“This is bullshit,” Brian raged.

Vance gave him that pompous look that pissed Brian off. He had just gotten off the plane and headed straight to the office. All he wanted to do was go home, see his kids and get some sleep. But Vance had demanded his presence as soon as he landed. It had been a shit trip from beginning to end, he just wanted it to be done. That was until his boss just dropped the bomb he just did.

“I’m sorry, Brian, but you knew how important Telegenetis was to Vanguard.”

“And I told you from the very beginning, Loftis wouldn’t leave Calgen. It’s his son-in-law’s agency for fuck’s sake.” It had been a lost cause from the beginning.

“Brian, when I kept you on after I took
this agency from Ryder, you were an asset. Lately, though, your numbers haven’t been anywhere near as high as they should be to justify your pay.”

“I’m a partner,” Brian reminded him.

“Junior, and the contract you
signed gave me the right to let you go if your performance dropped significantly. You should have read your last contract closer.” Brian had.

“You can’t just fire me, I have
responsibilities, clients, a family.”

Gardner pulled out a stack of signed paperwork and slid it over to where Brian was standing. “I think you’ll find everything in order. You are no longer an employee of Vanguard.”

Brian grabbed the paperwork and started reading, finding the words he needed from legal. Looking back up at Gardner Vance, he smiled. Vance looked a little unsure of himself now, as he
should. Brian was relieved he could stop acting now.

“Thank you, Gardner.”

“I don’t know why you’re smiling; no agency will want you with word about your work ethic.”

It was the business they were in, he may not want Brian anymore, but he didn’t want anyone else to have him either. He would have spread lies high and low about him. Too bad for
him, that wasn’t Brian’s plan.

“Good thing I’m going into business for myself, I won’t have to deal with agencies you’ve already bad mouthed me to.”

“Did you forget the non-compete contract. You cannot start your own agency for three years after leaving Vanguard.”

Brian smirked, happy to be the one giving Vance this news. “That’s only if I quit. It seems you didn’t read your own contract too well. Ask legal if you don’t believe me.”

Just then two big security guards entered the office. He had been expecting this. Vance wanted him to be escorted out of the building with everyone seeing. He wanted him embarrassed. Too bad for him, Brian had never been one to do things other people’s way. Before the guards could say anything else, Ted and Cynthia burst through the door. They both had a single sheet of paper in their hands.

“Took your time didn’t you two?” he drawled.

“Sorry, we just heard and had to print off our letters,” Cynthia said.

“What’s going on?” Vance demanded.

There was a blood vessel on his forehead that looked ready to burst.

“We’re here to put in our resignations,” Ted answered.

“What?”

“Well, it’s like this Gardner. Ted is going to be head of accounting in the agency I’m starting up and Cynthia will be Account Director. I have an idea of who to hire for Head of the Art
Department.”

“None of my art department people will leave,” he said smugly.

“Thank God for that, they’re incompetent. You should have fired them years ago but that’s not my problem anymore. Well, it looks like Jeff and Bill are getting impatient so we’re going to leave. Thank you again for turning me loose. I’ve been stagnating here under your rule. You never go after the clients you think are beneath you, what you don’t understand is their money as green as the next. I will enjoy the next few months,” he said, before turning and heading to his office to get his things.

The guards followed him as he grabbed the important stuff in his office, but so did Ted and Cynthia. Cynthia grabbed her things from her desk as they passed, Ted said he didn’t have anything worth it in his tiny cubicle. Instead of walking out of there with his
head hung down in shame like Vance had wanted, he held it high with a relieved smile on his face. He had been sick when he resigned to Vanguard. He had wanted to start his own agency right before he found out about the cancer. But because he needed security and health insurance, he resigned. It was a contract more restrictive than the last but there was a little stipulation. It had stuck out to him, at first it annoyed him that they could think he would be fired. But as he thought about it, the more freeing it felt. It wasn’t like he wanted to be hired on by another agency; he wanted to start his own.

Unlike what Vance thought, he hadn’t lost his touch. It had nothing to do with people not liking him. The only reason Vance and Brian didn’t have the numbers Vance expected was because Vance started putting him on shit accounts. Accounts that would barely make a drop in Brian’s bank account. Vance wanted him gone for a long time, and now he had it. He just would have to face the consequences of making him a competitor.

Brian had an idea to get Justin as head of the Art department, he just needed to make that a reality. He had
looked at the man’s graphics work online, it was amazing. He also saw his paintings and drawings he had done in school and after before his husband was killed. If he hired him, Justin would make the money to secure his family and livelihood. Also, maybe he could start doing his own art again. Brian stopped that train of thought. Why would he care what some man he met twice does with his life?

Shaking his head, he pushed those thoughts away. He needed to get a start on his plans for his agency. It didn’t do him any good to procrastinate on things. He made a quick call to his realtor before he headed home, he hoped she would be able to find him a place that worked for him. A stuffy office building was not where he wanted his office to be at. As he drove, he thought about messaging Justin to cancel their whatever it was, but he decided against it. He would need to talk to him about the job offer anyway.

The apartment was quiet, Justin was trying to find money where there wasn’t any. He had gone over his finances several times and couldn’t find enough for a place for the four of them to live. He was so glad to have Molly back in his life but adding a teenager to his already stressed budget was difficult. He would have to get another job. Molly had already volunteered to babysit if he had to work, it looked like he would have to take her up on it and cut his childcare expenses with Daphne’s sister. He was still waiting for Ms. Marcus to call about his case, but he should take no news as good news.

