Lyric watched Khalil snort at least six lines of cocaine and chase it down with liquor.
“Oh, shit, he’s coming over here,” Bethany said, bouncing in her seat.
Lyric was trying to play it cool, but her heart was pounding in her chest. She didn’t know if it was fear or excitement. She was excited about the attention, but she was afraid that he would offer her drugs. She would not be able to say no.
“Hello, I’m Khalil. And you are?” he asked, grabbing her hand and kissing her knuckles. Lyric felt flushed. Khalil was even better looking up close. She couldn’t stop staring at his long, dark eyelashes and his shocking white teeth. She thought his skin was so beautifully golden.
“Lyric,” she answered, somewhat breathlessly. She looked away, suddenly too nervous to maintain eye contact. She could see several envious glares from the women in the room.
“Lyric . . . That’s a beautiful name. Well, Lyric, you are my special guest now. Let’s talk,” he said, flashing his perfect porcelain teeth. Lyric’s insides melted a bit. Of all of the beautiful women in the club, he’d chosen her.
“What would you like to talk about, Your Royal Highness?” she replied, flashing her most flirtatious smile.
Chapter 9
Harmony
Harmony flexed her neck and stretched her arms over her head. She sighed as the knots in her neck began to melt. Her muscles were as tense as her life had been for the past two months. She was barely sleeping; even going to the dance school every day, something she normally enjoyed, had become a chore.
She lifted her right foot and placed it on the wooden balance bar in front of the wall of mirrors, then lowered her head to her knee until she felt the muscles in the back of her leg stretch. She did the same with her left leg. As if on cue with the end of her stretch, the musical interlude of Rihanna’s “A Million Miles Away” filled the studio. Harmony put her arms up, slightly bent at the elbows, her thumb and middle fingertips together and her pinkies in the air. She stared at herself in the huge mirror for a few seconds before she moved. Dancing helped her to relieve her stress and frustration. So far, it had been a lifesaver.
When Rihanna’s smoky vocals filled the room, Harmony closed her eyes and swayed her torso from side to side, letting the rhythm move her. She flexed her feet until she was on her tiptoes; then she made a four with her legs and released them again. She repeated the step three times. Her body moved across the studio gracefully as she completed four consecutive pliés to the piano accompaniment in the song. She eased into a relevé and sauté with each high note in music. The song’s lyrics about lovers growing apart moved through her soul and made her dance with ferocity and passion. Harmony repeated the ballet steps over and over, swaying and pirouetting as if she was in front of a crowd of thousands. The movement, the sound of the piano, the dance moves all drew her back to her childhood.
* * *
Harmony was seven years old, dressed in a white leotard and a wide, fluffy white tutu made of layers of wedding dress tulle. She wore a headband of white feathers dotted with tiny iridescent beads. Harmony was one of ten little swans set to perform their version of Swan Lake. She was excited, but slightly disappointed as she watched the other tiny ballerinas backstage hug and kiss their mothers who were all smiling and gushing with pride.
Ava rushed over to Harmony and started pulling and tugging at her costume.
“You have to look perfect. Bad enough you’re the darkest one in this sea of white. You already stick out like a sore thumb,” Ava said in a hushed tone as she turned Harmony around, adjusted her skirt, and readjusted her headband. Harmony looked around, and then sadly hung her head. Ava was right. All of the other girls in her class were pretty with fair skin and hair long enough to make a perfect bun. Ava had purchased a fake bun and pinned it to the back of Harmony’s head.
“Now go work hard. You have to work extra hard so people won’t look at you like the little dumb black girl. If you make any mistakes, it will be your behind when you get home,” Ava threatened in Harmony’s ear. No words of praise or encouragement—just more criticism and threats.
With sweat beads lined up at her hairline, Harmony stepped on the stage. She got into her place and when the orchestra started playing, tried to forget who she was and where she was—she could feel the music enter her body and move through her spirit.
