Chapter 2

Red Cape Comics

Michael

It had been a long morning, there hadn’t been that many customers but that was ok because it gave me more time to plan how to get Justin back to New York and begin a relationship with Brian. Sure Ben is a great husband but I never intended to be with him forever, just until Brian was ready. Besides what with his HIV he’s bound to get sick and die at some point so really I’m just planning for the future when he’s dead and gone and I need someone so comfort me and that person will be Brian I know it will.

As I was thinking of the many different ways to get what I was disrupted my phone ringing, it was Ben. What the hell does he want that he couldn’t have told me this morning before I left to go to the diner?

“Hey Michael I was wondering if you wanted to get take out tonight, Hunter is gonna be late home so he said he’d eat at his friends house so we will have the place to ourselves, take out and movie night sound good to you?”

As he said this I had a new brilliant idea “I was actually wondering if we should invite Brian over tonight...”

“Why? I thought it would be nice to have quality time, just the two of us.”

“I know but Justins back and I think it would be nice to have him over so that we can talk about it. I mean this is going to be hard for him having Justin be around him now because when he leaves Brian will be devastated again so he will need someone to help keep him from falling back into a relationship just to be left hurt.”

“I’m sure Brian will be more than fine, I was always under the impression that they never broke up they just had a long distance relationship while he was away. Even if they had broken up I really don’t see what you need to get involved for.”

My husband really is dense sometimes; of course Brian had broken up with Justin. He wouldn’t want a long distance relationship, I know him better than anyone and that is just not something he would ever be interested in.

“He’s my best friend I’m just looking after him...”

Ben

Ugh why does Michael always have to bring Brian into things? Would it be so horrible to spend just one night together as husbands, it’s not often that we get a chance to have the house to ourselves.

“look I have a class in 15 minutes I need get going, we’ll talk about this later but I really do think Brian is going to be fine, I’m sure he’s probably already got plans with Justin anyway so as much as you want him to come over for dinner I doubt he would be able to make it.”

“Bye” Michael says abruptly before ending the call. As much as I would like to think he was listening to anything I was saying I have my doubts. I know him to well to think he would ever stop trying to involve Brian into anything that we plan to do, I really don’t know how much longer I will able to keep going with this marriage if he doesn’t stop putting Brian above me and Hunter.

Mel and Lindsey’s house

Brian

I knocked on the muncher’s door and waited for either Mel or Lindsey to open the door and I couldn’t help but glance to my left at Justin who had the most beautiful smile on his face. Before I had the opportunity to do anything but my arm around his shoulders Mel opened the door and let us in. Once we were in the living room we were quickly the centre of attention, Gus ran straight to me and I picked him up while Mel and Lindsey stared at Justin.

“Hey sonny boy, are you exited to spend the day with me and Justin?”

Instead of saying anything he nodded frantically.

“Justin, I didn’t know you were visiting? How long are you here for?” Mel asked while reaching out to Justin for a Hug but I noticed Lindsey didn’t seem as happy to see Justin as Mel was for some reason.

“I’m not visiting, I’ve moved back home”

“That’s great, why didn’t you say anything...either of you?”

“We wanted to surprise everyone at the same time, which hasn’t exactly worked out. Debbie, Michael, Ted, Blake, Emmett and Drew all know because they were in the diner earlier but we still haven’t seen Ben, Hunter or Carl yet although between Debs and Michael I’m sure they already know.” I explain

Lindsey finally decided to say something after staring at Justin continuously since we had walked in “I Really don’t think that you have thought this through, if you want a career in the art world you need to be in New York. Being back here you are throwing away the chance to have an amazing career”

“Actually I can paint and draw from anywhere being in New York is not as important as you seem to think. As for throwing away a career my agent is not worried about that so I don’t feel the need to worry about it.” Justin replied calmly but visibly irritated that she had implied that he wasn’t capable of making a name for himself here.

