The pen is mightier than the sword...

Broken Rubies - Chapter 1

Thu, 10 Mar 2005 04:18:13 GMT

Title: Broken Rubies - Chapter 1/??

Author Website/List: http://www.bjfic.net/viewuser.php?uid=1068

Rating: PG-13//R//NC-17

Characters: Brian Kinney, Justin Taylor, Michael Novotny, Ben Bruckner, Emmett Honeycutt, Ted Schmidt, Lindsay Peterson, Melanie Marcus, Jennifer Taylor, Craig Taylor, Molly Taylor, Daphne Chanders, Debbie Novotny, Vic Grassi, Gardner Vance, Jim Stockwell

Summary: Justin is 19 and living on his own for the first time in
his life. Brian is 26 and just starting out at an ad firm. Justin
has a hidden secret, can Brian still learn to accept him, or will he
just shut him out completely?

Warnings: Brian/Other, References to Child Abuse, Abuse, References
to Abuse

Notes: Brian comes from his same emotionally shallow family, but the
abuse hasn't affected him as much as it should have, he is a little
bit skeptical of love and romance. Justin's father was semi-abusive,
mostly verbally abusive to him, and his mother just followed along;
his only allies were Molly and Daphne.

Disclaimer: All characters and situations from Queer as Folk are
properties of Russell T. Davies, Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman,
Showtime, and others. No copyright infringement is intended.

THIS CHAPTER:

Rated: PG-13

Summary: Justin moves into his first apartment. Brian attends a big advertising dinner party. Brian and Justin have a shaky meeting, and get a drink.

--feedback welcome!!!

Justin walked into his studio apartment in New York and dropped the
duffle bag, suitcase, and cardboard box on the dirty wooden floor
and closed the door behind him. As he glanced around at the small
dingy apartment he couldn't help but think back to the last time he
saw his mom…

…"Mom, I'm sorry but I just can't fucking do this anymore, I can't
live in this house and pretend to be what my father wants me to be."

"Justin please watch your language." Jennifer looked at her son and
wondered how her baby boy, whom she had so many hopes and dreams
for, is now about to walk out her front door and move away to
another city. She always felt that Justin was different, maybe a
little sensitive, not into sports. But when she and Craig walked in
on Justin and his boyfriend making out in the family room, she was
utterly shocked. She had no idea that her only son was gay; of
course Craig had acted badly, kicked out James and practically sent
Justin to the hospital. She had to help her son nurse a broken lip
and two bruised ribs. And then there was the whole fiasco at the
prom, and the embarrassment it caused her at the club. "But is
moving to New York really the answer to all of your problems?"

"What problems are those mother? You mean the one where my father
hates me, and occasionally finds time to hit me? Or the one where
you always take his side?"

"Honey, you know that you aren't the only one in this family, I have
to think of Molly and myself, and your father. I love you, but
sometimes you just don't know how to hide your lifestyle-"

"My lifestyle? What lifestyle? I am practically a fucking prisoner
in my own house; you and dad treat me like I am a disease. Nothing
you, dad, or a 300 dollar an hour psychiatrist can change that. I
don't have a lifestyle, I'm gay, and I will always be gay, and I
will always be your son." Justin turned and closed the trunk, he
walked around to the driver's side and made the tires screech as he
pulled off; refusing to look back...

...So here he was in an overpriced dirty studio apartment in a bad
neighborhood, with no friends, no job; but with the hope that he can
start over. That everything would work out, and he might be able to
move on with this life, meet someone he could love or who could love
him back. Maybe he might even try to go back to school, begin to
draw again; all he needed to do was find inspiration.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Brian stood in his newly moved into loft right in the heart of
Chelsea and finished doing up his tie in front of the floor length
mirror. He stood there looking at his newly pressed Armani suit,
wondering how he went from recently graduated to being at the top of
the advertising world. Now that he thought about it, he knew why, he
was Brian Kinney for fucks sake, he was brilliant, and he was
destined to be here.

He grabbed his cell phone, wallet, and keys, then locked up his
loft. He hailed a cab and made his way toward a fun-filled night
full of ass kissing, champagne, and free food.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Justin looked around his apartment; he had managed to unpack what he
had brought with him. He pushed the queen size mattress that was on
a make shift bed up against the wall in the corner near the window.

After selling his car he had gone out and bought a few second hand
items. He bought a couch, small TV, and a dining room set. After all
he had bought; he had just enough money to last another month's rent
and money for food. He had an interview as a waiter that night at a
hotel, he was dying to get this job, and it had amazing pay. Plus
the guy on the phone told him that they might even offer him medical
benefits; and if he wanted to start doing his physical therapy again
he would need them. Without his car he needed to find alternate
means of travel around the city, he didn't have enough for a cab so
he decided to rely on the bus and the subway. Today he was the
taking the bus to the posh hotel in Manhattan; a far cry from his
neighborhood.