Harmony definitely stuck out, but not because of her dark skin. It was her innate dancing abilities. At a young age, Harmony moved gracefully and on rhythm, unlike her novice classmates. At the end of her piece, there was a big pause, followed by a thunderous standing ovation. Mothers wept and fathers cheered loudly. Her mother may not have appreciated the effort that Harmony put into her routine, but others did. Harmony was smiling brightly as she scanned the crowd, searching for her own mother. Her smile faded when she saw that her mother was the only one not standing, or waving, or wearing a proud expression on her face. Even with a near flawless performance, Harmony still wasn’t good enough for Ava.
* * *
Harmony was lost in the past as she leaped across the wooden floors. Suddenly, a scream cut through the air, causing her to miss her landing and nearly topple to the floor.
“What the hell?” Harmony gasped, turning toward the sound. She raced across the expansive room to the doors and burst through them to find her staff running in a panic.
“Oh my God,” Harmony shrieked, jumping back as her slippers became wet. “Where is all of this water coming from?”
“I guess a pipe burst,” Dani, one of her dance instructors, grunted. She was trying in vain to lift heavy boxes of dance supplies off of the floor before they were soaked through.
“Everything is getting wet. I won’t be able to save it all. This is thousands of dollars’ worth of supplies,” Dani yelled, distraught.
“This is all I need right now,” Harmony grumbled, as she sloshed through the rushing water, searching for the source.
Her mind raced in several directions. The dance studio was her life, all that she had left. It was the only stable thing in her life right now. And she was watching her dream wash away . . . literally.
“The floors—they’ll all be ruined. How will we be able to dance or conduct classes?” Kimmy cried out, perched on a chair, as Harmony rushed past. Kimmy was a college dance student that had recently signed on to teach Harmony’s teeny ballerinas’ class as part of an internship class offered through her college’s performing arts program.
“Call the fire department. Ask if they can help us,” Harmony instructed Dani. “I know they have tools to turn off pipes and stuff. There’s no way we can wait to find a plumber and pray that he can come soon enough to save this place from complete ruin.”
Harmony raced to the back of the studio where the utility room was located. When she opened the door to the small room, she fell backward against the rush of cold water. She flailed her arms, panicking for a few brief seconds, before she managed to slam the door closed with the full weight of her body. She’d never learned to swim so even small amounts of water scared her. She finally got her bearings and scrambled to her feet. She tried the door again, but it seemed to be stuck. There was no way she could reach the pipes to turn off the main water valve if she couldn’t get safely into the room.
The studio was covered in several inches of water already. Harmony knew that meant hundreds of thousands in damages and months of insurance claims and subsequent estimates and reestimates of replacement costs. Her heart sank. She wanted to scream at the injustice of it all.
How much more can I take?
“Ms. Harmony. They’re here,” Kimmy called out. “The firemen are here.” Harmony turned around just in time to see five firefighters enter her studio in knee-high rubber boots, armed with axes, wrenches, and large bolt cutters.
“Stand back, ma’am,” the head of the pack commanded, his voice deep, and his tone serious.
“The main water valve is behind this door, but for some reason it’s stuck,” Harmo
ny said, indicating with a quick jerk of her chin before she moved out of their way.
“We’ll take care of it, ma’am,” the leader assured.
Harmony swiped her hands over her face as she watched the firefighters axe the doorknob and hinges off of the utility room until the door swung open with a bang.
“Whoa!” she heard two of the firefighters shout as water rushed at them like a raging river.
“We need to choke off the water main. This much water can’t be just an indoor pipe. Go around back. Find the manhole associated with this place. Hurry up,” the leader yelled at the others.
Harmony splayed her fingers across her forehead. What did she do to deserve such a terrible lot in life?
It took almost twenty minutes to get the underground water main turned off. The dance studio was in shambles. Chairs had floated into mirrors and shattered them. All of Harmony’s student files were floating around in the standing water. The hardwood floors were starting to buckle and lift.
