The Platinum Triangle

by T V Hartwell

  Laren slipped next to Kirby on the sofa after signing the gift card, snuggling up against him.

  “I guess I better get going,” Kirby said promptly.

  “I thought you might stay over tonight,” Laren said as she rubbed her foot against Kirby’s leg.

  “I want to get some writing done tonight. I’m in a really good flow right now on this TV pilot script I’m working on.”

  “Oh, which one is that?”

  “The one I’m working on with Jeff Hoefflin. If we get the green light, I’ll be the co-producer and writer of the show.”

  “Didn’t he do a pilot last year? I vaguely recall some casting specs from his production company being sent around?”

  “He co-wrote and produced a pilot episode last year but it didn’t get picked up. He’s pitching a couple more projects for the upcoming season and that’s what I’m helping him with.”

  “He’s so young and such a creative genius. That’s great the two of you are working together. I’m sure your big break will come along soon enough.”

  “Yep. Oh well, I best get going. I’ll call you tomorrow,” Kirby said as he rose to leave.

  “Why are you in such a hurry all of a sudden?” Laren asked, slightly irritated. “It’s only 9:15.”

  “I told you. I want to get back home to write.”

  “You can do that here. Can’t you?”

  “I didn’t bring my laptop.”

  “Well, that’s shocking. You take your laptop with you practically everywhere.”

  “Not tonight. I left it at home when I came here to pick you up. I wasn’t planning on staying over.”

  “Kirby, what’s wrong?” Laren asked as Kirby appeared antsy and eager to leave.

  “What do you mean? Nothing’s wrong.”

  “I just feel like you’ve been pulling back lately. You haven’t stayed the night with me in weeks.”

  “What are you talking about? I am over here all the time.”

  “I am talking about staying overnight, Kirby. Sleeping in bed with me.”

  “I give you more than sleep. We have sex every week, several times a week.”

  Several times a week my ass, Laren said to herself as she sighed deeply with frustration. “Is that all you care about? Sometimes I feel like that’s all you want from me. It’s like it doesn’t even mean anything to you anymore.”

  “What’s so different about it?”

  “You’re just like wham, bam, thank you, ma’am, and then you are out of here. I want to feel like more than just a booty call. I want us to spend time together as a couple.”

  Kirby looked down at the floor in silence trying to think of a good comeback.

  “You don’t even seem to want me over to your place,” Laren continued. “It’s like you’re hiding something from me.”

  “I have a roommate and you live alone. We have more privacy over here. That’s why.”

  “Doesn’t Jake spend most of the week at Amanda’s? Why can’t we be like that?”

  “Oh God, here you go again with that.”

  “You are there at night by yourself most of the time. Or at least that’s what you say.”

  Kirby rolled his eyes and shook his head dismissively at Laren’s implication.

  “Well that’s what you tell me. I don’t know you’re alone for a fact.”

  “Girl, what are you saying? Don’t be making crazy accusations.”

  “We’ve never even lived together and we’ve been dating for four years. When Jake moved back to LA, you were more eager to live with him than with me. You chose to live with Jake over your own girlfriend. I mean, really, Kirby?”

  “You know I work mostly from home. Living with you would be a distraction. I need my own space to focus on what I’m doing.”

  “How come living with me is a distraction and living with your boys is not? You’ve had roommates since you graduated from SC.”

  “That’s different.”

  “Oh, that’s different, huh?”

  “Yeah, it is,” Kirby retorted sarcastically.

  “Why is it different?”

  “Look, I don’t want to talk about this right now. I need to get going. I can’t be wasting time sitting here arguing with you over stupid shit. I’m tired of it.”

  “Okay, so you’re just going to run off like you normally do.”

  “Whatever. I’ll call you later. Bye,” Kirby said as he grabbed his car key and hurried out the front door.

  ***

  While driving home after leaving Laren’s place, Kirby called his friend Antonio Villar.

  “Hey, what’s up?”

  “Nothing. What’s up with you?”

  “Long day. Tired man,” Kirby said.

