BRIAN

It was hard to let Justin leave with Michael, but for all the stupid shit Michael does, he’s never done something that could hurt a child. I almost wanted to tell Justin not to go, that I could keep Ryan safer if they were with me. Emmett seemed to doubt Michael could pull this off. We got the call from Mel that Justin and Ryan made it there without a problem, although she did ask if letting Michael in on a secret was a way to keep it a secret. I needed to find out what caused Rita to point the press to Kinnetik. Justin just signed with Cynthia, but it hadn’t been announced yet. I just couldn’t think of how Justin got outed, nothing was said about Ryan as of yet.

“I need to know how they found out about Justin,” I tell Drew and Cynthia.

“We knew she would eventually figure out Pittsburgh,” Drew tells me, looking at the door with the press outside, confused at that.

“Has anyone checked my loft?” I ask.

“We drove by, no one was there. They’ll go there when they don’t find anything here.” Drew tells us.

“Why are they here, it’s not like Kinnetik would be a place they would look,” I tell him.

“Brian, Rita’s on the line,” Cynthia tells me.

I grabbed the phone to see what she had to say about all of this. “Rita, why call and not show up?” I ask.

“I don’t like anyone interfering in my business, I thought you’d like to see what it’s like.” She tells me.

“How did I interfere in your business?” I ask.

“I sent you to Jus to get him to see that he was making stupid decisions. Yet it seems you didn’t do your job. Obviously, you're as useless as Adam was at getting Jus to listen.” She sneers.

“Why do the reporters think Jus is at Kinnetik?” I ask.

“Tell Drew for me that he’s losing his touch. See, if you find Drew, you eventually find Jus. Drew’s new little boyfriend really connected it all to you. When I was trying to leave, Patrick saw Ted and explained to me that Drew was with them. All of it leads to you. Now I want to know where Drew stashed Jus. You find out what I want, and the reporters will leave Kinnetik alone.” She tells me.

“You really think after you pulled this shit your client is going to want to come back to you?” I ask her.

“I think other agents aren’t going to want to hire you since you can’t do your job. Get me what I want and Kinnetik’s reputation doesn’t take a beating.” She warns, hanging up.

“Fuck, it was me,” Drew says, angry.

“She’s still guessing, leaving Ted there was my mistake,” I tell him.

“What do we do?” Emmett asks.

“I need to talk to Justin. We can use Rita’s idea to announce Justin was taking time before signing with Cynthia. Rita can try to smear Kinnetik all she wants, but I was never hired to do the job, she just assumed it.” I tell them.

JUSTIN

Michael wasn’t so bad once you got past his foot in mouth disease. He started talking about some guy named Ben and how he was dating someone else before breaking it off with him. I didn’t want to point out that he was all ready to date me too. Lindsay let us park in her garage so we could come in without being out front.

“Couldn’t you just stay here?” Gus asks.

“I’m not sure what we’re doing yet. If I stay, it could have people showing up at your door.” I explain to him.

“My dad really likes you.” He tells me.

“I like your dad too. It’s really about people who don’t care about my privacy, not about me wanting to leave.” I tell him.

“Is that why Dad and Mom told me not to tell my friends?” He asks.

I nod, feeling like I’m just causing more problems, I walked out the back and sat down, remembering telling Brian this would happen. Michael came out and sat with me.

“Normally I’d be thrilled that Brian and you wouldn’t work out.” He tells me.

“Why aren’t you?” I ask him.

“Brian told me my friendship didn’t matter as much to him as you do. He’s never done that before. I don’t want him to lose someone he could actually love. He deserves it more than any of us.” He tells me.

“I don’t want my life to affect the people I care about,” I tell him.

“It’s going to though. Don’t you think Ryan is going to ask one day why you hid him? Saying you were protecting him from being hurt isn’t going to work. My Ma did that, and it hurt anyway because my real dad and my Ma are still trying to hide it like it’s a dirty secret. It’s just, no matter how you hide things when they come out you no longer have any control over what happens. I know Ma and I had a hard time because it felt like everything I knew about the woman who loved me and raised me was a lie.” He tells me.

“It’s different for Ryan. If people discovered him they’d try to document his life. There will be people trying to find out how I had him. No matter what agreements were signed about him, the woman who carried him could make more for the story, than the money she would lose for selling it.” I tell him.

“It must suck to never know who you can trust.” He tells me.

