Lois, thank you for the beta...you are the greatest!
Chapter 31 – An Unexpected Visitor A Little While Later That Evening…(Day 43) Justin had just finished signing his painting when there was a knock at his studio door. This was odd since it was rare for anyone to disturb him at his studio without calling first. So he carefully checked the peephole, and immediately opened the door. “Spyder, what are you doing here?” Justin asked. “I’ve been tying to reach you,” Spyder said, as he appeared to be gasping for breath. “Here sit down,” Justin said, motioning for the futon, “You’re out of breath. What did you do, run here? Why didn’t you just call?” “Well for starters, I’ve been calling you since early this afternoon. All my calls go into voicemail. You and I need to talk, and we may have to talk fast. I wouldn’t be surprised if Brian showed up here any minute.” “Brian? He’s back in Pittsburgh.” “Have you talked to him recently?” Spyder asked, leaning forward still trying to catch his breath. “Not since he dropped us off this morning,” Justin answered, “Here, let me get you some water.” Justin retrieved the bottle of water and handed it to Spyder, who took a few sips. Now that he had calmed down, Spyder continued, “Well, I just left someone, who bears a remarkable resemblance to Brian, sitting barefoot in your loft. So if Brian’s in Pittsburgh, you have a doppelganger, now in residence in your loft, who told me he’s going to be here all week so do you think I should place a call to Ghostbusters. This gorgeous creature even gave me a beer while I were waiting for you, and the two of us had a long talk.” “You did? What did you talk about?” “Things…” “Spyder, I hate it when you’re obscure. What kind of things?” “That’s not important. I only stopped by to be sure that you were ok. I have to get home. You need to call Brian. I can still recognize a caged tiger when I see one.” “Ok. I’ll call him.” “Good.” Spyder thought for a moment and then changed his mind. “ Ordinarily I would wait until tomorrow for you and I to talk, but some things have been put in motion. I need to know what’s going on, and I need to know now. So I’m going to ask you questions, and you’re going to give me answers. No bullshit! Are we clear?” Spyder said sternly in a tone that he seldom used with Justin. Justin immediately nodded yes. “Ok…if this is going to be the grand inquisition, do you want more water or maybe a soda or something before you stretch me on the rack?” “No. I’m good. And I serious here, Taylor, so don’t fuck with me,” Spyder said harshly. “I know that you are. Go on…” “Ok. Today as we were leaving Barrister, Wilkins & Evans we met two ad execs from Kennedy & Collins. Do you remember?” Justin swallowed hard, before nodding yes. “I felt you tense up. I’m sure they didn’t notice, but I know you really well. Have you seen Adam Lyons before?” “No.” “Are you sure you haven’t encountered him around the city? Maybe fucked him on one of your backroom ventures when you first got here? Something?” “Contrary to popular opinion, my fucks are neither nameless or faceless. No. I’ve never seen him before. Or, if I have…I never noticed him.” “What about the other guy? What was his name…Kip Thomas?” Spyder pointedly asked. “What about him?” Justin asked in response. Spyder immediately recognized the avoidance tactic. “Taylor don’t play coy with me. I’m not in the mood for this,” Spyder bellowed. “I sort of knew him in Pittsburgh. He worked for Brian.” “Wait a minute. Kip Thomas…that’s the guy who filed the lawsuit against Brian for sexual harassment.” “Yes, but how did you know about that? That was years ago.” “Brian isn’t the only one who knows how to use investigators.” “You had Brian investigated? Why?” “Why do you think?” “Oh.” Justin said softly. “There’s so much stuff in Brian’s dossier…Brian has been a very busy man…let me see…Kip Thomas…Kip Thomas…the lawsuit.” “Yes.” “He charged Brian with…what was it...sexual harassment. Now, I remember.” “How can you remember that?” Justin pointedly asked. “I have a photographic memory…sort of. What happened?” “Kip decided to drop the lawsuit at the last minute,” Justin admitted. “It was a mystery. No one knew why.” “I see. Then I guess Kip left town, and you haven’t seen him for all these years.” “Right.” “So it was a shock seeing him today. The question is what is the relationship between Adam and Kip? Is it purely professional or is there a personal element?” Spyder began to speculate aloud. “Why do you care?” “I just asked Brian to make a courtesy call on Mitchell Evans. If that goes the way I think it will, Brian and Adam Lyons will compete head to head for the firm’s account. I don’t want Adam to be able play the ‘you and Kip’ card to force Brian to walk away from the account. And we both know that Brian will do anything to protect you.” “Fuck!” “Right now both Adam and Kip think that you’re my partner. I deliberately laid the false trail because I wasn’t sure what was going on, and I didn’t like the way either of them was leering at you. But there’s too much buzz surrounding both you and Brian these days so the