When he got there they took him right into an interview, they
offered him a job, especially with his previous waiter experience.
The only problem was that he needed to start that night, he
reluctantly agreed, but they offered to cut him a check for his
first pay. They got him a uniform, black pants, white shirt, and
black bow tie. He was taken downstairs to the kitchen along with
some other newbies and given instructions on what do to that night.
With this new job Justin felt that life in New York might just turn
out to be not so bad after all.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Brian arrived about 15 minutes after the party had started; he
prided himself on being fashionably late. He made his way up to the
fifth floor; he could hear the music and loud conversation coming
from the giant ballroom. He stopped just inside the doors and
surveyed who was present. He could only recognize Gardner and a
couple people from the office.

He made his way to the bar, and got a glass of champagne. He felt a
hand on his shoulder; he turned around and found himself face to
face with his new boss Gardner Vance. "Brian, my boy. Glad you could
make it."

"Yeah, well wouldn't miss it for the world. So whose ass should I
kiss first?" Gardner snickered at Brian's laid back demeanor, and
started to walk him toward a group of people, all the while pointing
people out. "That's Marion Bluth, she is the head of the BBR
Financial Firm, they are looking for a fresh new look for their
company. I suggest you get to know her; we could use a new contract
from her. Over there that is Anderson Bryant. He just took over his
father's chain of hotels. It was rumored that the first day on the
job he fired everyone, including his advertising team. That is the
account I want you to land tonight." Gardner patted him on the back
and pushed him into the crowd to work his magic.

Brian made his way over to Anderson, who was chatting up some people
he recognized from the firm. "Excuse, Mr. Bryant. My name is Brian
Kinney, I work at Vanguard Advertising. I just wanted to introduce
myself and offer my condolences to you; your father was a good man."

"Well thank you Mr. Kinney, and please call me Anderson. He was a
good man, I hope not to end up like him though, he worked it seemed
up until his last breath. So how long have you been at Vanguard?"

"Only about 3 months, but it feels like I have been there longer.
It's amazing, great environment, and I am damn good at my job, so
that helps of course." Anderson just smirked at Brian's remark, he
had heard about this hot new young man that had been hired at
Vanguard. Brian couldn't help but notice the blatant glance that
Anderson did at checking him out.

"So you're damn good at what you do then? How good are you?"
Anderson came closer to Brian as he answered.

"Well, just so you know, I'm fan-fucking-tastic." He finished his
drink and watched as Anderson headed to the bathroom. He placed his
glass on a tray of a blonde waiter that passed by him and walked off
to the bathroom to get the account he promised Garder.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Brian came back into the ballroom all the while adjusting his tie
and jacket. Anderson came up next to Brian and leaned into
him. "I'll have my accountants draw up the papers and deliver them
to your office on Monday."

"Great. It was good doing…business with you Mr. Bryant."

"Like I said Brian, call me Anderson. It's been a pleasure."
Anderson ran his finger down Brian's arm and made his way back over
to his wife's table to join the rest of his party. Brian walked over
the table where Gardner and his firm were seated. He took a seat
next to Gardner and next to his assistant Cynthia. She leaned in and
whispered to him, "So how did it go? Did you get the account?"

"Of course I got the account; the contract will be delivered on
Monday." Cynthia smiled at Brian; she was amazed that this new comer
was already becoming the top in the firm. She still didn't know how
he was able to pass by the junior executive positio and go straight
to being an account executive with his own team; but at the moment
she didn't care. She was proud of her boss, and he always shared his
bonuses with her, so she had no place to complain.

Brian was ignoring the people at the table and glanced around the
ballroom. He spotted a blonde waiter, a regular walking wet dream.
He had shaggy blonde hair, and the most amazing ass Brian had ever
laid eyes on. Just then the blonde in question turned around with a
tray of drinks and Brian locked eyes with the most beautiful blue
orbs he had ever seen. He felt something in the pit of his stomach
at that moment that both confused and delighted him. Brian turned to
answer a question that Cynthia had asked him.

As they were talking he glanced over at the drink that was being
placed in front of him. He noticed the waiter's hand start to shake;
he reached out and took his drink; his fingers grazing the blonde's.
They both noticed the sudden spark that the touch elicited. Justin's
face flushed in embarrassment, he gave the dark haired, hazel-eyed
man a small smile and mouthed thanks. Brian just smiled and sipped
his drink. He suddenly felt a cold splash on the side of his pants,
and a loud "FUCK" from Garder. He saw Gardner stand up and push his
chair back, while raising his hands up and looking at his soaking
wet suit. "You stupid shit! Look at what you did to my fucking suit!
It probably costs more that you've made all night!" Gardner managed
to direct all his rage and anger directly at Justin. Justin just
stood there in horror; he managed to squeak out an apology, "Oh my
gawd, I am so sorry sir, it just slipped out of my hands." With all
of the commotion it caused Justin's boss to come over, he managed
calm Vance down and told Justin to take a break. Brian watched the
blonde's head bow down and skulk off toward the back. Brian excused
himself and went to dry off his pants in the bathroom. After about
10 minutes under the hand dryer, he headed off toward the terrace
for a smoke.

