Nuff Rope

Chapter 16





“Stacey? Brian Kinney.”

“Gus called you.”

“Yes, he did.”

“I didn’t expect him to go running to daddy, but I guess I should have.”

“He’s ready to quit and come home,” Brian said bluntly.

“Quit? Why?”

“He thinks he can’t do anything right.”

“When he got here, he thought he couldn’t do anything wrong. He was pretty full of himself,” Stacey explained.

“And you decided to take him down a peg or two.”

“Well, I thought…”

“Stacey, he doesn’t have any pegs left,” Brian told her keeping his voice even.

“I didn’t realize…”

“You thought he was like me … able to handle whatever you dished out.”

“Yeah, I guess I did,” Stacey admitted.

“Well, he’s very young. He has barely any experience in business.”

“Okay, I should have been a little gentler with him, but he also…”

“I know,” Brian interrupted. “He had a swelled head when he went to New York. Everything he did at my branch in Harrisburg turned to gold. He thought the same thing was going to happen with you.”

“And all he did was mix up boards and drop things,” Stacey explained.

“I think you scared him.”

“Scared him?”

“You’re pretty formidable when you choose to be. I seem to remember that you put me in my place a time or two.”

“In New York…”

“I know, you have to be tough as nails. I’m not making excuses for my son, but I also don’t want him held to a higher standard than anyone else because he’s my son,” Brian stated firmly.

“Understood.”

“Good.”

“I’ll see what I can do to make things right.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

“Consider it done.”

“Oh, and Stacey…”

“Yes?”

“Don’t let him off scott free either.”

“Never,” Stacey said with a chuckle before she hung up.

Brian pulled the phone away from his ear. He looked at it for a moment before placing it back in its cradle in his attic office at Edna’s Treasures. He leaned back in his chair wondering if he had done the right thing. He didn’t want to interfere with Gus. He wanted his son to make his own way. But he wanted that done fairly. He had a feeling Gus’ attitude and his last name had made Stacey be harder on him than she would have been with any other intern. He hoped Stacey could straighten matters out.



*****



“Hey, Squirt,” Brian said as he sat down on the edge of Bree’s bed. “Time to get up.”

“Tired,” Bree replied as her eyes fluttered open.

“It’s ten o’clock in the morning.”

“Ten?”

“Yes, ten.”

“I was tired,” Bree said with a huge yawn.

“No kidding, but I think it’s time you and grey bunny got up and had some breakfast.”

“I love my grey bunny.” Bree hugged the stuffed animal to her chest. “I love my bed. I love my room.”

Brian chuckled. “Are you happy to be home?”

Bree nodded. “I loved camp, but two weeks is … a long time.”

“Yes, it is … a very long time,” Brian agreed. “Did you have fun at camp?”

“Yep, and I made a new friend and … I scored the winning goal,” Bree crowed now fully awake.

“Yes, you did,” Brian concurred as he pulled his daughter into a major hug. “Are you ready to get up?”

“Will daddy make me porridge?”

“He started it before I came to get you.”

“Yum,” Bree said, and that was that.



*****



“Come in, Gus. Have a seat,” Stacey said as she called Gus into her office. She had done a lot of thinking since Brian’s phone call.

“Um, am I fired?” Gus asked with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. “I know I screwed up. I’m really sorry about dropping the boards.”

“Gus, hold up,” Stacey ordered holding up her hand to stop his outburst. “Are you always this nervous?”

“N…Nervous?” Gus asked.

“Yes, nervous, as in full of nerves which causes a person to make foolish mistakes and … drop things.”

Gus stared at his boss. What was she asking him? Was this a trick question? How should he respond? Maybe it would be best to make a stupid response. Then she’d send him home and put him out of his misery. Except that he’d be letting his father down, letting the family down, letting himself down.

“Gus,” Stacey was saying as he tuned back in to what was going on. “Gus?”

“Um, yes, sorry, just trying to decide how to answer you.”

“That’s about the most honest thing you’ve said to me since you came here.”

