CHAPTER 41 - THE WASP-PACK PROTECTS AND THE OVERSTEP

JUSTIN

“But how?!” Daph demands, sipping her champagne. “And why didn’t you let me play Mom?!”

“Because the wasp-pack wanted to defend their cubs.” Mrs C - as I call her - replies, smiling at Daph’s sulky expression.

“Again, how though?” Benson asks.

“Amazingly enough it was Michael that gave me the idea. A very simple plan. I called Ronald and asked them to help Lindsay with the cottage. She, naturally, bit their hands off like a rabid dog once made the offer, so that held her focus. Between Peterkin, me and Richard, it was a matter of bringing it to completion. We already did the set up; and Lorraine who, by the way, you are most welcome for, played her part beautifully…”

“Richard and Peterkin?” Brian questions.

“Mom, who’s Richard?” I ask, looking around the table at a circle of bewildered faces.

“And who the hell is Lorraine?!” Emmett demands.

“Richard is a fellow Dom. You all, well mostly, know Peterkin. So, when Peterkin told me of your plan, Ems, to send in the pray away the gay nut job that was at his brother’s. It gave me the idea to get the committee to invoke the eviction clause, very good whoever put that in”

“How did you know about that clause?” Brian asks.

“A lady never tells. So I called in a favour from a rather obedient little sub of mine. Which reminds me, I need to give her a reward session. Once he was out, she called me, and then it was a simple case of pack them up while keeping Michael busy protecting his store and Lindsay in her cottage. The place looks very nice now.”

I don’t think I have ever seen Mel and Brian look so stunned. “You did this in a week?” Mel gasps.

“Yes.” She smiles. “So what are you going to do with the house and the store? From what I heard on the Avenue, a fumigation of the store is called for!”

“Wait, hang on!” Ted slaps the table.

“No more champagne for you, mister, not until you eat something.” Blake tells him firmly.

“Okay, honey.” He grins at him before turning back to Mom. “How did you keep Michael there though?”

“Leaflet drop.” She takes a delicate sip. “Shame those religious groups only posted them through his letterbox.”

“Thank God I will never face you in court!” Mel exclaims raising her glass.

“Oh, we need another bottle. I’ll get it.” I declare, and ignore the questioning look on Brian’s face. As I reach the bar I take out my phone and send a text. Do not tell Brian I told you about the clause, when I overheard him at the block party! Thanks, Mom.

I signal the barman and feel a bit better at not having betrayed a confidence. I smile as a familiar arm drapes over my shoulder. “Hello.” He whispers in my ear and I shiver at the warmth of his breath. “Your Mom asked me to look after her phone while she went to the powder room.” I stiffen and swallow before turning to face him.

“Um…”

“Um?”

“I shouldn’t have told her what I overheard but I was…” I trail off as he just gives me that look. “Are we going home now?”

“Not yet. But when we get there, I want full and frank disclosure as to what you’ve been saying. Understand?”

“Yes.” My heart sinks because that his business voice...yeah, I’m fucked, and not in a good way.

“You go back to the table, I’ll bring these.” He orders, and then turns back to the bar.

When he comes back, he barely looks at me. “So, Melissa, what part did you play in this play of however many parts?”

“I saw Sidney the week before last and asked how he was going to cope without the expertise of Lindsay while she is in the process of fixing her cottage up for her new tenant. Told him I felt so sorry for her, what with all the problems she’s been having, but having an income from that tenant should ease her concerns...”

“And…” Drey prompts.

“Well, she told him that she’s got a mild case of e-coli, which she caught from equine excrement that was erroneously deposited outside her cottage. This has increased her stress and anxiety levels to such an extent that her doctor insisted she rest...she produced a doctor’s note and every…”

Mel starts to laugh and takes her phone out of her purse. “How the fuck didn’t we send that?!” She exclaims. “Grab your phones, people! Grab your phones!” Soon the entire table is roaring with laughter as we watch Lindsay first trip over the bags, and then get covered in horse shit. “I can’t thank whoever sent this enough. I mean…”

“I’ll tell him, I’m meeting him for lunch.” Mom grins.

“Who?” We say almost as one.

“Sidney.” She turns to Mel. “You have a very loyal friend in him you know?”

“I do now.” She blushes a little. “So, the house, rent it or sell it. But the store, what the hell do you want to do with that?”

