Harmony collapsed onto the edge of Ava’s bed. She clutched the broken picture frame so tightly the veins in the tops of her hands rose to the surface. Harmony stared down at the picture. In it, Ava was dressed in a glittery show costume, smiling like her life was perfect. Harmony sniffled the snot threatening to drop from her nose. She lowered her head over the pictures and laughed,but not the kind of laugh that came out because something was funny; instead, it was an angry laugh, bubbling up from the deep pit of hurt in her soul.
“If only you could’ve loved your daughters as much as you loved the music, the fame, the attention. We would’ve been all right. If only you could’ve stopped hating us and seeing us as a burden and just love us. Every single one of us, even your favorite Melody, wanted your love. Real love. Not love based on musical talent, or light skin, or so-called good hair, or how you could use us to live out your fantasy of being rich and famous. No, not that kind of flimsy love. We wanted the kind of love mothers give freely and without condition. The kind mothers just have inside of them because their kids are alive and healthy. Just the plain kind of love that comes effortlessly to a woman once she pushes a life out of her body and into this cruel, mean, cold world.
“Where did yours go, Ava? Did you not feel it? Was something inside of you so walled off that you didn’t get God’s gift of unconditional love? Ava, we didn’t need anything special like extravagant birthday parties and trips around the world to make us believe you loved us. A good night kiss or an occasional hug would’ve done the trick. One hug or one ‘I love you’ from my mother, in all my twenty-eight years of living, would’ve done the trick, Ava. One fucking hug from my mother in my lifetime would’ve set me free from all of these feelings swirling around in my brain right now. One hug.” Harmony’s voice cracked and her stomach quivered. She sucked in her snot and licked the salty tears from her lips.
“Goddammit, Ava. We were good kids. We didn’t get into any trouble. We did whatever you said . . . like little loyal robots. We were just normal, regular good kids that wanted you to see us, to recognize our individuality. I loved math and writing wild stories that I thought up with my imagination. I hated broccoli and kale, but I loved Jolly Rancher candy. Lyric loved jumping rope, and she was fascinated with the ocean and the things in it—sharks, octopi, whales. She hated meat, meat of any kind, but chocolate cake was her favorite. I think she could’ve survived off of chocolate cake alone if you had let her.”
Harmony chuckled at the thought, and in her mind’s eye she could see Lyric’s face all covered in chocolate. Harmony used the edge of her sleeve to swipe away some of her tears, but within seconds, her face was wet with them again.
“And what about Melody? She was your favorite, yes, but did you even know that Melody dreamt of being a makeup artist? She would steal blush and lipstick and eyeliner from the small beauty section at the supermarket. She used to sneak and make our faces up at night. I bet you didn’t know your favorite was such an adept thief, did you? She hated tomatoes, but at least you let her get away with picking them out of her salads. You let her have her favorite strawberry ice cream occasionally too. I guess you thought Lyric and I didn’t know about that. Oh, we knew. Melody made sure that we knew.”
Harmony chuckled again. This time she let her tears fall onto Ava’s picture.
“Did you even know any of that, Ava?” Harmony’s eyes went dark and her jaw stiffened. She shook her head in disgust.
“What kind of mother doesn’t even know her kids’ likes and dislikes? What kind of mother? What kind of mother hates her own kids? You weren’t a mother at all, Ava. You were not our mother!” Harmony screamed so hard and so loud the veins in her neck roped against her skin and the back of her throat burned.
Harmony threw Ava’s picture against the wall, and the remaining pieces of glass that made up the picture frame shattered into tiny pieces.
“I just wanted you to love me,” Harmony whimpered.
Exhausted, she fell back on Ava’s bed, feeling like someone had taken a giant straw, stuck it in her heart, and sucked all of the energy, life, and love out of her. Harmony lay staring up at the ceiling.
“I just wanted you to love me. I just wanted you to love me.” Harmony didn’t even remember when the darkness of mental and physical exhaustion finally engulfed her.
