Lost Without You - Chapter 4

Lost Without You

Chapter -- 4
by [JT Poole](mailto:jtsplace@nctv.com?subject=Story: Lost Without You) and [Nikki Brown](mailto:mznikkigotstyle1@gmail.com?subject=Story: Lost Without You)

Jive Music -- JT's Office -- Late Morning

"Good morning Johnny. What brings you down to my office today?" JT asks, walking around his desk to shake Johnny's hand.

"Good morning JT. I stopped by to check to see how things were going with Trey and the boys. Have they gotten everything set up with you and have they made all the decisions for the second leg of the tour?" Johnny asks.

"So far I went over what Trey showed me yesterday and I think they have a nice projection set up. The only thing I'm concerned with is this double act. Who can they get to tour with them? They need someone that's not going to conflict with the goals of the band and the profit revenue?" JT asks him.

"Well WEG and Jive has been keeping things under wraps, but the guys of «N Sync are trying to get back together," Johnny says, crossing one leg over the other. "We've just been waiting for things with Justin Timberlake to settle down a bit."

"Oh? I didn't know they were looking to get back together. I talked to Lance a few days ago and he hadn't mentioned anything to me about it." JT tells him.

"Oh? Are you two testing the waters again?" Johnny asks.

"No, hell no!" JT exclaims, looking around and calming his nerves. "Sorry, I didn't mean to raise my voice Johnny. That's just a chapter of my life that I wish to keep closed. I won't be testing anything there again."

"I'm sorry JT. I didn't mean to..." Johnny states as JT cuts him off.

"Don't worry about it Johnny. I'm just shocked that he didn't tell me they were getting back together," JT says, pulling out a folder and passing it to Johnny. "Those are the projections that Trey left with me. What do you think about them?"

"Well I'm not the one that has to approve all of this, you are. Whatever Jive says, I will go along with." Johnny tells him, flipping through some pages in the folder.

"Well everything in there looks alright to me. I'm going to sign off on it and send it down to Finance." JT tells him, turning to look at the computer screen. "I will be sure to get a second set of those delivered over to your officer hopefully by Friday Noon."

"Alright JT," Johnny says, sliding up out of the chair. "I thank you for assisting me this morning and I look forward to working with you more on this project."

"Wait a minute. What do you mean by that?" JT asks, getting up and walking from behind his desk.

"I mean that you will be the point man on this one JT. Everything will have to go through you before it happens. I thought you knew this project was totally yours," Johnny says, looking back at JT.

"What? How did that happen?" JT asks him.

"When Martindale quit last fall, all of his projects came over to you." Johnny answers him.

"What? Why me? I know I'm a head of group management, but why am I the point person for this tour?" JT asks him.

"Well let's just say it was put to a vote and you won." Johnny tells him patting JT on the back. "Don't sweat it JT. Everything will work out fine like always."

"Yeah okay, I don't need any repeats of the «N Sync Pop Odyssey Tour," JT says, remembering the things that happened in the past between him and Lance.

"JT am I missing something here?" Johnny asks.

"No Johnny. Just over look me right now. My mind isn't really on stuff around here," JT says, walking back over to his desk as someone knocks on the door. "Come in."

"Mr. Poole, Brian Littrell is here to see you," Tina says, peeking into the room. "He says he needs to talk to you."

"In just a moment Tina," JT says, looking back over to Johnny. "Is there anything else we have to do?"

"Not today, but I will see you tomorrow for the big meeting." Johnny tells him as he looks over at JT. "You look like something's bothering you. If you need to talk about it, my phone's always on for you. And again, I'm sorry for bringing Lance back up."

"It's okay Johnny. Don't worry about it. I'll see you tomorrow," JT says, sitting back down, this time determined he wasn't moving again.

"Alright then, I'll have Tina send Brian in," Johnny says, waving at JT and then walking out of the office.

"I wonder what Brian wants. I don't think we had a meeting or anything," JT says aloud, turning his attention back to the computer screen, looking at his e-mail indicator. "What is this? Don't recognize the e-mail address."

"Hi there, are you too busy to see me?" Brian asks, peeking into the room.

