Chapter 38 38
Harmony's POV
The walk to the pharmacy was consumed by the blinding glare of my phone screen. My thumbs pounded against the glass, typing furiously as I hurried down the sidewalk.
ME: I already told you I don’t have it. Stop asking me.
BENJI: You always have the money, Harmony. I need it by tonight.
ME: I have literally zero dollars to my name right now, Benji. I’m completely broke. LEAVE ME ALONE!
BENJI: Don’t lie to me. You always find a way to get cash when it suits you. Don't be a selfish bitch.
ME: I am not lying! I don’t have a single cent to give you. Go bother someone else.
The text thread cut off sharply as the screen changed, flashing with his incoming call. I pressed the volume button on the side of the phone to silence the ringer, pushing the device deep into my jacket pocket without answering.
I'd arrived at the pharmacy already. Pushing through the heavy glass doors of the pharmacy, the blast of cool air doing nothing to calm the irritation bubbling under my skin. I marched straight to the high counter, where a male pharmacist in a white lab coat was sorting through a stack of plastic bottles. He looked up, offering a polite smile.
"Hi there, how can I help you today?" he asked.
"Hi," I said, stepping up to the counter. "I need to order some medication for a patient. I need Ibuprofen, eight hundred milligrams, and also something for sleep. Maybe a low dose of melatonin to start."
The pharmacist looked up and nodded, reaching for his notepad. "What's the patient's name?"
"Quinn Eisenhower."
He wrote it down. "And this is for pain management and insomnia?"
"Pain management for bruised ribs and a general lack of sleep," I clarified. "Nothing too strong, just enough to take the edge off."
"Got it." He turned toward the shelves behind him and started pulling bottles. "It should be ready in about five minutes."
"Perfect, thank you."
My phone started to ring loudly from inside my pocket again, the aggressive vibrations rattling against my hip. The ringtone filled the quiet pharmacy space.
The pharmacist paused, looking from the counter up to my face. "Do you need to get that call?"
I forced a stiff smile, my lips stretching tightly across my teeth as I shook my head. "No, it's fine. It’s definitely not an important call."
But Benji was relentless. The moment the first call timed out and went to voicemail, the phone immediately began to ring all over again, louder and more insistent than before. He was calling me incessantly, refusing to give up.
The pharmacist handed over the small paper bag containing the drugs, his eyebrows raised slightly at the ongoing noise. I felt cornered.
I snatched the bag from his hands, pulled the phone out of my pocket, and slid my thumb across the screen to finally accept the call. I didn’t even give Benji a chance to speak.
"What is your problem?" I angrily spat into the receiver, keeping my voice low as I walked away from the counter. "If you do not leave me alone right now, I swear to God I am going to call the cops on you."
Benji laughed. "Oh, you're going to call the cops? That's hilarious, Harmony. Go ahead. Tell them whatever you want."
"I mean it, Benji. I will file a report!"
"You remind me of a little kid throwing a tantrum," he continued. "Do you think I enjoy begging my little sister for cash? I'm in a bad situation and you're the only person I can turn to. You don't even know where I currently am, so calling the cops would be of no consequence to me whatsoever. What are they gonna do, search the whole state?"
"You are a total piece of trash," I snapped, turning down the long hallway that led back toward the clinic rooms.
"Hey, watch your mouth," he warned, his tone easing into something more sinister. "I'm your brother. I practically raised you after everything went down, so you owe me. I told you last time that I'm in a really tight spot right now, and if you don't help me out, bad things are going to happen to me. Is that what you want? To see your own flesh and blood get ruined because you're too greedy to share five hundred dollars?"
I rolled my eyes, not moved by the pathetic guilt-trip. "Nice try, but that doesn't work on me anymore. Your problems are your own fault. You brought this entirely on yourself, and I am not cleaning up your disgusting messes."
"Harmony, listen to me..."
"No, you listen to me!" I interrupted, my voice sharp as steel. "Fuck off, Benji. Lose my number, or you're going to regret disturbing my life."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said smoothly, cutting off my exit. "You think you're so smart, sitting up there in your cozy little world. But you forget how easy it is to find people. For example, I happen to know exactly where you live now."
I stopped dead in my tracks. "You're lying."
"Am I?" he chuckled, a sound that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. "You're living on 1247 West Diversey, apartment 3B. It's on the third floor, and it's a corner unit, the one with the blue door. Nice place, by the way."
A cold dread washed over me. My body went totally rigid, completely paralyzed by the sudden invasion of my privacy. Right in the middle of the busy hallway that led back to Quinn's examination room. A nurse carrying a clipboard walked past, bumping hard into my right shoulder as she hurried by, but I barely even felt the physical impact. My mind was spinning out of control. Paranoia had gripped me instantly.
"How do you know where I live?" I demanded, my voice dropping to a harsh whisper as I gripped the phone so tightly my knuckles turned white. "How did you find that out, Benji? Tell me!"
"I told you, I have tabs on you that you wouldn't ever believe," he bragged, clearly enjoying the panic in my voice. "You think you're hiding, but you leave tracks everywhere. For instance, I know all about that little frat party you went to about a week or two ago. And I know you have a major thing for a certain hockey player named Roman Foster."
My heart stopped, and all of a sudden, I couldn't breathe. "Leave him out of this. You don't know anything about him."
"Oh, I think I do," Benji's voice had sharpened to a cruel, venomous edge. "Because that raises a really interesting question, doesn't it? Wasn't Roman Foster the brother of the guy whose death you were responsible for during your time at Loyola?"
"I didn't kill Aaron Foster!" I hissed into the microphone. "You know exactly what happened back then. I was framed, Benji. I didn't do anything wrong!"
But Benji only laughed coldly. "It doesn't matter what the truth is, Harmony. It only matters what people believe. And I bet your new hockey boyfriend would love to hear all about your past history."
"You wouldn't dare."
"Try me," he snapped. "You've seen what I can do to people who try me. You'll send me some money, or I will do unimaginable things to you, since I know exactly where you live now. I'm not playing around with you anymore."
"I don't have five hundred dollars!" I yelled, tears of frustration stinging the corners of my eyes.
"You have twenty-four hours to raise the money, sister," he said flatly, ignoring my plea completely. "I'll text you the address where you should drop it. Get the cash, or I will booby trap your apartment. I'll make sure you regret the day you decided to turn your back on me. Twenty-four hours, Harmony. Tick-tock."
I slowly lowered the phone from my ear, positively shaking with rage as I stood there in the empty corridor. My hands were trembling so violently that the paper bag from the pharmacy rattled against my leg. I felt violated, terrified and furious all at the same time.
Suddenly, the door to Quinn's examination room swung wide open. Quinn stepped out into the hallway, holding a medical chart against her hip. She stopped when she saw me.
"Harmony?" She called out and moved toward me. "I was starting to wonder what was the delay with the drugs."
Then she caught sight of my face, taking in my pale skin and the undeniable shaking of my hands. Her expression instantly changed to one of intense worry. "Oh my God, what is the matter? What happened?"
I forced my legs to move, taking two quick steps forward. I shoved the paper bag of drugs directly into Quinn's hands and refused to let myself break down in front of her.
"It's nothing," I said, my voice tight and strained as
I forced the words past my lips. "I just got off a call with a shitty family member. Go meet Maddie."