Unraveled - A Short Story Collective (19 page)

Kenton saw Armani arrive and frowned. He knew he would have to be all business now and not make any demands on the staff like he normally did.
This guy is a real killjoy,
Kenton thought sourly as he continued to rehearse.

Armani went directly to the sound area and began working the technicians. “How’s the production going?” he asked Ryan the lead sound tech.

“Good so far man,” he replied and Armani knew he meant that Kenton hadn’t been demanding or impossible today.

“Well now that I’m here I intend to see that it stays that way,” he replied and Ryan smiled.

The rehearsal went on for another hour before Armani told them to call it a day. “Kenton you need to go ahead and relax and unwind for the shows tonight.”

Kenton smiled and thanked Armani, secretly glad to be getting away from the man. He made his way to Samantha, the dancer, and asked her back to his room. She smiled and eagerly accepted. Armani watched the exchange, disgusted again at the kid’s behavior.
He is definitely what women are talking about when they say we’re all dogs,
Armani thought as he went to confirm all the arrangements for the evening’s performances.

The Master Orchestrator

A story of life, loss, and love

By

KR Bankston

Copyright © 2010 KR Bankston. All rights reserved.

The Best
Intentions

Jared Piper was on the phone with his personal assistant trying to tie up loose ends. His wife, Morgan, was celebrating her 31
st
birthday in a few days and he was throwing her a huge surprise party. Smiling inwardly at his genius, managing to keep it a secret from her, Jared reflected on their life together. He and Morgan had been married for the last 9 years, after dating for two. They’d met at the book release party of her best friend Trinity. Jared thought Morgan was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen with her striking caramel complexion, hourglass figure, deep probing brown eyes, and biting wit; so he had to have her. He managed to score her number under the guise of a friend who needed a literary agent. Jared asked her out to lunch and after coming clean with her about his true intentions, Morgan continued to see him. Their love affair was deep and instantaneous even from the start. Jared popped the question a year later, with them having a long engagement and marrying the next year. They’d been blissfully happy since.

He smiled again thinking of their decision to finally start a family. Jared couldn’t describe how excited he found himself thinking of the prospect of them leaving couple-hood behind and enjoying family-hood instead. His phone rang and he smiled seeing Morgan’s number on the caller ID.

“Hey baby,” Jared greeted her amiably.

“Hey you,” Morgan returned happily. “I wanted to see if you had found anyone for the other ticket we have to the game tonight?”

Jared frowned slightly, having forgotten all about the ticket. They held season tickets for the Magic and tonight they had two extra.

“Who are you bringing,” he asked trying to buy time and think.

“If you can believe it, I actually managed to talk Trin into coming,” she replied, chuckling at the end of her statement.

Jared was impressed. Trinity Sorenson was Morgan’s best friend. A very sweet and attractive woman, who had unfortunately experienced very deep tragedy at an early age, causing her to basically withdraw from life socially.

“Wow, that is quite the achievement,” he replied as an idea came to mind. “I’ll see if I can talk Brian into coming,” he returned as Morgan told him that sounded good.

“Both of them could use a good night out,” Morgan replied as Jared readily agreed. “They’d actually make a great couple,” Jared mused aloud.

Morgan giggled and told him she agreed.

“We can’t let them know we’re trying to set them up though,” she threw back as Jared agreed.

That would definitely be the kiss of death. The two of them conspired a while longer before hanging up. Jared was still smiling as he dialed Brian’s number and prayed he could convince his best friend to come with him tonight.

Two Blind Mice

Trinity Sorenson

Smiling Trinity signed the book and cheerfully took a photo as the fan requested. She was a best-selling author and she loved interacting with her fans. Trinity recalled starting her writing career almost at the exact time she and Michael met, some twelve years ago. She was 19 years old, a sophomore in college majoring in Journalism, when she met Michael; tall, sexy, and the starting linebacker for their college team. Trinity was taken completely by surprise when he approached her one day at the café while she was enjoying a cappuccino and asked her out. She never thought he’d paid her any attention when she accompanied her sorority friend, Tiffany, to one of the many frat parties she was invited too. Trinity never got caught up in the whole Greek thing. She very much liked being a party of one. Michael told her that’s what attracted him to her.
“You’re very secure with just you,” he told her softly after their third date, when she’d finally let him kiss her. “It’s going to make our being together so much easier,” he’d added, establishing the beginning of their relationship together.

Trinity and Michael dated for the rest of their college tenure, marrying six months to the day of graduation. Their marriage and life together was surreal. Her books took off almost immediately after they married and Trinity was soon doing major signings, even having a couple of her novels made into feature length films. Michael was a major sports agent, signing various unknown, but now household name, athletes out of college and even some high schools. They traveled extensively, seeing the world and having fabulous vacations together. They’d talked about children, but decided to wait on their seven year rule. They wanted to just be a couple for a while, and then move on to becoming a family, knowing that having a child would change everything for them. Michael was supportive of her career and he understood her crazy moods when she wrote. They had their share of arguments just like any couple, but they never went to bed angry and they definitely never stayed angry. Three years ago, at 12:39AM, that all changed. That was the fateful night a Florida State Trooper showed up on her doorstep and told her Michael was dead. He’d been involved in a car accident with another driver who was texting and driving, crossing the median and striking her husband’s car at well over 100mph. He’d been killed as well, but honestly, that was no consolation to Trinity.