“No fucking idea.” He looks around the booth. “Anybody got any suggestions? It is not going to remain a comic book store, I can tell you that much!”

“Have you got the store yet though?” Ted asks frowning. “He’s been there all week, so…”

“Such a terrible shame about the break-in.” Drey pipes up.

“What break-in?” Ted looks at Brian who shrugs.

“Apparently, not soon after he left the store with Lindsay, someone broke in. Made off with half of his stock, my colleagues are still trying to locate him to let him know about this unfortunate turn of events…”

“Wait a second...” Ted looks between Drey, Mom and Mrs C. “You’re a WASP!” He points at Drey who nods slowly. “And...no let me try to navigate this...you, Jennifer, called in a favour over his store door?” More nodding. “Is Hunter a WASP?” She shakes her head. “So how did...he’s not the signwriter is he?” She tilts her head in confirmation, and he pauses for a few seconds. “You know what I think?”

“Go on, impress us more than you have already.” Mrs C demands, smiling.

“I think you were planted there, Drey, to arrest him over the cock on the cape thing? But it was pure coincidence that Lindsay was there and she had a cock-alert-jerk moment. And when you, Justin, mentioned the dinner, she was determined to come and rub Mel’s nose in it that she’s with a guy now? But I don’t think Daph and you were set up as it were. Unluckily for Lindsay, it was a coincidence, but Hunter for Cyn wasn’t? Am I right so far?”

“So far so very good.” Mrs C chuckles.

“Now here’s where I get a bit lost, why did you agree to help, Drey?”

“Mrs soon-to-be H and Little Grub, and not just because Daph carried him.” He replies, and that stuns everyone.

“Well, why then?”

“Mrs soon-to-be H is a great lady, and she’s made that grizzled old bear of a cop happy. You know, he wasn’t going to retire?” He smiles. “For the last two years they’ve been so happy, the amount of double shifts he pulled before he left was because he could not bear to watch her be browbeaten by that ungrateful reprobate. He was utterly heartbroken for her when the great romance between Michael and Brian turned out to be nothing but a wet dream. He hadn’t changed, in fact he got worse, and she was so disappointed…”

“Yes, she told him as such when she refused to take his store and house.” Mom sighs.

“But then when he was prepared to have her arrested, that was the last straw for him...and her.” He shakes his head. “She’s done so much and been so much for people, even when they don’t want her to…”

“Yeah, I hear that.” Brian snickers and I smile at him, but his promptly drops off his face and again my heart sinks. “Excuse me, Benson. I need to just to go to the bathroom.”

“Sure, Guvnor.”

Once I am in the sanctuary of the stall I pull out my phone and send him a text; I was drunk and cross and I’m sorry. Alpha.

I wait for ten minutes and he doesn’t respond. Sighing, I head back to the booth.

BRIAN

“We were beginning to think you fell in.” Daph teases him, and he gives her a small smile.

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” Jennifer asks, and he nods but doesn’t look at me, which is fine because I don’t want to look at him right now!

“So, coming back to why you helped Drey.” Justin turns to him. “What was it about my Little Grub that made you…”

“Stop it!” I growl.

“Stop what? I call him Little Grub. What’s the problem, Mr O, I mean K?”

“You know what. Now stop. I am already fucked off, let’s not make it any worse!”

“What’s going on?” Emmett looks worriedly between the pair of us.

“Me make it worse?!” He exclaims. “You seem to forget your place and…”

“My place! My place!” I bellow at him and the entire bar goes quiet. “I know my place in your life, but you don’t seem to understand where you fit in my business life, and that is nowhere! You had no right to say what you said, drunk or not. No right!”

“I hadn’t realised that they were mutually fucking exclusive! And whilst we’re on the subject of rights, Ome…”

“Stop it, Justin! Stop trying to pull rank here!”

“BOYS OFFICE NOW!” Jennifer yells.

“No!” I shout and stand up almost shoving everyone out of the way to get away from him and her. “This, with all due respect, Jennifer, is none of your business. I will see you guys later!”

“Brian! You are being a fucking drama queen!” Justin yells.

“Justin, shut the fuck up!” Is the last thing I hear Jennifer bellow at him as the door closes behind me.

JUSTIN

I can’t believe she just said that. “Mom! You don’t know what the fuck is going on, so keep out of it!”

