Part Eight



“I’m glad you two came,” Charlie said when Brian and Justin met them at a restaurant the next evening. “But I thought that you were bringing your son?”



“Gus’ mother is being a bitch,” Brian said. He explained what was happening while they waited at the bar for their table to become available. By the end of the tale, both Charlie and Dan were livid.



“That’s just not right,” Dan said. “If you need any help, don’t forget we have some pretty influential friends who owe us favors.”



“We appreciate that,” Justin said. They were momentarily interrupted by the Maître D’ who had arrived to show them to their table. They took a moment to get settled and then Justin turned back to Dan. “How did the house hunting go?”



“Really great,” Dan said enthusiastically. “We found the perfect place. It’s finished enough for me to live comfortably, but has a few projects that will keep Charlie busy for a while.”



“It’s in Squirrel Hill, near Shadyside,” Charlie said. “It’s an older home, one of those three story stone houses that seem to populate that area. But it has plenty of land around it, unlike most of the houses around there. The garage needs to be torn down and completely rebuilt, and the basement is like a dungeon. I figure I can work on the garage and turning the basement into livable space. Right now, all that’s down there is the washer and dryer and furnace. I’d like to put in a media room and an exercise room at the very least. Once that’s done, I’ll probably replace the current deck with something better.”



“We put in a bid,” Dan said. “Jennifer seems to think we’ll have a good shot at it since the house has been on the market for a few months with little interest.”



“So it looks like we’ll have to start packing up the house in DC,” Charlie said.



“We’re definitely looking for a new place too,” Brian informed them. “The loft is getting a little small.”



“One room for two people can get cramped, not matter what the square footage,” Justin said.



“We saw a place that might be of interest to you then,” Charlie said.



“We don’t want a traditional house,” Brian said warily.



Charlie chuckled. “I would never presume that you would. No, this was one of the first places Jennifer showed us before she knew what we were looking for.”



“You mean the place in Shadyside?” Dan asked. He turned to Justin. “You’ll love this space. It’s a building that was converted from an old high school into condos. The condo we looked at used to be the auditorium. The old balcony was turned into three bedroom suites. There’s a study and office underneath. The living spaces are all open with high ceilings.”



“They replaced all the flooring when they did the renovation, but the kept some of the art deco details,” Charlie told them. “But the best part of the place was the master bedroom suite.”



“They put it where the old stage used to be,” Dan said. “It’s huge. They left the orchestra pit and opened that up to the under-stage area. They put in a game room and exercise room down there.”



“Call your mother, Sunshine,” Brian told his partner.



Justin rolled his eyes. “Brian…”



“Call her now,” Brian insisted. “I want to see this place tomorrow.”



Dan and Charlie chuckled as Justin pulled out his cell phone. “Mom?”



“Hello Sweetheart,” Jennifer said. “I thought Charlie said you and Brian were having dinner with them tonight?”



“We are,” Justin said. “In fact they’re sitting here listening to my end of the call.”



“Oh, well then, what can I do for the four of you?” Jennifer asked warily.



“Dan and Charlie were telling us about some of the places you showed them and one in particular caught Brian’s interest,” Justin said.



“The school renovation,” Jennifer guessed. “I thought of Brian the first time I saw it, but I didn’t think you were interested in moving.”



“I didn’t think we were either until recently,” Justin said with a chuckle. “But the loft has gotten a little small. We agreed to check some places out.”



“So you want to see the Linden Street loft,” Jennifer said. “When?”



Justin looked at Brian who nodded. “Tomorrow if you have time to show us.”



“I’m free until lunch,” Jenifer told him. “I’ll make the arrangements and meet you at the loft?”



“I’ll fix breakfast,” Justin said. “And thanks Mom.”



Justin hung up the phone and Brian smirked. “So Mother Taylor will be by in the morning.”



“Yes,” Justin said. “You’ll be happy to know that you’re getting your way…as usual.”



BJBJBJBJBJ



The two couples went out to the Redwood Tavern after dinner. It was rather close to both the house Charlie and Dan wanted to buy and to the loft on Linden Street, as Brian pointed out helpfully to Justin. They had a good time, spending more time playing pool in the pub than in the club portion of establishment, and went home at a fairly decent hour.



The next morning, Jennifer arrived and the three of them had breakfast and discussed what they were looking for in a new place. Jennifer said it sounded like their needs would match what Linden Street offered, but they should wait and see for themselves. She also asked if they were planning on selling the loft.



“We could rent it out,” Brian said. “But since it’s mortgage free, any money that it brings in could reduce the mortgage on the new place drastically.”



“I suppose it depends on how well Kinnetik is doing these days,” Justin said. “We did get a couple of substantial bonuses recently that we could put towards the down payment.”



