Part II
Same Day, 3pm
Los Angeles
He had always held the title of the ‘organized one’ in the group. The one with the ‘connections’. Friends in high places. He could charm anything out of anyone whether they were male of female. He always got what he wanted, one way or another.
He used his ‘connections’ for strictly business purposes and never once for pleasure. But he was determined on getting what he wanted from Noemi, a chance. So if that could be accomplished by him using his ‘connections’ that was what he’d do.
He’d made a few phone calls and in the end of them, he’d gotten what he’d been setting out to get. A meeting with one of the top restaurant entrepreneurs in Los Angeles, Antonio Ruiz, in hopes to invest a large chunk of money in a new Latin restaurant in downtown Los Angeles.
To his surprise and good fortune, the man had personally called him to invite him to have dinner with him and his family at one of his five star restaurants the following night.
Lance had been pleasantly surprised that everything had panned out without so much as a struggle. If he’d been genuinely interested in the restaurant business, as he had been before he started Freelance, his luck wouldn’t have been that good. Those events made him realize that what he was after, a chance with Noemi, was worth the try. Why not? Everything had been laid out for him without him having to actually try too hard.
Two birds with one stone, had always been his motto. He would invest money in something that he always had wanted to do. And he would get his chance with Noemi. At least he hoped he got his chance with her because she was tough and she had the potential of breaking his heart.
He’d been home for three hours since he’d left the office, after making his phone calls. Two of those hours he spent doing absolutely nothing but laying around watching television. TRL had gotten boring and the Dukes of hazard marathon were becoming annoying.
Deciding he was hungry, he’d taken a shower and gotten dressed before heading out the door in hopes to finding a secluded fast food restaurant.
As he drove aimlessly down Sunset Boulevard in his Mercedes CLK, he couldn’t help but let his thoughts drift toward Sean.
The short amount of time he’d spent with the little boy had been grand in his book. He was honestly the sweetest little boy he’d met and he could see himself falling in love with the kid, really fast.
The thoughts about Sean had Lance feeling a certain longing to be a father.
For a long time, Laurie had talked about having kids but her attempts of hinting that she wanted to get married had obviously failed. He remembered her constant ramblings about them having kids as soon as they got married.
That had been three years prior, when Lance had started Freelance. Thinking back, although he’d told Laurie at that time that he wasn’t ready to get married and have kids, the statement was no longer true.
He wanted to get married. He wanted to have kids. He wanted to be in love forever. He wanted the lack of sleep. He wanted the crying, whining and dirty diapers. The sappiness of love. The joy of being a father, a husband. He wanted it all.
Deciding on Burger King, he made a left turn into the parking lot. The restaurant was empty enough that he’d be able to have a burger in peace. Shutting off his car after deciding to take a space next to a BMW, he started to get out of his car.
Black BMW. Car seat. Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars on the back seat. And a sweater identical to the one she’d worn to Disney.
He turned his head toward the sky with a smile. God must have been listening to him. Granting his wishes perhaps because as he took a second look at the BMW he was certain of whom the car belonged to.
Noemi and Sean.
Orlando, Florida 6pm
“Are you sure you aren’t going to change your mind about the color again?”
“I don’t think so, C.” Jenn said pondering the thought.
“Good, because nest time you change your mind, we’re hiring someone to do it.” Jc said as he lifted the paint brush to finish a spot by the door.
“Stop complaining, C. I told you that you could have stayed in bed if you wanted to but you said you wanted to help.” She said picking paint out of the few strands of hair that escaped from under the baseball cap she wore.
“I’m not complaining, Jenisse. I’m just making sure you are sure about your color selection.” Jc smirked at her.
“I’m sure.” Jenn said with a smirk to match his.
They had been playful all day long. Soaking in the time they were spending together. Although Jc would have preferred to stay in bed all day, he’d said he would help her with the studio. Jenn wanted to finish the studio and maybe go out to dinner with Justin and Juls. The couples hadn’t spent much time together and she was looking forward to spending time with Juls.
