Rules of the Heart

Chapter 3

Both men looked at the shocked woman as the toddler in her arms cried, "Da!"

Justin’s embarrassed dash to the bathroom was effectively curtailed when Brian replied, "Hey, Sonny Boy."

Brian was the boy’s dad?

"Justin?" the woman said.

The blond blushed to the ends of his hair. "Hi, Lindsay."

Brian effectively covered his surprise with a sneer as he coolly slid on a pair of sweats. "What are you doing here, Linds?"

"What is he doing here?" Lindsay hissed when Brian came down the stairs and took his son.

The man rolled his eyes. "Selling bibles."

Dressing quickly, Justin reluctantly joined them and the little boy in Brian’s arms squirmed around to pat his cheek. "Jus, Jus…" The blond blew a raspberry on Gus’ palm and the toddler squealed.

Brian winced, loosely covering his son’s mouth with his hand to silence him. "I see you two have met."

"I’ve babysat for him a couple times," Justin admitted, forcing himself not to cower under Brian’s harsh gaze.

Brian sighed. He should’ve known eventually he’d have to start fucking people he actually knew or move to a new city. There were only so many gay men around and if you didn’t do repeats…Fuck.

"He’s been a lifesaver," the woman added. "Ever since Mel left and things with Gui fell through—"

"How about a drink, Sonny Boy?" Brian asked abruptly as he walked over to the refrigerator. He wasn’t interested in rehashing that debacle. It wasn’t his fault Melanie cheated and left, even though he knew Lindsay still blamed him a little. The women were having problems long before he refused to sign over his parental rights. And he thought he’d done more than enough to make up for that by getting rid of that French fuck, Gui, and supporting his son while Lindsay tried to get back on her feet, despite almost losing his shirt in a bogus sexual harassment suit at the same time. Who the hell was a better parent now? He didn’t turn his back on Gus like Melanie did. He could never do that.

"Gus is my buddy, he’s no trouble at all. It’s the least I could do after you displayed some of my art at the GLC last month," Justin responded warmly to Lindsay while watching Brian and Gus out of the corner of his eye. He couldn’t believe he’d been that close to Brian for weeks now and hadn’t realized it! He knew meeting Lindsay had been one of the luckiest days of his life, but he hadn’t known how lucky.

Shortly after graduation, Justin and Daphne had wandered into the GLC so Justin could look into some community art classes they offered. He wanted to practice painting a little more since he didn’t do it as much as simple sketching. He knew PIFA’s core requirements demanded proficiency in all mediums. And that’s when he met Lindsay. She was the course instructor and she encouraged him to put some of his work in the charity exhibit. They’d started spending more time together because their mutual interest in art, and one day when she was stuck without her usual babysitter, he offered to help. To be honest, he really did it just to use her studio while Gus napped, but he’d found himself playing on the floor with the toddler all afternoon instead and easily admitting he’d enjoyed every minute.

"Oh, my god, Brian!" Lindsay suddenly exclaimed. "The picture you bought from the show is Justin’s painting!"

"What?" Justin squeaked. His eyes instinctively darted around the loft, but he didn’t see any of his work. "Which one?" he asked curiously, biting his tongue at the end to keep from rudely asking where it was as well.

"’Baltic Blue’," Brian replied as if it should be obvious.

Justin smiled as he looked back to the bedroom and the blue florescent lights on the wall. Of course, it was obvious. But where was it?

"And ‘Red Riot’," Brian added.

"What?!" Justin and Lindsay asked in unison. "You never told me--" Lindsay started.

Brian didn’t look up as he wiped the juice from Gus’ chin. "I didn’t know I needed your permission."

"Brian, I’m so glad you liked them. Thank you," Justin gushed when he’d found his voice again.

Brian’s eyes flashed for a moment, but the look was gone before Justin could decipher what it meant. Then the trademark smirk was in place. "No, thank you. Vance really liked ‘Baltic Blue’ and has been very…appreciative."

Justin tried to hide his disappointment. He knew he should be flattered that Brian thought enough of his work to give it to his boyfriend, but for a brief moment he’d foolishly hoped Brian had liked them enough to want to keep them himself. The artist was afraid to ask what Brian did with the other one. "I’m glad your bo—friend liked it too," he mumbled.

Brian didn’t seem to notice the slip of tongue and snorted. "Vance and I are partners, not friends. I only gave him the painting to replace the eyesore he hung in his office. Christ, I think we lost half our clients when they saw that shit. Who would trust an ad man who’s obviously fucking color blind? But now, everyone compliments HIS good taste, and every time they do, I get a nice bottle of scotch." He took Gus’ empty glass and set the boy on the floor and his son scampered over to Justin. Brian watched Justin pick him up and swing him around before turning his attention back to Lindsay. "What are you doing here again?"

"I had to run some errands and thought we could have brunch," she glanced at Justin, "if you’re not busy."