“It’s the choice I made when I went into this career. I just don’t understand why Rita can’t give up.” I tell him.

“It’s also your choice how people find out about your son. You should trust Brian, and just deal with what happens. Running is never the answer, or you’ll end up like me, always running away when you could have had someone who could love you.” He tells me.

“If you love the guy, why were you acting interested in me?” I ask.

“Have you looked in a mirror?” He asks.

“No, it’s my phobia, I want to be forever young and mirrors reflect the truth.” I joke.

“That’s a joke right?” He asks.

Michael offered to go get stuff from the diner for dinner since Mel and Lindsay would likely have a houseful tonight. Mel seemed reluctant to let Michael out of her sight now that he knew. I needed to talk to Brian before calling Brett and asking for his plane. Lindsay decided to go with Michael when Mel was arguing that Michael would end up saying something.

“Michael sort of made sense,” I tell Mel when they left.

“Justin, Michael never makes sense.” She tells me.

“I know Ryan will understand I wasn’t hiding him for any reason but to keep him from what the press would do. It’s just that, if I release this, or even that Brian and I are seeing each other, they are going to want to find out everything about Brian and Ryan. They are going to go after all of you for a sound bite. Which is my fault for never talking about my personal life.” I tell her.

“Did you ever think it might be better to get it out there with someone you could trust to tell your story your way?” She asks.

I called my new agent instead of Brian. It was time to just let what would happen, happen. I asked to have Brian and Drew on the call, so no one was surprised by what I was about to do. I wanted the time to get to know Brian and maybe finally live in the town I loved. I hung up when Brian told me what Rita pulled on him. It was time for Rita to know nothing she ever did for me mattered when she went after Brian.

“Mel, ever wanted to be in the papers?” I ask her, calling for Gus and Ryan.

“What are you going to do?” She asks, grabbing her scarf and keys.

“That’s up to you and Gus,” I tell her, picking up my son.

“What?” Gus asks.

“I need you to get Ryan to your dad. My lawyer here and I are going to walk in the front while you go in the back.” I tell him, as the door opens.

“Brian said he wanted you to stay away from there,” Lindsay tells me.

“Ryan deserves to have me as more than the father who disappears all the time. It’s time to control the damage Rita can do. Thanks, Michael.” I tell him, walking out to the car.

“Can you tell Brian it was your idea?” Michael begs.

“Justin, Michael and I can get Ryan and Gus in,” Lindsay tells me.

Mel and I drove off a few minutes before because it would keep the reporters at the front door. When we parked I almost laughed when a reporter Mel knew walked over to us, asking Mel if she knew Jus T’s connection to Kinnetik. She didn’t even notice me, we got past most of the reporters before I stopped at the front door and turned around. Brian came out the door looking at me and I held out my hand, it was his choice where he wanted to stand in this. He took my hand and squeezed it, and the flashes started going off.

“What are you doing in Pittsburgh?” Was yelled.

“I came back to where I began, wanting to reconnect with my family,” I answered.

“Was Rita correct, that you were vacationing with your boyfriend?”

“Any statements made by Jus’s former agent should be disregarded. She was speaking without authorization about a client she no longer had. There were many questionable business practices of hers that we will be looking into. Jus felt he could no longer stay with an agency when the agency owner was using the press to harass him for severing their business ties. Any questions should be directed to his new agent.” Mel tells them.

“Why were you hiding if you were just getting new representation?”

“I wanted the important people in my life to not suffer from things like this. I wanted to have a personal life without it being front page news. I have a child… please allow him to have a childhood without cameras in his face because it will be how you decide to handle this that will determine if I feel music is going to be only my past and not my future. I want my fans to know I appreciate each one, but I don’t feel that my child and his life is why they listen to my music. I don’t want the relationship I started with this man to become something you dissect and tear apart. I’m asking you as parents and spouses to decide what you would want if you were in my place.” I tell them.

“How long have you and your partner been together?”

“Long enough to know I love him. Beyond that, I don’t see any reason you need the answer.” I tell him.

“No more questions,” Brian tells them, yanking me in the door. “Don’t you think I deserved to hear that before the world?” He asks me.

“I love you, and I don’t care who knows,” I tell him.

“You know they aren’t going to listen?” He asks.

“Maybe not, but I’m tired of hiding everything. We will protect our family.” I tell him.

“I love you, Justin.” He tells me.

“Enough to deal with what comes with me?” I ask.

“Enough to always be with you.” He tells me.