Shadow086

Brett's likely to get involved by that point, and he's party to it. And if it's coming from some 16 year old kid with issues, why would Jack even bother to acknowledge it? If Billy claims were so ridiculous, I wouldn't expect Jack to even bother suing him over it. The fact that he'd be willing to sue over it could give Billy's claims more substance in the eyes of some people. Ultimately I think Jack was bluffing. Doing something as public as this runs the risk of things coming out that he'd rather stay hidden, and while he'd still get away with it, whatever comes out of that trial could get a lot of people to start thinking about things and connecting the dots, and Jack doesn't want that. Jack's smarter than that, he'll find a more subtle way to destroy Billy. Like character assassination, which he already started doing with Paula. EDIT: I understand the legal things and all that, I just don't see what Jack has to gain by suing Billy. He's too smart to try something that could backfire on him like that. Oh, how I wish Billy had that conversation on tape...

Still, Billy could then request that paternity test. Jack should have no problem with that if he's really innocent, and, assuming he's crafty enough, Billy could also try to present it in a way that would make Jack's refusal appear as an admission of 'guilt' (not the right term, but that's the general idea). If Jack's so perfect and has nothing to hide, he wouldn't mind doing the paternity test and publicly humiliate Billy, now would he? Now, I'm thinking Jack is smarter than that, and he'd probably try to do defamation of character himself on George and Paula so they both lose their jobs. Much harder to prove he's behind it than if he just sued them for no logical reason.

I was talking about Jack following through on his threat to sue Billy and his family if he talked. That would mean Jack would most likely have to prove that Billy was lying about Jack being Brett's father.

Sue them for what? George or Paula never did anything to him that would justify suing them, so that leaves Billy. And what could he sue Billy for, defamation? If Billy sticks to his guns and lets this go to court, Jack would have to prove Billy's claims are false, and he can't do that. What Jack did aren't the actions of a clever lawyer. Once again, Billy's sexuality was used against him. Billy really needs to come out, then Jack would have a lot less leverage against him. I'm starting to think Jack is evil enough to be behind Brett's car accident. It would get rid of the 'evidence', and if it doesn't work, it scares Jen into keeping her mouth shut. Jack's playing a dangerous game, because at some point people are going to decide their secrets aren't worth living under Jack's thumb. Jack's a bully, and he'll end up going after the wrong person one day. To be clear, by 'wrong person' I mean another relatively well respected member of the community who will cause the town to wonder why he's airing that dirty laundry in public. People like Jack tend to get overconfident and make careless mistakes, and that leads to their undoing. Jack's can't come soon enough. I think that once Paula sees what the social circle she's trying to join is really like (probably when they go after her and Billy personally), she's going to be Billy's ally in this. Hopefully they can start by getting rid of the preacher so Jack has one less powerful ally to support him. Jeff, I just get more pissed off the longer Jack gets away with this stuff. I hope he goes down soon.

Do you really think the respected lawyer hasn't threatened anyone else the way he did Billy? Not everyone likes him, and I'm sure the people he wronged would be happy to help take him down, and if a bunch of rumours start spreading at once... He can't sue everyone into silence, the town will get suspicious. Jack will slip up, you'll see... Billy still has cards, he probably doesn't know what they are yet. Neither do we, for that matter.

Maybe I have this wrong, but I was assuming Jack would sue him for libel, which means he would need to prove that what Billy said was false in order to have him found guilty. Of course, he's too clever for that, and he'd find some other bogus reason to sue them.

Wait a minute. Would Paula take the day off so she can catch B&B at her house while they get their school gear, then send them to the Cabin for a week, much like Joey went away? She's probably furious that he didn't come home, and will be waiting for him in the morning so he can't run off again. One thing's for sure: she better not try to take Brett away from him now, because he'll blow up even worse, and he might just leave for good. And how did Jack even find out that Billy knows the truth, anyway? Did Jen tell him, or did he hear it some other way?

You know what? I wish Someone would give Billy enough money to hire a lawyer. Then Billy could spill Jack's secret, and when Jack sues him, he can take it to court and force Jack to take a paternity test to prove he isn't Brett's father. I'd love to see Jack get out of this one, Billy would have him by the balls. How could he make good on his threat when it means proving a lie out of the truth? Billy still has all the cards, if he figures out how to play them right.

They should find a way to get Brett to take a paternity test. If they can get a DNA match, Jack won't be able to weasel out of it, and then the whole town will know why he's going after Billy's family. Trying to bankrupt the Roberts won't gain him any favours if everybody knows he's doing it as a revenge for Billy exposing him as the lying, cheating scumbag he is. The ONLY way Billy can bring them down is with undeniable proof. I hope he knows this and figures out a way to get that proof. I'm still thinking it's possible Brett knows, or at least suspects the truth. What makes me so angry is that Jack keeps getting away with this shit. I want Billy to come crashing down and leave a big, flaming crater where Jack McKenzie's reputation used to be. It doesn't look like it'll happen in this part, unfortunately...

Not when he gets pissed off enough.

This book pisses me off so much, yet I can't stop reading. Bravo Jeff.

Man, I get so worked up when I read this story. I get so pissed off at all the lies, backstabbing and hypocrisy that goes on in this, maybe I should just stop reading. Seriously, fuck these people.

