Before There Was You, There Was You

Chapter 50

“Men of ill judgment ignore the good that lies within their hands, till they have lost it.” ~ Sophocles


***

 

“Brian, Emmett’s on the phone. He say’s its important.” Shane popped her head into his office and made the simple request with much trepidation.

“It always is,” Brian said in a low, emotionless voice. His chair was facing away from the door. He didn’t bother to turn around to address Shane.

Shane bit her bottom lip. Her boss was in a mood; one she wasn’t familiar with.

Over the past few weeks, Shane had become accustomed to pretty much all of Brian’s moods. She had witnessed him angry, sad, playful, dismissive, considerate and at times peevish, which was usually brought on by a confrontation with Justin. Brian had many moods, and Shane made a point of recognizing, and responding, to each appropriately. It made her job so much easier.

She knew how to diffuse his bad moods, like when he got upset, or worse, petulant. And she knew how to encourage and take advantage of his good moods. She considered dealing with Brian’s moods as part of her job description.

Today however, she was having trouble deciphering is mood. It was one she had never encountered before. He wasn’t quite upset, or depressed. He was… somber. That was the only word Shane could think of to describe Brian’s current state. This “somber” Brian was uncharted territory and Shane was unsure on how to proceed.

“Um, Bri, I think you should talk to him. He says it’s REALLY important.”

Brian didn’t answer her. Shane stood halfway in the doorway not sure what to do. After a few minutes past, she sighed and started to retreat.

“Put him through,” Brian said in a very quiet voice.

Shane paused, uncertain if she heard him, but then he turned around quickly and raised his eyebrow at her, as if asking, “why are you still standing there?”

She immediately went back to her desk and patched Emmett through.

“Yeah,” Brian said in a deadpan voice as he switched on the speakerphone.

“Brian, I don’t want to alarm you, but I think you better get to Rena’s house, now.”

Brian picked up the receiver. “What the fuck are you talking about?” His voice took on a serious “don’t fuck with me today” tone.

“I was just on the phone with James, we were in the middle of a conversation when he cursed and dropped the phone. I could hear him in the background calling out Rena’s name. I tried calling back, but the line is dead now.”

Brian’s heart skipped a beat. “When?”

“Not five minutes ago.”

Brian hung up the phone without saying good-bye and grabbed his coat as he headed out of his office.

Shane shot up when she saw Brian bypass the elevator and head for the stairs. He whisked by her without saying a word in his haste to leave. She ran after him, knowing something was wrong.

“Brian, wait!” She yelled out as she jogged down the flight of stairs trying to keep up with him. “What the fuck happened!”

“Rena,” he said without missing a step. He reached the bottom of the stairs and threw open the door to the front of the building. His long legs gave him an advantage and Shane was having a hard time keeping up with him.

She grabbed the stair rail and vaulted over it landing at the bottom on bent knees. She then sprang back up with an agility that was unmistakably catlike and sprinted out the building towards Brian’s retreating figure. She was NOT about to have him leave without her.

“Brian, WAIT!” she yelled again as she ran after him. Brian was already in his car, turning the key in the ignition when Shane reached for the passenger side door. She just managed to jump inside when Brian sped out of the parking garage.

He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Justin.

 

***

“Not bad, Taylor. I see a broad spectrum of interpretations in this piece. Your use of colors is bold without being over pretentious. Your approach is assertive in its intent yet ambiguous in its direction. The lines are clean and direct. There is a definite maturity to your work, Taylor. I’m impressed,” Justin’s professor exclaimed.

At any other time, Justin would have been extremely flattered, and appreciative of such a compliment, but not today. Today, he couldn’t care less what his professor thought. He was painting for himself.

He and Brian had only gotten a few hours sleep last night, but Justin had never felt more energized. He’d been painting for the past hour and his hand had not twitched or cramped once in that time.

There were so many emotions raging through him that needed an outlet, and this particular painting he was working on gave it to him. The fact that his hand was cooperating was a gift Justin wasn’t about to question.

