Saved and SAINTified (8 page)

“Yes, we heard some of it.” The women looked at each other and
grinned. “Thank you.” They both stood.

“No ladies, please have a seat. I’ll see myself out. Goodnight.”  He walked
over to them, hugged them both and kissed Valerie on her cheek before he exited the mansion into the awaiting night air. Then he raced to his Queen for the much-desired sexual nightcap his body and soul craved...

****

One month later…

S
aint swiveled in his black leather office chair, a mischievous smile on his face as he watched Lawrence squirm nervously in the seat across from him.

“The meeting is in ten minutes.”
Lawrence blushed and looked down at his watch—a recent birthday gift from Saint.

“Yeah, just enough time for you to finish your thought
,” Saint encouraged, still slowly turning his chair as his fingers fashioned a steeple formation.

Lawrence
sighed, rolled his eyes and lulled his head back, a slight smile creasing his bronzed face. His dark hair fell back as he looked aimlessly up at the ceiling in Saint’s office.

“We can discuss my sex life later,” he
said, avoiding direct eye contact with Saint.

“
Lawrence, you came to
me
, saying you had something private to discuss and wanted my input. Now, you’re acting brand new. Look.” Saint stopped spinning and placed both hands flat on his desk as he leaned forward. “
Whatever
we discuss does not leave this room. I won’t look at you and Donna differently. This is what I do. There is nothing you could tell me that would shock me or that I’ve never heard of before. Now,” he looked at his open laptop, noting the time, “just give me a brief idea of what is going on, and we can discuss it further later.”

“Let’s just say things are not exactly progressing
.” Frown indentations puckered the sides of his cheeks. “She’s homesick. She misses her family and friends.” He sat up and leaned forward. “She doesn’t know anyone out here and when she isn’t feeling good emotionally, I get
nothing
.”

Lawrence
’s eyebrows rose as he looked over at Saint, who was now lightly drumming a pen against his desk.

“Okay. After the meeting I’ll talk to you about ways to make her feel assured, safe and more comfortable. It’s going to be okay
.” Saint smiled as he rose from his seat and straightened his dark navy Fitzgerald Saxxon suit jacket. “We’re friends now, Lawrence.  We’ve gotten to know each other very well over the course of these last six months. You can talk to me about anything, you hear me?”

“Thanks S
aint, I appreciate that.”

“
No problem at all. You’ve been very helpful to me and you’re a good listener. Too bad I had to meet you while pursuing a serial killer, but I’m glad we met too, nevertheless.”

Lawrence
nodded. “Yes, the serial killer.” He shuddered. “I met you while you were hunting someone. I try to block it out my mind.” He laughed weakly. “I’m not  ...  violent. But you ...”

He paused. He could tell
Lawrence was tiptoeing over his words.

“I’m more of the hands on type
.” Saint allowed, letting him off the hook. “Do you know how long it took for me to accept that?” he said with a full-on grin.

“I can imagine.”
Lawrence looked at him earnestly. “That’s what you’re designed for though. You’re different from most of us. You’re a foot soldier.”

“That’s an interesting way of thinking about it.” Saint rubbed his chin with his index finger as he deliberated over his friend’s words. “
You try to deal with problem people, cerebrally. I do too, but unfortunately, not everything can be resolved with a meeting of the minds, and then, well,” Saint shrugged nonchalantly, “I have to take matters into my own hands, literally.”

The air seemed to suddenly cool.

Lawrence nodded and grabbed the knot of his tie, adjusting it as if he were nervous.

“Thanks again
  ...  for agreeing to help me with my  ...  little personal problem. Yeah, we can discuss it later.” He laughed uncomfortably. “Well, I’m pretty open usually but you know, the subject matter is just a little embarrassing is all.”

“You have nothing to be embarrassed about. You’ve come to the right person. After the meeting, let’s go and have a drink and discuss this further. I have some advice and I feel confident that your situation can be remedied fairly quickly.”

Both men exited Saint’s office and made the short trek to the main conference room.

****

The well-dressed Rainbeau Knights of the Round Table were gathered around the long table in the rich, earth-toned colored room. All that could be heard was Lawrence sliding his chair out to sit down, and Saint’s hard footsteps as he made his way toward the front. He reached up and straightened his dark navy pinstripe tie as he continued his confident stride, his feet clicking the hard wood floors in a rhythmic beat toward the podium.

He cleared his throat, picked up the chilled glass of water and took a slow sip as he looked casually at the room full of
multi-ethnic men. He waited several moments as they, too, followed suit and refreshed their ice-filled glasses from pitchers of water set along the table. In typical form, no one said a word until Saint opened the floor for discussion.

“Good morning
,” his deep voice rumbled.

“Good morning
,” was the general response.

He looked down, adjusted his wedding band and looked at a few of the members
who sat up close. His eyes met George’s, and they gave each other an appreciative nod. Saint adjusted his cufflinks.

“I want everyone’s reports at the end of this meeting regarding ‘The Family Unit’ program
,” he started. “I appreciate everyone’s efforts at the food bank last week as well—we can add that to our family unit outreach goals. Let’s try to at least double the donations next time. Now, let’s get down to business.”

He shot a look at
Lawrence then turned away, gripping the sides of the podium.

“We have several new recent graduates who have just completed training. Their names are Brian Hill, Patrick Deusi, Emmanuel Lopez and Joseph Ahmed.”

A round of applause rang out.

“Gentlemen
.” Saint raised his arm as he prepared to introduce each new member. “Please stand and take a bow.”

All
four men stood and looked around the room, the lot smiling and nodding to the other men while the applause dragged on.

