CHAPTER 4: SIGN OF THE TIMES

LINDSAY

I can’t believe it! I mean I absolutely cannot believe that Debbie just talked to me that way. I mean granted, her reading Michael in front of everyone was long overdue, but to actually speak to me the way she did...well, it is simply not to be borne! How dare she call herself warning me off?! I’m the mother of Brian’s ONLY child and deserve respect as such. Not only has she disrespected my place in Brian’s life, but also within Justin’s career. He wouldn’t be who he is within the art world if it wasn’t for me! He would have thrown away his opportunities if it wasn’t for my guidance!

Well no matter...as soon as I have a little talk with Brian, he’ll do what he should have done when Justin went to New York and that’s let him go. Of course, I will be there to pick up the pieces, but also to make sure he no longer backslides or steps out of my plans for him. Gus and I- by default, of course- should be the most important people in his life, not some fucking blond boy ass. He could get that a dime a dozen as the Stud of Liberty Avenue; it’s time Brian remembers that!  

“Come on, Michael!”

“Where are we going? I mean, it’s not like I can open up my shop today and you still haven’t told me how your search went last night.”

I roll my eyes at his despondent tone. “Look, I’ll fill you in on everything later, but right now, we need to speak to Brian alone while Justin is wherever the hell he is. We can’t waste an opportunity for him to listen to reason without interference. Justin should be busy this morning with that fucking Miranda, planning for his upcoming show and this silly competition. So that leaves Brian to deal with. It’s time he listens to us!”

Michael gets up and grabs his ratty-ass coat. I mean, seriously! Being seen with a near-forty year old man wearing that fucking Captain Astro coat is just embarrassing. This is why I should be on Brian’s arm instead. Now, he exudes style and class, same as I do. But instead, I’m here with Doofus! If I have my way, that will change immediately. I look at Michael drain the rest of his chocolate milk and resist the urge to roll my eyes again. It will change immediately indeed!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

KINNETIK

BRIAN

Okay, like seriously, I have married the most amazing man in the universe. Not only did he manage to get the boards I needed for this morning done, but he landed another major account just by being who he is. After speaking with Brett and Connor last night, they asked to come in and look over some of our past campaigns, specifically the ones Justin was involved in. I pulled out the original Remson Pharmaceuticals, Eyconics, and Brown accounts as a sample of what the key members of Kinnetik could do in a relatively short amount of time. The more recent campaigns are more in-depth than these were since we have established a firm turnaround for our clients.

“These were done while Justin was on set in California. This kid…” Brett says in awe.

“Yes they were,” I answer. “Justin was there working on Rage with you, but managed to get these done and emailed to me so that they met me at the office first thing in the morning.”

“He’s a genius. And quite frankly, Brian, so are you. I recognize the slogans and have to admit that not only was the artwork eye-catching, but there wasn’t a time where I wasn’t either reciting or referencing some part of the slogan. Connor and I even used part of the Remson campaign to inspire us when we decided to strike out on our own. Life is a series of ups and downs- Always take the high road. That slogan came out just weeks after the movie was cancelled and we were feeling bummed about the overt bigotry of those making the decisions for the production company.”

“Honestly, if my opinion counts for anything, you both should have done it after the fifth highest grossing blockbuster you had. Your reputations were assured, but then again, I understand the need for caution in your line of work. You’re only as successful as your latest movie. Which brings me to the question of what exactly you need from Kinnetik?”

Connor cleared his throat. He knew that I was basically keeping my interactions with him to a minimum. I will be honest and say that I’m still not thrilled with him approaching Justin with the idea of a repeat in mind. Yeah, the little twat brings about these uncontrollable bouts of jealousy within me. I would work on that, but… well, let’s just say the way he reassures me leaves us both breathless and insatiable, so I’ll take it.

“Well, we are actually considering many different ways to utilize your company. First, and foremost, would be advertising our upcoming projects. There is at least a four million dollar budget for that. Secondly, would be the graphic arts portion of our business...”

“Graphic arts?”

“Yes. Connor and I would like to propose a partnership with Kinnetik, that the storyboards be done solely by your team.”

“What exactly do you mean?”

“Since Justin isn’t willing to ditch Pittsburgh for work in Hollywood, we thought that the best compromise for us to still have him would be to use Kinnetik, and therefore Justin, as an outsourcing company. Let’s face it. In our line of work, the market is always competitive. Based on that theory, and even what’s bound to happen during this competition with some of the most elite artists in the industry, there are going to be people who want to sabotage from within. You can never be too certain of those around you, looking to stab you in the back and take your place. Nor can you be certain of the overly ambitious types who will yes you to death and still do what they want, forcing you to accept their positions.”

