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Life was not quite back to normal after Howie returned from Florida. In a rush to make up rescheduled meetings and recording time, Howie turned his normal 10 hour days into 18 hours.

Lyric was hard pressed to keep up with him. She slept at his house more than she did her own. She was sure that he kept so busy on purpose, so he didn’t have to think about his father. And not once did he mention the kiss, the tenderness that he had shown her. Lyric often wondered if she had just dreamed it.

As they waited in traffic at the airport, she checked the Blackberry for his schedule.

“Ok, tonight you’re flying out to Miami, be there two days and then to New York City for three days and then back to LA – right?”

“Yes. When I get back to LA, I’ll be in the studio for at least a week.”

“Which means late nights for me, huh?”

Howie grinned at her. “You got it.”

Lyric didn’t mind the long nights at the studio, she enjoyed listening to them record. But it was the continual goofiness of these late nights that she really enjoyed.

She checked the schedule again. “Then back to New York for a day, Florida for a couple days, and then back to LA. Whew, you’re gonna be one tired puppy,” she laughed.

“And what will you be doing while I’m gone?” he asked.

“Laying out by the pool, working on my tan,” she teased.

“I don’t think so,” he said with a smile. “I left a long list of things I need done while I’m gone. I think you’ll be just as busy as me.”

“I don’t doubt it,” she laughed. She was glad to see that Howie hadn’t completely lost his sense of humor.

******

Howie sat back and watched the crowd at the club. Thanks to his seat in the VIP lounge, he didn’t have to worry about pushing his way to the bar – the waitress just kept bringing him drinks.

Scantily clad women danced just beyond his reach, trying to catch his eye. Most were way too young for him, just barely old enough to gain admittance to the club. That didn’t keep him from looking though.

He wasn’t in the market for a long term commitment, but he wasn’t into the one night stand scene anymore either.

“I got some girls who want to meet you,” Eric said, breaking into his thoughts. Howie looked up, Eric was holding the hand of bleach blonde young woman, older than the normal crowd, but still very pretty. The other woman was a petite Asian girl, probably not even five feet tall. Her hair hung in a sleek black curtain down her back.

“Hi, I’m Howie,” he said.

“I’m Hilary, nice to meet you,” the blonde said, sitting down next to him. He could see why Eric liked her, she had breasts three times normal size.

“I’m Orchid,” the other girl said softly, Howie could barely hear her. He ordered them both a drink and they sat back to talk, as much as the loud music allowed.

When the club closed at 2 am, Eric suggested they return to Howie’s house to continue the party. Howie didn’t mind, he didn’t have any plans for the next morning. He was finally caught up on meetings and he wasn’t scheduled to record for another week.

Howie woke the next morning to find both Hilary and Orchid draped over him in bed, all of them naked, and Lyric standing in the doorway to his room, frowning.

“We were going shopping this morning, remember?” she said, pointing at her watch. “You need something to wear to the movie premiere…”

“I’m sorry, I forgot,” he said.

“Just come out when you’re ready to go, I’ll wait.” She pulled the bedroom door closed. This wasn’t the first time she’d walked in on Howie with a woman in his bed – but the first time she’d caught him with two girls at once. She had no right to judge him, but she wished that he had a little more common sense when it came to women.

She heard a noise and turned, thinking it was Howie, but it was the blonde woman who walked out of his room – completely naked. Lyric could only wonder at how the woman stayed upright with such huge breasts.

“What are you staring at?” the woman demanded. “Ain’t you never seen a naked woman before?”

“I was just thinking what an amazing job your plastic surgeon did,” Lyric admitted.

“Oh, you like them?” She put her hands under her breasts and hefted them, no easy feat. “Took my tips from six months of stripping to pay for these, but they are worth it!”

“They are…quite stupendous,” Lyric said, holding back laughter.

“They’re what – stupid? Go to hell, bitch!” The woman picked up her clothes from the living room floor and stormed back into Howie’s room.

“Wow, he picked a live one this time,” Lyric muttered to herself. While she waited, she picked up the dirty dishes left behind from the night before.

“You don’t have to do that,” Howie said, coming up behind her. “Rita comes to clean today, she’ll take care of it.”

“Weren’t you afraid she’d suffocate you during the night?” Lyric asked with a grin.