------------------------------------------------------------------

As soon as Brian stepped out onto the terrace he was bombareded with
a slight breeze that managed to ruffle his hair. He opened his lucky
lighter and tried to light his cigarette. "Dammit, stupid fuck-"

"Here." Brian was startled for a moment, he thought he was alone; he
hadn't even noticed that the there was anyone there. He looked up to
see the blonde from earlier. He walked over to him and got his
cigarette lit. "Sorry to startle you, I am kind of playing hooky
from my shift, my break ended ten minutes ago."

Justin was sitting on the edge up against the wall with his knees
drawn to his chest. He could see the wind blowing the soft blonde
hair. Brian smiled back at him.

"That's okay, I won't tell anyone. I am too, I'm hiding from my
boss, I am tired of meeting people and shaking their hands and shit
like that." He watched Justin lean over the edge to look
down, "Could you not do that?"

"Do what? This?" This time Justin leaned even further over and Brian
quickly came at him, prepared to grab him if he fell.

"Yeah, that. Asshole. I am not to fond of heights, and I hate when
people do shit like that." Justin couldn't help but laugh, he
finally stopped, but his face was flushed. They both continued to
smoke their cigarettes in silence. Brian spoke first, "I hope you
didn't get in trouble earlier for spilling that drink."

Justin froze up a little bit at Brian's question, "Nah, I just got
yelled at. I hope I didn't ruin your suit too bad, plus my manager
wanted to dock it from my pay, apparently that guy went all schizoid
and demanded that I pay for the dry cleaning for his suit. Fucking
asshole."

"You got that right." Justin looked at him funny, Brian just gave
him a tongue-in-cheek smirk, "He's my boss."

"Oh, shit. I'm sorry, I didn't mean any-"

"Don't worry, you're right. All he cares about is his precious
company and himself. Hell he probably deserved to be put down with
something like that. Oh, and don't worry about my suit, it was
nothing, it came right out. I'm Brian by the way."

He held out his hand, and Justin shook it. Brian noticed him wince
but chose to ignore and not embarrass the boy. "Justin. Justin
Taylor."

"Well Justin Taylor, what brings a nice young kid like you to New
York? You don't have that native feel to me."

"No I just moved here about two weeks ago. And I am not a kid,
teenager yes, but kid no. I'm 19; I just couldn't take living with
my family anymore, so I left, came out here. It's not so bad, maybe
a little lonely; I haven't got to many friends. Just some of the
guys that work here."

"I'm new to the city also, I just got a job offer for an Ad Firm on
Madison Avenue. It's fucking awesome, and the pay isn't too bad
either. I feel New York and I were destined for one another." Brian
looked at his watch and realized the evening would soon be ending
and he could go home, relax, and get a real drink; none of this
frilly champagne crap. For some reason he felt that he couldn't just
walk away from this kid, well man. So his mouth did what his brain
told him not to do, "What time do you get off? We could share a cab
together."

"I don't think you're heading where I am."

"Oh? And just where are you heading?" At this point Brian made his
way closer to Justin, and put his hand just in front of Justin's
feet and looked into the boy's face.

"No place special." Justin replied while looking back out at the
city and blowing out the smoke from his lungs.

Brian turned Justin's face toward his, "I can change that."

Justin sat up a little straighter, and just as they both were about
to lean into the kiss Brian heard Gardner Vance yell his
name, "Brian! There you are, come back in here already, I need you
to meet someone." Brian groaned and dropped his face into his hand.
Justin just smirked and leaned back against the wall while
continuing to look out over the city skyline.

Brian yelled over his shoulder, "Yeah, okay I'll be right there,
give me two minutes." Gardner just closed the door and went back
inside. "I guess I better go."

"Yeah, you better get back the ass kissing. And I better get back to
my shift." Justin swung his legs over to the other side and onto the
ground.

As he stood up, he felt Brian's gaze burn into his soul. "Just think
about my offer, okay?"

And with those parting words Brian was gone. Justin stubbed out his
cigarette and flung it over the side. He returned to the party to
finish out his shift, and possibly collect his first paycheck.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Justin had un-tucked his shirt, unbuttoned the top three buttons,
and taken off his bow tie. He had made over a hundred bucks tonight,
he felt fucking amazing and wanted to go out and celebrate. Some the
guys he had met on the job wanted to go out as well, but as soon as
Justin had mentioned heading over to the Chelsea district they got
kind of iffy. They quickly apologized and told Justin they weren't
judging him if he was gay, it just wasn't their scene. He explained
that it was okay and walked off toward the entrance to head to the
bus stop.

As he came down the front of the steps, he couldn't keep the excited
grin off his face. There before him was the man from earlier; he was
about to duck around him and head straight for his earlier
destination, when Brian spun around. "Hey, I was wondering when your
shift ended."

"You were waiting for me?"

"Well I wouldn't say that; let's just say I didn't want to take that
cab ride home alone." Justin flushed at the way Brian emphasized the
word alone. He had had a boyfriend in high school, and he had
certainly kissed a guy and fooled around before. But he had never
had sex with his ex-boyfriend. So being around someone so liberal
with sex, someone like Brian; he constantly found himself blushing
at every sexual innuendo that Brian spewed forth.