* * *
Harmony roused to her cell phone vibrating against her chest. She popped up on Ava’s bed, bewildered. “Shit,” Harmony whispered, wiping the drool from her mouth and cheek.
Panic caused her hands to tremble and her temples to throb. Her phone rang again, startling her. Harmony fumbled with her jacket pocket and wrestled her phone free. Her eyebrows dipped on her face.
“Two-one-two?” Harmony’s first instinct was to ignore the call.
She remembered her fight with Ron and figured it was probably Ron calling from somewhere in the hotel trying to find her. “Hotel is in Brooklyn. That’s not him.” She took a deep breath and pressed ACCEPT.
“Hello?” Harmony answered, her voice gravelly. “This is she.” Harmony stood up. “What?” Harmony’s voice rose two octaves. “Oh my God.” Her hand flew up to her mouth. “I’ll be right there.” Harmony’s heart thundered against her chest until it ached. Without another thought or a minute’s hesitation, she raced out of Ava’s room, down the steps, and out of the house.
Once outside, Harmony felt lost. She looked up and down her childhood block. What would be the fastest way? She couldn’t walk to the city. It was impossible. She didn’t drive. The bus and train would take way too long. Harmony shook her hands in front of her—what she did when she was trying to focus.
“A cab. I need a cab.” Harmony moved her hands to her head and tugged at the sides of her wild, tousled hair. “Yes. I need a cab.” She looked up and down the block again. Had it been that long since she lived in Brooklyn? It had at least been long enough that Harmony definitely didn’t know any cab company phone numbers.
“Okay, Harmony. Stop and think. Calm down.” She flexed her neck and shook her arms at her sides like she was preparing for a track meet. Taking a few deep breaths, Harmony finally broke out running toward the corner, as she remembered that in Brooklyn you could hail a cab on most street corners. With fear gripping her around the neck, Harmony stuck her right arm out and frantically flailed it until an old burgundy Lincoln Town Car stopped in front of her. Harmony yanked on the door with fury.
“I need a ride.”
“Miss, I am not supposed to pick up here,” the cab driver was saying.
Harmony ignored him and threw herself into the backseat of the car. “Mount Sinai hospital. Hurry up. I have to get there now,” Harmony yelled, pounding her right fist on the Plexiglass partition. “Please, I have to get there. It’s a matter of life and death.”
Chapter 17
Melody
“Ron—”
His name didn’t last a second on Melody’s lips before Ron grabbed her by the neck and slammed her against her own wall.
“Did you think you were being smart? Did you think you were being funny?” Ron growled, slamming Melody against the wall again, this time so hard things around her went blurry.
His hand was a vise grip on her throat, cutting off her air supply until her lungs burned. Melody hissed and spit, trying to get air. Instinctively, her hands flew up to her neck and she clawed at his fingers.
“You thought this would be more important to me than my wife? Huh?” Ron used his free hand to lift the tiny baggie, dangling it in front of Melody’s face.
“You fucking tried to set me up?” he said, biting off each word and spitting them in her face. “You know damn well I am in recovery, so you leave this in my jacket.”
He held the evidence in front of Melody’s bulging eyes. She tried to shake her head, but the movement only managed to send a searing pain from the base of her skull straight down her spine. Ron clamped down harder. Melody could see that his pupils were ringed with a fiery orange tinge.
/> “What if I was weak enough to fall for this? What if I had sniffed this whole fucking bag of coke? Huh? Would that make you happy? You think that would make me want you? I would be fucked up for the rest of my life. Do you realize that? My wife . . . my fucking daughter,” Ron yelled, trembling hard with emotions. He slammed her head against the wall again. Hot, angry tears sprang to his eyes.
“You were trying to kill me,” Ron accused.
Melody’s eyes rolled up into her head until only the whites were visible.
“You thought I would relapse or maybe overdose and it would destroy my wife. Is that why you did it, Melody? You want to destroy Harmony because even with all of this fame and money, you’re still a weak bitch that hates herself and everything she stands for.”
