"Could we please talk about this when I get back? I don't have time to deal with this shit right now," Brian Kinney growled into his cell phone.

"That's just it, Brian, you don't have time for anything... most of all, me!" shrieked the man on the other end. "You always expect me to drop everything for you, but you never do the same for me!"

"I... I gotta go, Mikey. We're at the hotel now," Brian replied curtly, as he looked out the window of the limousine.

He had flown into LaGuardia Airport over an hour before and planned to spend the week in Manhattan on business, returning to Pittsburg on Sunday. He always stayed at The Palace Hotel because of the close proximity to the business and shopping districts. Traffic en route the hotel had been a nightmare.

"You just wait one minute, Mr. Kinney! I..."

"Michael! I'll call you back later, okay? Fuck!" Brian stated roughly, his patience wearing very thin. He couldn't help but think that deciding to begin a romance with Michael Novotny, the man that had been his best friend since high school, had been the biggest mistake of his life.

Brian, who had never had a serious relationship before, had been consoling his friend a few months ago after his partner, Professor Ben Bruckner, had cheated on him with one of his students. One minute they were laying on the shaggy white rug in Brian's loft, sharing a pizza and a bong, and the next thing Brian knew, Michael was unzipping Brian's jeans. Brian always knew that Michael had wanted more than just platonic friendship with his handsome best friend, but Brian had always rebuffed any of Michael's past advances. As he had feared, after spending one night with Michael, their friendship had drastically changed. Other than fear losing his best friend over a fuck, Brian gave into Michael's desire for a real relationship with him. Over the past few weeks, Michael was proving to be more trouble than he was worth.

Michael dramatically signed into the phone. "Fine, I'll talk to you later then. Love you."

"Uh... yeah, me too," Brian uttered quickly before closing his phone. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to get his blood pressure back down to normal. The chauffer opened up the car door for the group.

"Ready, boss?" Cynthia, Brian's executive assistant, asked from across the limo. Cynthia had proven to be a very valuable employee over the years and Brian never went on a business trip without the petite, blonde woman.

Brian looked up at her and replied, "Yep, let's get this party started." Brian put his phone in his suit jacket pocket and stepped out onto the sidewalk in front of the hotel's entrance. Ted, Brian's accountant and good friend, climbed out of the car after him, followed by Cynthia and Jared Byrd, one of Brian's advertising associates.

The chauffer was pulling his passenger's suitcases out of the trunk of the limo while a bellman loaded the luggage onto a cart.

The bellman looked up at Brian and stated, "Welcome back to the Palace, Mr. Kinney."

"Thank you, uh..." Brian looked at the man's nametag. "Chris." He flashed Chris his Million Dollar Kinney smile, causing the young man to blush. Brian then remembered having a previous tryst with this cute bellman on his last trip to the Big Apple. He distinctly remembered the guy having a pink birthmark on his right butt cheek. Brian snickered at the memory.

The four began to make their way into the hotel and walked towards the front desk to check in. Brian felt Ted come up to his right, asking him, "Uh, was everything okay with Michael? I couldn't help but overhear..."

"Everything is fine, Theodore. I don't pay you to pry into my personal life; I pay you to take care of my money. So just mind your own fucking business, huh?" Brian snarled to Ted in a hushed voice.

Brian, along with Michael and their friend, Emmett, knew that Ted used to have a crush on Michael, so naturally, the accountant would be curious about his relationship with him.

A few minutes later, Cynthia handed Brian an envelope containing his room keys. "Alright, you're in room 4208... asshole." Cynthia laughed, as that was a suite. She knew her boss always insisted on traveling in fine style, sparing no expense for his comfort. She continued, "Ted is in 3611, I'm in 3616, and Jared is in 3620." She handed the other two men their keys. "The meeting room we reserved is ready for us; I have the keys to that. Shall we go up to our rooms to freshen up, and then meet in your room to find some lunch, say," she paused to look at her Christian Dior watch that Brian gave to her for Christmas last year, "at noon?"

"Sounds good, huh, guys?" Brian looked at the other two men, who were nodding back at their boss. Brian observed that Ted had a troubled look on his face, obviously still wondering about the one-sided phone conversation he heard in the limo.

