Lasting Damage Read online

  “What if we just camped out here and let her sleep it off?” Lily suggested. “Seems like the easier option.”

  “I’ve got five hundred bucks riding on moving her ass.” Jane walked on over to the back of the couch and put her hands on the edge. “Roll and Dump?”

  Lily nodded, moved to the front of the couch and pushed the coffee table out of the way.

  “Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey,” Lily sang with a laugh as Jane tipped the couch over and rolled her sister off.

  Alice hit with floor with a loud plop and her customary grunt of disapproval before sitting up with her customary dazed expression.

  “Janie!” She pressed her hand to her wild mass of blond curls and laughed. “I missed you!”

  “No time for sweet talk, kid.” Lily peered at her as Jane lowered the couch back down. “Riley's busting a nut over you being here.”

  Alice looked down at the rug and sighed. “I think he's got some girl in the recording studio and won’t let me near her.”

  “He told me he was running sound in Boston and things got complicated, or something like that.” Jane reported. “I really have no idea, and I don’t give a fuck.”

  “It's a girl. I heard him talking to her on the phone. She sounded like a real special snowflake.”

  “Riley likes those uptight chicks. It's his thing.” Jane leaned across the edge of the couch and stared her sister. She looked like crap and smelled even worse. “How about you go make nice with the shower before you come back to my place?”

  “Nope,” Alice shook her head and a new cloud of vodka fumes saturated the air around them. “I don’t want to wash off any of the evidence.”

  “Did you start another bitch fight?” Lily asked.

  “Maybe.” She looked up at them with those big blue eyes and innocent little smile that always meant trouble. “Girls can be mean.”

  Lily laughed. “What did you do this time?”

  “Why do you assume I did anything?” She struggled to her feet, weaving around for a second before finding her sea legs. “I’m always the one who gets the blame for every little thing.”

  “Because it’s you,” Jane said with the conviction of a sister experienced in breaking up fights between Alice and ever person she ever met. “It’s an easy assumption to make.”

  “Go pack up all your crap and let’s get out of here,” said Lily.

  “I can’t leave yet.” Alice set the empty bottle down on the side table and grabbed the couch to keep from falling over but missed and ended up back on her ass again.

  “You have to leave,” Lily informed her. “Riley’s orders.”

  “Not until I find my phone.”

  “Christ,” Jane swore under her breath.

  “I was looking for it when I passed out on the couch,” Alice stood up straight and let out a pathetic groan. “Give me a minute and I’ll go find it.”

  “How much did you have to drink before you passed out?” Fighting against the stink, Jane closed in on her sister to get a better look. “And how many pills did you take?”

  “Not enough to kill me,” Alice ran a shaking hand through her hair in an attempt to straighten herself up. “I’m just a little hung over.”

  “Just a little?” Lily cocked an eyebrow. “You’re starting to look a little down-market.”

  “I know,” Alice agreed. “It’s the jetlag. It’s killing me.”

  “Can we please bring it back to the issue of the missing phone?” Jane asked.

  Alice blinked a few times before her face fell. “I don’t want you to yell at me.”

  “Why would I yell at you?” Jane took another step closer to the ragged mess that was her sister and felt her heart pick up. Alice wasn’t afraid of many things but Jane had trained her to have a decent sense of dread when it came to pissing her off too much.

  “I left my phone in the recording studio this morning.” Alice’s voice was so soft that Jane had to lean in to hear the little bomb she’d dropped.

  “Excuse me?” Jane blinked and shook her head. “You were where?”

  “I’m pretty sure she said she left it in the recording studio,” Lily answered.

  “I know,” Jane told her. “I just wanted to hear it one more time.”

  “Sorry,” Lily shrugged.

  Jane had to bite her lip to keep from saying something she was going to regret once the situation was resolved. “Alice.” She inhaled her sister’s name, tasting the anxiety, like bitter bile, on the back of her tongue. “Why were you in the recording studio?”

  “I got bored and Riley didn’t lock the door,” she said.

  “Why did he leave the door unlocked if he knew you were here?” Jane asked the most obvious question even though she suspected Alice was lying to her. “That doesn’t even make sense.”

  “I told you, he’s got a special snowflake working in the studio and she needs full access to the house.” She responded before looking away.

  Lily gave Jane a knowing glance before crossing her arms over her chest and staring Alice down for a long moment? “Why isn’t she staying in the apartment?”

  “How should I know?” Alice shrugged. “Maybe he’s fucking her or something.”

  “I’ve never known Riley to eat where he shits,” Lily replied knowingly. “Why don’t you tell us what you’ve been up to?”

  If Alice had any color left in her face it probably would’ve drained away at that moment since it seemed she was coming to the realization that neither one of the scary girls in front of here were buying a single word coming out of her mouth.

  “You’ve been bothering people again,” Jane muttered.

  “I didn’t do anything bad,” she whispered. “I just wanted to get a peek at her.”

  “Why?” Jane asked.

  “Because Riley told me to leave her alone.” She admitted.

  “How did you get into the studio?”

