Miss Debbie's Escort Service

Final Chapter

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Justin practically skipped into Kinnetik on Monday morning. He and Brian had enjoyed the meal he made, they had fucked and they had made love. It had been a great weekend. Brian had just dropped Justin off down the street and then he had sped away to some appointment. Justin couldn't help but wish that Brian would consider a career in advertising. Anything that would get him out of escorting would be good. Brian was so much more than an escort. Justin wondered how the man had ever ended up going down that path anyway.

Brian went around the block and then parked the car as inconspicuously as possible before making his way into Kinnetik. All the times he had tried to tell Justin the truth on the weekend, something had stopped him. He knew they couldn't continue like this much longer.

Justin sat down at his table taking out the project he was working on. Mitch waved to him as he went into his office. Justin smiled. His life was going great. He loved working here, he had Brian in his life, and he would be earning enough to live decently. He practically hugged himself.

"Excuse me," a voice said. "Is Justin Taylor here?"

Justin looked over to see the man he had met at the diner reading from a folder. "I'm here," Justin said with a frown. "It's Ted, isn't it?"

"Fuck, yeah," Ted replied as the light dawned. "You were with Brian."

"You must be his friend who works here."

"I guess you could call me that," Ted said unsure of how to deal with this situation.

"Why were you looking for me?"

"You need to fill out these forms so you can get health benefits, and so you can have your … pay automatically deposited."

"Those are the kinds of forms I like filling out," Justin laughed.

"How … how long have you known Brian?" Ted asked as he handed Justin all of the required forms. It was all starting to make sense. This was who he had seen getting into Brian's Corvette.

"We met a week ago Saturday," Justin said with a smile.

"And he took you to breakfast?"

"Yeah, we went to dinner one night too, and we've been seeing a lot of each other."

"No shit!"

"Why does that surprise you?"

"That is amazingly out of character for Brian Kinney," Ted laughed.

"Brian Kinney? No, you've got it wrong. His name is Brian Novotny."

"Only when he acts as an escort," Ted said knowingly. "The rest of the time he's Brian Kinney, owner of Kinnetik, ad man extraordinaire, and your boss."

Justin knew his mouth was hanging open, but he couldn't quite get his mind around what Ted had just told him. Until he did he would have to leave his mouth gaping in the wind.

"Sign those forms and fill in the necessary information," Ted instructed Justin when the man didn't say anything more. Justin seemed positively stunned. "The sooner you get them back to me, the quicker you'll get paid." Ted thought maybe he would get the fuck out of Justin's face. He didn't know what to make of the look on Justin's face.

Justin felt his hands ball up into fists. He knew he was crushing the papers Ted had just given him, but he didn't care. Everything was starting to make sense. Brian's weird hours as an escort were perfect hours for someone in business. There had been some mention of the name Kinney at one point but he hadn't thought much about it at the time. This was why Brian had been so secretive about his life. All that mattered now though was the fact that everything he and Brian had done was a fucking lie.

"No!" he said forcefully. "No!"

Taking a deep breath Justin strode down the hall and stopped at the glass door he knew led into Brian Kinney's office. If his Brian was sitting at the desk in there, then he would know that everything Ted had said was true, and everything that he had thought was true was false. He pushed the door open.

Brian glanced up from his desk to see a stunned looking Justin Taylor staring back at him. "Fuck!" he muttered knowing he had been caught. Now he would have to try to explain himself to one angry looking young man. The stunned look had suddenly disappeared. "Justin," Brian managed to say.

"You fucking liar! Asshole! How could you?"

"Justin, let me explain."

"There's nothing to explain. You're a fucking bastard. Did you enjoy making fun of me? It must have been a real hoot."

"I wasn't making fun of you," Brian protested.

"Yeah, sure. No wonder you didn't charge me for the sex. It must have been hilarious playing me like that. And here I wanted you to get into advertising. I guess it's me who's the fucking idiot."

"You're not an idiot. I … tried to explain several times, but it just didn't seem like the right moment."

"And when might the right moment be? When I had fallen in love with you? Well, I already told you that that had happened. More fool me!"

