Chapter 5

5

B y the time Harper reached her apartment after the show, she already had an email with Mia's contact details as well as a link to her music blog—thanks to Deborah, efficient as ever. Harper clicked on the link and started the first song on the website. She cringed at the poor recording quality as it came out loud and tinny from her large speaker system but smiled to herself as she pictured a passionate Mia at a desk somewhere recording this song for her on a phone microphone. The voice was the same powerful voice with the flamenco styled riffs over the notes that made her heart ache, and she let it fill her up as she began to get undressed for bed. She took off her blazer and the tape over her nipples and breasts that had been holding them in place and wandered to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of wine. She let her hair out of its messy bun of braids and prowled through her rooms sipping and enjoying both the flavor of the robust Rioja and the vibrating quiver from Mia's voice. In no rush, and after four songs had passed and another glass had been topped up, she slinked out of her pants and made her way to her bedroom. She checked herself in the mirror; she had to give her new personal trainer a tip the next time she saw him as she was looking better than she had in her life, her stomach was taut and with her already long legs, the newfound lines of definition along them made her look taller still. In her black laced lingerie panties, she teased the edges of the fabric before slipping out of them entirely.

"It's too warm for clothes tonight…" she said to herself and laid out on her silk sheets to finish her warming night-cap. "Ha, even my wine is Spanish. What am I getting myself into…" she fell asleep to the soothing lullaby of Mia and the heavy smokiness of the wine.

The following morning, she was up at five as usual and had already begun calling in every favor she could to get together something special for Mia. Something about her grateful smile, that genuine disbelief that this could be happening to her, made Harper's heart flutter and if she could get a smile like that out of her every time they saw each other, she might be content with just that.

The first thing to arrange was a contract. She did this relatively easily and even made sure to give Mia as good a cut of royalties as she could, cutting her own portion down a little to make it up; Harper had enough as it was and it was clear that Mia could be successful enough that even a smaller portion would make her a healthy income.

The next thing to sort out was the dreadful recordings of her songs, she called their usual studio and booked out the whole day. The final thing to do was to call in her associates. New talent had to be approved by the whole board before a contract could be offered, this was why her agency was so successful—artists weren't just taken on whims.

Her associates agreed to meet that afternoon at the studio and hear this girl out, but they didn't sound sure.

"Is this gonna be another Felicity?" asked Jennifer, the senior producer.

"Cut me some slack, Jen. That was when I was new to the business, this isn't my first rodeo you know."

"I know, I know, but it all sounds very similar—young woman, big dreams, small bars and an edgy look—but that girl wasn't going any further than the bars and you knew it, you just wanted to get in her pants."

"And you did, if I remember correctly," added Paulina.

"That's beside the point?—"

"So do you or do you not want to get into this girl's pants as well?" teased Jennifer. The line went silent for a moment and the three other women started laughing.

"For fuck's sake, Harper, this is another Felicity, isn't it?" chimed in Lilian with a huff of a laugh.

"Look, just trust me on this one. I'm not the top talent scout in LA for no reason."

The women teased her more, but nonetheless agreed to meet her. Flustered and annoyed, she composed herself and looked down at her phone now with Mia's number dialed in. She smiled at the image of how she would react and wished she could be wherever Mia was just to watch. The phone rang a moment and then a slightly breathy voice picked up.

"Hello again, Mia," she said, purring out her name.

"Uh…Hello, Harper."

"Did you have a good night after I left?"

"I don't know, to be honest, it was all a bit of a blur, but my new musician friends who I only remembered a moment ago tell me that I had fun…"

Harper laughed, Oh to be so young and carefree .

"Tell me, Mia. Are you free this afternoon?"

She heard Mia's breath catch a little; it was a noise she wouldn't mind hearing again.

"Well, why don't you meet me down at our studio and we can start re-recording your songs to start getting some hype around your music?"

