Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Harper
T he phone woke her. She sat up in the hotel bed and pushed hair from eyes that were gritty with sleep.
Groaning, she used one hand to rub at a sore spot on her shoulder and the other to fumble on the bedside table for the hotel phone. The shrill ring broke the silence of the room with its obnoxious volume.
Daylight broke through the curtains, lighting the floor to ceiling windows with a halo. The hotel room could be anywhere in the world. It had that same generic feeling. Harper looked around, noting her suitcase on the stand in the corner. It had arrived shortly after she did in the early hours of the morning, her dad having packed all her things and sent them on after her.
Like she’d been banished.
Perhaps I have?
“Hello?” she managed, her voice croaky.
“A rental car is being dropped off shortly. You will take it to the address King gave you and stay there until this mess is resolved.”
Her eyes flew open. “Dad?”
He ignored her, continuing to talk. “Do you realize what you have done?”
Harper swallowed a lump in her throat. “Yes.”
Jay scoffed. “I very much doubt that you do, young lady.”
Harper slumped against the pillows and drew her knees up to her chest. She wished she were brave enough to ask why he’d bothered to ask her. But she stayed silent.
“Your sister is inconsolable. She locked herself in her suite and won’t come out. If you think this is what your mother wanted?—”
Harper cut him off. “Of course not. It was an accident?—”
“You accidentally admitted your sister is a talentless hack?”
“What?” Harper gaped. “I didn’t say that!”
“It doesn’t matter what you did or didn’t say. That reporter, if she can even call herself that, has you on record admitting to writing Isla’s songs.”
Harper swallowed. It didn’t matter what she did or didn’t do now, she just had to fix it.
“I’ve issued a statement from you and Isla,” he said.
“Saying what?”
“That it’s all being taken out of context and the next album is more important than speculation in the press.”
“Oh. But the next album isn’t due for another six months. How is that going to help?”
“I’ve called in some favors. The next album isn’t due in six months anymore.” He gave a date, and Harper quickly did the math.
“That’s three weeks away! I can’t just write an entire album of songs in three weeks!” She sat bolt upright and turned to put her feet on the floor.
“If you want to fix this mess, you’d better figure out how.”
The call ended with a click. Harper looked at the handset in shock. This was madness. She replaced the handset in the cradle and stared off into the distance. Three weeks was nowhere near long enough to come up with a hit album, and she had no doubt that’s what her father expected.
Even three months was pushing it. She didn’t even have her guitar with her. It was completely unachievable.
The phone rang again, and she snatched up the handset.
“I can’t do it! It’s too soon!” She cried but was greeted with silence.
“Uh, miss?” A slightly bewildered young woman asked.
“Oh, sorry. I thought you were someone else.”
“Oh. Well, this is your courtesy call to say your rental has been dropped off and is ready for when you would like to leave.”
She blinked. That was quick. “Thank you.”
She hung up and flopped back onto the bed.
What a nightmare.
She reached for her phone and, ignoring the thousands of notifications that had popped up on her screen, she dialed her sister’s number.
King answered. “Miss Harper.”
So, she was back to being Miss Harper. “Why isn’t Isla answering her phone?”
“You heard from your father?”
“Yes. Why isn’t Isla answering her phone?” She insisted.
“Harper, she’s upset. She’s not talking to anyone.” He sounded unusually exhausted.
She couldn’t remember him ever sounding this dejected. She paused before asking her next question. “Not even me?”
“Not even you.”
It’s then that the true impact of what she had done hit her. Until now, she figured everything would be okay if she could just talk to her sister. They’d figure it out together. The two of them against the world, or so it had seemed until now.
But you've ruined all that, haven't you?
“I see,” she said, her voice small.
“Look, Harper. Give her a few days. I’m sure she’ll come around. Go see West. He’ll give you a place to stay and won’t tell anyone you’re there. You won’t have to worry about the press and can have somewhere to work while we wait for this to blow over.”
Harper nodded. Since when did her sister’s bodyguard know her sister better than she did?
Since you ruined her life.
“I suppose I don’t have much choice,” she said.
The silence that greeted her down the line said everything.
“Tell her I love her and I’m sorry. I’ll do my best to make it up to her. I promise,” she said, a tone of steely determination in her voice.
Three weeks was not a lot of time, but she was going to have to make it work if she ever wanted to repair the damage she’d done.