Chapter 16

“Michael!” Cynthia's frustrated voice could be heard just as the door to Brian's office was opened and Michael made his way in.

“You can't...,” she then sighed and looked at Brian helplessly. “I am sorry, Brian. I told him you have a meeting coming up in five.”

Brian looked at her and just nodded. “Get me when Wilson gets here.”

She nodded, then turned around to leave Brian's office, not missing the triumphant look on Michael's face as he looked after her.

“I told her you wouldn't mind. I am your best friend. You'll always be happy to see me,” he said as he turned back to look at Brian, who was not looking at him but was focused on something on his screen.

“What are you doing here, Michael? I have a very important presentation in five. Just like Cynthia said.”

“I was at the loft, but you weren't there,” Michael said as if that would explain everything when in fact it only confused Brian more.

“Why would I be at the loft? It's Thursday, 2pm. Where else would I be than at my place of work?”

“Your car wasn't outside, so I thought you might be home for the day and figured we could spend the day together. Like we did in old times,” Michael said happily, walking closer to Brian's desk.

Brian sighed and felt rather annoyed by his friend. “Michael, I am running a business here. A very successful business. Of course, I would be here on a weekday.”

“But your car wasn't outside,” Michael just said again as if that explained anything.

“Because I walked,” Brian said after counting to ten. Which was true. He had walked the couple of blocks from his loft earlier that morning even though Justin had offered to drop him off on his way to their new house in West Virginia.

As they had agreed the previous evening, Justin had headed out to the house again that morning and he had taken Brian's car. Noticing how excited he had seemed to get back to the house and to explore the grounds and building some more, Brian had waved away his offer to take him to the office and had decided to walk instead, allowing Justin to get to the house two minutes earlier than he would have if he had dropped Brian off at the office first.

Not that Brian had minded walking. It had only been about 10 minutes, so wasn't all too bad.

“But your car isn't at the loft either,” Michael pointed out. “I checked. The loft was empty though.”

“You went into my loft?” Brian now raised an eyebrow and looked at Michael angrily. “Why?”

“To see if you were there. After all your car wasn't here, wasn't there,” Michael said, not noticing how angry the other man had gotten in the last few seconds.

“It's at the garage for some small repairs,” Brian lied, not feeling too bad about lying to Michael. It was only a small lie and he didn't feel ready yet to announce the truth about Justin to his friend. He knew that he would have to tell Michael the truth about Justin and the house in West Virginia soon, but he really didn't want to have this conversation two minutes before an important presentation. In light of that presentation, he had no qualms about this small lie to his friend. Instead, he focused again on the fact that Michael had gone into his home uninvited. “You could have called me. There was no need to go into the loft.”

“That's why you gave me a key, isn't it? So I could check on you,” Michael said rather smugly, crossing his arms.

Brian sighed, shaking his head. “That key is for emergencies, Michael. Me being at work at 2pm on a Thursday is not an emergency.”

“Something could have been wrong. How was I to know?”

“Again, you could have called or texted me,” Brian muttered, angrily grabbing some files from his desk as he stood up.

“I just decided to come back here and check with Ted to see where you were.”

“Well, guess what. You found me. And now I have to head off to that meeting,” Brian said as he walked past Michael towards the door of his office.

“Brian,” Michael whined, following his friend. “You never have time for me anymore.”

“It's fucking 2pm on a Thursday, Michael! I am running a company,” Brian said once again, this time more forcefully. “Why aren't you at your shop anyway?”

“Oh, Hunter is taking care of things. I thought it would be nice if we could spend some time together this afternoon. We never get to hang out anymore,” Michael explained, his voice still having that whiny tone that annoyed the hell out of Brian.

“Because I am busy, Michael. Running my company.”

“You hang out with Ted all the time,” Michael now whined, stepping in front of Brian and effectively blocking the door from being opened.

“He works for me in my company. Of course, I see him all the time. His office is just down the hall,” Brian shook his head, now looking even angrier than a minute ago.

“Can't he do this meeting for you? That's what you pay him for, right? And then we can get out of here and spend some time together,” Michael suggested, looking at Brian from what the brunet assumed were supposed to be puppy dog eyes.

“No can do, Mikey. Ted is my CFO, not an ad exec.”

True, Ted had done presentations in the past, for example when Brian had been sick with his testicular cancer and had suffered from the side effects of his radiation, and he had actually been surprisingly good at it, but that had been years ago when Kinnetik had just started and had been a lot smaller. Now they had way more clients, way more ad execs and way more accountants on their payroll and Ted was busy enough keeping control of all financial operations.

“Brian, please!” Michael whined, his voice taking on an even higher pitch than before. “We never spend time together anymore.”

“Because we both have lives. I am running one of the most successful ad agencies in the East and you have a family. So why don't you go home to your husband and spend some time with him?” Brian suggested, glaring at Michael for good measure.

“I see Ben all the time, but I never see you.”

“Well, you won't be seeing me now. My meeting is starting,” Brian said when he saw Cynthia heading his way. Those were the advantages of a glass door. “My client is here.”

Michael pouted, but finally moved aside. “Can we spend time together on the weekend? It's been an eternity since we've been to Babylon together.”

