Chapter Thirty-Six

At the Blue Note, Kate sat in the seat across from Lucas, taking in his slumped, listless form with a calculating stare. She had rushed over to Lucas' apartment earlier that night after Mimi had told her that Lucas and Sami had ended their twisted, unhealthy relationship. She had caught Lucas preparing to leave for work at Unzipped. It still horrified Kate to know that her children worked at the sleazy male strip bar, and had fortunately managed to coerce Lucas into skipping his shift to have dinner with her.

Surprisingly, Kate hadn't had to try very hard to push Lucas into ditching work. He had simply given in without more than a single, somewhat feeble protest, then hadn't even bothered to call Bonnie to tell her he wouldn't be coming to work that night. I can only hope he's grown weary of engaging in such a degrading activity, Kate thought to herself, pleased to see that Lucas ridden himself of one bad part of his life and was slowly losing interest in another. With Sami already out of the picture, Lucas giving up his stripping job would mean Kate had succeeded in making sure at least one of her sons was on the right track.

Now she just had to get to work separating Phillip from Jan and Shawn, then Rex from Patrick. Kate had already convinced Belle that Phillip was the right man for her, so Mimi and Belle were both spying on Jan at Unzipped tonight in hopes of finding something to use to break up the disgusting threesome.

"Aren't you going to say something?" Kate pried, directing her attention at her moping son, "You've barely said a word since we got here."

Lucas leaned back in his chair, "Sorry, mom. I'm probably not the best company for anyone right now."

"You do seem very unhappy," Kate noted, preparing to bring up the subject of Sami, "And I've heard from a very good source that you and Sami have ended your little fling. Does that have anything to do with it?"

"It wasn't a fling." Lucas snapped, not answering the question.

"Really?" Kate replied disbelievingly, "Because between all the spankings, strip club visits and God knows what else, that's certainly what I'd call it. It was nothing more than a cheap, sexual fling. You did the right thing by stopping the madness."

Lucas' scathing glare could have melted glass, "I didn't end anything. I had my way, I would still be with Sami. I know you hate hearing this, but I love her."

"And I know you're going to hate hearing this, but it's clear to me that she doesn't love you." Kate saw Lucas' shoulders tighten and spoke again, "I'm sure once you fully get over that little monster you'll be happy again."

"Let's just drop it." Lucas speared his dinner with his fork fiercely.

"Fine," Kate took a dainty sip of her water before switching to another topic, "So, have Rex and Phillip gotten over their disturbing infatuations yet?"

"I don't think so. Why?"

Kate's nostrils flared with annoyance, "I was just curious, but if they're still being brainwashed by Shawn, Patrick and Jan, I'll have to work harder to help them."

"Help them?" Lucas repeated blankly, "And by help you mean you're going to try and break them all up?"

"Exactly. I'm glad we're on the same page." Kate answered with an overly bright smile.

"Actually, we're really not. You can't do that to Rex and Phillip when they're already happy being with the people they're with right now." Lucas defended his brothers.

"But I can't sit back and watch my sons ruin their lives." Kate countered arrogantly, "I gave birth to my children, and I know what's best for them."

"You are unbelievable." Lucas might have been in a bad mood before being approached by his mother, but his spirits had definitely taken a nosedive after this conversation. "Why do you hate Shawn and Patrick so much? Is it because they're guys?"

Kate let out a huff, unable to object to Lucas' suggestion.

"See? That is so unfair. You have to stop condemning Shawn and Patrick just because they like both men and women. There's nothing wrong with Jan either. You should just let all of them figure things out on their own."

"I don't think you should be so supportive of this situation." Kate scolded him, "At least you're straight. You should be able to realize how indecent what your brothers are doing is."

Maybe it was the way Kate had belittled his relationship with Sami that made Lucas want to get a rise out of her, or maybe it had been the things she had said about Phillip and Rex. Whatever the reason, Lucas was unskillful at resisting the opportunity to upset his mother.

"To tell you the truth, I've decided not to be straight anymore." Lucas lied, "Phillip and Rex told me sex with guys is really hot, so I'm going to try it. Now all I need to do is find a single guy that isn't straight." Lucas looked past his table and over at the bar, "And looks who's here. What a coincidence. I'm going to go talk to him right now. I can't wait to see how he'll respond to my proposition."