The phone had woken her out of her sexual exhaustion two hours prior. Juls had been on the other end, rambling about a photo shoot she had to do the following week and asking her to get Jc out of bed in time to go out to dinner with her and Justin.
After making plans to meet at eight that night, Juliana filled Jenn in on the situation at the auditions. She’d told her how Kayla had been auditioning and how Trace had picked her and her boyfriend out of the group for Justin promotional tour.
Listening to Juls ramble on about Trace and Kayla and apparently her boyfriend, who was described as HOT by Juliana, Jenn felt a rush of energy course through her. Juliana had that effect on people. A few minutes later the call had been interrupted and terminated by Justin, who apparently had been listening to Juls ramble on about Trace and him telling Juls to leave Trace alone and to stop talking about him behind his back, she’d gotten up.
By the time she’d showered and gotten dressed, Jc had stirred out of his slumber. He’d followed her lead, taking a shower and dressing before following downstairs to the kitchen. After grabbing a snack to eat they headed to the studio to finish up the painting she’d started weeks before.
“You know Justin’s going to have your ass when he see what you did to his hat.” Jc said as he set his paintbrush down and walked toward her on the other side of the room.
“No one told him to leave it here.” Jenn said as he wrapped his arms around her waist. The action causing her to wrap her arms around his neck, kissing him softly.
“No one told you to wear one of his favorite hats to paint.” Jc chuckled. “You have paint specks covering the jewel chest emblem.”
“He can get another one. I’m sure he got it made special for him. Who else is going to wear a hat signifying his wife’s name?” she said taking the hat off and throwing it on the floor.
“Don’t come crying to me when he finds out.” Jc mumbled as he kissed her neck. “Are we done painting now?”
“Yeah it think so.” She said with a shiver as he continued his path on her neck. “I like it. Do you?”
“It looks just like the other one, Jenisse.” He said looking at her as if she was crazy.
“I know.”
“You’re strange.” Jc said. “Let’s go upstairs.”
“Don’t start that again.” She said when she felt his hand inching its way up the back of her t-shirt.
“Start what?” he asked with a sexy grin that made her melt.
“You know what I mean, C.” she said playfully shoving him away from her. “We have to be ready for diner in two hours.”
“I promise I won’t take longer than a hour, Jenisse.” He said pulling her with him toward the stairs.
“That’s what you always say and then you always get carried away.”
“Yet, you never complain.”
“Well of course not but I promised Juls we would go out tonight. We didn’t get to talk much on the flight because she was arguing with Justin the whole time. I want to hang with her tonight.”
“I promise, we’ll go.” Jc said once they reached their bedroom. “I’ll try to be quick.” And then her shirt was lifted over her head and she was gone for the fifth time that day.
Orlando, Florida
Studio “ same time
Kayla and Shane sat against the back wall of the studio while Marty went over the details of their new job.
The purpose of the auditions weren’t for a headlining tour, as she along with all the dancers thought, but for a video shoot and promotional tour.
Marty explained that Justin had a video to shoot in Los Angeles and that the dancers would get their traveling information at the end of the meeting from Justin’s assistant, Trace Ayala. Kayla had rolled her eyes at the information because she wanted to talk to Justin’s assistant as much as she wanted a bullet in the head.
As Marty went on and on about TRL appearances and the video shoot she couldn’t help but look around the room, her vision landing on Trace. He sat at a table with what she assumed were the promo tour packets. She’d caught him staring at her a few times and she’d simply rolled her eyes in annoyance. The whole situation made her feel as if she was back to the classroom, where she first saw him.
Unfortunately for Shane, Justin had left the observation room with his wife, shortly before Shane had gotten a chance to introduce himself. Shane was happy to see Justin enter the studio when Marty had begun his meeting. Kayla had smiled up at Justin and waved purposely so that he could look her way and Shane could see his smile once again. Ever since Shane laid eyes on him in the observation room, he couldn’t stop talking about the way he smiled.
To make her friend happy she’d waved at Justin and received a grin that almost put Shane into cardiac arrest. That was when she’d looked over at Trace and she’d seen the blank stare he’d directed at her.
