3.
The day came for Lindsey's trial, and the courthouse was packed. The judge decided it would a lot easier on Gus to hear his testimony in his chambers, instead of being in front of a lot of people. So after Gus, Brian, Mel, and both lawyers for the case were settled in his chambers, Gus told the judge what happened.
In the end, Lindsey was charged with child abuse, child endangerment, and recklessly causing bodily harm. The judge decided to run the sentences consecutively, and she was given a total of forty-seven years. Because there was a child involved, she wouldn’t have a chance for parole for thirty years.
Then it was decided she should also be charged for assaulting Justin, and she was given an additional ten for Justin’s assault.
The next day after work, Brian stopped by Mel’s house. He found her loading boxes in the U-Haul that was leased for the move to Canada.
“What in the hell, Mel? Gus loses his mommy to prison and you still plan to move him to Canada, anyway? You aren’t taking my son away after everything that’s happened!”
Taking a hold of Brian’s arm, Mel says. “Brian, BRIAN! Calm down!” She pulls him into a hug. “We aren’t going anywhere; I’m just getting rid of Lindsey’s shit. Okay?”
“God, I’m sorry, Mel. This has been a nightmare. We’ve lost a member of our family. I never dreamed she could do what she did.”
“It’s unbelievable, Brian. I… I’m barely holding it together. I don't think I can live here anymore. I wasted so many years with Lindsey. It’s... it’s like she hated Justin because he wouldn’t do what she wanted him to. No, it wasn’t your fault. My eyes are open now to so much more of her manipulations.”
They loaded the rest of the boxes and then Justin showed up.
“Hi, Mel. Hey, big guy. You two okay?” He hugs Mel and gives Brian a kiss. “Is this all Lindsey’s stuff?”
“Yeah. I wanted it out of the house. I was telling Brian I don’t think I can live here anymore.”
Justin and Brian looked at each other. Brian raises an eyebrow, and Justin gives a small nod.
“You know, Mel, there’s plenty of room at Britin. You, Gus, and JR could move in there until you find someplace else. There are some extra rooms on one side that you could all use. I could paint a mural in one room for JR. There’s a bedroom that’s large enough to put a loveseat and rocker recliner in it for you. I think we could even put your desk in it too. What do you think? Do you think you two could live in the same house together?” Justin finished with a smirk.
“Well, I guess I could manage. If you fix the rooms up like you said, we’d have some privacy.”
“Justin, isn't there a balcony in Mel's bedroom?” With Justin’s nod, he continues, “I thought so. That will be nice for you to relax on with some tea. I’ll call some movers who will pack and move you in the next few days. You can rent a storage space if you want.”
“There are just two rooms with a balcony. Mel’s and ours. Although for nighttime sitting, we need to screen them in, in order to keep the mosquitoes out.”
“I’ll call the movers and you can talk to them. Hey, Sonny boy!”
Gus runs in and jumps in his dad's arms.
“Hi, Daddy! Hi, Papa! Mama, I feel all rested now. I’m hungry.”
“Mel, you think you can handle the diner for dinner? You wouldn’t have to change.”
“Sure. How about I put the kids’ seats in the jeep. You take them on ahead and I’ll drop these boxes off at Goodwill, unhook the U-Haul here, and then join you. We’ll need the U-Haul for moving all our stuff to Britin.”
_____________________
Deb was working an evening shift at the diner. Shortly after Mel got there, Michael came in.
“There’s my honeybun. What are you guys doing together?”
“Might as well tell you now, so you know. We’re moving into Britin,” Mel informs him.
“What?! Why?! I can’t drive out there every day to see my honeybun! What’s wrong with your house?”
“Michael, I don’t want to live there anymore, there are too many memories of Lindsey. So Brian and Justin offered some rooms for us at Britin. The movers that Brian knows, are coming the day after tomorrow. They’ll pack up the house for me. You don’t come to see JR every day, anyway; why make such a big deal because I’m moving?”