"Well I wasn't kidding earlier, I doubt you'll be heading anywhere
near to where I am. I don't live in the nicest of neighborhoods, and
I am pretty sure that you do."

"Well let's just say that it's not too bad. I was headed home but I
was going to stop for a drink first, at a bar near my loft; care to
join me?" Justin thought for a moment, Brian's plans took him the
opposite direction of his apartment. After drinks he supposed that
he could just catch the bus home, although it could take some time.
For some reason seeing Brian wait for his response and the fact that
he had sampled plenty of the champagne, he just couldn't turn him
down. "Sure why not, I wanted to go out and celebrate, it is my
first week in New York after all."

"Good. I have a cab waiting." He followed Justin and got into the
cab after him. He gave the cabbie the name of the bar and they
pulled into traffic. Brian could see that Justin was a little tense,
and that he kept rubbing his right hand. He leaned in and Justin
could feel Brian's hot breath on his ear as Brian whispered: "Relax
Sunshine. New York awaits us." Justin smiled an ear-to-ear grin at
the nickname that Brian called him, he turned his face to look at
him. Their mouths were mere inches apart as he voiced his reply: "So
where are we headed?"

"It's like I told you earlier; some place special."

Chapter 2 - A Clandestine Affair

Fri, 18 Feb 2005 04:26:42 GMT

Title: A Clasdestine Affair

Rating: R

Summary: Shae can't sleep, so she calls Logan to kill some time. She returns to work, only to be met with caution and hostility.

Notes: Go here for reference photos.

After getting home shortly after 2:30 in the morning, Shae tossed and turned for about thirty minutes. Finally having enough she reached over, picked up her phone and the business card and dialed the home number. It rang about five times, and just when she was about to hang up, an out-of-breath voice answered. “Hello?”

“Oh…um…hey. It’s Shae, you remember the girl…”

“Yeah the girl from the club. So what’s up, calling for the dry cleaning bill already?”

Shae let out a soft laugh, “No actually, I don’t know why I really called, I just got this impulse to dial your number.”

“Oh well, I am glad that you did. I’ve been thinking about you since I left the place. I still feel really bad about what happened. We should go out sometime you know, to maybe makeup for it.”

“Well we can hang out, but the reason doesn’t have to be to make up for my top.”

“Do you think it’s too late for you to go out?”

“Nah Liam won’t even notice that I am gone, so sure why not. Only problem is…I don’t know where you live.”

“Well we will just have to remedy that, won’t we?”

Logan dictated his address to Shae and explained how to get there. Shae said to give her about 30 minutes and she would be right over. She put on something comfortable yet sexy and made her way over to Logan’s address. She parked her SUV on the street and walked up the front entrance. She buzzed the top floor and waited for Logan’s voice to crackle over the intercom.

“Hey. It’s Shae.”

“Yeah, I figured, come on up, it’s the grey door on your right.”

There was a load buzzing noise and the door unlocked. Shae took the elevator to the 6th floor and knocked on the giant dark navy blue door on the right at the end of the short narrow hallway. Shae stepped back just as Logan pulled open giant deep blue door. She found Logan standing in front of her wearing just a pair of jeans.

Logan smiled softly and invited her in, and helped Shae remove her coat.
Logan spoke first, “So can I get you something to drink? A beer, water, soda?”

“How about vodka on the rocks.”

Logan nodded and fixed her drink, he motioned over to the coach, and Shae sat and took her drink from him. He sat on the coffee table across from her, and they toasted their drinks before taking a sip, or in Logan’s case a big gulp. Shae fidgeted with her glass before looking up into a pair of emerald colored eyes, “So, you know I expect you to buy me a new top, because mine isn’t salvageable.”

“Are you sure, I mean I am sure they have made strides over the years in dry cleaning technology.” Logan got up and went and put his empty glass by the sink. Shae smiled at his witty banter and small talk, she felt herself drawn to Logan, but she didn’t know why. Mostly because she wasn’t drawn to anyone, she had no desire to make new friends or take on a boyfriend or lover. She walked over and placed her glass next to his; she glanced up and moved closer, she could feel his breath on her lips. He brought his hand up and placed in on her neck before pulling her in for mind shattering kiss.

They made their way toward the bedroom, Shae failed to notice the stair leading up to the room, but Logan managed to keep her balanced. She took the lead and pushed him back onto the bed, she climbed over toward Logan and they resumed their kissing. At around 4:14 AM they collapsed from exhaustion and a night of sex, before falling asleep.

The light streaming in through the giant windows in Logan’s bedroom woke Shae from her deep sleep. She tried to move but found herself in the arms of companion from last night. As much as she didn’t want to she couldn’t help but bite back a small grin. She shifted her head slightly to glance at the clock on the bedside table, it read 7:45 AM and she needed to be at work by 8:30 AM. She was able to shift and role over to face Logan, she took in his features. He had shaggy brown hair that came down to just under his ears and barely grazed the collar of his shirt. He had long rounded face, and amazing cheek bones, and amazing skin. She felt almost jealous of it; her skin seemed to act up at the slightest mode swings. Though his eyes were closed she couldn’t help but picture his amazingly deep bluish green eyes, to her they resembled the ocean. He had an amazing body too, not built just finely toned. She guessed that was about five foot eight to her five foot five. She was about to reach out and brush off a lock of hair that fell into his eyes, when she stopped herself. She found a way to dislodge herself from Logan’s embrace, and set about looking for her discarded clothing from the previous night. She was pulling on her shirt, when a very exhausted, disheveled Logan came down the two steps from the bedroom wearing long grey sweat pants. He smiled sweetly at her, “Hey.”