Ted, who was a recovering crystal meth addict, was still mourning his break up with his last boyfriend, Blake. The thirty-seven year old accountant couldn't help but feel jealous of Brian's relationship with Michael. Actually, Ted couldn't help but feel jealous of Brian, period. Ted looked at his physically striking boss, who was dressed in an impeccable gray Armani suit, which surely cost more than what Ted made in a week. A gold Rolex sparkled from under the cuff of his left sleeve. Ted looked down at his own off-the-rack, no-brand tan suit he was wearing. Ted once owned a Rolex, but had to pawn it after being forced by the District Attorney's office to close down his porno website.

Next to Brian Kinney, Ted Schmidt was wallpaper.

The group began to walk toward the elevators when Brian's cell phone began to play the guitar solo from Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird." With a groan, he pulled it out of his pocket while he stepped onto the elevator. The display showed him that Debbie, Michael's meddlesome mother, was calling. Brian pressed a button on the side of his phone to ignore the call, knowing that Deb was most likely calling to bitch at him for being rude to her precious son earlier.

After the phone was silenced, "Midnight Train to Georgia" could be heard playing on the elevator's speaker overhead. Cynthia sang the "woo-woo" part out loud with a giggle. Jared lightly laughed with her.

Brian glanced over at the good-looking thirty year old ad man and noticed how he was looking at Cynthia with a sparkle in his eye.

Hmm... Brian wondered, I know that guy is straight and Cynthia hasn't been on a date in forever... but hopefully, nothing funny is going on there...

The elevator binged and opened to the thirty-second floor, where Ted, Cynthia, and Jared emerged.

"See ya in a bit, Brian," Cynthia called over her shoulder as the three of them began walking down the hall to their rooms.

The doors closed once more, and Brian rode up the other twelve floors with Gladys Knight and The Pips serenading him. The elevator doors opened and Brian stepped out, with Chris the bellman following him with the luggage cart.

"Have a wonderful afternoon, sir," the elderly elevator attendant said to Brian.

"Thank you," Brian replied as he turned to walk to his room. He made it to room 4208 and opened the door with one of his key cards, entering the lavish suite with the nearly-drooling bellman on his heels.

Brian's cell phone beeped, indicating that Deb had left a voicemail. Ignoring it, Brian showed Chris which of the suitcases on the cart were his and glanced at Chris's round ass while he put his three bags on the floor.

Brian rarely ever went back for seconds, but he figured that it didn't hurt to look.

"Where would you want these, Mr. Kinney?" Chris asked in a sultry voice. "The bedroom?"

"Uh, yeah, that would be fine." Brian picked up the suit bag while Chris extracted the handle from the rolling case, and then picked up the third hard case.

Chris led the way into the bedroom of the suite, sitting the two cases on the bench at the foot of the bed. Chris looked over at Brian, who sat the suit bag on the bed. "Thanks," Brian stated, as he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. Brian pulled out a twenty dollar bill and held it out to Chris.

Chris looked at the bill in Brian's hand, confused.

"I'm sure the others are expecting their bags," Brian said sharply, thereby excusing the hotel employee from his room.

Chris took the bill, gave Brian a nod of his head, and walked out of the room.

Brian sighed when he heard the suite's door close, stating out loud, "It's so hard to find good help these days."

The foursome was shown their table at the upscale restaurant they chose for lunch, Eleven Madison Park. After ordering their meals, Brian looked around at the beautiful dining room they were seated in. The sun was shining through the tall windows, lighting up the otherwise sparsely lit room. Brian had eaten there before when a previous client took him to dinner after signing their business contract.

Suddenly, "Free Bird" began to play in Brian's pocket again. Taking the phone out and looking at the display, Brian swore under his breath. It was Debbie, again. Brian once again pressed the button on the side of his phone, cutting the song off.

"Was that the little woman, Bri?" Cynthia asked, snickering.

Jared chuckled with her as Ted sniffed in mild amusement.

"No, but I'm so glad you all find my relationship woes so entertaining," Brian replied.

Just then, a loud crashing noise came from the kitchen, followed by muffled yelling. A few seconds later, a stunning twenty-something year old blonde man wearing a server's uniform stomped out of the kitchen.

"Fuck you, Jerry!" the blonde yelled as he marched out of the restaurant in a huff, throwing his apron down on the carpet.

A heavy-set man wearing all black walked out of the kitchen a moment later, anxiously looking around the dining room. "Uh, I'm sorry about that, folks. Everything's fine, we have everything under control." He walked over and picked up the discarded apron, then turned around and returned to the kitchen.