  “I was messing around in Riley’s bathroom and I found the extra set of keys in the medicine chest.”

  “You’re a real brainiac, you know that.” Jane placed both hands on the table and took a few calming breath to keep from smacking Alice right upside her greasy little head. “Now you’re sure you left the phone in there?”

  “Yes,” Alice answered with a firm nod. “But I had a lot to drink so I don’t want you to beat me up if I’m wrong.”

  There were several times in her life Jane wondered if my sister might be a little slow on the uptake. It wouldn't be difficult to imagine that at the tender age of twenty-two Alice had already burned through her allotted amount of brain cells, the girl had done an ‘Ozzy Osborn’ amount of drugs in her short life.

  As much as Jane wanted to be pissed at her sister she knew it was wrong to hold a grudge against someone this out of control. “Alice?” She let out a deep breath and tried to find the last of her patience. “Will you please tell me where, in the recording studio, you left your phone so we can get out of here?”

  “I have no idea.” Alice answered with a shrug. “I get so turned around when I get in there. The control room is big and the-”

  “Why are you doing this?” Jane interrupted, and pressed the heel of her palms to her eyes, pushing until she thought she was going to burst a blood vessel. “I don’t understand why you do this.”

  “Christ Janie,” Alice laughed lightly. “It’s just a phone. I’ll call mom and get a replacement.”

  “And what happens when Riley finds your old one?” She pulled her hands away and was treated to a spectacular show of lights flashing in front of her eyes as the migraine seeped through her blood-brain barrier. “You know he’s going to shit a fucking brick. You’re not supposed to be back here bothering people. Fucking hell, Alice, do you ever think about anything before-”

  “Take a breath, Jane, you look like you're about to pass out.” Lily interrupted. “Just take the keys and go in there.”

  “Fine,” she grumbled as she grabbed her bag and started fishing through it.

&
nbsp; “The keys are on the-”

  “I’ve got my own set,” Jane interrupted and pulled the spare keys from her bag. “You get her packed up and in the car. We need to get her contained and cleaned up before she can do any more damage.”

  *****

  Harper was sitting in the empty studio trying working on the third track when she heard a key scraping in the lock of the door that led to Riley’s place.

  Riley had called to tell her that he’d be in Boston a little longer so she had the studio to herself. He also warned her to stay clear of the house since Alice had shown up and he didn’t want to give her a reason to stick around.

  “You’re back early.” She pressed the space bar on the keyboard to stop the track and took the headphones out of her lap. She’d brought them in with the intention of blocking out any other sound so she could listen without distraction but had forgotten to plug them in once she started working. “I thought you were going to be in Boston with Kara’s manager for one more day?”

  Harper placed the headphones on the table next to the computer and pushed her chair away from the table before catching sight of Jane standing in the doorway. For a second she felt like her heart had actually stopped. Harper put her hand on the table in an attempt to center herself but couldn’t force her body to stand up.

  “Harper?” Jane took a small step away from the door and stopped to gaze around the room with a confused look crossing her face. “What are you doing here?”

  Harper opened her mouth and waited for all the words she needed to come flying out of her mouth but nothing happened.

  “Harper?” Jane asked again.

  “I can explain,” she said as she struggled to her feet.

  “Explain?” Jane‘s gaze shifted to something on the far side of the mixing board, her demeanor seemed to tense up as the seconds slipped between them. “What is it you need to explain to me?”

  “Me, being here.” She wrapped her fingers around the edge of the chair and hesitated, there was no way to smooth this over with Jane and she knew it. “I’m supposed to be here.”

  “You are?” Jane’s voice moved from confusion to suspicion with such seamlessness it made Harper’s blood run cold in her veins.

  “Jane,” she whispered.

  “I think now is when you start telling me things aren’t what they seem and you have an easy explanation to fix everything and that I don’t have to feel like you were leading me on or laughing behind my back because I’m such an idiot.” She brought her hand to her forehead and took a deep breath before letting out a defeated laugh. “Or, maybe you have an excellent reason for not telling me you were working with my brother? It’d have to be really good since you had so many opportunities to get this little truth out in the open.”

  Harper ran a hand through her hair and tried to come up with some sort of lie that would turn the situation around but she didn’t have it in her to lie to Jane one more time. “I’m sorry.”

  “When Riley calls will you let him know I was here?” she said softly. “Tell him that I picked up Alice.”

  “Jane-”

  “You could’ve told me but you didn’t bother.” Jane held her hand out to stop Harper from talking. “What am I supposed to think?”

  “That I’m an asshole?” Harper offered.

  “The one thing we’re going to agree on.” She looked resolved to that one piece of the truth Harper had given her.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “Good, I’m glad you’re sorry.” She looked down at the plain brown carpet that separated them and nodded slowly. “I want you to be really, really sorry because you are a sorry fucking bitch.”

  “I can fix this,” Harper wanted to grope around the darker places in her brain to come up with some kind of explanation but she needed a more time. “If you just let me try and explain I knew I can fix this.”