“Hi, sorry I have to be getting to work, and I have to drive halfway back across town to my apartment.”

“That’s okay; I have a couple of weeks off from my job, so I don’t have anywhere to be.” He kissed her on the cheek and went off to the kitchen to make some coffee. “How about some coffee before you go?”

“Nah that’s okay, I am a mocha person, I need my Starbuck’s this early in the morning. There is one by my apartment, so I can get one on my way to work.”

They stared at each other in an awkward silence for about thirty seconds, before Shae nodded at him and smiled, then headed for the door. She pulled it open and stepped out onto the landing toward the stairs and elevator.

He came out behind her and spoke, “Look, I don’t usually do this sort of thing; I usually wait a couple of dates before I even consider sleeping with some one. I mean my last girlfriend we didn’t have sex until like a month into the relationship.” Logan stopped himself, “Sorry, I tend to ramble sometimes.”

“Don’t worry about it…both things I mean, the rambling and the other one. I don’t expect this to be more than what it was, just a little fun between two people.”

“Oh, well what I if I wanted it to be something more?”

“Well look I have your number, and you still owe me a new shirt; so how about I call you.” She walked over and kissed him softly on the lips and took the stairs down to the bottom of the building.

Logan stood at his door for a minute contemplating something, he quickly ran down the stairs with no shoes, just his sweat pants on. He pushed the door open and yelled at Shae to wait. Shae turned and tried to shield her eyes from the sun, “What?”
“You’re not going to call are you?”

Shae smirked, looked down at the ground and then back at Logan, “No, I’m not.” She turned and waved at him over her head before heading into the parking garage to her car. Logan nodded to himself before heading back up to his apartment, to get ready to do some errands.

Shae got into her VW; put her hands on the stirring wheel tightly. She sat there for about five minutes contemplating last night’s events. She knew that she shouldn’t read too much into it, it was just a one-night stand, a little fun. Right? She couldn’t help but wonder what was in his eyes when she looked into them; she thought she saw something more than lust, more than want. What she thought what she saw was love, but that couldn’t be possible they had only known each other for a couple of hours. Shae started her SUV and headed back to her apartment, intent on forgetting Logan, the man in whose eyes she saw the ocean depths.

---------------------------------------------------------------

It had been roughly three weeks since Shae had had her run in, and late night rendezvous with Logan. She hadn’t had much time to think about him, because she had thrown herself into work after that weekend. In those three weeks she had been to over three different countries each week, partied on Friday and Saturday, and nursed her hangovers on Sunday. Prague being the worst, she always thought she was prepared for anything; they were taught at the beginning to de-compartmentalize things and forget them. But nothing had prepared her for the mission she was sent on, and she felt that she would never be the same. Other than that she barely saw the inside of her and Liam’s apartment, if her job didn’t kill her the long hours would.

It was a new week and the blinding sun woke Shae up just before her alarm started screaming out the Monday morning traffic and weather reports. She glared sleepily at the clock radio before turning it off and dragging herself into the bathroom to shower and get ready for another long week. She put on her black pin stripe dress pants, black Manolos, and a grey sweater that buttoned on her right at the neck and shoulder she started off toward the kitchen for her morning caffeine fix. As she put down her briefcase, she glanced up to see Alex in his sweat pants cooking bacon and eggs.

“Morning Shae, would you like some breakfast?”

“No thanks,” she smiled at him politely, “I am running a little late this morning and according to the radio, traffic is going to be hell, tell Liam I will call him around lunch time, okay?”

“Sure no problem, have good day at work.”

”Thanks, I’ll talk to you later.” Shae grabbed her keys, coffee, and briefcase and took the elevator down to the parking garage. She walked over to her black Volkswagen Touareg, and squealed out of the lot and proceeded toward her office building. Traffic turned out to be a bitch, just as predicted and by the time she did finally reach work, she was in a fowl mood.

She parked and headed off toward the 8th floor. Once in the elevator she pressed the number nine button, inserted her key into the keyhole and entered in her pin code. Once she reached her floor the doors opened and she stepped out into the valley of computers and work stations that littered the ninth floor of the Bellwether Building where she worked. She smiled at different people she has worked with over the past year and a half; she stopped by the communications department and said hello to Cara. They had met each other their first day on the job and became fast friends, though they rarely met outside of work.

