Page 79 of Love is a Lyric
23
Piper
The moment Piper woke the next morning, she knew this wouldn’t be her day. A headache pounded at the back of her skull as she shielded her eyes from the morning light invading her room.
And then the voices. She recognized them.
“Quinn.” Scrambling from the bed, she pulled her hair up into a ponytail and tied it with the band from her wrist. Feelings warred within her, both a desire to see her sister, to heal the rift between them, and a knowledge that her presence wasn’t a good thing.
Piper had never shied away from dealing with her sister. It had been her job as an assistant, but before that, even as a kid, she’d wanted to take care of Quinn, to be the one person her sister needed more than anyone.
Glancing down at her scrubby pajamas, Piper lunged for her suitcase, digging through it to find something Quinn would approve of.
“What am I doing?” she whispered to herself. She didn’t need Quinn’s approval of her wardrobe, not anymore. This time in Ohio had been free of stress as she’d lounged around in whatever she wanted to wear, no makeup caked on her face. Did that have to change just because Quinn arrived?
Sliding the suitcase closed, Piper straightened. No. Quinn didn’t have that kind of hold on her.
She pushed to her feet and was about the reach for the door when it flew open. Drew ducked in, slamming it behind him. “You have to hide me.”
Piper bit back a laugh. “Um, why?”
“Quinn is here.”
“Yes, I heard her.”
“I’m sorry, I know she’s your sister, but if I have to listen to her voice a moment longer, I’m going to murder someone, probably her.”
Piper stared at him, trying to figure out why he hated Quinn so much. Sure, she was a hard person to like, but there was terror in his eyes. “You slept with her.”
Drew’s silence was all the answer she needed.
But when? Quinn and Ben had been together since college before they entered the realm of superstars.
“I didn’t know Ben yet.” He pushed away from the door.
“She cheated on him with you?” How had she not known Quinn was cheating on Ben this entire time?
He nodded. “Not my finest moment, and I won’t make excuses.”
Piper sighed. “Has she said why she’s here? Where are the others?”
“They left on an early flight, thank heavens. We don’t need Quinn Hayes finding out about Rockstars Anonymous. She only arrived a few minutes ago. We made up some story about why I’m here.”
“What story?”
His grimace told her she wouldn’t like his answer. The pity in his eyes only confirmed it. “She knows you’re coming to work for me. Ben told her we’re seeing each other.”
Those words. They stole the breath from her lungs. Her and Drew? The same Drew Quinn told her would never look at a girl like her? “Seriously? You guys are something else.” She sat on the edge of her bed. “Do you honestly not know how that looks? What if she tells someone?” Why would Ben do this? “I’m trying to build a career, and you and Ben are only trying to protect your special support group.”
“What’s the problem?”
She stood to face him. “The problem, Drew Stone, is that if this rumor starts, I become the assistant who goes from working for my sister to working for my boyfriend. I become the cliché girl who sleeps with her rockstar boss.”
“I’m sorry. We didn’t think.”
“No, you did. You just thought like a man. You and Ben can do anything you like, and no one bats an eye, but as a woman in the music industry, I have to watch every step. And Quinn… do you want to know why I’m still protecting her after everything? Why I lied to the press and said they were still together, even though it nearly killed me?”
He shook his head.
