“Nothing you need to worry about.” My dad waved a spatula her direction.
“Oh!” she exclaimed. “You must have had a drug problem, like my mom. Did you go to rehab, too? How come you never told me about that?”
“It was a different problem,” my dad replied before turning his attention to me. “Do you remember Aunt Corrine?”
I thought for a moment before nodding. “That’s your mom?” I asked Iris.
She nodded and explained sadly, “She’s in rehab, again.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I told her. This was not how I’d expected my visit to start.
“Iris lives here,” my dad explained.
“And you took her to see me play,” I added.
My dad smiled. “She was mad when I saw you in Miami over the summer. She had summer school, so I didn’t take her with me on that trip.”
“Stupid algebra,” Iris grumbled.
“You were at the show in Miami?” I asked.
“I had business down there at the time, so it only made sense to go to your show,” he explained. “You’re surprised I saw you play. That makes sense. I wasn’t a very good father.”
“He was a total dick,” Iris added.
That got a startled bark of laughter from me and my dad.
“Who told you that?” my dad asked.
“My mom,” Iris replied.
I felt as though I’d walked into some alternate reality. This man didn’t seem anything like my dad. He wasn’t uptight or distant. Rather than hiring a nanny to care for Iris while his sister was in rehab, he seemed pretty involved—more involved than he’d been when I was growing up.
My dad looked at the time on his phone before saying, “Iris, you should get ready to go. Your tutor will be here in a few minutes.”
“But my CD,” she whined. “Austin is going to sign it. I need to find it.”
“How about if I post a picture of us for your friends to see?” I suggested.
“That would be great!” Iris chirped.
We posed, and my dad took the photo with my phone. I posted it, telling the world I was hanging out with my cousin, Iris.
Iris squealed when I showed her the post and raced from the room to text her friends.
My dad chuckled and set a plate with salmon and steamed vegetables in front of me. “Thanks for doing that for her, Austin. She’s been looking forward to meeting you.”
“Is that why you agreed to see me?” I asked.
“No,” my dad replied with a sigh. His gaze moved across the room. “I’m still not very good at all this emotional stuff. I’m a little better with Iris, but not much.”
“How often does she stay with you?” I asked.
“Iris and Corrine have been living with me for about five years. Corrine goes into rehab at least once a year,” my dad explained. “She hasn’t been the same since her husband died. Iris seems to have better coping mechanisms than most people.”
“It’s strange that I didn’t know about any of this,” I remarked as I looked down at my lunch.
“You haven’t had much interest in talking to me,” he pointed out. “Not that I blame you. We weren’t close, and I messed up before you left.”
“There’s no reason to talk about that,” I assured him. He hadn’t been the only one to mess up back then. I’d had enough reminders of all I’d done to hurt Piper.
“What do you want to talk about?” my dad asked.
I shrugged. “That’s a good question. After I asked to meet with you, I started coming up with all these rehearsed speeches. Now, none of them seem right.”
“You don’t want to tell me how awful I was when you were growing up?” he asked.
I shook my head. “That wasn’t in most of my rehearsed speeches.”
The doorbell interrupted us.
“Give me a minute,” my dad began as he rose. “I need to make sure Iris brings everything she needs.”
While I waited, I picked at my lunch. It looked good, but I wasn’t all that hungry. When my dad returned, he looked apprehensive.
“What made you decide to talk to me?” he asked. “I mean about more than money.”
“I’ve been talking to Piper about you lately—Piper Button.”
My dad’s eyes widened at the name. While he likely didn’t remember every woman he’d slept with, Piper’s mom would be hard to forget. Not only had I lost it with my dad, my mom had divorced him over that affair. They hadn’t divorced right away, but it had marked the beginning of the end. “I didn’t know you were still in contact with her. Your mom said she had quite the crush on you all those years ago.”
“She did,” I agreed. “We recently started talking again. After I saw you with Piper’s mom, I said horrible things to Piper. It wasn’t fair when you were the one I was mad at.”
My dad nodded. “You were rightfully angry.”
“But I didn’t have any right to take it out on Piper,” I stated.
“No, you didn’t,” he agreed.
“I’ve been angry for a very long time,” I continued. “Even before the affair, I was angry that you weren’t there for me. I was angry that you always seemed distant.”
“That’s something I still struggle with,” he admitted.
“You didn’t exactly have much in the way of role models,” I told him. “I never stopped to think about your childhood, until recently.”
“My parents aren’t very loving, but that excuse only goes so far,” he stated. “By the time I started to realize my own mistakes as a parent, it was too late to be your dad. You were doing fine on your own.”
I snorted in response. “Yeah, right. I’ve acted like a spoiled brat. My bandmates had to work much harder than I did. There was no one paying their bills and no trust to draw from.”
“I was surprised when you didn’t call to ask me for anything after you moved back to the Bay Area,” he remarked. “I expected you to ask for more money.”
“We’re making decent money now, and I had a good amount of equity in my other home,” I began. “I’m tired of being the spoiled rich boy. It’s time to grow up.”