“Justin won’t let me come out there, because it’s his house,” Michael says with a sneer.
“Michael, did I say you couldn’t come out and visit JR?” Justin asked.
“Well no, but you...”
“Michael, as long as you don’t snipe at Justin, we don’t have any problem if you visit JR. You simply can’t stay overnight,” Brian added.
“Of course, Justin won’t let me stay overnight.”
Thwack! “Michael Charles Novotny! Why is everything Justin’s fault? Brian said no overnights, not Justin! You do have a husband, you know. So why would you even WANT to stay overnight? Ben has papers to grade at night, and you need to be home with him, not at Britin! Grow up, for fuck’s sake!” Deb shook her head at Michael.
_____________________
Things got moved, although most of it went into storage, and Mel and the kids got settled at Britin. Mel was surprised when she saw the new bed coverings for her, which were beautiful blue-flowered sheets, and a matching blue duvet. They even put peace lilies on each side of the French doors. There was even a blanket to use when the evening was chilly on the balcony.
“Oh, this is lovely! Justin, you shouldn’t have.” In spite of Brian shaking his head, Justin piped up.
“I didn’t, Brian got those.” He giggled and kissed the glare off Brian’s face.
_____________________
Brian sat on the patio smoking a cigarette and talking to Dan on the phone. Justin walked out, grabbed the cigarette, took a puff, and put it out.
“Hey, I was smoking that.”
“Remember? We’re quitting. No more smoking. I haven’t had any, except that single puff. Hun, I want you healthy. Cold turkey, right? Just suck on a mint instead.” He settled on Brian’s lap.
“I hate menthol cigarettes. Why would I suck on a mint? I’d rather suck on you.” He leers, palming Justin’s package.
“Hey, Bri! TMI,” Dan cuts in. “That’s my nephew, ya know. I’d better go anyway. I’ll let you know what happens. Later.”
“What’s going on?” Justin settled closer, trapping Brian’s hand between his thighs.
“Grammy finally found the newspaper with the fake obituary. Mark went over there and got it, and is going to file fraud charges against Craig. He has the bank records of the withdrawals. You realize that all hell’s gonna break lose, don’t you?” Brian asks.
“He’s the one in the wrong, and I’m not responsible for what he did. It’s them charging him, not me.”
“Like he’s going to care.”
“True.”
_____________________
The next day as Mel took the kids to daycare, Justin went in with Brian to Kinnetik; they had four campaigns to get done in a week.
Brian heard his secretary shout, “Sir! You can’t go in there.”
“I don’t care! I want to talk to that perverted son of mine and his so-called husband.” Craig stormed into Brian’s office.
“Where’s Justin? Get him here, now!”
“I’m doing no such thing. You’re leaving. You’re the one who pulled the stunt, not Justin or I. Now leave!”
Craig steps threateningly toward Brian.
“You caught me unaware once, Taylor. You won’t get a second chance, as I’ll knock you on your ass! Now, I said get out!! Fred! Ernie! Remove Mr. Taylor from the premises.”
“Tell Justin to drop the charges, or he’ll be sorry.”
“I didn’t file the charges, my grandparents did,” Justin said entering the office, then circled around a struggling Craig, who was being held by the security guards. Going to Brian, he wraps his arms around his waist and smiles at his sperm donor.
After Craig was removed from Brian’s office, Justin asks, “You okay?”
“Yeah. You?”
“He didn’t really surprise us, did he?”
“Can he pay the money back, plus the fine? He’s still paying alimony for Molly, isn’t he?” Brian pulled Justin to sit on the couch.
“Brian, he has four stores around the area. He could sell or mortgage the stores to pay it. If he doesn’t, he’ll see jail time.”
Brian dialed his phone. “Let me speak to Mark Alwin, please. It’s Brian Kinney... Mark, Craig was just here. My guards hauled him out of here. Guess we should enforce the restraining orders. Oh, really? He was there too?... No, he didn’t get violent, but he made a threatening move towards me...” Brian grabs Justin. “Down tiger. He didn’t touch me. He wasn’t gonna get a chance to touch me. Mark? I’ll let you get back to work. Later.”
