Soulerano Pulse: Vol.1

Chapter 1: Part 2

The contestants arrived at the swanky hotel Soulerano Pulse put them in as finalists. Olivia ran her hand along the wallpaper of the lobby wall. The shiny mint colored pattern ridged and offset from the silky creamy tan of the background.

“Fancy,” she breathed to herself. She looked above her to the high vaulted ceilings and gasped at the way the lights twinkled off the crystals onto the wall. Marcos stood next to Olivia, mouth gaped open with a similar awestricken look. “This has ‘I am old rich’ written all over it.”

“Don’t it though?” They both looked at each other and smiled.

“You all act like you haven’t seen a damn chandelier before,” Bradley muttered before rudely walking between them, knocking Marcos to the side. Marcos dropped his bag and took a defensive stance with the word b***h written all over his face.

“Excuse me?” Marcos sneered.

“You’re excused, man,” Bradley replied and patted Marcos’s shoulder twice before walking to the receptionist.

“Unfuckingbelievable!” Olivia said after a few moments of realizing that Bradley really just pulled that on Marcos like he didn’t have ten feet between him and the next wall. Marcos stood there fuming with his fist clenched so tight that the knuckles started turning from his normal bronze skin to white. Olivia looked at Bradley’s back with disgust. “I have to wonder what the f**k Maven was thinking when he selected that cunt.”

“I don’t know, but he’s already weighing on my patience. Right now I am just trying to decide if smacking him like the b***h he is is worth possibly losing out on the greatest career move I have ever gotten.”

“He ain’t worth it suga,’ and he’ll get his due when the time comes.”

Marcos grunts and slings the bag onto his shoulder. “You’re right. Karma got a colder dish to serve than my backhand slapping him into next year.”

“That’s the spirit. Let’s go get checked in.” She smiled at him but the dark look in his eyes gave her pause.

“I see the way the man looks at you, Olivia. Please be careful around him. Entitled assholes like him don’t know when no means no.” His voice sounded grave.

Olivia looked from him to Bradley, shaking off the negative vibes surrounding her. “I promise he will regret ever crossing me if it comes to it.”

~*~

Olivia crumpled the hotel stationary and threw it at Marcos’s head, “Try again.”

Marcos narrowed his hazel eyes at her, “Damn it, Liv! I don’t know what you are expecting out of me.”

“More.”

“More?”

“Yes, more Marcos.” She took a deep breath, “Remember every time you see them perform they leave it all over the stage. You can’t pick sissy ass songs and think you about to beat me in any capacity.” Marcos gave Olivia a blank look then smirked and wrote down three songs, then got up and slid the paper to her. She looked at the list and burst out laughing, “Challenge accepted, friend!” she yelled after him as he left her room.

She smiled as she looked at the list her competitive friend came up with. She knew his voice could handle any song thrown at him, but his stage presence was the real battle. It was not nonexistent, but he relied too much on his face to carry him through a show. The only artist she knew who could do that was Adele. Any crowd Soulerano Pulse pulls would most definitely need more than just vocals.

She remembered the first time she saw them live two years ago. Their studio album was stellar, and she wanted to see if the live delivery would be the same or watered down like so many other mainstream artists that have crossed the stage. Maven’s mere stage presence without anything happening was magnetic. He was mesmerizing and unforgettable. It was like, you could feel him touching the darkest parts of your soul and you could feel the connection through each beat of your heart. And by goddess grace when the man opened his mouth to sing you never really wanted him to stop; the pauses just as momentous as the melodies; the soft notes just as startling as the screams. It was an emotional journey to watch Soulerano Pulse perform as a whole. And for them to be searching for a new member means they are looking for something that can either match or take them to the next level; giving anything less than extraordinary would be the nail in the coffin for them.

~*~

“Well, she has a very eclectic taste,” Alejandro mused as he looked at Olivia’s song choice for the upcoming finale to their contest.

“Yeah…going from Michael Jackson to Slipknot is going to be…interesting…to say the least,” Xavier said from across the practice facility.

“I like it. She’s giving us a story and wide ranges of emotion versus what the guys are doing,” Lynnard’s husky voice chimed in from behind his equipment.

“She’s definitely giving us a different tone. It’s captivating,” Maven adds with half smile and a distant look in his eyes. The rest of the band all look at him like he was some form of alien creature.