“I know that judging by the text from you that you fucked up big time! But you’re right, I shall keep the fuck out of it and watch you lose the best thing that has EVER happened to you!”

“I got him. I can get someone else without his level of hysteria!” I snipe and storm out.

As I stand outside I start to shake, not because of the cold because it’s still warm, but because I know I have well and truly fucked up. Once again, I was just too Justin to let him calm down.

BLUE MOON HOUSE - AN HOUR LATER

BRIAN

I relish slamming the door because Gus is with Cyn tonight. Not even Michael has made me as angry as Justin made me right now. He breached a confidence and then tried to use his Alpha position in public to bring me to heel! I pour myself a Beam and slowly start to calm down. I scrub my face and sigh before I drain the glass and head up to bed.

EMMETT’S HOUSE - SAME TIME

MASTER BEDROOM

BRANDON

“So, can we talk about it?” I question warily.

“Brian and Justin?” He turns on his side and then nods.

“What do you think it was about?”

“I think, judging from what Jennifer said about the text that it was Justin who told her about the clause in the contract, and he was trying to get her to not drop him in the shit. But in doing so he dropped himself in it, then reacted in a Dom-outside way, when Brian was justifiably fucked off.”

“Dom-outside?” I frown.

“Justin should not have tried to dominate him outside the privacy of their relationship. He breached a boundary to, in a sense…”

“Force Brian into stopping being angry?” He nods and smiles a little grimly, “l don’t see how he thought that would work.”

“That’s the point. It didn’t work, and he being new at this is no excuse for not using common sense!”

“I hope they work it out.” I sigh as I curl into his side.

“They had better. They’re going to notice when I make Justin stand on a box so I can bang their heads together!”

BLUE MOON HOUSE - TWO HOURS LATER

MASTER BEDROOM

BRIAN

It’s no good! I can’t sleep! I have been staring at the ceiling for the last couple of hours, trying to work out who was more at fault and, ego aside, hand on heart it’s him. I would’ve been fine if he hadn’t brought Gus into the conversation. That really fucked me off. I wouldn’t have blown up so much if he hadn’t done that. He crossed a line there, and then Jennifer trying to make me do as she said as well, I just had to leave before I said things I'd regret and couldn't take back.

I snap on the light as I think I heard something, but then it is quiet, so I turn it off again. But then I hear it again. I get out of bed and head downstairs just as Justin comes through the door.

“What are you doing here?” He asks quietly.

“I live here. What are you doing here...” I begin.

“I have a key. You gave it to me.”

“I know, I was there when I did that. I mean what are doing here with those?” I point to the bags in his hand.

“I have to…”

“Where did you think I would be, if not here?” I think I know the answer, and feel myself starting to get annoyed.

“Out I guess.” He mumbles.

“Out. You thought I would be out? Doing what? Fucking and sucking all night?”

“I don’t know! I’ve never seen you so cross!”

“Cross?! I wasn’t cross! Don’t try to trivialise my feelings or what you did, I was fucked off!”

“Well I was fucked off too!” He barks at me.

“You?! You were fucked off?! Pray tell what were you fucked off about exactly?! I don’t remember breaking any of your confidences and then trying to get my mother to cover it up!”

“That’s not fair!”

“How the fuck is it not fair when that’s what you did?!”

“Look, I know I fucked up, badly! I was wandering around for the last couple of hours and you are right! Not only shouldn't I have told Mom, drunk or not, I definitely shouldn't have tried to make her cover it up. On top of that I never should have tried to use my position as your Alpha to make you stop being angry with me. I humiliated you and no one should ever do that. There is no excuse even though I am truly sorry. Let me just go and grab my stuff and I will be gone in a heartbeat.”

“What are you talking about, gone? Gone where?” I ask, not having a clue what's happening here.

“Out of your life. Where else should I go? I am clearly not what you need. You deserve a Dom who treats you with respect, and that's definitely not what I did. How could you want me after I was so horrible to you? I love you so much, and...I want you to be happy...not to make you miserable.”

He looks at me, and there are tears pouring down his face. I can't believe what is happening here, what he is talking about? “Justin, what…” I start but he interrupts me again.

“Can I ask you for one last favour? Not that I deserve it, but...can you...can you tell Gus that I love him and give him...one...just one last kiss from...from me?” He walks past me with his head bowed. I see his shoulders start to shake and hear the sobs as he starts to walk upstairs to the bedroom.

