5.
Michael unlocks his store and lets the guy in that knows Chris Hobbs. He locks the door behind them.
“I want to talk to Hobbs. I’ve got a prop... prop... a deal for him.”
“You talk to me first. What are you wanting exactly?”
“I’ll pay Hobbs to kill Justin Taylor. I want it done right this time,” Michael said.
“You’re drunk, how do I know you’re serious? Tell you what, I’ll come here in the morning. You sober up and repeat what you just said. Then we can make a deal, but without Hobbs coming here. He’s too high-profile yet. People know him from the publicity in the papers.”
“Okay. I’ll be here at seven. Sober. You come here after that, and we’ll make a deal.”
The guy leaves and Michael calls a cab and goes home.
Ben asks him where he was, and tells him that they all went to Britin for the day.
“Met a guy at Woody’s. We got to talking about Rage. Lost track of time. I’m going to bed, I drank too much. Night.”
____________________
The next morning, Michael woke with a hangover. But he got up, grabbed some soda crackers, some tea, and headed for his meeting. He saw the guy he was supposed to meet coming down the sidewalk. He waited at the door for him, then let him in the shop and locked the door.
“I’m sober and I still want Hobbs to finish what he started. Justin Taylor has been a pain in my ass since he met Brian. We had always talked of being two old queens retired in Palm Springs. We always kissed and would say love you, always have, always will. Now he acts like a kiss is something awful. There’s no, I love you’s... nothing. He has gone from being my best friend to ignoring me. Brian is mine. I want him back. With Hobbs’ help, I can get that. I think the best way to do this is a gun. I heard Ted, who works with Brian, saying that Brian is going out of town next Monday. He’ll be gone for a week. Justin will be painting during the day at the loft at 6 Tremont. He drives a new Ford Bronco. That’s how you will know when he’s there. I’ll give Hobbs $10,000 for this. Half up front, half after it’s done.”
“No! When the job is done, Hobbs will need to leave quickly. Give me your number. What’s your name? I’ll check out the area and call you. On the day of the hit, you’ll meet Hobbs and give him the rest of the money at a place I pick.”
“Deal. My name’s Michael Novotny. Here’s my number.”
____________________
Leaving, the guy’s mind was racing. Holy shit! This guy was crazy! He had talked to Chris last night and he had been horrified at the idea. He knew what he had to do.
He made a phone call punching in the extension. He told the person everything about the conversation. He was told where to meet up on Monday.
He entered Kinnetik at the same time as Carl Horvath did. They went to Cynthia’s desk.
“Hi, Cynthia. It’s important we speak with Brian. VERY important,” Carl said.
She buzzed Brian and told him Carl needed to speak with him. He immediately asked them in his office.
“Brian, this is Paul Beaufort. He’s a detective, a new hire from NYPD. He called me about something very disturbing that happened to him.”
“How does this involve me, Carl?”
“Brian, I’m afraid this involves Justin and his safety. Paul, please play the recording you have of your meeting with Michael Novotny.”
“What? What the hell, Carl?” Brian exclaimed.
The three men listened while Michael talked to Paul about Chris Hobbs killing Justin. Carl had to stop Brian twice from going after Michael.
Brian glared at Paul and asked him how he knew Chris Hobbs.
“I’ve been married to him for two years. Like you, I’m older than Chris. Before you ask, he told me everything about what he did to your husband. I’m not excusing him, but in his family, from a very young age, he was taught to hate homosexuals. I found him after he’d been beaten by his father, who had caught him fucking a guy in their pool house. He made him go with him to a park on the edge of town, which happened to be near my family home. He and a couple of his country club buddies administered the beating. Chris almost died; he walks with a limp now. I talked to Chris last night, about Novotny. He wants to do this. He feels it will in some small way make up for what he did.”
“Brian, he’s a detective on the force. He was the best New York had. We were lucky to get him. If anybody can do this, he can,” Carl explained.
Brian gets up and begins pacing the room. “You expect me to sit back and watch Justin do this? No! FUCK NO! I can’t.”
Nobody realized two others had entered the room, until they heard Justin say, “Brian, I have to do this. It’s either that, or live in fear, and I refuse to do that. How are we going to do this?”
