by L. B. Dunbar
The irony was the band was playing at the Round Table the night before the scheduled meeting. Mure Linn agreed to be present and Leo DeGrance volunteered to host the meeting in his office, claiming it as neutral territory for all parties concerned. Unfortunately, upon my father’s exit from his home that night he was killed. Speculation was that the murder was not random but a business vendetta. Ingrid took it as a sign that my father and I were never destined to meet. She also took this as confirmation that I was not to be involved in the running of Pendragon Empire.
Locke Uther was revered in the society pages as an honorable man. His business success and charitable donations manifested him as an important man in the birth of the current economic growth in the New England area. I was recognized as the child of Ingrid Tintagel for years, but Locke Uther’s will revealed that Locke recognized me as his son as well. Uther had no legitimate children and he had no other sons. His company was one of legacy that must pass through the male line, and that meant I was now sole owner of Pendragon Empire, holding 51% of the stock in the company.
I was a little fuzzy on the details of how my mother and father reconciled. I knew Ingrid feared the meeting between this powerful businessman and her coming-of-age son, but at some point she must have come to some decisions regarding the transgression that took place between my father and her. While she claimed to not have known her sexual encounter was with Locke Uther, he had obviously remembered her. He never demanded a paternity test for me. He was self-assured that he was the father of Ingrid Tintagel’s only natural child.
So I was run through the limelight of society and business again, as the son of the renowned Locke Uther. Thankfully, there were people in place to manage the day-to-day business affairs and I just had to attend an occasional meeting to vote on decisions. One of my greatest advisors was Mure, who had always been part of the company somehow, and again seemed to know all of my secrets long before I did.
The only part of the company I was greatly interested in was the acquisition of Camelot Records. The company that sponsored that fateful competition all those years ago had been up on the auction block and, under the direction of Mure, I was able to retain the business. I now took interest in supporting small bands similar to Leo DeGrance and used the label to promote those bands when starting out. As business slowly began to regrow, I knew I would have to make some decisions with that venture as well soon.
When Guinie and I arrived back at the DeGrance family home, we entered again through the front door versus the back door for the Round Table. She was leading me to her father’s office when I stopped her.
“I wanted to apologize if I offended you at all today. I … I want you to understand that I think I know what you’re talking about when you say you want to be more than someone else’s name. If I can help you in any way, I’d … I’d like that.” I didn’t know why I stuttered over my words. I was a songwriter for fuck’s sake, but I was stumbling with that lately as well. I felt nervous and I rubbed my hands absentmindedly up and down the thighs of my jeans.
She didn’t answer at first, but stared at me like she wasn’t sure she believed my sincerity.
“Thank you,” she finally said with a smile.
If I had any doubt that the enchantress of my dreams was Guinevere DeGrance, it was washed away when I watched her walk down the hall away from me again. The grace in the sway of her body screamed for me to reach for her and pull her back to me.
My heart leapt into my throat. Her eyes had twinkled at me when she responded, and for a moment I felt a deep connection with her. For the second time today, I would have liked to kiss her. I caught her earlier staring at my lips and I wanted to show her how I could use those lips to sweep her away from the worry I sensed she felt inside. I liked how she looked at my lips, like she was hungry, and she would devour me if she had a taste.
It was my own fault she knocked into my nose earlier. When she leaned forward to look at herself in the mirror, I stepped within inches of her. I was lined up with her backside, and my hand twitched to touch her ass then continue to slide up her back. I wanted to wrap my hands around her hair and brush it aside to expose what I knew would be a willing neck. If I hadn’t been so close, and been lost in my fantasy, I would have noticed she was about to stand. Instead, her sudden movement left me no warning and we collided. Although I knew she was embarrassed, I was equally embarrassed. I blinked hard against the tears that shot to my eyes from the crash, because crying would have been more embarrassing.
But then she touched me. She had stepped into my space to inspect my nose and my arm instinctively wrapped around to her lower back. She unexpectedly pulled back, just like she unexpectedly stood up, and I was too close. My hand flattened on her back and I pushed her forward into me. Her hands reached up to balance herself in the unintentional momentum and she grasped my chest. I stared at her bright eyes behind my dark glasses, happy to have them as a shield, or else my eyes might have given away my desire to kiss those enticing lips, and kiss her hard. When her hands slipped down my abs to the waist of my jeans, other parts of me rose to the occasion of her nearness, betraying my desire. I had to walk the first couple of blocks with my hands confined to my pockets to disguise the bulge.
As we made our way back to her father’s office, Kaye was awaiting our return.
“Where have you been?” Kaye bit.
“A walk,” I snapped back, unsure whether the hostility from Kaye was warranted.
“What took so long?” Kaye was obviously on edge. Something must have happened with my mother. Kaye and Ingrid had a strange relationship for not being family. He did whatever he could to please her and she doted on him as if he were another son.
“What’s going on?” I growled low.