“Any questions?” Marty asked the group.
“Are we getting paid per show or per tour?” Melissa asked from where she sat next to Shane.
“Per show. I know some of you are also working with other artists, so Trace will give you a schedule as to your choices of promo slots. Not all ten of you will be needed at once, except for the video shoot, of course. For the video there are going to be more extras hired.” Marty explained. “If you have future engagements please be sure to arrange those dates with Trace, so that Justin doesn’t end up dancer-less at the last minute. Anything else?”
“When do rehearsals start with Justin?” Shane asked snapping Kayla out of her thoughts.
“Justin and I are working in L.A. for the two weeks, in between the recording he’s still doing.” Marty said as Justin grunted from the other side of the room. “ You guys don’t rehearse with him for another three weeks, two days before the video shoot. You should all plan to fly to L.A. for that. But again, Trace will give you the details on that. Anything else?”
“You talk too damn much.” Justin joked from where he sat next to Trace, causing everyone to laugh.
“Any else you want to add, Justin?” Marty said shaking his head.
“I just want to thank you all for coming today and I promise this whole thing will be fun. A lot of work but fun. As you all know, this is my first solo album without the other guys and I’m excited to see what’s ahead. I think along with Trace and Marty, that we have selected fresh new faces in you guys to go along with a new album by a new artist. Please remember to have fun, I’m a pretty laid back guy, serious and uptight people aren’t my type of people, so please don’t feel as though you have to be that way with me. I only ask two things and those are to have fun and be professional.” Justin said looking at his assistant and then turning back to everyone. “That’s it. So thank again and I can’t wait to get on stage with you guys.”
“And you said I talk too much?” Marty joked.
“Kayla, you were right. He still has his comedic touch going.” Justin said talking to Kayla on the other side of the room.
“Kudelka, the funny man.” Kayla said sarcastically after being caught off guard that Justin was addressing her.
“Oh, so you know Ms. Medina?” Marty asked Justin with a confused look.
“Ms. Medina was acquainted with a friend of mine.” Justin simply stated giving her a smile.
“Did you know that, Shane?” Marty teased.
“I did, but she made the best choice.” Shane said causing Kayla to chuckle. That statement could be taken two ways. Better choice in ‘boyfriend’ which was what Trace thought Shane was. Or better choice of people to get acquainted with.
“I doubt it.” Trace said looking up from the papers he’d been sorting on the table in front of him to look at Shane with a cocky grin. “Those of you who need to speak to me about scheduling, please come up and get a packet. Look over the dates and let me know which dates you’ll be available for.”
“Before you do that, anything else?” Marty asked again. When no one asked anything else he took a seat next to Trace. “Come on up.”
The ten dancers scurried over to the table to grab their packets. Juliana entered the room then, taking a seat next to Justin, looking bored. Shane waited at the end of the table while Melissa grabbed her packet, hoping to finally personally introduce himself to Justin. Kayla had gotten a packet off the table and walked over to where she had been sitting on the floor, without so much as a word toward Trace. He’d apparently been too distracted talking to Melissa to notice her taking a packet from right in front of him.
“It’s a good to meet you man.” Shane said extending his hand out to Justin to shake.
“You too.” Justin said shaking the man’s hand. “Shane Woods, right?”
“That’s right.” Shane said smiling at Juliana. “You look as if you’re ready to go.”
“I am, not that I didn’t enjoy watching you guys dance. Especially you and Kayla, you guys are really good.” Juliana said with a smile.
“Thank you, I appreciate that. I look forward to showing your husband what I can do.” Shane said while he looked at Justin, who’s attention seemed to be on him surprisingly.
“I’m sure you will.” Justin said but Shane didn’t miss the sarcasm behind the comment.
“Be nice, J.” Juls said playfully hitting his arm.
“Anyway, I’ll see you guys around.” Shane said walking toward Kayla on the other side.
“What was that?” Justin asked Juls in a low voice. “You guys are really good.” He mocked.