Everyone turned to look at Justin and Chris standing there. Justin continued, “Chris sent a message to me by the guard at the loft. It scared the shit out of me. But he also sent a picture of his wedding. I let him up and we talked.”
Chris slowly entered further into the room, expecting Brian to attack him. He wouldn’t blame him if he did.
“There are some new paintball guns out that look real. I don’t approve of them because of that, but we could use one to do this. They’re accurate for one-hundred feet. The trees across the street at the loft could hide a man. Justin comes out and I shoot him in the chest with a paintball. He’ll have to fall to the ground, unless we can place a car there for him to collapse on. I’m betting Novotny will want to watch it, and as he’s doing his happy dance, he can be grabbed. I’d be wearing a tape, and ask him if he’s sure he wants me to go through with this, and have it witnessed as he pays me the rest of the money first.”
“Brian, love, we have to do this.” Justin goes over and wraps his arms around the man who always said he didn’t do love, yet had tears running down his face.
“All right, but I want that son of a bitch to hang. I’ve got to stay away from him, or I’ll be in jail. I’m supposed to be out of town next week. I’m going to put it off, but not tell anyone except Cynthia. Ted would keep it quiet, but I’m not sure he wouldn’t go after Michael.”
Carl sits heavily in a chair. “My God! This is going to kill Deb. But if I tell her, she will go after Michael. He’d deny everything, and then it’s hard to tell what he’d do.”
The rest of the week was the hardest Brian and Justin had ever lived. At different times, one of them would clam up. The other would have to beg and plead for the other to talk.
Finally, the day came. Brian had spent the day with Justin, just holding him. That evening, Justin would have to do the best acting he could. When Michael had asked Brian to ‘borrow’ $10,000 earlier that week, he had refused to give him any. Even faked, he couldn’t willingly hand money over.
Chris parked around the corner from the loft. Paul stayed in the car to be the getaway driver. Michael approached Chris; the glee in his eyes was maniacal.
“Here’s the rest of your money. Don’t miss this time. That little whore needs to die! I want him dead!” Michael warned.
Chris got in position. Justin came out the door of the building. The shot was fired and red spread across Justin’s chest. His hand grabbed at his chest, and he staggered back, then fell sideways across the railing. He slowly collapsed to the steps.
Michael watched through his binoculars. He could see the blood covering Justin’s chest. He watched as Chris went up to Justin, check his pulse, then nod at him, before heading back across the street. Michael let out a whoop and danced in a circle. He gave Chris a thumbs up, then ran around the corner to get to his car. Seeing Carl, he turns back and takes off across the street, running in front of a car. Brakes squeal and a car door opens. A figure jumps out and punches Michael with a jab punch with their left hand, then a right uppercut, followed by a left hook. Brian and Justin had run around the corner just in time to see the punch.
Paul quickly pulls up in his car, blocking any traffic. Brian turns to look at the person who delivered the series of fast punches, only to be engulfed in a hug by a crying Melanie.
She turned to Carl, explaining, “I got home early last night and heard them talking. On the spur of the moment, I decided to come here. When that bastard took off, I had to stop him. I almost ran him over. Luckily, he stopped by the side of my car. I jumped out and nailed him.”
Carl went over to Michael, cuffing him with cuffs that were attached to a chain around his waist.
Brian turned and looked at Justin, who, surprisingly, was being comforted by Chris. When Chris loosened his hold, Brian grabbed Justin, pulling his shirt up to inspect any damage the paintball may have inflicted. Justin's chest was already bruising and welts were forming, but Justin pushed Brian’s hands away, and they tightly held each other.
“Thank you. Thank you, both. Melanie, remind me never to cross you. Dayummm you pack a punch,” Brian told her.
Michael came to and started to struggle, cursing everyone. Carl and Paul hauled him to his feet, and while Paul was reading him his rights, Michael looked over and saw Justin standing by Brian, wearing a red-stained shirt, and knew he’d been set up.
Michael was shoved, none too gently, into the back of a police car and took away. Another officer took Chris to his in-law’s house to wait for Paul.
Melanie asked Carl if he wanted her to go along to break the news to Debbie. He accepted her help gratefully, as he knew it wouldn’t be easy to deal with her. Before leaving, she told Brian that Gus and JR were still at daycare.
