by Peter Styles
That was, until Lincoln’s phone rang. He got it out of his breast pocket and held it to his ear, “Hey, what’s up?” Suddenly, his face scrunched up in confusion to whatever the person responded with. “Seriously? Alright. I’ll head there right now.” Lincoln put his phone away and quickly got his wallet out to pay for the meal.
“What’s going on?” Wyatt asked, with a slight frown.
“That was Roland. One of our partners just called wanting an emergency meeting with me. He’s on his way to the office now,” Lincoln explained, standing from the table.
Wyatt followed Lincoln’s lead as they hurried out of the restaurant. “An emergency meeting? What kind of emergency could there be?” he asked, curiously.
“Sometimes it could be an issue with a product we had just advertised or something, and they want me to address it. Somehow spin it to make the manufacturer look responsible and kind. I don’t think it’s the case this time. Earl’s assistant who called Roland tipped us off that he is pissed off.”
“I take it Earl is the partner?”
“Yeah. Earl Guthrie. He owns Wonder Urban,” Lincoln explained, as he rounded his car and climbed in. Once Wyatt was in the car, Lincoln pulled out onto the road.
“Huh. Never would have thought someone named Earl would own a trendy company,” Wyatt joked, trying to lift Lincoln’s spirits a bit.
“He definitely doesn’t fit the type either. He started the company for his daughter. But, like all disgustingly wealthy tycoons, he doesn’t trust anyone else to manage his investments. Not even his own daughter,” Lincoln scoffed.
Wyatt was surprised that he knew so much about that one partner. He knew he shouldn’t have been though. Lincoln was an expert at his job; he probably knew everything about all of his partners and clients. “So no idea as to why he could be pissed off with you guys?”
“No idea. Maybe he thought we didn’t promote one of his products well enough? It’s hard to say. I guess I’ll find out soon enough,” Lincoln sighed.
Wyatt squeezed Lincoln’s hand, “I’m sure it’ll turn out okay,” he tried to assure him.
Lincoln’s weary face slowly pulled into a light smile. He squeezed Wyatt’s hand in return. “Thank you.” They arrived at the office, pulling into Lincoln’s usual parking space. Lincoln wasted no time getting out of the car and speed walking into the building, pulling Wyatt along by the hand. As soon as they passed through the glass double doors, Lincoln called out, “Is he here yet?”
“Not yet. Earl’s assistant messaged me a minute ago saying they were stuck in traffic a few blocks away,” Peter replied as he emerged from one of the offices. “You can head up to your office, and I’ll send him up when he gets here.”
“Thanks,” Lincoln nodded.
They walked upstairs and into a door that had Jack Brannon etched onto it. “Do your clients know you as Jack?” Wyatt asked, curiously.
“No, they know me as Lincoln. That’s just for looks,” he explained, in a mumble as he unlocked the door and walked inside.
Wyatt’s eyes scanned all over the office. Just like his apartment, it was minimal with some minor decorations. He also assumed everything in there was given to Lincoln by the companies he worked with. Lincoln walked over to his desk and plopped down in his chair, running his fingers through his curls. Wyatt paced over to him and sat down on the edge of the desk. “What are you doing after this meeting?”
Lincoln shrugged, “I was supposed to go with the crew to do a shoot on a rooftop after I dropped you off at your apartment. It really depends on how this meeting goes now. Could be doing damage control for a while. Who knows.”
“Don’t be too stressed about this… Just because this Earl guy is pissy doesn’t mean it’ll be horrible.”
“I know. I wouldn’t be stressed if it was any other client. He’s just always been a pain in the ass to deal with,” Lincoln sighed. “He’s very controlling compared to our other partners. Not to mention picky. I don’t even remember what the last item we marketed for him was. He might be mad if his product wasn’t what stood out the most in the post.”
Wyatt scoffed, “Nothing you advertise sticks out the most. You’re the reason people follow Jack Brannon. Those beautiful green eyes and raven locks could make any man or woman swoon.”
