Part Five



Brian entered the loft later that evening to find Justin working on a painting. He’d had a dinner meeting with one of their clients and Justin had gone home alone. Justin hadn’t been feeling very chipper after his encounter and Brian had suggested that Justin skip the meeting and make it an early night instead. Justin had agreed, if for no other reason than he wasn’t feeling up to being cheerful for the client. Painting, however, helped him think and put things into perspective.



“Feeling better?” Brian asked as he stepped behind Justin and wrapped his arms around the blond.



“Much,” Justin said. “I was just reeling a little. I know we talked about the fact that we don’t need friends who don’t believe or support us, but there was still a part of me that hoped that there was another reason for Emmett’s absence. He said that Ben’s leaving Michael.”



Brian sighed. “It was bound to happen. Even Ben has a limit of what he’ll put up with. I suppose he’s reached it.”



“I wonder what’s going to happen with Hunter,” Justin said.



“We’ll see,” Brian said. He let Justin go so he could clean his brushes. “The meeting with Norton went well. He’s thrilled with the response to the campaign.”



“That’s great,” Justin said with a smile.



“He wanted to tell us in person that we’ve reached the results goal and will be receiving the promised bonus,” Brian said. “Ted told me that we’re actually finally turning a real profit, so we can not only reward ourselves with a portion of that bonus, but we can finally begin drawing our full salary. Maybe in another few months, we’ll be able to afford to draw our back-pay as well.”



“That’s great news,” Justin said with a huge grin. “So we can finally go out to eat without counting every penny?”



“And hire a housekeeper,” Brian agreed. “Why don’t I order in Chinese tonight?”



“Make it Indian,” Justin said. “I’m in the mood for lamb curry and naan.”



Brian made the call and then headed for the shower. When he returned, Justin was on his laptop looking at listings for domestic help. “Do you really think we can afford to do this now?” Justin asked. “Maybe we should wait until the debt is completely paid off.”



Brian grinned as he sat down beside Justin on the sofa. “I forgot to tell you. Ted also said that our portion of the bonus should be enough to pay off the last of the debt. As soon as the bonus check comes through, you and I will be debt free.”



“Thank god,” Justin murmured.



“I think you and I deserve a vacation soon,” Brian said. “Someplace warm, with sandy beaches and half naked men.”



“Sounds great,” Justin said. “But I’m not sure we can get away for a while. There’s a lot going on right now.”



“We’ll go over the holidays,” Brian said. “Everything usually slows down between Christmas and the New Year, before the final rush for the Super Bowl and winter sweeps. That will give us a few months to make sure we’ve got a few dollars put away. It can be our Christmas present to ourselves.”



“Gus’ birthday is coming up,” Justin reminded Brian. “He’s going to be three. We should do something great for him.”



“Now that we have a little money again, Lindsay is going to be sniffing around for a handout,” Brian said. Since Lindsay’s threat, Brian had become much more cynical where she was concerned. “She’s already started calling, asking how business is going. She even said she would feel so much better letting Gus spend time here if she knew that we were doing better financially.”



“That seems so coldblooded,” Justin said ruefully. “I’m not totally surprised, though.”



“Why?” Brian asked.



Justin shrugged. “It’s the country club wife mentality, I guess. I can’t count the number of women I’ve seen do the same to their ex-husbands. They dangle the kids just out of reach so that they can get a little extra alimony and then spend the money at the hairdresser or on a new outfit. The man goes along with it usually because it’s easier to humor the woman than to fight in court over visitation rights. The ones who are still married do the same thing, but they use sex or the threat of divorce to get their way.”



“Great,” Brian snorted. “How long does this usually go on?”



“Until the kid is eighteen and can choose for him or herself,” Justin said. “Or until the guy gets sick of it and sues for shared custody. He usually still has to pay alimony though. Divorce is pretty expensive.”



“We’re never getting divorced,” Brian declared suddenly. “I refuse to pay to keep a man who I can’t fuck.”



Justin laughed at that. “We’d actually have to be married first. And if I got you down the aisle, there’s no way I’d let you go.”



Brian pushed Justin into the sofa and began to kiss him wildly. Before they could get too carried away, however, the buzzer rang. Their dinner had arrived.



BJBJBJBJBJ



“Brian, I think you need to deal with this,” Cynthia said as she entered Brian’s office a couple weeks later.



“Not now,” Brian muttered. He was right in the middle of reviewing the boards for the presentation to Rainbow Television, a cable station that catered to the GLBT community. “Can’t you take care of whatever it is?”



“Brian, you really need to deal with this personally,” Cynthia insisted.



With a huff, Brian set aside his work and followed her out to the lobby where a delivery man was waiting. “You Mr. Kinney?” Brian nodded and the man shoved a delivery slip to him. “Okay, then sign here.”



“Wait, what am I signing for?” Brian asked. “And who sent whatever it is?”



The man frowned. “I was told to deliver two vehicles to this office. They came directly from the factory. I don’t know much beyond that. There’s a letter in the envelope there along with the keys and paperwork. But I gotta get moving. The rig is blocking traffic.”



Brian was reeling. Two vehicles? He signed the delivery slip after making sure that there wasn’t a payment agreement in there. Things were getting better, but he and Justin weren’t quite ready to buy a new car. Once the slip was signed, the man headed out. Brian ripped open the envelope and scanned the letter. As he did so, he began to grin.



“Cynthia, go get Justin,” Brian said.



“What? Why?” Cynthia asked. “What does the letter say?”



“Just go get him,” Brian insisted.



Moments later, Justin came out to the lobby, followed by half the staff. Word had spread pretty quickly about the mysterious delivery and everyone wanted to know what was going on.