The funeral had been a nightmare. She had to sit there and endure as everyone fawned over her, not understanding she couldn’t function. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t hear. She couldn’t think. All Trinity knew was emptiness and pain. Michael was lying in front of her in a box. His eyes were forever closed, his laughter cut short, his warm touch removed from her. Never again would Trinity find herself encased in his strong arms, listening to the rhythmic beating of his heart as he sang softly in her ear, or whispered how much he loved her while making love and bringing her unimaginable ecstasies. Her soulmate was gone. Trinity shut down then and never restarted. She had gone through life from that day to this functioning, but never truly living. Dating was out of the question, even now, three years later. She smiled slightly, thankful to have a best friend like Morgan. Even though she knew her friend felt she should be dating again, she didn’t push it, and she never set her up on blind dates.

Trinity thought about the game tonight. She’d almost told Morgan no, since she was coming to her birthday party in a few days, but she couldn’t. Her best friend had no clue about the party her husband was planning, and Trinity actually owed it to Morgan to spend some time with her. She’d been pretty busy hitting one tour after the other, and even though Morgan was her agent, they still didn’t get much social time with each other. Taking another deep breath and blowing it out slowly, Trinity decided she would give tonight an honest try. She actually loved basketball, both Morgan and Jared were a lot of fun to be around, so Trinity knew the night would definitely not be a wash, she thought going on to greet her next patron and sign the next book.

Brian Holbrook

Brian was still chuckling thinking of the elaborate sales job his best friend Jared had done to get him to come to the game with them this evening.
That man is crazy as hell,
he continued to chuckle. It wasn’t that Brian was adverse to hanging out, he just didn’t make time for it often. He was a one of a handful of African American shipping tycoons and he had to stay on top of his business if he didn’t want it to fail. That left very little time for a social life. He had to give Jared credit though. The man had never wavered in their years of friendship. Even when they didn’t talk for months, whenever they connected again it was as if time had stood still. Brian’s busy schedule also kept his mind off his singleness. Not that he was the one who worried about it. Sighing deeply, Brian thought about the numerous blind dates, hookups, and so-called chance meetings his friends and family had provided in the three years since he and Shonna had broken off their engagement.
Everyone except Jared and Morgan,
Brian thought smiling again.

He appreciated them more for that than anything else in their friendship. They could all go out and have a great time and there was never any pressure for him to hook up with some friend or other. Brian was in no hurry to connect with any woman anytime soon. Shonna had taken his heart for the ride of its life and he wasn’t trying to relive that drama. He’d met Shonna when he bought his first fleet of ships. She worked for one of his mentors at the time as his personal assistant. She was alluring and charming, yet smart and on top of her game. She understood the business and was a tremendous help to Brian in his first years. They dated and he fell hard, making up his mind he wanted her for his wife. She seemed to return the love, always doing sweet things for him, planning trips for them, cooking romantic dinners and the like. Brian proposed to her on the third anniversary of his business established date, even considering christening and naming a vessel after her. She accepted and he was on top of the world. Shonna began to plan the elaborate showplace wedding with him paying for everything and balking at the price of nothing. Whatever she wanted, he provided.

Brian exhaled deeply recalling the rehearsal dinner.
Everyone was in attendance at the huge cathedral where the ceremony would take place. They went through a dry run of the next day’s festivities at least twice to ensure everyone knew their role and that it went smoothly. Brian recalled how happy he was as he looked at Shonna coming down the isle, even during the rehearsal, she was so beautiful and he was so proud to have her as his wife. After everything was double and triple checked, everyone began to leave. Brian socialized with the wedding party for a while afterward, waiting for Shonna to come and them to leave for the dinner. Soon he was alone in the cathedral’s vestibule. Worried, Brian headed for the auxiliary rooms where everyone had been meeting and mapping out dressing directives for tomorrow. He approached the room where Shonna would be and heard sounds. Stopping his motion, as his hand hovered about the door knob, Brian continued to stand and listen. He heard the soft moans and knew it was Shonna. He’d heard the sounds enough when they made love to know they were sexual. What he heard next crushed his heart. “Don’t marry his ass, you love me and you know you do,” Kevin said aloud. Brian recognized the voice. Kevin Arliss was the spoiled brat son of his mentor and Brian hated him. “Kevin, just fuck me and stop complaining,” Shonna threw back as the conversation ceased.

Gathering himself, not wanting his anger to overtake him completely, Brian opened the door and regarded the two occupants as they looked up to see what the interruption was. “Brian, baby, wait I can explain,” Shonna tried, hurriedly pulling her dress down as Kevin calmly, pulled his pants up and regarded him with a condescending smirk. “You don’t have to explain, Shonna,” Brian returned calmly, looking her right in the eye. “She’s all yours partner,” he told Kevin turning to walk out. “Wait Brian, it’s like that, shit,” Shonna threw out angrily. “You’re not gonna fight for me, not gonna even be mad,” she spat embarrassed and bewildered by his reaction. “Fight for what Shonna,” Brian regarded her becoming angry again. “You’re doing what you want, you’re fucking who you want, he didn’t take the pussy, you gave it to him,” he yelled at her as Kevin smiled slightly. “But baby, I got caught up, I’m sorry, I love you,” Shonna tried, producing the tears hoping to change his mind. “You can kill those crocodile tears Shonna,” Brian told her, taking another deep breath and calming himself. “You better get busy letting everyone know the wedding is off,” he added as a final thought before walking out and closing the door behind him, ignoring her wails and pleas as she screamed after him to come back and talk things out.
Sighing deeply and coming back to now, Brian pushed the dark thoughts away and concentrated on tonight. While he hadn’t given up on love, he wasn’t on a quest to find it either. Turning his thoughts back to later tonight he thought about his love of basketball and how the Magic always gave them a great game. He would enjoy himself and kick back, have a few drinks, worry about nothing, and enjoy all that his fortune afforded him.