Brian looked around the boardroom in irritation. Not only had his prospective clients been late, but once they had arrived, they had decided to sit around the table and collectively chat with his staff. Typically, it was a scenario that he would blow off, but not today. He was on edge about what had happened to Justin's photo studio in L.A.; in particular, if Michael had been a factor or not. Beyond that, though, he was irritated at himself. He was allowing his personal life to affect how he handled a business meeting. That was something he never did.

He caught Cynthia's attention, knowing that she would understand his look of extreme annoyance, and act tactfully on the behalf of Kinnetik. If he interrupted the small talk that was circulating around the room, this would be one client to be crossed out of the Kinnetik portfolio. Subtlety had never been his strong suit, and at this moment, polite business etiquette appeared to be following the same path.

Standing to her feet, Cynthia cleared her throat, before she congenially spoke, "If everyone is all set, I believe Brian is ready to begin the presentation."

Brian inclined his head, moving to the end of the rectangular boardroom table, waiting for complete silence before he got started. It was his goal to present the boards, and give his pitch in the quickest time possible. It was now four hours since he'd dropped Justin off at the airport. According to his precise calculations, Justin should have been in the air for about two hours now, in what would be roughly a six-and-a-half-hour flight. Justin wouldn't be on the ground, and en route to his destination for a while yet. In the meantime, there was a phone call he needed to make once the morning proceeded along.

"So sorry, Brian." Marco Bianchi, the CEO of MGB Wine and Spirits addressed with a slight hint of apology in his voice. "It's rare to get all of us together at the same time. We are hands-on in the vineyards." The old school Italian winemaker laughed jovially. "The secret of our success."

"Well, it does appear to be working." Brian's eyes touched on each of the MGB board members, then briefly on his staff, determined to focus on the business at hand, which was selling another winning pitch to this California based client that didn't really need to extend all the way to New York for their advertising needs. Kinnetik had a long reach across the country, in actuality appearing to be small, but a true competitor in the advertising business. The addition of Metropolitan Man and that introspective cover story didn't hurt at all either.

Moving to the boards, Brian smiled at each of the board members, focusing the longest on Marco Bianchi, the patriarch, and the man that would make the ultimate decision. Winning him over would effectively close the deal. Today, that was what mattered most... successful acquisitions, without completely monopolizing his day. Assuring himself that Michael was back in Pittsburgh, and not creating problems for Justin in L.A. was a bit more predominant. If need be, he would reorganize his entire schedule in order to fly out to meet Justin, but he wasn't sure his assertive and controlling blond would appreciate any assistance. He was sure it would be as Justin predicted, he wouldn't be gone for long... and then, they could get back to life. If Michael was involved in this crisis, it would be handled, once and for all.

Closing his mind off to everything other than the business at hand, Brian did what he did best, wooing the client without them knowing how easily they were maneuvered. It was an invaluable trick of the trade, and he excelled at it. No man that he had ever encountered in the world of advertising could manage to play with words, and innately always know what the client wanted. It was the secret of his success, and why Kinnetik had skyrocketed to such heights that he had secured offices high atop The Empire State Building within months of his arrival in New York.

Brian knew he was on the top of the world, both personally and professionally... and that was exactly where he intended to stay.

Two hours later, after some minor modifications to the layout, the deal was closed for another three years, with a handshake from the CEO of MGB Wine and Spirits, and a signed contract on his desk. Brian knew he should feel elated, but he was still uneasy. Justin's plane couldn't have landed quite yet, but it shouldn't be too much longer now. He was uncertain if he should call him tonight. There wasn't a doubt that Justin would have a great deal occupying his time and mind, but he knew he wouldn't feel good about any of this until he was reassured that everything was as it should be, or as close as it could be, after what could have been a tragic event.

And then there was hot little Sean. He knew that the twink still lived in Justin's house. Even though he had no idea of the size of Justin's California home, he would assume that it was grand. His young lover seemed to enjoy all the finer things in life, and could afford them as well; Brian was certain that would definitely extend to his real estate. No matter how large Justin's home might be, he still didn't trust Sean. Being so far away, he knew there was nothing he could do about it. The most comforting factor was how Justin had innately sensed his unease about Sean, and his promise that he wouldn't fuck his former lover. He trusted Justin. Despite both of them agreeing that they would trick together, and perhaps even when they were apart, resuming any physical relationship with Sean would cross a line. It was a relief that they had both agreed on that.

Rubbing the back of his neck, feeling the tension rising, Brian picked up the phone, uncaring of how stressful this call might be, as long as definitive results were reached. He was fairly certain Debbie would be at home, particularly since Michael was due to arrive today. As much as he wanted answers to Justin's crisis in L.A., he also hoped Michael's hands were clean this time. He wasn't sure what he was hoping to determine with this phone call; it would be impossible to make a definite determination without seeing Michael face-to-face, but at the moment, this was the only thing he could do.

After several rings, Brian felt a slight bit of relief when the phone was picked up; however, the voice that greeted him on the other end wasn't Debbie Novotny... it was Michael himself. Hell, he hadn't expected that. Now he had to quickly decide - should he hang up, or reveal that he was calling to check up on his possibly unhinged ex-best friend? He knew he would do the latter without giving the matter much thought. In actuality, if Debbie had answered, he would have probably asked to speak with Michael at some point. It was the only way of getting the answers he sought, although he had his doubts that a phone conversation would give him a clear answer, but it was all he had for now.

