Chapter 3 - Delmar Eduardo's Side

"Piss Pot," I heard someone hiss behind me.

I turned around, slightly shocked, and found myself staring into her round, brown face.

"Remi, you're here. How'd it go?"
"Not that you really care, right piss pot?"

I raised my eyebrows.

"What's up with the Bloody Mary today?"
"You could've kept your part of the deal, you know, to meet me in the studio when I came?"
"Oh, that… sorry."
"Yeah, whatever. I could find my own way around. But I don't like people to stand me up."
"So, how far have you gotten?"
"Working on a record deal."
"Dread."

She was silenced for a while. Then she slit her hazel eyes and stared me down, and the clarity of her eyes allowed me to gaze into her mind, the same way she was gazing into mine. We both got the gist of each other. And we both decided to remain silent.

"How'd you know what 'dread' meant? You a stalker?"
"You know exactly how I know, so there's no need to explain. Right?"

She walked away briskly. I could tell I had shaken her. But no worries. She would become my friend… or at least my confidante, in time.

"You're a singer now, baby. Now there are sacrifices to make. Like your identity. And your anonymity. Have fun."

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Remi Osuna's Side

This was not funny. Or was it just me and my luck? To run into just the person I do not need right now. But I had to befriend him otherwise it could be dangerous. I hate how my life was predestined for me, but I know that I know something that they don't know. I could use myself against them. One thing all of them in that world look for, long for, wait for, is I. I am the end of their problems. The Impure Virgin. Kane didn't get it. I was the one he had been looking for. I don't know, maybe it's his bastardy shining through. Maybe it's just that under that entire sexy charade, he was just a blockhead. Or maybe he was different from them all. I knew he was different from them all. Or maybe…

Maybe I should stop thinking and learn how to fight this damn thing. All I'm on the road to right now was money. Now I needed to know how to use it. But what did I need it for. All I knew were the four basic things I needed. I needed money, I needed that book, I needed my own blood, and I needed the Lord. Those were the four things I needed. But how did I use them?

I bowed my head and prayed for a less renegade spirit, or at least to make it stronger. Lord knows I needed all the help I could get.

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Kevin Richardson's side

Have you ever done this before, Mr. Richardson? Probably not. However, you have had it done to you. Do you remember the goodly Mr. Pearlman? Always an attentive student, you learned a lot from this guy. It was always his intent to make a goldmine off of you, but will you do it to her? Or will you just take the credit. You already know what this has done to your own life. Seriously now, do it to her. It won't hurt her. She's stronger than you are. Fool, if she's stronger than you are, you're playing with fire, and you're going to be burned. Do you even give a damn anymore? Or are you just walking around with dollar signs in your eyes? Take control Kevin, isn't that what you wanted? Isn't it? Don't complain; it walked into your lap. You just know what to do with it. But she's going to fight you, or maybe, she just wants something from you. That's why she came in the first place. Think about it fool…

I jerked awake and rubbed my forehead. I had this headache, this pounding headache. I felt slightly disoriented, and things were swimming before my eyes. I woke up and pushed the sheets off of myself as I got out of bed. It was dark, but the moon was bright as a new dime. And it was lower in the sky than usual.

"Blue moon," I muttered under my breath.

I heard a moan coming from my bed. I looked over and saw the outline of a female. I didn't remember taking any woman to bed last night. Yet here she was. Unless…

I threw back the covers.

"Mallory?"

"Oh Kevin," she moaned sleepily, her eyelashes fluttering open.

"What are you doing here?"

She sat up indignantly.

"Oh, honey," she said in an annoying southern drawl, "I just had to see you today, so I ran over. Of course it was late and you were already in bed, but I thought, hell, we've done it so many times before it couldn't hurt if I hopped right on in with you."

Mallory was the biggest mistake of my life. So many people had told me to ditch the crow, but I didn't listen, I thought I was in love. She was a red-haired supposed southern belle, but her face was so covered in freckles that her beauty was lost. Not to mention eyes the size of a pinhead. Her hair had been dyed and fried so many times that it was a miracle that it had grown to the shoulder length that it was now. At the moment the colour was flat, as if she had bought a cheap box of hair dye from the grocery store and coloured her hair with her eyes closed.

On top of all of her contrived beauty, Mallory was a prima donna. She was a diva without the fame. Everyone was expected to answer to her every beck and call. I was expected to be up at 6 a.m. every morning so that we could do yoga together. I was expected to cook her breakfast afterwards, and then prepare her bath. She screamed if the bathwater was too hot, too cold and if you didn't use the Herbal Essences body wash. Sometimes I said that if she didn't like how I do things she could do them her damn self, but then she would launch into a barrage of crocodile tears, she would cry about how much she loved me, and how she would do anything for me, and couldn't I do just this one thing for her? When she was like this, my anger ebbed away, but it was still strong, and as I held her to keep her quiet, in her hysteria she would grab the back of my head and kiss me. They always say that the sex is better when you're angry.

In my latter opinion, I think it was this and this alone that kept us together. Otherwise I would have kicked the little princess to the curb long before.

When I finally get the courage to dump her, here she is again.

"Mallory, you just cannot come jumping into my bed in the middle of the night anymore."

"Why, you never used to mind one bit before."

"That was when we were together Mallory. Now we're done. The end."

She pouted her lips and got out of my bed.

"Well, if that's the way you feel about it, I might as well just leave."

I sighed.

"That's right."

She got on her jacket and I walked her to the door. As I opened it and was about to say goodbye, she stopped me.

"Kevin, honey, I'm oh so thirsty, you wouldn't begrudge me a drink of water, would you?"

I sighed and went to the kitchen, and she followed me. I hastily got a glass and poured some tap water into it.

"Oh, Kevin, you know I only drink purified."

"That's all I have so deal," I said, handing her the glass.

She took the glass silently, drinking the water in tiny sips and taking forever. She looked around the room innocently. She wanted something.

"Kevin? Would you do me a favour?"

I sighed. This rich girl life style would keep her single all her days.

"What is it?"

She sighed and put down the glass. I could tell by the way she was blinking that she was about to pour a river.

"Oh, Kevin," she started, tiny rivulets streaming slowly from her eyes. "Nona died."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Oh but Kevin, you don't understand. You see, in her will, she left the whole estate, everything to Melody. Everything. Everything."

"What's your point?"

"My point? My point? Oh, Kevin! How could you be so inconsiderate?" she cried, bursting into full-fledged torrents.

"Don't you know what this means? I have to move out of my home. My beautiful hundred-acre home with the fountains and the pools and the pool tables and the butlers and beautiful Andrea…she was such a good friend to me… and I have to survive on my own. I can't mooch off of anyone else. Do you know what that old battleaxe put in her will? She said it was high time I dropped my fancy airs and learned to live like woman and not a princess! And she went on and on about how great my wretched sister was, oh Kevin!"

She flung herself into my arms. I could tell she had come onto hard times. She was wearing cheap perfume, not to mention the hair job.

"What am I to do baby? I have no house to live in," she sniffled.

"What you want is for me to let you stay here, is that it?"

She tried to look at me with puppy dog eyes.

"If you kindly would?"

I felt like throwing her into the street. But all I did was let her go.

"Yes, but you'd have to do as your grandmother says. I'm not going to pamper you. I have my own things to attend to."

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