Lois, thank you for the beta...you are the greatest!
Chapter 32– The Night Continues
A Little While Later…(Day 43)
Some time later, Brian knocked on the door of the studio. Justin once again checked the peephole and admitted his visitor.
Brian reached out and pulled Justin into a passionate kiss. Justin yielded to the kiss and allowed it to deepen.
“I’ve missed you,” Brian finally said when they finally had to break for air.
“Me too,” Justin softly agreed.
“Are you ready to get out of here?” Brian asked.
“I think so. Just let me change,” Justin said, taking the change of clothes from Brian and disappearing into the bathroom.
Brian casually looked around the studio while he was waiting for Justin. It had been a while since he had been in this studio, and things hadn’t changed much.
Brian made careful note of the new futon. He bounced on it a few time to try it out.
“I like your new futon. I think this will do very nicely,” Brian teased.
“Brian!” Justin called out with a laugh, as he was changing.
“Just giving an honest opinion, Sunshine.”
Brian’s eyes happened next to fall on the painting on the easel, but he didn’t say anything. The painting was a beautiful abstract, and as he approached it, Brian realized from the smell that the paint was still drying.
‘So this is what you painted today,’ he thought to himself. Then Brian noticed the title of the painting…The Secret. ‘So what are you not telling me now, Sunshine?’ Brian silently asked.
Hearing Justin approach, Brian returned to sit on the futon.
“Let’s go,” Justin said, gathering up his things.
“I’m ready. Any place in particular you’d like to eat?” Brian asked.
Brian and Justin walked out of the studio and the building to the waiting limo.
“What’s this?” Justin asked with some surprise.
“Just get in,” Brian said, gently nudging Justin in the direction of the limo.
“This isn’t really necessary, you know?” Justin commented, “We could have walked wherever we’re going or taken a cab.”
“This was easier to arrange than a cab on short notice. So get in Sunshine, you’re wasting time.”
Brian turned to give directions to the driver.
Justin finally got in the limo followed by Brian, and the driver closed the door.
“Where are we going?” Justin asked.
“You’ll see,” Brian smirked.
A few minutes later, the limo parked in front of the restaurant.
“Brian?”
“Not now. Later,” Brian said, gently kissing Justin before they exited.
Brian ordered a large gourmet salad while Justin decided to order a steak since he was really hungry. They settled on a Merlot to go with dinner.
“I’ve been waiting all day to have a meal with you,” Brian said, once they had been served, “I was hoping that we could have lunch, but I guess your meeting with the client must have run longer than you expected. How did it go?”
“You have no idea,” Justin said, shaking his head.
“That good, huh?” Brian quipped. “That sounds like my meetings too. Several times today, I wished that you were there with me. I don’t know. Now that you and I have decided to be together, it’s getting harder to get through my day without you,” Brian quietly admitted.
“Really?” Justin asked, beaming from across the table. Then Justin flashed Brian a full wattage Sunshine smile.
Brian looked at Justin and felt his heart melt. “I’ve turned into a lesbian,” Brian complained quietly.
Justin couldn’t resist another smile. Then he quickly changed the subject. “So how was you day dear?” he asked in the classic singsong fashion.
Brian told Justin about the meeting with Liberty Airlines and their conflict about wanting to shout to the world about all the money they had spent on safety features versus their simple desire to increase ridership.
Brian and Justin talked about the political climate that was making it difficult for airlines to continue to survive. It was more than just simply living with reduced profit margins. So many carriers had gone out of business. Fortunately, Liberty Airlines ridership had remained strong and viable. Liberty Air through good management had been an exception to the rule.
“How was your meeting with Eyeconics?” Justin had to ask.
“You mean the all female court of inquiry,” Brian said with sigh.
“I will admit that Kellie and Susan are two women, but I have never quite heard you refer to them that way before. You’ve always seen them as capable joint CEOs of their company, who are challenging and seem to know what they want. I know we’re queer, but I’ve never known you to be so prejudiced against women.”
“I’m sorry. This isn’t about prejudice,” Brian protested, “This is about reality. You have no idea the afternoon I had with those women.”
“What happened? You’ve been working with Susan and Kellie for years. What changed?”
“Now they’re entangled with your friends the Silvestris.”
“Ah oh…what do the Silvestris have to do with this?”
“I should have known that something was up when the meeting was held at the Belluss Occhiali offices here in New York,” Brian complained.