“I could easily list the loft for $1,200 a month,” Jennifer told them.



“The question becomes will the income be more than the difference in mortgage,” Brian said. “I’ll have Ted run the numbers before we make a decision.”



Jennifer noted the way Brian continued to use the word we when discussing the sale of the loft. She wondered how literal he was being. She knew that no amount of prying would give her the answers. Until Brian was ready to tell her, she would get nothing from him.  She hoped it meant that he was actually thinking in terms of commitment, but she couldn’t say so to either Brian or her son.



Once breakfast was finished, Jennifer drove with them over to the loft on Linden Street. The building was in a relatively nice neighborhood. It had obviously seen some improvement in recent years. There were plenty of quaint shops and restaurants within walking distance and the residents of the area looked to be mostly young professionals.



They parked in the lot beside the building and Jennifer explained, “The building has a pool and gym facilities. They’re left over from when this was a high school, but have been renovated along with the rest of the building. The unit you are interested in has a separate door, giving you direct access to the parking lot, as you can see. But there’s an interior door as well.”



Jennifer led them up the short flight of stairs to the door near the rear of the parking area. “There are three assigned parking spots reserved for this unit, so you’d have close access to your door. There’s also plenty of parking for guests. And Brian, I know how you feel about security. The unit has an alarm already installed, and both doors are monitored by the building security team.”



Brian was impressed to hear that. He loved the loft, but after the break in he was sometimes leery about leaving Justin there alone when he had to travel for business. Having security on the premises would make Brian feel a lot better when he was away.



When they finally entered the loft, Brian and Justin booth froze momentarily as they took in the large open space. The original windows were still in place and gave the room lots of natural light. The hardwood floors gleamed in the sunlight. The unit was empty, so they couldn’t see how the previous owner had furnished the huge room, but both could imagine. Brian’s preference for modern furniture and minimalist decorating would be perfect in this space.



The huge room was basically divided with the kitchen in the center of the room. There were no overhead cabinets, but the u-shaped black granite counter had plenty of storage in the sleek red lacquered cabinets below and at the bottom of the u was raised breakfast counter. On the exterior side of the kitchen was a living area complete with a large gas fireplace. On the interior side of the kitchen was the dining area.



As predicted by Dan, the orchestra pit was still open to the room, separated by a half wall of glass blocks. On one end of this wall was a set of steps leading up to the master bedroom and on the other side a set of steps leading down to the lower rooms. Justin led them down and they found the media room, the game room, and a utility room with plenty of storage space.



Jennifer then called them back up to look at the rooms below the balcony. There were two rooms separated by another sitting area that was open to the main room with large windows letting in more natural sunlight. The study was closest to the main part of the building and there were built-in bookshelves that made the room look cozy. Justin could imagine Brian working there quite easily. Across the way, however, the other room looked perfect for a studio. The large space had windows on two walls and the natural light made it perfect for painting.



“I thought this might do for a studio,” Jennifer commented. “You’d need to do something to protect the floors or change them and you might want to add a utility sink, but since there’s a guest bathroom on the other side of this wall, that shouldn’t be difficult.”



Brian nodded his head thoughtfully. “We could leave the floors as they are and just refinish them if we ever sell the place. And you’re right; the sink really shouldn’t be too hard to add.”



Justin was excited at the prospect of having a real studio where he could work. Even though he was no longer pursuing his degree, art was still a major part of who he was and a space like this one would allow him the freedom to experiment in other mediums as well, something he’d been longing to do.



They went back out to the main room and took the stairs near the dining area to the upper floor. There were three guest suites up there, each with a private bathroom and a large walk in closet.



“Gus could have his own room,” Justin said. Again, the rooms had plenty of windows.



“Let’s go see the master suite,” Jennifer said. “I really think you’ll like it.”



They went back down to the main room and then took the stairs up to the master suite. The suite opened up to a large sitting area with windows along the back wall. Towards the interior of the building, the first door led to a walk in closet that was almost as large as the upstairs bedrooms. The master bathroom had a huge shower, as large as the one at the loft, a soaking tub big enough for two, and double sinks. The hardware was all very modern and done in brushed steel. The bedroom area, on the exterior side of the suite, was separated from the sitting area with another half wall of glass blocks and again had two walls of windows, but the landscaping outside did a lot to ensure that there was a sense of privacy even without window coverings.



“There’s a playground and large grassy area out back, and a lot of the residents bring their children there to play,” Jennifer said. “Many of them are just starting families, so there are other kids Gus’ age. And the pool and gym are just down the hall.”



Brian looked at Justin with a raised brow. “What do you think Sunshine?”



“I love it,” Justin admitted. “I could definitely see us living here.”



“We’ll put in an offer,” Brian told Jennifer.