I really thought he would, but that would probably have made things even worse. Now, this is about what I was expecting would happen. It could've been worse, I suppose. Considering their social status, it doesn't surprise me one bit. I don't know how effective Jack's threat will be, but the truth will come out at some point. If B&B were smart, they'd try to push their parents to move away from that shithole town, and then drop the bomb about Jack once they're out of his reach. I am SO glad Billy blew up at Paula the way he did. She had it coming, with her sanctimonious attitude. She was probably oblivious to the damage she was doing to her family, and now Billy threw that back in her face and gave her a dose of reality. The fact that she's still going on about her reputation, even after Billy almost outright said he hates her, infuriates me. There's almost no relationship left, and Billy is now basically forcing her to choose between her church and her family. I'm still not sure she'll make the right choice. She still sticks up for them after finding out what they're saying about her behind her back, she's no better than them. So that cabin is probably where they'll spend a few days to cool down, while Paula gets her head out of her ass and makes things right. Or else, she and Jen better hope that their secrets and reputations are worth losing their sons over, because that's what it's looking like right now. And for the record, I don't remember who David is either...

I'm counting down the minutes as patiently as I can.

As if Joey wasn't a big enough proof of that.

Maybe it's time Jack stopped dwelling in that lofty place. Billy holds the key to throwing the entire town into chaos, but he won't use it because he doesn't want to hurt his boyfriend. Let's just hope Brett doesn't ask him about it, because Billy can't lie to him. I still think there's a chance Brett knows. Jack and Jen may be good at lying, but Brett is also good at picking up on these lies. At the very least, he knows Jen's still lying to him. That's what I think, anyway. Now all Billy needs is to have some dirt on the pastor. I'm sure he won't hesitate to use that, if only to break Paula from his influence.

Well, we know how manipulative Jimmy can be, so my guess is he's going to try and get Billy to be at the right place at the right time to witness whatever Brandon's up to on Mondays. Billy won't believe what he says, but he'll believe what he sees with his own eyes. I still think Brandon goes to hang out with Stevie on Mondays, but that comment about getting his dad out of the house makes me wonder if he's involved in some way. Bobby blew it the minute he told Ian he was a virgin. All it takes is for Ian to talk to someone who knows about that whole mess and he'll find out the truth, Bobby can't get everyone to go along with his lies. And once Ian finds out he's been lied to about something this important, he'll never trust Bobby again. All it takes is one word from Brandon and it's over. Bobby painted himself into a corner and forced Billy to go along with his lying, and now Billy has his hands tied and can't do anything to prevent this train-wreck from happening. And of course, Bobby's going to try to blame him for everything. I never understood why Billy thought coming out to Ian was such a bad idea in the first place. I doubt Ian's first thought would be "Billy Chase is gay, that must mean he slept with my boyfriend.", that's just ridiculous.

Here's something else to think about: what if Brett already knows about his father, and he's pretending not to in order to see if Jen will tell him the truth. That could explain why he's still hanging around with that asshole brother of his. Brett is very perceptive, so I'm sure he picked up on the fact that Jack's interest in him goes beyond being friends with his mother, plus the fact that he probably also noticed the resemblance between himself and the McKenzies. There's so many layers to this story, every time I think about it there's some piece of information I haven't considered. I love it.

*Sigh* I knew Bobby was going to fuck this up. Billy should just try one last time to knock some sense into him, and stay out of it after that. No matter how much Bobby tries to blame him, this isn't Billy's problem. It's clear that Bobby doomed this relationship to failure with all his lies. If Bobby hadn't tried to erase their little fling, Billy could've at least tried to help Ian understand why he gets so upset when it comes to Billy. But no, he had to lie about everything and now he's going to blame Billy when it blows up in his face. It's kinda hard to feel sorry for the guy when he brought this on himself despite Billy's attempts to prevent it. Jimmy...Why didn't Billy just block his email address if he keeps sending these emails? I don't like the timing here, and I think we're about to find out what Brandon does on Mondays. That's probably what Jimmy was referring to. Something big is about to happen, I'm sure. Another great chapter. Thanks, Com!

The other thing I noticed too is also in this statement: I don’t know what it was about him, but I found him very charming. Everybody did. He could have talked the pants off a nun, he was so smooth. I immediately thought of how Brett was able to charm Paula so easily and be pretty much 'out' without anyone caring.

I made the connection in 5-6 even though I forgot what Jen said in book 2. I might have put it together sooner but it sort of faded into the background because of everything else that was going on. Did I figure it out before Billy did? I can't really answer that, since I don't know when Billy figured it out. It could've been in 5-6, or it could've been way back in book 2. That's a trick question, Jeff. I started getting suspicious when it became clear the McKenzies aren't the angels we thought they were. What about that comment Jack made to Billy: “I guess you’re at that age when you’ve started to realize that people your parents’ age had lives before you were born, eh?". Would that count as a hint? You even used it as a teaser for the book.

My sense is that Parker's just being friendly with the other boy and Kevin is seeing something that isn't there because he's insecure about his looks. Parker isn't AJ, and he doesn't feel like the type to dump someone he made a connection with for some hotter guy. If he does turn out to be that type then Com had me fooled.

Another great chapter, Com! Poor Kevin, I hope he's wrong about Parker and that new boy.

Brett moved in when he was eight, so they've all known each other for eight years now. And the elitism comment meant that Joey views Brett as part of their clique, so he's friends with him. Joey will have to suck this one up, but will he be able to leave Billy alone more than Billy was able to stop himself from screaming out Dustin's secrets? I'm not so sure.

Brett moved when he was eight or nine, so he's been there a while. While I suspect Joey knows something, it hasn't been confirmed, so I won't assume that's his reason. It might be because he considers Jen, and by extension, Brett, as part of the 'elite' like he is because of her profession.