Justin turned and ran out the door. He disappeared from sight and Brian wondered if he should go after Justin. Brian had never gone after anyone in his whole life, but no man had ever meant as much to Brian as Justin did. Brian came out from behind his desk and opened his office door. He headed down the hall to the art department. Some faces looked at him from doorways. Obviously they had heard Justin shouting. Brian entered the large art room and looked around. Justin was nowhere to be seen.

"Mitch?" Brian called.

Mitch came out of his office. "Brian?"

"Where's Taylor?"

"I don't know," Mitch said looking at Justin's empty table. "His coat's still here."

Brian exited the art department and headed to the restrooms. That had to be where Justin had gone. Brian had already decided that he would kick in the stall door if that was where Justin was hiding. They had to straighten this out. Brian walked into the restroom and knew immediately that Justin wasn't there. To be sure he pushed open each stall door.

"Brian, what's going on?" Ted stuck his head in the door.

"Do you know where Justin Taylor is?"

"You mean the guy you had at the diner who just happens to work here?"

"That's the one."

"What the fuck did you think you were doing, Brian? He was bound to find out," Ted said reasonably.

"So, it was you who told him."

"Well, not exactly, sort of, he put it all together," Ted stammered.

"Thanks, Schmidt. I should fucking fire you right now, and save myself the trouble later." Brian pushed past Ted and headed for his office. Cynthia was standing by the door. "Have you seen Justin Taylor?"

"I saw him run outside without his coat," Cynthia said. "I followed him out and called to him, but he ran down the street. It's freezing out there."

"Hold the fort for me, Cynthia. I'm going after him," Brian said grabbing his own coat.

"Sure," she said not really knowing what was going on. She would be sure to find out before Brian returned.

Brian ran out to his car and climbed in. He gunned the Corvette out of the parking lot and headed down the street looking for the familiar blond head. He turned the corner and scanned that street. There was no sign of Justin. He tried another street and another, all to no avail. He was getting frantic when he saw a blond head up the street he had just turned into. He pulled up beside the man who glanced at the car. Brian knew immediately it was not Justin. He continued driving.

After an hour of looking he began to realize that he might never find Justin. He hoped Justin would have gone home by now. The thought of Justin wandering the streets with no coat made him shiver in empathy. If anything happened to Justin he would never forgive himself.

Finally he drove over to Justin's apartment. There was no way to tell if Justin was there, but Brian had to try. He leaned on the buzzer in the lobby and waited to see if Justin would answer. Nothing happened, but Brian continued to buzz hoping that he might be able to wear down Justin's resistance if the man was really up there in his apartment.

Inside Justin huddled in his bed. He was cold to the bone and he shivered uncontrollably. He had wandered around until he finally found a bus that would take him in the direction of his apartment. All he wanted to do was curl up and die or lay there and get fucking warm or make that goddam buzzer shut the fuck up. He pulled the covers over his head and tried to block out the sound.

After many minutes, Brian finally took his thumb off the buzzer. If Justin was in his apartment he was not going to answer. If he wasn't up there, Brian shivered at what that might mean. Brian took one last look up at the windows of Justin's apartment. He hoped for some sign, but there was nothing. He got into the Corvette and headed back to Kinnetik looking for Justin on every street he passed.

Justin breathed a sigh of relief when the buzzer stopped. He had steeled himself to resist the urge to answer it, and then to tell Brian Kinney to keep the fuck out of his life. Once the buzzer ceased its incessant drone, Justin felt his resolve melt away too. His body started to shake and soon he was crying uncontrollably. He cried for his fucked up life and the loss of his new job. He could never go back to Kinnetik. He cried for the fucked up relationship he had had with Brian. He must be doomed to be alone. He could never speak to Brian again. He cried for the hope he had now lost that his life could be bright and sunny and happy. That had all been a miserable illusion. He would not go there again. And then he just cried until he finally fell asleep.

Brian returned to Kinnetik and went into his office without a word to anyone. The staff all had some idea of what had happened but they would never mention it again unless Brian brought it up. They valued their jobs too much to do that, and they respected the private life of their boss even if it had spilled over into business.

Cynthia and Ted huddled together trying to figure out what to do. Finally Cynthia convinced Ted that he should venture into the inner sanctum and see how Brian was doing. Maybe Ted could help Brian.

"Brian," Ted said softly and hesitantly as he opened the door to Brian's office.

