Chapter 2
Harmony
HARMONY CATRONE SAToff in a room opposite the bar. Once again, her sister was late meeting her at Kelly’s Inn for their once-a-month bitch fest. She scrolled through TikTok on her phone, not looking up until she heard the door twinkle. Her long, thick, black hair was tied up in a tight bun and her thick, purple-rimmed glasses framed her face, the glare from the phone hiding the hurt in her blue eyes. She crossed her arms, eyeing the bar again. Callie came around the corner from the bar with another fuzzy navel in hand.
“Sofia late again?” She quipped.
Harmony let a small amount of air escape her lips. “Yeah. Again.”
“I’m sorry, Harm. You wanna get some food while you wait? I’ll put in an order for those pickles you like.”
Harmony sighed. “I guess. Fuck waiting on her. I’m starving.”
Callie leaned down close to her. “Hey. There’s this really hot guy I’ve never seen before over in the corner booth near the kitchen. Says he’s just passing through on his way to visit his grandmother. Maybe you should...you know...” Callie wiggled her hips and flicked back her blonde hair.
“Callie!”
“What? Just a thought. C’mon, girl, you’re single, live a little. Plus, the guy looks loaded. Bet he’ll buy you a drink.”
With that Callie walked away and went back behind the bar.
Hot guy, huh?
The doorbell chimed and a man Harmony had never seen before walked past the doorway to the room and over in the direction of the kitchen. He had a well-oiled leather jacket and thick black hair, just like hers. Curiosity got the better of her and she got up to peek around the corner. He sat down at the booth Callie was talking about.
Holy fuck.
A man with broad shoulders and dark tinted glasses was slouched in the booth holding a small glass of what looked like whiskey. The white button-down shirt was perfectly pressed against his chest and the jeans almost left nothing to the imagination. What gave her almost instant wetness between her thighs was the mound of slicked-back orange hair that reminded her of a greaser in the ‘50s. She was a sucker for thicker men with wild hair colors. What really shook her senses was that fluffy, thick, ginger beard that could make any girl weak at the knees. He looked angry talking to the guy in the leather jacket, but she wasn’t sure. She watched as Callie made her way over there with a beer and sat it on the table. She tried to get Callie’s attention when she came back to the bar, but it was no use. The smoky haze was getting thicker, and she didn’t want to draw attention to herself. She silently walked back to her booth where the waiting orange deliciousness was calling her name. There was next to no one in the back room except for a few of the local couples. She looked around, watching them. Some were cuddled up next to each other and others were having full on make-out sessions. It almost made her sick to her stomach watching them, a bout of jealousy rising in her throat. Thoughts of Gio started coming back to her, and she tried pushing them out of her mind. Fucking asshole, she thought. There was no way in hell the thought of Gio Velestra was going to upset her today. Not on her birthday. She looked again at the couples wishing she had a love like that. Why couldn’t the man of her dreams just walk into the bar and sweep her off her feet? Especially a man like tall, dark, and ginger over there brooding in the corner. She couldn’t help but think what it would be like to be in his arms and caressing her entire body, that stone look piercing through her making her nice and wet for his touch. Stop it. Don’t think about people like that.
Why not,a husky voice whispered in the back of her mind. He’s certainly a meal I’d like to devour. With her mind wandering and thinking about the ginger-stranger who sent her pussy into overdrive, she almost didn’t hear the door chime again, but she certainly heard the obnoxious familiar laughter of Sofia and her friends. Harmony took a sip of her drink and watched her sister stumble back toward the room.
Look at her, she’s a fucking mess.
The hyenas finally made it and Sofia almost fell into her seat at the booth.
“Harmony!” She squealed.
“You’re late, Sofia.” Harmony growled.
“C’mon, sis, don’t be like that. I’m sorry but the girls wanted to come too. After all it’s our birthday!”
Sofia squeezed her into a hug, and Harmony rolled her eyes. She pushed her twin sister off her. “Yeah, well, would’ve been nice if you didn’t show up already shit faced.”
Sofia blinked at her, her expression almost emotionless. “But, Harm, what fun is a birthday if you don’t drink all day with the gals?”
Harmony sighed. “Look, Sof, I like drinking and partying as much as you, but you said this time it would be just you and me at our uncle’s bar for a good birthday night out.”
“Yeah...but...Angel and Tia really wanted to hang out to...day...hiccup...and Bella showed up...hiccup...”
Sofia could barely get her sentences out through her drunken hiccups. Angel and Tia piled in the booth, squishing Harmony almost out the seat. Their drunken laughter and screaming were already getting on her nerves. Callie came around the corner with her usual bottle of wine for the trio.
“So if Bella stopped by, where the hell is she at?”
Sofia hiccupped again. “She had to...hiccup...go home. She has a date with Gio.”
Harmony turned stone white through her tanned skin. The bile rose in the throat, and she thought the fuzzy navels were going to come retching out of her mouth.
“The fuck did you just say?” Harmony spat.
“She’s gonna go fuck Gio. Did...didn’t I just say that?” Sofia giggled.
“Fuck you, Sofia. And your stupid fucking friends too.”