“You’re jealous.” She stated.
“Of him? Don’t think so.” Justin said turning to tell Trace something in his ear.
“I don’t care.” Trace responded.
“Hey guys if you guys aren’t too tired from today, please come to Pleasure Island for dinner. My treat at eight.” Justin said to the group.
“Great.” Juliana said causing Justin to look at her questionably.
“What?” he asked.
“I thought we were meeting Jc and Jenn.”
“We are.”
“I thought it was going to be just the four of us.”
“Oh, I didn’t know it was a special thing, Juls.”
“It’s not, I just didn’t think you were inviting ten other people.”
“Well I can’t uninvited them now, J.” Justin whined.
“It’s alright, I’m sure Jc and Jenn don’t care.” Juliana said kissing his lips softly. “Can we stop at the house before we go though? I want to change.”
“I want something else.” Justin grinned giving her a wink.
“Well that too.” She giggled.
“Did Chris leave?” Trace asked from next to Justin as he had one of the dancers sign a contract.
“Yeah, I was just walking him out. Dani came to get him.” Juls volunteered.
“Oh alright.” Trace said as he continued the conversation with one of the dancers.
“We are out of here, you coming to Pleasure Island?” Justin asked him.
“Don’t think so. I have to work on Fuman stuff.” Trace shrugged.
“Alright, but like I said. How are you supposed to get her if you don’t try?” Justin said getting up from his chair and taking Juls’ hand.
“That’s because I’m not trying.” Trace snapped.
“You’re full of shit, Trace. You wouldn’t have picked her if you didn’t want to see her again.” Juliana volunteered.
“Why don’t you two get the hell out of here so that I can do my job?” Trace asked annoyed.
“We’re going, we’re going. See ya tomorrow.” Justin said as he pulled Juliana with him toward the door. “See you guys later.” He said to the group.
“Bye, Shane.” Juls flirted.
“Bye.” Shane flirted back only to receive a smack on the head from Kayla.
“Keep playing with me, J.” Justin warned giving Marty a wave and heading out the door with Juliana laughing behind him.
Orlando, Florida
6am
For once, he was up and ready before his wife. Juliana still struggled with her sleep as he applied a splash of cologne on his neck and across the front of his jeans. Making sure he did not forget some paperwork he needed he grabbed the manila envelop from the dresser, sitting on the side of the bed.
“J?” he whispered. “Come on, Juls. Get up.”
“What time is it?” he wasn’t surprised to hear her ask. She remained snuggled to the pillow, eyes closed.
“It’s six and we have to be at the airport at seven.” Justin responded while rubbing her backside over the satin sheets that covered it.
“Let me lay here for five more minutes, J.”
“Why? You’re already awake. There’s no point in procrastinating.” Justin chuckled.
“How can you be up and ready to go, after last night? You’re usually past out at least till’ eleven.” Juliana finally grumbled opening her eyes to meet his sexy blue ones.
“We had a sexy night, didn't we?” Justin asked with a cocky grin.
“I’m not complaining.” She giggled.
“Of course you’re not. I am the master you know. “You had the best sex of your life last night.”
“You’re being cocky, baby.” She laughed. “I think it was the best sex of YOUR life.”
“I never said it wasn’t. I simply said you got some good stuff last night. For a long, long amount of time.”
“You're still being cocky.” She said smoothing her hand over his jean-clad groin causing a groan from him.
“Maybe I have reason to be cocky, don’t you think?” he asked with a wink.
“You’re crazy but I love you anyway.”
“I love you too.” Justin said slapping her behind. “And you know who else I love?”
“Yeah.”
“So let’s go home and see this person.” He said getting up from the bed. “Get up.”
“Yes, Sir.” Juliana said jumping out of bed and saluting him in all her glory. Justin quickly captured one of her nipples while bending to kiss the side of her neck.
“Get in the shower, Juls before I have to give you some more of that cocky sex.” Justin chuckled before turning away from her and walking out of the bedroom.