Harper could hear a shuffling sound coming from Mia's end of the call, making her picture that Mia was probably jumping or dancing in excitement, and when she next spoke, she sounded even more out of breath.

"Uh… That sounds awesome! I mean… Yeah, that sounds good—no wait! Ummm… Thank you, Harper, that sounds very suitable, I will be happy to attend."

Harper raised an eyebrow and heard the tiny whisper of a curse from the other end of the line.

"I see," teased Harper with a smirk. "Well if everything is suitable for you, I shall meet you there in an hour or so. I'll message you the address in a moment."

Mia laughed nervously, "Yes, I shall see you there, thank you again, Harper."

"Bye, Mia." Harper made sure to emphasize her name, drawing it out like bait, at which Mia responded like a lamb to the slaughter with another caught breath before Harper hung up.

She held her phone to her chest and chuckled lightly.

Outside the studio, Harper found a pacing Mia looking both nervous and excited.

"I see you found the place okay then."

"Oh! Hi, Harper, yeah, I just arrived myself." Mia's hair looked a little disheveled and was loosley coming out of the low ponytail she had fashioned it into. An iced coffee cup from the cafe next door was in her hand as the ice rattled around in her shaky, nervous grip.

"I see, well, you must've been very thirsty then," said Harper, indicating the cup with her a nod of her head and a smile teasing the edge of her lips. Mia looked down and laughed.

"Well, maybe not just arrived."

"Don't worry, eagerness is endearing on you and excitement usually lends to more energy in a performance—they aren't bad qualities to have. Besides, you may need those exact qualities on hand today. My executive team will be joining us shortly to give the final okay on your contract, and if you impress them like you did me, I have the contract ready to go in my bag."

Mia's eyes widened a little, "Oh okay, this is all for real then, like for real, for real…"

"It's really really real," joked Harper. "Once you impress them, there will be no more small-town bars unless we are hosting exclusive intimate gigs for premium ticket holders. Your life could be about to change dramatically. Do you think you're ready for it?"

Mia's face changed a little, that confident cheeky Mia from when she was on stage glinted in her eyes and her mouth became bold, a dazzling smile flashing Harper's way. Harper caught herself from staring and tried to smile naturally back, despite the somersaults her stomach had started doing upon seeing it.

"Let's get started!"

Inside the studio, a technician introduced himself and showed Mia where everything was and explained how the performance set would work. By the time she was brought back into the observation area where her audience would be, the judges in question had arrived. All the women looked very different from Harper, but no less imposing. Jennifer was a blonde bombshell drawn out of a Beverly Hills housewives show—with a small handbag dog included—but she had the dark brown eyes and piercing gaze of a deeply intelligent woman who was putting on an act.

Paulina looked much like Mia, petite in frame, tanned olive skin with European features and dark hair and eyes. Her face was the kindest of the four women, even that of Harper, but she was a little older perhaps, and something about that age added a wisdom and gravity to her voice when she introduced herself. Lilian was a tomboy with her hair in tight braids to her head and looked as though she could have been a distant relation of Harper's in their facial features. She was the shortest, but what she lacked in height, she made up for in muscle. Mia was fairly certain that she could pick her up and throw her a good few feet, but she didn't want to annoy her and find out. After brief introductions, Harper walked Mia into the studio.

"You handled yourself well in there," Harper said, her hand gently on the small of Mia's back leading her to the mic. "Not many people keep their composure as well as you did when meeting the big four of the LA music scene."

"In all fairness, I didn't know they were…I'm glad now that I didn't"

Harper laughed. This young woman was somehow so honest and awkward, yet so confident and powerful, the enigma of the opposites was alluring to Harper. At the mic, Mia turned to face Harper and Harper rested her arms on Mia's shoulders in a conspiratorial brace.

"Just do what you did yesterday and you will have absolutely nothing to worry about. I'll be on the other side of the glass," she whispered. Harper paused and gently bit her lip. "If it makes it easier, you could just sing as though it's only me watching."