  “I’ve got to leave,” Jane said as she opened the door. “Alice and Lily in the car and I’m about to say something you and I will both regret.”

  “Please don’t go,” Harper took another step closer but stopped when Jane narrowed her eyes.

  “I told you that I have to leave.” Her jaw was clenched tight and the words came out harsh and ragged, as if she’d been chewing glass and was desperate to spit some of the shard out before they cut her mouth.

  “Okay.” Harper held her hands up and stepped back. “I wasn’t trying to be an asshole.”

  “What were you trying to be?” She raised an eyebrow and cocked her head to the side as if she were waiting for Harper to say the wrong thing.

  “I’ve been on tour for a year and then I was in the recording studio,” Harper paused to find the words she needed to convince Jane to sit down and talk things over. “Being here has been the only break I’ve had.”

  “That’s not going to work on me,” she sighed. “You should know I’m immune to that, lonely rockstar bullshit.”

  “Can you please stop for a second so we can talk?”

  Jane looked away, her eyes narrowing as she seemed to focus in on something. “How much longer are you going to be here?”

  “I’m not sure,” Harper answered. “I’ve still got a few more tracks to mix and then I’ve got to do the remixes and I’ve got-”

  “That’s not answering my question.” Jane interrupted. “I asked for a specific date so I know when it’s going to be safe to come back over here.”

  “You don’t have to stay away just because of me? I’m the one who should leave.”

  “No, Riley needs the exposure that this will bring him, and you’ve got studio time booked but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t come back into the club.”

  “Okay,” Harper stared down at her shoes.

  “You know what really sucks?” Jane paused as she slipped her hand around the door knob and gave it a turn.

  “What’s that?” Harper asked, her heart felt like it was being squeezed.

  “When I saw you standing outside Sammi’s I was really excited,” she said with a sad smile. “You looked so fucking adorable with your messy hair and your glasses. You looked sweet and lost and I have such a soft spot for girls who look sweet and lost and I was thinking that it was sort of awesome to look at someone and feel that happy.”

  “Jane,” Harper tightened her grip on the back of the chair and tried to think of something to say that didn’t make her sound like a bigger jerk than she really was but she came up empty. “I’m so sorry that I didn’t tell you about this.”

  “It’s been my experience that most people aren’t sorry about the shitty things they do until they get caught.” She looked at her from the other side of the door and shook her head before walking away.

  6.

  Jane pressed the phone to her ear and waited for her brother to pick up. She’d driven Lily and Alice back to the apartment, depositing them in the living room without incident but she was having a difficult time keeping her shit together. She needed Riley to clear up a few things before she decided to forget Harper ever existed.

  Riley picked up on the seventh ring. “Jane? What’s going on?”

  “Who’s in the recording studio?” she asked before she had the chance to change her mind.

  He paused for a long moment before dodging her question with one of his own. “Did you go in there?”

  “Just tell me what her name is,” she ordered.

  “You already know who she is,” Riley answered with a deep sigh.

  “Yes, I do.” Jane closed her eyes so tight it made her eyes ache. “But I want you to tell me her name.”

  “Technically her name is Harper Merrick.”

  “Technically?” Jane opened her eyes and stared at the wall of books she’d collected over the years and reminded herself to stay calm. There’d be time for crazy-making later on. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “She records under the name Tin Bird.”

  “That’s a funny stage name for one person.” Jane sat down on the edge of her bed. “Is
it because her mother named her after Harper Lee? Is it a reference to the book?”

  “What do you want me to say, Jane?”

  “Nothing, just keep your mouth shut and don’t tell her I called you.” She replied before killing the conversation

  *****

  By the time Jane calmed down enough to leave her room Lily was putting the finishing touches on a freshly rolled joint, pinching it between her thumb and forefinger, and tightening the ends to fine points. She gave it a final inspection before holding it up to Alice for her nod of approval.

  On any other day she might find the unspoken exchange heartwarming but not today. Today had turned bitter and nasty, and as much as she wanted to forget the whole thing ever happened, she knew letting it go was going to be difficult.

  “Alice?” She asked as she plopped down on the couch.

  “Yes?”

  Jane took a breath and asked one of the questions she didn’t like having to ask. “What do you do when you think someone wants to be near you because of Mom or Dad?”

  Alice tilted her head and stared into space for a second before shrugging her shoulders. “I pretend everyone likes me, and get on with my life.”

  Jane ran a hand over the ragged edge of her shorts and decided that particular line of questioning needed to wait until Chloe got home since she was the one who spend the most time trying to avoid star-fuckers. “Does Tin Bird mean anything to you?”

  “Of course.” Alice nodded. “They did the opening song for that freaky movie Dad did the score for last summer. He’s used them a few times.”

  “Is it a ‘they’ or a ‘she’?” Jane asked.

  “A ‘she’ when she’s doing remixes for other artists and a “they” when she’s performing with her band.” Alice told her. “They do awesome electronic house music, but the good dream pop stuff and not that sped up bullshit. It’s not like Scooter or anything”

  “That’s who was in the studio,” said Jane. “I saw her when I was getting your phone.”