“Huh?”

“I think you heard me, Gus.”

“Yes, yes, I did, but I don’t understand…”

“I guess that’s been our problem since the very beginning,” Stacey explained. “I should have sat you down and talked to you about my expectations for you right from the outset.”

“That would have been great,” Gus admitted with a sigh. “I dressed all wrong for New York the first day, and Ray told me I should change, and then I was late and everything went downhill from there.”

“Gus, because you are Brian’s son, I may have had higher expectations than I should have.”

“No, Ms. Manning, you should have high expectations of me. I just didn’t live up to them.” Gus hung his head dejectedly, looking down between his legs.

“Gus, that’s not true … entirely. I need to remember that you’re just an intern, just starting out. And you need to remember that too. You’re not your father, and nobody expects you to be. At least not yet, but maybe someday.” Stacey smiled at the young man as he looked up at her.

“Yeah, I tried to do too much, and it all turned out wrong.” Gus shook his head at the folly of what he had done.

“Then what do you say about starting over again … with a fresh slate.”

“Really? I’d like that a lot.”

“Then consider it done … and so there are no more misunderstandings, this is what I expect…”



*****



“So camp was good for you too, Patrick?” Justin asked as both families sat around the breakfast table at Edna’s Treasures. Not only Bree had found it difficult to get up.

“It was great,” Patrick enthused.

“You played real good in your game,” Bree told him.

“Thanks, Bree. I wish I could have seen you score the winning goal.”

“I think Grandma Claire may have that recorded,” John laughed. “She told me all about it after Patrick’s game. She was very proud of both you children.”

Patrick and Bree beamed at the praise.

“Daddy, the next time I go to camp, can I take my grey bunny with me?” Bree asked.

“Did any of the other children have stuffed animals with them?” Justin asked.

“Yeah, little ones.”

“Grey bunny is quite large.”

“I don’t care. I missed him,” Bree stated.

“You can do whatever you want,” Justin said. “Right, Brian?”

“Sure,” Brian said non-committally. “What did you do without grey bunny to sleep with you?”

“Meghan and me slept together the first night,” Bree said. “She was crying and I didn’t want her to be scared.”

“Were you scared?”

“A little bit,” Bree admitted. “It’s hard with all those girls and I didn’t know any of them, and I missed my daddies and my Patrick and my uncles and everybody.”

“I missed you too, Bree,” Patrick said earning a sunshine smile from the little girl. “That first night was kind of lonely.”

“Yeah,” Bree agreed.

“You don’t have to go to camp next year if you don’t want to,” Brian said hopefully, thinking that maybe Bree had changed her mind about camp.

“Oh no, Dada, Coach will be expecting me next year. She said she thought I’d play even better.”

“And so you will,” Bobby told her.

Everyone smiled at the little girl, but Brian’s smile had a wistful quality that only Justin saw.



*****



“She’s fine,” the doctor reassured Leda and Jamie.

“And the baby?” Leda quickly asked.

“Baby is fine too.”

“See, you were worrying for nothing,” Jamie gently chastised.

“I don’t think it was for nothing. You tripped and almost fell down. You could have been seriously hurt or the baby...” Leda wrapped her arms around the younger woman.

“I’m fine. I admit to being a little extra clumsy lately but I feel fine. And we have a long way to go before the baby is due. I don’t want to spend the next seven months walking on eggshells. I have a show coming up and I’ll be teaching the Fall semester. I can’t put my life on hold just because I’m pregnant.”

“But...”

“Ms. Thalberg, Jamie is strong and healthy. There is no reason to believe that you won’t have a healthy baby. And it is normal for some women to experience a little clumsiness. There are hormonal fluxes, body changes, alterations in diet, the slightest change can affect the equilibrium. I’ll make note of each of the changes during each visit, and if they fall out of the norm, we’ll pursue other tests. Will that make you feel any easier?” the doctor asked Leda.

“I guess so,” Leda replied, still unconvinced.