Seeing the manila envelop left on the bed, Juliana grabbed the envelop with the intention of bringing it downstairs when she was done. Curiosity got the best of her when she read the front label. Opening it, she found the exact day-by-day details of Justin’s promotional tour. Included in the paperwork were details on who would be traveling with Justin. Jenisse Chasez, Jc Chasez, Trace Ayala, Lynn Harless, and a bunch of other people she recognized as Jive people and the dancers were on the list. Nowhere on the entire tour plan did her name nor her daughter’s name appeared. Her husband was really planning to leave them behind.
A solitary tear escaped her eye as she placed the contents back in the envelope. With a heavy heart, she turned toward the bathroom to get ready for the flight home where her daughter was waiting for her.
Orlando, Florida
7:47am
“I told you we could have stayed in bed for an extra hour. You know they take forever.” Jc complained as he looked at his wife across the isle from him on the private jet.
“They are on their way, C.” Jenn said with a dramatic roll of her eyes. “You can sleep during the flight.” She said as she entered keys on her two-way device.
“Who said anything about sleeping?” Jc said is a hushed voice as if he didn’t want to share his question with Trace, who sat on his left.
“Are you two going to start making out?” Trace asked annoyed. “Because I’d rather not see that this morning. Or any time actually.”
“Aww, what’s the matter with the baby?” Jc said pocking Trace with his finger.
“What’s wrong with you, Ayala?” Jenn said lifting her eyes from the two-way.
“Why does something have to be wrong?” Trace asked continuously beating the pillow between the window and his head.
“Well you’re beating the hell out of that pillow for twenty minutes, for one.” Jenn chuckled. “And you’re usually hitting on the stewardess by now.”
“They assigned a dude this time.” Trace grumbled to receive a chuckle from Jc. “And this pillow won’t stay firm.”
“Aww, the misfortunes of the world.” Jc said sarcastically.
“Why don’t you go sit next to your wife? I’d find that fortunate.” Trace said to Jc with a wide grin.
“But I want to sit with you, Tracey.” Jc whined.
“Move the fuck over.” Trace said, this time laughing at the expression on Jc’s face.
“Alright you got him to laugh, C. now come sit overt here.” Jenn said putting her two-way aside.
It had been close to an hour since Jenn and Jc had arrived at the airport. Trace had arrived shortly after they did, with a bad attitude following each step of the way. Juls and Justin were running late like usual. Jc had opted to take the seat next to Trace for the simple purpose of annoying him. Tapping his foot, humming love songs and making sexual innuendos toward his wife. At first Trace just plopped himself on the seat, ignoring the couple. He knew that while they were two of his best friends, they could really annoy him if that in fact was what they were trying to do.
Trace couldn’t decide if his visit to Florida had been the worst two days, he had in a long while, or the best. He’d had two meetings in regards to Fumaskeeto and the new store, which couldn’t have turned out better. After Justin’s tour, he would immediately set the plans in motion. Although he was looking forward to being on the road, he wasn’t as excited as he had been two days prior. Two days prior, when he was just thinking about how he would ‘make it up’ to Kayla for being a dick.
While he’d expected her to be at the auditions, it had come to a surprise when he’d seen her. His blood still boiled at the remembrance of her and Shane even after spending a crazy night with two beautiful and sexy women. The memories of the night would be occupying his mind but to his dismay all he could think about was Kayla and Shane. The simple mention of the name caused him to gag, put his stomach to knot.
To think that he would have to see them together for a long amount of time while on tour repulsed him. He couldn’t believe the affect the woman was having on him. How can someone, he hadn’t even had sex with, rip his heart out?
He’d told Justin to pick the two out of spite, because he knew they were expecting him to completely loose it. Kayla apparently didn’t know him very well because if Trace was good at one thing, it was hiding his feelings. While Kayla had played with him, he had his own agenda. He’d been in the business of deception, good appearances, and acting as long as Justin’s career. He did give her credit for trying, he couldn’t deny that, Kayla Medina was going to have one hell of a tour, or his name wasn’t Juan Carlos Ayala, III.
