A middle-aged woman finished a song at the piano, and Piper slid from the booth, extending a hand to Ben. “Come on. If I had to sing, so do you.”
He shook his head. “It’s not a good idea.”
“Ben, hate to break it to you, but with your curly hair and glasses, you look nothing like the Fate front man. We’d need a gallon or two of hair gel and about three tubes of eyeliner to make people recognize you.”
She watched his resistance waver. Ben had never been able to resist performing, and this was why she and Chase wanted to bring him, right? It wasn’t to reveal secrets or eat too much food.
They needed the music to heal him.
“I don’t have my guitar.”
She smiled at that. His guitar had always been like a safety blanket for him. He never went on stage without it. “You can use Tommy’s. He always keeps it in the back.”
He slid his hand into hers, and warmth flooded through her, radiating out from their connection. Everything in her said to let go, but she didn’t. She pulled Ben from the booth.
“We have to sing something I know.” Ben didn’t release her hand.
“We? I’m not singing with you. I’m just getting you there.”
Chase ran ahead of them to retrieve the guitar from Tommy, and Ben pulled her to a stop. “Piper, I want to sing with you.” He looked down into her eyes. “I think I need to.”
She closed her eyes, remembering when she’d decided to do anything to get him back to the music. Was this the way? If she took the stage with him, would it lead him back to Fate? Back to his career?
Away from her?
That had always been inevitable, hadn’t it?
When she opened her eyes again, he hadn’t looked away. His gaze burned into her with an intensity unlike anything she’d felt before. A crack of thunder sounded as someone ran in through the front door, and the lights flickered.
Now or never.
She swallowed. “I’ll sing with you, Ben.”
His entire face lit up from the inside out, and a grin parted his lips. “Good. That’s good.”
Chase’s voice came from where he’d stepped up to the microphone. “Ladies and gentleman, I’d like to introduce the best guy I know. Benji.”
Ben laughed at the introduction. Ben Evans wasn’t here tonight, only Benji. He stepped up onto the stage and pulled Piper with him as Chase handed him the guitar and leaped down.
Ben pulled the guitar strap over his head and leaned into the mic. “I brought a little help up with me.” He smiled, using the charm that melted his normal crowds. “How about a little Fate?”
It was dangerous, increasing the risk of being recognized, but right then, Piper didn’t want to think about the consequences. When she’d written this song, life became clear, her grief fading to the background after many long years.
It allowed her to start living again.
And now, six years later, each word still had meaning.
She didn’t care that this was the song that made Ben fall in love with Quinn, or that it made the country fall in love with their romance. It was hers.
Ben started up, his fingers flying across the strings as he sang the first words. Piper watched him, getting a new view of the man she’d seen in concert so many times. Standing next to him was a whole new experience, one she’d hold on to once they’d gone their separate ways.
He looked sideways at her as he sang, waiting for her to join in.
Their voices didn’t belong together, they weren’t meant to stand on the same stage, yet as she melded her voice to his, she didn’t want to be anywhere else.
We were two souls.
Trying to learn the ways of fate.
Two souls
Grasping for a hand to hold.
Two souls
Drowning in this game we played.
Each line fell from Piper’s lips like it had always been meant to. She’d never believed in fate, not like Ben, but the song was about more than that. It taught her she had to make her own fate, that she got to choose where her life led. The past couldn’t hold her when the future called.
She’d been a fifteen-year-old girl dreaming of love, of something to rescue her from the soul-crushing depression she hadn’t been able to escape from.
Piper didn’t look out at the crowd, she didn’t search for Chase. Everyone else disappeared, leaving only her and Ben in a deserted world where music was their language, notes the path home.
His voice called to her, and she answered, not taking her eyes from his as they continued the mesmerizing dance. It was everything and nothing. A world full of light and one born of darkness.
Because as soon as the song drew to a close, his voice fading away to leave her alone for the final notes, she knew she wouldn’t get out of Ohio intact.
That Ben Evans would break her heart.
And she’d let him.
Piper practically ran from the stage, winding around tables to get to the back of the pub where the door to the ladies’ room called to her with its safety, its peace, its promise of creating a barrier between her and the man she left behind.
A man who wasn’t hers.
She pushed through the swinging door to find a small sitting area with a blue velvet couch next to the baby changing station. Her steps echoed off the white tile floor as she rushed toward the sink, waving a hand in front of the sensor. Water poured from the faucet, and she cupped it, splashing it onto her face.
