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BRIAN

 

Justin was pacing around the room, looking flabbergasted at what his mother showed up to tell us. I was just wondering why she thought she was welcome in our house. Although, reading the article, that she got before it was published, was enough to get me to let her in the door. The model Craig knocked up suddenly changed her story, saying it was Justin’s baby. It went into detail about how Justin tossed her aside, telling her to get rid of it, and how Craig and Molly Taylor were helping her through everything. Craig sounded like a saint. Saying he was going to make Justin do the right thing by the girl. Which, reading between the lines, meant he was seeing it as a way to recoup what he was going to lose in the divorce, since Justin’s portfolio even made my eyes widen. It wasn’t until I read Molly’s comments, when asked about the fact that Justin was gay and was open about it, that Molly stated that he didn’t have a problem sleeping with a friend of theirs, who was a woman.

 

Everyone in the room waited until I finished reading the article to say anything. Deb stood there, looking guilty, but in this case I could excuse why she brought Jen over here. Ted on the other hand, made a point of staying on the other side of the room. Since he and Blake both knew I didn’t want everyone knowing where we lived. Ben tried to talk to Justin, then Michael tried, but they didn’t get that when he was angry, it was better to stay away until he got over it. 

 

“Justin, I know you asked me to wait until you called, but we need to do damage control,” Jen told him.

 

“If I needed damage control, I would have asked Brian,” Justin told her, still pacing.

 

“It’s not like he can’t prove it isn’t his, right?” Mikey asked us, sitting next to me.

 

“Depends on who Craig could pay off,” I told him.

 

“I don’t get why their trying to say it’s Justin’s kid?” Mikey asked.

 

“Because in our world, it’s all about making the problems disappear. Justin’s gay. Well why not use it to help, and show everyone the Taylor’s aren’t the bigots they hide behind closed doors. Once again, Craig is trying to use Justin to benefit his standing,” Jen told him.

 

“How did they get the girl to agree?” Ted asked, thinking he’s safe for right now.

 

“Molly can make anything sound like she’s helping you, but in the end she’s using you,” Justin told him.

 

“I don’t know why she’s doing this. For years she was angry at us, now she’s angry at Justin. I tried to talk to her,” Jen told us.

 

I looked right at Ben as I said what I was starting to suspect. “She’s mad that Justin is no longer only hers. Until we started seeing each other, the guys that came and went in Justin’s life didn’t replace her,” I told them.

 

“Which I kind of get. I mean, it’s how I spent years believing one day we’d be together. It wasn’t until Ben came along that I realized I didn’t really love you, just the idea of you,” Mikey admitted.

 

“I wasn’t planning on throwing her out of my life, just making her understand that my life was changing and my priorities had to change,” Justin told him.

 

“I had Ben, who does she have?” Mikey asked him, making Ben smile.

 

“She could have had a lot of people in her life, but she pushes them all away,” Justin answered.

 

Jen got up, furious at what her daughter and husband were trying to do to Justin. Even Justin paused to watch his mother roar.

 

“Which my daughter will have to figure out, but not by helping Craig try to hide what he did. They want to fuck with Justin, well I think it’s time to show them how I feel about that. Ted, I need you, and a lawyer who won’t mind playing dirty,” Jen told him.

 

“What are you going to do?” Justin asked.

 

“I’m going to show your father that what I did to his car was nothing compared to the hell I’m going to rain down on his head now. The last thing you need is this when you're pregnant,” Jen told him.

 

“I know someone who might be happy to make a man pay,” I told her, thinking this was right up Mel’s alley.

 

“I plan to make the whole family understand that I’m no longer going to be the airhead checkbook Craig married,” Jen told us.

 

“That’s why I didn’t get that you stayed with Dad,” Justin told her.

 

“I didn’t want to admit my parents were right, no matter what I knew,” She admitted.

 

Justin’s phone rang almost as if Marshall heard his daughter’s confession.

 

“Yes. Mom just showed me the article… I can’t prove that she’s lying since it didn’t name times or dates… Daphne’s likely to kick Molly’s ass over that… I’ll call and see if we can arrange to force Paula to take a DNA test, but there’s still the fact that it would show I share the same DNA as Craig… You guys don’t have to come… Okay, but we can handle it,” Justin told him, hanging up.

 

“Daphne?” I asked.

 

“Stupid teenage shit,” Justin shrugged. “Pop said he and Nana are coming,” He told his mom.

