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JUSTIN

 

When I opened the door, I was just thrilled there weren’t twenty people shouting questions. I didn’t care when my grandparents looked down at my stomach, which normally no one would notice, but I was wearing an old shirt that fit like a glove in my pre-baby days.

 

“I can’t believe you answered the door like that,” My grandmother admonished.

 

At that point, I deemed the conversation over and slammed the door in their faces, walking off to look for something to eat. Brian was walking down the stairs and stopped as the doorbell rang over and over, looking at me.

 

I shrugged, not really caring if they sat on the doorstep all night ringing the bell. “They didn’t like how I was dressed, I decided they shouldn't have to see it,” I told him.

 

“Then they should have called and told you they expected you to dress for their visit,” Brian said, following me to the kitchen.

 

I opened the freezer, smiling at all the choices; which I had Deb to thank for. I could actually cook, just didn’t really want to. I figured that until I had to there was no reason to make my life more difficult when everyone wanted to mother me. Brian grabbed the juice, looking at me as the doorbell was held down.

 

“If I hadn’t seen your grandparents, I’d swear it was Mikey at the door. While I hate to agree with them, you do need to get dressed. Cynthia wanted to meet with you about some of the employees and problems that stem from your father’s style of leadership,” Brian told me.

 

The honeymoon was over and the real world was waiting for us. We’d received the results of Paula’s test and, no surprise, the baby isn't mine, but it is related to me. At least Paula hadn’t lied completely, but she told Lawrence she didn’t want Craig to know, with the shit he was still trying to do. 

 

Craig spent all his time trying to backtrack, and when that didn’t work he turned the loss of his company into me punishing him for only worrying about a child he was fooled into believing would be his future grandchild. Leaving the possibility it was his unsaid. When no one would print his version, he brought up his parents losing everything. He even got them to make it my fault they lost everything. His cronies were still backing him, since they lost their cushy positions when I took over the company. It really pissed them off when I put Cynthia in charge, since none of them believed a woman should be out of the kitchen. I planned to meet with Cynthia so we could start weeding out the problems, but when I woke up I really didn’t want to do anything but lay in bed with Brian all day.

 

I groaned. I really didn’t want to get involved in anything to do with Taylor Electronics. But unlike Cynthia, I knew what the problems were years ago. My father tended to hire based on friendship. Overlooking any problems that would arise from hiring Skippy into a management position just because his daddy asked my dad to help with the problems caused by Skippy when he first found out that money didn’t just magically appear. Then, when Skippy fucked up, he blamed it on the poor sap who should have had the job. Granted, it would be a chance to deal with one problem I’d left alone when I looked at the list of the managers. I didn’t mention it to Cynthia, because if he was actually doing his job then I’d leave him alone. It’s just that I knew my father and doubted he hired Chris Hobbs because he was qualified for anything other than the possibility of connecting the Hobbs to the Taylors. So far Chris’s dad managed to stay clean through the mess and was still welcoming my father to his circle of friends. My mother told me they blamed her for my father’s downfall. Apparently believing if she’d stayed the obedient wife they felt she should have been then none of this would have happened. 

 

I ran upstairs to dress as Brian sat on the bed reading over reports. “I can drive myself,” I reminded him.

 

“I’m sure you can, but since you agreed we’d go to Mikey’s dinner party with the idiots tonight, I didn’t see any reason we shouldn’t go together, so we could escape together,” Brian told me.

 

“Remind me again why I agreed to this?” I asked, not even remembering saying we’d go.

 

“Because you didn’t believe Emmett, Ted, Blake, Lindsay, Mel, or Deb when they told you all about Marve and Eddy.” Brian reminded me.

 

“Actually I remember now, Hunter begged us to save him from them,” I told him, grabbing my shoes.

 

“Just remember, you agreed,” Brian told me, making me really want to meet the neighbors.

 

Brian didn’t let us avoid my grandparents, but walked us out the front of the house, telling me to go to the car. I decided to stand by him as his husband and let him speak for us.

 

“Unless you're here to congratulate Justin and myself, then you aren’t welcome at our home,” Brian told them.

 

“We just want Justin to give Craig what’s rightfully his,” My grandfather told Brian.

 

“So he can fuck it up the way he already has? Right now the only thing saving Taylor Electronics is that Justin doesn’t see a business as something you play at, or as a whorehouse for his and his friends enjoyment. Justin, and the people Justin trusts, are making sure there will still be a Taylor Electronics in the future. He isn’t responsible for your stupidity in giving your idiot son your life savings, and he isn’t going to rescue you from your own stupidity unless you do what we ask. You want help? Help yourselves by letting Craig drown; not by handing what little money you have left over to a son who is bankrupting you,” Brian told them.