“Daddy are we going yet?” Gus said breaking the tension that had started to build in the room

“Yes we are, have you got everything you want to bring with us?” I ask him as he rests his head on my shoulder.

“My toys and books are in my bag” he says and as I put him down he runs excitedly to grab his backpack once he has his bag on he runs back to us and holds hands with both Justin and I.

“So what are the three of you doing today?” Mel asks while Lindsey continues to stare at Justin ignoring everything else going on in the room.

“Well first we are going to the park and then back home after lunch where he can play with his toys, read or watch a movie then we’ll have dinner so you don’t need to worry about sorting out dinner for him later. We will drop him off at about 7pm” I say while looking down at Gus whose face lit up at the very mention of going to the park.

Lindsey finally snapped out of her one way stare off and tried to join the conversation “We could pick him up from the loft, it wouldn’t be a problem”

“Actually it would be an issue since we’ll be at Britin not the loft so we’ll just drop him of its fine.” Justin replied and I could tell that he was going into full wasp mode

“I don’t know how I feel about him going somewhere that I don’t know, none of us have ever been to Britin so I  would be more comfortable if you went to the loft” Lindsey was now also in full wasp mode.

Mel looked at her wife surprised at the lack of trust she appeared to have “Lindz, Brian and Justin wouldn’t take him anywhere unsafe”

“I would prefer to see for myself what environment Gus will be in so please use the loft instead until I’m confident that Britin is an appropriate place for him, I mean we don’t have any idea where it is and what type of people live in that area.”

I had enough of this nonsense “Lindsey we will be going to Britin. You want to know where it is and if it’s a safe place for him here’s what you need to know; it’s in West Virginia its 8 acres of land and the house itself is big so he’s got more room to run around and play unlike the loft which is too small and confined for a child his age. As for none of you ever having been there, the reason is that I bought that house for Justin and while he was in New York none of you had a need to go to his house.” Before this conversation went on any longer I led Justin and my son out of the door and into the car and within moments we were on the way to the park.

Lindsey

Brian bought Justin a house it West Virginia! It’s bad enough that he’s living the life I should be living but this is too much now. He got the opportunity to go to New York at make it in the art world and he has thrown it away, I would kill for that chance and now he has an 8 acre property in West Virginia too this isn’t fair. I Gave birth to his son and he won’t help out with the mortgage payments on this place let alone buy me...I mean us a house.

“Mel I really don’t think Gus should be going to a house we don’t know, don’t you think it’s a little irresponsible?”

“Do you seriously think that either of them would take Gus somewhere unsafe? It’s fine, I don’t understand why you don’t trust them all of a sudden you’ve never had such a hard time trusting either of them before so whatever this is it needs to stop.”

“This is different, they are taking our son to West Virginia to a place we’ve never seen doesn’t that bother you?”

“I’m sure Justin’s house is perfectly safe so drop it Lindsey, now I have to get to court so that  we can still afford all our bills can you please just take care of JR and stop worrying about something that doesn’t need to be worried about.” She says to me before giving me a peck on the cheek.

Once she has gone I know there is one other person who will understand my concerns, I pull out my phone and ring the number willing Michael to pick up quickly.

“Hey lindz, what’s up?”

“Brian and Justin just came to pick up Gus but instead of going to the loft they said they are going to Britin. When I expressed my concern of him being taken to a place none of us knew where it was let alone seen they brushed it off as if it didn’t matter.”

“I bet that’s down to Justin’s influence. Brian would never disregard your concerns over Gus’ safety normally. What did Mel say about it? And do you have a rough idea of where it is, maybe if we could find it ourselves we could check to see if it’s a suitable environment.”

“All I know is that it’s an 8 acre property in West Virginia, oh and apparently the reason why none of us have ever been is because Brian Bought for Justin and we had no need to go there. Mel seems fine with it, as if it doesn’t matter to her that we don’t know anything about the area that our son is being taken.”