“What’s so unusual about that? Because of the joint venture for Collezione Fiero, why would the location be suspicious? I’m sure Eyeconics is within their building for joint venture stuff all the time,” Justin offered as a rational explanation.
Brian paused for a minute before he could get the words out. “Cristina Silvestri is here. So is Maria. And… are you ready for this…I’ve met the reclusive Perin Silvestri.”
“Wow! You met Signora Silvestri…the woman behind Rudolpho and his empire. What’s she like?”
“Beautiful, seductive, intelligent. She looks harmless, but she’s clearly a tiger shark.”
“Brian!” Justin said laughing.
“The five of them ganged up on me,” Brian professed, looking for sympathy and understanding.
“On you?” Justin asked in disbelief. “No, they didn’t? Why?”
“They’re going to participate in an international showcase in a few weeks. These five women thought that I should just drop everything and fly immediately with them today to Milan to help them prepare for the showcase. When I resisted, they all decided that I didn’t have the proper artistic sensibilities about things, and so they wanted a chance to make their case to you. Now do you understand why I’m upset?”
“I’m not sure that I see the problem,” Justin said with a laugh.
“It’s not a good precedence to set, if every time they have a conflict with me, they think they can run to you. They know that you’ll coddle them. And then they think that you’ll convince me to do something I would otherwise refuse to do,” Brian explained.
“I don’t know how they could think such a thing,” Justin said with an underlying teasing tone to his voice. He then leaned back to look at Brian before he continued, “After all, everybody knows that you don’t do anything that you don’t want to do.”
“That’s right,” Brian agreed, very glad that someone understood how the world worked.
“And I have absolutely no influence over you what so ever,” Justin continued with a smile, “Everybody knows that.” Justin paused to let his words sink in.
Brian liked the sounds of what he was hearing even if he questioned the tone of delivery. “Go on…I’m listening,” he said.
Brian waited for a moment, hoping that Justin would say more. When Justin didn’t say anything else he added, “We have a problem here, Sunshine.”
“Why?”
“First of all, not only are the Silvestri women in town, but Rudolpho is here too. We’re all supposed to meet tomorrow morning. Everyone believes that you’re the key to getting everything they need for the showcase. I wasn’t even sure that you would have time to deal with them…so I simply said that I would ask you. So do you have time to meet with them in the morning?” Brian asked.
“I guess I can make the time,” Justin agreed.
“Then I need to talk to you and Spyder before the meeting,” Brian continued, “So I promised Spyder a latte tomorrow morning. He agreed to join us. I may need to hire you and Spyder to help so that Eyeconics and Belluss Occhiali and Kinnetik can work on this stuff together. And you or I can oversee this from either here or Pittsburgh to be sure that it reflects Collezione Fiero…meaning the combined identity of both companies. And did I fail to mention this is last minute? All this against the backdrop that you need to be somewhere in your studio painting.”
“I’ve been there most of the afternoon,” Justin admitted, “So I’m making progress. I’m just not sure that I’m happy with my results.”
Brian wanted to make a comment about how beautiful the painting was, but he changed his mind. Now was not the time to get into a discussion with Justin about his most recent work of art.
“What happened at Barrister, Wilkins & Evans?” Brian asked instead.
“Didn’t you ask Spyder when you saw him at the loft?”
“I’m asking you,” Brian whispered, getting a sense that Justin was trying to hide something…Brian’s antennae was immediately up.
“They want Spyder and me to come to back and work for the firm. Really, they want Spyder…but they figure at this point that we’re a packaged deal, so the offer included me too…but Spyder is the key. It seems that the in house staff can’t figure out how to modify his code for the existing website. The network and the website have become so integral to the operation of the firm so that Spyder has now become very important. The firm is acquiring three new international firms. Those firms and the New York office need to be able to co-design projects together.”
“How did you and Spyder leave things with the firm?”
“We’re going to create the little segment they originally asked for. Then we’re going to take some time to think things over about the job offer. I don’t really see how I could do the job assignment. And I would be surprised if Spyder would go back under their thumb as an employee either. I’m sure he already has other commitments on the west coast. He’ll probably work out some compromise in the end.”
“Probably.”
“Although he and Mitchell Evans seemed awfully close. They were on a first name basis, which is highly unusual for senior partner and programmer in a firm that size. I was going to ask Spyder about it as we were leaving but that’s when we ran into these two guys from Kennedy & Collins.”
“Spyder mentioned that too when we talked, ” Brian added
“I understand that Spyder wants you to call Mitchell Evans. According to Spyder you could be about to go head to head with Kennedy & Collins. That’s really huge…and you haven’t even opened the New York Office yet.”