____________________
Brian and Justin went upstairs and called Cynthia to let her know everything was over and Michael was in custody. Ted and Blake arrived at the loft having already heard the news on the gay grapevine.
Blake offered to counsel them, even though he dealt with drug counseling. “You need to talk this out with a professional and each other. I can help you do that.”
Brian spoke up first. “I feel like I’m going to fly apart. Justin has been the strong one this week. Do you know how hard it was to deal with work? Then I had Michael showing up and trying to borrow the goddamn money to pay Chris. I couldn’t give it to him. I hadn’t given him any money for quite a while. I have no idea how he managed to get the money together.
“Ah, Ted? The reason I didn’t tell you beforehand, was that Carl said not to tell you. Too many people knowing, might have tipped Michael off, and let him know the truth of what was being planned.”
“I’m glad I didn’t know. I could never have restrained myself from hitting Michael. We should have known this was coming; looking back, I can see his instability,” Ted said.
“Brian, this is not your fault. You’ve been pulling away from Michael for a good while. He simply refused to accept it,” Justin said, hugging Brian close. He knew he would fall apart later, but right now, Brian needed him to be strong.
“We want to thank you, Blake, for your help. We need to get the kids, but we will call to schedule an appointment in the morning. Ted, I’m going to send Cynthia on this business trip to Chicago. Can you handle things for a week?”
“No problem, Boss. I’ll get Ron Lang to help,” Ted said.
Blake spoke up, “I managed to access my schedule for tomorrow. I have 9:00 open. I’ll schedule you both for an hour session. We’ll all talk, and I’ll try to help you get through this. Hopefully, this will go to court quickly. But right now, Ted and I are leaving, so you can get the kids.”
Since Justin had seats for both Gus and JR in his Bronco, they had no problem getting the kids home. Brian texted Melanie they had gotten them. They told Eliza they weren’t hungry, but she insisted they at least eat a small bowl of vegetable soup and a sandwich.
Jennifer, having been told what happened, called and spoke to both men. She said she was available to babysit if they needed her.
Later that night, Brian found Justin sitting on the patio, tears running silently down his face. His body was trembling from the shock wearing off. Brian took him in his arms and held him as they both sobbed at what had happened.
“If you’d never met me, maybe...” Justin began.
“No, Justin! No! If I can’t blame myself, you can’t either. You’re my world, my everything. I need you now more than anything. We need each other. My friendship with Michael was coming to an end for a while now. There’s no way we could have seen this coming. Come on, let’s go to our room. Mel made some hot tea. We can sit on the balcony and drink it. Then I want to make love to you.”
The boys stayed home for the rest of the week. Blake made the trip out to Britin after the first appointment to let them talk.
____________________
During the trial, Michael went into a rant about Justin, shouting out his plan to rid the world of the little whore who stole his Brian. Debbie, with tears streaming down her face, pushed her way up to him and slapped him down.
When the trial ended, Michael was found guilty and placed in a federal prison psychiatric unit for life.
After the trial, Ben applied and was accepted, at a college in Washington state, so he and Hunter packed up and left Pittsburgh.
Debbie had collapsed after Michael’s sentence was given, and is now on medication, so Emmett stays with her during the day. Alex Wilder has been counseling her, and she's finally come to terms with what Michael did.
____________________
Five years later, Melanie still lives at Britin, keeping the family intact. Leda had shown up in town, and was a wild, but welcomed, addition to their family.
The family dinners still take place every weekend. They alternate between Deb’s, Britin, Dan and Marks, and Justin’s grandparents.
Kinnetik continued to grow and became the top ad agency in North America, and the international market was showing promise for the future. Dan and Mark’s son is studying to take the helm there.
Justin and Brian found a surrogate and egg donor, and twins were born. Paula looks like Justin, and Brendan looks like Brian. Justin took over the art department when Murph transferred to the Canadian Kinnetik.
Life had its ups and downs, but the Liberty Avenue family continues to survive.
The End.
Frosty70 is the author of 13 other stories.
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This story is a favorite of 10 members. Members who liked I've Had Enough! also liked 528 other stories.