He briefly thought about the piece he was doing for Rena and how painstakingly slow his progress was on it. He smiled to himself. Rena was right. Getting his memory back did a lot to improve his motor skills, if his current condition was any indication.

Right now, his hand was receiving images from his brain and transferring them onto the canvas with speed, ease and accuracy. Justin was flying.

“Thanks, Professor Hanks. I’m just glad my hand is cooperating today.” Justin voiced his thoughts out loud.

The Professor nodded, aware of Justin’s handicap. It always amazed and impressed him that the boy never let it hinder his progress in class. If he had to stay for hours after class to finish a project, he would. Taylor was one of those rare students that “lived” his art. Not lived “for” his art, but actually lived it.

The determination and ability he had to reach down deep and pull that “thing” that makes an artist great was remarkable. Not because he managed to reach that place, but because he reached it, brought it forth, then forced his crippled hand to translate it on to the canvas through what he could only imagine was agonizing pain.

Justin Taylor was an abstract expressionist whose work would be recognized amongst the greats one day and the Professor took great pride in knowing that he had a small part in the boy’s early developmental stage.

Justin reached over and dabbed his paintbrush against his pallet muting the color from it a bit when he felt his pants vibrate from his cell. He frowned. He didn’t want stop painting, but he didn’t dare to not answer it. Everyone knew he was in class at this time; the fact that someone was calling him meant it must be important.

He gave the Professor an apologetic look then excused himself. He put his brush and pallet down and pulled his cell out as he walked out of the classroom.

“Justin, get to Rena’s now.” Brian sounded frantic.

Justin searched his pocket with his free hand for his car keys. Fuck! They were in the classroom with his jacket and messenger bag.

“I’m on my way, what’s up?” He tried to keep the fear out of his voice as he stormed back into class and gathered his coat and bag. He quickly pulled his keys out and headed out of the classroom ignoring the startled look from his classmates and the Professor.

“Something’s wrong with Rena, I don’t know what. You’re closer to her house than I am. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

PIFA was only about ten minutes from Rena’s house; Kinnetik was a good half hour from Rena’s.

“Ok, calm down. I’ll be there in five. Be careful and I’ll call you as soon as I get there.”

Brian hung up.

Five minutes later Justin was at Rena’s door. Rena had given him a key and the code to the alarm so he could go in and paint in the atrium anytime he wanted. He had a sick feeling when he entered the house that he’d done this before. In New York.

“RENA!” he called out to the empty house as he started searching the rooms.

“Justin, is that you?” James’ voice rang out.

“Yeah, where are you?” Justin asked as he started climbing the stairs to the second floor where James voice came from.

“Up in the Master bathroom. Rena’s having another seizure.”

FUCK! Justin thought. He pulled out his cell.

Brian picked up before the first ring had finished. “What is it?”

“She’s having another seizure. James is with her.” Justin said as he walked into the bathroom. It was deja vu. There was Rena, in the tub and James was pouring a bucket of ice into the water.

“Are you with her?” Brian asked, bringing Justin back to the conversation.

“I just walked in. James has her in a tub of cold water.”

“Did he call 911?”

“James, did you call 911?”

“No, it just happened.”

“No, it ju…”

“I heard, call 911.” Brian said.

Justin hung up the phone and flipped it open to dial 911.

James caught Justin’s movement, and knowing his intent, knocked the phone from his hand. It skidded across the bathroom floor.

Justin gasped at him. “What the fuck are you doing? Brian wants us to call 911!” Justin stated angrily and reached for his phone.

“Rena doesn’t want that. I won’t go against her wishes. If you want to dial 911, then get out. You won’t do it in this house.” James was immovable on this; the determined set to his jaw brooked no argument.

Justin hesitated not knowing what to do. He didn’t want to leave Rena, Brian would want him to stay with her, but Brian also made it clear that if Rena ever had another seizure, he wanted her in a hospital.

Thankfully, Justin didn’t have time to decide; he heard Brian burst into the house.

“Rena!” Brian called out.

“Up here,” Justin yelled down.

Brian loped up the stairs with Shane right on his heels.

When he reached the bathroom he froze. Shane slammed into is back at his abrupt halt. Brian stumbled forward from the impact.