Howie laughed. “I don’t even remember what happened last night, to be honest. I was as surprised to see them in my bed as you were.” Lyric handed him a cup of hot tea. “Thanks, I need it this morning.”

“Little hung over, are you?”

“Mm, wee bit.”

“What do we do about them?” Lyric asked, they could hear the shower running.

“Just leave? Maybe they’ll go away on their own?”

Lyric wagged her finger at him. “I don’t think you’re gonna get out of this one quite that easy, buster. Blondie looks to be the clingy type.”

“Damn.”

“I didn’t see an extra car out front this morning either, so looks like we’ll be taking the bitches….um, your guests, home before we go shopping.” She looked down at her watch. “It sucks that your stylist is out of town this week. Guess I will have to do. Only fair since you got to pick out clothes for me.”

“And a damn good job I did of it, too.”

“Yes, you did a fine job,” Lyric agreed. Her wardrobe had definitely improved since Howie started helping her buy clothes. No longer dowdy, Lyric felt downright stylish and sexy most of the time. Even Alex approved of her clothes now, no easy feat.

******

With recording finished and a lull before the tour started, Howie’s schedule became less hectic. There were more meetings and planning sessions to attend, but those were held in the daytime so Howie’s evenings were free. And he took full advantage of that.

Lyric would come to work to find Howie passed out, usually on the couch, but sometimes in the kitchen or bathroom. His drinking was becoming a problem, but every time she tried to bring it up, he denied there was an issue.

And then there were Hilary and Orchid, the strippers who had become Howie’s best friends. It seemed Hilary was everywhere they went – Lyric swore the woman was stalking them. Orchid wasn’t nearly as pushy as her friend was, she’d come over to the house when Hilary was there.

“Are you going to do something about her?” Lyric asked him one morning when Hilary arrived uninvited, interrupting a conference call with one of the producers.

It was bad enough that she’d shown up uninvited, but she’d also dragged along Orchid and several men as well. She didn’t consider them Howie’s friends, they were his ‘posse,’ his pretend friends as Lyric called them.

“What can I do? She won’t take no for an answer.”

“Money talks for a woman like that, Howie. Introduce her to someone who has more money than you.”

Lyric finally left mid afternoon, she couldn’t stand to watch Howie get stupid drunk. And Hilary just made her sick to her stomach, the woman had no morals whatsoever – and very few brain cells.

At 2 am, Lyric’s cell phone rang. It was Luke, the bouncer at Howie’s favorite club.

“You best come get dem, dey’s falling down drunk, dey are. I got da keys, he no be driving.”

“Thanks, Luke. I’ll be there in about 30 minutes – can you keep him there that long?”

“No problem, missy.”

She hung up the phone with a sigh. These middle of the night phone calls were getting more common, she had a deal with the bouncers at most of the clubs Howie frequented.

When she arrived, Lyric found the group still inside the club, even though it had closed for the night. True to his word, Luke hadn’t let them leave.

“Thanks, Luke.” She handed him a $100 bill for his troubles.

“Iz my pleasure, Miss Lyric. Luke help keep da boss man out of trouble, eh?”

Lyric herded the group to the SUV, got them loaded and took them back to Howie’s house. As usual, Eric tried to grab her when she helped him from the car.

“If you don’t want to lose that hand, asshole, better keep it to yourself.” Eric just grinned, and then leaned over and vomited at her feet, making her jump back in disgust. “At least you didn’t do it in my car.”

Eric and his friends usually crashed in the spare bedrooms. Hilary and Orchid went to sleep with Howie. Lyric never stayed the night when the pretend friends were there, she didn’t trust them any further than she could throw them.

Lyric called Matt whenever she needed help in retrieving Howie’s car from a club parking lot. So far the car had been safe, but Lyric felt it was only a matter of time before someone stole it or vandalized it.

Howie never acknowledged the extra effort that went into keeping him safe – and out of the tabloids. Lyric took the payoff money from petty cash, Howie never bothered to check it any more. In fact, he didn’t do any of the book keeping or bill paying.

Lyric was actually running Howie’s businesses, he was barely lucid most of the time anymore. He didn’t know what he was signing when she gave him paperwork, had no idea the state of his finances at all. She thought Howie was damn lucky she was so honest, she could’ve wiped him out completely and taken off with his entire fortune.

******

One evening, Lyric overheard Eric making plans to meet with his supplier. He asked Howie to join him for a little drive.