“Well I have all the confidence in the world in Dr. Shorr. She’s been my GYN for years and I trust her,” Jamie declared. “So, we’ll see you next month.”

“Yes. Make your appointment on your way out. And Leda, Jamie is fine.”

Leda nodded, keeping her nervous misgivings to herself.



*****



“I can’t believe the summer is almost over,” Gus commented as he snuggled into Ray. After a long day at N’rgy and Ray playing tour guide for the rest of the evening, the boys showered then had an early night. They were cuddling after round two, round one had been during their shower.

“You’ll be going back to Pittsburgh soon,” Ray said with resignation as he leaned in closer to his boyfriend. “I’m going to miss you.”

“Ray, don’t get mad but do you want to see other guys?”

“What?! Why the fuck would you ask me that?” Ray leaned back to look into Gus’ eyes. When Gus didn’t say anything, Ray took a guess. “You’ve been hearing shit about me and Wayne.” Gus nodded. “You know something, that fucker was a nice guy when I knew him in high school but then he got weird. I tried to be friends with him, talk with him when he was thinking that he was really gay, but he took it all wrong. And now he’s like my own personal stalker. Gus, I’m not looking to be with anyone but you. The shit he’s been saying is just that, shit. And even if he was a nicer guy, he’s not my type. You’re my type. I’m not like Cole. You can trust me. And I promise, if my feelings ever change then I’ll be up front with you. You were my friend first and I always want to be your friend no matter what happens. I just hope we stay more than friends for a real long time.”

Gus remained silent, thinking hard about what Ray just said.

“Let me ask you the same question. Do you want to see other guys? Or are you afraid that you might be tempted to fuck around when you go back to school. You’re hot; you got a killer body and a smile to match. You must have guys and girls trailing after you.”

“You think I’m hot?” Gus said with a coy smile.

“You’re also a twat. Now answer the question.”

“No, I don’t want to fuck around. What we have means a lot to me. It just feels right, inside. You know what I mean?”

“I know exactly what you mean,” Ray answered as he laid himself on top of Gus. The boys were a little sticky but they didn’t care. They loved the close feeling of their cocks rubbing together.

“Ray, about Wayne...” Gus began as he gazed into Ray’s dark brown eyes.

“He’s a troll, forget about him. You only have a few more days left here. The GLC is having their big end of summer dance this Friday night, let’s go. You’re my boyfriend and I want the whole world to know it,” Ray declared with determination. Ray knew there were times when he needed to put his foot down with Gus and this was one of those times. Ray punctuated his statement with kisses and grinding his cock into Gus. The boys moaned as their youthful bodies immediately responded.

“I want you,” Gus whispered wantonly as he spread his long legs. As Ray settled between them then slowly entered Gus, all doubts about other guys vanished as Gus was thoroughly loved by Ray.



*****



“Mama, do you have time to talk?” JR asked hesitantly into her phone.

“I always have time for you, sweetheart,” Mel said confidently, believing her own lies.

“Mmm,” JR murmured not convinced. “When are you coming home?”

“I’m not sure, honey. I just found the perfect apartment; you’ll love it. It looks over the bay.”

“Mama, school starts in a couple of weeks. I’ve been working with Daddy, saving up my money and stuff. I don’t have time to fly out for a visit.”

“Who’s talking about a visit? You’re my daughter, you belong with me.”

“Mama, what about Mommy and my friends and school and Gus and Bree. I don’t want to leave them.”

“JR, you belong with me,” Mel repeated. Before JR could answer, she heard a muffled voice in the background and her mother giggled. “JR, I’ll be sending you a ticket.”

“I don’t think so,” JR snapped back. “Daddy needs me and wants me to stay. I’m not leaving!” she shouted into her phone then snapped it shut before Mel could respond. She put the ringer on vibrate then shoved the phone deep into her bag where she could conveniently forget about it.

“What’s wrong, Honey?” Ben asked as he came out of the kitchen with a glass of juice.