“It’s Ben, Piper,” she whispered to herself. “Just stop.”
But that was the problem. She was past the point of stopping, of shoving all the feelings she’d once buried back into their hole.
A sob clogged in the back of her throat, but she didn’t let it out as she stared at her face in the mirror, a face that didn’t belong on CD covers or late night interviews. She wasn’t Quinn, but that was okay. She knew that now, whether Ben ever would or not.
Her life was her own. It didn’t belong to a sister who didn’t care, or a man whose world was so completely different from hers.
“I’m going to be okay,” she whispered, wiping a tear from her cheek.
If only she could make herself believe her own words.
The bathroom door flew open as Chase barged in.
“This is the ladies’ room.” She tried to scowl at her best friend, but the truth was she needed him.
“I know, and I don’t care. Come here.” He pulled her against his chest, wrapping strong arms around her.
“How do you always know when I need you?”
“Well, you did just run off a stage like your hair was on fire. If I didn’t come in here, my brother would have.”
She sighed at the mention of Ben. “He needs to leave, Chase. Or I do. I think it’s time we get on with our lives and forget all of this.”
“Pipes, I wasn’t lying when I introduced Ben as the best guy I know. He’s kind and cares about the family. But he’s also Ben Evans.”
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know what he meant.
“Some days I wish he could just be Benji, and then I could watch my best friend fall hopelessly in love with him.”
She nodded against him. “But he can’t.”
“No. Ben Evans is a romantic icon in this country. And his princess isn’t…”
“A nobody?”
“I’d never call you a nobody.”
“You’re right though.” She pulled out of his embrace. “I’m an assistant. I’m supposed to make the lives of rockstars easier, and all I’ve done is complicate everything.”
He nudged her chin with his finger. “You’ve always been complicated. It’s what I love about you. I just don’t want my complicated bestie to end up my heartbroken bestie.”
Too late for that.
But she didn’t tell him that. Instead, she nodded, gathering the strength she’d used to get herself this far.
“We should get back out there before Ben comes in and the entire pub assumes…” He raised an eyebr
ow.
“Ew, gross.” She shoved him back with a laugh. “I think I hate you.”
“You don’t.”
She looped her arm through his. “Whatever you say, Chasey.”
Putting a hand on the door, she readied herself to face Ben once more. She just didn’t know the entire world would be waiting for them as well.
The first flash looked like lightning lighting up the world in the middle of the storm, but the next one came too quickly. And then another.
Tommy ran out from the kitchens, gesturing for two security personnel to stand guard by the front door.
Ben met Chase and Piper halfway across the room. “The paps are here.”
Piper’s eyes widened as she looked to the darkened window, barely making out a camera lens pressing up against the glass. The front door opened, and a short man tried to run in, but one of the security guys blocked his path and forced him back out into the rain.
Two thoughts entered Piper’s mind.
First: How did they find out Ben was here?
Second: Melanie was going to kill her for letting this happen.
Come morning, the entire world would know Ben was in Ohio.
“What do we do?” Chase fixed his gaze on Piper as if she had all the answers. After all, this wasn’t her first rodeo.
Snapping into assistant mode, she gestured to Tommy. He stopped in front of them.
“Okay, the most important thing is getting Ben out of here without any photos.” She looked to Tommy. “We need to use the door at the back of the kitchen.”
He nodded. “Of course. Of course.”
“Good.” She turned to Ben. “Take off your hat.”
“What?” He touched the rim of the hat. “Then, they’ll definitely recognize me.”
“They already know you’re here, so the hat is useless, anyway. Give it to Chase.” When Ben didn’t do as she said, she stood on her toes and ripped the hat from his head before putting it on Chase’s. “You’re almost the same height. Chase, you just need to slump a bit.”
“Why?” Chase’s eyes widened. “What are we doing?”
“To get to the car, we’d have to go out the front. Which is exactly what you’ll do. If you play it right, they’ll think you’re Ben and follow you, allowing us to sneak out the back.”
Chase shook his head. “How will you get home?”
“Lyft.” She shrugged. Ducking paparazzi wasn’t something she’d had to do much working for Quinn because Quinn never missed the opportunity to get her picture taken.
But these weren’t experienced L.A. paps. How hard could it be to ditch the local photographers?
