CHAPTER 2 – AND WE’RE OFF AND IT’S DEFINITELY…WE!

PITTSBURGH QUAYSIDE

EMMETT

Oh my God, this boat is gorgeous!  I still can’t believe we’re here!  Of course, we are waiting for Teddy and Brian. They had a last minute meeting and that went down so well with one particular person!  I hope that Michael gets over his pouting soon.

“Come on Michael, it’s going to be great!”  I try and jolly him along and hope that he takes his head out of his ass.  He needs to help with the unloading of the cases.

“Suppose so but I would’ve preferred…”

“Michael, can you give me a hand please?”  Vic interrupts him and I want to smack him when he rolls his eyes.  “Just take this one for me.”

Unfortunately, the handover doesn’t go well and Vic’s case crashes to the ground. While it does break, it doesn’t break open.  The glare that Vic gives Michael could give Medusa a run for her money.  It’s the case that contains his pills.

“Michael, for goodness sake!”

“What?!”  He retorts looking back at Vic.

“Ted and Brian will be here!  Concentrate!”  He snaps.

Finally all the cases are unloaded.  I frown at the distinct lack of cases for Michael.  “Michael, how many bags are you taking?”

“Those two over there.”  He points them out.

“For a month?”  Vic looks incredulous.

“Yes.  Why?”  He looks between the two of us in confusion.

“No…”

“Besides, if I need more clothes, I can buy more on the ship or wherever we stop off.”  He declares airily.

I roll my eyes and avoid looking at Vic as we both know that his ‘I’ means ‘Brian’ and I sigh.

“Isn’t that Ted?”  Vic starts waving.  “Looks like we’re going to be waved off!”

I look up and see Teddy and Brian and they have Mel, Gus and Debs with them.

“Finally!”  Michael almost teases.  “Thought you weren’t coming.”

“Oh you know me Michael.”  Brian smirks.  “I always come.”

I gape behind him as case after case after case is unloaded.

“Jesus Brian, how much have you packed?!”  Vic laughs.

“Kinney Party!”  A voice booms out.

“Over here!”  Ted calls out.

“Great! I’m Blake!  Where are your cases?  Let’s get them loaded first.”  He signals some people over.

After 20 minutes, the cases are all on board. Brian has been with Gus the entire time, pointing out things on the quayside to him.

“He’s going to miss him.”  Vic sighs and I nod.

“Okay we’re ready for boarding!”  Blake tells us.  “Where’s Mr Kinney?”

“Over there.”  I point.  “Brian!  We’re boarding!”  I shout out.

He scoops Gus up and is with us in seconds.  “Sorry Gus wanted another picture of the boat.”

“No problem.  Are we all ready?”  Blake grins.

“Yeah!  The five of us are going to have an incredible time!”  Michael smiles.

“Five?”  Blake questions and looks at his paperwork.  “I have a party of eight.  Isn’t…”

“Surprise!”  Debs squeals.

“Surprise?  What surprise?”  I query, hoping against hope that it is what I think it is.

“We’re coming too!”  She beams.

“Yes!”  I clap happily.

“You’re coming with us?!”  Michael gapes.

“Is that a problem for you Michael?  If so, why?”  Debs glares at him.

“I-I-I’m just surprised that’s all.”  He lowers his eyes so she doesn’t see his anger.  But I do.

“Hmm!”  Debs growls.  “Now come on, let’s get this holiday started!”

MICHAEL

I can’t fucking believe this!  As if it wasn’t bad enough that Ted, Emmett and Vic are here but now Ma, Mel and Gus are here too!  I try to recover from my shock and follow them to our floor just shaking my head!

“Okay here we are!”  Blake calls out. “These are the suites for Michael Novotny and Deborah Novotny and Vic Grassi!”

“Oh honey, just call me Debs!”  Ma calls out and I cringe a bit.

I quickly look in and to say it looks great is an understatement, I can’t wait to see our suite!  As I follow them, I notice that Emmett and Mel are looking at me.

“What?”  I ask.

“Why are you following us?”  Emmett asks.

“I want to see your suites, of course.”  I frown and shake my head.

“The suites for Emmett Honeycutt and Ted Schmidt!”  Blake beams and my heart begins to race.

As I follow Brian and Mel, I catch the frown on both their faces and roll my eyes.

“And finally, the suites for Melanie Marcus and Gus Kinney. This interconnects with the suite for Brian Kinney!”