Lincoln grinned like a fool, letting his hand rest on Wyatt’s knee, “Careful, Frazier. I might start to think you have a crush on me,” he teased.
“Wouldn’t that be a shame,” Wyatt chuckled.
Then, a throat cleared from across the room. Wyatt shot up from the desk and turned around to see who it was. A thin, older gentleman stood in the doorway. He had light brown hair that was turning silver at the roots, and deep frown lines on his tanned, angry face. He really looked royally pissed off. “Mr. Guthrie, it’s good to see you. Please, come have a seat,” Lincoln called over to him.
Earl’s dull brown eyes were glued to Wyatt, “This is a private meeting. He shouldn’t be here.”
“He’s an employee. He can be here if I chose,” Lincoln retorted, clearly not liking Earl trying to boss him around.
Employee? What in the hell was Lincoln talking about? Wyatt’s face fell within a second. Did Lincoln think because they had made up that he was accepting the job offer? Jesus Christ, Wyatt was going to have to deal with that right after Earl left. He certainly wasn’t looking forward to that conversation.
Earl’s eyes narrowed, but he stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. “Very well,” he muttered. He moved over to Lincoln’s desk, sitting in one of the chairs in front of the desk.
“It’s okay. I can leave…” Wyatt muttered. He didn’t really want to be in there, even though he was curious.
“No. Stay,” Lincoln stated, his eyes locked on Earl’s. It was as though Lincoln had already sized Earl up, the tension in the room rising. Wyatt felt awkward just standing there, so he moved over to an armchair to the side of Lincoln’s desk. Why did he need to be in there? “So, Mr. Guthrie. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Lincoln started, his tone pleasant, though his face was masked in a cryptic expression.
“I think you know damn well why I’m here,” Earl firmly stated.
Lincoln gave a sickly sweet smile, “I must say I’m at a complete loss.”
“You misrepresented my product, and you know it,” Earl snapped, crossing his arms.
Lincoln’s face scrunched up into a look of confusion then, “What are you talking about? We have always represented your products fairly and justly.”
“Not this time,” Earl retorted, shaking his head. “You need to take down that video and crop my product out of it. The twosome blanket. I want no part in your pride parade of commercialism.”
Lincoln’s eyes narrowed at him, “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. You better be happy I don’t sue you for defamation.”
“Defamation?” Lincoln repeated. “Because I included my boyfriend in a product review video? In which, by the way, we gave your shitty product a pleasant review.”
“My products aren’t shitty,” Earl snapped. “And I never gave you permission to use my product in a controversial video. Your video is projecting us into a demographic we do not want.”
“Your demographic isn’t anyone with money?” Lincoln challenged.
Earl scoffed, “We don’t want people associating us with not supporting conservative views.”
“Your company name is Wonder Urban. I think you’re painfully unaware of who your demographic is to begin with. If you wanted a conservative exclusive audience, which fiscally makes zero sense, you should rebrand to something like Wonder Hicks. Or Wonder Jesus.”
“Don’t be so hateful,” Earl snapped.
“Me, not be hateful?” Lincoln questioned. “That’s really ironic coming from someone who doesn’t want to accept money from gays.”
“I never said that. I said it isn’t our target demographic. You’re launching our company into a direction I’m not comfortable with. As the
owner and operator of Wonder Urban, I’m allowed to say how my products are promoted.”
“So, because two men reviewed your product, you’re afraid that suddenly you’ll be branded as a gay company? Come on, Guthrie. You know you’re reaching.”
“I am not reaching. I don’t want my company being branded by this. It could deter potential customers. When we signed on with you, you weren’t—”
“It doesn’t matter what I was, or what I am. The fact of the matter is, you’re under contract with us and nowhere in it does it state anything to give you grounds to withdraw because I came out as gay. To pull out now, I assure you, will be a nightmare for you. Not only would I sue you for discrimination, but think of the public backlash of this. Do you think the conservatives who have a disdain for homosexuals outweigh the number of people who are pro gay rights? What do you think that will do to your image and your customer base then?” Lincoln grilled him, his eyes never leaving Earl’s.