“I understand what you are saying, but I think if you’re looking for a ‘yes sir’ kind of guy, you don’t know Justin or his work ethic.”

“On the contrary,” Brett interjects. “I can’t tell you how many times Justin and I bumped heads, based on his intimate knowledge behind the story of Rage and my vision to bring it all together. There were sets that actually had to be destroyed because Justin wasn’t happy with the finished, or revised-without-his-approval products. Let me just say that no one can queen out better than Justin when he is in business mode.”

“He sure as fuck stunned me. He didn’t yell; didn’t say anything until he was finished demolishing the fucking set, and then asked for answers. With a few well-placed words, mostly insults, he had some of the most seasoned art vets within the business in tears,” Connor tells me.

I can’t say that I wasn’t proud to hear that little Sunshine became a hurricane despite being in front of some of the biggest names in the biz. But then that was Justin… a bitch, and diva of epic proportions when pushed. Diplomatically I say, “I’m glad you both understand Justin’s motto of never attaching his name to anything he isn’t fully pleased with.”

“I suspect that goes for all facets of his life?” Brett asks.

“Indeed it does. Justin and I believe in operating in excellence. And that’s exactly what you can expect when dealing with Kinnetik. Let me call in Cynthia, Ted, and Justin so we can talk figures and the first wave of the campaign.”

As I move over to the intercom, I can’t help but hear the commotion outside in the lobby area. I call Cynthia first, asking her to call Frank to get the unwanted intruders out of the building. Them being here spells nothing but trouble. Unfortunately, I noticed the problem too late, as they burst through my office door.

“Brian, you need to tell the bitch at the front desk that her interference is not wanted or needed,” Michael orders me.

“It always amazes me, Michael, that the same words coming out of your mouth in reference to my staff always seem to fall on deaf ears when it comes to yourself. As you can plainly see, I am busy, so kindly take you and your sidekick out of here!”

“Brian, I don’t care how busy you are! This is about your…”

“I swear. Lindsay, if the last word you were about to utter is ‘son’, I can promise you that you are not going to need to worry about him any further. My lawyer is on speed dial.”

“Brian, you are being ridiculous…”

“No, ridiculous is the two of you with your high school games and bullshit. Get it through your thick skulls already! Your- what was it you said again, Michael?- ah yes, interference in my life or Justin’s life, or more accurately MY LIFE WITH JUSTIN is not wanted or needed. I would suggest you go speak to your partners, or in your case Lindsay, go spend time with Gus and Jenny. This is a business, not a daycare for assholes.”

“Brian…”

“Lawyer, Lindsay. And understand that it’s the very last warning you get.” I look at her, narrowing my eyes. I can tell she wants to take it further, but wisely chooses to remain silent.

At that moment, Justin walks straight to me from the open door. Not missing an opportunity, he pulls the hair at my nape and presses our lips together. I sigh and moan into the kiss as he uses my hair to direct my head to the angle he wants it. Slipping his tongue inside my mouth, Justin demands and commands all of my attention. The room fades away in place of a landscape that is both familiar, yet different. As he detaches from my lips, I watch as the dazed expression becomes a hardened one. Turning that diamond-bright gaze onto his detractors, he doesn’t speak, but they receive his message all the same.

“Fuck… is he always like this?” Brett asks, almost as if talking to himself.

I hear Cynthia giggle. “Absolutely. Justin Taylor-Kinney subscribed to the Brian Taylor-Kinney School of Actions Speak Louder than Words. As you can plainly see, he graduated the top of the class.”

“Cynthia, I find nothing funny!” Lindsay reprimands her.

“And Brian’s last name is Kinney, not Taylor-Kinney!” Michael bites out.

“And not only is Cynthia correct on both accounts, but it is also proof that you both have overstayed your welcome. Get the fuck out and don’t come back. My husband and I have more important things to do than play Romper Room with the two of you,” I tell them, wrapping my arms around Justin from behind. I can feel the barely-leashed tension thrumming through him as he continues to stare at them.

“We’re going, but this isn’t over, Brian,” Lindsay warns.

“Never would have imagined that it would be. You two, if nothing else, are predictable and irritatingly persistent. I’m sure those of us who know you remain in hope that you’ll buy a clue. So on that note Vanna White-coat, can you please take your patient, Pat Straightjacket out of here so we can get to work? Thank you and Bye! Frank, please… and make sure they are never admitted again unless I have a lapse in sanity and demand for them to be. Oh, and Lindsay, don’t even think about going to get Gus and bringing him back here as your ticket to entry. Mel already knows what to do if Gus wants to see me.”