"What the hell was that about?" Ted asked no one in particular, shaking his head. "So Brian, once we get back to the hotel, we need to get the equipment set up in the meeting room. We need to see if we have any messages that need to be returned... Brian?"

Although he was long gone by now, Brian was still looking in the direction that the blonde had left. He wasn't wondering what had caused the attractive young man to leave the restaurant angry; he was wondering who that beautiful man was and where the hell he ran off to. Just picturing how the man's black pants had stretched across his generous backside was causing Brian's dress pants to stretch snugly across his front.

Suddenly, Ted waved his hand in front of Brian's face. "Brian?"

"Yes, Theodore?" Brian asked in an annoyed tone.

Am I gonna have to fire Princess Crystal's ass today? Brian wondered to himself.

"I said that when we get back to The Palace, we need to get the meeting room set up so we can hook up with the Pittsburg office remotely."

"Uh, we don't need to do shit. You need to get everything hooked up... that's why I brought the three of you on this trip, remember? I will be in the spa, thank you very much."

Their server then brought out a large tray bearing the group's lunches as the beautiful blonde came storming back in to the restaurant, a burning cigarette held in his left hand. He flung open the door to the kitchen, striding back in defiantly. A minute later, the man crashed through the door once again, this time carrying a black messenger bag slung over his shoulder and wearing a blue denim jacket.

Brian sat his fork down and reached out to grab the blonde's arm as he was sauntering by their table.

"Hey, what seems to be the problem here?" Brian asked as the blonde stared down at him in alarm, his blue eyes glistening in the sunlight.

The blonde stood there with his mouth agape for a moment before he answered, "Uh, I just quit my job because my boss is an asshole."

"Really?" Brian crooned to the blonde and plucked the cigarette out of his hand. Brian took a puff off of it and handed it back to him.

Once again, the heavy-set man emerged from the kitchen, where he quickly caught sight of the blonde. "Taylor, I thought I told you to get out of here," the man said sternly.

The blonde pulled his arm out of Brian's grasp, looking back at the man who spoke to him. "Yeah, I was just leaving."

The blonde took one last puff off of his cigarette before dropping it onto the carpet, snubbing it with the toe of his black shoe. He looked back at Brian with a grin on his boyishly handsome face and left the dining room once more, blowing smoke into the air. A well-dressed elderly woman at a nearby table looked at the kid in disgust, waving her hand over her head to dissipate the smoke.

The heavy-set man walked over to Brian's table. "Sir, was that young man bothering you?" 

Brian, who was once again watching in awe at the retreating blonde, looked up at the man and replied, "No... not at all. Jerry, was it?"

The man nodded. "Yes, I'm the kitchen manager." Jerry looked down at the cigarette butt crushed into the carpet in annoyance. "I'm so sorry about the outburst earlier. That kid no longer works at this restaurant." Jerry bent down and picked up the butt, happy to see that it did not leave a burn on the carpet.

Brian frowned and drawled, "Oh... what a shame."

Cynthia giggled in response to Brian's audacity. She saw the way that Brian had looked at the blonde; he practically undressed the poor kid with his eyes.  

Jerry sighed before saying, "No, it's not, really. I can't count the number of plates the guy has dropped since he started working here... anyway, if there is anything we can do to make your dining experience here at Eleven Madison Park more enjoyable, please let us know."

Ted quickly spoke up, "Uh, how about some crème brule?"

Brian looked at his accountant and chuckled, "Oh, Theodore, you're so adorable." He then looked back at Jerry and said, "No, we're just fine here, thank you."

Jerry stuck his beefy hand out at Brian, and Brian cordially shook the man's hand. After Jerry left to return to the kitchen, Ted exclaimed, "Well, shit Brian, when a restaurant manager says, ‘If there's anything we can do for you,' that's code for ‘would you like some free dessert?'"

Jared laughed and said, "I think Brian's idea of dessert just walked out of the building, right, boss?"

Brian looked at Jared, surprised that he would have the gall to make a remark like that. The man had only been working for Brian for a few months, and this was one of the few times Brian had ever seen him outside of the office. Brian didn't know him very well, but before his last statement he had found the man to be very dull, but pretty good at his job.

Impressed with Jared's accurate observation, Brian clicked his tongue and winked at him.

Jared smiled back at his boss, mentally patting himself on the back.