 

“We’re going to lose our home,” My grandmother said, looking at me.

 

“Actually you won’t. See your grandson, the one you treat like shit? The one you talk down to? He might not like either of you, but unlike his sperm donor, he won’t leave you stranded,” Brian told them.

 

“I won’t?” I joked, not wanting them to know what Brian and I did.

 

“You have your house, and enough money to keep you comfortable. What you no longer have is any way to support Craig Taylor,” Brian told them, as they look confused.

 

“What he’s saying is we are willing to make sure you both keep your house, and are able to take care of yourselves, but the minute you help Craig, you’ll be evicted and left hoping Craig cares enough to bother with you. If either of you help with his smear campaign, that ends our help,” I told them.

 

“He’s still your father,” My grandmother admonished me.

 

“Pop is the only father in my life. He let me be me, without conditions. Something I never had being a Taylor,” I told them.

 

 

CYNTHIA

 

I agreed to this I reminded myself as Chris Hobbs sat in front of me, leering at me. He seemed to think he was safe. But unlike all the other idiots Craig hired, he still acted as if Craig was in charge. His leering stopped the minute Justin came through the door. Chris seemed to get uncomfortable and tried to make himself invisible when he saw him.

 

“I read over the list you sent and agree with the ones you want to let go. There are actually a few that I wanted to talk to you about...” Justin told me, turning when he realized someone was there with us. “Chris, still wishing you were straight?” Justin smirked.

 

“Still wishing I was queer like you?” Chris snapped back.

 

“Actually no. You weren’t that good. Apparently you aren’t good at managing one of the locations either, from what I read,” Justin told him, leaning on my desk.

 

I was really enjoying the way Chris squirmed as Justin picked up the folder that described the problems at the location Chris was playing at instead of working.

 

“Why are you working for Taylor Electronics instead of your father’s company?” Justin asked.

 

“I wasn’t going anywhere with my father’s company. Craig offered me a chance to start at the top,” Chris answered.

 

“Which would have made sense if you did more than sleep in your office and use petty cash as your lunch money,” I told him.

 

“Craig had no problem with what I was doing,” Chris told me.

 

“Why would he? You were just doing what he did. You seem to forget he's no longer in charge. Which means you’re expected to start showing growth. Which isn't the increase in the size of your ass from sleeping at work,” Justin told him.

 

“He also put it in my contract that I had my job for as long as I wanted it,” Chris smirked as he told Justin.

 

“Yes, he did. But he didn’t have the authority to do it. He wasn’t the owner, and was acting in a position he didn’t hold, since he put the company in my name. Which means, in order to keep your job, or in your case not, all the trust fund babies work now. It’s time to understand the days of Craig Taylor’s mismanagement are over,” Justin told him.

 

“I need this job.” Chris admitted, not happily.

 

“Nothing you were doing says you do,” I told him.

 

Justin walked over to the mini fridge grabbing something to drink, and there was no mistaking the look on Chris’s face. I’d seen it on Brian’s every time Justin was around.

 

“Working here won’t make him give a shit about you,” I told Chris.

 

Justin turned, looking disgusted by the idea of Chris, which made Chris shrink even more.

 

“I’ve spent longer than I want to in your presence, so why not make this easier and go back and mooch off your Dad,” Justin told him, turning to me. “As I said before, everything you want to do, I agree with,” Justin told me, walking out of my office.

 

“I can’t go back to my dad,” Chris told me in a small voice.

 

“If you’d done your job, you wouldn’t have had to,” I told him.

 

He got up, slinking out the door and making me wonder why. But I had more people to fire and promote so I put it out of my mind.

 

 

EMMETT

 

Every time Michael has thrown these dinners, we’ve all managed to avoid them. Justin, being the sweet man he is, fell for Michael’s usual whining until he got what he wanted. I personally don’t have a problem with Monty and Eli, but they have a problem with me, and pretty much anyone who doesn’t try to fit into the mold of pretending they’re straight while taking it up the butt.

 

Brian and Justin arrived as the guests of honor, and Monty and Eli tried to welcome Justin while staying far away from Brian. I could see why they would want to welcome Justin. He fit the mold they believed in, at least until you knew him. Ben likely talked about Justin, describing him the way Ben thought he was, at least until he opened his eyes and realized how little he actually knew about Justin. He at least now admitted that he didn’t. It was weird to find out that Ben wasn’t the secure man we thought he was. He could play it off, but in the end he wasn’t the man I once saw as Brian without the tricks. I respected Ben more because he was more human than the man we thought we knew. I realized he needed to feel more included in the gang than he’d been in the past, because it might have let us avoid this dinner.

