Day One - Tuesday, 17 January, 2012 - Brian's POV
7 years, 6 months, 4 days, 13 hours, 42 minutes and 16 seconds.
That's how long it had been since they have seen or heard from each other. That all changed when he walked through the door to Liberty Diner. Brian was sitting at the usual booth with the gang, consisting of Ted and Blake, Emmett, Michael and himself when he walked in. Brian knew right away, even with his back to the door. He didn't turn to look because that would mean he cared or maybe even knew who it was. But he could hear the whispers floating through the now quiet diner.
"Is that?" "That can't be." "Fuck, that's Justin Taylor!" "What's he doing in Pittsbugh?" "What's he doing here?" "He's gay?" "I thought he was with that agent chick of his!" "I didn't know he was actually gay." Brian had to laugh at that last statement because he knew.
The whispers continued as the blond took off his sunglasses and sat at the counter. Brian could watch him out of the corner of his eye and nobody would know. The chatter quickly started picking back up before the famous Justin Taylor had stepped into the quiant establishment.
"I wonder if he'd sign my copy of Devil's Dance." Emmett whispered from Brian's right.
"Don't bother him Em," Ted whispered back from across the table, "He's probably getting a break from his book tour and doesn't want to be bothered by adoring fans."
"Not to mention his bodyguard will probably kick your ass." Brian snickered.
"What bodyguard?" Michael asked, looking around.
"Tall, muscular, brunet." Blake replied, "Sitting at the table by the door. He stepped in right behind Taylor."
"How did you see him?" Michael asked, "Your back is to the door."
Brian shrugged, "Justin Taylor is a famous author for gay romance novels. Why wouldn't he have a bodyguard when he went out in public with all the homophobes?" Brian stood from the booth, "I need to get to work." He said as he headed for the counter, and stood right next to Justin Taylor.
"Fancy meeting you here." Brian said, talking just loud enough for Justin to hear him.
"Hello to you too." Justin replied back, not looking at Brian but straight ahead.
Brian was doing the same, "How have you been?"
"My life's been great," Justin smiled, "And yours?"
"Fucking fabulous." Brian replied just as Kiki walked up with Justin's order.
"Thanks." Justin stood, "It was nice to see you again Brian."
"Same." Brian said, "Maybe we'll see each other again."
Justin smiled, "Maybe. I'm here all week. Got a book signing on Thursday."
Brian nodded and then Justin and his bodyguard were gone. Brian turned back to Kiki who had listened to the last bit of their conversation. He glared at her before she turned and left. Emmett came bounding up behind Brian as Brian turned to leave.
"How do you know Justin Taylor?" Emmett asked.
"I don't." Brian scoffed.
"Then why were you talking to him like you did?" Michael asked, also joining them at the counter.
Brian rolled his eyes, "I was making small talk with the town celebrity. Theodore, see you at work."
Brian stalked off, got in his jeep and headed for Kinnetik. For some reason he was angry the whole way there and as he stormed into the building and for his office, the anger turned into something else. Something he had not had to deal with for 7 years, 6 months, 4 months, 13 hours, 42 minutes and 16 seconds. Okay, that was a lie. It was something he had to deal with that whole time, but something he always pushed away with drugs, booze and fucking.
"Cynthia!" He barked as he passed her desk and into his office.
She was up and out of her seat before he could finish saying her name. She followed him into the office and closed the door behind her. She turned to look at her boss and knew right away that something was wrong. She couldn't remember seeing him like this for quite a while.
"Fuck, I need a drink." Brian mumbled as he paced back and forth in front of his desk.
"Boss, what's wrong?" Cynthia stayed by the door in case she needed a fast retreat.
"He's here."
"Who's here?"
"Justin Taylor."
"Oh," Cynthia took a step forward, "Wait you mean here here in the building or in Pittsburgh general?"
"Pittsburgh."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes." Brian hissed, "I just ran into him at the diner."