“Fuck!” Justin cursed and reached out to steady Brian. He had forgotten that Brian had never witnessed Rena having a seizure before.

The last time Rena had an attack it was in New York. It was Justin who accidentally stumbled onto the scene. By the time Brian arrived, she had come out of it.

Justin remembered all too well his reaction to seeing Rena like that for the first time. To the untrained observer, she could have been mistaken for dead. That was how lifeless her body appeared. It wasn’t until he saw James take a crop to her that he realized she wasn’t. The whole incident was extremely disconcerting.

Brian was having a similar reaction to seeing is sister in the midst of an attack. Justin went over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

“She’s going to be fine, Bri. James is handling it. You know he’s been dealing with her seizures for years. She’s going to be fine,” Justin reiterated reassuringly in hopes of bringing Brian out of what seemed to be his own version of a comatose state at seeing his sister.

Brian shrugged Justin’s hand away and walked towards his sister.

“Re…” He said softly and reached into the tub and placed his hands under her arms, pulling her forward.

Shane looked over at James. “How long this time?”

“Almost thirty minutes,” James told her, then turned to face Brian. “Brian, she needs to be shocked out of this. I know you don’t approve, but if we wait much longer, we risk possible brain damage.”

“The ambulance will be here any minute.”

“Brian, I didn’t call 911.”

Brian shot him a look that was so furious it made Justin cringe.

“I wouldn’t let him. It is Rena’s wish. I cannot go against her wishes.”

“I’M HER BROTHER! YOU WILL NOT DEFY ME!” Brian shouted at James, rage and fear heavy in his voice.

James was in a precarious position. He would not go against his Domina’s wishes, but he would not hurt her brother either. He simply shook his head no.

Shane took a step back, dreading the confrontation that was brewing.

Brian growled his frustration. He turned his attention back to Rena.

“Rena, listen to me. You have to get up, NOW!” He shook her frantically.

‘God, please help me’ he silently prayed. He did not want to resort to beating her to get her to respond. He was beaten so much as a child that he swore a long time ago to never hit anyone he loved in anger, ever and he would not start now.

Justin took advantage of the distraction and darted for his phone.

James caught the movement from the corner of his eye and turned to stop him.

“Don’t you DARE fucking touch him!” Brian yelled at James as he hauled Rena’s soaking wet body up from the tub.

Justin grabbed his cell and dashed out of the bathroom, James went after him.

“Shane, go help him!” Shane ran out of the bathroom not knowing what she could do to help Justin. James was NOT a man to be fucking with.

Brian cursed ferociously. He couldn’t just drop Rena, but he was afraid James might hurt Justin trying to get the phone away from him. He knew James would never intentionally hurt Justin, but he was determined to get that phone, and Brian knew that Justin was just as determined, and stubborn, to make that call.

“Rena, get the fuck up and help me, for God sakes!” Brian said angrily to his sister's limp, wet body. She was wearing a nightgown of sorts that was plastered to her body and getting tangled around his legs as he dragged her from the tub.

Rena’s body twitched.

“JUSTIN!” Anxiety and panic were heavy in his voice.

Rena must have heard, or felt, her brother’s distress.

“Brian…” she muttered.

Brian looked down at her. “JAMES! She’s coming around. Get your ass in here!”

James bolted back into the bathroom before Brian finished his sentence. Shane was right behind him looking disheveled and panting.

“Domina!” James said and helped Brian lift her body. Between the both of them, they gently carried her out of the bathroom.

“You better not have hurt him.” Brian’s eye’s bore into James’s.

James stared back. “As if I could,” he said and shook his head. “I’d have to catch him first. Kid is more slippery then an eel.”

“And that witch,” James motioned his head towards Shane, “threw herself on the floor in front of me causing me to trip. I nearly broke my neck.”

Brian gave Shane a grateful smile.

Justin had his cell open and was dialing when Brian and James walked into the bedroom with a very wet Rena.

“Forget it, she’s up.”

Justin flipped the phone shut and rushed to their side.

