Chapter 35 – A Day at the Office

Justin swept into the Kinnetic reception area followed by Gareth and Axe. Smiling at the new receptionist he continued down the hall towards Brian's office. Axe paused outside the office door. "You should be all right here while I take care of a bit of business. Don't leave before I get back."

Justin glanced at the bodyguard with a slight nod. "Any idea how long you'll be?"

Axe glanced over at Gareth for a moment before answering. "No more than four hours. Is that all right?"

Justin nodded. "Not a problem." Glancing back towards Gareth, Justin asked, "Is Ted in? I need to understand exactly what Brian just agreed to with respect to the partnership."

"I'll get him, Justin." Gareth gave Axe a slight nod to indicate he had guard duty and started off down a side corridor towards Ted's office. "I'll be right back."

"Cynthia, how are you holding up?" Justin asked as Brian's beautiful executive vice president came into view.

Cynthia gave a tired smile. "Better now that I can reassure the client's that Brian will recover quickly." A small frown followed the smile. "Leo Brown is the only one asking whether someone is trying to kill Brian. He and Brian are almost friends after all these years. I think he may actually be more worried about Brian than his account."

"Get Brian to give him a call from the hospital." Justin pulled Cynthia into his arms for a hug. She resisted for a moment before giving in and hugging back. "Send everyone else to me. I want him to have time to recover. Can you help me handle things here?"

"At least he can't hide the fact that he's sick this time," Cynthia commented with a small laugh as the two of them headed into Brian's office. "What about your painting?"

"I did some last night. It'll just have to wait for the evenings," Justin responded as Ted came in. "So, Ted. What did Brian just sign?"

"A full partnership for you – equal signing authority on all things related to Kinnetic."

Justin stared in shock. "That wasn't the original deal. It was supposed to be part ownership, no interference."

"I don't think that the original deal factored in getting shot and wanting a couple of days to recover."

"Does that mean I have to call you Theodore now and insult you?" Justin quipped.

Ted grinned in response. "I think you could keep your own management style. I know I'd prefer it."

"Brian's feelings would be so hurt," Cynthia murmured. All three of them looked at each other and then burst out laughing. Cynthia and Ted's laughter stopped after a few moments, but Justin's did not. His laughter took on an edge of hysteria, becoming louder before breaking apart into sobs. Ted and Cynthia stared in shock for a moment before pulling him over to the office' couch and sitting down on either side of him to wait it out. Ted put a gentle arm around Justin and Justin leaned in, appreciative of the comfort and silent support as the tears eventually wound down. Cynthia reached over, grabbed some tissues and put them into Justin's hand.

Gareth came around the corner, saw the situation and immediately exited back out of the office.

"Shit. Sorry about that," Justin murmured after several minutes had passed. "It's just been …." He took a deep breath. "I couldn't lose it at the hospital. I had to stay in control." He gave a sad, quirky smile. "I couldn't be a crying little faggot in front of that audience, Brian would fucking kill me. Last night, I let it all out on a canvas; I used up all my red paint drawing blood on pavement. I didn't sleep. I guess I still had…"

Cynthia interrupted gently, "It's okay, Justin. I'm glad you trusted us enough to let your guard down." She smiled while rubbing Justin's hand gently, watching Ted awkwardly patting Justin's back. "We're here if you need us."

Justin shook his head, collecting himself. "Okay, so what do I need to do next? Brian mentioned paperwork."

Gareth smiled to himself as he listened from just outside the door. He gathered up the paperwork Ted had asked him to collect and walked in with a bright smile. "I found all the documents you asked for, Ted." Pulling a gold pen out of his pocket, he rotated the base to bring the tip out and handed it to Justin. "Here you go, sir. I think you'll need this."

Justin gave Gareth a small, forced smile. "Thank you. Just call me Justin, okay."

Gareth frowned faintly before responding, the humorous twinkle in his eyes offsetting his expression. "Certainly, sir."

Justin gave him a sharp, quizzical glance before turning to the paperwork. "What am I looking at, Ted?"

"First set of paperwork, payroll authorization."

Justin frowned, looking at the forms. "Why doesn't the CFO sign off on payroll?"

"We never got around to finishing the legal delegation of authority," Ted murmured thoughtfully. "We started this way back when I first came to work for Brian." He shrugged with a sad smile. "I hadn't exactly earned anybody's trust at that point – crystal made sure of that. We never changed it."