“Nothing.” Kaye’s eyes shifted to Guinie.
I wasn’t sure how much Guinie knew about my private life, and I noticed Leo watching her as well. He seemed to be searching her face for something, and then pinched his eyebrows when he didn’t see it. I trusted Leo DeGrance unfailingly, and I would not have questioned Leo’s decision to tell his daughter anything if he felt it was necessary. However, I also believed that if he had shared my secrets with Guinie he would have told me he had done so. Kaye was obviously nervous to discuss anything concerning Ingrid in front of Guinie, but somehow I didn’t think that Guinie would judge me.
“What happened?” I asked again, more determination in my voice.
“Your mother is rather upset that you won’t give a concert.”
“A concert? For what?” Guinie interjected.
“Rape victims,” Kaye turned on her.
Guinie visibly flinched and I realized maybe I didn’t want her to know all the sordid details.
“I know that Ingrid has her special causes. A concert does seem a little extreme for this topic. Are there more details?”
Kaye glanced at me and I gave a slight nod of consent to continue.
“Ingrid wishes to host a concert that raises awareness of domestic abuse and the support women need to survive after they have left a troubled situation.”
“What do you want to do?” she addressed me. It struck me that few people asked me that question. I wasn’t sure how to respond.
Guinevere was thoughtful for a moment before she continued. “A concert? Where?”
“The Met.”
“Why there?”
“You know Ingrid, honey. She likes to be over the top,” her father responded. I noticed that Guinie flinched at this and a vague memory came to my mind of her eighteenth birthday party. I was there, but not for Guinevere.
“Let me talk to her.”
All three of us men sucked in a breath. I wasn’t so sure this would be a good idea. Ingrid Tintagel could be difficult to persuade once she had a mission in mind. Guinie excused herself and left the office.
“How was the walk, Arturo?” Leo asked. His tone was cheerful and he seemed rather eager to hear that the time was pleasant. He now had that strange look on
his face from watching Guinie directed at me.
“Fine.”
“What did you think of Guinie?”
I found this a rather strange question. Leo, who did not share personal information often, was now asking how I liked his daughter? And after he was the one who asked me to take a walk with Guinie in the first place? This was a huge shift from Leo’s typical behavior and I sensed something more was going on.
“I don’t think I’ve ever really spoken with her before, but it was fine.”
Leo must have decided not to press the issue further, whatever his agenda had been, and I was spared from answering any additional questions when Guinevere reappeared.
“The concert will be here. It’s more casual than the Met. Being a smaller venue she has to charge more per ticket to make what she’s budgeting. She’ll charge one thousand a ticket. We need to assure her a montage of bands to replace the fact that the Nights will only play two songs. I told her you would donate all proceeds from the bar to her cause as well,” Guinie added to her father.
“What?” Leo gulped.
“It’s one night to support women who have been abused and need support. Surely we can spare one night for those in need?” But Guinie wasn’t asking, she was demanding, and on that final word she exited the room.
I had to smile at her conviction.
Arturo
The concert wouldn’t be until the fall, right before the Nights were scheduled to begin our world tour. Forty-eight locations in ninety days. The band currently had a break for the most part, but I felt restless. I was getting tired of the interviews, the same probing questions about my mother, my father, my family business. I worked hard to redirect the interviews to focus on the band. The story of the band. The songs from the band. The members of the band. I didn’t want to be the center of attention, so it was a bit shocking to have Kaye fling the gossip page at me two days after my walk in the park with Guinie to find I was the focus of attention again.
Who writes this crap? I thought and glanced at the black-and-white photo of Guinie and me on the park bench. We were sitting close to one another, closer than I might have suspected. Did we look cozy? Who used a word like that?
Moments later my best friend, Lans, entered my living room.
“Dude, you’re all over the Internet? Is that really Guinie DeGrance with you?”
I was stunned by two things: I’d made the Internet for a walk in the park and the familiarity with which Lans used Guinevere’s nickname.
“Do you know Guinie?”
“We went to the Performing Arts at the same time. I didn’t interact with her much, but I knew her. Sort of.” Lans swallowed hard.
“What does ‘sort of’ mean?”
“Nothing.”
I was thoughtful for a moment. “Can she play?”
“Play?” Lans choked.
“Yeah. She said she plays the cello and the article mentions it as well. Can she play?”
“She’s good, I guess, but so were lots of kids. Why?”
“Just curious,” I commented.
I reread the article one more time before the phone rang. It was my mother. Ignore.
Kaye answered his phone when it rang moments later, and I gave my foster brother a warning look.
Seconds passed before my phone rang again. This time it was Leo DeGrance.
“Arturo, don’t suppose you read the paper, do you?”
“I try not to, sir, but I did today.”
“I see. I was wondering if we could meet for a cup of coffee. Say the cafe near you?”
“Sure.”
