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Well, that explained what Faith was doing here. Checking in on her pet project.
“She has a great voice,” he said, nodding his head back toward the door that led through to the rehearsal rooms and the booths. “Nessa, I mean.”
“I’m aware,” Faith said, lifting her chin. “Kind of why I chose her.”
“You have good taste. And it’s a good idea,” he said. “Your foundation. It’s tough out there.”
“Something else I’m aware of, Zach,” she said, and he winced.
Of course she knew. After all, he and Faith tried to make a go of it back in the day, touring as a duo. It hadn’t gone so well. And he’d jumped ship. Now didn’t seem like the time to talk about that though. “I was just leaving,” he said. “You should go on in.”
Faith didn’t budge. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“About?”
“What you’re doing here?”
“In the studio that I’m part owner of?”
“Yes.”
He shoved his hands into his back pockets. “Came to talk to Leah about booking some studio time but she was busy with Nessa. So I’ll come back some other time.”
Faith frowned. “What did you do?”
“Excuse me?”
“The only reason for Leah to send you packing is if you did something to piss her off. So what did you do?”
“Who said she sent me packing?”
“Well, you had annoyed-Zach face when I walked in. And you’re too nosy not to hang around a studio session and watch what’s happening for at least an hour if no one chases you out.”
“Maybe I’ve been here an hour.”
“I talked to Leah about fifteen minutes ago when I was driving back from town. She failed to mention you were here, so I don’t think so.” Faith put her hands on her hips. She wore jeans and a T-shirt that were almost the mirror of his own outfit, if the mirror was a very girly one.
Faith and he were too alike in many ways. Maybe that was why they butted heads so often. He didn’t feel like making Leah another reason for them to test their skills in pissing each other off all over again. “She was busy. It’s all good. And now, I have to go. Songs to write and all that sort of stuff. Thanks for the doughnut.” He moved past her, stopping to drop a quick kiss on her cheek—half surprised when she stood still and let him—and escaped through the door before she could interrogate him any more.
As it turned out, he had the perfect reason to stick to Grey’s studio and the guesthouse for the next two days. Because when he woke on Thursday morning, it was to the annoying buzz of his phone. The stream of notifications drowning his screen was enough to make it clear that the news about Ryder had gotten out.
He flopped back on the bed, shoving the phone under one of the pillows. He’d known this was coming. He’d thought he was ready.
But apparently he’d been wrong. Because it felt like being punched in the gut all over again.
Still, he knew how to ride out a media storm and he was in the perfect place to do it. No one would get onto the Harper grounds to stick a camera or a microphone in his face.
Hopefully the press would be more focused on Ryder anyway.
He could turn his phone off and focus on his songs.
But he probably should give Faith and Mina a heads-up first. If the press did decide to come hunting for him on Cloud Bay, they might just try to ambush his sisters if they couldn’t get to him.
He dragged the phone back out, scrolled briefly through the screen. Saw that he’d missed several calls from Jay. And a series of texts. Which could be summed up as “we need to put out a statement, so fucking call me already.” There was a similar series of messages from Hal, who managed Fringe Dweller, as well. Austin and Ian had added to the barrage.
He fired back a series of texts. He didn’t really care what the statement said. It would be some version of “we support Ryder, whatever he needs, bros before bands, yada yada.”
He definitely wouldn’t be making any statement in person. Not until he was less pissed with Ryder and could say that shit and not be lying through his teeth. Because sure, the dude’s mental health was more important than the music, but the way Ryder had handled it sucked.