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The date of the hearing had finally been set and as the day approached both Brian and Justin had second and third thoughts about going through with the lawsuit. They were no longer at a point where they needed the money, and watching Michael self-destruct, even from a distance, was not fun for either of them. Finally, Brian decided that he would try to talk to Michael one more time.



“Are you sure you don’t want me to go along?” Justin asked as Brian prepared to walk over to the shop from Kinnetik.



“I think he’ll be more open to listening if I go alone,” Brian said.



Justin nodded at that. “Well, I’ll be here if you need me.”



Brian left and Justin couldn’t help but feel bad about everything. He had never wanted to destroy Michael, but the man just wouldn’t be reasonable. Shaking his head, Justin went back to his office to get to work on a new campaign that they had signed recently.



An hour later, Cynthia came into the office and her face was pale. “Justin, Brian just called. He needs you to meet him at Allegheny General. Michael… well, Brian said it looked like he tried to kill himself.”



“Fuck!” Justin swore as he dropped everything and grabbed his jacket and car keys. “Does Ted know?”



“He’s waiting for you,” Cynthia said. “I’ll hold the fort.”



Justin nodded and headed out. He met Ted by the front door and the two of them drove to the hospital together. When they got there, Brian was in the ER waiting room, but he wasn’t alone. Debbie was there shouting and swearing at Brian.



“This is all your fucking fault!” Debbie ranted as she sobbed.



Carl had a tight hold on her, and she collapsed into the man’s arms as Justin walked up to them. He noticed that Vic, Emmett, Melanie and Lindsay were all there as well. None of them were saying a word to anyone. Justin went over to a visibly shaken Brian and wrapped his arms around him. Brian held him tightly as he worked through his emotions until he felt like he wasn’t going to fall apart.



“What happened?” Justin asked quietly as Brian pulled back a little.



“The door to the shop was unlocked, but the lights were all off,” Brian said. “So I knocked at first and then I went in to look for him. He was in the back room, sitting at that shitty desk he loves so much. There was a bottle of rum almost empty and an empty bottle of sleeping pills. There was a note, too.” He shook his head. “I didn’t bother to read it. He was still breathing when I found him, but his heart stopped twice in the ambulance on the way over here. They… they aren’t sure if he’s going to make it. And even if he lives, there’s a good chance that he’ll have some sort of brain damage.”



“Has anyone called Ben and Hunter?” Justin asked.



“They were at Ben’s parents, Hunter had a few days off of school, but they’re on their way back now,” Brian said.



Just then Carl came over to them. Debbie was sitting with Vic and crying on his shoulder. “Brian, I really appreciate what you did, getting Michael here and doing CPR and everything. But… well, Debbie’s upset enough right now and having the two of you here is making it worse.”

Brian sighed. “We’ll go.”



“Can you call and let us know how he’s doing when you find out?” Justin asked.



“I’ll make sure that someone does,” Carl said.



Justin nodded his thanks and then he and Brian left the hospital.



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“We’re dropping the suit,” Justin said as he drove the SUV back to the loft. There was no way they were going to be able to work now.



“Yeah,” Brian sighed. “Seems like too little too late.”



“Brian, you can’t blame yourself for this,” Justin said quietly. “Michael made some very bad decisions and this is the result. There will be enough people blaming us, we can’t blame ourselves too.”



“I know you’re right,” Brian sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. “But… Fuck, Sunshine, he was just sitting there and he… I thought he was dead. And all I could think was that it was just another play for sympathy to get out of paying the money back. How fucked up is that?”



“The sad part is I wouldn’t be surprised if Michael did think that way,” Justin said gently. “He could get rid of the law suit and patch things up with you and Ben all in one fell swoop. He knew that both of you would be there if he was on death’s door. And if he died, well, then the problems would be gone anyway.”



“The fact that he’s so fucked up to even think that way says something, though,” Brian said quietly.



“It says he needs help,” Justin said. “He needs professional help. It’s not a simple matter of him obsessing over you, or hating me. He’s obviously got some serious problems.”



“Problems I didn’t want to see,” Brian said.



They pulled up to the loft and went inside, both lost in their own thoughts for the moment. Once they were safely away from prying eyes, however, Justin pulled Brian into an embrace. “No one could have predicted that Michael would do what he did. He shunned every offer we made to try and help him. He refused to accept that he was heading for disaster. Even if you had been right beside him, you don’t know that it would have made a difference.”



Brian held onto Justin like a lifeline and buried his face in the crook of his neck. He knew what Justin was saying was true, but it didn’t feel true yet. Right now, Brian was just too overwhelmed with guilt and fear to accept the truth of Justin’s words. So instead, he clung to him and hoped that Michael would survive.