THE COLLECTIVE
A DARK STAR STORY
INTERLUDE 2 -- REPERCUSSIONS
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Taking the shaker bottle in her hand she mixed the whey powder into the water.
The first sip of the vile milky looking drink made her face sneer with disgust, whichever marketing genius had branded the supplement as 'Strawberry Heaven' was really stretching the truth Ari Walker-Smith thought to herself as she set the plastic bottle down on the vast island in the centre of the pristine white modern kitchen. The kitchen that had recently been gutted and refitted at significant cost as just one part of her new fiancé Marco Mancini's renovation of the inherited family mansion.
Her box fresh Nike trainers squeaked in protest on the polished tiled floor as she unzipped the little grey zip through hooded top and draped it over the back of the stool to the left of the one she perched herself atop of before reaching back for the insipidly flavoured strawberry drink that was barely tainted pink in colour.
Ari delayed the prospect of heading to the existing gym situated on the ground floor of the twelve-bedroom property. She was bored, she was restless, she had only gotten dressed into the tight little black Lycra shorts and sports bra that clung to her slender body to break the monotony of the empty lonely days at the isolated countryside residence, the large wall mounted clock to her left indicating it was seven hours before she needed to be at her own fairly recent inheritance.
He had warned her that the place was addictive. Ari had not believed him, Logan Hughes, she had superficially only accepted the night club given the likely real estate value its prime City Centre location constituted. Now that she lived and breathed for being at the venue and relished in the day-to-day necessities that came with running the busy venue her opinion had changed. While she still had much to despise Logan Hughes for once again she had so much to be grateful to him for.
Try as she might she knew she could never truly hold a grudge against the man, there was something far beyond an enigmatic charm to him. "When we were good, we were good weren't we?" Ari heard his words echo through her mind, the memory of their last conversation held, the last time she had seen him, the day he had signed the Dark Star over to her on his further statement that she was the only person he trusted with the establishment. Why was another matter, she had no experience she had no genuine clue how to run such a business let alone one with such a fearsome reputation, a reputation matched only by the crippling debts under which the venue operated.
In a room above her the sound of an electric drill pulled Ari from her thoughts and daydreaming reminiscence. The sound causing her to jump a little forgetting about the Polish carpenter come labourer who had spent the last four days diligently converting one of the twelve bedrooms for a purpose born of her conviction and needs. A wry smile crossing her face at the promise made to her by Janis, a promise that the project would be finished today. The project Ari had meticulously planned herself but so far, as difficult as it had been, had resisted temptation to be involved with or even view the progress of having handed the concepts and the trust for completion to the handyman hired by her fiancé.
The timing of the completion could not be anymore perfect given Marco's imminent arrival home from over three weeks away in Italy, a sojourn that was allegedly heavily laden business affairs and offered little to no time for relaxation. A premise that Ari did not believe held one modicum of truth, given theirs was as an open relationship as existed. Even with the existence of the platinum set significant carat diamond sat upon her left ring finger Ari knew Marco much like many of the men in her life, including Logan Hughes, was not a man to be easily tamed. The situations suited her perfectly, even if he never approved of the two-way nature of such unstated agreements. Ari sought the stability but needed the excitement in her life.
A little over half an hour later Ari found herself lost to the enigma of dreadfully mundane day time television, the protein shake still stood before her, discarded in favour of her second cup of strong black coffee as she idly watched the dull home renovation programme over the distraction she had initially sought from the running machine in the gymnasium.
"Miss Arabella" the gravelly male voice offered from over her shoulder.
The intrusion made her jump a little so distracted had she been by her mundanity, she had not even heard him approach her from behind.
Composing herself Ari slid from the stool on which she sat and turned to face him. Easily ten to fifteen years her senior Janis was not classically good looking, but his rugged features and scruffy hair held a certain attraction. His physical form suggested he took care of himself, or the rigours of his manual labour assisted his well-built physique. His grey blue eyes, set amongst his brooding features were captivating as she observed them cast none to surreptitiously over her. She knew full well she left little to his imagination given the tight fit of her Lycra ensemble. She made no move to cover herself with either her arms or the grey hoody that hung over the chair to her left.
"Hi," she offered in response, her heart no longer in her chest.
"I... well I'm about all done." Janis offered, his eye eventually meeting hers.
"Great," Ari almost dismissively offered back, reaching back for the TV remote control to turn down the volume, "Mr Mancini will arrange payment when he's back... as agreed."
"There's no problem with that..." Janis offered his hands casually slipping into his paint splattered jeans pockets as his eyes lingered on her once more, "...Do you want to check that everything is to your preference before I leave."
"Well, if it's not..." Ari offered on a teasing little smirk "...you won't get paid until it is."
Her attempt at humour and her smirk appeared lost, judging by the look of contempt that crosses his rugged features.
"I'm sure everything perfect" Ari quickly interjected so as not to cause offence, the Builders Contractors Janis worked for had carried out a number of significant and cosmetic renovations around the property in recent months. 'Casa Vigna' was not a name Ari was fond of but like many of the quirks of the vast Mansion she had moved into the old fashioned mixed with the new and changing the name of the property was off the table for debate. Slowly but surely though with her influence and Marco's vast wealth the Mansion neared completion in terms of its almost total overhaul since Marco had inherited the property from his late Father.
"I've never worked on such a project before..." Janos offered with a raised eyebrow, "...It's... it's certainly unique."
"That's what I'm hoping for..." Ari grinned, "...show me what you've created."
A palpable excitement gripped Ari as she followed Janis out of the kitchen. She had been given free rein on conversion of the property's smallest bedroom. Her suggestion had required little persuasion of her fiancé with the project appealing as much to his darker needs and desires as her own. Her plans had been meticulous if a little rudimentary. For the last three days she had fought her intrigue to even enter the room when Janis had left at the end of each working day. In her mind she wanted only to see the completed perfect room, a slight reticence now grips her as she heads through the hallway that leads to the bottom of the stairs, a thought process that she might be disappointed by her own visions of grandiose and the difference of what constituted perfection to the handyman.
At the bottom of the dog leg staircase Ari let a little smirk pass her lips as Janis stepped aside, acting the gentleman but she fully appreciated that following her up the stairs would afford him an unfettered view up the backs of her legs and over her ass, clad only in the little black Lycra shorts.
She did not hesitate though flashing him enough of a grin to tease him as she took quickly took the first three steps to the wide deep mahogany stairs, before she heard him follow her. Ari practically bounced on the toes of her hideously underutilised training shoes.