truth will eventually come out soon enough. I want Brian prepared to deal with anything. Do I make myself clear.” “Why do you care?” “Since I can’t make him disappear. I’ve decided to like him,” Spyder said with smile. “And I’m fiercely protective of those I like…you know that.” Justin leaned up and gently kissed Spyder on the cheek, “Yes, I do know that.” “Look, I’ve got to get going. Call Brian! And think about what I just said.” “I will.” Spyder stood up to leave, but he stopped and turned. His eyes fell upon the painting. He walked over to take a closer look. He looked at the painting without saying anything, and then he leaned against the wall for support as the impact of the painting sank in. “You did this today didn’t you?” “Ah yeah…do you like it?” “It’s a beautiful painting…very powerful.” “Thanks.” “The Secret,” Spyder said, reading the title of the painting. “Taylor, whatever secret you’re hiding. Tell Brian…and tell him now. You can’t keep this one any longer.” “Maybe…I don’t know…” “What do you mean you don’t know? You just painted an exquisite masterpiece about this secret. I’m sure if I understood enough about your painting I could figure it out. If I understood your paintings, you wouldn’t have to tell me. But I don’t. You’ve got to deal with this,” Spyder insisted. “You’ve got to tell Brian whatever you’re hiding.” “I just don’t know…I’m not sure I can…It’s just…” “What is it? Tell me!” Spyder demanded, wrapping his arms around Justin as a sign on support. “It’s going to be ok. We can all deal with this, but we have to know what it is.” Justin pulled back and changed the subject, “What’s this about you going to the coast?” “So you want to change the subject, huh? Ok...I’ll let it go for the moment. I need to go and meet with my attorneys. It seem that someone wants to option one of the novels I wrote a lifetime ago.” “That’s great! Congratulations!” “Don’t pour the champagne yet. I’m still not sure how I feel about this. I really like my anonymity. I guess you’re not the only one with secrets,” Spyder said with a smile. “Look, I’ll see you tomorrow…Brian offered to buy me my morning latte.” “He likes you.” “He just wants to keep an eye on me…not that I blame him,” Spyder said with a smile as he headed for the door. “See you tomorrow. Now, don’t forget to call him.” “I won’t,” Justin said as he closed and locked the door. Justin made himself comfortable on the futon to think about what Spyder had said. Justin had never meant to keep his involvement with Kip a secret. It’s just that there has never been a good way to tell Brian about what happened. There still isn’t. Then with time, it didn’t seem to matter anymore, and Justin just forgot the whole thing. Justin was sort of reminded of the Kip Thomas incident several years ago when Brian’s nephew had claimed that Brian molested him. But once again, Justin simply did what he felt he had to do to save Brian then too. He got found out the truth and got Brian’s nephew to confess that he as lying. But now…here in New York…all these years later…things were different. Justin took a moment to erase these thoughts before he reached for his cell phone to call Brian. “Hey…” Justin said when Brian answered his phone on the first ring. “What was the last thing I said as you were leaving the limo this morning? And what was the last thing that you agreed to do?” Brian asked harshly…but before Justin could answer, Brian’s tone softened, “Are you all right?” “I’m fine. I didn’t know you were still here. I figured you had those meetings and then caught a flight. So I had planned to call you later tonight for several rounds of phone sex.” “No. Sunshine. I’m sitting here in your terrible loft, waiting to hear from you. I started to come down to the studio, but I figured that you were on a roll, and I didn’t want to distract you. Then too, I wasn’t sure that you and Spyder weren’t working somewhere on that project…that is, until he dropped by looking for you. That’s when I realized that you were probably in your studio and didn’t even know that I was still in town.” “I know I just talked to him. Spyder stopped by the studio on his way home to make sure that I called you. That’s how I found out you were still here. Spyder mentioned that you were probably going to be here all week.” “I’ve got work to do. So do you. I figured we could probably fly back together. Spyder said that you had been in your studio most of the day. How’s the painting going?” “I finished a painting. So, let me clean up here, and then I’ll come back to the loft. I’d much rather have the real thing than phone sex any day,” Justin teased. “No. Why don’t I come there? I need to get out of this loft for a while. Why don’t I pick you up? I know you’re covered with paint so I’ll bring you a change of clothes. We can grab a bite to eat before we come back here. I know you must be hungry.” “I guess I am kind of hungry, now that you mention it, I did forget to eat lunch. Ok. Let me clean up this mess, and I’ll wait for you. Do you remember where my studio is?” “Yeah. I have the address,” Brian reminded him. “Later.” “Later.”