"Fuck off, Ted," Brian replied wearily with the back of his chair facing Ted. He had been unable to do anything except stare at the wall and picture Justin's beautiful face.

"Brian, you have to talk about this. What happened?"

"I don't have to do anything, and it's too late so what does it matter?"

"Maybe I could help."

"Help to do what? Justin hates me. I lied to him. He probably thinks everything I've done was a lie, but it wasn't all lies." Brian's voice caught in his throat.

"You … you love him, don't you?" Ted asked knowing he was taking his life in his hands asking that.

Brian whirled around prepared to incinerate Ted with one of his death glares. Instead he merely nodded his head in defeat. "But it's too late."

"Was Justin the guy you escorted to the wedding?"

Brian nodded. "We've hardly been apart since then," Brian admitted looking at his hands.

"You didn't find him when you went looking?"

"I think he's at his apartment but he wouldn't answer."

"Okay," Ted said.

"Okay? Okay? There's nothing okay about it. Leave me alone, Ted," Brian said as he turned back to face the wall.

With a look of sadness at his friend's plight Ted walked out of the office.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Justin awoke to the sound of his phone ringing. It was only a little after noon, Justin noted as he glanced at the clock. He let the phone ring knowing that it would go to the machine.

"Justin, Justin Taylor, please pick up if you are there. This is Ted Schmidt from Kinnetik. I really need to talk to you. Please answer. It's very important."

Justin hesitated. He had expected it to be Brian, but Ted? He wasn't sure what to do. Ted was still babbling on about how important it was that he should talk to Justin. Justin wondered if something might have happened to Brian.

Finally Justin hauled himself out of bed and picked up the receiver. "What do you want, Mr. Schmidt?"

"Please, call me Ted."

"What difference does it make? What do you want? Did something happen to Brian?"

"I think you happened to Brian," Ted said slowly.

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Brian was out looking for you for several hours. He's … devastated. He needs to talk to you, Justin."

"It's too late. Everything he told me was a lie."

"No, it wasn't. Brian does do escort work … occasionally. Miss Debbie is the mother of his best friend and he helps her out when she's short an escort. He was doing that for her the day he met you."

"Couldn't he have told me that?"

"You paid for a professional and that was what he was trying to be."

"Very professional," Justin said his voice full of scorn.

"Justin, I've known Brian for many years. He's never taken anyone to breakfast in all that time."

"What?" Justin didn't understand what Ted was trying to tell him.

"Brian has never had a boyfriend. You're the first. You're the special one. He … he's completely broken up over you thinking he lied. He doesn't know what to do."

"But he did lie. Did he make Mitch hire me?" Justin asked suddenly realizing that his job was probably a lie too.

"I don't think Brian would do that. He loves his company and you wouldn't have been hired if you couldn't do the job," Ted said. "Brian's an extremely honest man."

"Yeah, right! I have personal experience of that so called fact." Justin hung up.

He flopped down on the couch curling his legs up to his chest. What the fuck was he going to do now? He had quit his other crappy job; now he didn't have one at all.

Some time later the phone rang again and Justin let the machine pick up. "Justin, Justin! It's Mitch. I want you to know that you got the job at Kinnetik on your merit. Brian asked me to interview you, but I was going to hire someone else until you showed me what you could do. That's when I knew I wanted you in the art department. Please believe that, Justin."

"Thanks for telling me that, Mitch," Justin said into the phone he had just picked up.

"I thought you needed to know it."

"I did," Justin replied and then cut the connection.

So Brian hadn't lied about the job, at least according to Mitch. But that didn't make matters any better. He still couldn't go back to Kinnetik and he had no other prospects.

A long while later the phone rang again. This time a woman's voice started on the machine. "Justin, this is Cynthia. I'm Brian's personal assistant. We met briefly at Kinnetik. Brian needs you. Justin, please pick up."

Justin let out a long sigh and picked up the phone. "It's no use, Cynthia. I can't see Brian."

"Yes, you can. He's been sitting in his office staring at the wall ever since he came back from looking for you. I've never seen him this upset, this devastated."

"That's too bad, but he shouldn't have lied."

