The Candidate

Part 5

Justin rode the bus, his mind a million miles away. He had left Brian asleep at the loft. The pills he had given Brian for the headache were good for at least twelve hours of sleep, if not more. He had slipped out of bed, making sure Brian was breathing and comfortable before he left.

He had called Charles Langdon, whose number he had found next to the computer, to tell him that Brian was not feeling well and would miss his appointments for the morning and maybe all day. Charles had told him they were to attend a craft fair at a local center that morning, but they could do that in the afternoon just as well. He promised to rearrange a few things and call back around lunch time to see if Brian was up to doing some more campaigning.

Justin drank some juice and had a piece of toast before leaving the loft and catching this bus. He had debated taking the Corvette, but Brian might wake up and want it, and Justin had never driven it alone. He had left him a note explaining that he had called Charles and cancelled for the morning. He had merely said that he was out running an errand. It was sure to be an unpleasant one.

He watched the street names as the bus passed them by. He was pretty sure he knew how to get to his destination, but he didn't want to get lost. He saw the name he was looking for and pushed the bar to stop the bus. He got off at the next stop. He turned down the street, walking slowly; trying to decide how to handle this and what he was going to say.

As he approached the house he slowed even more. He hated this woman with a passion. What she had put Brian through over the years was beyond belief, but her actions last night had been the last straw.

He walked up the front steps and tentatively pressed the bell. He waited, his heart pounding and his stomach rolling. Suddenly the door opened and there she was.

"Mrs. Kinney," he said softly.

"You!" she replied. "What are you doing here?"

"So you recognize me?"

"You're his teenage lover," she spat the word lover out like it burnt her tongue.

"I'm Brian's friend," Justin said carefully.

"Don't play coy with me, young man. I know what you are."

"Be that as it may, I need to talk to you. May I come in?"

"I don't think I want you in my house," she said in her most superior manner.

Justin wanted to punch her in the face. He could not think of another time he had ever felt like doing that to a woman, especially an older woman. He shook his head at the effect she could have on him, and obviously had on Brian. "I have some things to say to you, and I'm going to say them, either in the privacy of your home or right here for the whole neighborhood to witness," Justin stated firmly.

Joanie blanched visibly. "Come in," she said quickly.

"Ever the one to maintain appearances," Justin thought as she ushered him into the living room.

"Whatever it is that you want to say, be quick about it and then get out," she ordered.

Justin sat on the couch, more to annoy her than from the fact that he wanted to sit down. "I know you went to Brian's candidates meeting last night and caused a scene."

"So what if I did? It's a free country. I have my opinions and I can express them whenever and wherever I want," she said in her most supercilious tone.

"You're absolutely right about that, but I want to know why you feel you have to hurt Brian every chance you get?"

"Hurt him! Hurt him!" she shrieked. "You can't hurt that man. He has no heart, no conscience, no soul."

"He has all of those things, even after you and your husband did your best to beat them out of him."

"We did no such thing! How dare you say that? You don't know what you're talking about."

"You hurt him last night," Justin stated.

"He seemed fine when I left."

"He's home right now trying to sleep off a migraine. You caused it."

Joanie stared at Justin, not sure how to refute what he had just said. Finally she said, "The truth hurts, doesn't it."

Justin sighed audibly. It seemed impossible to make any headway with this woman. He wondered how Brian had stood it all these years. He decided to get to the point. "I came here today to ask you to leave him alone."

"I have no intention of leaving him alone. I can't believe that he has the audacity to run for public office. What kind of an example is he for anyone?"

"He's one of the frontrunners," Justin said.

"Brian? He … he can't be."

"He is."

"Mr. Stockwell said I would be sure to end his slim chances if I told what kind of person he is. He never told me that Brian had a chance to win," Joanie said, apparently stunned about the possibility that Brian might actually be mayor.

"Stockwell has his own reasons for hating Brian. Why did you go along with him?" Justin wanted to know.

"I … I thought people should know what he had done to his nephew and what a horrid lifestyle he lives."

"He never did anything to his nephew. I caught the kid in his lie. Brian was blameless, but you and his sister almost got him arrested."

"I thought he had done it," Joanie said self-righteously.