“Oh shit...oh! I forgot, I’m sorry, Harm.”
You didn’t forget, you heartless bitch. You wanted me to know. Thanks a fucking lot.
Harmony got up from the booth. “I’m going home. You guys have fun or whatever.”
“Harm, no, please stay.”
Sofia tried to stand up to stop Harmony from leaving, but instead she fell forward knocking the open bottle of red wine to splash onto the table and splatter Harmony’s matching plum dress.
Sofia stared at the red liquid flowing on the floor. “Fuck.”
Harmony saw red, and it wasn’t the wine. “What the fuck, Sofia! You’ve ruined my brand-new dress!”
“You can wear mine. Hold on.” Sofia went to take her dress off, but Harmony slapped her hands and pulled them down to her side.
“Will you stop that! Are you fucking crazy?! You can’t take your clothes off in the middle of the bar!”
“Oh, Harm...” Sofia started to let out the tears. “I ruined our matching birthday dresses...”
Jesus Cristo.
“C’mon.”
Harmony grabbed Sofia’s arm to pull her along, but Sofia stumbled again, falling into Harmony. Her hand reached out to stop herself, but Sofia, in her drunken haze, overshot and slammed her hand down on Harmony’s bun, pulling it halfway out of the bun holder.
“SOFIA!” she screamed. Harmony immediately reached up to her ruined hair, feeling the throbbing pain of hair almost being ripped from her skull and the bobby pins jutting into her head.
“I’m sorry...I’m sorry...” Sofia kept repeating. This time, Harmony forcefully grabbed Sofia and dragged her into the women’s bathroom next to their booth. Once inside, she locked the door.
“Fucking dammit, Sofia.” Harmony screamed, turning back to her sister. “Can’t you get ahold of yourself for once? You come in here late, a drunken mess, ruining our birthday like you always do. You only ever think about yourself and what you want. It’s never about anyone else.”
“Harm...that’s not fair...”
“It is fair. This is just the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
Harmony turned away from her sister who looked like she wanted to cry again. Let her. Carefully, she pulled the bobby pins out of her hair and unrolled the bun shaper. Her long, curly black hair cascaded around her just like her sister’s. With a Tide Pen in her purse and some soap and water from the sink, she tried to rub out the stain. Sofia stood there wobbling. She looked like one of those wacky inflatable waving tube men at the car dealership the way she was moving. With no desire for Sofia to rip out her hair again or take the time to put her bun back up, Harmony left her hair down. Harmony turned toward her sister. Her face looked like she wanted to hurl, but the only vomit that came out was her words.
“You’re just mad Gio cheated on you and I have a loving man like Alessandro who would never do that to me.”
As she spoke, Sofia’s heel got caught in the grout between two tiles, lost her footing, and stumbled into Harmony...again. This time, Sofia wacked her in the face and sent her glasses flying only to break on the hard tile surface.
“Oh....” Sofia muttered.
Harmony was so pissed at Sofia’s drunken ramblings that she kicked Sofia’s legs out from under her with her stiletto pumps, knocking her to the ground. Sofia started to cry and scream from the pain of hitting the cold tiles. She ignored her, reaching down for her now broken glasses.
“Fucking had enough of you, Sofia.” She gritted through her clenched jaw. The lenses were cracked, and the bridge of the nose busted in half. There was no fixing them. Luckily, Harmony dug inside of her purse and pulled out her spare set of contacts. Ignoring Sofia whining on the floor, she carefully placed the contacts on each eye with her manicured acrylic nails. She may not be the most beautiful woman in the world with her small fupa, professional hairstyle, and proper glasses, but she loved having her nails done. That was the one luxury she afforded herself to look and feel beautiful other than some of her clothes.
Blinking, her blurred version went to sharp and in focus. Looking down, she realized Sofia had stopped her incessant whining. Sofia was passed out on the floor.
Ugh...
Reaching down, Harmony pulled her sister up and flung her so she could get an arm underneath her to support her back. Unlocking the door, she half-dragged Sofia out to the table where Tia and Angel were still laughing and carrying on with a new bottle of wine. Callie must have put it on the table while they were in the bathroom. The wine was gone from the floor and table, almost like it was never there. Harmony threw Sofia into the booth on top of Angel and Tia.
“Take her the fuck home. Let Alessandro deal with her ass.”
She turned on her heel and stomped out of the room. Without looking, she waved to Callie that she was leaving. She doubted she was able to see her through all the cigar and cigarette smoke. Throwing the door to the bar open, she took a deep breath of the warm night air. The smell of pine trees and hot asphalt was more comforting than the stale smoke. She tried to not let her tears escape her eyes as she walked to her car around the back of the building. As she reached for the door handle, she felt like something was wrong. The hair on the back of her neck stood up, and her gut told her to hurry and get in the car. Pulling the door open, she felt the sharp sting of something snake around her throat and a growing pressure causing her to choke. Grabbing up at her throat, she felt the familiar feel of a man’s arm. Another arm, clad in a white long sleeve, placed a rag around her mouth as she tried to scream. The only thing she could make out was there was a music note cufflink where the normal button would be.
It was just like in the movies. Slowly, everything went black.