“I’m proud of you,” my dad said softly. “When you were younger and said you wanted to be a famous rock star, I thought you needed to get your head out of the clouds and look for a real career.”
“I know. You told me that often,” I reminded him.
“And I was wrong. Your band is good.” His praise surprised me.
“I still can’t believe you saw us play,” I mused.
“You’re my son,” he replied. “I’m glad you came to see me.”
“Me too,” I admitted. “We should talk more often.”
“We should,” my dad agreed. “Don’t start thinking this means I’m good at expressing my feelings. I’m not sure I’ll ever be good at that. To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure I can be the loving dad you wanted growing up.”
“I’ll take what I can get,” I assured him.
Chapter 39
Piper
My head was going to explode from the sinus pressure.
“Are you in there, Piper?” Bentley called out when she knocked on my office door.
“Come on in,” I replied in a hoarse voice.
She walked in and frowned when she saw me. “Are you sure you should be at work tonight?”
I gave her the most reassuring smile I could manage under the circumstances. “It’s just a nasty head cold. We’re well-staffed, so I’m planning to stay in the office most of the evening. I need to go through some applications and set up interviews.” Business was so good, we needed to hire four more people. “I’m surprised to see you here tonight.”
Bentley had worked extensively on getting Euphoria ready to open, but she didn’t work at the club. As I understood it, she’d decided to take on the project of planning Euphoria while she figured out what she wanted to do after quitting her last job.
“I’m just being nosy,” she admitted.
“So, you heard about what ha
ppened with Austin.” I wasn’t surprised that she’d heard. Gage didn’t seem like the type to keep secrets from the woman he loved.
“Gage mentioned finding you at Austin’s house the day he left for the tour,” she explained. “I also saw the picture of you and Austin kissing. I’ve been trying to avoid asking you about it.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Since you haven’t mentioned it, I wasn’t sure if you regretted it. I figured you’d talk to me when you were ready. Then, I got impatient.”
Why hadn’t I told anyone? Cerise and Andy were my only friends I’d talked to about what had happened with Austin. Admittedly, this wasn’t the sort of thing that came up in conversation, but I couldn’t believe so few people had asked me about the pictures of me with Austin. “I’m not sure how I feel about what happened. Is that why you came all the way down to Euphoria?”
“Not really. I’m bored,” she confessed as she sat on the sofa in my office. “This never used to happen. I was always fine spending an evening at home alone. Gage has ruined me.”
I gave a weak laugh at her complaint. “I guess love changes a woman.”
“Don’t tell me you’re turning into a romantic,” she said with a gasp.
“Hell no!” I replied. “I’ve got no interest in going down that road again.”
Silence hung between us. Bentley wanted to ask me what that meant for my future with Austin. I didn’t have an answer. My sneezing fit that turned into a wheezing fit was a great distraction.
“I can stay here tonight if you need to take a sick night,” Bentley offered. “Mercy would be fine with that.”
I shook my head. “I’d end up taking this work home with me. It’s not that big of a deal for me to do it here. Like I said, we have a good staff. I’m only here in case something goes wrong.”
“All right,” Bentley agreed. “I’ll leave you to your work. We can talk later.”
I nodded and bit back a yawn. “Thanks. You should go over to see if Mercy needs any help. When she came by earlier, she mentioned something about her bartender and a bouncer being out with the flu.”
Bentley considered my suggestion. “I’m not sure I’m in the mood for The Frisky Beaver, but I should go see if my sister needs any help. She needs a night off more than anyone I know.”
Mercy needed to hire a manager for the Frisky Beaver. Her partner didn’t work nearly as many hours as Mercy. With the opening of Euphoria, Mercy was stretched too thin.
After Bentley left, I focused on sorting applications. I’d just finished and was ready to make a walk-through of the club when my phone buzzed on my desk. Looking down, I saw it was Austin calling.
I wouldn’t say we hadn’t spoken since he’d left. We’d had a couple of short conversations, but we were both busy. Feeling as bad as I did, I was tempted to send his call to voicemail, but then I remembered he’d had lunch with his dad.
“Hello,” I answered.
“Hey.” Austin sounded hesitant. “Are you okay?”
“I have a terrible cold that seems to be turning into a sinus infection,” I explained. “Hopefully, you didn’t catch it from me.”
“I’m sorry you’re sick,” he murmured.
“How did your visit with your dad go?” I asked, trying to sound alert.
There was a long pause before he answered. “Nothing like I expected. My dad went to see me play.”
“I’m having trouble picturing that,” I admitted. “Your dad always seemed too uptight for rock concerts.”
“I thought the same thing,” he agreed. “He’s been to two of my shows. This last one, he took my cousin to see. I guess she lives with him. We had a nice visit. I feel bad that I didn’t make any effort to reconnect with him before now.”
“He didn’t make any effort with you either,” I reminded him. “It’s great that you’re working things out, but don’t get caught up in regrets. It’s not worth it.”
By the end of the last sentence, my voice was giving out.
“Thanks, Piper,” he said softly. “I’m glad we’re together.”
“Together?” My question was barely a whisper.
“I can’t even hear you anymore. Get some rest, Button, and call or text if you need anything. I can always get soup delivered to you. I miss you.”