 

Everything started out okay, and Ben managed to steer Monty and Eli away from monopolizing the conversation. It wasn’t until Brian came up behind Justin and ran his hands under Justin’s shirt that we started to see old Monty and Eli weren’t as together as they ran around telling everyone they were. Monty’s eyes followed the movement of Brian’s hand, and when Justin turned to kiss Brian, Monty was licking his lips watching them. He didn’t notice Eli’s glare, at him watching where Brian’s hands were.

 

“I think Monty is going to be in the doghouse,” Drew whispered to me.

 

I looked at Eli, who didn’t miss where his husband’s attention went to. None of us missed the way Eli looked at Justin and Brian as if it was their fault Monty had a wandering eye.

 

“It’s things like that, which cause people to see us wrong,” Eli whispered to Ben.

 

“Like what?” Ben asked, since, like the rest of us, what we were seeing was two men madly in love with each other.

 

“The pawing and showing off. No one wants to see it,” Eli said, rolling his eyes.

 

“Kissing your partner is showing off?” Drew asked.

 

“I think what Eddy has a problem with is anything that shows the world we are proud and GAY,” Teddy told him.

 

“I have no problem with showing affection or being gay, but why cause people to be uncomfortable with PDA’s when they should be reserved to the privacy of your home, and the name is Eli,” He told Teddy.

 

I wanted to laugh when Brian got more aggressive with Justin, ignoring Eli. Michael came in smiling before kissing Ben and telling everyone to get their butts to the table. Hunter came down, running to sit next to Brian. While I got the honor of being seated next to Eli. Drew snickered when Justin talked to everyone but Monty and Eli. He asked Hunter about school, and Michael if he wanted to get together and do something with Gus and Jenny. He then asked Ben about his latest topic in his class.

 

Brian on the other hand, talked to Teddy, including me to talk about planning his next launch. Drew looked past Eli and Monty to ask Blake about the graduation at his rehab and offered to help in any way Blake needed him to. Michael commented here and there, trying to include Eli and Monty. Eli cut Blake off, which didn’t go unnoticed by any of us.

 

“I think as a community we should focus our service to helping those who represent the best in our community,” Eli told us.

 

“The people at the rehab have made mistakes, but are doing what they can to become the kind of people you’re describing,” Teddy told him, not happy about the slight to Blake’s work.

 

“Not all the people everyone thinks represent the best in any community are who you think they are. At least the people Blake helps want to become better people,” Hunter tells him.

 

“Yes, but we aren’t taken seriously, and won’t be. Please understand I’m only using this as an example; but take what was going on with Justin. Instead of quietly handling the situation he found himself in, it was splashed across the headlines. Then to make matters worse, people read that not only was he accused of getting the model pregnant, but he was also pregnant himself. It just reinforced the idea that we aren’t responsible, as well as promiscuous,” Eli stated, looking less confident as he saw the glares coming from all directions. “I didn’t mean Justin was any of those things, but nothing presented to the public showed the smart businessman or brilliant artist; just that he must still be maintaining his irresponsible lifestyle. A lifestyle that all his previous acquaintances had no problem giving comments about. Along with the fact that Justin and Brian are together, and all of us know what Brian’s life is like. If they’d each lived their lives the way Monty and I have talked about, then none of what was said would have been believed,” Eli now had the title ‘Foot in Mouth’. Shit, Michael lost his crown.

 

“I doubt it would have mattered if either of them was a choir boy, the real truth is that people love to believe the trash that gets printed. Although I am surprised you lowered yourself to reading tabloid fodder, since it should be beneath your notice. What people think of Brian or Justin doesn’t matter to either of them. They know who and what they are. Which is likely why you have a problem with them. Because they don’t follow the life plan you think all gay men and women have to follow, yet, both individually and together, they’re the most successful men at this table,” Ben told them, making me want to clap.

 

“Yet, all anyone talks about is their prowess in bed,” Monty said, as if he suddenly remembered his role wasn’t the middle of a Justin and Brian sandwich.

 

“Says a lot about you and Eli doesn’t it? Since neither of you are known for anything but the sticks up your asses,” Hunter told them.

 

“Hunter!” Michael scolded, as Hunter grumbled and went into the kitchen.

 

“It’s why I don’t bring my children to adult settings,” Eli told Michael.

 

“I was just reminding my son that Ben, Hunter, and I have a swear jar,” Michael said, glaring at Eli and Monty as Brian hands Hunter even more money.

 

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