"Lucas, no!" Kate cried out in anguish, standing up to follow him. She hadn't taken two steps before her cell phone rang shrilly from inside her purse. Agitated, Kate ripped the phone from her purse and turned it on.

"Hello?" Kate answered the phone, her tone clipped and abrupt.

"Kate, it's Belle," the familiar, saccharine voice made Kate momentarily forget about Lucas' intentions, "Is everything okay?"

"Oh, it's fine, sweetie," Kate assured the younger woman quickly, turning her back to the bar, "How is everything going at the club? Have you and Mimi found a way to get Phillip away from Jan and Shawn?"

"Not yet. Jan wasn't even talking about Shawn or Phillip at all, so it was totally impossible to figure out what she's up to," Belle whined, "All she was doing was talking to Nicole and Crystal about Sami and Lucas."

"She was?" Kate raised an eyebrow, "What exactly did she say?"

"Well, Mimi told me I shouldn't snitch about this because she said it wasn't any of our business, but I decided that if I'm not happy, then my sister shouldn't get to be either. So, I'm going to tell you. Jan was telling Nicole and Crystal she has this fool-proof plan for getting Lucas and Sami back together. They're going to get Bonnie in on it too. They mentioned something about going to talk to Bonnie after the club closes tonight." Belle concluded.

Pursing her lips together angrily, Kate strained to keep her voice light, "Then I guess I'll just have to make it to the club before closing to see what they have up their sleeves."

"Well, Mimi and I are going to leave the club now. I'm bored of spying on Jan. I mean, Phillip and Shawn are supposed to be working to win me over, not the other way around. This is so against my nature."

"I understand, Belle. Don't worry, once Phillip has a change of heart, he'll be endlessly faithful." Kate promised. She said good-bye to Belle, then looked over at the bar. Brady was already leaning over the counter, talking to Lucas. She took a single step in their direction, then paused, contemplating what was more important: dragging Lucas away from Brady or keeping Lucas away from Sami.

In the end, Kate decided Sami was more of a long-term threat than Brady, which meant she had to make sure she got to the club on time. Looking in the direction of the bar one last time, Kate turned and walked out of the Blue Note.

Brady noticed Kate's exit and pointed it out to Lucas, "Your mom just walked out of here."

Lucas shrugged, "I don't mind. It's kind of convenient. I thought I was going to have to pretend to hit on you if she came over here but now I don't have to worry about it."

"Hit on me?" Brady's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Yeah. My mom's going all homophobic because Rex and Phillip are with guys, so I told her I was going to go have sex with a guy too. I decided to make a point in defense of my brothers."

Brady fiddled with a glass behind the bar, "Your mom should be used to it by now. From what I've heard, anything can happen at that club."

Lucas chuckled, "That's pretty accurate. Hey, why haven't you ever been to Unzipped? Don't Nicole and Crystal invite you?"

"They do, but I told them I wasn't interested. I was dating Chloe and still claiming to be one hundred percent straight at that time. Then after everyone else admitted they were bi and Nicole admitted it for me, I decided to can the act altogether."

"What do you mean was?" Lucas asked, "Are you telling me that you're not with Chloe anymore?"

Brady shook his head, "I was sick of the distance and I stopped feeling attracted to her a long time ago. I couldn't keep trying to date someone I didn't want."

"Then why don't you come to the club now?"

Brady stared at the polished wood of the bar's counter, "I don't know. Nicole and Crystal are always together and they're always going to the club. I guess now that Nicole's with Crystal she doesn't need me."

"Don't think of it that way," Lucas smirked, "Nicole and Crystal don't seem like the exclusive type. Why don't you try and get together with them. I highly doubt that they would turn down the chance to have a threesome with you, or any other somewhat attractive guy for that matter."

"You have a point," Brady looked more than a little excited about the prospect of being with both women at once, "I'll talk to them and see what happens. Thanks, Lucas."

"No problem." Lucas replied, wishing his own problems with Sami could be resolved just as easily.