He thought about cancelling his date with Brian but both Daphne and Molly had talked him into it. Nanette had taken the news about his date well, but Mika was less than pleased. He never wanted to lie to his children, so he told them he was going out with a friend, which is more truth than it being a date. Mika was way too much like Ethan for his own good, he knew how to guilt Justin like no one’s business. To keep the kids minds off what he was doing, Daphne and Molly took the kids to The Plank, they had just left all dressed up…something Molly was less than thrilled about.

His phone went off, drawing him away from his laptop and finances. He thought it would be Brian, it wasn’t. Whoever called was an unlisted number and hung up after he answered.

Brian then called, telling him he was downstairs waiting. He closed his laptop and got his keys. He had to tell himself to breath, it wasn’t like it was a real date.

As he descended the stairs, he saw Brian right outside the security door. He looked good even if he looked a little tired. That was to be expected after his trip, he was still getting back to Pittsburgh time.

“Hi,” he said a little shyly, it was so not like him.

“Hey,” Brian replied.

“Fuck!” he exclaimed looking at Brian’s car.

“Yep, I like it.” Brian was standing in front of a classic ‘Vette.

“That’s your car?”

“Yeah, I got it after I went in remission.”

Justin sucked in a breath, Brian had cancer.

“Put the look away, I’m all good now, just a little more artificial in places than I used to be.”

Justin didn’t want Brian to feel like he needed to tell him about it, so he changed subjects. “This is a really nice car. Are you going to let your kids drive it?”

“HELL NO! If they want a pussy-mobile they can get a job and work for it.”

“Is that what this is?” he asked.

“Hasn’t been the case for me, dick on the other hand…or in both hands.”

Justin blushed, again something unlike him. Brian was so different from Ethan. Shit, he really shouldn’t be comparing the two. He shouldn’t even be out with someone so soon after Ethan’s death or when his kids needed him more.

“You good?” Brian asked.

It was then Justin realized he was just standing there staring off into space. Way to look like a weirdo. The maybe date was starting off badly, he thought.

“I’m fine. Where are we going? The Plank?” he asked, smiling at Brian.

Brian shivered openly, making Justin laugh. “I will never step foot in that place again. I think I got lice just from walking in that place.”

Justin couldn’t help the involuntary action of scratching his head. His children had gotten lice twice in their lives and he had to treat them and the whole house. Ethan had not been pleased when Justin cut his hair, it had just been easier. Ethan had loved Justin’s long hair, which was why now he hadn’t cut it since before he lost Ethan.

“It’s not that bad. They used to have a waiter named Hank, he’s a retired Marine and lost his arm while overseas well…he had a real hook and it was all old looking and authentic. He was awesome, the kids loved him, and Ethan would drool over him all the time.

Brian looked at him sideways. “And you were alright with that? I thought you two had your dicks removed or something.”

Justin laughed. “Yes, I was fine with it, he was just looking. Trust me when I tell you this, Logan was worth the drooling.”

“He doesn’t work there anymore?” Brian sounded a little too interested for Justin’s liking. It was funny, he never got jealous with Ethan. Ethan had always had a roaming eye, but he hadn’t ever thought he acted on it until that call he had gotten.

Shaking his head, he pushed those thoughts away. He wasn’t letting some unknown person besmirch his husband’s memory. Ethan was dead and gone, he could no longer defend himself. If it turned out he did cheat, Justin would forgive him. It would hurt but some wounds he knew he could heal from. Losing his children was not such a wound.

“Earth to Justin,” Brian said, drawing Justin out of his thoughts.

“Sorry.”

“Sorry’s bullshit.”

Well that was one way to think of it, he didn’t really think he agreed but wasn’t about to argue. He had been saying sorry since he was small, it had been something he learned from his mom.

“So where are we going?” he asked, hoping to lighten his downward spiraling mood.

“Babylon.”

Justin groaned. “Aren’t we a little old for the club scene?”

“Are you calling me an aging club boy?”

Justin shook his head frantically, Brian was everything he wasn’t. Successful, rich and gorgeous. Justin knew he had always been nice looking, but he was never going to be hot or look anywhere near mouthwatering as Brian Kinney did. He was the whole package, compared to him…Justin was a floundering, poor nobody. Ethan had been the successful one in their relationship. Ethan had more talent, Justin knew that. People had always been after Ethan for that talent. It wasn’t easy either, he played when he was sick, hurting and sometimes his fingers bleed from it. Ethan had been right; all Justin did was draw pretty pictures. And after Chris and Anthony, they hadn’t been too pretty. But he did his best not to think about that, Ethan had told him to just block it from his mind. When he escaped high school with nothing more than a few black eyes, he had thought he was done with Chris Hobbs. That hadn’t been right though, Chris, Anthony and he had a fateful night in December just after he and Ethan had got together. It lived on in his nightmares, the only saving grace was Chris was dead and couldn’t hurt him again. Ethan had said because Chris was dead, he shouldn’t be still feeling unsafe, that was a laugh. Anthony was still alive and well, wherever he was now.

NO! He would not let that night come back, not tonight. Brian already thought he was a freak.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Justin asked, making up his mind to have a good time.

                           Up Next- The Date