Harmony sat in the lobby, shivering and distraught.
“Ma’am, are you the owner?” the head firefighter asked.
Harmony lifted her gaze and stared at the stranger. He had striking slanted eyes and his olive skin was smooth with just enough hair to make him look rugged but not unkempt. He stood about six feet tall and had broad shoulders.
“Yes,” Harmony rasped, barely above a whisper. “I’m the owner.”
“Captain Birdwell. Blake Birdwell,” he said, extending his hand.
“Harmony Bridges.” Harmony pulled her trembling hand from under her arm and extended it for an obligatory shake.
“I’m sorry about your place, Ms. Bridges,” he offered. “Probably going to be some pretty bad water damage to the hardwood. You may have to replace it all. And you’ll have to watch out for mold growth with this type of sitting water,” he said looking around.
Harmony closed her eyes as she processed the information. All she could hear was money, money, and more money. That was the one thing Harmony didn’t have right now.
“Can you tell what happened? How did this happen?” she asked, genuinely perplexed.
“Seems like it was more than your typical water heater bursting. Seems like an underground water main gave way. Sometimes they burst and the water flows underground, but other times, the damaged main spouts up like a geyser like this one did. Anytime we see this much water gushing, it’s usually from the water main that leads to the indoor piping system. In this case, we had to stop the feed from outside or else this place would’ve been ceiling high with water. The entire block is without water right now. City’s got to come out and do some major patching up down there before it can get turned back on.”
Harmony sighed loudly. “How long will that take?”
“There is just no telling, ma’am,” Captain Birdwell said sympathetically.
“So there’s probably no way this can be repaired in time for me to hold classes by next week?” she pressed. Captain Birdwell shook his head. Harmony let out a tiny gasp and whimper.
“My girls worked so hard all year, and the school’s big recital is coming up soon. We need to keep working on it. What will I tell all of my hardworking students and their parents?” she lamented.
“If I were you, I’d call the insurance company right away. They probably can’t fix it as soon as you need it done, but at least you can get the claims process started,” he advised.
“I don’t know a thing about filing an insurance claim,” Harmony replied, shaking her head.
“I tell you what, let me run to the truck and get my card. I don’t mind coming back over and helping you fill out the paperwork. I’ve seen businesses fail to get what they deserve simply because the owner didn’t use the right verbiage in their claims. Dealing with insurance companies can be tricky.”
“Oh my goodness. Thank you so much,” Harmony replied sincerely. She could use all of the free help being offered.
“No problem. I’m sorry that you lost so much today. I know it must be very difficult for you. I’m happy to help where I can,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”
Harmony glanced at her reflection in the mirror across the room.
“Shit. I look a damn mess,” she huffed, trying in vain to smooth her fuzzy hair with her hands. She noticed that her eyes and face were puffy from crying and her leotard and tights were stained and smelled like a mixture of sweat and mold.
Captain Birdwell was back in what seemed like a flash. He had taken off his heavy-duty equipment, exposing his bulging biceps and muscular chest through a form-fitting fire department T-shirt.
Her cheeks flushed. It was the first time in years that she had that reaction to a man.
Are you serious right now? You’re married, and he probably is too, Harmony silently chastised herself.
“That was fast. Guess you couldn’t wait to get out of that heavy gear,” she said, smiling awkwardly. She hoped he hadn’t seen her trying to spruce herself up. Even she didn’t understand why, at a moment like this, she cared what the fire captain thought of her.
“It can be a pain to wear sometimes,” he said, lightening the mood.
“All of my numbers are listed here,” Captain Birdwell said, extending his card out to Harmony.
“Thank you so much.” She accepted the card with slightly unsteady hands. Harmony couldn’t tell if the trembling was a result of shock or the cold water seeping through her clothes, chilling her to the bone.