Xavier peered at his best friend wondering where his overly critical friend went. It was a rare occasion this man even complimented himself, let alone another artist. He knew something was up but was not entirely sure of how things would go. Xavier could admit that she was a gorgeous woman and had talent flowing off her skin. But for Maven to not find anything to critique was suspicious. Trading glances with Alejandro and Lynnard, he already knew that the other guys were thinking the same as he. They would have to watch Maven and be sure he wasn’t going off the deep end again.

“Hey guys,” Olivia’s voice echoed from across the room.

“Hey, Liv!” Lita exclaimed from behind her drum set, “Just come on and get comfy. We just want to run through the songs and see if there’s anything we need to tweak to make the performance more yours.”

She smiled as she made her way towards the band, Xavier watched his best friend’s posture change from relaxed and his normal super chill, to more attentive and excited. “Aww, f**k, I was right.” He gave Alejandro a desperate look and he gave a grave look back. They were both front and center the last time his heart got involved and Xavier didn’t think either of them could take another round if things went wrong. Maven’s erratic and unpredictable behavior was even worse when his emotions were tangled with situations. Xavier loved his best friend, but Maven was always on the edge of darkness and genius. So many people that work with him thought he was cold-hearted and calculated. However true that may be at times, the man was one of the most giving and emotional creatures he had ever met. Watching Olivia and Maven’s exchange, he could see this getting messy just as quickly as the last girl he was emotionally invested in.

“Yeah, I know this was a really range varying list, but I am trying to show that I got something more to bring to the group than a pretty face and high-pitched vocals,” Olivia explained evenly to Lita and Maven. Xavier could not help but agree her range puts her a cut above the rest. Her artsy style was mystifying and enchanting. Xavier knew that she was most likely to win out the bunch. He remembered her auditions; all she had to do was stand there and sing and your mouth would hit the floor. He liked her; he just did not need Maven to get emotionally invested into a bandmate this early in the game. There was a possibility, however slim, that she would not win the competition.

Lita bobbed back up to her drum set and he knew it was time for business. He grabbed his pearl-colored bass and walked over to his usual place on the right side of Alejandro and the left of his best friend. Olivia began to explain the tone she was setting for her set. He side-eyed Maven and saw the smile creep across his face as he watched her. I hope this doesn’t end like last time. Maven looked at Xavier as the thought finished crossing his mind and Xavier saw a flicker of something he had not seen in a long time and his core froze. The last time he saw that shadow, things went south very quickly. The fear crept into his soul for Olivia, but then she looked at him and he could see an equal darkness in her eyes which actually creeped him out even more. What the f**k?!

~*~

Xavier stood outside their condominium while waiting for Alejandro to park his car. He huffed and dreaded the fight that is sure to come. One thing about Maven was that he was as bull-headed as they come, and the most dangerous thing is that Maven wouldn’t see the damage being done until it was too late to actually fix the situation. “f**k!” he cursed under his breath at the painful memories of watching his friend descend into the darkness. Tears welled in his eyes at the thought of seeing him that loss again.

“Hey, X, let’s get this over with,” Alejandro said as he walked past his friend with an equally grim look written all over his boyish and tanned face. They rode up in the elevator with the same tension they had in the car on the way over. They both hesitated when the doors opened. They all live on the private penthouse floor, but Maven’s door was the one right across from the elevator. The black steel door looked like it was mocking the two men as they stared it down. Alejandro coughed and Xavier turned to look at him.

“I don’t always have to be first, you know.” Xavier quipped.

“You’re second in command…of course, you do.” Alejandro said matter of factly. Xavier glared but made the move out of the elevator because they didn’t have all day to fiddle around with something so childish. He walked into Maven’s apartment to the sound of some aria playing in the background, “Well that’s a good sign.”

“Is it though, Ally? How often is he even up and about at 11 AM when we don’t have an early morning meeting or flight?”

“Aww s**t,” Alejandro put his head in his hand and shook it realizing the possibilities were slim to none.

“Oh, I thought I heard somebody come in. What’s up, guys?” Maven said in the most animated voice they had heard in years. Xavier and Alejandro looked at each other and then at him in astonishment. “What? I can’t be in a good mood?”

“Mave, you haven’t been in a good mood…ever,” Alejandro stressed the last word.

Maven looked in between his friends four times then exclaimed, “Aw hell, what now?”

Xavier looked at his watch and decided it wasn’t the time to handle this with kid gloves so he jumped straight to the point, “We need to have an understanding about Olivia, especially if she wi…”

“When,” Maven interrupted in his usual cool tone.

Xavier stared at his friend already losing patience with him, “If or when she wins, hopefully you won’t do anything that will compromise her, yourself, or this band.”