She sat down at her desk, turned on her computer, and prepared for the long day ahead. She glanced up and looked at a framed photo on her desk; she picked it up and ran her fingers over the figure standing next to her in the photo. She silently cursed herself for getting distracted before replacing the photo back on her wooden desk. Shae dreaded going to the company shrink, but according to her boss it was agency policy, especially after the circumstances that took place in Prague. She finished up some reports and read some files to get herself prepared for the big meeting she had at 3:30pm.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Shae entered the conference room about 5 minutes before the meeting was supposed to start. She walked toward the front of the front to take a seat near the director; she tried hard not to focus on the eyes of every person in the room following her every move. After all you would be the center of attention too if your partner was killed while on a mission with you; people tended to avoid you like the plague.

just some adam brody icons

Tue, 08 Feb 2005 06:44:59 GMT

Teasers:

[x] [x]

i am popping my icon cherry. this is my first icon post ever!!!! so i am a little nervous, just be gentle if they suck horribly, kay??? nothing special, i was just playing around with the gradients and messing with some of the brushes.

I got the pic here.

RULES

[x] Comment
[x] Credit Me
[x] No Hotlinking
[x] Feel free to customize, just say where you got 'em from

1. 2.

3. 4.

5. 6.

7. 8.

9. 10.

Chapter 1 - A Clandestine Affair

Sun, 06 Feb 2005 03:39:15 GMT

Title: A Clasdestine Affair

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Shae and Liam go to Sway, and an unexpected person enters Shae's life.

Notes: I just updated chapter 1 of the story, my main guy characters name has changed, sorry. Feedback is like sex, there is no such thing as too much.

Go here for reference photos.

Present Day – Myconos, Greece

“That’s it I am tired of this shit, everyone out! Now!”

Shae lazily lifted her head, as she watched the other two burly men get up and leave the room. Now she was alone, not just in the room with a mad man, but alone in life. She had lost everyone, her friends, her family, and the man she had loved above all others. She had nothing left, except the hope that her extraction request had gone through before the connection on the radio was severed.

“Are you ready now? I figured you wouldn’t talk with those two in here, they can be intimidating.”

“I am not intimidated by them…or you for that matter.” She licked her lip and spit the blood and saliva on the dirty concrete floor, before leaning her head back onto the head rest.

“There’s no need to act brave on my account, my dear, I won’t tell anyone.”

“Screw you Adamidis, I am not being brave, I just don’t know what the hell you are talking about…”

“Hmmph…you still think he is coming don’t you.” Adamidis began to pace around the small damp room, the fading sunlight casting eerie shadows on the wall. “He isn’t you know, I hope you said your goodbyes before you left San Francisco.”

“What are you talking about? What did you do?”

“I did what I promised, he has been taken care of, I told you but you didn’t listen, you never listen. So had to take matters into my own hands, hopefully you listen more carefully next time.” He stared at her blank expression for several seconds, before continuing. “He’s dead.”

“You wouldn’t even get near him, you don’t know anything about him, and he covered his tracks perfec-.”

“Oh contraire my dear, he didn’t do such a hot job after all. As I said before, you shouldn’t trust those you don’t know. There was inside information being passed along to me the whole time.”

Shae seemed to contemplate his words for a moment, “Rose Mary…that bitch…I should have known. She is soooo fired when I get back to San Francisco.” Shae joked, trying to keep her face free from the emotions that were dying to pour out.

“He won’t be the last you know, I will get rid of them all if I have to, until you tell me what I need to know.”

“Well I guess you will never know, because I have no one left for you to harm.”

He shrugged his shoulders and quickly turned on his heels and left the room, locking the door behind him.

Shae pulled on her restraints, and glanced around the dank room, or dungeon as it had become to her in the last two days. When she agreed to go on this, what did they call it? Quick in and out mission, she never expected to spend it tied to a gurney being interrogated by a mad man, and wishing she had never agreed in the first place. As she lay there, with tears beginning to form, she saw the faces of her friends pass into mind, and then came the one image she didn’t want…all the times she had spent in the last year with Logan. The man she considers the love of her life, the man she could see spending the rest of her life with, the man who has shaken up her whole life and changed every belief she has ever had.

Suddenly the large metal door swung open again and slammed up against the wall. In walked the two guards from earlier and Adamidis, carrying a small .38 caliber weapon. Shae straightened up on the gurney, and put on a brave face.

“Any last requests that have should be made now, my house guests have left for the weekend. So I feel that this is the perfect time to take care of un-pleasantries.” Adamidis walked up and back handed her, reopening the cut on her lip. Shae’s choppy layered recently dyed blond hair fell into her face; through the strands she could see Adamidis’ cold black eyes sizing her up.

“Yeah just one, could you turn up the AC, its fucking sweltering in here.” Shae gave him a conceited smirk, before continuing. “Oh and another thing, when you do shoot me, can you dismiss dumb and dumber or here, they aren’t the last faces I would like to see on this earth.”

He stepped closer to Shae and leaned in, so close she could feel the moisture in his breath. “You think you are so smart don’t you, go through life making jokes so you feel better about the shitty situations you find yourself in. But what you know in your heart and what you don’t want to admit is that deep down, your life sucks and it always has. At least until you met him. But I took care of him too didn’t I? It was so simple, he too wasn’t to smart, that seems to be a pattern with you, must like them stupid huh? Was hard watching his life slip away, knowing that he would never see what you two could have had in life? I will admit he gave up a pretty good fight before I shot him the chest.” Adamidis took a step back, and took out the weapon he had carried in and pointed it in Shae’s direction.