Harper watched Mia gulp. Had it not been for the audience clearly analyzing every move both women made, she would have liked to maybe lean closer and see if Mia did the same. Mia nodded and the confidence came back. Harper groaned a little internally and resisted the temptation to pull Mia in, instead she offered a wink and then made her way back in the observation room to join the other women.

"How was Felicity?" mocked Lilian.

"Oh, fuck off, Lil…" sighed Harper, all of them giggling like schoolgirls.

"Whenever you're ready, just give us a thumbs up, Mia, and I'll start the track," said the technician to the earphones now over Mia's head. She nodded, closed her eyes and began to take a few deep breaths. Harper moved aside a messy jumble of audio wires atop a speaker and hopped on top to smugly sit back and watch history be made; she really wanted the other women to eat their words on this one. When Mia opened her eyes again, they were the eyes of the predator Harper saw the night before. The creature who fed on the devotion of her fans and who drew on their adoring worship to further her power, she was a catalyst just waiting for the right elements to allow her to explode into life. Mia raised her hand and held her thumb out in an elegant defiance of the silence that had fallen on the studio, the track began.

The song she was recording had no introduction, so the countdown of beats to start was signaled by a metronome ticking, at eight clicks, the track would start. Harper settled herself in for the show and watched as like the night before, the assembled party felt themselves drawn into Mia's pull. With each tick, the three other women and the technician leaned closer to the glass. Tick-Tick-Tick. As the countdown neared its end, both Harper and Mia began to smile at each other, a secret of what was yet to come that only they knew. On the second to last tick, Mia took in her breath and held it, her eyes closing once more. Harper watched her features soften in the moment before release: mouth open, eyes closed, head back and her lower lip quivering slightly; Harper leaned forward now too, but for a different reason, she decided she wouldn't mind seeing that exact face beneath her, a different kind of tension in the air between them.

Mia unleashed her voice through the mic and everyone, bar the technician, almost jumped back in surprise at the power. Harper jumped for a different reason, the speaker on which she was sitting was connected to Mia's voice and her low powerful voice vibrated from beneath her. She looked from the speaker to Mia and the corners of her mouth curled into a smile as she sang. Does she know how much I really love this? asked Harper to herself. As if in answer to her question and in answer to the seductive beat of the song being recorded, Mia began to sway her hips slightly, allowing her hands to flow in the air around her in the strong deliberate moves of a Spanish dancer. As she did, Harper felt herself being wrapped in the invisible threads that Mia was weaving, pulling at different parts of her body—her chin, her wrist, her lips, her collar bone, her breasts, her thighs. Mia held a low note, longer than she had the night before, and Harper felt the tremor caress her body like a wave. One wire in particular was caught under her leg and quivered like a violin string being played. She couldn't believe how this girl could make her feel. She couldn't believe how attracted she was to her.

"She really is incredible," said Jennifer suddenly, looking to the back of the room where Harper sat. "I take it all back, Harper."

Harper tried to compose herself and nod, a Herculean task against the waves of sound that threatened her fa?ade. As soon as Jennifer looked back, she slumped a little and locked eyes again with Mia. Her lips fluttered as she sang a trail of beautiful notes. Harper began to picture those lips running down her neck, opening and closing, leaving a trail of heat in her wake. Mia began to caress the curves of the mic's body and the length of the stand lightly like the bends and valleys of her own body's landscape. She has to know what she's doing to me, look at that smug smirk… she huffed out as a wave crashed over and inside her and incredulous laugh on her lips… the audacity.

"Harper, I will let you slap me if I ever doubt you again…" said Lilian, her mouth still hanging open in disbelief as it had from the moment Mia had started.

"Never in my forty years in the industry have I seen a person start their journey with such potential. She really was born to sing," said Paulina in her whisper-soft voice. Her approval was the hardest to win by far and she was visibly starstruck.

Jennifer came up and patted her on the back, and noticing the bumps along Harper's arms, laughed.