They are like palaces.  Gus is awestruck and at first reluctant to go in. Blake waits patiently while Brian and Melanie coax him to look at stuff. Meanwhile, I am grinding my teeth in frustration. I just want to see our suite!

“So daddy, you’re just next door?”  Gus is clutching onto his hand.

“Yes just next door.”  Brian reassures him and carries him to the interconnecting door.  “See this door here? This leads to where I’m sleeping but you must knock first.”

“Yes Gus, definitely knock!”  Mel snickers and Brian sticks his tongue out.  “Now come on, let’s look around some more.”

Finally, we get to our suite!

“Mr Kinney, here we are!”  Blake trills and opens the door.

It is gorgeous! It is split between a bedroom and living area with a luxurious bathroom.  We also have a balcony.

“Wow!  Brian, it’s incredible!”  I cry looking around.

“Michael?  What are you doing here?”  Brian looks surprised.  “Is there a problem with your suite?”

My suite?

“Sorry Brian.”  Ted interrupts.  “But the Compactism People are on the phone. We really need to take this.”

“Okay.”  He sighs.  “Go in the lounge Ted, I’ll be there in a minute.”  He turns back to Blake and me.  “Blake, thanks for showing us up. It’s really incredible.  Will you be our steward for the entire trip?”

“No, that would be Ethan. Ethan Gold.  I was just filling in for him this morning.  I’m normally in the medical unit.”

“Oh okay, well it’s nice to meet you but I really need to get on that call.  Can you take Michael back down to his suite?”

MY SUITE???!!!

“Of course.  Mr Novotny, this way...”  Blake smiles and opens the door. I mutely follow him out.

MICHAEL’S SUITE

I’m steaming mad!  Third floor, I’m on the third floor!  I don’t even have a balcony, for fuck sake!  How did Emmett get second floor?!

There’s a knock on the door and I smile. Obviously, they’ve realised their mistake.  I open the door and a steward comes in with cases.

“Hi my name is Ethan.  Here are your cases.”  He smiles at me but I’m too pissed off to care.

“Put them over there.” I order and stomp back to the sofa and sit down.  “Was there something else?”

“No nothing at all.”  He retorts and leaves.

ETHAN

Jesus what a fucking jerk!  I roll the trolley to the next floor and they are a lot friendlier.  Emmett seems like a laugh although Ted seems as boring as hell.  Melanie, or Mel, as she insists on being called seems nice and Gus is a cutie.  Right, the final suite.  I knock on the door and I’m gobsmacked!

He is fucking gorgeous!  And almost fucking naked!

“Mr…Mr Kinney?”  I stammer…please be Mr Kinney or you will be a bitch to find!  I almost weep with relief when he nods.  “I’m Ethan... Ethan Gold. I’ll be your steward for your trip.”

“Oh fine, nice to meet you.  Can you leave the cases over there?”  He pads back towards the bathroom and I will the towel to slip down, but it didn’t.

Then I take a look at the cases and they are the real thing. This man has some serious money!

“If there is anything else you need Mr Kinney, anything at all, you have my personal beeper!”

“Fine!  Thank you Ian!”

BRIAN

I thought that chinrat would never leave!  I take a good look in the mirror and sigh.  I look hot but I also look tired.  The door knocks again. If it’s chinrat wanting me to beep him, I shall be pissed!  Then I realise it’s from the connecting door.  I pull on some pants and open the door to Mel.

“There’s a Kids Club on the lower deck so I’m going to take Gus down to check it out once he’s up from his nap.”

“Oh great.”

“So go find some stress relief!”  She grins at me and closes the door.

Yes!

I head to the lower decks to scope out a reliever as Mel put it and spot a likely candidate.  We give each other the nod and I follow him to the bathroom. I have to hand it to Gardner. This is an impressive ship, but I’m not thinking about that right now.

“Suck me off.”  I order and close my eyes. One mediocre blowjob later, I turn him around.

“You’re kidding right?”  He pants as I work his hole.  “You’ve just…oh God!”

As I thrust into him, I can feel the tension of the last few months melting away.  “Fuck!”  I shout and come hard.

“Shit!”  He yells and spurts across the door. I pull out and ditch the condom.  He’s still slumped against the door.

“Dude, you okay?”  Not that I care but he’s blocking the exit.

“Yeah, just need to get my breath back.”  He gasps.

“Can you let me out then do that?”  I grumble and start to tug him away from the door.

“Do you want my room number?”  He looks hopeful.