Shae stiffened and stared at the black barrel pointed in her direction, she squeezed her eyes shut tight, just as the gun fired off its first round.

------------------------------------------------------------

1 year earlier [Friday, 10:45 pm] – Northpoint Apartments – San Francisco, CA

“Uggg! You are worse than me Liam, just hurry up we were supposed to meet Cami and Cal almost 30 minutes ago at Sway, you know they get pissed when we are late.” Shae stood outside of the white bathroom door pounding endlessly for Liam to come out. She walked into the living room and glanced at the large wall length mirror, doing a once over on her outfit. She wore a silver meshy halter top, tight olive cargo capris, and her favorite pair of black and white checkered slip-on vans. She ran her fingers through her shoulder length brown hair, trying to comb out the fly-aways. The bathroom door finally opened and out walked Liam, her five foot eight roommate, in a grey wife beater and dark faded jeans wearing his designer boots and trying to style his thick brown locks into the “I-just-got-out-of-bed” look.

“Would stop fussing, you look fine! You are such a drama queen, honestly I thought living with you would be fun, but now it’s just a pain!”

“What crawled up your butt? When was the last time you had any?”

Shae glared at him, before grabbing her purse and unlocking the front door.

“Hmmm…I know it was that “financial planner” you met at your office building wasn’t it? God that was like 5 months ago.” He stared at her horrified and pissed of expression before continuing. “You must be crawling out of your skin, you poor thing.”

With that Liam kissed her on the cheek before grabbing his wallet and keys and heading out the door. Shae locked up the apartment and followed Liam to his car. Liam placed his arm around his best friend as they walked toward his silver corvette, and opened the door for her to get in.

“Such a gentleman, as always.”

The tires squealed as the corvette pulled out the parking garage, and headed toward they weekend hangout Sway. This was one of those take your chances clubs, you never knew who you might hit on, or who might hit on you. It attracted all sorts of sexually frustrated and curious beings from around the Bay Area. If you were straight, Bi, Gay, Lesbian, curious, or just experimenting, Sway was your Mecca. Not only did they serve some of the best drinks around, play the hottest thumpa thumpa music in town, but they prided themselves on the promiscuous sex that took place in bathrooms and backrooms located in the enormous complex; not to mention the rampant and sometimes dangerous drug use that went on, but it was all part of the party and club scene. If you were there, it was because you wanted to be, not because anyone was forcing you to partake.

Liam maneuvered his car into the space about two blocks from the club, and popped some change into the meter. He quickly caught up with his friend who had now donned her black leather jacket, and started filling her in on the night’s festivities.

“I can’t believe you are going to meet Alex, you are going to just love him. He is so funny, smart, and has one talented tongue. If I do say so myself.”

“I thought you said you were going to try and get to know people before you slept with them. Wasn’t that one of your resolutions this year?”

“Yeah that and not drink so much, but after the nights we’ve had lately I can honestly say that I haven’t stuck to any of those.”

Liam pinched Shae on the ass and quickly ran up ahead of her to say hi to the bouncer Rick, whom the two have become fast friends with over the past two years of frequenting Sway.

The burley six foot man stood at the entrance with a clip board in his hand and a two-way radio in the other. He smiled at the two before lifting up the purple velvet rope and letting them inside the noisy haven.

After checking their coats at the coat check, they walked out and scanned the enormous crowd for their other two best friends Cal and Cami. Shae spotted them over just off the dance floor watching the mass of people swaying to the music, several cocktails in front of them had already been finished. Grabbing Liam’s arm she tried to push her way through the crowd before waving and taking a spot at their table.

The short red head with bright green eyes flashed a smile at her two friends before trying to yell over the noise to Shae, “It’s about damn time you got here, we’ve been here for over an hour!”

“Blame the Gucci model over here; he spent about forty five minutes of that hour in the damn bathroom, grooming himself.”

“Well we still love him anyway, right sweetie.”

Cami blew a kiss in Liam’s direction and he gave her the finger before stalking off onto the dance floor to find the mysterious Alex.

“Um ladies did you forget someone over here?”

Cal smiled with all his teeth blaring, and glanced at the two girls who had resumed their spots at the table.

“Sorry babe, you know how us fag hags get. We have to keep harassing him or he will keep making my best friend late to all of her outings.”

“Well as long as you still love me that’s all that counts.”

Cal leaned in and kissed Cami on the mouth and hugged her tight to him.

“Uhh, do you want me to puke? I am getting a drink.”

Shae pushed her way through sweaty bodies and lingering glances before reaching the bar and ordered herself a double shot of Vodka. After downing in two gulps she motioned to the bartender and ordered a Grand Marnier Cosmopolitan. She paid for her drinks and quickly turned around just in time to run into a man carrying three drinks in his hands. The collision caused him to spill the cold and sticky liquid down the front of her top and onto her pants. Shae stood there with her mouth opened and eyes closed, trying to ignore the gross feeling she had all over.