"That was almost four years ago," Justin muttered to himself thoughtfully. "Could you draw up the normal delegation paperwork for me to sign? I have no intention of spending the next three weeks rubber-stamping your work." He raised his eyes to stare into Ted's. "I think crystal is in the past, don't you?" Justin frowned at the pile in front of him. "What isn't routine in here?"

Ted's eyes glistened for a moment and a gentle smile appeared on his face. He patted Justin's shoulder before reaching down and pulling out one legal document. "Just one, a new contract with Asana Fitness needs to be signed off."

"Once we're done with the contract, we need to deliver on it," Cynthia interjected. "Our art director for the New York office, Bill Sloane, is working on it, along with one of the new artists, Jeremy Arthur." She glanced at Justin for a moment, thinking before continuing. "They're both new employees we've just hired to set up that office. Brian isn't too sure of them yet, so they're still on probation."

Gareth murmured, "I asked them to come up with the storyboards before I brought in the paperwork. They should be here any moment." Just as he finished speaking, a dark haired, rather handsome face appeared around the corner.

"Gareth, are you ready for the storyboards?"

Gareth glanced in query at Justin who looked back with a slightly sardonic expression. "Your timing is impeccable. How did you know I wouldn't insist on reading every single piece of paperwork?" Justin queried.

"I could only hope that such gross inefficiency wouldn't appeal to you, sir." He reached into the folder he held in his hands, pulling out a document, completed except for the signature. "This is a standard delegation of financial authority to the CFO for routine tasks ready for your signature." Placing the document in front of Justin, he waited expectantly.

Looking at the paperwork, Justin gave a surprised laugh before signing and passing the document back to Gareth. "You're certainly efficient, aren't you?"

"One can only try, sir." Gareth's cheeky response brought a smug grin to Cynthia's face as Gareth turned and signaled Bill. "I think they're ready for you now, Bill." As Gareth paused at the door, he frowned before asking, "Where's Jeremy?"

Bill's handsome face formed into a condescending smile, "I didn't think he'd be needed for this and should continue working on the web-site artwork that I asked him for."

Justin glanced between the two men curiously before coming to his feet and walking over to offer his hand. "Pleased to meet you, Bill. I'm Justin Taylor, Brian's partner." Turning to Gareth, he murmured, "I think I'd like to meet Jeremy as well. Why don't you send for him?"

Gareth tilted his head and glanced at Bill before nodding easily. "Of course, I'll just go get him."

Justin held out his hand expectantly for the storyboards, waiting patiently through Bill's initial hesitation.

Bill stared at the too young face in front of him and commented cautiously. "I didn't realize that you were Brian's business partner."

"Now you know," Justin responded simply. "The storyboards, please."

Bill took a deep breath and handed them over. Justin stood at Brian's desk and chuckled at the slogan, "Just for the Health of it," and the accompanying logo; a runner with flames under his feet.

He glanced up at Bill. "How did you come up with the slogan?"

"Like I do most times, I'll be working on something unrelated and it just pops into my head."

Justin pointed to one of the images, "This feathering effect. I like it a lot but I've never been able to achieve it with the software we've got. How did you pull it off?"

Bill stuttered for a moment, obviously caught off guard. "It's easier to just show you the next time you're in the art department."

Justin nodded thoughtfully, staring at Bill before responding. "That makes sense." He turned back to the boards.

At the slight break in the conversation, a slightly chubby young man whose beautiful brown eyes offset a plain face entered. Stuttering slightly, he asked, "You wanted to see me, sir."

"Yes," Justin smiled reassuringly. "Just a get acquainted meeting, really. I was curious how the web design is going for the Asana account."

Jeremy relaxed slightly at Justin's friendly demeanor. With a cautious glance at Bill, he started to talk slowly. "It's really coming along. The trick is going to be to show that they're a lot more than just a yoga studio." At Justin's encouraging nod, the words started to flow more smoothly. "I mean, I know they started that way and that's still really big for them. The owner stressed that, but still. They have all these really excellent fitness activities and product lines. So I've been coming up with the backgrounds and graphics for your web-designer, Bummer."