“I admit I like the idea of having enough accounts in place before I open the office, but like I told Spyder, don’t expect too much. I’ve tangled with Adam Lyons before. He’s really good at what he does. He’s also a fierce competitor.”
“I met him today…Adam Lyons. He was waiting at Barrister, Wilkins & Evans for a meeting, as Spyder and I were leaving. He started cruising me. Spyder put a stop to that by making him think that he and I were a couple.”
“I think that was simply wishful thinking on Spyder’s part?” Brian said with a quiet laugh.
“No, it had more to do with whom Adam Lyons was with.”
“Who was that?” Brian asked with renewed interest.
“Kip Thomas,” Justin said and waited for a reaction.
Brian was silent for a moment; then Justin could see the momentary anger flare; then Brian was quiet again.
“Brian? Did you hear what I said?” Justin asked again.
“I heard you,” Brian said quietly. “What do you know about Kip Thomas? You weren’t even around when all of that stuff happened,” Brian insisted trying to remember.
“Yes I was. Remember I was living at Debbie’s. I heard things,” Justin reminded him.
“I’ll bet you did. Everyone kept telling me that I was getting what I deserved. Back then I will admit I would fuck anything that moved.”
“And everyone wanted you to fuck them.”
“But Kip Thomas said that I promised him things for fucking me. I would never do that. Then he wanted me to put him up for a promotion that I didn’t think that he was ready for just because we were both gay and we had fucked. I don’t believe in that either. When I refused, he charged me with sexual harassment. But he made the first move, and I only gave him what he wanted…I fucked him.”
“Are you all right about this?” Justin asked.
“You know I took a lot of shit back then from Debbie, Vic, Theodore, Emmett, Lindsay… all felt that I got what I deserved. Michael was seeing Dr. Dave, who had a field day enjoying my suffering. Melanie agreed to represent me. I remember we were sitting in the room waiting for the hearing to begin when Marty Ryder came in and told Melanie and me that the lawsuit had been dropped. No explanation. Life went on. I had to leave town right away to handle a meeting about the Liberty Air expansion…I remember that.”
“Do you remember why the lawsuit was dropped?” Justin hesitantly asked.
“No. I heard rumors at the club, but nothing too concrete. So it just remained an unsolved mystery.”
“Haven’t you ever wondered what happened?” Justin cautiously asked.
“At the time I was just so glad to get my life back I didn’t really care. Kip quit the firm and left town. This is the first I’ve heard of him since the lawsuit was dropped.”
“Do you think that he and Adam are fucking?”
“That’s a good question. I know Adam, and he would definitely like the ego stroking, and Kip would be good at that as I remember. Kip had the potential to be a good ad exec, but his horizons will always be limited with the tactics he used to get ahead. As long as you think that you can get to the top based on anything besides your own merit…you’re already starting down a slippery slope.”
“Still he’s now at Kennedy & Collins. Maybe he has seen the error or his ways,” Justin suggested.
“Maybe, but I think he’s still trouble. Anyway, he’s not my problem anymore.”
“But he’s here in New York. Your path is bound to cross with his.”
“He’s an asshole. I guess I’ll have to deal with that when it happens,” Brian said confidently.
“So I take it you’ve had dealing with Adam Lyons before. Did you fuck him?”
“It was a long time ago when I was considering that move to New York, but we both know that I didn’t take the job because I just couldn’t possibly go and leave you behind,” Brian teased.
“That’s not the way I remember it. I think I heard that the job offer fell through,” Justin corrected him.
“That too,” Brian said with a smile. Justin smiled too.
“So… I think I’ll order dessert,” Justin added
“Look at the time… not me…I couldn’t possibly….”
Of course, when Justin’s chocolate death dessert arrived, Brian couldn’t resist tasting a few spoonfuls just for good measure. Some things never change.
“We’ll now that you’ve been fed, there shouldn’t be any interruptions as I’m having my way with you,” Brian said, as they were leaving the restaurant.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Justin answered once they were back in the limo.
It was just a short ride back to the loft. Justin just rested his head against Brian’s shoulder and casually slid his small hand inside Brian’s shirt. It was a simple gesture. But Brian could feel the heat everywhere that Justin touched his skin, and Brian could feel his cock responded simply to tenderness of Justin’s touch.
And even though they enjoyed the moment, they both could hardly wait to get back to the Justin’s loft.