Lyric shrugged away from Harmony. “So? Everything excites y’all. It’s just a stupid house,” Lyric grumbled, folding her arms over her chest.
She hated everything about Andrew Harvey. From their first meeting until now, every time Lyric had to be in his presence she went into a dark place mentally.
“What’s wrong with you?” Melody whispered harshly, frowning. “You better change that mood. This party is in our honor. We finally went platinum, and a big player like Andrew Harvey is throwing us a party,” Melody chastised.
“Ladies, right this way.” A man dressed in a tuxedo interrupted their little spat. “Mr. Harvey is awaiting your arrival.”
“And he got his own Geoffrey like the one in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” Melody whispered as they followed the man.
When Lyric, Melody, and Harmony crossed through the beautiful glass front doors, Lyric felt a nauseating sense of déjà vu.
“Oh my God. The inside of this house is even more amazing.” Melody gasped. “Look at these floors.” She tapped her foot on the gilded floors. “You think this is real gold?”
“Plated. Gold plated.” Andrew Harvey chuckled from behind them. The girls all seemed to spin around in unison, like a dance routine.
“Mr. Harvey,” Melody said, beaming. “Oh my God. We love your house. We have never seen anything like it.”
Andrew Harvey laughed. “I can tell.”
Lyric reached over with a shaky hand and furtively grabbed Harmony’s hand. Harmony looked at her and questioned Lyric with her eyes.
“There’s my special girl.” Andrew Harvey stepped in front of Lyric and placed his hand on her shoulder. Lyric clutched Harmony’s hand in a death grip.
“Wait until you see the cake and the spread I had made up for you girls,” he said, keeping his eyes on Lyric the entire time.
A small amount of acidic vomit leapt into Lyric’s throat. She forced herself to swallow it back down.
“Ava said to send you her apologies. She wasn’t feeling well,” Harmony told him. “She told me to look out for everyone,” Harmony emphasized.
“Oh, she didn’t come?” Andrew Harvey asked, looking over the girls’ heads as if he was making sure. “Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of all of you. You don’t have to act as the mother. You’re just a kid yourself. You need to enjoy yourself.” He smiled and placed his hands over Lyric’s shoulders.
Harmony tugged on Lyric’s hand, pulling her away from him.
“So, is the party out there?” Harmony jerked her chin toward a wall of glass doors that led to Andrew Harvey’s expansive backyard, patio, and saxophone-shaped pool.
“Yes, yes. All of you girls make yourselves at home. This is all about you and that beautiful platinum plaque you’ve earned,” he said cheerfully, extending his left arm toward the action.
“Let’s go!” Melody cheered, rushing for the doors. Lyric and Harmony followed her.
The party was packed with people. Lyric, Melody, and Harmony stood flabbergasted by the attendees. There were famous actors, singers, dancers, radio personalities, and even politicians in attendance. Beautiful girls dressed in traditional French maid outfits and high heels walked around serving drinks and hors d’oeuvres held on silver platters. The gorgeously laid out spread of food began at the right of the door and extended the full length of the property.
Melody and Harmony were giggling about the ice sculpture with Sista Love carved into it. Lyric had never seen so much lobster, giant shrimp, king crab legs, and oysters in her life. Seafood was her favorite. There were four carving stations—pork, lamb, prime rib, and venison—manned by men in tall white chef’s hats and white chef coats.
“Let’s give it up for Sista Love.” The D.J. announced their arrival.
Everyone in attendance turned their attention to Lyric, Harmony, and Melody and began clapping, whistling, and cheering. Melody drank up the attention, waving like a beauty queen at a pageant. Lyric’s face turned dark red. She lowered her head shyly.
“This is so crazy,” Harmony whispered as she plastered an obligatory smile on her face. “Like, are we really in the same party as Tiasha?” she said through her fake smile.
“Yes, and she’s a megastar. Can you imagine? I feel like I’m dreaming,” Melody answered.
After two hours of eating, drinking, dancing, swimming, and hobnobbing with the rich and famous, Lyric had finally let her guard down. Andrew Harvey kept his distance, and she barely saw him. Lyric began to think she had been afraid and tense for no reason.