“Brian, this is highly unfair. I’m the mother of your child and…”

“Soon to be ex-mother, Lindsay.” I pull out my cellphone to prove my point. She finally gets the message and beats a hasty retreat from my office. Michael follows, rolling his eyes, and once again telling me that his antics aren’t over.

“Sorry for the interruption, guys,” Justin, ever the WASP apologizes. “You ready, Brian? I have to be on set for the competition in two hours. If we’re going to finalize things…”

“Give me a second, Justin,” I tell him, as I scroll through the phone.

“What are you doing?”

“Keeping a promise, and you know I never break them. Hello, this is Brian Kinney for Jefferson Brandt.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

JEFF

Finally, she has gone too far! I think as I listen to what Brian wants me to do. I’m so happy that he insisted his name be on the account. “Has the other account already been set up?” I ask him.

“Hold on, let me ask Ted.” I’m put on hold for a few moments before he comes back on the line. “Yes, Jeff. According to Ted, Melanie set it up yesterday before the meet-and-greet last night.”

“Okay. Have Ted transfer the funds immediately into the account with yours and Melanie’s name on it. In the meantime, I will push through the other paperwork with the court system. I always told you if she was keeping company with Michael Novotny, Lindsay was unstable. The fact that she’s willing to use Gus in anything in regards to you just proves that she doesn’t have his best interests at heart. She never did. So what do you want? Supervised visitation or revoked rights?”

“Supervised visitation for now. If she doesn’t stop the madness then it will be time to take full measures to protect Gus at all costs. Removing her access to the child support account is the first step. Also, it makes it damn near impossible for her to keep Gus and Jenny, since she doesn’t have a job or a place to live. It's about to be the same situation with Michael from what Ben told me. Melanie is going to see the house I thought she and the kids would like later this morning or early afternoon. Right now, she’s tying up a few loose ends. She’s finally decided to go into business for herself.”

“What? When did that happen?”

“The work she’s been doing for Justin has been speaking for itself. So last night, we ran into an old friend of ours, who suggested that she can still practice within her field, but also will be able to expand it to include Entertainment Law. She and Miranda were supposed to meet this morning to go over the particulars since Miranda is also an attorney in that field.”

“Wow! I never knew that. Perhaps that’s why the two of them get along as well as they do.”

“I think so. In the meantime, let me know if you need anything else from me. Lindsay will be in for quite the shock when it all comes back to bite her in the ass.”

“Her flat ass, let’s not forget that. In fact, let’s just say the thigh since she suffers from the disease of No-ass-at-all. It’s, at least, a bit more flattering.”

I hang up with Brian and think of all the wonderful fallout about to happen. Reaching into my desk drawer, I take out the envelope of the all the activities of Lindsay Peterson for the last five years. I’m glad that when Brian agreed to the move to Canada, he allowed me to hire an investigator to always make sure Gus was being well cared for. I knew that he trusted Mel, since she was always the type to hate you to your face. But Lindsay, not so much. No, she has always been a sneaky bitch, and it’s finally going to catch up to her in ways she never bargained for. I’ve often wondered why I enjoyed being a family law attorney. It’s a field of law where you really do see the good, the bad, and the ugly side of family life all at the same time, most of the time. But it’s moments like this one, that I fully understand why I could never let it go completely. Mothers as abusive and neglectful as Lindsay Peterson are the reason some women should never have been born with uterus.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

JENNIFER

I look at my watch as I sit in the Cheyanne Cafe down the street from my sons’ office. Goodness me, that’s strange to say- my sons. Honestly, it’s still hard to believe that Brian Taylor-Kinney is actually my son. I know that he and I got off to a rocky start. I was the naive mother in how to relate to Justin while Brian was- and still is- the most in-your-face man I have ever met. But when I needed him the most, for my son’s sake, he was always there to help me through it. Many people don’t really know why I stick so close to Brian, and have become his champion over the years, but it’s because of one simple truth: he loves my son unequivocally and unconditionally. It took me awhile to see it, but he does… and he loves me, too.

Which is why I’m sitting here, waiting on Melanie, but also listening to the two disgruntled magpies in the corner of the cafe, hissing and spitting fire. I guess Brian and Justin finally told Ms. Peterson and Mr. Novotny that all of their carefully-laid plans, and eternal wishes were never going to be the reality, for either of them. The role of Mrs. Brian Kinney has been forever filled and it’s not going to change no matter what they try to do. I get up from my seat, intent on disabusing whatever notions and plans Lindsay is hatching. Yes indeed, I know she will be the one I need to address, instead of the scarecrow without a brain. But if she’s smart, she’ll heed my warnings. Part of me really hopes, she isn’t smart.

