Part Three



Brian watched Justin work at the drafting table, sketching out the ideas that Brian had been tossing at him all morning. They were working on a campaign for a top end European car company known for producing high-performance vehicles that had traditionally been out of the reach of even most wealthy Americans, let alone the average American consumer. The company had recently developed a line of cars that they wanted to market to upper middle-class Americans, competing with BMW and Mercedes, but were having difficulty breaking into the market. The larger advertising agencies were just not giving them what they wanted, so they had expanded their sights to include smaller, boutique agencies like Kinnetik.



Brian had found this out through a former client who was currently locked into a contract with Vanguard. Joe Norris, the CEO of the Keller Office Supplies chain of stores, wanted Kinnetik to succeed so that when the his contract was up with Vanguard, his company could once again use Brian’s genius to continue their rise to the top over the larger chains, like Staples. Brian had already taken them from a small regional chain store and introduced them to the national market, and Joe wanted to keep growing. So when Joe had heard about Sheffield Automotive’s search for a new agency through their VP for marketing at a conference, he had suggested Kinnetik and set up the introduction.



Now Brian and Justin were working their asses off to come up with a spectacular presentation.



The funny thing about working with Justin, Brian mused, was the way the kid just seemed to be able to read his mind. Unlike the art department at Vanguard, Justin never had any trouble understanding what he wanted to convey. He just got it. And the small suggestions and improvements that he made, even on the fly as they were brainstorming, simply made Brian’s vision even better. It was like they fed off of each other’s energy and ideas. Brian had never been more creative than when he worked with Justin and the results so far had been unbelievable. Brian was sure that at least two of the campaigns that they had developed since opening Kinnetik would garner awards and they had only been working together for a couple months now.



“What do you think of this?” Justin asked as he held up a rough sketch. “We start out with close-up images of the details of the vehicle, showing the lines of the car and intersperse those images with those of a panther showing the similarity in their sleek lines. We could even do some morphing, especially in the print ads. As the campaign rolls out, we slowly unveil more and more of the vehicles. And the panther will eventually morph into a woman with the entire line of vehicles. She gives the camera wink before climbing into a car and driving off.”



“With the tag line: ‘Luxury Unleashed,’” Brian said with a smirk. “The ultimate amalgamation of luxury and performance. It will have every hetero male going through a midlife crisis creaming in his jockeys. Can we get the art done before the meeting next week? I’d like to give them a rough idea of the morphing animation.”



Justin sighed. “I can do the animation, but if I spend all my time on that, I’m not sure how I’m going to get the finished print boards done in time.”



Brian nodded. “I guess it’s time to suck it up and hire one of those artists Cynthia has been interviewing for the past couple weeks.”



Justin frowned. “Even if we found someone today, wouldn’t they need time to give notice and everything?”



Brian grinned. “That’s the beautiful part, she’s only interviewing for an entry level position, so most of these kids are just coming out of college and most of them don’t have real jobs to worry about.”



“Okay, how soon can she get them in to see us?” Justin asked.



“Us?” Brian smirked. “I’m not the head of the art department. You are. It’s your job to hire your team. And she has four interviews set up for this afternoon.”



“Brian! What the fuck do I know about hiring people?” Justin said. “What if I fuck it up?”



Brian smiled and kissed Justin. “You won’t. You know how I work. You know how you work. You’ll figure it out. Cynthia has already screened out the ones who are completely unqualified or unsuitable. Now, let’s order lunch and we can review their resumes and portfolios together before your first meeting.”



An hour later, Brian watched as Justin compared two of the candidates’ portfolios with an intense look of concentration on his face. “Brian, you realize that all of these candidates are a lot more qualified than I am. They’re going to take one look at me and laugh.”



“No they won’t,” Brian said. “If for no other reason than because you will be their boss. And it won’t take them long to realize what a fucking genius you are. The work you’ve done for Kinnetik has been consistently beyond anything that the art department at Vanguard or Ryder ever created. You have an instinct for what will draw people in and you are so fucking talented that it’s scary. With or without a degree, you know more about this business than most people who have been doing the job their entire lives. Don’t doubt yourself. If I didn’t think you were the best choice for the job, I would have never asked you to be my business partner.”