It was just what needed to be done a couple of times, for the deal, but it’s okay now. He’s not thinking about me, she had finally convinced herself. Lyric had loosened up and even shared laughs with her sisters and a few other celebrities in attendance.
“Dang. I have to pee so badly,” Lyric told Harmony as they stood in the shallow end of Andrew Harvey’s pool, holding their virgin Pina Coladas and singing along with songs from their album.
“You better not pee in this pool. What if it’s filled with the stuff that turns red if someone pees in the water?” Harmony warned. They busted out laughing.
“Okay. I’m going to go inside,” Lyric relented. “Watch my drink.”
She climbed out of the pool and was immediately met by one of the pretty servants who was holding fluffy white oversized towels out in front of her. Lyric smiled at the girl, took a towel, and wrapped it around her body. She rushed toward the house, her full bladder threatening to bust.
“Bathroom?” Lyric fidgeted, doing the pee pee dance in front of another tuxedo-clad staff member.
“Right this way.” He pressed a little button on a silver earpiece and spoke some code into it.
High tech, she thought. Lyric followed the man down a long hallway that had high ceilings, a beautiful Oriental rug runner down the center, and was decorated with walls of gorgeous paintings that she could tell were probably one of a kind and expensive. The man turned another corner and walked down another seemingly endless hallway. This one was adorned with glass-encased sports memorabilia that, again, was probably worth more money than Lyric could fathom.
“Is it this far to the nearest bathroom? I really gotta pee.” Lyric winced.
The man didn’t respond. Finally, after six more turns, the man stopped in front of two beautiful wooden doors with beautiful long, shiny gold door handles. Lyric’s eyebrows folded into the center of her face when he opened the doors to a bedroom decorated in all off-white and gold. The huge four-poster bed in the center seemed swallowed up in the expansive room. Lyric blinked a few times. The room seemed bigger than her entire house.
“I just needed the bathroom,” she said, looking into the room apprehensively. “A half bathroom or guest bathroom would’ve been fine.” She didn’t want to intrude into someone’s bedroom.
“Straight back.”
“Um, really. I, um, I could’ve just used the guest bathroom closest to the pool,” Lyric stammered, turning and pointing back down the hallway she’d just walked through.
“Mr. Harvey insists on special guests having privacy,” the man said with no emotion behind his words.
Lyric looked into the room again. Now her bladder was one second from truly busting. She took a deep breath and reluctantly rushed through the doorway.
“Please wait for me. I don’t know how to get back.”
The man didn’t respond. He simply shut the door behind her. The click of the door made her stomach twist. Lyric’s heart pounded wildly in her chest. If she didn’t have to go so badly, she would’ve turned and ran straight back to the party.
Lyric raced through the huge bedroom and made it to the white and gold-trimmed bathroom door.
“Is everything in this house trimmed in gold? Crazy,” Lyric whispered, pushing the door to the bathroom.
“Dang.” She gawked at the huge white marble soaking tub.
“A gold toilet? Guess when you have money . . .” Lyric spoke to herself as she let her towel fall on the floor
and pulled down her bikini bottoms.
“And who has bathing suits waiting for people at a party?” Lyric kept talking to herself. She closed her eyes and relaxed on the beautiful toilet as she released her overflowing bladder.
Lyric finished and walked over to the long, marble-topped double sinks. “Fancy,” she whispered, examining the sophisticated hand-engraved gold faucet. Lyric put her hands under an automatic soap dispenser. She smiled because the liquid soap fell into her hand in the shape of a heart. Lyric looked up into the beautiful beveled mirror and smiled at her reflection.
“They were right. This is how I want to live.”
Lyric finished washing her hands. She turned around, picked up her towel, and exited the bathroom, singing cheerfully.
“You like my house?”
Lyric gasped, staggering backward off balance. She braced herself just before she hit the floor.
“Hey, hey. It’s just me.” Andrew Harvey stepped closer to her with his hands out to break her impending fall.
Lyric pushed his hands away from her. “Why did you sneak up on me? What are you doing in here?” Lyric huffed breathlessly. Her chest moved up and down like she’d run a race.