"Come on in. What you be doing here man?" I ask him, taking on my ghetto talk from earlier this morning.

"I came to see you. I was bored at the hotel and wanted to drop by and see if you were free for lunch. So are you?" Brian asks, sitting in the chair in front of JT's desk.

"Awww that's so sweet. Baby B came to take me to lunch. I don't know what to say," JT says as the phone rings. "Excuse me handsome. Hello?"

"Yo' JT mah man it's almost lunch time. What do you say about us hitting Roberto's?" Quentin, JT's friend asks.

"Sorry Quen, I can't do lunch today. I already have plans." JT speaks into the phone.

"Yeah right man. You're only going to be sitting at your desk eating a sandwich. Come on man, come out with me." Quentin whines as JT shakes his head.

"Sorry Quen, I already have plans. Maybe some other time," JT says, looking over at Brian and smiling. "Times a wastin' and I have to go. See ya."

"JT...JT wait. You are joking right? You really don't have plans...do you?" Quentin asks.

"Bye Quen," JT says, smiling again and hanging up the phone.

"I guess someone didn't want to take no for an answer," Brian says, smiling back at JT. "So I take it we're going to lunch together."

"I guess so handsome," JT says, getting up.

"Where would you like to go?" Brian asks him.

"Hmmm, do you like Italian food?" JT asks.

"Sure I do." Brian replies as he and JT walk towards the door.

"Cool, why don't we go to Roberto's, it's right around the corner and there shouldn't be a wait." JT suggests, closing the door as he and Brian walks down the hall.

"Sounds good to me, I'm already starved," Brian says, as he and JT got in the elevator.

A Few Minutes Later -- Roberto's

Brian's POV

I'm so happy right now. Just being here with JT right now feels so right. I don't know why Kevin thinks that I'm making a big mistake. Shoot, I'm only going after what I want. I like JT and I'm going to do everything in my power to be with him. I've never felt this way before in my life. Being with Leigh never made me feel this good, hell being around some of the guys I've fooled around with didn't make me feel like this either. I'm just happy we're together right now and I'm going to cherish this.

He's so hot sitting there in his Sean John suit. He knows what he's doing to me. I so want to just strip him naked and have him make love to me right here on the table. He could just shove everything off the table and take me right here. That would really cause problems with the fans if they saw me doing that with him, but I don't care right now. I'm hot and bothered and only one thing can fix it.

"Brian...Brian are you okay?" He asks me, pulling me out of my thoughts. "You look strange. Is there something wrong?"

"I'm fine JT. Sorry, I was thinking about something else," I say, looking down at my hands as his cell phone starts ringing.

"Hello? Hey Nik-Nik, what you up to?" He asks the person on the phone, I'm assuming is the young lady I met last night. "Okay cool girl. We're at Roberto's. Yeah it's right around the corner from Jive. Yeah the cute little Italian place. Yeah I'm here with Brian. Sure I don't mind. No you're not. Come on girl. Then you can go back to the office with me and...yeah that too. Cool, see you in a few minutes. Bye suga."

From the sounds of his conversation, he's invited someone else to lunch with us. I guess it's not going to be as intimate as I thought. Oh well, I guess I made a mistake here. I thought he was interested in me the same way I'm interested in him.

"Brian, Brian are you okay? You keep acting like a zombie. Is there something wrong?" He asks me, shaking me this time to get my attention.

"Yeah...yeah I'm okay. Look, I think I might need to just go," I say, making a move to get up.

"Go? Why? Our lunch isn't even here yet. You sure you're alright?" He asks me.

"Yeah...yeah I'm alright. I just need...I just need to...ahh...well..." I stutter, not knowing what to say, my brain not giving me an excuse to tell him.

"What's wrong Brian? Sit down and talk to me man. Are you upset? Worried about something?" He asks me. "Come on Baby B tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong JT, I just don't feel...I don't feel..." I say as he reaches under the table and grabs my hand.

"Feel what Brian?" He asks me, rubbing his thumb across the top of my hand. "Oh God, is this because I just invited Nikki to lunch? Damn, I didn't even think about that, you invited me to lunch. You probably wanted to have this time with me. I'm such a doofus."