Earl glared hard at him. “All I’m asking is for you to remove me from the video you posted.”
“And based on principle, I’m not willing to do that. I promoted your product as I agreed to do in our contract. The contract only restricts to inappropriate language, rude gestures and violence. The video had none of that. I’m not going to bend to appease your bigotry.”
Earl’s face screwed up, anger boiling over into every detail of his face. “I want our contract terminated. Right now.”
“Not happening,” Lincoln stated, plainly. “You have no grounds to terminate. If you want it terminated, then you’ll have to explain to a judge how you don’t want to be bound to a contract because you don’t like your company being advertised through a homosexual man.”
Earl was twitching with anger, his hands clutching to his biceps to the point where his knuckles were white and sleeves heavily creased. He sat fuming, his mouth twisted into a sour expression. Then he stood up hastily. “This is far from over,” Earl growled, then turning on his heel and heading to the door.
“Catch ya later, Earl. Say hello to Elizabeth for me,” Lincoln called after him, Wyatt assuming Elizabeth was Earl’s daughter. Earl turned to give one final leer before exiting the room. Lincoln chuckled to himself before looking to Wyatt.
“That was a spectacle,” Wyatt commented, softly.
“I wish I could say I can’t believe he tried to do that but, of all of our partners, he would be the one,” Lincoln sighed, shaking his head. He motioned for Wyatt to come over to him. Wyatt, of course, stood and walked over to him. Lincoln pulled him into his lap, kissing his shoulder.
“Maybe he’s jealous,” Wyatt joked. “Has he ever put some moves on you?”
“I would probably vomit,” Lincoln laughed, shaking his head.
Wyatt was smiling, but a question was eating at him. “So… Why did you want me to stay in here for that?” he asked.
“I saw that look on his face when he looked at you and knew it was going to be something about you. Since you are involved in all this, you deserved to be included. Or at the very least, witness it.”
Wyatt nibbled his bottom lip, “You had called me an employee when you talked to him… You know I’m not, right?”
Lincoln’s brow creased, “I don’t understand. I thought we had cleared everything up at breakfast…”
“We did, but I never agreed to accept the job offer,” Wyatt explained.
“Why not accept though? You’re already going to be hanging around, and in some material, so you might as well get paid for it. After all, you’re doing what I do, but on a smaller scale.”
Wyatt rubbed his forehead, “I don’t want this to turn into an argument, Linc…”
“Then don’t argue about it. Just accept the offer.”
Wyatt moved from Lincoln’s lap, “You’re being bossy. You can’t just order me to take a job I don’t want.”
“I’m not trying to boss you, sweetheart. I’m simply pointing out it makes sense to take the job. You’re providing the company a service, and you should be compensated for it. I don’t see what the problem is…” Lincoln retorted, calmly. At least he was making a genuine effort to stay level-headed.
“Because I don’t see it as providing a service. It’s just spending time with you in my eyes… To accept money for it reaffirms my fears of using being gay for profit.”
“At the risk of sounding dumb, forget that we’re gay. It has literally nothing to do with anything. If you were a woman, we would be offering the same thing. You’re getting hung up on it, and it’s getting old. You’re the only one making it into a problem,” Lincoln spouted off, his frustration very clearly starting to come to the surface.
“You’re not listening to me, Linc. I don’t want money anyways. I just want to spend time with you.”
Lincoln rubbed his eyes, “I am listening to you, and I get it. It’s a sweet notion that you only want to spend time with me and don’t see it as a job. In a way though, it is a job. I want you to be in my content more prevalently. Not for any nefarious reason, but because the couple of things we have done together were really fun. I don’t remember ever having that much fun while working. If you take it as a job, it’s a win-win for the both of us.”
“Except for the part where I already have a job,” Wyatt remarked.
Lincoln scoffed, “You work part-time. You mean to tell me this is all because you don’t want to take on another part-time job?”