  “Where are you?” Antonio asked, sounding annoyed.

  “Driving home.”

  “I thought we were going to meet up for dinner. Did you get my messages? I must’ve called you like five or six times.”

  “Aaaah, man. Sorry. I completely forgot. I got tied up tonight.”

  “Tied up with who? Your bitch?”

  “Damnnnn. Calm down. I’m sorry. Something came up. I’m nearby. I’ll hop over to your place real quick.”

  “Don’t bother, Kirby. If you want a piece of ass tonight go get it somewhere else. I’m not in the mood.”

  “Dude, why you gotta be like that. I said I was sorry.”

  “You could’ve called me. Instead you just blow me off like you always do then show up when you’re horny. Forget it.”

  Kirby continued to drive toward Antonio’s place, ignoring his rejection. Kirby had known Antonio for three years. They met while working together as production assistants on Adam Weinstock’s second film. Openly gay, Antonio liked to bottom, especially for Kirby. He was a size queen, and he preferred men of Kirby’s girth and length between the legs. Their relationship could best be described as friends with benefits, but more time was spent enjoying the benefits than building a genuine friendship. Antonio wanted more and was secretly hoping he could eventually become Kirby’s boyfriend and live openly with him as a couple. But Kirby had other plans.

  “I don’t blow you off, dude,” Kirby said calmly.

  “Yes, you do!” Antonio said loudly. “And I am getting sick of doing this down low, undercover bullshit with you. You act like you don’t want to be seen with me unless we’re in a group. Like you’re scared of being alone with me in public or something.”

  “What are you talking about? We’ve been together in public many times.”

  “When?”

  Kirby hesitated before responding to joggle his memory, but he couldn’t point to many examples. “At clubs. At parties. We just had lunch together last Friday.”

  “You, me, and Crystal had lunch together last Friday. And when we happen to be at the same parties, there are lots of other people around. You are not there just to be with me.”

  “I just parked my car. So I am here for you now.”

  “You’re outside my building?”

  “Yes!”

  “I said not to come. I don’t want to see you right now.”

  “Dude, come on. Buzz me in.”

  Antonio hung up. Undeterred, Kirby proceeded to the front door of Antonio’s apartment building in West Hollywood on Kings Road and dialed his number on the intercom at the main entrance. After the phone rang five times, the call went to voice mail. Kirby didn’t leave a message and dialed again, and then again. The third time, Antonio answered.

  “What?”

  “You going to let me in?”

  Antonio snickered and finally relented. Kirby took the elevator to the third floor to reach Antonio’s apartment. When Antonio opened the door to let Kirby in, he was visibly upset and wanted to play hard to get, but Kirby was too hot to resist and his demeanor was contrite, but confident.

  “Antonio, I am sorry, dude. Don’t be mad,” Kirby said softly with his best puppy-eyed look. He moved closer to Antonio so that their faces were just inches apart. Antonio c
ouldn’t help but notice how striking and delicious Kirby looked in his baby blue V-neck T-shirt, which nicely accented his cocoa brown skin and tightly hugged his pumped chest and arms. His slim fit jeans perfectly outlined the curvature of his muscular thighs and 32-inch waistline. Kirby could make an unremarkable ensemble of clothing look remarkably sexy on his body. Although Antonio had been with Kirby many times and was intimately familiar with nearly every inch of his athletic, muscular frame, the very sight of him was enough to turn him into Silly Putty.

  “Are we good?” Kirby asked as he placed his hands on the side of Antonio’s hips and pulled him closer.

  Antonio’s lust for Kirby compromised his emotions, and he no longer wanted to put up a fight. “I guess I’ll give you a get out of jail pass for now. But you aren’t completely off the hook,” he said.