"I don't know what he lied about, but I'm very surprised that he would. He never lies. Everyone says he's brutally honest. If he lied to you it must have been to protect you from something, maybe from himself."

Justin let those words sink in. "I don't know what to believe. I thought we were happy. I loved him."

Cynthia heard the "L" word and smiled. So love had finally found her asshole boss. No wonder he was in such bad shape. "Justin, I think Brian loves you too. He's a mess. Please, come and talk to him. I can't stand much more of his silence. It's ripping my heart out to see him like that."

"You really think Brian meant it when he said that he loved me?" Justin asked. He felt a faint glimmer of hope in his heart.

"He told you he loves you? Then he does. He would never in a million years use that word frivolously."

Justin sat up straight. Maybe he was the one who had made the big mistake. "Are you sure?"

"I've known Brian for a long time. I'm sure."

"What … what can I do?"

"You need to talk to him."

"Can you get him to call me?" Justin asked.

"He's not capable of doing anything at the moment, and I value my head too much to even suggest that to him."

"Okay, I'll come there," Justin said.

"Thank you," Cynthia breathed out. "You're doing the right thing."

Justin stood up. He had no coat and he would have to take the bus. He found a couple of sweaters and put them on over what he was wearing. As he was about to leave he walked back and picked something up from the end table. Maybe this could do the trick.

When Justin arrived at Kinnetik, Cynthia and Ted were waiting just inside the door.

"Thank God, you're here," Cynthia said pulling him inside.

"He's really bad," Ted added. "I tried to talk to him but it's like he's catatonic. I couldn't get a response."

"Do you think he'll talk to me?" Justin asked.

"You have to try," Cynthia said. "We sent everybody home early. We'll leave too if you can get him talking. You'll have complete privacy."

"Thanks," Justin said. He felt so scared. What if Brian now refused to talk to him? He had obviously hurt Brian very badly. Justin walked slowly towards Brian's office. Carefully he pushed open the office door seeing Brian sitting facing the wall. The man made no move and Justin didn't know whether he had heard the door open or not.

"Brian?" There was no reaction. "Brian?" Justin repeated. "I've come to talk to you."

As if in slow motion Brian's chair turned towards him. Brian's beautiful face seemed ravaged by pain. "You came?"

"I'm sorry, Brian. I was hurt that you didn't tell me the truth."

"I wanted to, but it all got…"

"I know. We started off on the wrong foot when I hired you. It was so mixed up."

Brian nodded. "Can you forgive me?"

"I already have," Justin smiled. "I want us to be together. I brought a peace offering." Justin held out Brian's red tie that had never made it back to Brian's apartment. It always got abandoned when their passion consumed them.

Brian smiled at the tie. He was almost afraid to hope for what this might mean. "I'm glad you came. You don't have your coat," Brian said like he was suddenly waking up. "Are you cold?"

And then Brian was around the desk cradling Justin in his arms and rubbing through the thick sweaters to make sure Justin was warm. Justin let out a little sigh. This was the only place he wanted to be.

"You know, I think I left my coat so I would have a reason to come back," Justin whispered.

"As long as we have a piece of the other's clothing we can find our way back to each other," Brian said philosophically. He continued to rub Justin's back. Nothing had ever felt so good.

"I better keep this tie then," Justin chuckled sliding it into his pocket.

"You do that."

"Then you'll be my boyfriend again?" Justin asked looking coyly up at Brian.

"Your pretend boyfriend?"

"You made an awfully good pretend boyfriend, but I like the real thing better."

"So do I," Brian admitted.

"Make love to me, Brian."

"Here? Now?" Brian asked in surprise. He did have a glass door on his office.

"When did you become the big prude?"

"I'm not, but this is my business."

"It's about time we got that straightened out," Justin chuckled. "Ted and Cynthia sent everybody home."

"They did?" Brian frowned. "I'll have to fire them right after I fuck you senseless."

"They were only trying to help."

"I know."

"Then fuck me … and later I want to fuck you."

"Okay," Brian replied as he started peeling off the many layers that covered the beautiful body beneath.

"Did you finally say okay?"

"I did."

"How come?"

"It's time you knew all my secrets, Justin Taylor. This is the beginning of a new life for me."

"For us both … together," Justin said as he melted into Brian's arms.

THE END

Return to Thyme's