"I don't think you're a doofus JT. It's okay. She's your friend and she just got into town and having problems. It's okay really, I think I should just let you two have this time and I'll catch you sometime later." I tell him.

"Oh no you won't, you're staying right here. She's my friend and you're my new friend. I know how to share my time Brian." He tells me, lifting my hand up to his mouth and placing a kiss to the top of my hand. "Could you please forgive me for not taking your thoughts into consideration?"

"Don't worry about JT," I say as a waiter walks over and hands us a menu.

"What would you gentlemen like to drink this afternoon?" The waiter asks.

"How about a bottle of your finest red wine," JT says, looking at me for confirmation.

"That's cool with me," I say, looking up to see my best friend Nick walking over to the table.

"Hello Brian," Nick says, smiling at me strangely. "We need to talk for a moment."

"Hi Nick, is there something wrong?" I ask him.

"Can we like go over there and talk about it?" Nick asks, motioning with his head to a corner.

"Excuse me for just a moment JT," I say, smiling at him as I get up and walk away with Nick.

"What is it that you want Nick? Why are you here?" I ask him as he shakes his head at me.

"Me? Why the hell are you here Brian? He's our boss!" He exclaims, as I try to quiet him down. "Don't fuck this up for us Brian. We don't need anymore drama."

"I'm not fucking anything up Nick. He likes me just as much as I like him. The only thing going wrong is you being here right now," I say as I turn around to see JT's friend walk over to the table and sit down next to him.

"Please Brian, please don't cause any unneeded drama. We don't need it right now. We've been gone for a long time; we don't need to lose the respect of our fans because of anything you might do." He tells me, looking at me pleadingly. "Please Brian; there are other men out there."

"Yeah there are other men out there, but he's the one I like," I say to him as he shakes his head at me. "Give it up Nick, I'm not going to change my mind on this. I like him and he likes me. Hell, I might even love him."

"Love him? Oh yeah we need to get you some help. We can't have you out of control like this. When you done with your so called meeting, we will have a meeting of our own." Nick tells me, walking away from me, passing the table as he looks back at JT and Nikki sitting there.

Nikki's POV

"JT, is everything okay over there?" I ask anxiously, watching the tense looking situation between Brian and his friend. His friend is a definite hottie though... damn!

"Girl everything is fine. Probably just some Backstreet business," JT replies as the two men made their way back over to the table. "Now, tell me how your meetings went today."

As I filled JT in on the barest details of my meeting with the person willing to bankroll my fashion house, Brian sat back down next to JT, smiling nervously as his friend stood there staring daggers at him briefly before turning his attention to me. He has the bluest eyes I have ever seen, and there's something there that I can't quite put my fingers on, but I really want to touch him in spite of the angry looks being traded between him and Brian.

"Where are my manners? Nick Carter, this is my oldest and dearest friend Nicole Cavanaugh. Nikki, this is Brian's best friend and band mate Nick Carter," JT says by way of introduction. Nick's smile was blinding as he turned his full attention to me.

"Nikki huh?" he says with a grin, making me blush and return his smile.

"Yes--but you can call me Nicole," I quipped flirtatiously, earning another beautiful smile from Nick. "Will you be joining us for lunch Nick?"

"Not this time. I have to get back to the studio to do some more vocal tracks for the CD... but it was a pleasure meeting you Nikki," he says, purposely stressing my nickname. "Maybe one day soon JT can bring you for lunch with the whole group."

"I'd like that," I tell him, smiling up at him as he stood, excusing himself from the table and moving through the semi-crowded restaurant with lazy grace. "Mercy!"

"Down girl!" JT says, waving a napkin in my direction. "Seems you might be taking an interest in our Nick, and vice versa. You go girl!"

"Hush up diva!" I snapped playfully as I picked up my menu and pretended to read, all the while trying to push away visions of blue eyes.

TO BE CONTINUED...

STORY WARNINGS & DISCLAIMER:

I don't know any of the members of «N SYNC, Backstreet Boys or any other celebrities mentioned. I don't know anything about their sexual orientation or the orientation of any other celebrities in this story (even though I wish some of them were gay). This story is fiction and you shouldn't take it for anything else but that. This is for entertainment value only folks.