  Kirby kissed Antonio’s lips softly three times briefly, pausing between each kiss to look into his eyes as if seeking permission to go further. After the third kiss, Antonio began to rub his hands up and down Kirby’s arms and then he lifted Kirby’s shirt to massage and squeeze his hard pecks and nipples. Kirby then kissed him again, inserting his tongue into Antonio’s mouth. They alternated sucking on each other’s tongues with wild hunger, consumed with the taste and sensuality of the wet, warm moisture of their mouths colliding together. Things rapidly progressed from there as clothes came off and the prelude to a hot fuck session began. Soon thereafter, Kirby had Antonio exactly where he wanted him, on all fours with his ass cheeks spread, ready and eager to be rimmed and then plowed by Kirby’s ten inches of steel.

  Chapter 13 Making Sense of Crazy Making

  Jake had been debating whether to tell Amanda about the conversation he had with his parents two nights before. Amanda already knew that Jamie was not fond of her, and Jake knew and recalled what Jamie told Amanda on the night the two first met. “You’re just another one of the many girls my son has dated. He’ll eventually get bored and move on to the next one before long. So don’t get too comfortable.” Jamie turned out to be wrong, of course, but it left an indelible impression.

  Jake had always taken his mother’s badgering about Amanda with a grain of salt, reckoning that no mother was terribly excited to meet her son’s love interests. And Jamie had always been overprotective. Plus, he had wondered if the driving force behind it might be irrational jealousy and pent-up anger toward Amanda’s father since they shared a past as high school sweethearts. Jake suspected that poor Amanda had become a proxy for Jamie’s dislike of Rick. But whatever her reasons, Jake was beside himself and very upset.

  “Did I tell you about my dinner conversation with my parents on Thursday night?” Jake began casually as he drove them to their Saturday morning workout at Sports Club LA.

  “I was wondering,” Amanda said. “Did you ask your mom about the outfit she was planning to wear to the wedding?”

  “I did, but that was the least revealing thing she had to say.”

  “Oh really?” Amanda said quizzically.

  “Basically, she said that she didn’t want us to get married.” Jake ultimately decided to tell Amanda about the conversation. He figured he wasn’t telling her something that she didn’t already suspect.

  Amanda gasped; her mouth wide open as she turned to look at him.

  “Oh…my…God, are you serious?”

  “Yep.”

  “Well, I can’t say that I’m all that surprised, but did she say why?”

  “She didn’t want to talk about it. She was getting all emotional and then she and Dad started to argue. Apparently, she had already shared her feelings with him about it, but he thought she was being completely unreasonable and off base.”

  “Go Tom! I love your dad. What did he say to her?”

  “Basically, just that we’re happy together and very compatible and that he doesn’t understand what her problem is. He seemed as perplexed as I was actually.”

  “What’s so perplexing? Your mother has never liked me and seems to despise my family. I’ve always wondered if this has anything to do with her and my dad dating when they were in high school and her not liking my mother and all. I know it sounds ridiculous but maybe she’s just bitter and wants nothing to do with us.”

  “Perhaps. I’ve thought the same thing, but I really don’t know. I’m going over to talk with her about it later today.”

  “You are? Do you think I should come along?” Amanda paused momentarily for effect. “Just kidding,” she said with a chuckle feeling both irritated and amused at the same time.

  “She called me the next day after we had dinner and said that she wanted to talk to me alone, so we agreed to meet today. Dad’s playing in a charity golf tournament all afternoon so he won’t be around. I want my mother to be happy for us but at the end of the day it really doesn’t matter. She can’t stop us from getting married. You’ve got me signed, sealed, and delivered, baby.” Jake pinched Amanda’s chin affectionately with his right hand, which she grabbed, softly kissed, and held on to as they continued down Santa Monica Boulevard in Jake’s BMW toward the sports club.

  ***

  After their workout, Jake and Amanda had lunch and then he dropped her off at her condo before heading over to his parents’ home to meet with his mother. Jake could not get his head around why, from the very beginning, Jamie had always tried to convince him that Amanda was not right for him. Her reasons were always so frivolous and superficial and even knowing she’d dated Amanda’s dad and perhaps now despised him seemed so petty. She even went to great lengths to set him up a couple of times. Once with the daughter of a friend of hers while Jake and Amanda were more than a year into their relationship during college, decidedly a couple, and no longer dating other people. As Jake drove, he recalled the scene in his memory with a sense of bafflement and hilarity.