“I don’t care what she says, I don’t want to leave here,” JR wailed as she wrapped her arms around the big man. Quickly setting his glass down on the table before he spilled it, Ben returned her hug.

“Who wants you to leave?” Ben asked very perplexed.

“Mama,” JR sniffled.

“Baby, your father and I have discussed this. You can stay here as long as you want,” Ben reassured the trembling girl. “We love you. We’ll fight for you if it comes down to that.”

“I love you too,” JR said into the rock hard chest as she hung on for dear life.



*****



Edna’s Treasures was getting back to normal after the mass exodus and the subsequent return of all its inhabitants. John had gone back to his construction company, inspecting the finishing touches to the school complex which was completed ahead of schedule. He also returned to his research project.

Patrick was happy just hanging out until school started, spending time with some of his camp buddies, his Grandma Claire and at The Farm with Steve.

Briana was living up to her commitment, faithfully practicing her piano lessons. Faith and Hope visited every day at ten for Bree’s lessons. Faith thought Bree’s progress was remarkable and was fond of saying so. Hope was not impressed and would sit in the sun porch reading novels as her mother gave the lessons. Brian found some excuse to hover closely, not trusting the standoffish little girl or her suck up mother. He could find no fault with the piano lessons, but was finding Faith’s incessant compliments and flirting annoying. Faith apparently seemed to think Brian needed saving and for some reason she was qualified to do it. If it wasn’t for the fact that Bree liked her, and the female companionship she provided for Bree, Brian would have kicked Faith and Hope out the door. Very uncharitable of him he realized. Justin was no help because he was in ‘art show preview’ mode spending his time in Pittsburgh, plus he was growing closer and closer to Candy and her mother.

“Before you go driving off to the Pitts to bond with your new emerging artists, Sunshine, would you care to explain these?” Brian snarked as he held up a stack of legal looking documents.

“Umm...” Brian arched a brow at his scheming spouse. “I asked Bobby to look into what it would take to get temporary custody of Candy?” Justin sort of explained as he coyly smiled, fluttering long blond lashes trying to bat his way into Brian’s logical heart. Brian held back his explosion and took a deep breath.

“Cassandra has a father.”

“No, she had a sperm donor who doesn’t give a shit whether her mother lives or dies. Did you know that Janet went to Hobbs’ house, mansion, I should say. She didn’t even make it past the butler. Hobbs won’t help and Janet is running out of time. But I have the time to do this. I would have gone to Melanie but...”

“That ship has sailed and I don’t think it’s coming back. Sunshine, are you sure about this?” Brian asked as he drew the younger man closer. “This is a big responsibility. Does Candy know what Hobbs did?”

Justin shook his head. “Not really, Janet knows but it’s not my place to tell her. It’s not my place to take away her father even if he never really was. I just want to help. They have no one. And if Janet dies, Candy will be all alone. I know what that’s like, to feel abandoned by your family, to have nowhere to go. Please, Bri, I have to do this.” Justin wrapped his arms around Brian, hanging onto the one person who never abandoned him.

“Then we do this together,” Brian said as he pushed Justin back just a little so he could look into the determined blue eyes. “Besides, the Squirt always wanted another sister. We should introduce them at your show. It won’t go over very well if Bree and Candy don’t get along,” Brian said with a smirk and a gleam in his eye. He was rewarded with one of Justin’s brightest smiles.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. When Hobbs finally catches a clue we might have one hell of a fight on our hands.”

“That’s why Bobby is calling in a team of lawyers who specialize in these cases. I want all our ducks in a row if he chooses to fight this.”

“All right, I haven’t been in a good fight since Stockwell. But Sunshine, we call in the family, all of them, because if Hobbs gets nasty this might affect them. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” Justin said with a smile, sticking his hand out to Brian, his partner in all things. Brian shook his head but also shook Justin’s hand sealing the bargain.

“Now what?” Brian asked. Justin’s stomach answered with a loud grumble.

“Uh, lunch?” Justin suggested. Brian laughed as he took Justin’s hand to lead him to the kitchen.



