Page 30 of Beautiful Harmonies

He bit his bottom lip and slowly shook his head. “I been fiending long before that, baby. Jacking off to visions of you. Real shit.”

I pulled his face to mine just as someone harshly knocked on the door. It scared me half to death. Tray immediately pulled me around him. I wrapped my arms around his waist from the back as he made his way to the door. He opened it cautiously, and Terrence was standing there with an older gentleman.

Tray seemed to be stunned into silence as the man smiled slightly. “He said you would want to see him,” Terrence said while looking at Tray.

I was lost as I stared on. “I don’t know why he would say some shit like that. I haven’t seen him since my mama’s funeral. Before that, I was only eighteen the last time I saw him.”

My eyes widened. That was his father. How did he know where we were? My mind drifted to the radio show he’d done yesterday. The deejay had asked him if he was going to Houston.Shit!Tray turned to me and said, “Give me a minute, baby.”

“Hi, Miss Kamari. I’m Deontray’s father, Titus Trammel.”

“Umm… hi. Nice to meet you.”

As he extended his hand, Deontray slapped it out the way and practically pushed him out of the door. I swallowed hard as I made my way to the restroom to clean up and change. I almost didn’t want to get undressed in here by myself. Although the bathroom door had a lock on it, I just didn’t trust people thesedays. I didn’t understand why Terrence would bring that man to my dressing room. I didn’t give a damn who he said he was.

When I heard the dressing room door open, I walked back out, only to see Terrence and not Tray. I frowned. “What’s going on?”

“You had a great show.” He shook his head. “I just… Mari, I hate that you love him, baby girl. I can’t believe you fell for someone like him. You’re too good for him, baby.”

I frowned harder. While we were close, Terrence had never called me baby, nor had he addressed me by my nickname. “Why are you saying this?”

“Because I love you, girl. I’ve been loving you since you were twenty-one. I fell hard, no matter how hard I tried to fight it. You were only seventeen when I felt an attraction to you.”

I had to be dreaming. Terrence was close to forty. He was fifteen years older than me. So he was a grown ass man, attracted to a teenager. This couldn’t be happening.

“I thought when you saw how much foolishness came your way, you would run away from that nigga like he was strapped with an explosive and about to light the match.”

My mouth dropped open. “You took the picture?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Somebody had to warn the public of the mistake you were making. Look at how goodwelook together? There were numerous pictures of me carrying you, shielding you, protecting you from the vultures.”

“But now, you sided with the vultures and leaked my personal life to them. Terrence, I trusted you.”

“You can still trust me. I’m just looking out for you, Kamari. He doesn’t deserve you. He’s broken, and he sleeps with anything with a pussy. Surely you don’t want a man like that. You need a man like me. One who can be devoted to you without a past that could come back and bite him in the ass.”

I closed my eyes as someone knocked on the door. “Terrence, why are you telling me this now?”

“So you can see that you have a better option. I’m the better option, Kamari. I’ll do anything for you.”

“Open the door for Deontray.”

I turned to walk away, and he grabbed my hand. I turned back to him, and he stared into my eyes, clearly pleading with his. When I didn’t say another word, he released my hand. I supposed he realized it was too late for his confession. As soon as he opened the door for Tray, I was going to fire his ass. I couldn’t believe he’d done this to me. He knew how I felt about my personal life being private. For him to feed the media outlets our photo was nasty work. He probably got paid for it.

He opened the door, and Tray walked in with a frown on his face. He mugged Terrence and made his way to me. Once he did, he turned back to Terrence. “Why the fuck you in here with her? And why the fuck you brought his ass to this dressing room?”

I rubbed his back, trying to calm him down. I knew if he had a gun, Terrence would be dead right now. There was just that much anger in his eyes. It was like he had flames for eyeballs. Terrence had effectively ruined our high. I was looking forward to making love to Tray tonight, and now, I just wanted to sign autographs and go home to sleep this off.

“I’m her security. It’s my job to look out for her. That man said he was your father. So I brought him to you. Whatever bullshit between y’all ain’t none of my business.”

Tray crossed the room faster than the speed of light and punched Terrence in his mouth, knocking him over the refreshment table. I jumped as the door flung open. More security came in, and while I could tell they wanted to subdue one or the other, they weren’t sure what to do until I said, “Get Terrance out of here. Terrence, I have to let you go. I can’t have a man watching my back that I don’t trust. When it came downto it, you put your own selfish desires before my safety. That’s unacceptable.”

The guys yanked him from the floor and got him out of my room. I slowly shook my head as Tray turned to me. “I’m sorry, baby. I felt like something was off with that nigga when I first met him. What happened?”

“He’s the one that leaked our photo. He wanted me for himself. I have to take a quick shower and change. My fans have been waiting long enough.”

I walked to the bathroom and locked the door, leaving Tray standing there with a deep frown on his face.

“I hadto take initiative to see you and Mi. Had I been in your lives, things wouldn’t be spiraling out of control.”

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