Page 7 of Beautiful Harmonies

“Well, I guess I’ll have to prove it to you. Besides my physical attraction, I know that you understand the business: the late nights, early mornings, and all the traveling. You wouldn’t be tripping on the time that I’m away from home, because you won’t be home either. I haven’t been in a relationship in a long ass time, but my heart is telling me not to let you get by me.”

She fidgeted slightly then glanced at Mulan, whose eyebrows were lifted. I was serious as hell about Kamari. I supposed her innocence played a part in why I felt the way I did as well. I didn’t know if she was a virgin or not, but I for sure knew she wasn’t a ho. Her aura gave off a sweet innocence that I suddenly couldn’t get enough of.

I was prepared to have to take things slow with her, although it would be hard as hell for me. I could tell she wasn’t about any foolishness, and surprisingly, I wasn’t about foolishness when it came to her either. Being near her just seemed necessary. If I felt this way after only a couple of interactions with her, I could imagine how I would feel once, or if, she gave in to me.

“Well, I suppose I’ll see you tonight, Mister Deontray.”

I only nodded. While she didn’t verbally acknowledge anything I’d said, I knew for damn sure she felt me and mysincerity. Her skin was slightly red, and she had goosebumps on her arms. It wasn’t cold in here, so that could only mean one thing.

I watched her walk away from me, refusing to move from the spot I was in. This woman had me gone as fuck.

“Come on here, simp ass nigga.”

I turned to see Mi’Junae standing there with her hand on her hip. “Shut up, Mi.”

I glanced back behind me to see Kamari had already disappeared into the crowd.Shit.I didn’t want to miss a moment of her. I supposed Iwasa simp. Turning back around, I followed Mi to the exit, only for her to run into this lil fuckboy rapper she’d been messing around with. He glanced at me and said, “What’s up, Deontray?”

“Mister Trammel to you.”

The smirk that appeared on his lips only infuriated me. There was nothing I could do about it though, because just like all the women I’d been with knew, Mi’Junae knew what she was getting into as well. She knew he fucked around and said she would be careful.

“Deon, really?” she asked.

I side-eyed her as he grabbed her hand and kissed it. After smiling at him, she turned to me. “I’ll holla at’chu later, bruh.”

I gave her the look. The look that she knew meant,call me if he fucks up.She’d seen that look so many times. Niggas in this industry weren’t shit. I was one of them at times, but she refused to listen to my firsthand experience with the game. I could only hope that she didn’t truly have to find out and make me fuck around and lose my career over that bullshit.

I headed out as my security team waited outside the door. They flanked me and escorted me to the car waiting for me. While the event had police, security, and barricades in place, I refused to be caught slipping. I could hear the fans screaming.Normally, I ignored them, but this time, I lifted my hand, acknowledging them.

Once I got in the car, I had them take me to the studio. The engineer knew I would be coming back after the awards, but I sent him a text anyway. I didn’t bother going to my room to change. I could relax in what I had on. I just wanted to get to work. Kamari’s beautiful ass had a nigga feeling all inspired and shit.

Before I could get there, my phone rang. It was an unknown number, but I had a feeling of who it was. He called after every major event in my life. I rolled my eyes and ignored the call from Titus Trammel. He knew I wasn’t going to answer, but he called and left a message anyway. He’d done the same for the Grammys, although I didn’t win.

I hit my voicemail icon and listened to his message as I always did.“Tray, congratulations. Your mother would be so proud. That’s all I wanted to say. If you ever feel like calling back, I’m here.”

I slightly rolled my eyes and deleted the message. I wouldn’t be calling him no time soon, if ever. After the divorce, he chose to stay away from Mi and me too. It wasn’t that I really wanted to be around him anyway, but I believed that Mi’Junae craved his presence and attention. I tried to fill the void she was probably feeling, but when Mama died, that only made things worse.

I was grieving just as she was. While I tried to be a comforting source for her, I needed comforting my damn self. My mama was everything to me, as I had said in the mic tonight when I accepted my award. I was sure that was why he even brought her up in his message. Joyce Trammel could do no wrong in my eyes. Well… the only thing she did wrong was put up with his bullshit for way too long.

Within a few minutes, the car was parked outside the studio, and once my team was in place, I got out. I was overly cautiousall the damn time. The last thing I wanted to experience was getting mauled. I’d seen and heard way too many horror stories about celebrities getting injured because of crazed fans. I didn’t understand people. I got that we were celebrities, but fuck! We were people too… just like them.

Before I made it big, I was excited to meet R&B singers, but not to the point where I was willing to risk injuring somebody or myself to get to them.Weird asses.I once saw a guy on TV that jumped on top of people trying to get to Kamari. The weirdest part was that she still greeted the man and smiled, then apologized to the people he fell on top of on his behalf. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured. She was better than me though. I would have had his ass arrested.

As we walked inside, most of my security team hung around the entrance, and two followed me to the elevator. Once the doors opened, we got on. We were all quiet until my phone chimed with a text message. I pulled it from my pocket and opened it to see a picture of Mi and that nigga she was with. I slightly rolled my eyes, but right before I could close out of it, something caught my attention. I zoomed in to see there was a chick in the background, scowling at them.

I screenshot my findings and sent them to her. That nigga had better not get my sister caught up in no bullshit. I’d throw my career straight to hell to protect her, and she knew that shit. So hopefully, she would be wise about how she handled shit that popped off because something eventually would as long as she was fucking with him.

When we got to the fifth floor, I saw Reggie entering the studio. He turned to me and said, “Damn, nigga. You didn’t even want to take time to change?”

“Naw. I’ll be comfortable in just a minute.”

He chuckled as he opened the door. One of my security guys stayed outside the door, and the other came inside with us. Theminute I was inside, I came out of my jacket and pulled my shirt out of my pants and took it off as well. Since I wore a T-shirt underneath, I knew Reggie wouldn’t feel a way about me doing so. I didn’t think he would be totally comfortable in here with me bare chested and all.

Before I could even sit down and get comfortable enough to smoke something, my phone chimed again. When I saw the message from my sister, I took a deep breath, wishing she would just chill out.

I saw that bitch. I walked right up to her ass and asked her if she had a problem. She backed down after glancing at FAAFO when she saw he was on the same wave I was on.

I rolled my eyes, then texted back.I need you to act like you got some sense. You know how I feel about you with that nigga. I mean, his name says it all. Fuck Around and Find Out. What kind of fucked up name is that? But this shit is becoming redundant. I’m tired of repeating myself. If you go to jail, Mama just gon’ have to forgive me for leaving your ass there.

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