BRIAN 

I wasn’t sure that taking Justin to the loft was a great idea, but he was having some kind of meltdown, and it seemed like being alone would be better. I pulled up to the front and parked the car. Justin was staring out the windshield, he wouldn’t look at the building. 

“Give me a clue about what you're thinking?” I ask him.  

“I have to wonder if I don’t want to remember.” He tells me.

“If I could forget this place and some of the people I would.” I tell him.

“Max said that maybe the reason I don’t remember things is because I want the memories gone.” Justin tells me.

“No, you don’t remember because you don’t, it could also be that everything you’ve been around is new to you.” I answer him.

I get out of the car and wait for him to make up his mind if he wants to see the place. Justin gets out of the car and walks towards the building. I opened the front door and Justin walked in then just kept going, I followed behind him to see where he was headed. He stopped in front of the loft door.

“Is this it?” Justin asks me.

I nod, smiling because he doesn’t even realize he walked up here without me telling him which floor. I open the door and let him in to look around.

“I lived here with you at one time?” He asks me. 

“It was more like you stayed here for awhile, I didn’t really want a roommate at the time.” I tell him. 

Justin walks over to the kitchen and looks at everything.

“Nice kitchen.” He tells me. 

“You told me that the first time you were here.” I smile because he's still in there looking around.

“Do you still use this place?” He asks me. 

“Not often, just when I need some stress relief, because I don’t want to bring strangers around the kids.” I tell him. 

“This is where you bring tricks?” He asks me.  

“This is where I go when I need to be alone or if I trick.” I tell him. 

“I'm glad you didn't bring them to your house. It’s something that I made a rule about, no one meets Aidan. Of course, no one really knows about him.” He tells me. 

“Is there a reason you kept him a secret?” I ask him. 

“Close to fifty million reasons.” He tells me. 

“Could you explain that?” I ask him. 

“I think we need to talk about my financial situation. I made a lot of money painting but it was never enough in my head. I wanted to make enough that Aidan would never have to suffer. Max was talking about his stocks one night and I asked him why he chooses certain ones over others. He told me that his broker advises him. I don’t really like someone else playing with my money, so I learned about options. I seem to be good at it.” He tells me and wanders into the bedroom.

“Why did you keep Aidan a secret, not the money Justin?” I ask him.

“No one needed to know about Aidan. They’re a bunch of pretentious assholes and the last thing I wanted was for Aidan to have them knowing about him. Max and I also worried about someone trying to take Aidan for money.” Justin tells me.

I follow him into the bedroom and he was looking through the empty closet. I waited for him to find the bathroom because he seemed to know where he was going. He wrinkled his forehead when he looked in there and stared at the shower. I waited for him to figure out what he was thinking.

“Did we ever have sex in the shower?” He asks me.      

“Most mornings. “ I tell him. 

“Can we go sit down out there?” He asks me.

I walk to the living room and sit down and wait for him to come back. Justin went out the backside through the kitchen and walked by everything before coming to sit on the couch.

“Do you remember any of it?” I ask him.

“I hate saying this but it’s familiar. When I looked in the shower it’s like I caught a glimpse of us in there. Beyond that, it’s not really some place I remember.” He tells me.

“Don’t be disappointed in not remembering this, you weren’t here that long. I just think it’s time we show you things that were part of your life, because everything except the people are new. Your mom could see if she could show you your old home. We can go to the club we hung out at, it’s up to you.” I tell him.

“Not really into the whole club scene, so I’d really rather skip that.” He tells me.

“I own it, so we can go while it’s closed. I only go now because it’s a business.” I tell him.

“Not to pick up men?” He asks me.

“Sometimes, but mostly to put out fires.” I tell him.

“I don’t like sharing anything.” Justin tells me.

“What are you really asking me?” I ask him.

“I need to know what you expect from a relationship, because if you plan on keeping a fuck pad, we aren’t going to have one.” He tells me.

“I only kept this so if you returned you had a way to find me. I don’t really use it anymore, and if you're willing to give us a chance, I don’t need outside entertainment. I never planned on having a relationship with anyone unless you came home.” I tell him.

“I need to talk to you about earlier, but I don’t know why I was so confused.” He tells me.

“You just found out who hurt you, and your dealing with a lot right now. Most people don’t find out they have a child and family all in one day then have to deal with the fact that people you used to know have been fucking you over for five years.” I was trying to control my anger.

