And when he passes it over, I take it.
I didn’t enjoy playing the guitar much, never really had. However, I knew the basics. So, I circle through the five chords I have and look up at Harlen. “See how something is missing?”
“Yeah, add an F-flat before the B-flat,” he says, watching my fingers.
And I clap the sound away. “That’s what Jade said, then she added a high D.”
Harlen is shaking his head. “Fuck, that girl is talented. That would sound sick.”
I’m nodding, playing it over again, when Harlen asks, “You got lyrics yet?”
And this time, when I pause, I hand the guitar back to him, falling further intomycouch on an exhale. Lyrics, for me, were at times sometimes even harder than finding the notes. Too much emotion, too much blood to spill. “Nah, not yet. Can’t find the right words.”
“That’s alright…” Harlen’s fingers return to the strings, looping through the same riff, though adding his own spin. “They’ll come when they’re meant to.”
I sigh, scrubbing my hands down my face. “I hope so.” Then I pop a knuckle and open the bag of chips beside me. Grabbing a handful, I begin stuffing my face, speaking around a full mouth, “We are going with the girls to a party at Bryce’s toni?—”
Harlen cuts me off, “What the fuck are they doing going to?—”
I speak over him, “That’s what I said.”
Harlen reaches out and takes the bag of chips from me, reclining his head and pouring the contents into his mouth. “Why the fuck though? We know how those parties go;someonealways ends up close to dead.”
I lean forward, elbows digging into my knees, pinching my bottom lip, staring at the grained brick that makes up the opposite wall. My mouth flattens, and my fists clench. “Laiken wants to go, apparently she likes Colton.”
Harlen snorts, unfazed. “That’s a load of shit, there’s no way, I don’t believe it.”
“Jade told me.”
I watch Harlen shrug.
“Yeah, and your sister’s a good fucking liar.” He scrunches the empty chip bag and throws it at me. It bounces off my forehead. “Think about it, right…” He pauses, grabs one of the beer bottles beside him, holds it close to his face, squints into the opening, then pushes it to his mouth, draining the last drop.
“The girls know we would be pissed if we found out they went to it on their own. So, instead of lying, Jade has just found a way to get us to go with them, which in turn means they get to go. She’s smart.” He taps his finger against his temple and tsks. “Fucking smarter than I was at sixteen.”
I don’t reply, and when silence fills the room Harlen catches on to my concern. “Are you worried that motherfucker might want some kind of revenge because you fucked Aria?”
Aria is Colton’s girlfriend. And I wouldn’t be surprised if payback is on the agenda tonight.
I jerk my chin toward the beer he just had. Harlen checks the one beside it, squinting the same way he had before passing it over.
I clean it out, then reply, “Yep.”
“Valid. Hope her pussy was worth the target you put on their backs.”
I belch; it tastes like shit. “Fuck, I hate you sometimes.”
“It’s the tru?—”
I don’t let him finish. “I won’t let him lay a fucking finger on them, and you know it.” The vibrato in my tone is full of rage, heated and sinister, and Harlen quickly picks up on it.
“What’s up your ass?” he asks, swinging back in his chair and kicking his legs out.
My throat feels like a funnel, tightening and squeezing. “I’ve just had a bitch of a day.”
“You wanna talk about it?” he asks, his light brows furrowing.
I raise my dark eyes to his blue ones and palm my hand over the back of my neck. My entire body starts trembling. “Dad hurt Jade today.”