“What’s up, Brian?”



“Here, read this,” Brian said.



Dear Mr. Kinney,



I wanted to personally thank you for the excellent work you and your team have done on our campaign. The results from your marketing strategy have been more successful than we could have dreamed. You have made a household name of Sheffield Automotive and for that I am truly grateful. We were almost on the brink of financial ruin if this new line did not succeed, but you have saved our company.



Your contract specifies a bonus for results above a certain percentage of sales, but to me that bonus seemed a bit feeble, especially since you have more than doubled that goal. I have enclosed the bonus check for your team, but I have also decided that you and your partner, Mr. Taylor, should know my personal gratitude.



So I have selected and am sending each of you a token of my regards in the form of a vehicle. If the color or style is not to your liking, simply let me know and we can exchange the vehicle for something more to your taste.



And, my deepest gratitude,



Edgar Sheffield



“Brian?”



“Let’s go check out our cars,” Brian said. He turned to Ted and handed him the letter and another envelope. “There’s a bonus check in there. Make sure that Jenna gets a share.”



Ted took the papers, but followed Brian and Justin outside along with most of the staff. In the parking lot, in the once empty spaces reserved for the two owners of the agency, sat two brand new Sheffield luxury vehicles from their new line. One was the sleek and sporty roadster in a black cherry finish, exactly like the one in the commercial Brian and Justin had designed. The second was the line’s only SUV in gleaming black. Brian and Justin grinned at each other and walked over to the cars.



“I guess we don’t need to go car shopping now,” Justin said. “It looks like Sheffield took care of the registration.” He pointed to the temporary tags in the rear window of the SUV.



“We’ll need to get them insured,” Brian reminded him.



“I’ll get right on that,” Cynthia told Brian before ushering the rest of the staff inside.



“We should call and thank Edgar,” Brian said.



“No desire to get a different model or change the color?” Justin teased.



“Nope, this is perfect,” Brian said and kissed Justin soundly. “What about your SUV?”



“Not a thing I would change,” Justin said. “Did you see the entertainment system in this thing? Gus is going to have a field day. It has DVD and a game system.”



“He’s a little young for the games, but the DVD should work great,” Brian said.



“Brian, there are plenty of games made for kids his age,” Justin said. “Most of them are educational. We’ll get a couple for his birthday.”



“And a system for him to use them on in the house,” Brian said. “So, whose car are we driving home tonight?”



BJBJBJBJBJ



As Kinnetik grew and Brian and Justin celebrated each new accomplishment, many members of the old crowd were moving in different directions. Ben and Hunter had left Michael when he simply could not stop obsessing over Brian and Justin. Ben tried to stand by his partner, but there really was no excuse for what Michael had done to Justin and his obsession with Brian had reached unbearable levels. How a man who professed to love him could spend all day everyday plotting ways to get back his “best friend” was beyond his understanding. When Michael refused to make amends with Justin, or even listen to the advice of the lawyer and then continued to blame Justin for everything, Ben lost all respect for his partner.



Hunter, who had never had a stable home, recognized the way the Michael was self-destructing. When he was given the choice to stay with Michael or leave with Ben, his choice was an easy one to make. He and Ben moved to an apartment near the college and the two of them were starting over.



Emmett, who had at first sided with Michael out of misplaced faith, was wary of Michael after his talk with Justin. But he couldn’t abandon the man completely, so he continued to listen to Michael bemoan his fate. He had slowly begun avoiding Michael recently, however, in an attempt to simply get a break from the constant griping. It wasn’t good for anyone to be around that all the time.



Vic and Debbie were barely speaking to each other. Vic continued to keep in contact with Brian, despite his declaration that he needed to keep family loyalty. The more Vic heard both Debbie and Michael rant about Justin and Brian, the harder it became to hold his tongue. And so little comments began to slip out until Debbie was well aware how Vic felt. Because of his illness and because Vic was her brother, she would not throw him out of the house, but they were no longer speaking to each other and life was becoming unbearable for the older man. The work he and Emmett were doing with the catering business was improving, so at least he had that to keep him occupied.



Ted, who had recently been promoted from Chief Accountant to CFO of Kinnetik, was actually doing better than most of the old gang. He still saw Emmett, though he refused to discuss Brian, Justin, or Michael at all. He still had lunch regularly with Mel. He still went to his AA and NA meetings regularly and had met a rather nice man who he had been dating for a few weeks. They were taking things slowly, since they were both in recovery and didn’t want to do anything that could jeopardize that recovery process, but Matt was a smart, funny and handsome man and he was definitely interested in exploring a relationship with Ted.



Lindsay and Melanie, on the other hand, were having a very difficult time. Lindsay, who had been rather unenthusiastic about Mel’s desire to have a baby, was now harping on her daily because she turned Michael down. She continued to try and keep Brian and Gus apart in retaliation for his months without money. Though Brian had now begun helping with Gus’ daycare fees again, Lindsay was still being spiteful. Her reasons for siding with Michael over Justin in the lawsuit she kept to herself, but it had more to do with the fact that Justin had Brian than it did with who was right or wrong.



Melanie, however, knew her partner better than Lindsay liked to believe. She saw the things Lindsay was doing and they made her question everything about their relationship. Melanie spoke to Brian and Justin regularly. She made sure the Gus got to see his father, even when Lindsay was being uncooperative. And she knew, without a doubt, that Lindsay was really being such bitch only because she was still clinging to some weird fantasy of her and Brian and Gus living happily together in a mansion near the country club. Even if she had still wanted Michael to be the father of her child, Melanie wasn’t sure that she wanted Lindsay to be the other mother.