Page 64 of Together in Harmony
“It was not your fault, it was never your fault. You have nothing to be ashamed of,” she would tell me, again and again.
I almost believe her.
When he’d seen me, Screech’s eyes flared with excitement. I’d managed to disappear, out of his grasp for the last few wonderful years. That must have frustrated him.
But now?
I struggle up in a sitting position, I need to explain.
“Baby,” says Lennox. “Tell us what is wrong.”
“This is hard to talk about…” I begin.
“Ssh, darling. You don’t need to explain if you don’t want to,” says Asa. He turns to Lennox. “She’s traumatized. We need to go slow.”
“It’s OK,” I tell him. “I need to get it over with. I hoped that I could just be here and never worry about him again, but that is impossible now.”
“Harmony.” Hugo kneels beside me and takes my face in his hands. “Tell us and we will make it better.” His expression is fierce.
I love Hugo, but how can he make this better?
“Don’t doubt me,” he says firmly.
I swallow, then nod. If anyone can help me, it’s my guys.
“Screech is my half-brother.”
“That twat is your brother?” Lennox says. His knuckles are raw, like he’d punched someone.
“Half-brother. We have different mothers, but we both lived with our dad...” I can do this, I know they will believe me. “My brother, let’s just say he didn’t like me.”
Hugo hands me some water, and I gulp it like I've been crawling through the desert for days.
“Can we kill him?” Lennox asks. “Do you want us to kill him?”
I give him a weak smile.
“You do realize who Screech Towers is Lennox?” Hugo says.
“What do you mean? A dead man walking? So what if he is Clash Towers' son?”
There is silence for a moment, then a look of realization crosses Lennox’s face. “Fuck! Wait!”
“Yep,” says Hugo.
“Holy Fucking shit. No wonder you don’t like his music! Clash Towers is your dad!”
“She is well aware of that dipshit,” says Asa. He turns to me again. “So Screech is older than you?”
“Three and a half years older.” I clear my throat again.
“His favorite thing to do was bully me. He didn’t live with us until Mom died. But afterward, Screech came. His mother didn’t want him any more, she’d had enough. My dad didn’t care one way or another, he was hardly around. It made no difference if he just had to hire another nanny or something. So, for years, it was basically just me, Screech and a rotating cast of staff.
No one ever stayed very long, Screech made sure of that.”
“What? How?” Lennox stops. “Sorry babe, go on. I didn't mean to interrupt.”
“He would make up lies, tell Dad that someone was stealing or something. There was this one guy, Manny, he did all the yard maintenance. He was nice to me, always talked to me, showed an interest. Screech didn’t like that, so he told my dad that Manny had groped him.”