“Fuck! I am so sorry, here…”

The seemingly tall man placed the glasses on the bar and picked up a few napkins and started to sop up the mess on her clothes.

“It’s fine. Just give me the napkins, you’ve done enough damage.”

Shae glared at him, and walked off toward the back of the club in search of the bathrooms. She walked into the glass enclosure and locked it; once she hit the button the glass frosted over and only her soft silhouette could be seen. She grabbed paper towels and began to dry off her top. She felt tears well up in her eyes, Jess had bought this top for her for her birthday and now it was ruined. She cursed under breath and opened the door to walk out, but ran into the same man again.

“What is it with you? Do you enjoy running into people or what?”

”Look, I am really sorry, I feel really shitty for what happened. Let me pay for the dry cleaning or at least buy you a drink or something.”

Shae took the time to really look at the man standing in front of her. He was about five foot seven, 170 pounds, wearing a blue and black long sleeved button down shirt, and pinstriped pants. He had auburn hair that seemed to be styled to achieve the look that Liam has always being dying to achieve. What she noticed the most was, his eyes. They were so open and inviting, they seemed to be two oceans staring back at her with this amazing deep blue. Deciding to at least give the guy credit for apologizing and offering to help, she motioned toward the bar and headed in its direction.

“I’m Shae.”

”Logan.”

“So Logan, what do you do?”

Logan ordered himself a shot of Whiskey and reordered Shae’s drink from earlier, before continuing.

“I work for a public relations firm here in San Francisco; I just transferred in from New York. I miss it, but this place seems to be looking up for me.” He glanced at Shae’s smirk and continued. “What about you? What do you do for a living?”

“I’m a customer relations manager at a stock firm here in the city; I’ve worked there for about a year now. I mostly handle people who are wanting to transfer funds from their stocks to off shore accounts, it’s not a glam job, but it does offer a ton of travel around the world. I’ve lived here most of my life, but I love it. Its home wouldn’t live anywhere else.”

“Are you sure you can’t let me pay for the dry cleaning bill? I feel really bad about what happened. I have just been so clumsy tonight I don’t know what’s gotten into me.”

“Fine since you keep on insisting you can cover the bill, hopefully they can get it out. If not you owe me a new top, this happens to be one of favorites.”

Logan reached for his wallet and pulled out one of business cards, he turned it over and scribbled a phone number on the back before handing it to Shae.

“Here are my numbers, I am pretty hard to reach at work so if you really need to get in touch, call me on my cell it’s always on and I will answer it.”

She looked at the cell number on the back and put on a small grin, “Thanks, I’ll call you soon.”

She picked up her drink and headed back toward her friends, glancing only once toward the bar to see that Logan had already disappeared. She made her way over to Liam who was standing next to a guy about his type and build, and chatting with Cami.

“Who was that hottie?”

“Some ass that needs to watch where he is going, he spilled his drink all over me. At least he was nice enough to buy me a drink and pay for the dry cleaning bill.” She glanced back in Logan’s direction before turning back to acknowledge the unknown man next to Liam. “So Liam are you going to introduce us or shall I make the introductions?”

“Oh, shit! Sorry ‘bout that. Shae this is Alex. Alex this is my roommate and all around best friend Shae.” The two strangers shook hands and seemed to size each other up, before smiling at each other and offering to buy each other a drink.

“Do you come to Sway a lot Alex?”

“Actually no, I just moved here from New Mexico. I work with Liam down at the vintage record shop; I’ve only been there for about two and a half weeks.”

“Well I think you will like it here, it’s like no place else and beautiful too; as long as your not worried too much about earthquakes then you should do fine.”

Alex smiled at her, “I think I am going to like it here too, thanks.”

She downed her drink and signaled for Liam that it was time to go; she hugged Cami and waved to Cal and Alex before heading off toward the coat check. Liam said his goodbyes and told Alex he would see him tomorrow at work. As they made their way to the coat check Liam kept teasing Shae about the mysterious stranger. “So do you think you’ll see tall, dark, and clumsy again any time soon?”

“No probably not, I think it was just a one time thing; and you can keep in your pants Liam, he’s straight.”

”Damn! All the hot ones are.”

Once they got in the car, Shae placed the business card in her wallet. Failing to notice that the firm he worked for had the same address as the fashion design shop she worked for as well.

A Clasdestine Affair

Tue, 11 Jan 2005 06:57:51 GMT

Title: A Clasdestine Affair

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: cursing, alcohol use, sex, ocassional drug use, and debauchery.

Notes: Go here for reference photos.

Summary: Shae L. James thinks she has her life all figured out, at 25 she has been working for the CIA for almost 2 years, and leading a double life. Her cover job maybe dull, but her real job keeps her on her toes day and night. Her past holds innumerable secrets, ones even the CIA doesn’t know about. But a chance meeting brings someone into her life that she feels she can trust with these secrets, someone that alters her views, her heart, and her future.

Disclaimer: I do not begin to even know the inner workings of the CIA, and therefore, most of the things I portray are of my own minds weird ass inner workings. Though some of the places depicted in my story are real, I do not own or mean to infringe on any copywrights. This story is pure fiction and meant for entertainment purposes only.