“I was looking for you. You’re my special girl,” he said, moving closer.
Lyric took a few steps backward. Her hands started trembling.
“I thought I would bring you something to make you relax a little bit this time.” He held a little pill between his pointer finger and thumb and extended it toward her.
“Please. I don’t want to,” Lyric pleaded, moving backward as he advanced toward her. “I just want to go back to the party. I was relaxed out there. I don’t need the pill. I just want to go have fun like everybody else.”
“You don’t want to what? Keep a record deal? Make your mother happy? Keep performing? Be famous? Keep your sisters happy?” Andrew Harvey asked, his tone steely.
Lyric shook her head. “But we can just sing and keep—”
“That’s not how the business works,” Andrew Harvey snapped.
Lyric jumped when her back hit a wall. She couldn’t go any farther.
He reached out and gently swiped her wild, wet hair from her face. “You’re beautiful,” he said. “Here, be a good girl and take the pill.”
“Please don’t,” she gulped, trying to move away from his touch. She could barely breathe. His cologne and sweat, mixed with the chlorine soaked into her bathing suit, made her stomach swirl.
“Take the pill,” he whispered, using his huge hand to clutch the back of her head so he could hold it in place.
“No.” Lyric struggled.
That just made him clamp down harder on a handful of her hair, until he was holding it painfully tight. Tears sprang to her eyes.
“You’re my special girl,” he murmured, putting the pill between his teeth and lowering his mouth over hers.
Lyric writhed under his grasp and moaned into his mouth. She almost choked as the pill tumbled awkwardly onto her tongue. Andrew Harvey used his long, lizard-like tongue to push it into the back of her throat. Lyric tried to fight some more, but she was no match for his girth and his strength.
“Shh. Let me take care of you,” he whispered, moving his mouth from hers and trailing his tongue down her neck.
She was shivering all over now. This wasn’t the first time, but it felt just as disgusting, and she felt just as caught off guard as the first time.
“This is what your mother agreed to for you girls to get the deal,” Andrew Harvey told her while he used his right hand to loosen the string at the back of her bikini top. “If you want me to stop, you’ll have to explain to Ava why you girls lost your deal, all of your tour dates, and all of the money,” he threatened.
“Please,” Lyric cried pitifully. Her teeth chattered uncontrollably. “I’m only a kid,” she whined. “I’m just fourteen.” She sobbed as he licked down her neck to her newly budding breasts.
Lyric felt like bugs were crawling all over her body. Something began to tingle in her head. She started seeing a rainbow of colors flash before her eyes. She tried again to fight him off.
“Get off of me,” she groaned, weakly punching at the bald spot in the top of his head. “I’m a kid,” she whimpered. Her speech began to slur. “I’m just a kiiid.”
“I’m going to make you a woman,” Andrew Harvey breathed into her ear. He pressed his protruding gut against her roughly and worked his fingers into her bikini bottoms.
Lyric’s body went partially limp. She could feel him exploring her with his fingers, but she could no longer fight. She was escaping. She was flying. For the first time, she was high.
Andrew Harvey carried her over to the bed and threw her down. Lyric smiled lazily, and her head rocked from side to side.
He licked his lips hungrily. “Yes. After tonight, you’ll be a woman.”
* * *
“Lyric, let me in.”
Harmony pushed against Lyric’s bedroom door. Lyric was balled into a fetal position on the floor, rocking and sobbing. Harmony pushed harder and was able to wedge her way through a small opening.
“Go away,” Lyric cried, covering her face with her arms. She rocked harder now. “You don’t give a shit about me. You didn’t come back to Brooklyn to check on me.”
“No, baby sis. I am not going to go away and leave you like this,” Harmony said softly.
Lyric coughed out more sobs. She was angry at herself for being weak . . . again. She hated to let anyone see her like this.
Harmony lowered herself onto the floor. “C’mere,” she urged, tugging on Lyric’s arm.
“No. Leave me alone.” Lyric resisted, stiffening her body and tugging away from Harmony. “That’s what all of you are good at anyway. Leaving me all alone. Don’t act like you care now.” Lyric wept.
