Free Lasting Damage by Isabelle Aren

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