“No thanks.  But it’s been fun.”  I saunter out and head to the bar.

MICHAEL

I finally found my way up to Brian’s suite having got a bit lost coming up here.

“Brian!”  I shout and knock at the same time.

“Michael?”  Mel pokes her head out of her suite.  “What are you doing? Gus is asleep.”

“Looking for Brian.”  I reply. I’m still pissed she’s up here and I’m not.

“He’s gone down to the bar, I suspect.”

Ten minutes later, I’m down at the Tiger Bar and trying to find him.

LILAH’S BAR

FRANC

I love my job, correction I love my jobs!  I have only just forgiven my idiotic stepbrother, Ray, for giving Ethan the grand suites!  I told him before I went not to do that but of course he has to show how good a decision maker he is.  Well he will reap what he sows because eventually, as usual, complaints will come through.

As First Mate on this ship, I have to step up if anything happens to Ben.  But right now, I’m very happy with my other job, which is bar person and chef.  I watch the patrons come in and smile fondly at some regulars and peruse the newbies.

We have to have a dinner with the prize draw winners at least once a week so that should be interesting.

“Hi-hi!”  A voice trills and I look up and find myself grinning back at a tall flamboyant man.  “I am Emmett and this is…where is he?  One minute.  Teddy, will you come on!”

I try to crane my head around the corner to see Teddy.  Emmett comes back with him and virtually shoves him into a seat.

“This is Teddy.  And come-come, you are?”

“Franc, nice to meet you both.”  I can’t help grinning back. This man is seriously adorable!

“Short for?”  Emmett looks knowingly at me.

“Francesca.”

“Oh Franc is definitely better.  Now I would like your finest Cosmo and Teddy will have one of your finest bottles of alcohol free sparkliness.”

“And I’ll have a Beam please?”  A rich voice behind me adds. I turn and blink. Now I know gorgeous and he is gorgeous with a capital G. DAMN!

Please do not be the winner, please do not be the winner!

“Franc this is Brian, Brian this is Franc.  He won the prize draw!”  Emmett smiles.  “And he insisted that the rest of us come with!”

Fuck!

“Of course you are.”  I sigh crossly.

“Excuse me?”

“May I have a word?”  I gesture him to the other side of the bar.  “Apologies for that.  But I’m also apologising in advance for um…”

“Ian?”  He’s smiling at me.

“Ian?  Oh you mean Ethan!  Yes him.”  I grin back.  “He can be a little…”

“Over appreciative?”  He quirks an eyebrow.  “If it were big enough, he could take an eye out with that thing!”

I snort with laughter.  “I can’t, thank God, vouch for that, but if he’s giving you issues let me know.”

“Sure.”

We rejoin Emmett and Ted who have also been joined by a rather distinguished man that turns out to be Vic and his sister Debbie.

I move them to the alcove and prepare their drinks.

“But you didn’t tell me it was a gay cruise!”  A man grumbles rather loudly.

“Will you keep your voice down?!”  The other guy looks around embarrassed.  “Would you have come if I had told you?”

“Of course not!”  He shoots back.

“Which is why I didn’t tell you.  Now stop griping and start enjoying yourself.  You’ve got a tender heart in there to put together and this is the perfect place for it.  Not a chance in hell of you, actually either of us, meeting anyone here!”

“My name is Franc, what can I get you boys?”

“Boys?  Not for a long time!  I’m Rodney and this is my friend Carl.  I would love a nice glass of red and he’ll have a beer.”

“Coming up.”

MEL

Gus is tripping over his feet as he looks round the gangway as we head to the Kids Club.

“Gus honey, look where you’re going.”  I chide him gently.  “We’re here.”

I take a look through the window and feel good about what I see.  Lots of smiles and other parents are in there.

“Hi can I help…Mel?”

“Leda? Oh my God Leda!”  I throw my arms around my old college friend.  “What the hell are you doing here?!”

“Working, of course!  Now come on in!  Let me get the kid charmer.”

“Kid charmer?”  I repeat.  “Um Leda, what are you talking about?”  But she’s gone to the office.

I can’t believe Leda is here, I haven’t seen her for years and she looks good!  I always had a soft spot for her.

“Hi I’m Justin.” I jump a bit and find myself looking at what can only be described as a beautiful man.

“I’m Mel and this is…”

“Can I take over here?”  Justin asks and I nod then he sits on the floor in front of me.

“Now I can see a teddy bear behind mommy.  Does the bear have a name?”