“Oh, sweetheart. I’m sorry. When I ran away I was running for my life, Lyric. I wanted to just kill myself. I had nothing. No one. I wanted you to come with me, but you were gone. I had to go, and I had to go fast or else I wouldn’t be here right now. I was running from the pain too, baby sis.” Harmony’s voice cracked. She bent down and wedged her left arm under Lyric’s body and scooped Lyric into her arms.
“Just leave me alone. I don’t need your love now. I needed it then. It’s too late for me now,” Lyric wailed. “Just leave me alone now.”
“I’m never going to leave you alone again,” Harmony cried, pulling Lyric close to her chest. She squeezed Lyric tightly and rocked her.
“I have never said it before, but I know that you sacrificed yourself for us, Lyric. I was there. I didn’t do anything to stop it, and it tears me up inside every day,” Harmony said through her tears. “It tears me up that I was too weak, too abused, too broken down to just grab you and run.” Harmony’s body shook with sobs. She could feel Lyric’s tears dancing down her neck and chest.
“She gave my life to him. She just gave him my entire life, and I was a baby,” Lyric bawled. “I sacrificed everything, my entire soul, so that we all could be famous, and look at me. I have nothing. I have nothing left. All of you left me.” Lyric struggled to get out of Harmony’s grasp.
“He took my innocence. Over and over again she sent me to him, and when I was all used up, that was it. No more deals. No more fame. No more money. Everyone just left me.” Lyric’s words were like daggers. She kicked her legs and tried again to break away from her sister’s tight embrace. The pain cut through her like a surgical tool, spilling her insides.
Harmony’s body quaked with sobs. “I am so sorry, Lyric. I swear, if I could go back in time, I would. I should’ve protected you. None of it meant anything to me. If I knew you were being hurt . . . but she had so much power over me back then. I couldn’t stand up to her because I was too busy trying to make her love me. I wanted the same thing you wanted. I just wanted my mother, our mother, to love me. I wanted anybody to love me,” Harmony blubbered through her sobs.
“She was supposed to be our mother. She w
as supposed to protect us. She never said sorry. She never said sorry to me for ruining my life, and now she’s gone. I hated her. I wanted to kill her, and now she’s gone,” Lyric said, her body shaking like a leaf in a wild storm.
“I know. She’s gone. And it’s too late now. I know.” Harmony stroked her baby sister’s head and clutched her tighter. “She’s gone. She’s gone,” Harmony repeated and rocked harder. “We have to stick together now and heal, baby girl. There is nothing we can do to change the past, but we can at least heal.” Harmony sniffled. “We just have to try to heal. I know she didn’t ever say it, Lyric, but she did love you. I love you.”
Lyric went silent, her body stilled. She melted against Harmony and took comfort in her sister’s affection. She wanted to be angry and resistant, but she was too weak. The sheer emotion of being in the house, being around her sisters, had left her drained.
“Don’t leave me,” Lyric finally whimpered. “I need you.”
“Never again. I will never leave you again,” Harmony promised. “Never again.”
Chapter 7
Harmony
Harmony’s heard jerked up at the sound of knocking on Lyric’s bedroom door. She cringed, not wanting to disturb the peace that had finally settled over Lyric. Another round of knocks made Harmony open her red-rimmed eyes and glare at the door. She watched as the doorknob turned and the door creaked open.
Melody appeared in the doorway, staring at Harmony and Lyric, baffled. Melody gestured with her hands for an explanation. Harmony raised her eyebrows then closed her eyes and shook her head as a signal for Melody not to ask or say anything. Harmony mouthed the words give us a minute. Melody folded her arms across her chest and poked out her left hip like a mother waiting for an explanation from a child. She stared at Harmony, sitting on the floor, holding Lyric in her arms like a toddler who needed comforting after falling and scraping her knee.
Harmony jerked her chin at the door. She couldn’t afford to set Lyric off again. Melody finally relented. She put her hands up, palms out, and slowly backed out of the door and closed it.
1 Night Stand Page 9