"And, how did it go?" Cynthia chanced the question.
Brian stopped pacing and glared at her before he deflated and sunk back against his desk. His hands gripped the side of his desk, turning his knuckles white. He sighed and closed his eyes.
"I asked how he's been and he told me his life was perfect."
"And did he ask about yours?"
Brian nodded but didn't say anything.
"And?"
Taking a deep breath he looked up at Cynthia, sadness in his eyes, "I told him it was fucking fabulous."
Cynthia refrained from rolling her eyes and Brian was thankful.
"Brian, you've been hurting over this for years."
The glaring was back.
"Suck it up, you can't deny it." Cynthia came to sit down in one of the chairs in front of Brian's desk, "Not after the last three books of his have come out and you've had me go and get them signed for you."
Brian huffed a laugh, "I knew that would come back to bite me in the ass."
"I've never asked why or what sort of connection, if any, you had with him."
"Hesmyhusband." Brian whispered, jumbling the words together.
"What?"
Brian bowed his head and closed his eyes again, "He's my husband."
Cynthia's laughter brought Brian's head back up and suddenly she stopped.
"Shit, you're not joking." Brian shook his head.
"We got married ten years ago."
"I'm going to ask." Cynthia straightened her back in the chair, "Why?"
Brian's shoulders slumped and he released his grip on the desk to scrub at his face before speaking. "It was the summer after I graduated from college. I wanted to move to New York for the summer. I've always had the dream of moving there and opening my own business."
Cynthia nodded, already knowing all that. She was glad he hadn't moved just to start the business he had now. She didn't really like New York, having lived there her whole life but she would have followed him if that was what he had wanted to do after buying out Ryder for the business two years before.
Brian continued. "I met him about the third night I was there. You know how I was, still am."
"Only worse." Cynthia added
Brian laughed, "Yeah. Well, that all changed the night I met him. He was, different. I don't know how or why. He just was. We got along great. Fuck, it was like were were dating after that first night. I learned that he came out to his parents at fifteen and had been kicked out. I also learned that he wanted to become an artist."
"But he's writing books instead."
Brian shrugged, "I don't know why that is. But that summer, three weeks before I was to return to Pittsburgh and start my job at Ryder, he told me something that changed everything."
"What?"
"He had been moving from place to place around New York, never staying in one place for longer then a week. He was working part-time at a rundown restaurant because that was all he was able to do at seventeen and fresh out of high school. He told me that he had a trust fund worth 2.5 million waiting for him when he turned twenty-one."
"Why do I feel there is a but coming in?"
"Because there is. He also let it slip that he could have the trust within a year if he were to get married. I knew he didn't say it to try and get me to marry him just for that, he was just telling me the facts." Brian ran his hand through his hair, "He also said that his best friend, who is now his book agent said she would marry him but he refused to go straight just for his parents to get the money and would wait until his twenty first birthday."
"But you changed that." It wasn't a question.
Brian nodded, "I did a little planning and the last night I had before I was suppose to return to Pittsburgh, I asked him to marry me. He turned me down flat at first saying we barely knew each other and he didn't want me to give up my life for him and he didn't want to leave New York to follow me to Pittsburgh. We would have to play the loving and happily married couple for a year before he could get the trust."
"I told him I wanted to marry him. I had fallen for him, hard. I showed him the condo I rented and told him that Ryder had hooked me up with a smaller but good advertising company in New York and that my salary was almost as good as it would have been with Ryder that first year."
"But he still said no."
"Yeah," Brian huffed a laugh, "It took me saying how I actually felt for him to believe me. He finally said yes after we talked for hours. It was nearly three in the morning by the time it was settled. The next day we headed to the court house to make it official. We had even made rules that I still live by to this day."
"Rules?" Cynthia asked.
Brian nodded, "For the first year we had to pretend we were in a happy and loving marriage. We had to be monogamous. I knew we didn't have to pretend because we had talked it all out the night before. But we also set rules for after the year was up and he had his trust if we stayed married."