"I totally get it, Harper, I have goosebumps too. If I wasn't already happily married, I may be trying to win her favor as well." She then winked at her before adding, "But she couldn't keep her eyes off you, so I think she already has a conquest in mind. Stay professional though. She's young enough to be your daughter."

When Mia rejoined them all in the viewing room, the other women and the technician surrounded her immediately with praise and questions. With the skill of a celebrity many years ahead of Mia, she navigated the conversation beautifully, and within a few minutes everyone was satisfied she was the real deal.

"You can absolutely go ahead and offer her the contract, Harper, she'll be in good hands with you," said Paulina as the three headed for the door. "She is your project to promote as you see fit, we trust your judgement on this. Keep us updated and congrats, Mia."

"Thank you, ladies, I'll see you in the office."

"I'm also going to get started right away on the desk to get the best out of Mia's voice and the track," twittered in the technician as he was already heading into a different part of the building. He popped his head around the door quickly with a wave to Mia and added, "You have a key to get out already, don't you, Harper? Can you lock me in after you leave? I may be here a little while."

Harper nodded with a smile, she was already a big fan of how efficient people wanted to be for Mia; it certainly made her work easier. Once the mouse-like technician had scampered away, laptop in hand, the two women were left alone.

"I need to watch myself around you it seems," said Harper with a smirk.

"I'm not sure what you mean," said Mia, a teasing note in her voice.

"Uh-huh, I'm sure… the eye contact, the gestures. Are you trying your best to tease me?" Harper began to stalk around her in a little circle, like a predator uncertain whether she should pounce.

"Well, I can't deny it actually. But, did you, uh, like my music though?" Mia coughed a laugh a little on the word like , which made Harper close in.

"You know acutely how much I enjoyed it, it's about as much as you're enjoying this little powerplay you're on." She tugged a strand of Mia's hair loose and began to twirl it around her finger. She leaned in close enough to just let her perfume mist the air between them; she saw Mia's nostrils flare to breathe in deeply and her eyes rolled back slightly.

"You know, Mia? All of your eye contact and gestures don't go unnoticed. That kinda behavior could get you into trouble, you need to watch your timing. You may get me in trouble."

Mia began to lean into the scent of the perfume, like a trail to Harper's neck and lips. Harper stopped her with one of her fingers to her lips.

"My dear, what did I just say? You need to pick your timing."

"I-I don't think I understand," said Mia looking confused at the empty room and their proximity to one another.

"You see, you just did something that was reckless and I may have to make a bit of an example of you so that it doesn't happen again." She tugged lightly at the hair and Mia gasped a little, then smiled.

"Oh…"

"Do you understand now? When you behave, maybe I'll reward you for it." She leaned forward, enough for the electrons between their lips to fizz with excitement and static, but not close enough for the sensation to land. Mia sighed in frustration and laughed.

"Okay, I'll play… What do I need to do to make it up to you?"

"Hmm, let's see…" Harper began to pace around her again, like a proud feline, playing with her food before indulging. "Well, you nearly caused a scene. The other's noticed how you look at me. How you are around me. So, let's see if you can restrain from doing that first."

"Sounds simple enough."

"Does it now? Well this task should be no problem then."

"I have more restraint than you think," said Mia, puffing out her chest slightly. Harper thought she was adorable. She had the confidence inside her to act with boldness, but she was still new to these power plays, and Harper certainly wasn't.

"You'll see on our next meeting…" Mia went over to pick up her jacket she'd hung up by the door when Harper stopped her.

"Good! As that is right now."

"Huh?"

"You didn't think an artist's work stops at the studio, did you? Firstly, we must celebrate your achievement, secondly you have to thank your wonderful agent for this opportunity and thirdly, you must surround yourself with other art and music to immerse yourself in inspiration."

"Oh! Well, yeah, I guess when you put it like that…" Mia turned away and took out her purse and looked inside quickly at the empty pockets.

"Don't worry, this first one is on me. Besides, you may find another way to thank me."