^{The Beginning}

For one final time David checked the details in his little client reference book, before returning it to his jacket pocket. The Agency gave all its escorts one. The girls got petty pink suede ones, the boys purple suede… They came in a case or the same suede, with a matching mobile phone, panic alarm, mace spray and PDA/Blackberry. David kept his out of sight of the client as much as possible, purple suede was not entirely his ‘thing’.  He smoothed the pocket of his jacket and sat back against the comfortable leather of the agency Mercedes. It had picked him up from his agency provided mews flat and was taking him to the Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington, where he was to meet a new client.  One Mr Hugo Weaving, Chairman and Chief Executive of Weaving Construction Inc. one of the biggest privately owned property companies in the world. Weaving had founded it 20 years ago and built an empire of ‘green’ environmentally friendly buildings all over the world.  Being green however did not mean Hugo Weaving was an easy man to do business with, oh no, David’s research had shown him to be one of the sharpest business minds and negotiators playing in the field today, and because of that one of the wealthiest and most powerful. As was his wont David had read the client dossier a half a dozen times over, then looked up the company on the internet, carefully committing the key facts and recent business press releases to memory along with the company’s last 3 quarters performance figures. He had read the section on the company’s website about Weaving which told him very little and then managed to chase down one or two interviews and profiles on the man, but only one or two.  The entire process told him that his client was an immensely wealthy, immensely private man who could afford to ensure his privacy.  By the time he had finished David had done his best on rather scant information to get to know his client beyond the likes and dislikes do’s and don’ts he had memorised from the client dossier. It was this meticulous attention to detail that made David one of The Agency’s top escort’s with a client list as long as your arm and a waiting list even longer.  In a couple more years David would be able to retire very comfortably, Weaving had only got him by virtue of his enormous wealth and influence and the fact that David was free this particular evening…  AND David had taken one glance at the photograph the agency had sent of the man, and agreed to give up one of his nights off.  He was to accompany Weaving to an Institute of Directors dinner where he was a guest speaker and where he also was to meet with a potential customer, to try and lay the bulk of the ground work for winning the contract to build a new complex of apartments, shops, offices and schools just outside of Tokyo city.  As usual the Institute dinner was black tie so David was impeccably turned out in a black evening suit with a perfect white, wing collar, shirt and a black silk bow tie with a quarter carat diamond in the corner.

The black Mercedes turned into Kensington High Street and after a few minutes pulled up the ramp to the big glass hotel doors and glided to a halt.  A doorman in hotel livery stepped forward and opened the car door as David nodded to the driver and then stepped out.  Another similarly clad doorman nodded to him as he entered the hotel through the automatic sliding door; that always made David smile… if only they knew.

He was to meet his client in the upstairs lounge bar, so once inside he headed off up the stairs, startling pale blue eyes scanning constantly for his client as he went.  He spotted him seated at one of the small balcony tables.

Hugo Weaving stood as the vision of strawberry blonde loveliness he had been unable to get out of his head for the last few hours glided up the stairs towards him. The man was even more breathtaking in the flesh than he was in the pictures the agency sent.

David smiled as he approached his client and offered his hand “Mr Weaving…”

The man’s voice was as lovely as he was with a slight hint of an Australian accent. Hugo tried not to hold on to the hand for too long, but it was very hard to let go. “Please, call me Hugo…” he added as he indicated to the young man to sit and then sat back down himself.  “So… er… while we’re on the subject of names, what do I call you?” It seemed like an odd question but The Agency policy was rather strict with regard to names. They were to be agreed between the client and the escort on the night.

“Whatever you like…” his companion replied with another gentle smile.  It was probably going to be worth giving up one of his nights off. The man before him definitely lived up to the photographs and the few profiles David had found. He was older than David with a slightly receding hairline, however all that seemed to do was enhance his beautiful navy blue eyes and absolutely gorgeous shy smile. The man… twinkled… that was the right word… he very definitely twinkled.

“Any preferences?” Hugo asked, if he was honest he rather wanted this lovely young man to tell him his real name but he knew it wasn’t the way these things worked.

