The next moment he was off down the clinic hallway. I made my way to the outer office, walking in a happy daze. I walked out of the building and started the journey back to the hotel by foot. It was a beautiful day in Vegas -- in the high 60s and I wanted the exercise.
I walked the 4 miles back to the hotel. During my walk I checked in with my wife. I told her I had made it to Vegas and would be there for 2 more days. She was in a hurry as always and reminded me to call the kids tonight.
As I neared the hotel I thought about the last 2 days. I am not going to put myself in this situation again. I felt free.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I got up to my room and checked my email and voicemail. I was bored and decided to head over to the convention center. I decided to stay in the clothes Scott had put out for me earlier in the day. I hailed a cap and took the quick trip over to the convention center. I signed in, grabbed my vendor badge and information packs and headed toward the main ballroom. It was packed with trade show booths, vendors, prospects and customers.
I suddenly became focused for the first time in 2 days and started working the crowd. I was one of the top reps in this field and knew quite a lot of people here. I lead a number of people over toward our booth, for the first time coming in contact with Scott. We worked the crowd together -- we followed each other's lead and I found him to be the boss I always dreamed about. Some of our other reps were at the convention, but didn't seem as successful as Scott and me.
The conference ran for the next several hours. I never took a break for lunch or dinner. Scott has some of the junior reps fetch us water and snacks throughout the day. The pinnacle of the day was meeting the buyer for one of our target companies, Abrah Manufacturing -- who had been with our chief competitor for years. It turned out Scott knew him well and made introductions to me. Over the next several minutes I sold my heart out. They agreed to have dinner with Scott and me the following evening.
As the conference ended, we cleaned up our booth. Some of my team seemed pissed off at me. "What?" I asked a couple of the guys who were obviously talking behind my back. I just got some dirty looks and they walked away, calling me 'Goldie'.
Julie Clein, one of the reps from Florida, came up to me and said, "don't worry about them, they are poor sports. They are mad you came late today. They think Scott is playing favorites and you are his golden boy. That is why they called you Goldie. Good job on Abrah. If you need any help on them, let me know. They have a big plant in Florida."
Julie and I finished cleaning up and I walked to the lobby of the convention center with her. Scott was talking with some folks and broke away and joined us when we got closer. "Let's grab a cab back to the hotel. You staying at Caesar's, Julie?" he asked.
Julie was there, too -- so we all jumped in a cab and went back to the hotel. When we entered, Scott asked us if we wanted a celebratory drink. We went directly into the bar and ordered a round of drinks. I planned on ordering a soda only, but Scott gave me a sideways glance -- so I ordered a vodka tonic instead. Julie had a cosmo and Scott had a beer. The talk was light, with Julie asking Scott a lot of questions about himself, as she reported to him, too.
I found out that Scott was single, but seeing someone. He lived in Silicon Valley, but had a place down by Malibu on the water. He was an only child and both his parents lived near Lake Tahoe. Then he started talking about why he was brought into our company. The board wanted to make some changes and get rid of underperformers. He liked both of our style and was thinking of creating a level of management -- basically splitting the country in half -- either north south or east west. He wanted to find two people to run the teams, so he didn't need to babysit 20 reps himself. And then he told us that both of us were on his short list. We ended up having 2 more rounds during this conversation, then Julie excused herself. "Sorry boys, buy I have a deal with my husband -- no more than 2 drinks while at work functions," she said with a bow.
I looked down at my watch and saw it was getting close to 7pm. Before I could even come up with an excuse to get away, Scott said he had to meet someone for dinner. "Be sure to keep the door between our rooms open tonight, baby. Good job today!" he said with a devilish grin on his face. As he put his drink down on the table he brushed his hand against mine. I instantly felt a charge go through my body and could feel a swell of blood down to my crotch. My faced glowed red and I felt my breathing change slightly. Why did this guy have such a hook on me?
Scott got up and walked toward the lobby. Before he left the room he turned back to me and smiled broadly. I was like a school girl -- what a fag I was becoming. I slammed the rest of my drink and got up to leave. As I was leaving the bar, I could see Scott talking with a tall, handsome, black man near the restaurant. They both looked over at me briefly and then disappeared into the dining room. I started walking towards the elevators when I heard my name called -- or at least my nickname called.
"Jay?"
I turned and found Tom, the nurse from the clinic, coming my way. "Hi, Jay," he said as he neared me, "I guess you didn't hear me at first."
"Oh, sorry, I was preoccupied," I said. Tom was holding an envelope in his hand. I looked down at it, and then back up at him. I didn't want to do something so personal in the middle of a busy hotel lobby so I invited him back into the bar for a drink. We sat down at the same table I vacated just a moment before. The waiter came back and I ordered my 3rd gin and tonic for the night, while Tom asked for a two shots of tequila. That surprised me, but then again, Tom was a young buck. And to prove it, Tom was carded.
Once the waiter left the table, Tom slid the envelope to me. I stared down at it.
"Don't worry, everything is fine. All negative," asserted Tom. Again, I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thanks, Tom, you and the doc are life savers. I can't believe I got myself into this situation to begin with, and now I can go back to my normal life."
"Jay, if you are a happily married man, how did you get into this situation?"
Over the next hour and several drinks, I shared my story with Tom. It was easy, with what I had been through with him earlier today, it seemed easy. And the alcohol helped, too. I also learned a bit about Tom. He had gotten a 2 year degree at a community college. He and Dr. Davis met one night at a gay bar. They ended up fucking the night away and in the morning had enjoyed each other so much they decided to start dating. After a couple of months, Tom joined Dr. Davis and started up the clinic. It was successful and they were profitable after only 10 months.
My mind was swimming. The alcohol, in combination with our discussion and my last couple of days had gotten to me. I decided I should stop drinking and head up to my room. I got up to leave the table and say thanks to Tom, but I was a bit unsteady on my feet.