"Don't you have any faith in him at all?"

"No."

"Christ," Justin thought, "she really is a bitch." He needed to get out of there, away from her, before he did or said something he would really regret. "I know I can't change your feelings about Brian, but I'm telling you that he is a good man, and I'm asking you to stay out of this. If you can't support him, at least don't tear him down."

"Are you done now?" Joanie asked coldly.

"I'm done, but I'd like an answer to what I just asked you."

"I'll do as I see fit," she said rising from her chair.

Justin knew he had been dismissed and he quickly left the house. As he walked back to the main street to catch another bus, he wondered if he had made things better or worse. He knew from what Brian had said how difficult she was to deal with, but now he understood a little better why Brian was so closed off and rigid about some things. He had learned from an expert.

******************************************

When Justin finally arrived back at the loft he found Brian in the shower. He decided to join him. Brian wrapped his arms around the slight frame and kissed his lips.

"You seem better," Justin said softly.

"I think I slept long enough that I don't have that drugged feeling that those pills sometimes give me. Thanks for coming to my rescue last night."

"Any time."

"Where have you been?"

"I …" Justin began, trying to think of a good errand he could have been out doing. "I went to see your mother," he said finally.

"Fuck! You didn't?"

"I did. Now I know why you never want to visit her."

"What did she do?" Brian asked with a worried look on his face.

"She didn't really do anything except be terribly obnoxious and supercilious."

"Are you still practicing your vocabulary for your SAT's?" Brian asked with a grimace.

"I wanted to punch her lights out," Justin said. "I actually thought about punching her in the face." He was still amazed at how she had brought out those feelings in him.

"I'm amazed you were able to restrain yourself."

"Has she always been like that?"

"Pretty much."

"How did you stand it?"

"I don't know. Did I stand it? She still fucking drives me insane."

"I asked her to stay away from you, if she couldn't be supportive."

"And I bet she agreed to that immediately," Brian said sarcastically.

"No, she didn't, but she was very surprised that you are one of the frontrunners in the mayoralty race."

"I am?"

"Jesus, Brian, don't you ever look at the papers?"

"I've been kind of busy lately," Brian said lamely.

"Come on out of the shower and I'll show you," Justin said.

"I want to fuck you."

"Later."

Justin turned off the water and pulled Brian out of the enclosure. They dried off and Justin went to the kitchen to make them a sandwich. When he had finished that task, they sat on the couch surrounded by the week's papers. Justin grabbed one and showed Brian the headline. It read, "New Candidate a Breath of Fresh Air".

"That's you," Justin said proudly, pointing to the headline.

Brian stared at it. He thought he had handled himself pretty well at the events he had attended, but he never really expected approval. He took the paper and read some of the accompanying article. It told how Mr. Kinney had been very forthright about his sexuality and his firing from his last job. It described how he had chosen to work against Stockwell whose beliefs and intolerance he could not stand.

Brian read on like he was learning about a third person to whom he was just being introduced. He wondered if that was how people who read the article would feel, that this was a person they were getting to know. This person sounded pretty damn good, even though he could barely get his mind around the idea that it was him they were describing.

"Nice article," Justin said.

"Yeah," Brian had to admit. "Did you give me the only good one?"

"No, you goof, they're almost all like that."

"No shit?"

"No shit."

"You said almost all?"

"There's one from the paper that was supporting Stockwell. They aren't too thrilled with you."

"I can imagine. Let me see."

Brian read a less than flattering article about how he had sabotaged Stockwell's campaign and how he was considered a promiscuous and decadent member of the Liberty Avenue clubs that Mr. Stockwell had been trying to close down.

"This is more what I expected, although even they took it easy on me, all things considered."

"It's only one opinion of four. The other three papers are mostly flattering," Justin told him. "Even the paper that is against you has to be careful what they say about your homosexuality in this politically correct climate."

Brian snorted. "Whoever would have thought that political correctness would work in my favor?" Brian said.

Just then the phone rang. It was Charles wanting to know how Brian was and if he was up to going to the fair. Brian asked Charles if he realized how well he seemed to be doing according to the papers.

"Of course I do, Brian. I only back winners," Charles said with a laugh.