When they didn’t return in a couple of hours, Lyric became worried. On her laptop, she opened the GPS program she’d installed. On Howie’s cell phone, she had secretly loaded a program which allowed her to see exactly where he was.

She paled when she saw which neighborhood he was in, and the fact that he’d been there for much too long. Opening a drawer in the kitchen, she got out the stun gun she’d purchased. It was small but powerful enough to bring down a grown man. She slipped it into her purse and headed for the SUV.

She brought up the GPS program on her phone and was able to track Howie to his exact location. Eric’s car was parked outside a squalid house, there was no sign of Howie. She called his phone, after several rings he answered.

“Please come outside and get in my car,” she asked, not wanting to anger him. She had no idea if he was high and she didn’t want to provoke a fight. “It’s time to go home, Howie.”

“Why? I’m fine.”

“Please, Howie. I’m scared out here alone and I need you.” That wasn’t a lie, the neighborhood was dangerous and dark, few street lights lit the area.

“I didn’t ask you to come after me,” he said and hung up.

Lyric sighed, she was going to have to go in after him. She activated the stun gun, slipped it into her coat pocket, and walked up to the house.

“Howie, your bitch is at the door.” The man who answered was ragged and filthy, his stench made Lyric back up two steps.

“Tell her to go the fuck away,” Eric yelled.

“I’m not going anywhere without Howie,” she yelled back. She wouldn’t go into the house unless absolutely necessary to retrieve her boss.

“I’m not leaving, Lyric, so go away and leave me alone!”

“Howie, get your ass out here right now!” Lyric was losing hope that she’d be able to get him out of the house. But he surprised her by showing up in the doorway. She backed up a few steps, hoping to lure him out where she could grab him.

“You aren’t my mother, bitch! If I want to stay here all night and get high, then that’s what I’m gonna do.”

Lyric could see that he was indeed high already. It was time to switch game plans, demanding that he leave obviously wasn’t going to work.

“Aw, come on, baby. I thought maybe we might have some fun back home…” She unbuttoned her blouse halfway down, revealing a black lace bra. She saw the confused look on his face.

“She’s just playin’ you, dude,” Eric said. “She’s an ice cold bitch.”

“Ice to you, asshole,” she threw at Eric. “But I’m hot for him.” She walked up to Howie and wrapped herself around him, capturing his mouth in a fierce kiss, grabbing his ass with one hand.

“You show him, bitch,” the filthy man said, coming closer. Lyric slipped her hand into her coat pocket and flipped off the safety switch on the stun gun. “Maybe you give me some too.”

Lyric broke off the kiss, took Howie’s hand and started to move towards the street.

“Not so fast!” the man said, grabbing her arm. Lyric pulled the stun gun out and pressed it into his upper chest, pulling the trigger and holding it for several seconds. He fell to the ground, muscles twitching. Lyric saw the handle of a gun sticking out from the waistband of his jeans.

Lyric grabbed Howie’s hand and pulled him to the car, shoving him into the front seat. Eric ran towards the car, reaching in to grab her as she climbed in over Howie.

She touched Eric’s arm with the stun gun and pulled the trigger. Eric jerked his arm back, he didn’t get much of a shock but it was enough to numb his arm, making him release his hold on her.

“You fucking bitch, I’m gonna kill you!” he shouted, grabbing his arm. Lyric pulled the door shut and locked it.

Within seconds she had the car started, pulling away with screeching tires in her haste to depart. Looking in the mirror, she could see that the man was still on the ground, Eric stood in the middle of the street, yelling.

Once out of the neighborhood, Lyric pulled over. Howie was coherent but unresponsive when she asked him to buckle his seat belt. She climbed over and did it for him. She buttoned her blouse, climbed back in the driver’s seat and headed for home.

Once back at Howie’s house, she somehow managed to get him into bed. Only then did she look back at what had happened, at the danger they both had been in.

Trembling in fear, she checked all the doors and windows of the house, making sure they were securely locked. The security cameras showed that the front gate was closed as well. Just that morning she’d changed all the security codes to the house – effectively locking out Howie’s friends – at least until he told them the codes again.

Lyric laid down in bed next to Howie. She was scared and nervous and didn’t want to sleep alone in her room. And she was worried about Howie, she didn’t know what drugs he was on, she wanted to be close in case he needed her. Lyric made sure the phone and the stun gun were under her pillow.