“Yet you're keeping it together.” He tells me.

“Only because our real friends are stopping me from killing the shitheads.” I tell him.

“I don’t even know what I was going to do. It’s not like I knew where they lived.” He tells me.

“And I’m not stupid enough to tell you.” I smirk, because he really thinks that I didn’t know he was trying to find out.

“Too bad, I was going to let you help me, but now I’ll just have to do it myself.” He smiles.

“How about if we just do what Mad Max suggests, let them hang themselves?” I ask him.

“Well, we have all this time and an empty place. Whatever will we do Mr Kinney?” He asks me.

Justin gets up and I watch as he leaves a trail of clothes as he walks to the bathroom. I wait till I hear the shower turn on and decide that it can’t hurt to re-jog that memory. Justin was already in the shower and smiling at me. I grabbed some condoms and joined him. I began washing him first because it’s what I did when we were together.

“I love the smell of that soap.” He tells me.

“You always did, I think you stole it when you left.” I tell him.

“As much as I like it, I really would rather smell you.” He tells me.

He takes the soap out of my hands and rinses off. Justin uses his hands like he’s trying to memorize my body by touch. 

“You’re a work of art. I want to draw you, but right now I want you to fuck me like you did in the glimpse I saw.” He tells me. 

“I won’t fuck you, but I will make love to you.” I tell him. 

I turned him around, kissing his shoulder and then kissed his lips when he turned his head. I put on a condom and slowly made us one again. I watched his face as he enjoyed the feeling of my entry. Then I began the rhythm we perfected from the moment we met each other. 

LINDSAY 

I was hoping that I Michael and Deb were still scared enough to keep paying for my silence. So far the money hadn’t made it to my account. I really needed it because I spent all the money he sent me last week. Unfortunately it looks like Deb is trying to test how far I’m willing to go. Which meant that I would have to call my mother for money until they came through. I needed coffee to deal with her. Going to the cafe I like, I ordered a regular and prepared myself to make the call.

“Looks like you could use something stronger.” Someone said to me.

I look up to see Sam Auerbach standing in front of me. At first I wasn’t sure he was talking to me, normally he’s interested in younger girls. 

“I could, but I figured coffee would start the day, then who knows.” I flirt with him.

“It’s the ‘who knows’ that I like.” He was flirting back.

“That would take a little more time than a cup of coffee.” I tell him.

“Well how about dinner? And then I could show you my etchings.” He tells me.

I smile because here’s my ‘in’ to the doors that are closing because of that asshole Max. I agree to meet him for dinner and plan to make him want to show me off. Fuck Michael and Deb. I’m on to better things, Sam can show me the world.

MAX

I was sitting with Emmett and the kids were watching TV when I got the text.

“Sam made contact, and has already gotten Liddy to agree to dinner.” I tell Emmett.

“She doesn’t wait around does she?” Emmett asks me.

“Nope, Liddy liked to flit from one person to the next, didn’t care about who she hurt.” I tell him.

“Same for when she was here. People don’t change much.” He tells me.

“What about Jay, has he changed much from when you knew him?” I ask him.

“Other than the not knowing us, he’s still Justin. Why?” He asks me.

“Because I don’t know the person that was in the driveway. Jay would never have let us see that he was hurting. I was worried he was using that to fool us long enough to get his way.” I tell him.

“Justin wore his heart on his sleeve. To me he was who I knew, Justin wasn’t weak but he didn’t hide his feelings.” He tells me.

“It’s just if Jay wanted to do something, he would do it, no one could stop him.” I tell him.

“Brian could stop Justin, at least he used to be able to.” I tell him.

“We are dealing with both people in one body, but who were we dealing with in the driveway? He already knows who he’s dealing with, so he also knows how to use the chess pieces on the table.” I tell him.

“He was in pain out there, I don’t think he was trying to think of a way to use us, but Max, if he is, he’s practically next door to Deb at the diner.” Emmett warns me.

“Get someone over here to watch the kids, because all it will take is Brian falling asleep and Jay is going to find her, if not her son.” I tell Emmett.

Emmett called Jen and told her we needed her to come over. We waited until she got there to hurry to the car.

JUSTIN/JAY

I really hate weak people, but what can you do when you want to see the fuckheads that screwed your life up? I want Brian to be able to have some peace, and these asshole won’t leave us alone. Don’t get me wrong, I do want to be Justin, but Jay has some work to do first.