Melody opened her mouth, but she couldn’t get one word out. That just made Ron angrier. He slammed her harder against the wall, forcing the tiny bit of air she had left in her lungs to blow out of her mouth. This time, her eyes snapped shut and she felt herself floating.
Melody saw tiny squirms of light flash behind her eyelids. Suddenly her body crumpled in a heap onto her beautiful, shiny hardwood floors. An audible crunch resounded through her loft as her skull connected with the floor. Melody’s chest ignited like she’d sucked in a ball of flames. She rolled onto her side and curled into a fetal position, coughing and gagging. She tried in vain to get her lungs to fill with air.
Melody could feel Ron looming over her, brooding. He wanted to kill her. He clutched the drugs in his hand so tightly his muscles bulged.
Melody’s eyes slit open a crack just as her security team stampeded into her loft and pounced on Ron. Their timing was nothing short of divine. She’d called Virgil and the team to accompany her to an obligatory charity event in Midtown and had been waiting for them. It was the reason Melody had opened her door so easily and without checking the peephole when Ron banged on it.
Melody looked up as Virgil and two other broad-shouldered men carried Ron, his mouth bloodied, to the door like a pig going to slaughter.
“This is not over,” Ron grumbled, blood dripping from his nose.
Virgil helped Melody up from the floor. “I’ll call the police. Make a report and ask for a protection order. I’ll put someone here twenty-four hours.”
“No,” Melody rasped, running the tips of her fingers over her throbbing neck. She could see the confusion in the creases in Virgil’s forehead. “It’s okay. I’ll handle it,” she croaked.
Virgil stared at the purple rings cropping up on Melody’s throat, and his jaw went square. He reached out to touch her. “What do you mean, no?”
Melody recoiled. “I said no! I said it’s okay and that I’ll handle it!” she barked.
Virgil snatched his hand back, shocked by her outburst.
Melody staggered to the back of her loft and into her bedroom. She threw herself onto her bed, buried her face in her custom down pillows, and sobbed.
What did you do? Why can’t you stop being so evil?
* * *
Melody got the call about two hours after her run-in with Ron. No amount of makeup could cover the necklace of handprints she wore around her neck. In a frantic rush, Melody draped a silky brown-and-tan monogrammed Louis Vuitton scarf around her head and neck, Jackie O style. It hid the remnants of her attack, and it made her look sophisticated at the same time.
“That works,” she whispered to herself while staring in the mirror.
Melody had Virgil and two more members of her security team rush her to Mount Sinai Hospital. When she arrived, the doctors were working on Lyric. There was a lot of running and screaming and code language for “shit is going from bad to worse.” Melody stood, surrounded by her security, with her knees knocking together. She tried to ask several of the nurses that were rushing in and out of the tiny emergency treatment room what was going on, but they all seemed to be laser focused on what was happening behind the curtain. Melody’s teeth chattered together and she began pacing. She wondered if Harmony knew anything. Melody pulled out her cell phone and hit Harmony’s number. No answer.
“Oh, come on, Harm. I’m not calling to brag or get on your nerves this time,” Melody said under her breath, ending the call before Harmony’s voice mail picked up.
Finally, after what seemed like a year, a young, sweaty-faced doctor emerged from behind the curtain. Melody shivered. There was something about the doctor’s eyes that sent a chill down her spine. His eyes were dead, blank.
“Ms. Love, we are doing our best to save your sister’s life. She’s in pretty bad shape. We will keep you updated,” the doctor said, his voice tremulous.
Melody felt like the air in the room had all been sucked out. Her legs grew weak. Everything in her world seemed to be falling apart. She wondered if staying away from her sisters all of those years had been better. For the first time in years, Melody said a silent prayer.
Virgil grabbed her arm to keep her up. As they made their way to a small waiting room down the hallway from the emergency treatment rooms, Melody heard a small commotion behind her. She turned just in time to see Harmony running down the long hospital corridor with terror etched on her face.
“Where is she?” Harmony huffed, her lips white with fear.
Melody raised her hands. “Harm, we have to be strong.”