"Actually, I have an appointment with my new trainer, then some work to do for my meeting Monday, but I could stop by later and take you out for dinner."

Lindsay smiled. "Think you can stand Chuck E. Cheese again?"

On cue, Gus squealed, "Chuck Cheese!"

Brian grimaced, but nodded, ignoring Justin’s wide grin.

Suddenly the loft door opened again and another man let himself in. Justin wondered how many people knew the code. "You ass—oh, hey, Lindsay," the man said. He stomped over to Brian and slammed a bag from the diner on the counter. "I brought your breakfast since you didn’t meet me."

"Hi, Michael," Lindsay greeted cautiously as Brian replied, "I already had plans, Mikey."

Justin’s eyes widened when he realized the man was Brian’s boyfriend. He watched the couple for a moment, wondering what Brian saw in the shorter man. And then he understood that Brian had been talking about his boyfriend when he’d given his scornful speech about love and romance. Although Michael was leaning into Brian, arms around his waist, Brian was pulling away. It was obvious Michael was in love with Brian, but if Justin had just met them on the street, he would’ve thought they were strangers by Brian’s detached behavior. What was going on between them? Why were they even together if Brian obviously didn’t want to be?

Put out by Brian’s disinterest, Michael turned to the blond he assumed was the previous night’s trick. No, that couldn’t be right, he wasn’t supposed to still be there—or holding Gus! Brian would never let a trick near Gus. "Who are you?" he asked, eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Play nice, Mikey," Brian chastised. "This is Justin."

Michael glared at the younger man, then at his boyfriend. "Justin? Tell me you didn’t fuck JUSTIN," he demanded shrilly.

"I didn’t fuck Justin," Brian replied dryly without remorse. He fucked ‘Sunshine’ before he knew ‘Justin’, following the rules, so Michael had nothing to whine about.

"Then who is he?"

"Lindsay’s friend," Brian snapped. "Where the fuck are your manners?"

Michael glanced at Lindsay who nodded. "Sorry," he mumbled, still shooting daggers at the blond. He didn’t want to make Brian mad at him, but he knew something wasn’t right.

"Sorry’s bullshit," Brian reminded him. "Aren’t you supposed to be at the store?"

"Will you come by later?"

"I’m going to the gym, then the office, then I’m taking Linds and Sonny Boy out for dinner."

"I’ll be free," Michael hinted.

"One child at the table is enough," Brian retorted.

Justin almost felt bad for the guy when he saw Michael’s face fall. He exchanged an uncomfortable glance with Lindsay.

"Fine," Michael pouted. "Call me when you can spare a few minutes from your busy schedule."

Brian pretended to think. "Maybe Tuesday." Michael scowled at him and he laughed. "Quit being such a queen. I’ll see you at Babylon tonight."

Michael tried again to put his arms around Brian, kissing the man’s shoulder. "Let’s stay in, we can rent a movie and—"

"You can rent a movie if you want, but I’ll be at Babylon." Brian ignored Michael’s face next to his, focusing on a scratch on the counter until Michael gave up expecting a kiss and pecked him on the cheek.

"Fine, whatever," Michael huffed. "See ya, Linds," he muttered as he left, slamming the door behind him.

"Bye, Mikey," Brian sing-songed after him.

"Well, I guess we should be going too then," Lindsay said, taking Gus from Justin. She gave Justin a stern motherly look that said they would be talking about some things soon as Brian kissed his son good-bye.

The older man turned back from the door after the elevator took them down and saw Justin heading to the bedroom. "Where do you think you’re going?"

"I forgot my coat," the blond replied, looking around.

Brian’s brow furrowed, unsure whether to be relieved or disappointed.

Then Justin spotted it in the corner. He slipped it on and walked over to the door.

Brian slid it open and Justin hesitated for a moment, wanting to say something, but nothing seemed right so he decided just to go. But as he brushed past the older man, Brian’s hand wrapped around his neck, holding him back. He turned in surprise and felt Brian straighten his collar. Then he smoothed down the jacket. Justin held his breath as their eyes met.

"You graduated with honors, Sunshine," Brian teased lightly. "Now go be the best homosexual you can be."

"Yes, sir," the blond laughed, thankful the tension was gone again. He started down the stairs, then turned back at the landing, and gave a little wave. "See you around."

Brian nodded. "Yeah, later," he mumbled absently as he slid the door shut.

He headed to the bedroom to pick up his gym bag, then turned back. The man walked past the dining room table to the chaise by the window and stood in front of the painting on the recessed wall. Brian had chosen the blue picture because he was naturally drawn to it, but he’d gone back and purchased the red one a few days later because he couldn’t stop thinking about it. As he studied the vivid colors and bold strokes again, he could feel the artist’s—Justin’s—passion come alive once more and now he understood where it came from and why it had affected him so strongly.