“You make it sound like I’m some lazy fuck. I work part-time because I’m damn good at my job, and I don’t want it to be my entire life.” As soon as the words left his mouth, Wyatt knew they were a mistake.
It was too late to take them back though. “What is that supposed to mean?” Lincoln snapped.
Wyatt tried to defend himself, “As in that working all the time doesn’t work for me. That has nothing to do with you.”
“Right,” Lincoln snorted. “All of this is about me working too much, isn’t it?”
“You’re being absurd. I wouldn’t ever try and guilt you about working a lot. I know this is a passion of yours. By the way, thank you for turning this into an argument. This is the exact same thing that happened last night. You’re speaking out of your ass because you’re upset you aren’t getting your way. Stop blowing this up into something that it isn’t.”
“Alright, I didn’t mean my last comment. I am sorry about that. However, I’m not trying to argue. I’m just annoyed that you keeping expressing these concerns about me trying to monetize my sexuality, but then, you’re the only one even thinking of it like that. You are rejecting a generous offer to become a part of my time because of it. Honestly, I’m a little insulted. You’re belittling my feelings for you by continuously drawing from that false narrative.”
Wyatt groaned, “You can’t say that I’m the only one thinking it. You can’t read minds. Besides, this isn’t even about that. I shouldn’t have even brought it up. My main point is I simply don’t want the job; it feels wrong to me, and I have the right to decline. Why are you so mad about that?”
Chapter 14: Kiss and Make Up
Before things could escalate more, there was a sudden rapid knock on the door. “What?” Lincoln shouted to the door.
The door was then pushed open, a nervous, skinny man stepping in. “Hi, Mr. Prescott… and friend,” he called over. Pacing quickly over to the desk, he produced a business card and handed it over to Lincoln. “I was instructed to give this to you. It has Mr. Guthrie’s personal number on it. He hopes that the two of you can resolve this personally, rather than in court.” Was this Earl’s assistant? Wyatt had to assume it was since he knew Earl brought one along.
Lincoln’s face was pulled into a look of confusion and slight annoyance. “Why are you giving me this? I already have his personal number, and he knows that.”
The assistant gave a shrug, “I’m just the messenger. Maybe he really wanted you to have it.”
“Well, thanks for delivering it,” Lincoln muttered, tossing the busi
ness card onto his desk.
“Don’t mention it,” the assistant said, before walking back toward the door. The awkward guy stumbled a bit, catching himself with the corner of a bookshelf that was against the wall. Standing straight, he caught his breath after the fright and looked back to Lincoln and Wyatt. “I’m really sorry all of this is happening, by the way. Mr. Guthrie’s views have nothing to do with my own.”
“That’s nice of you to say,” Lincoln called to him, forcing himself to smile at the guy. Wyatt knew that Lincoln didn’t really care about that guy’s opinion, he just wanted him to leave.
“Sorry to have bothered you,” he mumbled. He then loudly cleared his throat before heading to the door. Thankfully, he had the courtesy to pull it closed behind him.
“Now that he’s gone…” Lincoln’s arms were then around Wyatt, pulling him into his chest. “I’m sorry I started a fight. Apparently, I need to work on my impulse control.”
“Apparently so,” Wyatt muttered, giving into the embrace and leaning into him.
“So you forgive me?” Lincoln asked.
“As long as you promise to really work on it. I’m not going to get into an argument every time your job or my feelings come up…”
Lincoln peeled back and looked down at him with a kind smile and shimmering eyes, “I promise. Everything is uncharted territory, so I know that everything is going to be tricky at first. I know we’ll get the hang of it though.”
Wyatt tried his best not to grin, but he couldn’t seem to help it. He was such a sucker for Lincoln, even if half the time Lincoln frustrated the hell out of him. “I’m glad you’re coming around to the side of reason. Never did I think I would be the less emotional one in a relationship,” Wyatt teased.
Lincoln playfully glared in response. “I think being emotional and having a short fuse are two different things. And you happen to suffer from both.”
“Your temper is far worse than mine,” Wyatt scoffed.