Justin’s eyes were wide with the praise and then he got that huge Sunshine smile that made Brian’s world light up. “Thanks.”



“So what do you think of the candidates?” Brian asked, ready to change the subject.



“This guy, Mark, is really great with the graphics,” Justin said. “If I hired him, I could leave the morphing in his hands. But Jenna seems to be more creative and adventurous. She has huge potential for bringing fresh concepts and ideas to the table. Kyle and Helen are both really talented as well.”



“Well, talk with all of them and see what you think,” Brian said. “We may not be able to hire all of them yet, but keep the door open. We should be ready to add another person to your team soon.”



Justin nodded just as Cynthia entered Justin’s office. “Justin, your first appointment is here.”



BJBJBJBJBJ



In the end, Justin hired Jenna but told Mark and the two other candidates that he would like to get back in touch with them once Kinnetik was ready to expand further. Jenna, as Brian had predicted, was waiting tables and was happy to start right away. She had to work around the shifts she had been scheduled that week, but there was only one that interfered with office hours, and then she was free from the other job.



Justin found working with Jenna to be a pleasure. She was bright and funny and she didn’t let Brian intimidate her. She also found some pretty innovative shortcuts that could save them time and energy in the long run without losing any of the quality they needed. When the time came for the presentation to Sheffield, the entire team was included in the meeting and Jenna was floored that Brian and Justin both gave her credit for the work she had done.



The team from Sheffield loved the concept that they had created and were excited to see the final product. They shook hands when the meeting was concluded and promised to have the signed contract back to Cynthia by the end of the week. To celebrate, Brian took the entire staff—all five of them—out to dinner. Afterward, Brian took Justin to Babylon to have their own celebration. They had been so busy that nights out at the club or Woody’s were rare, so they went with the intention of really having a great time dancing the night away.



Unfortunately, that wasn’t in the cards.



“Brian!”



Justin and Brian both groaned. They hadn’t been at the bar for more than thirty seconds when the familiar voice interrupted. Almost as one, they turned to face the interloper.



“Yes, Mikey?” Brian drawled.



“Where have you been?” Michael asked. “You never come out anymore.”



“Well, I’m here now,” Brian said. “Justin and I have been working hard to build our business, but tonight we’re going to celebrate.”



“So things are going well with Kinnetik,” Michael asked.



“Very,” Justin said. “We just hired a new employee and got another really big account.”



Michael barely even glanced at Justin before turning his attention back to Brian. “So I guess that means you won’t need the money now, huh? Since you guys are becoming so successful you can drop that lawsuit, right?”



“The lawsuit has nothing to do with Kinnetik,” Brian said tersely. “It’s not about how much we need the money, Michael. It’s about the fact that you fucking stole it!”



“This is all your fault you little shit!” Michael screamed at Justin. Now that it became clear that Brian wasn’t going to just give in to Michael’s manipulations. He tried to take a swing at Justin, but Ben, who had appeared from the crowd just in time, grabbed him. Justin took ahold of Brian and prevented him from hitting Michael in retaliation.



“Maybe we should just go,” Justin said quietly.



Brian glared at Michael for a few seconds longer before turning to Justin. Upon seeing the younger man, his face softened and he nodded. “We can celebrate at home, I guess. The crowd here is a lot less appealing these days.”



Brian and Justin left the club without a single look back.



BJBJBJBJBJ



The weeks that followed the confrontation at Babylon were hectic for Brian and Justin as they got the Sheffield campaign rolling and continued to work on the accounts that were already in place. Slowly but surely, their staff began to grow as the accounts continued to come in. Not a week had gone by that they hadn’t gotten one new client. With an influx like that, they needed to hire new staff just to keep the current accounts running smoothly. Mark, Kyle and Helen had all been added to Justin’s team, along with a really great web designer named Clive. Clive was like Justin: he had little formal training but was a genius at what he did and he got along great with the team.