  Jamie had invited the girl along with her parents over to a birthday party for Jake’s dad. This was during Jake’s senior year at Stanford. He had come down to LA for the weekend to be home for the party unaware that Jamie was trying to set him up with another girl whom she led to believe that Jake was single and available. The young lady was very excited and eager to meet Jake as she had seen photos of him and saw how handsome he was. She also heard that he was very smart with a promising future ahead of him in law.

  When they met she was instantly drawn to Jake. He was very talkative and attentive, which she mistook as good chemistry and mutual attraction. She and Jake were the only two people in their age group at the party. Both were college students, she locally at USC, and both bright and attractive. Naturally, Jake was interested in talking to her and learning more about her as her presence at the party was a surprise to him and not expected. However, when the subject of dating came up, she being flirtatious commented to Jake that she was surprised that he was “still on the market” and “not taken.” Jake, not knowing where she came up with that idea, promptly replied that he was in fact taken and that he had been with Amanda going on two years. The girl was completely mortified and embarrassed nearly to tears. She and her mother felt so humiliated that they stopped talking to Jamie altogether after that.

  At first, Jake was looking forward to the meeting with his mother to get down to the bottom of her issues with Amanda once and for all. But as he got closer to the house to meet with her, he began to dread the encounter. With his wedding day fast approaching, this was not the kind of drama he wanted or expected from his mother of all people. However, Jake was very close to Jamie, considered a momma’s boy among those who knew him best, so he concluded that if she had reached a point where her reservations about him marrying Amanda were that serious and she wanted to meet with him alone to tell him why, it was worth hearing her out.

  Chapter 14 The Confession

  Rick promised Jamie that he would “take care of it” when she told him that Jake was likely his son and that his marriage to Amanda needed to be stopped. However, that was more than a month before and the wedding was now less than thirty days away
. Jamie had been phoning Rick so incessantly to get an update on how he was handling things, that she became a nuisance to him. Rick had grown so irritated with her that he stopped answering her calls altogether. She hadn’t spoken to him in weeks, growing ever more desperate by the day with the clock ticking down and the wedding moving full steam ahead. She hoped that by the time she and Tom had returned from their trip to the Middle East the matter would have been resolved. In fact, she was hoping and praying that at dinner with Jake at The California Club that he would inform her and Tom that he and Amanda had broken things off. To her dismay, however, Jake’s big news was that he had decided that his younger brother, Harry, would be his best man instead of Kirby. At that moment, Jamie was so overcome with emotion and despair she thought she was going to faint.

  The next day following that dinner, Jamie went to speak with her minister, The Reverend Timothy O’Mahoney at the parish. At that point, other than Rick, she had not confided in anyone about her secret and she felt she needed to come clean to someone she trusted.

  “Tim, I have something to tell you. I don’t know who else to turn to and I need help,” she said to him near tears. “I had an affair with the father of Jake’s fiancée nearly twenty-seven years ago. I dated him in high school and we were in love or at least I thought we were. But then Rick went to Princeton and I went off to Stanford for college. We stayed in touch initially by phone and by writing to one another, and when we came home for vacations we would see each other. Rick once told me that when he came back to LA after college that he would marry me. But as time went by, we fell out of touch. Not only did Rick stop calling and writing, he returned to LA with a new wife after graduating from Princeton and living in New York for a couple of years. I knew that he had gotten married before he moved back, but a part of me didn’t want to accept that it was true; that we would never be together again. Of course, I eventually married Tom and things were going swell, and I felt happy. But then I saw Rick for the first time in five years at a mutual friend’s wedding. I was there with Tom, and Rick was there with his wife, Camilla, but something happened. I completely snapped. These emotions and desires and a longing for him rose up inside of me all over again. Tom and I were newlyweds at the time, so Rick walked over to congratulate us. But when he did, he looked at me as if he knew that I was hurt inside about the fact that we never had closure.