 

“Should I try to talk to Molly?” She asked me.

 

“I think she needs to see what happens to you in the press when you lie. Until now Justin was handling everything, even Craig. From what I can see, Craig doesn’t think anything through, like the fact that DNA will exclude Justin because he carries your DNA too, something the baby won’t,” I told her.

 

“Where did you learn that?” Mikey asked.

 

“When I had Gus and my DNA run, the tech was talkative,” I told him.

 

“Why did you have that done with Gus?” Justin asked.

 

“Because I never wanted him to have to fight my biological family for what would be his one day. It’s why we’ll do it too, not because I doubt you, but to keep my mother and sister from trying to get anything more than what I want them to have,” I answered.

 

“I never really thought about it. Everything went to Molly, since at the time I didn’t have anyone else,” He told us.

 

“Did Molly know that?” I asked.

 

“Sure. At the time I was thinking ‘anyone but my dad’. I need to change that too,” He told me.

 

“Why would your dad think he would get anything, he threw you out?” Ben asked.

 

“When it comes down to it, courts rule for the family to inherit. My father and mother remade their wills when I married Craig, but I could have fought it if something happened to them,” Jen told us.

 

“Yeah, but it’s not likely Craig would outlive Justin,” Ted put in.

 

“He tried to use Justin’s lifestyle to retain control of Justin’s money. Only I put a stop to it,” Jen told us.

 

“When?” Justin asked.

 

“After you left and my father handed you your inheritance. Craig went as far as trying to say you were offering Molly drugs, but she admitted to me that it was the other models, not you. I made her tell the lawyer your father brought to question her that you were the one who stopped her before she took anything,” Jen told him.

 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Justin asked.

 

“At the time, you and I weren’t on good terms, and in truth, I was worried about the lifestyle you were living. You were partying constantly,” She told him.

 

“I only let you and Dad believe that because the last thing I needed to deal with was Dad trying to jump into a deal that Pop and I were negotiating. I wasn’t partying, I was working my ass off. The only time I didn’t was when Brian was there,” He told her.

 

“According to the reports we got on Brian, it seemed like you just found someone to party with,” She told him, wincing at the look he gave her about the reports.

 

“The minute you sat there letting Dad explain how he expected me to live my life, was the minute neither of you had a right to know about it,” Justin told her.

 

“Justin…” Jen said, then stopped when he walked out of the room. “He’s right, I just sat there while his father and grandparents made it sound like trading Justin to some pervert wasn’t wrong,” She told us, getting her things and leaving with Deb.

 

“You want us to stay?” Mikey asked. 

 

“Thanks, but when he’s like this, he really just wants to be left alone,” I told him.

 

“He should get his feelings out,” Ben told me.

 

“He will, but for him, talking about it doesn’t help. He uses his art for what frustrates him. It’s something a year of being the person he talked to, taught me,” I told Ben.

 

“Ben, he has Brian to help him,” Mikey told him.

 

Mikey herded Ben out and Ted tried to slip by me with Blake. I stopped him by closing the door when Blake walked out.

 

“Justin needed to know this,” Ted told me.

 

“I agree with you, but why were Mikey and Ben brought along?” I asked.

 

“They were there when Jen came to Deb with what she had. I tried to stop them, but you know Michael,” He told me.

 

“Just make sure they all understand that doesn’t mean the door is open whenever they want to show up,” I tell him, opening the door so he can escape. “And Ted. Thanks,” I said before shutting the door in his face.

 

JUSTIN

 

I sat there, wanting to stab the canvas instead of painting on it. It was like Molly was becoming a person I didn’t know or like. Only it was always there, and I had refused to see it. It worried me. What would happen when this baby was born? What kind of parent would I be, since my parents weren’t examples of good parenting?

 

“Everything okay?” Gus asked, coming in and sitting on the chair next to me.

 

“Right now I wish my world only included you, Brian, and the baby,” I told him.

 

“It’s how I felt when my moms would let me see my dad, wishing it was just him and me.” He told me.

 

“He only wanted everything in your life to be good,” I told him.

 

“I kind of got that when he didn’t try to make my moms sound the way they made him sound. I could have been angry at Mama, but in a way, she loves me. She just didn’t understand that loving my dad didn’t change that I love her too,” He told me.

 

“I guess for me it was not really understanding how my mom stood by my dad,” I told him.