On those words, he ended the call.
I let out a sigh. I was a little annoyed that he refused to accept that we were just dating. There was a difference between dating and being together. I also felt warm all over at his offer to have soup delivered. He really was a great guy.
Chapter 40
Austin
We were at the end of the two-week stretch of shows and ready to fly home from Pittsburg. I was looking forward to getting back to the Bay Area. Not only was it much warmer, Piper was there. We’d talked and texted as much as possible. More accurately, we’d talked and texted as much as I thought I could get away with.
Piper had sent me several pictures of her bunny slippers. I now knew she had a white pair at work, and a pink pair at home. Bunny slipper photos might not sound naughty to most, but those pictures all included something sure to make me hard. She’d photographed them with her vibrator beside them. Some pictures were taken with lingerie nearby. Others were of her delicate hand resting on her leg. In several, the pose made me wonder if she had anything other than bunny slippers on. I was beginning to wonder if there was a bunny slipper fetish. It definitely seemed I had one.
“Would you stop pacing?” Harley asked impatiently from her seat in the first-class lounge.
“I want to get out of here,” I complained.
“We all do,” Gage grumbled.
“Not me,” Xander chimed in. “Snow is fucking awesome. We should go skiing this year.”
“Hell, fucking no,” was Harley’s response. “I had to shovel snow as a kid. I prefer to avoid it as an adult.”
“How about you guys?” Xander asked us. “You can bring Bentley and Piper.”
“I don’t know if Piper skis,” I admitted.
Since my friends had already nagged me about getting to know Piper better, they kept their mouths shut this time.
My phone buzzed, and I looked down to see a message from Piper.
“It looks like Austin has a text from a certain smoking hot redhead,” Xander remarked.
“What makes you think it’s Piper?” I asked.
“You’re grinning like an idiot,” Harley answered for him. “Sit down and read your text. Maybe this will keep you from pacing.
Piper: What time are you coming in?
Austin: I’m not sure. My flight is delayed. Hopefully, we’ll board in an hour.
Piper: That’s too bad. Do you want me to pick you up?
I continued grinning like an idiot at Piper’s offer to pick me up.
Austin: We have a car picking up the band, but I’d love to see you tonight.
Piper: If you don’t get in too late, I can drop by with your car, and you can drive me home. I’m off tonight.
I was going to need my car back, and this gave me a good excuse to see Piper. Mulling over my options, I tried to decide the best way to get more time with her. Having her come to my house was tempting, too tempting. I definitely wanted to kiss every inch of her, but we needed to talk first. My friends were right about me needing to spend more time getting to know her.
Austin: I’ll message you when I have a better idea of when we’re going to land. Maybe we can meet somewhere for dinner before I drive you home.
Piper: That sounds great. Cerise did the grocery shopping last time, so all we have is super healthy food. I want something sinful and indulgent. I want to be bad. Very bad.
Piper had to know she was teasing me with that line. No one could be naïve enough to miss that. I decided to do a little teasing of my own.
Austin: If you’re too bad, you might earn yourself a spanking.
Piper: Promise?
She was definitely teasing me, and I was loving every minute of it.
Chapter 41
Piper
I’d been missing Austin while he was on tour, something I hadn’t expected to say when I’d first reconnected with him. Each day, the idea of being with him seemed less scary. While I still wasn’t ready to call myself his girlfriend, I wasn’t freaking out at the idea.
I was sitting in a Mexican restaurant with Bentley’s cousin, Delaney, and her two friends, Chelsea and Brook.
I hadn’t intended to join them, but as soon as Delaney saw me, she rushed over. Before I knew what was happening, I was sitting beside her. Delaney was something else. She was an erotica writer who believed everyone’s sex life was research for her books. Delaney had red hair, green eyes, and elfin features. I’d just finished listening to a ten-minute rant about how gestational diabetes had nearly ruined her life, mostly because she hadn’t been able to eat cake while she was pregnant. That rant had been followed by a discussion of how much she liked having bigger boobs while she was breastfeeding. Her friend Chelsea was a bubbly blonde with the figure of a pinup girl. Brook was the more serious of the three. She had long brown hair, hazel eyes, and a lithe build. All three women were fun and entertaining. They were a good distraction while I waited for Austin to arrive.
“Your man didn’t stand you up, did he?” Delaney asked.
“I can’t believe you’re dating the rebound guy,” Chelsea mused.
“You know about that?” I asked. I hadn’t told anyone at the table who I was waiting for.
“Delaney is nosy and tells us everything,” Brook explained. “She forwarded us the pictures of you kissing him as soon as she saw them.”
“I am not nosy,” Delaney argued. “Have I asked you once tonight if Ty has tried any new kinky moves with you?”
“Nope,” Brook replied. “You weren’t done interrogating Chelsea about her sex life when you got distracted with Piper.”
“Good point. I’m not done with Chelsea. Did Luke get any new bondage toys?” Delaney asked Chelsea. “I heard they have these rope classes and even classes to teach suspension bondage. Luke could sign the two of you up for some of those.”
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