Page 69 of Love is a Lyric
“I know.” He’d do anything to keep Piper from getting hurt, but what if it was too late? She didn’t deserve to be pulled into the media spotlight alongside him. His world had no place for her goodness. “I think it’s time I go back to L.A.”
Disappointment flashed across Chase’s face, and he stood. “You’re not even going to fight for her?”
“What? I thought you said—”
“I said I didn’t want her getting hurt, Ben. Not that I didn’t want you admitting you have feelings for her too.”
“I don’t…” He couldn’t finish that sentence. It didn’t make sense. He’d known Piper her entire life. She didn’t fit into the plans he had or his belief in fate. But singing with her at the pub, standing with her in the rain… maybe he’d been wrong about the music tying him to Quinn.
As soon as the thought entered his mind, a tether snapped and he slumped forward, his entire body shaking. All these years, had he been wrong?
Chase gripped his shoulder. “You’re right, Ben. If you think you’ll hurt her, you need to leave. Go back to Quinn and to your precious music. I’ll take care of Piper. I always have.”
“Piper has never needed anyone to take care of her.” He couldn’t meet his brother’s eyes.
“This time, she will. You should go.” He turned away from him. “You have packing to do.” He walked into his bedroom and shut the door.
He was right. Ben stood, casting one final glance at the door before ordering a Lyft on his phone and stepping outside to wait for it. He sat on the front stoop of the apartment building, his hat pulled low on his head as he scrolled through text messages.
Melanie, label execs, and finally… Quinn.
Yet, the people he really needed were silent. The Rockstars Anonymous chat group had nothing for him this time, no advice, no solidarity.
He sighed as the car pulled up. How had everything changed so quickly?
It took twenty minutes to get to the familiar brick house surrounded by expansive land and woods. He waited for the calm that always settled over him when he came home, but it wasn’t there. Because he knew what waited for him inside.
He thanked the driver before walking up the driveway past his mom’s sedan and his dad’s truck. His stomach rumbled, ready for lunch after a morning of being unable to eat.
But food would wait because there was a girl he had to talk to first.
Noise reached him as soon as he pushed the door open. The clanging of forks on plates and raucous laughter. It took Ben a moment to recognize the various voices filtering through the house. He stopped on the threshold of the kitchen, relief rushing through him at the sight of the people he’d claimed weren’t friends of his.
The ones he shared everything with in their cheesy support group.
For the first time, he understood everything Melanie hoped to accomplish when she brought them together. Camaraderie. Sympathy. Family.
Drew spotted him first, a grin stretching across his face. “Look who finally decided to grace us with his presence.”
Everything stopped all at once as all eyes fell on him. His four rockstar friends crowded around the table with his parents and Piper.
Piper.
The only person in the room not looking at him.
Noah rose to clap Ben on the back. “Your mum makes a mean quiche.”
Ben choked on a laugh. “Mom, you made them quiche?” Probably the most un-rockstar-like food. Jo with her pink-tipped hair and Noah in his ripped jeans both shrugged.
Drew raised a glass. “And mimosas! We need to come here more often. Piper, let’s add a Columbus date to my tour. I want to stay here instead of a hotel.”
Piper shook her head. “First, I don’t schedule the tour as your assistant. Talk to the label. Second, you aren’t stealing my family.”
That voice. Hearing her speak shook him more than he expected. Now that he knew Piper meant every bit of that kiss—or at least that Chase suspected she did—he couldn’t look her in the eye.
Stealing my family.
His parents didn’t only belong to him. He knew now he couldn’t do anything to ruin what they had.