Maven stared evenly at both of them for several minutes before speaking, “I know what you guys are getting at. I am really excited for this opportunity to create something truly unique with someone who gets us with little to no explanation. That’s where my excitement comes from. I am not even the same thing I was when all that s**t went down.” The pain in his voice radiated through their bones. The hurt was clear, and Xavier felt sick that he ruined his friend’s mood by being overly protective.

Alejandro spoke up, “We just have to be sure, because it is our job to make sure you are safe, first and foremost.”

“I get it Ally. We can never really atone for our past, can we?”

“It’s not like th…” Xavier tried to explain.

“It’s very clear. And really, I appreciate you guys looking out for everyone the way that you are supposed to, but I am fine. She’s a very likable person and I appreciate her dedication to her art is all.”

“Okay, Mave.” Alejandro said. As he escorted his friends out of his apartment there was a part of him that knew they were right. Olivia was someone who stirred old feelings in him that he wasn’t completely sure would stay put voluntarily.

She’s definitely a hotty for sure.

That familiar inner voice echoed in his ear faintly.

“f**k, not now. Go away!”

C’mon I win every time. So, you might as well just give in man.

He dropped his head against the door and breathed out a harsh and worried breath, “f**k!”

~*~

She applied the dark as night eyeliner with a precision carefully crafted through nervous hands. This was her chance to make an impression on one of the most mystifying bands she has ever heard. They plucked at her soul. She just knew it was her purpose to create something greater with them. She envisioned this; it is something she would fight to have. Everything had to be left on the stage in an honest ash of truth and desires; nothing to chance and nothing ungiven. She felt Bradley’s presence before the annoying nasally tone reached her ears.

“You’d be so much more attractive if you didn’t wear all that black clothing, you know?”

Without missing a beat, she moved to the next eye, “And I don’t recall asking you for your opinion!”

“But I gave it because no one else is brave enough to tell you that you’d be drop dead gorgeous if you dressed and acted like a girl for once.”

Olivia pursed her matte purple lips becoming more annoyed with the waste of space sucking the energy out of her. “Again,” she paused as she appraised the evenness of her eyeliner, “I. Did. Not. f*****g. Ask. You. For. Your. Approval!”

He chuckled at her tone taking it as comical, “When I win this competition, you are going to be begging to be by my side.” Olivia turned in her seat to stare at Bradley as if he had lost his damn mind and he continued unbothered by the obvious offensiveness that she was projecting.

“As a matter of fact, you can just be my new arm candy and I might convince the band to let us do a few duets as a couple.”

She cackled at his delusion. He clearly did not catch any of the dismissive and cruel tones that she has used against him since the moment they met. She disliked everything about him: his straw-like strawberry blonde hair; his dull blue eyes; the sharp slightly crooked nose; the fact that his lips were almost nonexistent and his skin looked like he was dabbling in Botox already. She was really confounded how he was gifted with such good vocals. His spirit reeked of something rotten and she knew she had to shut him down before he infected her energy with the same rot. She got up from her vanity chair and sauntered seductively to him and placed her hand on his chest.

“So, you think you got what it takes to tame me, huh?” She raised her eyebrows, giving her sexiest and most playful voice she could stomach to muster.

He smirked and replied in a low and husky voice, “Hell yeah.”

“Really??” She asked, actually wondering if maybe she should have gone into acting because he was eating it up. His breathing was quickening the closer she got to him. “f*****g simp.”

“Girl, I will have you cooking, cleaning, and waiting on your knees at the door for me to have my c**k rammed down your throat.” Olivia almost vomited in his face at the thought. She decided to end this dance before she ended up ruining her makeup.

“Oh, really?” She said in a high-pitched voice before moving her face very close to his and viciously whispering, “Too f*****g bad you’re too much of a f*****g simp for me to ever take seriously!” She then grabbed his face and shoved him as hard as she could out of her dressing room, slamming the door in his face.

“You f*****g b***h! You will regret this! You hear me, you f*****g b***h!” He beat on the door like a madman and hurled more insults before finally walking away still cursing and raging. Then he suddenly stopped, breathed, and was walking away as if nothing happened. Xavier and Alejandro witnessed the end of the confrontation and were baffled why anyone would even approach a girl like Olivia that way. Xavier dialed Maven’s phone and described briefly what happened. Maven calmly told them to let the show go on as planned. “Are you really so sure that they won’t pick him?” Xavier asked apprehensively.

“Have faith, X. Just have faith.” Maven ended the call looking at himself in the mirror and restraining from going and kicking Bradley’s ass.