“NOW JUST ONE FUCKING MINUTE!” I yell, and he stumbles up the stairs in surprise.

“Please don’t shout anymore!” He whispers and keeps walking.

“You don’t get to do this!” I snarl. “You don’t get to come into our lives and think that after one, admittedly, monumental fuck up, that you have to fucking leave!” He takes a hiccuping breath. “And you most definitely don’t get to say you love me without me saying it back!”

He stops walking and slowly turns around. “What? What did you just say?”

“I haven’t said it yet.” I tell him as I walk to the foot of the stairs. “I was going to say I love you, but I realise that I don’t…”

“I understand and deserve the honesty, no matter how much it hurts!” He says, and starts to walk back up the stairs.

“For fuck sake! Jesus, Justin! Will you let me finish?! We love you. Me and Little Grub love you.” There is nothing but silence, I can’t even hear us breathing. “But I love you in a different way than he does.”

He sniffs. “Oh good, because that would be all kinds of wrong if you didn’t.”

“Who’s moving first and where?”

“Me to you!” He cries and flies down the stairs, I almost cry myself when I tighten my arms around his trembling body and try to stop his frenzied apologies and promises of never to do it again.

“Justin. Stop!” I shake him firmly. But then he starts shaking and slumps down on the floor. He pulls his legs to his chest and wraps his arms around them. He is starting to freak me out because he looks like he is going catatonic. “Justin? Justin, what the fuck? Talk to me, please!” His breathing is choppy and he’s pale. I run to get the blanket and cover him up with it and then wrap myself around him.

“I’m sorry!” He says, over and over again. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Dad, I am sorry! I’m sorry Dad!”

“Justin?” I try to reach him again. “It’s Brian, please look at me. Look at me Justin.” Slowly he turns his head. “Keep looking at me. See me.” For a few minutes I watch his pupils flicker but he never blinks and I am seriously considering calling an ambulance when he blinks. “Do that again, blink for me again.” He blinks twice and turns his head from side to side as if trying to figure out where he is. “You are home Justin. With me and, when he gets home, Little Grub.”

“I’m freezing.” He mumbles.

“Can you stand?” He blinks hard at the question. “Can you stand?” I repeat.

“Yes.” I unwrap myself from him and take the blanket off him and see why he is freezing he is drenched with sweat. “Can I have that back? So cold.”

In answer to his question I scoop him up and swiftly carry him to the en suite, which is always warm, and put him on the floor near the radiator. I start to set the bath putting in his favourites.

“It was my punishment.” He says.

I turn off the taps and look at him. “What was?”

“Being blind. My punishment. If I hadn’t argued, he wouldn’t have turned around to yell at me and he would’ve seen the truck.”

I wipe my hands on the towel and sit next to him. “When you told me about the accident, did you lie?”

“No, of course not!” He fumes.

“Then you know that the argument happened at home and a drunk truck driver hit your car.”

“But the last thing he said to me was, that I was an immature brat, and he was right, and I never apologized to him. He was so angry with me, and if I hadn't been acting like the fucking brat I was back then, he and Molly would still be alive!”

“No, Justin.” I turn his face to me. “He wasn’t angry at you, he was angry at the situation you were in. You were running late for Molly’s class, his meeting and then he got a flat.”

“But I told him to speed up so that…”

“Yes, you did tell him to speed up. But did he?”

“No.”

“But the drunk driver did. This is not your fault. It is his, and you need to let that go.”

“I miss them. Every day I miss them!”

“And you will! You won’t stop missing them, but you have to let go of all that guilt!”

“I said the same thing to Mom on that day and she said the same thing back. Except that she said that I had the best father in the world who loves you no matter what.” He whispers.

“And he still does.” I tell him, and he buries his face in my neck and cries until the water goes cold.

BLUE MOON HOUSE - NEXT MORNING

JENNIFER

I am fuming! He’s not picking up his phone! He’s not been home! He’s being an immature brat again!

I knock hard on the door and hear the quick thump of footsteps before the door is pulled open. I am not surprised at how strained he looks or how quickly he beckons me in. “Brian, I am so sorry. Sometimes Justin just doesn’t think about how his bratty behaviour affects other people. He’s not called you either, then?”

“No, he…”

“I knew it! He just doesn't learn! He pulls off shit like this and then he runs away! Not taking responsibility for his actions, not thinking for one moment, that people might be worried! It’s always about him! He’d better come up with some damn good excuses for acting, once again, like an immature brat!”

