“So, you’re both successful,” I remarked. “Why haven’t you moved out and gotten your own place?”
“There are several good reasons to continue living with Andy and Cerise,” she explained.
“Do tell,” I prompted.
“First, Andy is a fantastic cook,” she began. “At times, I regret fixing him up with Cerise.”
“Are you saying you’d stay with a man simply because he can cook?” I asked.
“No, but Andy isn’t just a good cook, he’s a fantastic cook,” she explained. “After eating Andy’s cooking, I need Cerise’s expertise as a personal trainer so my ass can still fit in my jeans.”
“So, I have Cerise to thank for the great view from behind?” I teased before realizing I’d gone too far. “Sorry. That was rude. What are the other reasons you don’t move out?”
“Andy lets me drive his Porsche sometimes,” she replied. “If we didn’t live together, I’m not sure I’d ever get to drive it.”
“That’s a good reason,” I agreed. “Anything else?”
“I also own the house we live in,” she explained. “When I first moved in with Andy and Cerise, we were sharing an apartment. After the housing prices tanked in the Bay Area, I got lucky with one of those first-time homebuyer programs. The house needed quite a bit of work, so I needed roommates to afford everything.”
“Thirty years old, managing a successful night club, and a home owner,” I mused. “You are something else, Button. You’ve got your life more together than I do.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked. “You’re a rock star. How much more together can you get?”
Rock star or not, I definitely didn’t have my life together. I’d never had a real relationship. Until Reckless Release had started making good money, my father had paid the majority of my bills. The bills he hadn’t paid had been covered by my trust fund, which still supplemented my income. Compared to Piper, I was a mess.
Chapter 16
Piper
Something I’d said was bothering Austin, but I wasn’t sure why. Instead of delving into that, I decided to focus on lunch. “How about soft tacos? There’s this place with a fantastic taco platter. There are twenty on the platter, so we can share with the employees who are here now.”
“That sounds good to me,” he replied. “Just don’t get anything with fish.”
“You still don’t like fish?” I asked. “I figured you would have grown out of your picky phase by now.”
“Not even close,” he replied. “If I didn’t like it in high school, I don’t like it now.”
“I’ll get the fish tacos packaged separately,” I said as I placed the order.
“I can pay for lunch,” he offered.
“You can chip in, if you want,” I agreed. “I don’t want you to start thinking of this as a date.”
Before Austin could say more, there was a knock at my office door. With any luck, the police had finally arrived.
“Seth is here to pick up his final paycheck,” Callie called out through the door.
“I’ll bring it out to him,” I told her before moving to the corner to open the safe.
“You’ve already lost an employee?” Austin asked.
“Seth had issues every night he worked,” I explained. “The last straw was when I found him in the storage closet, banging a customer while on the clock.”
“So, you fired him?” Austin asked.
“Yes,” I replied as I pulled out the envelope with his check. “Technically, he got his final paycheck the night I fired him, but he argued he should be paid for the entire shift, even though he was let go two hours in. Mercy decided to pay him. I’m just glad he’s gone.”
“Huh,” Austin mumbled as he followed me out to give Seth his check.
Seth was leaning against the bar with his arms crossed in front of his chest. He was one of those guys who thought all women wanted him. With perfectly styled golden hair, thick lashes framing deep blue eyes, and almost feminine features, he was definitely attractive. Mercy had hired him because he was friendly and personable, when he wanted to be. I’d never cared for him, but I still could have worked with him had he followed the rules.
“Here’s your check.” I held it out to Seth.
He swiped it from my hand with an angry scowl. “Are you going to badmouth me so I can’t get another job?”
“We only provide the dates of employment and job title,” I replied. “No one will badmouth you to potential employers.”
“Whatever,” Seth muttered before storming out.
“I’ll bet he slashed your tires,” Callie said from the bar. Three other employees were intentionally sticking close to the bar.
“Seth?” I asked.
Austin looked thoughtful. “He was angry enough.”
“Seth did not slash my tires,” I assured them. “I ordered a taco platter. Let me know when it gets here. There’s enough for all of you.”
“You are the best boss,” Callie said with a grin.
We were back in my office before Austin spoke again. “You shouldn’t rule out this Seth guy as a suspect. You barely know him.”
“Seth is too lazy to slash my tires,” I insisted.
“How long has he worked for you?” Austin asked.
“A month,” I replied. “We had training before the club opened. Seth always did the minimum required of him.”
“It doesn’t take much effort to slash someone’s tires,” he argued. “He’s obviously angry about losing his job.”
“Angry and lazy,” I stated. “Looking back, I should have argued with Mercy about hiring him. I was never crazy about Seth. He’s the type who might file a wrongful termination lawsuit. Those are a nightmare.”
“You’ve been sued for wrongful termination before?” Austin asked.
“Technically, the club was sued,” I clarified.
“You know what I mean,” he told me.
“When I worked at The Project, I had to fire three employees while Andy was on vacation, and they sued,” I explained.
