Broken Memories
Chapter 2
“It’s settled, Justin. I’m not having this argument again.” Brian slammed the drawer shut and threw the bowl of cereal into the sink before storming back up to the bedroom.
“Typical Brian Kinney, just shut down when I try to talk to you.”
Brian stepped back out of the bedroom and glared at his partner. “Talk to me? Don’t you mean talk at me? Cause you sure never fucking listen to me.”
“Oh, here we go again. Poor Brian, left behind while I went to New York,” Justin mocked.
“Yeah, poor Brian. You know, Sunshine, I worked my ass off while you were gone. And I never once questioned you. I took a back seat while you ran off to be a “successful artist”. And just in case you forgot, you’re the one who called off the wedding.”
“The wedding? You mean, that silly little hetero tradition that you never bought into and only wanted to do because you were scared to death about me being in the bombing? That wedding?”
“You said it yourself, I’ll never change. I’m not the marrying kind. So what the fuck made you think that you could come back and I’d be different? I’m Brian Fucking Kinney. I fuck lots of hot guys. I always have and I always will. You had your shot at monogamy, Sunshine.”
Justin turned and left the loft without another word. It was the same fight they’d had since he’d come back a year ago. He wanted more from Brian. He wanted the life he’d walked away from and Brian wasn’t willing to even try.
Brian watched as his whole world walked away and tried to figure out what it was that kept him from being able to commit to Justin. He still hadn’t figured it out after all these years.
***
Justin had only been gone a week when Brian fell back into old habits. He’d been standing at the bar in Babylon, nursing a Bud, when a young blond walked in and caught his eye.
He waited. Sooner or later they all found their way to him. He hadn’t worked for a trick in years and nothing had changed since he’d thought he was getting married. So it was back to the same old same old for Brian Kinney. Nothing had changed.
Except him. Not that he’d ever let anyone know, especially Justin, but it ripped his heart out when Justin called off the wedding and ran off to New York to try his hand at being a working artist. He spent a few days watching Justin pack, drove him to the airport and even helped him rent an apartment in the Village. Then he spent a full two days in bed, alone. Everyone thought he was off getting laid, when in actuality he was lying at home trying to figure out how to put his heart back together again.
It wasn’t until he realized that maybe they were all right, maybe he wasn’t supposed to be happy. Justin had made him happier than he’d ever thought possible And now it was all gone. And he was left with one nameless, faceless fuck after another.
***
Debbie was getting dressed for work when the doorbell rang.
“Carl, can you get that?” she yelled down the stairs.
Carl opened the door to find a vase of dead roses and his concern grew. This was the third time in that week that something strange had been left for Debbie. Grabbing the card his alarm grew even greater when he read the words meant for his wife.
Soon your heart will be mine.
Carl quickly bagged the card and grabbed the phone. Impatiently waiting to be transferred to Detective Johns, he tossed out the flowers before Debbie saw them. She’d been frightened enough with the dead mouse, the pig's foot and that strange doll.
“Detective Johns.”
“Hey Sam, it’s Carl.”
“Carl, how are you? How’s retirement?”
“Boring. But I’m not calling to catch up. Debbie’s been getting some strange gifts and I’m starting to get worried.”
“What kind of gifts, Carl?”
“A dead mouse, a pig’s foot , a doll with a severed head and some dead roses.” Carl felt his senses go on full alert just listening to the list again.
“Any notes?” Detective Johns asked.
“Yeah, a few. They all say the same thing. ‘Soon your heart will be mine’.”
“Sounds like someone having a little Halloween fun, Carl, but if you want, bring the stuff by and I’ll see what I can find out. In the meantime, don’t let her go out alone, especially at night.”
Carl thanked his old friend and made arrangements to bring the stuff in after he dropped Debbie off at the diner.
***
He sat in his car just down the street from Debbie’s, watching and waiting for her to come out. He’d been there for days laughing silently that her cop husband had never spotted him. Just went to show how great Pittsburgh’s finest really was. Hell, he’d been in their house and watched them fucking, and not a soul had noticed. He was getting better at this every single time.
He was just thinking about what he was going to do to her, when they came out arguing. He laughed at how she was yelling at him that she didn’t need a fucking chaperone. If she only knew what he had in store for her. It was only a matter of time and she would be his.
He stayed put until they reached the stop sign and then pulled out and followed them to the diner, where he once again watched her from afar. Soon it would all be over. Soon he’d have her heart and she’d love him forever.