Page 32 of Beautiful Harmonies

I frowned hard and released her hand. She flung the door open to the dressing room as Mi’Junae stood there with her hand lifted in the air like she was about to knock. Her eyebrows rose as she glanced between the two of us.

“You okay, sis?”

“Naw. Your brother seems to think my fans aren’t important and that he should come first. That’s the most chauvinistic shit I’ve ever heard. I don’t have time for that. Excuse me,” she said to Mi.

When she left, Mi turned back to me. “Please tell me you didn’t say no shit like that.”

I slid my hand over my face. “Let’s get out of here.”

“What? You’re going to leave this shit like this? No, sir. How dare you interfere with her business? Her fans paid for VIP tickets. Why would she overlook that shit because you have some shit going on? Your problems will still be here after she handles her business. Tonight was supposed to be special. Your father and her guard fucked that up, but you only made the shit worse by insinuating you were higher on the totem pole because you’re the man. You sound like your father.”

She walked out of the dressing room as I sat on the couch, feeling like she’d unloaded her clip in my chest. The last person I wanted to be like was that nigga. I wasn’t insinuating that her career wasn’t important. I was just saying that since we were in love, nothing should come before the other. Maybe it was too soon in our relationship for that.

I knew she had a career, but I just assumed she would want to know the truth about what was going on before she went out there to her fans, faking like she was happy to meet them. A clear head would have made the meet and greet much easier on her mental. She acted like I was telling her not to greet the people at all.

I relaxed against the couch, trying to figure out how I fucked up already. After this, I should have been making love to the love of my life, but I allowed that nigga to come here and throw me off my square. How in the fuck was I gonna come back from this? Kamari was a no-nonsense type of person. This could be the end of everything if I didn’t come correct when she came back.

Mi was right. I couldn’t leave with us like this. It was a misunderstanding and a lack of communication. I should have waited, like she said, but seeingherso bothered had botheredme. I wanted to rectify the situation immediately to get that frown off her face. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, hoping that she would let me make this shit right.

When the door slammed, my eyes popped open. I looked at the time to see I’d been waiting for two hours. Either she had a lot of fans to greet, or she purposely took that long. It didn’t matter the reason. The most important thing was that she was here now. I stood from my seat as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the door.

“So now, I can cater to your authority over me. Talk before I change my mind about wanting to hear it.”

I lowered my head and cautiously approached her. She was pissed. “Kamari, I didn’t communicate well, and for that, I apologize. I didn’t mean that I was ruling over you. I thought I said asyourman. I meant that our relationship should be a priority. I’m sorry. Maybe it’s too soon for that. I never wanted you to think I was being chauvinistic. I watched my mama deal with that shit from my father.”

I took a few steps closer to her. I could tell she was softening. “Mi helped me to see just how you felt in that moment and how what I said came across. We’re in this together, and there are no big i’s or little u’s. When I said I love you, I meant that shit. I didn’t just say it for show. That came from my heart, baby.”

She dropped her arms and nodded. “I’m sorry. I was wound so tight because of the drama until I misconstrued what you were saying. I thought you said astheman. I apologize too. What happened with your father?”

“Terrence and my father have beef of some sort. I found out tonight that they are brothers. He never asked to see me or Mi. That was Terrence fucking with him. I don’t know exactly why they don’t like each other, because I feel like my father is lyingabout him stealing from him years ago. But clearly, this isn’t the first time he’s come to one of your concerts to get at Terrence.”

“Wow. That must have been hard. I mean… seeing your dad after all these years and finding out you have an uncle that was in the same circles as you.”

“It was, but I was fine until I walked in and saw that nigga in here alone with you. I felt like he was taking whatever shit he had going with my father out on me. It was like he wanted to fuck with me to get back at him, not knowing that nigga didn’t give a rat’s ass about me or Mi. Terrence could have killed me and that wouldn’t have moved his ass one way or the other.”

I had made my way to the space right in front of her as I was talking. Grabbing her hand, I led her back to the couch, and we sat next to each other. “When that nigga lied in my face about not knowing the dynamics between me and my father, it really pissed me off. He thought I was a dumb ass nigga. He was sadly mistaken.”

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t let you explain what was going on, but there is one thing that I know. Business. While they may just be fans to you, they deserve respect, no matter how big they make me or the amount of stardom they catapult me to. The fact remains that I am where I am because of them. I don’t ever want to take that lightly. So, in that moment, they were my main priority. I felt like whatever we had to discuss could have been discussed after I handled my business. I was essentially on my job… working, no matter how fun it seems.”

“I get it, and again, I’m sorry for not understanding that. I rarely do VIPs because I don’t want to be bothered or engage with people. I just want to sing. I’m grateful for them, but not to the point where I want to greet them all individually.”

She smiled slightly, and I was beyond grateful that I didn’t leave. Had I left, it would have been a lot harder to work through this misunderstanding. I grabbed her hand and pulled her to mylap. I figured she would just slide across me and let me hold her… cradle her. She took me by surprise when she straddled me instead. Just like that, I was back in the frame of mind I needed to be in for tonight’s festivities.

“Tray, I thought we were over before we even started good. My mind was telling me I was a fool for going public with our relationship. So many thoughts were running through my head, doing their best to convince me that, once again, I’d fallen for the wrong man. It was hard trying to pretend my heart wasn’t in turmoil and feeling chaotic. I was smiling and laughing, but my spirit was so heavy. So I understand why you wanted to clear the air beforehand.”

She rested her forehead against mine. “You were right. You should be of utmost importance. Ten more minutes or so wouldn’t have hurt anybody. I thought you were being selfish, but you were trying to soothe my doubts about what was going on. If there is a next time, I won’t be so quick to shut you down. I’ll take time to listen, baby. I love you so much already, and that shit is scary as hell.”

I wrapped my arms around her waist tightly, causing her hips to follow and her middle to land right on my dick. “I love you too, baby. This feeling is foreign to me, but I love the way it feels. Seeing the frown on your face did something to me. I was about to let anger consume me though. I owe Mi tremendously for talking me down. Had I left, this would have been hard to come back from.”

“Well, the point is, we’re still here. If we continue to listen to each other with our hearts, we will always be here,” she said while gesturing with her fingers back and forth between us. It was clear she’d gotten that lil gesture from someone older. My mama used to say that all the time. She slid her hand over my cheek then pulled my chin hair. “So, where to next?”

Sliding my hand to her ass, I gripped it. Her ass was practically hanging out of the shorts she wore, and I loved that shit. “To euphoria if you follow my lead.”

When we gotto my house, I was so relaxed I could have gone straight to sleep. Our talk was needed, and I hated that I jumped to conclusions. I wasn’t used to handling drama, because I never had any. My mind wanted me to think that Tray had brought drama to my life. I somewhat expected it because of his past, but I figured it would be with rumors of him being with another woman or just public opinion in general.

After seeing the responses we were getting before my announcement, I chose to stay out of the gossip about me because that wasn’t my business. What other people thought aboutmylife had nothing to do with me. They could think what they wanted to, but it wouldn’t affect how I lived. However, when Tray knocked Terrence out, I was so over it. Just the fact that Terrence carried a gun was dangerous. If he wouldn’t have knocked him on his ass and Terrence would have pulled his weapon, things could have taken a very different turn.

After we talked and I was able to see things from his point of view and he saw them from mine, I couldn’t help but love him more in that moment. Knowing that he could have left, as I had insinuated he did, but he didn’t, softened me tremendously. Of course, I had to play a little harder than I was actually feeling. I didn’t want him to see just how much I was hurting. I didn’t want to feel like I had failed in love yet again and so quickly.

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