"I assume you did since you said he's your husband and not ex-husband."
"After the year was up and he had his trust we talked again. I told him I wanted to stay with him. I was moving up pretty nicely with the smaller firm in just that first year. That was when the rules were set in place. I didn't have to be monogamous anymore but I wasn't allowed to bring tricks home or kiss other men on the mouth. I also had to be home by three in the morning." Brian paused for a second before continuing, "I helped him get into a nice art school out there and he had a better job at a diner similar to the one on Liberty, just not as queer."
They both laughed at that before he continued.
"I tricked a little here or there, maybe twice a week and I followed the rules. I knew he wasn't tricking and it disturbed me a little that he wasn't but I was. I stopped for a while and everything seemed to balance out. We worked, he went to school but we were happy." Brian laughed, "Hell, we were even talking about having a kid after he graduated from school. His agent was going to be the surrogate and he was going to be the biological father. At least for the first kid."
"So what happened?" Cynthia prompted after five minutes of silence.
"I fucked up." Brian sank down into the chair next to Cynthia, "I got a call from my sister about my dad's death. I left without talking to him around midnight. I drank and did so many drugs I couldn't think straight. I ended up staying out all night and the following day and next night. It wasn't until the third night that I stumbled home at two in the morning with about the hundredth trick in that three days. He wasn't home, but out looking for me. He came home and found me fucking the trick in the living room."
"What did he do?"
"He didn't yell or throw a fit. He calmly told the trick to get lost and literally shoved me into the shower before putting me to bed. The next morning when I woke up he was nice and caring. He was there when I was throwing up and made sure I stayed hydrated. I felt like shit and not just because of the hangover."
"You knew what you had done."
"I made a promise and I broke it." He shrugged, "I couldn't even look him in the eye all day. That lasted for two days. He was so nice and just there. I was waiting for the yelling, but it never happened. Until I provoked him the second day. He told me he knew about my father. Claire had called back after I hung up on her and I had left my cell at the condo and he answered. I just snapped and started yelling. Things were thrown and the yelling got louder. The neighbor ended up calling the cops but by the time they arrived, we had already calmed down and I was packing to leave."
"He begged me not to go. Told me he forgave me, that I had a right to do what I did even if he didn't like it and wished I had just come to him after hearing the news. I couldn't stand it, packed and left. I returned to Pittsburgh, bought the loft and went to work for Ryder. I never called him or looked him up."
He paused and looked down at his hands in his lap. "And he never came after me."
"Explains a little of why you are the way you are." Cynthia finally said, "You still love him."
Brian couldn't believe he had just spilled everything to his assistant, but then again he could. She was the one person, besides his husband that he trusted completely.
"You still love him so go after him."
"I'm sure he's gotten over me after seven years apart."
Cynthia stood and smoothed down her skirt, "I doubt that, but there is only one way to find out."
"He has a book signing on Thursday. I didn't know his tour was coming to Pittsburgh."
"It wasn't suppose to. After Philidelphia it was suppose to head to Chicago with a two week break between." Cynthia replied, "Maybe he's back for you?"
Brian laughed, "Yeah, right."
"Why else would he have come to Pittsburgh when he wasn't scheduled?" Cynthia said as she left the office, closing the door behind her knowing her boss would need a few minutes to himself.
Brian just sat there, staring at his desk. His hand moved up to his chest were he ran his fingers over his shirt where the piece of jewelry was hidden. He pulled it from around his neck and looked down at the gold band linked to the chain he had worn ever since leaving New York. He could never bring himself to return the ring or throw it away. It was always around his neck. Nobody even knew about it. Sure, they had seen the chain around his neck and had asked a few times but he always said it was just a chain he bought in New York. He never told them about the ring linked to said chain and they never asked to see the chain so it didn't matter. Finally pulling himself back together, Brian stuffed the ring back under his dress shirt before standing and getting to work.
