink - Jennifer accepted a bottled water and sat back to wait. She knew she was taking a chance coming here unannounced and without an appointment. Jennifer followed the real estate market in town quite closely. She also had taken to reading the gay papers since Justin came out nearly 8 years ago. When Deb mentioned that Brian Kinney had fired his incompetent real estate agent for fouling up a deal, she knew it that it could be an opportunity for both of them.

Looking up, she saw a well dressed, but slightly nebbish, man enter the conference room. He looked vaguely familiar - like she had seen him at the Liberty Diner or some place. No! Wait! he was in the drawing that Justin had done of the four men in the booth at the diner. Ha. Small world.

Ted entered the conference room and crossed to where Jennifer was seated. “Hi, I’m Ted Schmidt. Mr. Kinney will be with us shortly.”

“Jennifer. Jennifer Taylor.” She rose to shake hands with Ted as Brian walked in the door.

Her attention drawn away, Ted introduced her. “Brian, this is Jennifer Taylor.”

“Ms. Taylor,” Brian nodded and shook her hand.

“Jennifer, please.”

“Jennifer, then.”

She handed each of the men her card. She cut to the chase. “I understand that Kinnetik Corp is in the market for a realtor who bothers to provide service to their accounts.”

Brian stuck his tongue in his cheek, but was smiling internally. He liked her, she had balls. And no bull shit.

“You’re hired.”

Ted looked at Brian like he was nuts.

“But...,” Jennifer’s brows furrowed, she looked confused.

“Come, come now Jennifer, don’t make me loose my faith in you so quickly.”

“Well, I just figured you might want to know a bit about me...” she replied, the excuse sounded lame, even to her ears.

Brian counted off her qualifications, amazing Jennifer with his assessment. “One, you managed to find out in less that three hours from the point it happened that my realtor is an asshole who doesn’t know how to service an account. Two, since I normally trust Theodore here to keep confidential matters confidential,” Ted winced, “I imagine you came by that knowledge from Debbie Novatney at the Liberty Diner. Three, since my gaydar tells me you’re not a dyke, that means that you are a friend of Debbie’s that can be trusted. It also tells me that you don’t have the usual homophobic baggage about gay-owned businesses or eating at the Liberty Diner -- which I own by the way, but I figure you already knew that. You’re probably one of Debbie’s PFLAG friends. Four, you had the balls to show up here - without an appointment I might add - to try to land the account. I admire that.”

Brian looked at a stunned Jennifer. “Did I get that right?”

“Pretty much,” Jennifer replied with a meek smile, amazed at the ability of the man to sum things up.

“Well, that being said, Theodore will give you details about what we’re working on here. After the last fiasco, I think it would be helpful if we schedule a standing meeting monthly, and interim meetings as needed when we are working on a project. I’m putting my faith in you Jennifer - don’t fuck it up.” With that, Brian turned and left the conference room leaving a speechless Jennifer and Ted.

“What the hell just happened here?” Jennifer asked when the click of the door closing jolted her.

“You’ve just been blown away by Hurricane Kinney.” Ted responded, and got down to the details of what Jennifer needed to know.