“Can't. I have Gus this weekend,” Brian just said, then nodded at Cynthia who had just opened the door to his office, pushing Michael aside unceremoniously, and had announced that his client was waiting in the conference room.

“But I'll see you for breakfast on Sunday, right?” Michael asked next as Brian made his way past him and down the hall.

“You'll see me at dinner at your mom's,” Brian sighed, turning around to Michael once more, sounding more than annoyed. “I just told you I have Gus for the weekend.”

“Can't the girls watch him? Or can't he stay alone for an hour or two?” Michael whined, apparently not noticing Brian's annoyance with him.

“The point of me having Gus is that I am spending time with my son and not with you!” Brian said as he started walking away from Michael's side.

Also, he wanted to spend the weekend with Gus and Justin, wanted Gus to meet Justin, wanted him to see the new house and all of that. Meeting Michael really was the last thing he wanted to do this weekend.

As Brian walked further down the hall, he threw one last parting shot at his friend. “Go and spend some time with your child. I am sure she'll be happy to see you.”

He didn't hear Michael's reply as he now turned the corner and went into the conference room where his client was waiting.

***

Brian picked up his mobile phone when he saw that his loft was calling him. He assumed that it was Justin calling him, but it was still weird to see his own number calling his mobile phone.

“Sunshine?”

“Brian? Do you have a minute?”

Brian frowned, realizing that Justin sounded rather agitated and not nearly as happy as he had earlier that morning before he had headed towards the house in West Virginia.

“Yeah, sure.” His meeting had ended half an hour ago and he was now just finishing up some paperwork, hoping that he could head back to the loft within the hour. “What is going on? You sound off.”

“Did you come home?”

Brian frowned, not sure he understood. “Home?”

“To the loft? Sometime today?” Justin asked, still sounding rather upset.

“No, I was at the office all day. Why?”

“Shit...” Justin muttered and Brian could almost see him walking around in distress.

“Why, what is it?”

“I think someone broke into the loft then,” Justin said next, saying something that Brian hadn't expected at all.

“What? Why? Is something missing? Did you call the police?”

“No... I mean, I don't know. It doesn't look like anything has been stolen, really, but someone must have been here.”

“What? You're not making sense, Sunshine,” Brian said quietly, trying to stay calm and not to get as upset as Justin was.

“I know that I turned on the alarm when I left. I know I did. I double-checked it actually. But when I just came back... the alarm was off. And there's a glass on the kitchen counter that wasn't there when I left,” Justin explained.

Brian stayed quiet for a second before something clicked in his mind. “That fucking asshole!” He angrily exclaimed.

“Brian?” Justin asked carefully, clearly not sure what to make of Brian's statement.

“Michael,” Brian sighed, running a hand over his face. “He went by the loft earlier looking for me. He must have turned the alarm off and must have forgotten to turn it back on.”

“Michael?” Now it was Justin's turn to sound confused. “Why would he go into your loft?”

“He has a key for emergencies,” Brian explained. “And he thought I was at home because he didn't see my car at the office.”

When Justin stayed quiet and didn't say anything, Brian went on.

“He said he checked the loft to see if I was home.”

“He couldn't just ring the bell or call you?” Justin asked now, sounding slightly confused.

“Don't get me started,” Brian just muttered. “He doesn't understand the meaning of emergency.”

“Or privacy, it seems,” Justin replied, now sounding calmer than he had two minutes ago. Now that he knew that no one had broken into the loft, he didn't feel as upset anymore as he had earlier when he had come home.

“Don't worry about it, Sunshine. I'll deal with him,” Brian promised, making a mental note to get back to Michael about not turning the alarm back on.

“Okay,” Justin just said, not quite sure what else to say.

Brian heard how off Justin still sounded and therefore decided to change the subject away from his idiotic friend.

“How did you like the house and grounds? Now that you could see everything in daylight?”

Justin's voice immediately turned more excited and happier and Brian was glad for it. “God, it's even more beautiful than I expected. The grounds are so beautiful. And it's all so big. That house has so many rooms. Geez, I don't think we'll need half of them. I did some sketches for the master bedroom and some of the guestrooms. I'll show you when you get home, okay?”

“Sounds good. I can't wait,” Brian said, now sounding considerably happier as well.

“Are you coming home soon?” Justin asked next.

“I'll try to leave the office within the hour. Just finishing up some paperwork.”

“Okay, sounds good. I am going to cook tonight, so you better be hungry,” Justin said happily.

“Sunshine, you don't have to,” Brian started, but was stopped by Justin right away.

“I want to,” the younger man said, leaving no doubt that he meant it. “I love cooking. It calms me down. And I want to spoil you. You got this nice, beautiful house for us. Cooking dinner is the least I can do in return.”

“You don't have to do anything in return,” Brian said seriously.

“I want to spoil you, just like you're spoiling me,” Justin replied, his voice sounding happy and relaxed. “So, stop complaining.”

Brian actually had to laugh at that. “Okay. You won. I'll be home in an hour, okay?”

“Sounds good,” Justin agreed and Brian could hear the smile in his voice. “Love you.”

“Love you, too,” Brian responded, surprised by how easily those words had left his mouth.