Silence.

“Uh…”  I begin.

“Leather Bear.”  Gus answers.

Leather Bear Leda mouths at me and I resolve to kill Brian!

“Well hi Leather Bear, my name is Justin.”  Justin grins up at me.  “You know Leather Bear, you’re very polite.  Would you introduce me to your friend behind you?”

Gus looks behind him.  “There’s nobody behind me.”  He replies quietly.

“Sure there is Leather Bear.  Look there’s me, mommy, you and…”

“Gus.”

“Well it is a pleasure to meet such fine gentlemen as yourselves.  Now Gus and Leather Bear, do you think you could come out from behind mommy?”

“What do you think Leather Bear?”  Gus whispers and after a minute he comes to stand by my side.

“Like I said, meet the kid charmer!”  Leda giggles.

LILAH’S BAR

TED

Brian is coming back from another rendezvous strutting like the Stud that he is.  Before that would really annoy me but over the years working with him I’ve come to realise that it’s all, mostly, a façade.

“So out of 10 how was he?”  I chuckle as he crumples up the piece of paper.

“If I was feeling generous a 3 but I’m not so a 2.”  He grins back.

“Has anyone seen Michael?”  Vic asks.

“He was at your suite about half hour ago.”  Mel answers sitting down.  She looks longingly at the booze on the table.  “Shouting and knocking.”

“Did he wake up Gus?”  Brian frowns.

“No. Luckily, I got there first.”  She shakes her head.  “You have to tell him not to do that.”

“I’ll tell him!”  Debs snaps. “That boy is so idiotic sometimes. He needs to focus on something else!”

We all exchange knowing looks, because that is not going to happen.

“And speaking of Gus. Explain Leather Bear.”  Mel tilts her head and snickers as Brian snorts into his drink.

“Oh he finally told you his name.”  Brian laughs.

“It was so embarrassing in front of Leda and…”

“Brian!”  Michael rushes over.  “Where have you been?  I’ve been looking for you all over!”

He stares hard at me.  “What is it Michael?  Do I have something on my face?”

“Excuse me sir, I need to put the drinks down.”  The waiter interrupts.

“No Ted, you don’t but…”

“Michael come order a drink.”  Debs tells him and pulls him to the bar.

DEBS

“What the hell were you thinking?” I demand and he looks confused then annoyed at something behind me.  “Michael!”

“About what?”  He snipes.

“Going to Brian’s suite and hammering the place down like it’s the loft!”  He rolls his eyes.  “You can’t do that with Gus next door. You could scare him!”

“Ma please, Gus knows my voice…”

“Not at top volume, he doesn’t!  He doesn’t live with Brian.  Now cut that shit out!”  I order and head back to the table.

MICHAEL

I watch as Brian lopes away from the table. Now’s my chance!  I dash back and I hope everyone moves up so that there is a space left next to me and they do!

“So you guys want to eat something?”  The waiter asks.  “She makes them pretty strong so maybe you should have some nibbles.”

“I don’t know about you guys but I’m starving!”  Emmett trills.  “What do you recommend?”

I don’t listen as he points out stuff on the menu as I am waiting for Brian to come back from, no doubt, being the Stud. I’ll let him get that out of his system for the first week as he’s not been in Babylon for ages but after that it’s my time!

“Michael?  Michael, what are you going to order?”  Uncle Vic prods me in the side.

“Anything... a burger or something.”  I give the menu a quick glance.

“Sliders it is then.”

Finally, Brian is coming back.  He stops off at the bar to speak to someone.  I lean back in my seat and smile to myself.

“So where’s Gus?”  I ask about who will eventually be my stepson.

“Kids Club.”  Mel looks bemused.  “Weren’t you listening?”

“Yes of course.  Has he settled in okay?”  I bluster.

“Seemed to be.  I still can’t believe of all the people to run into…”

“Who?”  I ask and wonder about Mel’s expression.

“You weren’t listening, were you?”  Ma berates me.  “Leda…”

“Leda?  Who’s Leda?”  I demand.

“Me.”  A woman’s voice interrupts and owner of the voice sits down next to me. “I’m Leda.  Mel, I was bringing Gus up to you because he was sleepy.  But I bumped into his dad and he’s taken him to his suite.”

“Oh.  Did…”

“He said that he’ll put him down with him as he wants to sleep too.”  She smirks.  “Seems he’s had a busy time of it!”

The table erupts with laughter.

Are you fucking kidding me!