“Brian bought boy wonder an 8 acre property? No way! He wouldn’t do that without being coerced into it. Trust me, I asked Brian for $5000 last week to help invest in my collection of collectibles and comics and he said no even though he wouldn’t notice it in his bank balance. We need to save him from Justin Before he Bleeds Brian’s bank balance dry. I’m gonna go to the loft tomorrow and talk some sense into him  before we go for dinner at ma’s maybe you should try and reason with Mel that she should be more concerned with the kids welfare.”

“Maybe the address will be on kinnetic’s records, I could call and say I want the address and phone number of the place so that I could check on Gus and know where to go if anything happened, they can’t deny me that since it’s my right as a parent to know my child is safe.”

“Good idea, call me back with the details so I can check the place out too.”

“Why do you want to check out Justin’s house?”

“you said Brian bought it and just gave it to boy wonder so it’s Brian’s house really, once they have broken up and we are together there’s no way that He’ll let Justin stay there. I’ll move in and the two of us will be able to live our live together the way that we were always meant to. Now hurry up and get the details so you can see were your son is and I can see my future home.”

As he hung up I couldn’t help but wonder how he ended up so deluded, if anyone is going to move into that place once Justin and Brian break up it will be me. We have a son together and should live together to raise him in a more stable environment. Mel is great and all but as proven today she’s more worried about herself and her career than the safety of her children so I don’t think this relationship will last unless she starts to see things my way.

Kinnetik

Cynthia

Why is it that the moment Brian is gone even just for a day or two everyone decides to dump all their shit on me as if I haven’t got enough to do as it is? Between trying to make sure the business is running to Brian’s satisfaction and having to deal with way to many assholes on the phone and it’s infuriating how some clients think the more rude they are the more they get what they want, if they honestly believe that then they are morons. On to of that I’ve had Lindsey Peterson on hold for the last 10 minutes just to psyche myself up to deal with whatever demands she has this time, I suppose I had better get it over with.

“Kinnetik, Cynthia Speaking.”

“Cynthia, its Lindsey I need the address and phone number for Britin”

“I’m Sorry I Cannot Give out that information”

“My son is being taken there so I need to know the address and phone number in case anything happens now give me the details.”

“if you needed the number or address for Britin I’m sure Justin would have given you the details but if anything happens I’m sure you have their cell phone numbers so it’s not like that you won’t have any way to contact them or for them to contact you.

“Now listen here you bitch I want those details and it’s my right as a parent to know my child is safe and since he has never been there I want the address and number.”

“I’m Sorry but I will not give you those details.”

I hung up knowing that was all Lindsey wanted and I wasn’t going to sit here all day telling her over and over again that i won’t give her details on her demand. But i should phone Brian to let him know what she’s demanding, see if he can get her to stop pestering for information she doesn’t need.

Park

Justin

After running around the park and plays many different games we had decided to settle down and eat, we had just set up the picnic when Brian got a call from Cynthia i could only hear his side of the call so i don’t know who or what it was but it had pissed him off.

“Brian who was it? You look annoyed...”

“It was Lindsey pestering Cynthia for the address and phone number for Britin”

“Why? it’s none of her business, besides I was planning on having everyone over next week for dinner to celebrate me coming home so she would know where it is then, I know it’s something that I should have mentioned before but I was going to tell you my plans for the dinner tonight...” Brian interrupted my rambling with a kiss which made Gus giggle.

“Sunshine it’s your house you can make whatever plans you want”

“It’s our house you live there with me too remember? We both should agree on what goes on there.”

“I know but it’s in your name so it yours as far as I’m concerned but let’s not think about any of that right now we still have the rest of the day with Gus so Let’s forget all of that and just have fun” he said before giving me another peck on the lips

“Daddy I want kisses too” Gus said as he climbed onto Brian’s Lap, once he was comfy Brian put his arms around his son and kissed the top of his head. I couldn’t help smiling at the two of them having this sweet moment. Whatever it is that Lindsey wants can wait nothing was going to get in the way of my day with these two.

TBC