 

“You want to know what’s really made it easier for me to forgive Mama and Mom?” He asked.

 

“Sure, if you want to tell me,” I told him.

 

“In the end, they saw what they were doing to me, and didn’t try to excuse their behavior,” He told me, getting up to leave. “You know, my dad is really a good person to talk to, it would beat throwing paint,” He reminded me, closing the door.

 

I cleaned up my brushes, thinking about what Gus said. It wasn’t like I enjoyed the distance between me and my mom, but I could never see a reason to change it. She stayed with my dad, trying to pretend we had the perfect family. I didn’t let it bother me. Just went on with my life, only letting few people in it. It’s something Brian and I had in common, only a select few people saw who we really were. 

 

“Is it safe to walk in here?” Brian joked, which, looking around and seeing the mess I made wasn’t too far off.

 

“I really need to hire someone, before we get buried under my mess,” I told him.

 

“So what do you want to do?” He asked, sitting on the couch.

 

“I want to have our baby, and figure out us,” I told him, sitting next to him.

 

“Which we’ll do, but the other stuff isn’t going to go away. We need to get ahead of this, so it will go away,” He told me.

 

“I can force her to take the test, then it should end this,” I told him.

 

“While you’re in court trying to do it, it leaves them open to keep talking,” He reminded me.

 

“Then they deal with looking like idiots,” I replied.

 

“I’d rather make them wish they never tried to blame you,” He commented.

 

“How? Until I prove it, I’m guilty in the press. It’s why I never really wanted to be well known. So I could live my life the way I wanted it, not to keep up appearances and be seen,” I told him.

 

“You were well known anyway, just made it harder for anyone to get anything on you. Staying here means they have more time to look for dirt on you,” He told me.

 

“Maybe I should leave, until all this gets settled. The last thing you need is Gus dealing with the bullshit when he’s here to spend time with you,” I told him.

 

“Will you trust me to handle this? I want you here with me,” He asked me.

 

“What happens the first time someone shows up wanting a story? They are going to dig into your life, which my father will only be too happy to show them. Eventually Gus might read some of it, or see it on TV,” I told him.

 

“Then we sit Gus down and talk to him about it, explain what’s going on, and make sure he knows how to shut down anyone asking questions if they approach him. I doubt they will, since one of the things your Dad’s file didn’t contain was the fact that Gus is my son,” He told me.

 

“I love you, and I do trust you, but I don’t want to bring shit into your life,” I told him.

 

“I don’t care. What I do care about is being able to be with you and our baby. I want to see all the things that I didn’t when Lindsay was pregnant with Gus. If you want to go away then we can, but I’ve never believed in running from a fight,” He told me.

 

“We could spike our guns,” I told him.

 

“So you’ve been thinking of how to deal with this?” He asked.

 

“I was thinking about it the day we talked about me coming to live here.” I tell him.

 

“So what were you thinking?” He asked.

 

“Why hide that we’re together, or that we’re starting a family. The press is going to follow me when they figure out where I am, which I’m sure Molly told them. They want a reaction from me. Instead they’ll see us doing the things we need to do. Until we have any proof, any denial won’t matter,” I told him.

 

“If that’s what you want,” He answered.

 

“What did you come up with?” I asked.

 

“Before I tell you, understand that none of this is why I want to do it. It was something I knew I wanted, even before you told me about the baby. I was sitting there watching you, thinking of a way to keep you, when it seemed like you were trying to find a way to break it off with me,” He told me.

 

“I really thought you would be the one to break it off when I told you about the baby. So what did you want?” I asked.

 

“To find a way to tie us together,” He told me.

 

“You wanted to ask me to marry you?” I asked.

 

“I won’t say that. I just wanted a way to get you to agree to more than we had. We don’t have to get married, but you need to understand, as far as I’m concerned, we will make this work. It means we deal with the things that come with both our lives, together. What I wanted was simply us to stand together and be united, any way that works for us,” He told me.

 

“If we got married…” 

 

“Then we do it because we decide, and for no other reason,” He interrupted me.

 

“Let me finish. If we got married, can we do it in Greece?” I asked him.

 

“What are you asking, Mr Taylor?” He asked.

 

“Brian, will you marry me in Greece? When we decide, and for no other reason?” I asked.

 

“Yes, I will,” He answered, pulling off my shirt.

 

 

 

 

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