Page 146 of Sun-Kissed Fangs
“I don’t understand how that keeps happening,” Harper mumbled.
“How what keeps happening?”
“You stealing my voice. It’s weird.”
“It’s not unheard of. Some people go nonverbal when in subspace.”
“Oh. That’s what that is.” Harper let out a deep sigh. It still trembled a little. “I like my other theory more. I thought you just had magic powers.”
Maya laughed, and though she couldn’t be certain, she had a feeling Harper smiled at the noise.
If she did, it was short-lived. She curled in on herself, crying again.
Maya kissed the side of her head. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t want to tell you.”
“Why? Worried you’ll scare me off?”
Harper’s hitched breathing turned into a snort.
“Yeah. Kind of.” She leaned away enough that her face was visible, showing red, puffy eyes. “It’s what I usually do. Most people can’t handle me, and part of me is worried that you’re in that group. That you’ll get tired of me, like everyone else does.”
“I could never get tired of you. I love that you keep me on my toes. How quick you are. How much you like getting in trouble. If you stopped doing those things, you wouldn’t be you. I can’t think of anything more tragic than that.” Maya brushed a lock of hair away from Harper’s face. “You can show me your demons. Or keep them to yourself. Either way, I’m not going anywhere.”
Harper’s eyes glinted. She blinked a few times, keeping the tears from falling.
She gestured at the tally marks near her elbow. “Do you remember asking about these?”
Maya nodded. There might not be a deeper meaning behind all of Harper’s tattoos, but that one had seemed special from the moment Maya saw it.
“I told you I left home, like you did, but that isn’t the whole truth. When I was in my teens, I hung out with the wrong crowd. They partied a lot. Drank a lot. Did drugs a lot. Pills mostly, butharder stuff, too. For my final year of high school, I basically only went home when I needed to sleep off a hangover.”
Her gaze went distant. “I don’t even remember my eighteenth birthday. I just remember getting home the day after. Being tired. And trying to get into the house, and finding that my key didn’t work. A few boxes had been placed outside, with all my stuff in them, along with an envelope of cash. For an apartment deposit.” She lowered her voice. “I blew through it in a week.”
Shame twisted her features. Her body tensed as though readying itself for a blow.
“Then what happened?” Maya asked, making Harper’s eyes flick to hers. Suspicious first. Then surprised. And finally, sorrowful.
“A lot of things. Things I’m not proud of. The year after leaving home is kind of blurry, given that I was high or drunk most of the time.” She smiled weakly. “Then Trish found me. She helped me get back on my feet. Her and Nell and Evie, too. If it wasn’t for them, I don’t think I would have survived.”
She ran a finger over the tallies. All six lines. “I get a new line every year. Every year I’ve been sober.” Her bottom lip trembled. “I didn’t get it done until after Evie disappeared. I’d been clean for four years at that point, but her going missing… It messed me up. Made me think my parents were dealing with something similar, since I had vanished, too. So I decided to go home. Just to visit. Let them know I was okay. When I got to the house, my mom was the only one there. She let me in, made me some tea, and told me I had to drink it fast because… because my dad was picking up my sister from the airport, and it would be best if I wasn’t there when they got back.”
Tears shined in her eyes. “I left right after. Bought a cheap bottle of vodka that I planned on emptying right after exiting thestore. And then I would have gone looking for something even more mind-numbing afterwards.”
“But you didn’t?”
“I called Trish instead. She and Nell came as quickly as they could. If they hadn’t, I would have slipped right back into that life. It felt like I didn’t have a reason to try anymore. I needed one. Even if it was something as basic as not breaking a streak.” She scoffed and looked away. “It sounds stupid when I say it out loud.”
Maya pushed at Harper’s chin, tilting her head up so their eyes met.
She really was so small. A fact that was easy to forget, but which only made the anger burn hotter in Maya’s chest.
Harper might be an adult now and a tough one at that, but she hadn’t always been. This still-painful wound was inflicted against someone with no defenses in place. Against a child.
Some people had no business being parents.
“It doesn’t sound stupid. But please, stop using that word to describe yourself. It doesn’t fit.”