“Hello, Michael and Lindsay,” I say before they have a chance to begin again. “I just thought I would come over and greet you since in all of your delusion, you walked right past me and didn’t utter a word. You know Lindsay, I don’t remember you ever being that rude.”

“Sor… you know what, Jennifer. I’m not sorry. I’m having a very rough morning and not inclined to fake emotions that I just don’t feel,” Lindsay sneers.

I chuckle. “I would imagine having Deb hand you your asses in front of a Diner full of patrons this morning would do that to you.”

“Do you have a point for coming over here?” Michael’s whiny voice rings out as I watch Lindsay’s pinched expression. “As you can see we are having a private conversation.”

“I would believe that except that you, as always, must have a hearing problem since your whispering is basically the same tone as your whiny voice. But as for the reason I’m over here, Michael, it’s to deliver a small warning. Leave my sons alone.”

“Sons? You only have one son, who really should understand that he outstayed his welcome a long fucking time ago!”

“I could say the same for you, Scare… oh, sorry, Michael. You’ve outstayed your welcome in many respects. For example: attached to your mother’s apron strings, although I suspect she’s finally cut you off; in Brian’s life, which I suspect you’ve been kicked out of; in Justin’s life and business, which I have a feeling if you don’t back off, he’s going to deck you; in Ben’s life, where you constantly drag him down, although I know he is planning on rectifying that situation sooner rather than later. Yet the places you should be invading, such as your roach motel- otherwise known as Red Cape Comics- has not seen hide nor lice-infested hair of you, since when? Your daughter, who you nearly busted a testicle to get out of the head of your pen-tip sized dick, hasn’t seen you since she’s been back, and why exactly is that? Oh, I know. It’s because you’ve been running around town trying to get attention that no one of importance wants to give you.”

“Now look here lady…”

“And as for you, Lindsay, I’m going to issue you a warning for the last time,” I say, ignoring whatever idiocy is about to erupt from Michael’s mouth yet again. “The dirty trick you played on Brian and Justin in order to get my son to leave for New York won’t work again. I’m sure by the amount of spit flying between you, Brian and Justin have informed both of you of their change in last names. For your information, and basically as common courtesy at this point, because it certainly isn’t your business or wish come true, Brian and Justin have been legalized since before my son made the decision to board the plane to New York.”

“You’re lying!” Lindsay screams.

“Not at all, dear. You see, the ceremony they were planning was really for all of us. They signed the legal documents joining their lives weeks before. In truth, Brian and Justin have been married for quite a long time, before Brian even first asked Justin. I mean, if you take a look at history, instead of trying to rewrite it suit your fantasies, you both would really know and understand that it happened while they were fighting Stockwell. Justin stuck by Brian during the worst times of his life and yet, they still managed what you two couldn’t in your ‘mature’ relationships. They worked through their problems.”

“What? Justin was always leaving Brian!” Michael yells, as if I don’t know what I am talking about.

“Oh, you mean the way Ben is leaving you? Or the way David Cameron sent your ass home when you complained about his attention being on his job and his son? If you knew, or paid attention to anything other than what you want, you would have seen that Justin has always been there for Brian.”

“So we should be happy that your son was a fucking stalker?”

“Better than the fucking moochers you both are, don’t you think? No you wouldn’t think that at all, since you would actually have to admit that you are both selfish creatures with entirely too much time on your hands. Time that could be better spent, oh I don’t know… working perhaps. Or maybe concentrating raising your children to be self-sufficient so that they don’t turn into carbon copies of yourselves later on in life? You two are truly pathetic, but more than that, you’re useless. Now I am going to advise you that if you fuck with Justin, you fuck with me, and trust me, Lindsay in particular, you don’t want to do that.”

“What is it that you think you can actually do? You’re nothing,” Lindsay spits.

“Sure, I am. Not only am I one of the top real estate brokers in this state, I am also pretty well known in art circles as Justin Taylor-Kinney’s mother. You must like the doors that slammed in your face because you opened your legs for Sam Auerbach. They’ve only just recently opened back up to you because of the Curator, who you were sucking off, and his influential wife. But keep fucking with Justin and I’ll make sure they slam in your face once again, no matter who you screw.”

She gasps. “You don’t have that kind of pull!”

“From a WASP to a wannabe, do you really want to test that theory?” I look over to the entrance of the door where my table was and smile. “Well, have a good day. My client has arrived.” I hear the indignant huffs behind me as I move towards Melanie, waiting for me.

She chuckles as I come upon her. “Good morning, Jen. Did you have fun?”

“Darling, you have no idea just how much.”