Jared volunteered to go
first, sacrificing his day off to stalk Maven’s shows. He even phoned an old girlfriend to tag along
as his “date”.
“Are you sure you want to open that can of worms again?” Manuel
laughed. “Sherry has been trying to get
her hooks back into you since you dumped her last year.”
“I know,” Jared groaned.
“It just seemed like a better cover to have someone with me. I’ll take Sherry backstage afterward and
she’ll gush about how she’d been dying to see the show and junk like that. You know how she is; she’ll be the perfect
cover.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right but do me a favor, huh? Don’t bring her to my show!”
Jared laughed as he
playfully punched his friend’s shoulder.
He knew Sherry would hound him for months but BT was worth the headache
and more. His mind’s eye conjured an
image of diving on top of a grenade to save BT.
As he walked away, Jared knew he’d even a take a bullet for the man that
had become his surrogate father. God help Maven or anyone else if they ever
try to hurt BT.
That evening, Jared waited by the main
gate for Sherry to arrive. She had sent
him a text message that she was running late but 40 minutes was excessive. He paced, checked his watch, paced, and then
checking his watch again, he muttered a curse.
His carefully laid plan was beginning to unravel before ever being put
into play. His phone vibrated and
another text message from Sherry appeared:
“Just pulling in now” amid an overabundance of smiley faces and
hearts. Jared barely said hello as he
snatched Sherry’s hand and dragged her to Maven’s tent. She babbled on the entire way about how
thrilled she was to hear from him. Yada, yada, yada, Jared thought bitterly
as her mouth continued churning out words while he pulled her along at a rapid
clip. Long before they reached the
entrance, Maven’s lackeys pulled velvet ropes across the gate, signifying the
show was full. He stopped short and Sherry plowed into Jared’s back, panting
from the exertion.
“Great, we missed it,” grumbled Jared. “What the hell took you so long anyway?”
“Well, Sugar,” Sherry blushed. “I wanted to look my very best so I went and
had my hair done and a mani-pedi, and….well, if you play your cards right, you
just might get to see what else I had done. I can give ya a hint if you'd like.”
Bile rose in Jared’s
throat. He had a pretty good idea what
she’d had done and he had no desire whatsoever to see it. He shook his head wondering why women put themselves through such brutal grooming procedures. Resigned to killing time before the next
show, he stomped off to another attraction with Sherry trailing his wake. Hours later, Jared and Sherry made their way
to Maven’s tent, twenty minutes before the show was scheduled to start. Already there was a long line of anxious
patrons. Maven’s assistants began making
their way down the line speaking with each customer. Nice
touch, Jared thought. When the two
burly men stopped in front of Jared and Sherry he smiled brightly and said
hello.
“Ticket please,” they responded, as if they didn’t know
Jared from Adam.
“We’re in line to get our ticket, guys.” Jared laughed.
“No,” the larger thug responded. “The second show is always by special
appointment only. If you don’t have one
of the golden tickets, you don’t get in.”
“C’mon, guys. You
know me. We'll stand in the back and not make a peep. I swear, if I didn’t know
better I’d say you’re deliberately trying to make me look bad in front of my
date. She’s been dying to see Maven’s show!”
“No can do, buddy.
Those are the rules. No ticket,
no entry.”
Jared tried to sweet talk
his way in but Maven’s assistants refused.
The more he pleaded the angrier they got.
“Look, man, you’re holding up the line. Crimony, I’d expect better manners from one
of our own. Seriously, you’re acting
worse than the typical drunkards that we have to kick out. Move along or do you want us to call Security?
Stunned, Jared stammered out
an apology, trying again to explain that he was merely trying to impress his
date and he hadn’t meant to cause any trouble. The last thing he needed was to have them complaint to BT about this.
“She just really wanted to see Maven’s act. She’s a big fan.” Jared insisted.
“Aw, baby,” Sherry squealed. “That’s alright. I’d be just as happy to go through the Tunnel
of Love ride instead.”
“You heard the lady, she’d be happy to ride the Tunnel of
Love. So why don’t you take her for her
ride and step out of line already, Jared.”
No comments:
Post a Comment