"Then I'm glad you're supporting me," Brian said, "I think."

"What do you mean, you think?"

"I don't know that I ever really expected that I had a chance to win this thing. I knew I would do my darnedest, but I thought I had too many things going against me. Now it seems like I could actually win."

"You could."

"I understand now why Stockwell told me that he was scared … of winning. How do I know I can do it? What if I really screw things up?"

"You won't, Brian. You will make an excellent mayor. Otherwise, I wouldn't be helping you," Charles said confidently.

"Thank you," Brian said sincerely, "for having faith in me."

"I'll pick you up in an hour," Charles said and hung up.

Brian looked at Justin who smiled his sunshine smile, proud of his man and what he was achieving.

"Charles will be here to pick me up in an hour. Want a quick one?" Brian asked.

"I've been saving something especially for you," Justin said.

"You have? What?"

"Lean back and I'll show you."

When Charles arrived an hour later Brian had a relaxed and self-satisfied grin on his face. Justin did have something special for him. It was just about the best blowjob Brian had ever had. He grinned at the memory and could feel his cock stiffen.

"Shit!" he thought. He could hardly go to this fair with a prominent boner poking through his pants. He willed his cock to behave. He looked at Justin who glanced at his crotch and grinned.

"Later," Justin said as he brushed past Brian on his way out of the loft. He had a shift at the diner.

"Later," Brian called after him. Later couldn't come soon enough as far as he was concerned.

******************************************

Charles had arranged to have a booth set up at the fair from which they could hand out their brochure about Brian. When they arrived, Charles checked with the two people manning the booth and found out that there had been a lot of people stopping by and asking questions. It seemed that the race was heating up. They pointed out Allan Billings' booth down the way and said it had been busy too.

Several people approached when they saw Brian, wanting to shake his hand and wish him well. He chatted briefly with each, not liking this small talk, but knowing that he needed to be nice to any potential voters.

Brian had been going through the motions for about a half hour when he turned and saw her out of the corner of his eye. He shivered involuntarily not feeling like going another round with his mother. He whispered to Charles who glanced at Joanie and nodded to Brian.

Brian stepped away from the booth and approached his mother. He linked his arm through hers and steered her towards the entrance.

"Are you here to create another scene, mother?" Brian said through clenched teeth.

"If I was, it would have already happened," his mother replied coldly.

"Then what do you want?"

"I came to tell you something."

"And what might that be?"

"I had a visit from that teenager you live with."

"I don't live with him, mother. We're friends, and I fuck him occasionally."

His mother cringed at his words. "Brian, do you have to be so crude?"

"When the circumstances warrant, yes."

"He asked me to stay out of this, if I couldn't be supportive," Joanie said.

"So are you here to demonstrate that you won't be doing that?" Brian asked sarcastically.

"No, darling, I'm not."

"What do you mean?" Brian asked, puzzled.

"I decided that blood is thicker than water."

"And when did this revelation hit you?"

"Don't be sarcastic! I came to tell you that Mr. Stockwell lied to me."

"He did? How?"

"He told me you didn't have a chance to win and that all you were going to do was drag our family business into the spotlight."

"Of course that would be my motivation, to punish you!" Brian replied sarcastically.

Joanie gave him a disapproving look. So what else was new? "He told me that if I spoke at that meeting, I could stop you right there. It would be the last nail in the coffin of your campaign."

"How descriptive, mother! Did you come up with that analogy or was it Stockwell?"

"He told me that, but as I said, he lied. That young man, Justin?" she asked.

"Yes, Justin."

"He told me that you were one of the frontrunners, that you could actually be mayor."

"There's a possibility that could happen."

"Brian, I don't want to ruin your chances. I just don't want our dirty linen laundered in public."

"That's impossible to guarantee when I'm running for public office. People will ask me anything they want, and I will answer honestly."

"If you will try not to disgrace the family, I'll keep my mouth shut," Joanie offered.

"Are you serious?" Brian asked her.

"Yes, I am."

"I don't want the family disgraced anymore than it already is."

Joanie grimaced at that statement.

"I'll try, mother, if you will too," Brian declared.

She nodded, turned on her heel and was gone before he really knew what had happened.

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