_____________________
One Sunday afternoon Michael went out to visit JR at Britin. Gus was also in the room playing quietly. After a couple of hours, JR fell asleep in her father's arms. Mel took her to put her down in her crib. When she turned around, she noticed Michael was gone.
“Gus, stay here with your sister,” Mel ordered, as she flew out of the room in search of Michael.
Michael stepped out on the patio, and couldn’t believe his eyes. Justin had Brian on his back holding his legs in the air. Their mouths were locked together, staring into each other’s eyes. Justin was pounding into Brian.
“Justin, harder! Faster! So good!”
“WHAT THE FUCK!”
Mel steps out and grabs Michael by the arm and jerks him back in the house.
“I’ve got to stop him, Mel. Brian’s a top. He’s...”
“Justin’s husband. Justin isn’t doing anything that Brian doesn’t want him to do. I TOLD you to stay in my room. Brian knows you’re here. He just got home from a business trip. So yes, I told them I’d make sure Gus stayed upstairs with me so they could spend some time together. They were going swimming, but it looks like they ended up having some playtime.”
“He was being too rough!” Michael was furious.
“Michael, you should leave now. Don’t come back, from now on I’ll bring JR to you. Before you protest, you pay no support. I could take your visitation away from that alone. Now go!”
Michael crosses his arms and stomps out. He glares at Brian and Justin as he makes a point to use the patio to leave.
The two men came in a little while later to see Mel shaking her head at them.
“What's wrong? Where’s Mikey?” Brian asked.
“You didn’t notice what he did? I put JR down for a nap and he took off looking for you. He found you on the patio, otherwise occupied.”
“Guess I’ll hear about that tomorrow. Why’s he surprised? I love the feel of Justin’s big dick up my ass.”
“God, Brian. TMI. I told him I’d bring JR to him from now on.”
“I’ll make a point to talk to him. Okay with you, Sunshine?”
“Just one more chance. That’s it,” Justin said, shaking his head.
Justin fixed dinner for a change and they enjoyed family time at the table. This was getting to be a pleasant habit.
_____________________
The next day Justin fixed pancakes, eggs, and bacon for breakfast. Brian had half a pancake with strawberry jam on it, two slices of bacon, and an egg. Afterward, while Justin and Gus painted, Brian drove to the diner to talk to Michael.
When he walked in, he saw Michael and Em sitting in the back booth. Debbie hugged Brian and asked if he knew what was up Michael’s ass.
Brian snickered, then snarked, “It’s not what’s up his ass. It’s what was up mine. Which if he’d stayed in Mel’s room as he was told to, he wouldn’t have seen in the first place.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Deb's eyes widened and she simply said, “Oh!”
Going to the back booth, Brian bumps Em over. “Hi Em, Mikey. Not talking today, Mikey?”
“I asked him. All he would say is ‘them’. I take it he means you and Justin?” Emmett questioned.
“I can’t believe you let him fuck you! He could have hurt you. He was too rough!”
“Mikey, I love for Justin to top me, and no, he wasn’t too rough. Haven’t you ever topped Ben?”
“That’s none of your business!”
“So that would be a ‘no’?”
Ben steps up to the table bumping Michael over.
“Are you still queening out over Justin topping Brian? Just because you don't like to top, as you prefer your prostate..."
Michael squealed, "Shut up, Ben! That's nobody’s business but ours.”
“Mike, I’m not surprised Justin tops Brian. Every fag loves to have his prostate massaged occasionally. I even used to bottom. In fact, I could almost bet Justin topped him occasionally back when they weren’t recognizing themselves as a couple.”
“He topped me on his eighteenth birthday, and also the morning after the night you got us thrown in jail that time and Carl got us out. Here’s something for you to queen about again... On his birthday, it was my first time bottoming.”
“I thought that you told me you bottomed in high school.”
