chapter 6

The bell over the door rang, Deb looked towards the
sound,  her jaw dropped at the welcome sight in front
of her, There in the doorway was her lost boy.

“Sunshine, is that really you?”

Justin smiled at Deb, not seeing the two boys in the
last booth.
“Hi Deb, it's great to see you.”

Deb hugged him and gave him a loving kiss on his
cheek. God, Brian would be so glad when she told him
that his Sunshine was back. She had completely
forgotten Gus and his beau, until Justin noticed the
two boys and walked over to them.

“Hi, you two. Hi Gus, how’s it going?” Gus glared at
Justin, who frowned when he saw Gus’s expression.

“You tell me.” Gus mumbled and Kyle just looked at
him.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?”

 Justin got angry. Who the fuck did Gus think he was?
Gus got out of the booth and stood in front of Justin.
He was, like his father, a few inches taller than
Justin but Justin didn’t seem to care about that.

“Nothing is wrong with me but what is wrong with you,
asshole?
What the fuck did you do to my Dad? It's all your
fault!” Everyone turned to look at them.

Justin paled. What did Gus mean, how had he found out,
 what was his fault?

“Is he… is he hurt?”

“Yeah! What do you think?” Gus  yelled at him. Justin
looked for a moment at Gus and then left the diner as
fast as he could. Debbie had been watching the whole
encounter in shock.

Kyle got up, his eyes darkened and he faced Gus.

“You had no right to do this.”  he whispered coldly,
as he followed his father, leaving Gus standing in the
diner.

*****

Justin got into his car and sped away. What did Gus
mean, was Brian hurt, had he done something to
himself? No, Brian wouldn’t ...would he?

He felt  his chest tighten, he couldn't breathe, It
was all his fault. If he hadn’t gone to Babylon, he
wouldn’t have met Brian again and everything would be
fine, he would be fine. He had hurt Brian, but how? He
had always thought Brian didn’t care about him but
now...

Justin remembered  last night and the gentle touches
and then it hit him. Brian did love him. How could he
have
been so blind?

Tears were now streaming down his face and he couldn’t
see clearly anymore. He wiped away the tears. That’s
when he saw the young boy crossing the street and,
trying to avoid him, he crashed into a parked car.

The last thing he heard was the sound of sirens
approaching.

******

Kyle couldn’t find his dad so he walked home. He would
probably be back soon, when he had calmed down. Gus
had had no right to say these things to his dad and
Kyle was fucking angry at Gus. How could he not be?


When Kyle stepped into the living room he saw the
light on the answering machine blinking. He listened
to the message and gasped, It was the hospital. His
dad had had an accident.

Kyle called a cab and waited anxiously, within 10
minutes  he had arrived at the hospital.
He rushed to reception,
“Justin Taylor, please. He was just brought in .”

The nurse glanced at her screen. " Room 220, down  the
corridor on the left."
As he approached the room he could hear his father
yelling,

“No! I’m fine! I am going home!”   He knocked and
stepped into the tiny room.

“Are you a relative?” The nurse asked Kyle.

“Yes, I’m his son.”

"Thank you for getting here so quickly, your father
has a slight concussion and several cuts. Otherwise he
is OK.  You can take him home now, but he has to rest
for the next two or three days."

The nurse left the room and Justin stood up.

"What happened, Dad?"

“Kyle? Take me home now. We have to talk.” Justin
walked out of the room and Kyle followed him.

****************

Gus arrived home, taking off his jacket he followed
the sounds of the TV and found his dad sitting in the

living room, a half empty bottle of JB in front of
him, on the table.

Gus sat down next to Brian, grabbed the bottle and
took a drink.

“You are too young to drink that shit.”  Brian said,
never taking his eyes from the TV-screen.

“Whatever… Dad? I’ve told him what a motherfucking
piece of shit he is.”

“Language, Gus. Who did you tell that to?” Brian now
looked at his son curiously.

“Kyle’s dad.”

“Who’s that? And why would you say something like
that?”

“Huh? What do you mean who’s that?” Brian didn’t know
what his son was talking about.

“Sunshine? Does that ring any bells?” Brian jumped up
from the sofa.  What the fuck? How… Why…

“What did you tell Justin and what the fuck do you
know?” Brian’s voice was dangerously calm.

“I… the fucking asshole hurt you… and not only once,
Deb told us.” Brian sighed and fell back onto the
sofa.

“Gus, you had no right… He… it isn’t his fault.”

Gus looked at his dad. What did he mean? Had he been
completely wrong with what he had assumed?

“I… 17 years ago, the night you were born, I met him
and we fucked, he even lived at the loft with me. Then
one day the loft was robbed and I thought it was his
fault, that he hadn’t locked the door or set the
alarm. And I really blamed him for that,  I told him
to leave. Then, 2 weeks later, the police told me that
it wasn't Justin's fault. The alarms had been set
correctly, but the thieves knew what to do. But by
then it was too late and he had run away to New York.
I looked for him, couldn't find him… so, you see I was
the one to blame that he went away.” Gus looked at his
dad questioningly.

“And what happened this morning?”

“I… I saw him last night at Babylon and I took him
home and when I woke up this morning, he wasn’t there
anymore. I…” A tear rolled down Brian’s cheek when he
thought about  last night.

Gus wrapped his arms around his father and hugged him.

God, he had been so wrong.
But how could he take back what he had said and done?
Because of his stupidity he had probably lost Kyle and
had probably ruined every chance his father had to get
back with Justin.

tbc…