“You can’t put her in the bed like this, she’s soaking wet,” Shane said.

“Then get us some fucking towels or something,” Brian growled out, noting his favorite slate gray Armani suit was now ruined.

Shane ran back into the bathroom with an arm full of towels.

“I can stand, put me down,” Rena said somewhat coherently. She was slowly coming around.

Brian looked at James who nodded his head. They slowly let her feet touch the ground while supporting her on each side. Rena’s legs were still too shaky to hold her up on their own. She needed the support.

“Get me a chair.”

Justin’s eye’s scanned the room and fell on the chair behind her computer desk. He retrieved it and brought it to Rena. Brian and James slowly lowered her into it.

Her teeth started chattering.

“Domina, let me help you out of these wet cloths.” James bent over to tug her nightgown over her head.

Rena pushed him away.

“NO!” she said forcefully, and unexpectedly. James stood back in shock.

She had never spoken to him like that, or refused his help before.

Rena turned her head away from him to hide her tears. She just couldn’t face him now; she couldn’t accept his help, not after what she had done last night. Guilt and shame washed over her.

“Leave me.” Her voice was quiet.

Brian looked at James, also stunned. Something was terribly wrong. Rena was rejecting James, and James looked like his world just crashed in on him. He put his hand on James’s shoulder. “Go, Shane and I will tend to her. Wait for me downstairs.”

James looked up at him with such wounded eyes; it nearly broke Brian’s heart. He never doubted James’s love and loyalty to his sister, but if he ever did, the look in James’s eyes right now would have dispelled any doubt.

“You go too, Brian, I don’t want you here. Where’s Justin?”

Truth was, she couldn’t face either James or her brother right now.

She felt responsible for the current situation Brian was in. If she hadn’t helped Justin get his memory back, Brian would have never learned that Hobbs had planned all along to attack Justin that night. She was shocked herself to learn that the attack was premeditated.

When a person plans over a period of time to do violence to another, and then actually goes through with it, there is some serious psychosis or psychological disorder involved.

Brian was right to be concerned for Justin with this new information. What he would do about it, Rena wasn’t sure, but she couldn’t risk what would happen should he tangle with a person that unstable. She feared for his safety which led her to her desperate actions last night in telling James that Hobbs was a threat to her. She didn’t know what Brian would do, but she KNEW what James would do.

Rena closed her eyes tight forcing the tears to stop from over flowing. ‘Oh, God,’ she thought, ‘what have I done?’

She had to stop this madness. She needed time to think.

“I’m right here, Rena.” Justin was at her side. Shane started throwing towels over her.

“Make them leave, please. I need time,” she whispered to him.

Justin ran his warm hand up and down her arm reassuringly.

“Relax and breathe. I’ll take care of it.” He turned to address Brian and James. Both were looking like two deer caught in headlights.

Rena grabbed his arms with a strength that belied her current condition.

Justin turned his head to look back at her, confusion in his eyes.

“Don’t let them leave the house. I have to talk to them.”

Justin nodded his head and patted her hand that was gripping his arm. She sighed and released him.

Brian and James heard the whole exchange. They looked at Justin with bemused eyes.

Justin shrugged his shoulders. He knew they heard her request. “Wait downstairs. I’ll call you when she’s more alert and dry.” He led both men out the door.

James cursed when the door shut in his face. He headed down the stairs, Brian following him. He wanted some answers. “What the fuck happened!”

James walked over to the bar in the living room and poured himself a tall glass of vodka. He didn’t answer Brian until the glass was empty.

“Chris Hobbs is what happened,” James said accusingly.

Brian’s mouth dropped opened. James smiled, satisfied with Brian’s reaction.

“Now would you kindly tell me who this person is and why Rena wants me to kill him?” James said bluntly.

Brian took a step back and gasped. He couldn’t believe what he just heard.

“Are you fucking serious! She would NEVER!”

James huffed. “No, she wouldn’t, unless she felt she had no other choice. Of course, I can’t do it. It would kill her. As you can see just suggesting it has already caused her to have a seizure. I can’t image what would happen to her if I actually did it.”