“Nope. Never did. I bragged a lot to you back then. Get over it, Mikey. Deb! I want a dozen lemon bars to go. Hell, just give me the rest of what you’ve got.”
Taking the bars a few minutes later, he says, “I have to get to work. See ya later.”
_____________________
One week later, Craig Taylor sold two of his stores. He hated his ex-wife’s family. Damn their influence, and their wasp pull in the hierarchy. He could have mortgaged the stores or at least one of them, but between this damn lawsuit and the alimony that he paid for Molly...
Shit! His daughter wouldn’t even talk to him unless she had to. She was loyal to her faggot brother and her bitch of a mother. She’d come to his house and sit there for the weekend, but when she did talk, it was more to his girlfriend than to him. Oh well, he would have some money left after paying everything, which included the severance pay to the employees he couldn’t send to the remaining two stores.
Hell, maybe he should just leave Pittsburgh. His girlfriend wanted to move to Florida, anyway. Molly didn’t want the stores, she wanted to teach school. His queer son wanted to paint his little pictures. How the hell did he make so much from them? He just couldn’t understand it.
Yes! That’s what he’d do. He’d sell the remaining two stores; he’d leave the money from the sale of one for Molly. The other he’d use to pack up and move to Florida. What he had done was already making the rounds in the club. He’d seen the looks and heard the whispers.
He knocked back the rest of his scotch, threw some bills on the bar, and left to go arrange the sales and prepare to leave town.
_____________________
Michael’s POV:
I walk into Woody’s intent on getting shitfaced drunk, these last three weeks have finally gotten the better of me...
No matter where I go, I hear people talking and whispering, ‘Justin this, Justin that. Justin, how he...’ nope, I can’t even think about it. But instead of mocking Brian, they praised him for giving Justin everything, especially the one thing he’d never given any other man. I’m sick of it! My hatred of the twink whore has grown more and more. Brian was supposed to be mine, not anyone else’s. I knew when my mother interrupted that handjob, that Brian loved me. I hated her for it. If she hadn’t come in, Brian would be mine now.
The night Brian picked Justin up under that streetlight, still burns in my mind. Hell, he wasn’t even Brian’s type, and yet he kept coming around. No matter how much trouble I caused back then, Brian would drag Justin back into Woody's, the diner, or Babylon. Then he let him live with him, and Brian started changing; he started to mellow.
Thinking back to when Justin was with the fiddler, I knew Brian was taking someone to the loft, so I spied on him to see for sure. I couldn’t believe it! A Justin wannabe. What had happened to Brian? Then they got back together. Dancing close. Groins grinding. Tongues tangling. I was so mad that night at Babylon.
Then Brian got cancer, and after that, the recreational drugs dwindled to nothing. The tricking slowed down. So I followed Lindsey's advice, and like her, subtly mentioned things that slowly worked on Brian. He started pulling away. Justin moved out and we let him move in with us. Brian came over drunk, ranting and raving at me, saying I was the cause of it. I couldn’t believe it; he was actually miserable. Then Justin moved into that ratty apartment, and they were finally apart. But I noticed Brian watching Justin when he was working at the diner, longing in his eyes for him.
Then came the benefit, and Brian choosing instead to go to the white party. I knew Justin was pissed at Brian. Then the bomb happened before he even left. I heard how he’d clung to Justin when he found him and kept saying he loved him. Then he bought the house and proposed.
Then the write-up came in Art Forum. When Lindsey showed Justin the magazine and told him he needed to go to New York, he didn’t want to go. But after Lindsay talked to Brian, she got him to push Justin to go. But the damned twink wouldn’t leave. Now they're the same as married; husbands, they say.
I saw Justin with my daughter the other day. She was laughing and hugging him. No!! He will not take her away too. I will do something. I will put a stop to Justin interfering in my life and taking what’s mine.
But what should I do? How do I fix this, and get back what’s rightfully mine?
Chapter End Notes:
So what do you think Michael is going to do?