I wouldn’t even want to taste that insect’s blood. Just let me break his legs and arms.

No, I am trying to prove to them I am sane.

What’s insane about beating that cunt’s ass?

The new me wouldn’t do that.

Just go away.

Naw…

~*~

Bradley’s performance got the crowd amp. Whatever charisma he actually had was left for the stage because the crowd was eating out the palm of his hand. Lynnard gave Alejandro a worried look as Bradley cockily walked off the stage and the crowd was screaming for an encore. Marcos and Olivia never paid any attention to his actual stage presence, but it was actually there, and it was strong. Marcos cursed under his breath, folding his across his chest and biting his lip.

“Stop that!” Olivia yelled in his ear, “That motherfucker ain’t winning this. It’s either you or me, but not f*****g him! So you better go up there and kill that s**t because I definitely ain’t going to hold s**t back. Do you f*****g hear me, Marcos?” Marcos looked at her steadily before he nodded his oval-shaped head, and the fight returning to his dark brown eyes. She looked up to find Maven staring at her, seeming unbothered by Bradley’s performance while the rest of the band looked unsettled by the crowd’s reaction. His full lips mouthed ‘just kill it’ and she smirked back as a response. He nodded his head and turned to Xavier to tell him something.

“Welp, let me go get into the zone real quick. See you on the other side, Cher.” Marcos kissed Olivia’s cheek and disappeared into the background of backstage. When Olivia looked back on stage the whole band was now surrounding Maven and it looked heated. As if on cue they all looked her way and they all looked like they were pleading for her to kill her set. Except for Maven, he continued to look completely unbothered by what was going on as if he knew something that none of the rest of them knew.

Olivia takes a deep breath and sends energy for her friend. He was a sweetheart who deserved so much more than he was getting. His humbleness was kind of his downfall. It made him hold back the devastating monster performer that he actually was. The moment he let it all go in front of her she felt the energy around her shift and she felt his light seep into her skin. He needed to be in that same moment and she really hoped he could reach that same moment of freedom.

When she refocused on the stage there he was clad in red leather pants and a white tank top, with chains hanging from his belt loops. He was speaking to the crowd, “So y’all were really impressed with that guy?” The crowd's response was a deafening roar. “Aight, aight, aight. Well let’s see what you think about someone with actual talent.” The crowd’s reaction was attentive silence. Marcos glanced over at Olivia and winked. “Let’s get into this.”

Olivia found herself cheering and singing along his entire performance with a huge smile on her face. The crowd was electric with excitement and positive vibes. She thought she saw Xavier smiling while playing which was a shocking sight for her because he always seemed to have a blank or grim expression on his face. Maybe he just did not like her. She shrugged off the thought as if it mattered. Right now her friend Marcos was killing it on stage and her heart was exploding for love of the energy and the art being displayed.

Marcos sang the last note of his song and grinned so hard it hurt his face. He truly felt free and he had Olivia to thank for showing him the way to really let it all go. The crowd clamored for an encore, but he didn’t want to steal any more stage time from her. He looked over his shoulder at Olivia and was caught off guard by how stunning she looked, smiling with her locs in pigtails and dressed in a high low-black sheer skirt and a tank top, with fishnet stockings and gloves that went up to her elbows. Dark makeup was done to perfection, even from the darkness of the backstage area. She threw up a thumb and nodded her approval and mouthed ‘I told you so’. His grin widened. He turned back to the still cheering crowd, and then he turned back to the band who all seemed pleased, except Maven. The look in his eyes did not connect with the smile on his face. There was an aggression there that did not make any sense to him. Something that said back off, but back off from what? He turned back to the crowd and took a bow before he jogged off the stage towards Olivia.

The anxious look on his face gave her pause. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Um, yeah, just nervous about the vote,” he lied flatly.

“First of all, you killed it. And second, don’t lie to me.”

“I don’t know. Maven was looking at me weird as f**k and it has me feeling off now.”

Olivia looked at Maven who seemed just as cool as ever while the others were animatedly talking amongst each other. He smiled and nodded, but she did catch the quick glance towards them before he turned more of his back towards them.

“Marcos, Maven is just a weird guy period,” Olivia replied.

“I can’t even begin to describe whatever the f**k look that was he just gave me. Like a f*****g animal marking its territory or something.” He shrugs, shakes his head, and then smiles. “You, ma’am has a set to get ready to kill.”

“And kill it, I shall, my dear Marcos. Kill it, I shall.”

~*~