*****



The end of summer dance was in full swing when the boys got to the GLC. Dressed in their finest clubbing duds, Gus and Ray made a grand entrance. Jaws were dropping as they made their way to the food table.

“Too bad we can’t get into a real club,” Gus said into Ray’s ear. “I bet if we were in the Pitts my Pop would let us into Babylon.”

“Maybe, but I feel safe here,” Ray said as he bussed Gus’ cheek. “We don’t have to pretend to be older or be afraid that someone will spike our drinks.”

“Anyone can spike your drink anywhere,” Gus growled as he bristled. If he was a cat, his back would be arched and his hair sticking straight up. Ray followed Gus’ line of sight.

“Wayne,” they both said. Using his height, Gus made it a point to loom over Ray and glare menacingly at Wayne. Ray rolled his eyes at the theatrics then patted Gus’ back. He then let his hand stray lower to Gus’ ass to give it a pat. Gus did a double take then laughed. Ray smiled brightly knowing he had accomplished just what he set out to do.

“Only you, Gus,” Ray said as he stretched to give his boyfriend a kiss. “Let’s dance. I think I remember how your Pop and Justin danced at Babylon. Let’s go show these trolls how it’s done,” Ray said as he cocked his head toward the dance area.

The lights had been dimmed, a revolving glitter ball was throwing sparkles throughout the room and the music was loud and thumping. All the room needed was glitter streaming down from the rafters and it would be Babylon.

The boys made their way to the center of the dance floor. Gus draped his long arms possessively over Ray’s shoulders. Ray shook his head chuckling. Gus was so much more like his father than he wanted to admit. The Kinney men were fiercely protective and possessive of what was theirs. And Ray ate it up; he was just where he wanted to be, in the arms of the man he loved.

The boys swayed to their own music as the other couples bopped and jumped around them. Gus looked down his nose to gaze into Ray’s eyes. Under the dimmed lights, Ray’s dark eyes were almost black; Gus’ eyes were a deep hunter green. The boys only had eyes for each other. Ray snaked his arms around Gus’ neck to draw him down for a searing kiss. As their passion blazed under the glitter ball, Wayne decided he had seen enough. He had no hope of roping in Raymond; it was time to cut his losses. There were plenty of other handsome young men in New York just waiting for what Wayne could offer. He needn’t waste his time on someone who couldn’t recognize it. Wayne said goodbye to his friends before leaving the GLC. Gus and Ray never noticed.



*****



“Delicious!” Riley declared as he rubbed his full belly. He and Danny were sitting at Danny’s dining room table enjoying a dessert wine. “It isn’t often that I get to enjoy such a wonderful home cooked meal, a lush wine and very pleasant company,” Riley said as he held up his glass in a toast to his host.

“I do have a confession to make.” Riley raised his eyebrows. “The popovers are Emmett’s. No one makes popovers like Emmett.”

“I’ve had his popovers before; they are well worth your indiscretion,” Riley teased and winked at Danny. They sat in companionable silence for a moment, digesting their meal.

“We can take our glasses outside, walk around the garden,” Danny suggested.

“I’d like that,” Riley agreed. The men topped off their wineglasses then went to stroll in Danny’s hidden garden. “It is so peaceful here,” Riley said on the path by the koi pond. “A little piece of heaven in the big bad city.”

“I often find myself in here when I want to shake off the weight of the world. The garden never disappoints.”

“And does the world weigh heavy on your shoulders?”

“No, not really. I’m grateful for my life. And I have the best family now.”

“I agree.”

“Ah, yes, you have met the hordes. It was a lonely existence on the road with no one but ‘yes men’ to do Divina’s bidding. And now like the gates to my garden, I’ve emerged into a new life. One brimming with family and good friends.”

“I hope I’m counted as one of those good friends,” Riley whispered as he moved in closer to Danny. He leaned down to kiss Danny’s lips.

“Oh yes, a very good friend,” Danny murmured as he returned the kiss.

TBC