“Did they win?” he asked.
“No,” I replied. “They’re lucky the owner didn’t press charges. It’s crazy that they were even able to find an attorney to take their case.”
“Why were they fired?” he asked.
“They threw a party at the club after-hours,” I explained. “They gave their friends free drinks and tried to break into Andy’s office.”
“An attorney was willing to represent them in a case like that?” Austin asked with a laugh. “How could any attorney possibly argue it was wrongful termination?”
“I’m sure they lied to their lawyer,” I replied. Those employees had been complete idiots who’d thought it was their word against mine.
“Let me guess,” Austin began. “All you had to do was show the security footage from the club to prove your side of the story.”
“You got it,” I replied. “Apparently, they didn’t realize that we recorded the security footage from the cameras. The morons thought we could only watch it real-time. They were still convinced they could win. I think their lawyer dropped them as clients. Those idiots tried arguing that the security cameras were an invasion of privacy.”
“Wow,” he said with a shake of his head.
“The judge also seemed surprised by their stupidity,” I added. “It was still a pain in the ass. The club had to hire a lawyer, and I had to meet with them about the case. I even had to go to court the day the case was dismissed. That’s something I’d rather avoid dealing with again.”
“I still think Seth may have slashed your tires,” he insisted.
We were interrupted by another knock at the door. This time, it was the police. Naturally, they showed up shortly before my taco platter.
Chapter 17
Austin
I wasn’t happy about my day with Piper coming to an end. Granted, we’d spent the day taking care of unpleasant tasks, but it was still nice being around her. As soon
as the new tires were on Piper’s car, our time would be over. I’d have been tempted to drag things out if it weren’t for our audience. I wasn’t sure which social media would be featuring video of me changing two tires first. While I knew Piper could change her own tires, I wanted to do this for her.
When I stood, it was to cheers.
Piper laughed at my flustered expression. The attention still embarrassed me, most days. Besides, how was I getting applause for changing tires? People were crazy.
“Thank you for today, Austin.” Piper gave me a sweet smile. “You’ve been a good friend.”
I wanted to touch her. The crowd was probably a good thing since it meant I couldn’t do anything too stupid. Piper had agreed to give me a chance to be her friend. She’d also given me a lot to think about. If I was going to pursue Piper, I needed to work on a few things about myself. For now, friendship was good.
“Anytime, Button.” I decided to try for more since things were going so well. “Any chance you want to meet for lunch before I leave for Boston?”
She hesitated, before responding. “I need to check my calendar.”
“I see,” I replied quietly. She was blowing me off, or so I thought.
Piper laughed at my reaction. “No, you don’t see. I still use a paper calendar because I like to look at my week on the wall.”
“That’s pretty old school,” I remarked.
“Yeah, I know,” she agreed. “I’ll text you tonight.”
“I had a good time today. Thank you,” I uttered before turning to talk to my fans who’d been patiently awaiting my attention.
Chapter 18
Piper
There is nothing worse than walking in on your roommates having sex. Let me be more specific. There is nothing worse than walking in on your roommates using the portable sex swing in your living room.
“What the hell?” I gasped, not sure if I should back out of the house or slam the door and race toward the sanctuary of my kitchen. I knew I needed to close the door, so there was that.
“Oh, fuck,” Andy muttered.
“We didn’t expect you home this early,” Cerise added.
“Obviously.” I hurried past, doing my best to avoid looking at my friends.
I made my way into the kitchen and poured myself a strong glass of iced tea—I really know how to party. With any luck, Andy and Cerise were cleaning up the pleasure party in the living room. My phone buzzed, so I looked at the screen, surprised to see a text from Austin.
Austin: I wanted to thank you for today. It was nice spending time with you.
Piper: Thank you for hanging out at the club and changing my tires. You didn’t have to do either.
Austin: Any time, Button.
Piper: We should have gone out for dinner.
Austin: I was tempted to ask, but I didn’t want to push my luck. I also remembered you mentioning it’s rib night. Are you telling me Andy didn’t cook ribs?
Piper: He got a little distracted with his swinging lifestyle and forgot to cook dinner.
Austin: Your roommates are swingers?
Austin: Do they have crazy parties?
I laughed at his interest. My wording had been intentionally misleading.
Piper: They aren’t swingers, but they bought a sex swing with a stand. It’s in my living room.
Austin: WTF? Were they using it?
Piper: Yep. I did not need to see Cerise’s perfect ass when I got home. Now, I feel guilty about all those tacos.
Austin: You only ate two tacos. Besides, your ass is amazing.
Austin: Shit. That sounded bad, didn’t it?
Piper: In this case, I’ll let it slide.
Austin: I should stop texting before I say something to make you question the wisdom of talking to me.
Piper: That’s probably a good idea.
Austin: Don’t forget to check your calendar.
I was tempted to tell him I’d see him when he got back in a couple of weeks, but I didn’t.