“I’m pretty handy too. So once you get an adjuster to come out and assess the damage, I can help you find a good crew for the job. I don’t want you to get robbed by these crooked New Jersey contractors,” Captain Birdwell said.
Harmony’s stomach fluttered. Not only was this man sexy, but he was thoughtful too.
“That would be awesome. You know how it is once they see a woman. They think they can tell us anything and we’ll believe it. Thank you again, Captain Birdwell,” Harmony replied, looking down at his card to avoid blushing again.
“Blake. Call me Blake,” he corrected.
She glanced up, and he flashed her a beautiful white smile. In a time of chaos, God had sent her an angel.
“Blake. Blake Birdwell,” Harmony repeated, the name rolling off of her tongue like a new, happy song. “I’ll definitely be giving you a call.”
Chapter 10
Melody
“In today’s entertainment news, a big announcement seems to have shocked the music industry last night. Diamond Records artist Terikka revealed to the world that she was expecting her first child. In true over-the-top Terikka style, she ended her performance at the World Music Awards with a tear-away shawl that revealed her noticeable baby bump. After the crowd erupted in cheers, Terikka walked into the audience and grabbed Diamond Records owner and rapper, Sly, and placed his hand on her belly and kissed him in full soap opera fashion. We have footage of the exciting moment.”
Melody clasped her right hand over her mouth as she watched video footage of Sly and Terikka.
“Oh God,” she gasped, feeling the urge to vomit. “I am the laughingstock of the industry and the world.”
“Industry insiders tell us that everyone was shocked by the news. As you all may know, Sly was the longtime boyfriend of Melody Love. Although there were rumors of infidelity in the relationship, there was never any confirmation. For now, it looks like the couple is elated about their soon-to-be bundle of joy. Melody hasn’t been seen. We speculate she may be hiding out, trying to digest this news. We will continue to follow this story closely.”
Another shot of Sly and Terikka flashed across Melody’s television screen. It was a freeze frame of the kiss seen around the world. This time, Melody couldn’t hold it together. She darted across her bedroom and made it into the bathroom and to the toilet just in time.
When she was finished regurgitating her lunch, Melody collapsed on the cold, tiled floor and stared up at the ceiling. She squeezed her eyes shut and let the tears streak down her face.<
br />
* * *
“Honestly, Mel, I came to tell you something else,” Sly said, followed by a long sigh. “Something that needed to be said in person and not through a punk-ass text or over the phone.”
“I’m listening,” Melody said, twisting her lips to the side and wringing her hands in front of her nervously.
Sly cleared his throat and lowered his face into his palms. He took off his Yankee fitted cap, scratched his head, and set the cap back on it. He repeated this three more times.
“You playing right now, Sly. I really don’t have time for it today.” Melody tapped her foot expectantly and folded her arms across her chest.
“Okay. Okay,” Sly relented. He placed his cap on his head and lifted his head a little bit so that he stared at her chin.
“I wanted you to find out from me and not some blog or paparazzi magazine,” he said, his voice unusually mousy.
Melody hugged herself. All of a sudden, she felt cold. Bad news would surely follow.
“Find out what?” she asked impatiently.
“First, let me just say this, Mel.” Sly lowered his eyes to the floor, choosing his words carefully.
“Don’t caveat your news with a bullshit line about how you love me and how you want to be with me. Tell me what you need to tell me now, Sly,” Melody demanded, her patience wearing thin.
Sly’s shoulders slumped. “A’ight. I’m just gonna come out and say it then . . .”
“Fucking say it already, Sly!” Melody exploded. Her nerves were already shot to hell. “I mean, what haven’t I heard before? What did you do now and with who and—”
“Terikka is pregnant,” he blurted, cutting her off.
Melody’s lips snapped shut. “Terikka is pregnant? And . . .?” She met his gaze.
Suddenly, her head jerked back like he had just thrown cold water in her face. “Terikka is pregnant. And . . .?” she repeated Sly’s words with more urgency so that they settled in her mind.
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