I lived in a high rise across from Central Park, and we agreed to meet at a coffee shop nearby. I gave Leo a few moments before I headed out, knowing the brief walk would only take me minutes.
Leo surprised me by being already seated, a large coffee wedged between his hands. I ordered a double shot espresso and sat as well. Leo DeGrance looked like he was struggling with something, like he wanted to ask me a question, or a few, but didn’t know how to start. I waited patiently before he took a deep breath, as if deciding to say something completely unexpected.
“My Guinie is shy, you know. I’ve tried to protect her, keep her out of the limelight of the Round Table. Keep her away from what I know rockers do, and do to girls. I wanted her to have her own life, separate from mine, but I’m not sure I’ve done the right thing.”
I waited again, knowing the man across from me had more to say.
“I’m not saying anything happened in the park. Hell, I’m the one who pushed the walk, but I just need to make sure for Guinie’s sake that everything was on the up and up. You know I trust you. We have a different relationship than I have with most of my bands, but this is my daughter who just saw herself in the gossip column with a famous rocker.”
“Do you want me to apologize?”
“Do you have something to apologize for?”
“No, sir.”
“Then you don’t have to apologize.”
“Do you want me to talk to her?”
“What for?”
“I don’t know.”
This was all out of my realm. I didn’t care if I was in the paper and I didn’t care who I was in the paper with, but I did care that this all might hurt Guinie somehow. She was all I had been thinking about in the forty-eight hours since our walk. The way she moved, the sway to her hips, the touch of her hands down my chest. She didn’t exactly seem thrilled to have to walk with me the other day, but she had loosened up as we strolled, and I had to admit I did enjoy our conversation. I felt like I learned something about her I never knew. I also learned something about myself that I didn’t realize anyone else might understand. I felt a strange connection to Guinie, as if she might be the one to get me.
“It’s hard to be a single parent,” Leo interrupted my thoughts and leveled me with a hard stare. “You try to play both roles as father and mother, but I know I’ve failed in many ways. It’s why I was always glad your mother befriended Guinie. I thought she might find comfort in talking to a woman about whatever women talk about.”
I thought again of my mother calling me. Chances were Guinie had already spoken to Ingrid and she would have additional comments to make on Guinie’s behalf after the lecture I would get from being in the gossip pages. The irony was I was only in those pages because of my parents.
After Leo and I parted ways, I returned to my penthouse apartment. I wanted to call Guinie, but I didn’t know what to say. Hell, I’d been wanting to call her since we separated back in the hallway at her father’s home. Should I apologize? It wasn’t directly my fault we were in the papers. It was the damn paparazzi, but I still felt like I needed to explain myself to her, even though I didn’t know what I should explain.
I couldn’t call her, though, as my living room was full with Tristan and Lans battling through a new level of World of Warcraft. Perk was drumming some song in his head on his thighs as he waited his turn. Kaye was seated on a bar stool, elbows balancing him on the bar behind him, watching the conquests on the large flat-screen television.
The band was planning to depart for my landmark home upstate by the end of the week. There we would find solitude for practice and I was hoping to do some songwriting. I was only vaguely aware of phones buzzing and beeping throughout the day as my mind continued to wander back to Guinie, her sweet body and our enlightening talk.
After a day of video games and junk food, I slowly noticed the arrival of more and more people in my apartment, and by early evening, my place was filled with a number of faceless girls. How did this guys’ day turn into a party night? I wondered.
I had started drinking after my meeting with Leo and in the dullness of a day wasted both in time and alcohol, I was ready for bed, alone. Several girls had come to sit next to me, but I just wasn’t interested in them. My body wasn’t reacting as it normally would to sugar-sweet voices and extra-long nails that scratched my tattoos. My body was craving the grace of a tight ass, dimpled b
ack, and sweet lips. It was only ten o’clock when I stood, balancing myself against the bar, warding off the advancements of a big-busted blonde, when I came face to face with Guinevere.
“What are you doing here?” I snarled in greeting as I looked around the overly crowded room, surprised and confused that she was here.
“Kaye invited me.”
“Kaye?”
“Yes. Kaye.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why the fuck did Kaye invite you?”
She blinked several times before narrowing her eyes at me. “I … I don’t know. To be nice, maybe?”
She looked up at me with innocent eyes, and I immediately felt repentant for my tone of voice, but not my attitude. I wasn’t sure where my attitude was coming from, though.
“I thought you stayed away from all these rock bands. You know, the ones who just make a lot of noise?”
“Well, I’m looking to make some changes in my life.”
“Changes? Like what? Sleep with a rock band manager?” The instant I said the words I regretted them. I had too much to drink, which wasn’t an excuse, but was the only one I had, besides the one where I admit I was jealous. Why did Kaye invite her? And why hadn’t I? I am an idiot.
She visibly flinched at my words as if I slapped her, and I reached forward to give her reassurance I didn’t mean what I said, but she pulled back from me as if I were going to strike her.