Piper: Do you want to meet for lunch the day after tomorrow? I’m off that day.
Austin: Sure. Where do you want to go?
Piper: I’ll get back to you before then.
Austin: Sounds good. I’ll see you in a couple of days.
“What are you smiling about?” Cerise asked when she walked into the kitchen wearing one of Andy’s shirts.
“You had better have on more than that shirt,” I warned.
“It’s a little late for me to pretend to be modest, don’t you think?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
“We should add some rules to our roommate agreement.” My statement was met with laughter from my friend.
“We don’t have a roommate agreement,” she reminded me.
“We should have one,” I insisted. “No swing sex in the living room should be part of our agreement.”
“It’s too big to set up in our room,” Cerise explained. “Andy wanted to mount it on the ceiling, but that seemed wrong since this is your house. I told him he could mount it if he gets your permission first.”
I laughed at the image of Andy coming to me to ask about installing a sex swing. After having me walk in on him and Cerise, he was probably going to avoid me for a day or two. “Poor Andy,” I said around my laughter. “He seemed more embarrassed than I was.”
“That poor man turned bright red, but he was still happy to be swinging with me, so maybe he’s secretly an exhibitionist,” Cerise remarked thoughtfully.
I did not need to know that about Andy. “That is definitely TMI.”
“So, the sex swing was too much?” Cerise asked with an impish grin.
“Bitch!” I accused with no heat. “You love embarrassing me.”
“A little,” she admitted. “I was a little embarrassed myself.”
“Why?” I asked. “Not, why were you embarrassed. I’m curious as to why you wanted to have sex in our living room. On a sex swing. I’m sure you’ve done it on the sofa.”
“I told you, it won’t fit in our room,” she reminded me. “Besides, we didn’t expect you home this soon. I figured that since you hadn’t messaged me to complain about the process of filing a report with the police, you were still waiting for them to show up.”
“I complained to Austin since he was closer,” I explained.
“How was your day with the asshole drummer?” Cerise asked.
“It was fine,” I replied. “Austin even changed my tires.”
“Huh,” was all she said.
“What are you thinking?” I asked.
“First, you surprised me when you told me he stuck around today,” she began. “I expected you to insist he leave after he dropped you off at Euphoria.”
“I told him he didn’t have to stay,” I stated. “He wanted to.”
“He stayed, and he wasn’t an asshole,” she added. “That also surprises me.”
“It’s been an interesting day,” I admitted. “By the way, you can install the swing as long as you pay for any damage when you move out.”
“Move out?” she asked. “You’d give up Andy’s cooking and let us move to our own place?”
“I didn’t say Andy can move,” I pointed out. “Now, what do I need to do to get him in here to cook those ribs?”
“Hide in another room where he can’t see you,” she suggested.
I nodded. “I’m off to take a bath and read. Get your man in here to cook.”
Chapter 19
Austin
As I sat in a booth across from Harley, I struggled to focus on our conversation. I couldn’t get Piper out of my mind. She’d been invading my dreams for months, and now she was on my mind most waking hours. Before spending time with her, I hadn’t realized just how much I missed our friendship. I definitely wanted to be more than just her friend, but I would be happy even if that’s all she could give me.
“Are you even listening to me?” Harley asked as she tossed an onion ring at my head. I caught it and took a bite before responding.
“A man can only listen to a woman talk about her hair color for so long. Isn’t this why you have girlfriends?”
“But this is something that could affect the band,” Harley argued.
“How?” I had to ask. I didn’t care what color Harley’s hair was as long as it wasn’t black. She’d look horrible with black hair.
“The outfits the label helped me pick out for the next publicity photos are meant to go with my pink hair, but I’m tired of pink,” she explained.
“Why don’t you try one of those rainbow troll hair things?” As I made that suggestion, I wondered how the hell I’d gotten sucked into Harley’s hair color talk.
“Rainbow troll hair?” she asked with a laugh. “You want me to have rainbow hair that sticks straight up?”
“Chicks with mohawks are hot, but that’s not what I meant. What I was thinking about was that faded color thing women are doing. The kind that goes from one color into another.”
“Ombre color?” she asked with a laugh.
“Whatever you call it,” I said with a wave of my hand. “You know the look I’m talking about.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” she mused. “I could go from black and fade down into a hot pink. That would look great with the outfits the label picked out.”
“No black,” was my automatic reply. “You’ll look washed out.”
“You are such a girl,” she accused. “This is why I talk to you about my hair.”
“I am not a girl,” I argued.
“Aren’t you the one who insisted I change my haircare routine, claiming my shampoo was drugstore crap?” she asked.
“I have long hair, so I need to take care of it,” I reminded her. “That does not make me a girl. You should be thanking me. Your hair is much healthier now.”
“Yes, you do know your haircare products,” she began with a grin. “If this music thing doesn’t work out, you can always become a hairdresser.”
“Very funny,” I muttered.
“So, how is it going with Piper?” she asked.
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