Brian’s eyes grew dark. “I swear to God I’m going to wring her neck! What the fuck is she thinking?” Brian growled and walked over to the bar and looked through the bottles. His eyes narrowed when he didn’t find what he was looking for. “Where the fuck is the Beam?”

James put his hands up. “Not my doing. Your sister had the Beam removed from the house.”

“Mother fucker!” Brian gritted out. He settled for the vodka. He took James’ glass from him, refilled it and drank it down in one swallow. The dry harsh liquid burned down his throat. God he hated vodka. It didn’t have the same smooth feel of bourbon whiskey.

“Hobbs is no threat to Rena.”

James considered him for a moment. “But he is a threat to you.”

Brian sighed heavily. He walked over to the kitchen and pulled down a small box from the top cabinet that was hidden behind a box of noodles. He placed it on the table and opened it. Inside were three rolled joints. He pulled one out and lit it.

James watched him inhale the intoxicating smoke several times before approaching him. “Is he a threat to you?” he asked this time.

“He’s a threat to Justin. He’s the one who bashed Justin at his prom,” Brian said flatly, then shook his head as if to clear his thoughts.

James knew the story about Justin’s bashing. He just never had a name to put to the crime. Now he did.

“This is not your problem James, stay out of it,” Brian said harshly.

“Ah, see that’s where you are wrong. Rena has, in a sense, asked me to get a rid of a problem for her. That problem being one Chris Hobbs. I’m sworn to protect Rena, and I’ve never disobeyed her. However, if I do obey her in this, I will be hurting, and not protecting her. We both know Rena’s strong beliefs. She is not the type of woman to condone murder. If I do this, she will never be able to forgive herself. It will be her ultimate destruction. So you see, the “Hobbs situation” is very much my problem.”

Brian leaned backed against the kitchen counter and studied James. He had a point. Hobbs was now his problem because Rena brought him into it. But he couldn’t let James kill Hobbs. As much as he wanted the bastard dead, he couldn’t let James do it.

“You can’t kill Hobbs, James. That’s not an option.”

James narrowed his eyes. “You can’t kill him either. That would hurt Rena, and I won’t allow you to do that.”

They were at a stand still. James cursed again, which was so out of character for him. He reached over and took the joint from Brian.

Brian’s eyes widened at James’s action. He didn’t think James smoked pot.

James took a drag of the sweet smoke and immediately started choking. Brian laughed. So James didn’t smoke pot.

“Give me that before you hurt yourself,” Brian said grabbing the joint back from him.

James put his hand to his throat and made a face. “God that stuff is awful.”

Brian smirked and finished the joint. He turned around and stubbed it out in the sink.

“Call Em, I’m sure he’s freaking out. You know how overly dramatic he can be. He probably thinks we’re all being tortured by a gang of gay terrorists or something.” He turned back to face James. “Ever the fucking drama queen. I just hope he doesn’t show up here in those God-awful pajama’s and bunny slippers. I’ve had enough distress for one day.” Brian huffed a bit dramatically himself.

James grunted. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. He can be a handful at times.”

Brian snorted. “If I were you, I’d lock him up and only take him out when you want a good fuck.”

James’s eyes lit up. “That’s it!” he said as if Brian just gave him the solution he’d been looking for.

“Hey, I was only kidding!” Brian said emphatically and pushed himself away from the counter.

“No, no, not Emmett! Hobbs!”

Brian stared at him confused. “What does Hobbs have to do with Emmett?”

James went over to Brian, smiling an evil genius smile, and put his arm around his shoulders. Brian leaned away from him, not liking James’s sudden change of mood.

“You’re scaring me James. What the fuck are you up to?”

“What if I told you we can fix it so Hobbs is no longer a threat to Justin without killing him, plus have the added bonus of knowing he’s spending the rest of his days living his worse nightmare?”

Brian narrowed his eyes. “And how do you propose we do that?”

James leaned over and whispered into Brian’s ear.

Brian’s eyes widened. Then a smile spread across his face. “That’s pure genius, James. But is that possible?”

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned in life, it’s that anything is possible.”


 

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