Page 6 of Love is a Lyric
Once Quinn and Conner followed Ben, Piper gave Drew one last look. “None of them can know. Not yet.”
He mimed zipping his lips and throwing away the key.
Time to get back to work. She hustled toward the dressing room and threw the door open. Quinn shed her clothes behind a screen while the boys lounged on the couch in their smeared makeup.
Piper grabbed two bottles of water from the mini fridge and threw one at each of the guys before retrieving a seltzer for Quinn. “Get changed. You’re officially on vacation.”
Conner let out a whoop of excitement and jumped up, shimmying out of his tight pants without caring she still stood there. Ben was slower, moving to the mirror to start removing the makeup she knew he hated. He hadn’t said anything since finding her with Drew.
She’d told them about Drew’s initial offer. Did they suspect she was considering it? Would Ben understand? Quinn wouldn’t, but that couldn’t be helped.
Quinn appeared from behind the screen, a shirt dress replacing the shorts and tank she’d worn on stage. “Is there something you aren’t telling us, Piper?” She ran her fingers through her long dark hair before piling it on top of her head and securing it in place.
Piper’s heart hammered in her chest. How could she admit to lying to Quinn? To telling her she was considering leaving her after everything they’d been through? “N-no.”
Ben shot her a look over his shoulder that said he didn’t believe her.
To Piper’s surprise, Quinn grinned. “It looked like you were pretty cozy with Drew Stone.” She sighed. “He’s so perfect.”
Ben growled and tore himself away from the mirror. “Stay away from Drew, Piper.”
Did they really think… oh wow, they did. Ben and Quinn thought little Piper had a thing with a rockstar. A laugh burst out of her. It was ridiculous. Rockstars dated girls like Quinn with their long legs, perfect hair, and white teeth.
Piper glanced down at the jeans that rose over the small stomach roll and the button-down shirt that was probably soaked under her arms from the blasted hot arena. She laughed harder. “Drew and I? Me and Drew Stone? Are you out of your minds?”
Quinn smiled like she too realized how ridiculous it was, but Ben only frowned.
She kept laughing. “You don’t have to worry, Quinn. Girls like me aren’t suddenly getting the rockstar.” His assistant, maybe. But her relationship with Matt hadn’t gone anywhere, and now they were just friends.
Crisis averted, Quinn worked to remove her makeup while Ben stepped behind the screen to change. When he emerged once more, gone was the rocker except some remaining gel in his hair. Before her stood Ben Evans, just Benji with his loose nerd-shirt—as she called them—that featured a quote fromGame of Thrones. His eyes were visible once more without all the makeup.
He stumbled as he stepped forward, and she snatched his glasses off the table to hand them to him. “What would we do without you taking care of us?” He set the glasses on his nose, turning himself from the famous lead singer into the normal guy.
“Well, you’d probably run into a lot of walls.”
Conner laughed. Piper had almost forgotten he was there, and she used the distraction to tear her eyes from Ben’s.
Quinn took Ben’s arm and wrapped it around her. “We ready to go?”
Piper looked around at the messy room. “I need to pack you all up, but if you head toward the back entrance of the arena, Melanie arranged for a driver to take us to Gulf City.”
Conner skipped from the room and Quinn tried to drag Ben out, but he pulled her back. “Do you need help, Piper?”
She gave him a tight smile. “This is my job. Go.”
Indecision warred in his gaze, and still, he didn’t move. Quinn tugged on his hand. “We pay her for this. Let’s go. I’m tired, and we still have an hour drive to the beach house. Drew’s people are going that way too. Piper can grab a ride with Matt.”
Quinn hadn’t asked, but that wasn’t what she did. Piper assumed they’d wait for her, but it was their choice. Her sister was right. She worked for them. As much as she’d felt like a part of the band before, she wasn’t one of them.
Lifting her gaze, she looked to Ben. “Go. I’ll be fine.” She pressed a button on her headset. “Yo, Matt. Can I hitch a ride to Gulf City tonight?”
Matt responded immediately. “Of course. I can’t leave for a while though.”
She didn’t relay that last part to Ben. “Matt says he can take me. I’ll see you guys at the house. I sent you the information to get there.”
He blew out a breath. “Fine. Okay. Let us know when you leave.”
She lifted two fingers in a salute before they shut the door. If she went to work for Drew, this part of her job wouldn’t change.
Maybe she didn’t need a different employer, but a different life entirely.