Harmony sucked in her breath as she came to an abrupt stop in front of Melody. “Where is she?” Harmony wheezed, her chest pumping up and down.
“Listen, Harm—”
“Where is she, goddammit?” Harmony didn’t give Melody a chance to finish. She pushed Melody out of the way and rushed to the nurse’s station.
“Lyric Love,” Harmony said. “My sister. Where is she? Where is she?” Harmony demanded, banging on the counter in front of the station. The four nurses behind the counter all looked up at the same time.
“Don’t all answer at once,” Harmony snapped.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. Which patient?” a short, Asian nurse answered, looking straight at Harmony.
“Lyric Love. I got a call.”
“Are you related to her?” the nurse asked.
“I just said three times she’s my sister,” Harmony boomed.
Melody walked over and touched Harmony’s arm. Harmony yanked it away.
“I’m trying to find out what’s happening since you don’t seem to know.” Harmony rounded on Melody.
Melody could tell this behavior was a true indication of her sister’s emotional turmoil. “If you calm down I will tell you what’s going on,” Melody gritted, losing her patience. “The doctor came to speak to me. They’re trying to save her life, Harm. From what I’ve been told, it’s pretty bad.” Melody softened again.
“What? How?” Harmony couldn’t seem to find her words.
“Overdose,” Melody whispered.
Uttering the word seemed to drive it home for Melody. Overdose. It was like a curse word. Ron had just accused her of trying to cause him to overdose, and now her baby sister was clinging to life from an overdose.
“Overdose,” Harmony repeated. Harmony shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. “My mind was so scattered. When I got the call from the hospital, I didn’t listen to everything. I didn’t even bother to check my phone for missed calls. All I heard was Lyric . . . hospital . . . emergency . . . life or death.” Tears ran down Harmony’s cheeks.
“Shh. I know,” Melody comforted.
She moved close to Harmony and wrapped her arms around her. At first, Harmony stood stiffly, but within a few seconds the gravity of the situation seemed to hit her. Harmony turned around and embraced Melody too. Melody squeezed Harmony tight, and Harmony did the same. They held onto one another like they thought they’d never see each other again, and sobbed. Melody couldn’t remember the last time she had hugged either of her sisters, especially Harmony. Now, she clutched Harmony so tightly she could feel the beating of Harmony’s heart against her chest. Their tears danced down one another’s necks and sho
ulders.
“I’m so sorry,” Melody cried. “I’m so sorry for everything. Everything.”
Ron’s scowling face flashed into Melody’s mind. Some of the things he’d said to her played like a record on repeat in her ears: I would be fucked up for the rest of my life. Do you realize that? My wife . . . my fucking daughter. You want to destroy Harmony because even with all of this fame and money, you’re still a weak bitch that hates herself and everything she stands for.
“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” Melody cried harder, running the palms of her hands over Harmony’s back.
“Me too.” Harmony spoke through her tears. “I’m sorry too.”
It seemed like they had been holding onto each other for an eternity before the doctor returned.
“Ms. Love?”
“Yes,” Melody and Harmony answered in unison.
“This is my other sister . . . our older sister,” Melody explained, looking at Harmony proudly. It was something Melody had never done before. All of their lives she’d made herself the most important person, because that was what Ava had preached.
The doctor nodded, acknowledging Harmony. “We have stabilized your sister, but I want to warn you. This first twenty-four hours is going to be critical. The good thing is she didn’t lose a lot of oxygen to her brain when she lost consciousness, so we don’t expect there to be brain damage.”
“Oh, thank God.” Harmony sighed.
“But,” the doctor continued, putting his left hand up in a halting motion,“we can’t tell how much damage has been done to her other organs until we can get her stable enough for a CT scan and some other tests. From what I can tell, your sister ingested a fairly large amount of drugs. Another one of these and I can assure you both she will be dead.”
Melody reached down and grabbed Harmony’s hand. They huddled together as the doctor gave them good, then bad, then good news again.
1 Night Stand Page 17