Same day
Los Angeles, California
3pm
She had a headache, a major one. She was hungry. She had a bad case of jet lag setting in. she had a feeling her monthly visitor was going to make an appearance. In addition, she was just simply annoyed. Rushing to the airport at the last possible minute had also not allowed her time to change out of her work clothes. Which meant that on top of her list of annoyance, she was unattractively sweaty.
After many encouraging conversations with her best friend, she’d decided to take a stand on her life. At least those were the plans, but life always seemed to be playing jokes on her.
So there she was, back in Los Angeles at her uncle’s beckoning. He had requested she come meet some people whom could make her diner into an upscale restaurant. She didn’t want to meet people that could do the job for her; she wanted to do it on her own. The trip to Los Angeles was going to be her test. She would stand firm on her decision and let her uncle know that she no longer needed his help.
Apparently he’d set up the meeting with some investors and had wanted her to come if not for her restaurant but for the experience. He’d also hadn’t left out the part were he’d told her that her parents would agree with him. She’d hung the phone on him then. Five minutes later, she’d received a call from Noemi, begging her to come. Noemi explained that her father had been on her case about getting Kayla motivated to start things at the diner. Noemi hadn’t seemed thrilled about the meeting either but Kayla couldn’t have denied her. After all Noemi had been a silent partner of hers since she’d inherited the diner.
She wowed Noemi that much. Sitting through a meeting listening to ‘money talk’ couldn’t be that bad. She hoped it wasn’t because she was feeling a bad case of PMS coming on and she felt sorry for the investors if they even blinked at her the wrong way.
“It’s about time.” Her cousin expressed as Kayla approached the terminal’s exit.
“Nice to see you too, No.” Kayla spit out.
“Someone who shall remain nameless is being a bitch.”
“Someone’s every observant,”
“Did you jog to LA? You look like shit on a stick, Kay.” Noemi commented as they headed out of the airport.
“Thanks.”
“Why are you in such a bad mood?”
“Try being in a middle of class, having your uncle call you to bitch at you about YOUR restaurant for twenty minutes. Then have your cousin call you and rub the fact that she’s helped you out more than a few occasions. Oh and then she tells you to grab the next flight out of Orlando to Los Angeles because if she was going to have to sit through a meeting, so should you.” Kayla said in one breath. “Then call for a flight because you realize you DO owe your cousin a favor or two and find out that the next and only flight out today is in twenty minutes. Then drag your best friend out of his own class so that he could take you to the airport, in your car that you barely get to drive cause you’re the previously mentioned best friend is a car hog, then get rushed to the airport. Get on a plane as they are about to seal the doors because the ticket booth was being attended by a complete bitch who thought you owed her something because someone as sweaty as you shouldn’t take men that look like they steeped out of an Abercrombie and Fitch Ad instead of a dance class, away from her. So go though all that then ask me again why I’m in a bad mood.”
“I’ll pass thanks. And Shane does not look like an Abercrombie and Fitch model, by the way.”
“You’re about the only person in America who doesn’t think so.” Kayla said as they approached Noemi’s car.
“Shane is an arrogant ass. Not a model.” Noemi said swinging her car keys. “Wanna drive?”
“Why the hell not?” Kayla said taking the keys from her cousin before bursting in a fit of laughter as they walked. “I need a drink.”
“My treat but first I have to pick up my dry cleaning for tonight.” Noemi said getting into the passenger side of her car.
“Tonight? What are you wearing?” Kayla asked with an evil gleam on her eyes.
“Oh, you know. Something that doesn’t leave much to the imagination.” Noemi giggled evilly. “Dad is going to love it.”
“You are going to kill your dad of a heart attack.”
“He’ll be fine.” Noemi waved her off. “Besides, I know you have a closet full of ‘naughty’ dresses just dying to make an appearance in front of dad.”
Kayla laughed. “Where’s Sean?”
“He’s with dad at home.” Noemi responded. “Go down Melrose, the dry cleaning should be ready.”
“I hope so because I can taste that drink already.” Kayla said as she sped down the highway.
Eighteen