“You all know these guys
. You met them as soon as they entered the program but I will just remind you, to jog your memory about their background. First, let’s give Brian Hill another round of applause!”

All of the Rainbeau Knights of the Round Table clapped, some whistled and cheered enthusiastically.

“Brian is from Connecticut. He has a Mechanical Engineering degree and is twenty-five years old. He currently doesn’t have a Queen, but he is working to change that.”

Brian gave a shy grin while S
aint returned a smile in his direction.

“He will be working in
our gadget design group with the private investigators, decoys and surveillance crew. He is quite skilled and innovative. I’ve spoken with him extensively and have the utmost faith and belief that he will be an asset to our organization. He passed all of his preliminary tests with flying colors and scored a 97% on the last exam to join our team. We welcome and congratulate you, Brian. Job well done.”

Brian nodded and sat down.

“Next, we have Patrick Deusi. Patrick is from London, England. He moved here about eight months ago with his lovely Queen, Samantha, who some of you met at the dinner last month. Patrick is an English college professor and has already been a great talent as far as helping to reach some of the younger cats. He will be working directly with the at-risk teen Rainbeaus due to recent harassment and alienation. His people skills are impeccable and he garners respect. Thank you, Patrick.”

“My pleasure,” the new Knight responded, waving his hand to everyone before taking his seat amidst applause.

“Next, we have E.L.!”

Saint and E.L.
looked at each other, seeming to be speaking in a secret nonverbal language to one another.

“Emmanuel Lopez is from
New York. Nice to finally have someone here from my stomping grounds!” Saint smiled broadly as he held Mr. Lopez’s gaze with a nod and a smile. “He is from Queens. I lived there for a short stint, too. If any of you see us doing strange handshakes, it’s not gang signs; it’s how we show love.” Several people laughed as Saint continued.

“Emmanuel is a biophysicist, and is currently engaged. His Empress, Share, is participating in the monthly groups. He will be working with the health and medical team and he and I have had some wonderful, enlightening discussions. We are lucky to have you here man, thank you.” S
aint waved to him and waited for him to take his seat before moving on.

“Lastly, we have Joseph Ahmed. Joseph is from
Chicago, Illinois.” The man stood to a fresh round of applause. “Joseph is married to his beautiful Queen, Miranda, and she, as well, was at the dinner last month. Joseph is a licensed psychologist and will be here for everyone, working part time. His office is at the end of the hall and you do need to schedule in advance, but he only needs a twenty-four hour notice. He also has a private practice that you are welcome to attend as well. I really encourage all of you to visit him. We have stressful jobs here. We deal with sensitive information and sometimes, it is beneficial to talk things out and find healthy coping mechanisms.”

Joseph looked around the room, nodded and took his seat.

“Okay, now that that is out of the way, let’s discuss the men’s conference in New York in a few months, as well as the one in Tallahassee—they are back to back. I understand that I’m the keynote speaker and it is already being advertised.”

Several of the officers nodded.

“Okay, well, as I stated last week, due to the recent influx of emails I’ve received, I’m going to cover a gamut of topics and I feel it is imperative that all new recruits, those of you twelve months or less old with the organization, attend one of the conferences coming up. There will be discussions on the history of racism in this country.” Saint counted his fingers as he made each point. “Black on black interracial attack, meaning, black women who are being attacked by other black women and black men for dating outside of their race. Yeah.” Saint nodded as he watched the men shoot each other perplexed looks. “It’s a strange phenomenon that there are more and more black women complaining about other black women, making their lives difficult, harassing them for dating outside of their race. We need to be aware of this so that we understand what our Queens are going through. It’s not just their moms, close friends and sisters anymore. Now, it’s strangers online, at their workplace and out in public—if they are out with their Rainbeau or mixed-race children—showing proof of the situation, especially. It’s gotten really bad. We will discuss that more later. Moving on.” He took another sip of his water.

“
Also, I will cover some intimacy topics and I advise everyone attending that is still considered a newbie, to read at least a few of my books before the conference, if you haven’t done so already. It will make some areas I cover a bit more understandable. Now, I’m going to wrap this up and give George the floor, but again, I want to congratulate the four new graduates.” There was another round of applause.

S
aint went over the calendar of events for the following six months, then took his seat as George approached him, shook his hand and stood in front of the podium. George’s hair was pulled back in his signature ponytail and his black, tailor made Alexander Amosu suit fit him like a second skin. George raked his long, knobby finger along the side of podium as he seemed to be reflecting, in deep thought.

“Good morning, brothers
,” he said solemnly, his British accent lacing each word, and received greetings in kind from those present.

“I wish to present a plaque, in honor of James Kessler
, our brother and co-founder. This plaque will be given out once a year to a member who has shown exemplary leadership skills.”

Amidst deafening applause,
several members stood and whistled.

S
aint sat in his chair, reflecting over George’s words. He missed James immensely and though it was stated to him repeatedly after the loss of his mother and then James that, with time, grief lessens, no one had an explanation for the sudden heart flips of anguish that would seize him by surprise when he realized that he was calling James’ cell phone number to ask a question … forgetting that the man would never again pick up that phone. He could really use his support right now—especially with the overwhelming nagging feeling he was currently enduring.

He looked around the room suspiciously as George continued to speak. He stared at each man individually, trying desperately to figure out why he felt so uneasy with the energy flow. Someone, or maybe two or three people, was causing him distress
, though he could not pinpoint who it was. He had ruled out George and Lawrence; they were true-blue and so were a few of the others—but for some, the question still hung in the air like a dark cloud.