Bill cleared his throat slightly and Jeremy, looking startled, immediately finished with, "I can show you if you want?"

"Not at the moment." Justin shook his head, momentarily distracted. "We have a web-designer whose name is Bummer?" he asked incredulously.

Cynthia chuckled softly. "His real name is Mortimer Alphonso." At Justin's stare, she nodded. "Apparently everyone who heard when he was growing up said something along the lines of 'That's a bummer," when he introduced himself. Eventually he got tired of it and said 'Why don't you just call me Bummer, then?' as a joke and it stuck." She shrugged her shoulders. "He likes it better than Mortimer."

"I…" Justin started, before chuckling and turning back to his two new employees. "Sorry, guys. Got a little distracted." Turning to Jeremy, he asked while pointing at the first storyboard. "I was impressed by the feathering effect here. What do you think?"

Jeremy's face brightened. "I'm really glad you like it. It took hours to get the look I was after with the software. It's a lot easier with the package from Arcana that I'm more used to working with." He caught his breath, clearly appalled at his own statement and quickly pointing at another image. "Well, the software here does this texturing a lot better than Arcana. It's just a matter of getting used to the new package."

"I know the feeling," Justin heartfelt agreement caused Jeremy to grin. "Every time I change packages it feels like I'm starting from scratch. At least the software didn't affect coming up with the slogan."

Jeremy's grin broadened. "I couldn't believe how long we drew a blank on the slogan, right, Bill?" At Bill's reluctant nod, Jeremy continued blithely. "Thank goodness for an old student web-site I found for a marketing course. It had enough ad ideas; it didn't take long before the brainstorming made that pop right out of my mouth. Right, Bill?"

At Bill's somewhat sickly nod, Justin smiled in satisfaction. "Excellent work, Jeremy. I'll send you some minor changes for the boards after Brian and I both have a look at them." With a firm handshake, Justin ushered Jeremy out with some encouragement. "I'll get back to you with those corrections, soon. Thanks a lot for your good work, Jeremy."

After Jeremy's smiling face had vanished around the corner, Justin turned a laser stare to Bill before stating clearly. "Well, that was certainly informative. Any comments, Bill?"

"No. Jeremy and I are working together on this. What's there to say?"

"Let me think for a moment," Justin murmured softly. "How about - You're fired?"

"You can't do that. Brian hired me."

Justin glanced at Ted, who shrugged as he replied. "He can. Really."

"You wouldn't dare override Brian's decision," Bill enunciated, his good features distorted with anger into something ugly.

"I can usually get Brian to calm down. Besides, I don't think he'll mind," Justin's smile broadened. "I really think he'll approve."

"You'll regret this." Bill sneered as he attempted to find a crack in Justin's smiling façade. "Not only will Brian be furious, but you won't be able to find anyone willing to work with a new company in New York. They had a hard enough time finding me."

"I think we'll manage just fine, Bill and I know Brian won't give a shit. Not only do you steal your subordinates work, you were stupid enough to get caught." Justin raised his voice to a level that could be heard in the outer office, "Gareth. Call security. Bill needs an escort out."

Gareth walked around the partition between the offices, followed by one of the security guards. "Already here, sir." With a nod in Bill's direction, he politely spoke to the guard, "If you could escort this gentleman out."

Justin watched the pair leave then turned to Cynthia and Ted. "I'm starting to see what Brian likes about his job."

Ted lifted an eyebrow before commenting, "He's certainly taught you how to kick out an unwanted trick efficiently."

Justin started laughing, "He is the master." He glanced over at Gareth curiously. "So what's next on the agenda?"

"I believe the artwork for the Tyson Homebuilding campaign needs some refinement, sir." Gareth's face remained somber, but his eyes retained their earlier humor. "It would be an excellent way to efficiently utilize the two hours until Axe's return."

"By all means, let us strive for efficiency," Justin agreed sardonically before following Gareth out of the office with a light wave at Cynthia and Ted.

After he left, Ted turned to Cynthia in surprise. "You know, I didn't believe Brian when he told me Justin could probably run Kinnetic as well as he could."

Cynthia burst out laughing as they walked toward the exit to Brian's office. "How could you imagine that somebody that can play Brian Kinney like a maestro couldn't handle idiots like Bill Sloane?"

Ted paused thoughtfully, "I never thought of it that way."