Brian’s staff had slowly increased as well. He now had two ad execs, both with a few years’ experience under their belts and a lot of potential to become really great. He also had three copywriters who could eventually work their way up. Cynthia had been busy and hired on a young corporate lawyer to deal with the various contracts rather than sending them out all the time. She had also hired a new assistant for Brian, an assistant for Justin and she and Ted now shared an assistant. Since Brian had made her COO, her work load had increased drastically.



The deadline for the lawsuit came and went. Walter kept Justin and Brian updated on the status of the suit, but like most things in the legal profession, the wait for a hearing could take a while. In the meantime, Walter’s office was going over every possible defense Michael’s lawyer might come up with. Brian had heard from Lindsay that Michael hadn’t been pleased when Melanie not only refused to represent him, but had told him she no longer wanted him to be the father of their second child. There had been a huge blowup from that announcement. But Melanie had offered to recommend a lawyer for Michael and Ben, calm and cool as ever, had accepted.



Three months after the discovery of the missing money, Justin and Brian were called into Walter’s office for a preliminary meeting between both parties. Neither could see this meeting going well. Michael just couldn’t accept that what he had done was wrong.



“I’m glad everyone could make it,” Walter said once Brian and Justin had taken their seats around the conference table. They were the last to arrive. Michael, Ben and their lawyer were already there. Michael refused to look at anyone. He looked like a child pouting in the timeout corner. “Let’s get down to business, then.



“It is clear from our research that Caliph Publishing dispersed $242,576 over a period of 11 months to Michael Novotny care of Red Cape Comics for the equal disbursement between Michael Novotny and Justin Taylor as co-creators of Rage. Justin Taylor received $1,478 from Michael Novotny during that same period. This is in clear violation of the contract that was signed with both Caliph Publishing and with Justin Taylor. Mr. Taylor has given Mr. Novotny ample time to repay those funds with no penalty, however Mr. Novotny refused to do so.”



“Mr. Novotny no longer has the funds to make a repayment of that size,” the other lawyer stated.



“We believe that a large portion of those funds were invested in Red Cape Comics,” Walter said. “In both capital improvements and in inventory. Mr. Novotny can certainly liquidate that same inventory in order to repay his debts.”



“I’m not selling off my inventory,” Michael said heatedly. “That asshole doesn’t deserve shit from me.”



“Mr. Novotny,” the other lawyer hissed, and was soon joined by Ben.



“Michael, you aren’t helping here.”



Michael huffed and sat back in his seat so the other lawyer continued. “So if we were to settle, what exactly do your clients want from this?”



“We believe it would be in everybody’s best interest to settle,” Walter stated. “We would ask for the full $119,810 be turned over, as well as $4,792 in interest and $10,000 for legal fees. In addition, my clients are willing to buy out Mr. Novotny’s rights to Rage for $80,000, reducing the total amount to $54,602. Considering we could press for punitive damages in court, I think that is more than fair.”



“They aren’t taking Rage,” Michael said angrily. “That’s mine!”



“Without me, there is no Rage,” Justin pointed out. “You don’t have anyone else to draw the damned thing, Michael. It’s worthless without me and I’m never going to work with you on it again.”



“No way,” Michael said. “I won’t fucking do it.”



Both Ben and the lawyer leaned in to have a whispered conversation with Michael. Both men looked extremely frustrated when they sat back up.



“I’m sorry, but my client is not willing to give up the rights to the comic book,” the man said. “Nor is he willing to settle.”



Walter nodded. This wasn’t a surprise. Brian and Justin had warned him that Michael Novotny was stubborn to the point of self-destruction. “Just so you know, if this goes to court, we will seek punitive damages and complete rights to Rage. Your client could very well end up with nothing: no comic book, no money and no store.”



Michael paled, but he shook his head again when both Ben and the lawyer tried to get him to see reason.



“I guess we’ll see you in court,” Walter said.



Michael stormed from the room and Ben and the lawyer followed him out. Brian and Justin simply sat until the door closed behind the departing group.



“Well, that went well,” Brian drawled sarcastically.



“We’ve given him every opportunity to make this right,” Justin sighed. “He’s just so fucking blinded by his anger towards me that he can’t see that.”



“We’ve got a couple months before this will go before a jury,” Walter stated. “Perhaps he’ll see reason.”



“I wouldn’t count on it,” Brian sighed.