David cocked his head on one side as he thought for a minute.  “Will David do?” He asked softly.  The decision was always left to the escort, and most preferred to keep their real names private. David was usually one of these but there was something about Hugo Weaving that made him want to be honest.

“David will do very nicely indeed,” the older man said, with a smile.

A bar person arrived just then and Hugo looked at David with eyebrows raised in query. David ordered a mineral water with a dash of lime, David was a professional and he was working and he believed in not drinking on the job.  Impressed, Hugo declined anything more for himself and then returned his gaze to his young companion. “So… David, is there anything we need to discuss or clarify before we go an further with our evening?”

David had to admire the man’s directness; most clients no matter how wealthy stammered their way through the first half hour, especially the men. “I don’t think so, the file was pretty detailed, so unless anything has changed that I need to be aware of?” It was his turn to raise a querying eyebrow now.

Hugo shook his head and they were both quiet, while David’s drink was delivered. “No everything is just as I explained… to your… boss.” The bar was filling up now and so Hugo was being more guarded in his words. “Then I think we are cool for the evening.”  He raised his glass and nodded at his new client, keeping a very firm and professional control on certain ‘other’ reactions. Hugo raised his in response. “In that case I see Yamashira-San-wa and Mr Julian Stevenson coming towards us.” He turned his gaze back to David, “I assume…?”  David nodded “CEO and CFO respectively of Yamashira Holdings Nippon Inc,” he said softly.  “You want to secure a contract for building a complex on their land just outside Tokyo city…” Hugo nodded in return smiling at David and then turned the smile on the stunning Japanese woman and her colleague who were just approaching their small table.

From that point on the evening progressed as David had rather expected it would. Hugo introduced him to his guests and then to other company executives from varying industries simply as David, his assistant and left it at that.  Some of the people he met were customers of Weaving Construction, some were suppliers, others simply business acquaintances of Hugo’s, all of them far too discreet to even raise an eyebrow. Hugo himself was in all kinds of seventh heaven. His ‘escort’ was considerably better at this than most of his staff. The man was seriously well informed, not only about his company it’s various interests and the industry in which it operated, but also on a wide range of general subjects from international politics to the arts and music. He had obviously travelled a good deal and appeared to be extremely well educated. He was charm personified to everyone he met, turning aside any awkward questions with a deft ease and smoothing over any tense moments with a gentle humour and an easy wit.  All in all he was the perfect companion and by the end of the evening Hugo was adding a substantial sum to the young man’s fee and wondering if his diary held any more business functions in London for which he would need a partner.  By the time Yamashira and Stevenson were leaving his suite, where they had retired for drinks after the formal part of the dinner was concluded, Hugo was convinced his contract was 99% in the bag thanks in no small part to the young man who was now carefully returning dirty glasses to the bar and eyeing Hugo questioningly, his hand on the bottle of 15 year old single malt.

“Thank-you, I will,” David poured the scotch and brought it over to where Hugo was standing gazing out at the lights of London city spread before them like a twinkling fairyland. “Not having anything yourself?” He queried as he took the glass. David turned and smiled raising the ever-present mineral water… the only thing other than one glass of wine he had drunk all evening. “Surely you can have at least one drink?” Hugo asked, he admired the young man’s professionalism, but he found himself desperately wanting David to enjoy himself too.  “After all it’s just us now…”

“If you insist, David replied softly and returned to the bar where he poured himself a glass of the same single malt that Hugo was drinking.

“Before we go any further I wanted to thank you and tell you that I will adding a bonus to the fee to show my appreciation…”

David nodded “it isn’t necessary but thank-you, it is very much appreciated.”  He smiled and raised his freshly poured glass to Hugo. Bonuses were passed straight on to the escort in full, The Agency took no cut other than it’s usual 35% of the fee, the rest of which went to the escort and The Agency charged a huge fee for David and it’s other top escorts of which there were in fact only 6, 3 men and 3 women. 

Hugo raised his in response his smile suddenly very shy again, “so what happens now?”

TBC