“The same immature brat he was the day, his father and sister died? Or the moment you told him yesterday, that he was about to lose the best thing that had ever happened to him? Knowing he already lost his father and sister and still blames himself? That immature brat?” He asks and my eyes widen in horror.

“What? Why do you..? How..?” I stammer.

“He came here yesterday, coming to collect his stuff, thinking I would be out, fucking, I suppose. He was leaving because he failed me, as a partner and as a Dom. He told me, he loved me and that I deserve better and that he wants me to be happy. And when I told him, that I love him and that Gus loves him, he started apologising and...he couldn’t stop. He wasn't able to. He totally broke down, apologised to me and his dad. He started shaking and crying and when I finally got him to calm down, he was drenched in sweat.”

“He...I don’t…” But I stop when he glares at me.

“Besides Gus being sick, this was the scariest thing I have ever seen.” He runs his fingers roughly through his hair. “Do you know he still blames himself? That he thinks he being blind after the accident was his punishment? A punishment he deserves for being an immature brat, did you know that? And do you know that he’s heartsick that he didn’t get the chance to apologise to his father, before he died?”

I have never been so winded in my life. “Oh my god!” I whisper. “How could he even…”

“Because, quite frankly, you picked wrongly, twice. You chose to interfere in what did not concern you, and you chose to be Domme first and then a Mother.”

“I just wanted you two to…”

“It was between us two, not us three. He told me to tell Debs about boundaries and not to cross them. I am telling you the same. Yes, he’s new as a Dom, and has a lot to learn but not from you. You need to be his Mother and only that.”

His words shake me to my core, and I take the tissue he hands me, I hadn’t even realised that I was crying. I fix my face and give him a wobbly smile. “Thank you, Brian, I am sorry that I said such hurtful things about the man you love. And I am glad that you do love my son, you two are ideally matched. Look, can you give him a couple of messages for me…” He nods. “...that his dad knew that he didn’t mean what he said and wasn’t angry with him, he never could be angry with his golden boy, and two, that I would like to apologise to him face to face, if he would let me?”

“I will. I promise.” He replies.

“Thank you.” I say as I walk to the door then pause. “Definitely matched.” I tell him, and he goes a little pink. He goes pinker when I brush his cheek before I leave.

As I walk down the street to my car, I push down my immediate thought and decide to let them come to that conclusion by themselves.

MASTER BEDROOM

BRIAN

I try to get back into bed without waking him, but his eyes flutter open. “Where’d you go?”

“Your Mom was here.” He frowns at me. “She was worried about…”

“Oh Christ, she’s going to bawl me out when…”

“No she’s not. We’ve spoken…”

“What about?” He starts to sit up his brow creased with worry.

“Boundaries and how she, like Debs, should not cross them. Now before you ask another question, want a hot chocolate?”

“Mmmm.”

“Okay, meet me downstairs.”

KITCHEN

He still looks pensive as he comes in and takes a seat on the sofa. I see the slight tremble in his hand when he reaches for the mug. “Brian?”

“I told her that she should be a Mother first and a Domme never where you are concerned.”

“You did?!” He gasps.

“In fairness, I don’t think she realises she was doing it. All she saw was the need to fix the problem, but I told her it wasn’t hers to fix.”

“Bet that went down well.” He sighs.

“She accepted it and also left me two messages for you.”

“What are they?” He rubs the back of his neck.

“That your dad could never be mad at his golden boy, and he knew that you were sorry.” He starts to tear up again. “And that she wants to apologise to you face to face for her behaviour.” I take his mug away so that he can get into my lap. When he stops sniffling he looks up at me and I am relieved that his eyes are bright and clear. “So, what’s it to be?”

“What do you mean?”

“Breakfast and then go get Little Grub or get him first?”

“Get him first, I just want to hold him.”

“Good answer, let’s get dressed.” I smile.

“I’ll call Cyn and let her know!” He calls out over his shoulder, but then stops suddenly and comes back in. “Are we okay? Like really okay again?” He asks quietly.

“We’re better than okay, we’re imperfectly perfect!” I smile, and he grins back before belting up the stairs. As I hear him thundering about upstairs, I heave a sigh of relief that Justin is still here. My partner, Gus’s Papa, and hopefully, soon...my Alpha again.