"Hello?" Michael answered again, this time his voice rising impatiently.

"I see you made it home..." Brian started, for now keeping the accusing tone from his voice.

Michael gasped. "Brian? Why are you calling?" His eyes narrowed angrily as if Brian could possibly see him. "Are you checking up on me? I swear if that meddling little asshole put you up to this, I'll..."

"You'll do what?" Brian snapped. "Is it any wonder we want to make sure you've gone exactly where you said you would be going? Or any reason why you should suddenly be trusted now?"

"What the fuck, Brian? You are checking up on me. Shit!" Michael exploded. "You would have never done that before this arrogant prick came into your life! You would know that me selling the store and returning home meant that I was keeping my word... that I intended to stay away from you!"

Had he jumped to conclusions? Michael's outburst hadn't been given with his typical defensive aggression. He had sounded more outraged, even affronted. Brian frowned as he listened to Michael huff and puff, continuing to spout his own accusations, mainly at Justin. To his immense surprise, his initial impression was that Michael wasn't responsible for the fire in Justin's photo studio. That wasn't something he had expected to determine.

"Let's leave the insults to Justin out of this, Michael. I'm the one calling you... not him!" Even though he thought he could have been mistaken regarding his former friend's involvement, he wasn't going to allow him to attack Justin. As far as he was concerned, both he and Justin had plenty of reason to suspect Michael. He would hope that Michael would feel the same if he had all the facts. Of course, after how much Michael had changed in such a short amount of time, he knew he couldn't realistically expect such an unlikelihood. "It appears that I made a mistake. I needed to be sure."

"Sure about what?" Michael demanded.

"There was a fire in Justin's L.A. photo studio last night. He's on his way there now to check things out. After what you attempted to do to get rid of him before, it was a logical assumption." Brian wasn't certain he should be giving him this much information, but he felt it was really the only way to know if his first instincts had been right. He realized there was probably no way to know for sure... but if Michael was guilty, even if indirectly, he doubted he could effectively hide it from him.

Michael's eyes widened. A fire? What the fuck! "Was anyone injured?" he asked. "Uhhh, Brian, I didn't have anything to do with it... I swear. I'm trying to put my life back together. I just sold the store, and I'm spending time with Ma for a while. I'm not looking for ways to fuck that up..."

"No. The preliminary report indicated that a couple of Justin's employees suffered some smoke inhalation, but nothing more; however, the studio was destroyed." Brian shook his head incredulously. "I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I believe you, Michael. As of yet, I don't have a lot of information, but it's possible that it could be some sort of freak accident; I'll know more when I hear from Justin."

"Damn. I really am sorry, Brian. I'm not going to deny how I feel about Justin, nor will I deny how I feel about you. No matter how much you hate me now, I still love you." Michael paused to let Brian absorb the words, slightly encouraged when Brian didn't rush to contradict or ridicule him. It wasn't enough to give him any hope, but it wasn't an even deeper twist of the knife in his chest either. "I know you don't want to hear that, so I won't go on about it. It is what it is. I just want you to know that I miss you, Bri. You were my best friend, and I destroyed it all."

Brian sighed, his hand reaching up to once more rub at the tension in the back of his neck. "I really don't want to rehash any of this right now, Michael. I need to go; I just needed some answers. Thank you for giving me those."

"No problem." Michael held his tongue, holding back from letting out all of the insulting comments he could make about the young blond. As much as he had accepted defeat regarding a relationship with Brian, he hadn't given up on a future friendship renewing between them. He knew with Justin in the picture, that outcome was less than likely, but he realized the future was open-ended. Anything was possible. "Well, I won't keep you. I know you're probably busy. It was good talking to you, Brian, no matter what the circumstances. I hope we can do it again."

Brian smiled, surprised at how much relief he felt knowing that Michael wasn't the mastermind behind Justin's crisis. A lifelong friendship wasn't easily tossed away; however, he wasn't sure they could ever go back. Too much had happened, and even more had been spoken between them. Brian's non-committal answer was, "I guess we'll see. Goodbye, Michael."

After ending the call, Brian found himself even more bewildered. He had been convinced of Michael's guilt; he was sure Justin had been as well. Perhaps the fire had been a fluke accident and not the result of foul play. He supposed anything could have happened. He knew of the high-intensity lighting and the vast number of electrical wires associated with a photography studio. Nothing else could be determined until he heard from Justin. For now, he had to wait.

Picking up his phone, Brian typed a brief message to Justin, deciding that it would be beneficial for him to be able to eliminate Michael as a suspect. In doing so, he would be more focused on what developed in the investigation. Justin, I spoke with Michael. He didn't hire anyone to set the fire. It's difficult to explain, but I know him. You need to look elsewhere for your answers. Later.

Brian set his phone back on the desk, grimacing at his schedule for the rest of the day. He didn't know why, but he felt very uneasy about Justin's trip to L.A.. Something just didn't feel right to him. Was it the events that had happened there? Or... could it be the fact that he knew Justin's former lover would be there waiting for him? He hoped that Sean had moved on and was fucking every available California boy in residence, but something told him that wasn't quite the case. Fucking, undoubtedly. But moving on? Definitely not. Justin Taylor wasn't a man easily forgotten. In fact, to his way of thinking, it would be completely impossible.

TBC