She pressed a kiss to Tommy’s cheek. “Thanks for everything tonight.”
He offered her a salute. “Stay safe, dear.”
As safe as one could be running into a storm to avoid a crowd of hungry photographers.
“Chase, you ready?”
Nerves energy rolled off him in waves, but he nodded. “As I’ll ever be.”
She squeezed his hand before letting go. “Ben, come with me.”
As she led him through the kitchen door, Chase walked out the front with the two security guys flanking him. The cacophony of the crowd faded as the door shut behind him.
“Come on.” Piper picked up speed until they reached the back door and pushed it open, stumbling out into a rain-soaked alley.
The sky above them rumbled as if foretelling what was to come.
18
Ben
A dark dumpster loomed to their right as Piper studied the alley. Rain pounded down in sheets, soaking Ben in an instant, but he didn’t care. Not when his brother currently faced a hoard of paparazzi for him. Not when Piper had handled the situation better than he’d ever seen.
“This way,” she called, waving him toward her.
Their feet splashed through pools of water gathering on the uneven brick road as they hurried down the alley.
“We have to get far enough away that they won’t find us before we can stop and wait for a Lyft.” She wicked water away from her face and kept going, only glancing back to make sure they hadn’t gotten separated.
They rounded the corner onto a back street. He didn’t know how quickly Chase could lead the paparazzi away, but he didn’t want to stop, not yet, not with the adrenaline pumping through his veins for the first time since leaving Florida.
It wasn’t from the run, but the energy zipping through him during the performance hadn’t left. His mind buzzed with the high of it all.
He’d missed it. In the short time since his last concert, he hadn’t let himself think about how being on stage was the only thing to ever make him feel alive.
Yet, this time was different.
This time there was her.
Singing with Piper was different from singing with Quinn, more maybe.
As he followed her down the rain-soaked street, he realized he’d follow her anywhere.
“Piper,” he called.
She didn’t stop moving.
He tried again. “Piper!”
She turned and ran back toward him. “What? Are you okay?”
“We’re probably far enough.”
Her wet hair clung to her face as she shook her head. “No. We need to keep going. Do you have any idea how many problems it could cause if they get proof you’re here?”
“I don’t care.”
At first, he wasn’t sure she heard him over the rain because she didn’t respond. He took a step toward her, but she stepped back.
A car sped down the street, splashing water toward them, but neither jumped away.
“Wh-hat?” Piper’s brow creased. “You have to care, Ben. This is your career. If they find out you and Quinn…”
“Don’t mention Quinn.”
“Why not?”
“Because, Piper Hayes, when I kiss you there is no one else. When I kiss you, we won’t think of the paparazzi searching for us, or the rain trying to pound us into the ground. It’s just us, Pipes, you and me.”
“When you…” She blew rain from her lips. Indecision warred in her eyes before the waves calmed into an ocean of blue. A street light flickered in the storm, surrounding them in shadows, the rain encasing them in a shield from the rest of the world. Piper lifted her chin, all confusion gone from her face. “Just us.” She mouthed the words as if reminding herself. “I want you to kiss me.”
“Thank heavens.” Moving at the same time, they collided, their hands grasping to hold each other upright as Piper lifted her lips to his in an all-consuming kiss. All at once, everything made sense. The emotions that had been swirling through him for days, the reasons he’d sought out Piper on tour to help him, to keep his secrets.
He trusted her when he couldn’t trust anyone else with his memorization difficulties with his music.
His arms wound around her back, tugging on her sopping shirt to pull her closer, not wanting to let go.
Because kissing Piper Hayes was everything he’d never known he wanted. Her words to Chase earlier would never be far from his mind. She wanted to be needed, to be loved. It was all she’d ever asked for.
“I need you,” he whispered against her lips. He just hadn’t known it.
His belief in fate blinded him to what was right in front of him. She was the little girl he’d found hiding after her parents’ death. She was the teenager his parents loved and the adult who’d taken care of his band.
She was everything, all of those. The pieces of her fit together, one making no sense without the other.
Her lips parted, allowing him to deepen the kiss with a groan as the rain drove down on them heavier than before. But it didn’t matter.
Neither of them cared about the dark street around them or the rain soaking their world. His lips trailed over her cheek, down to her ear. “Tell me this is real, Piper.”
Her eyes fluttered closed as she leaned into him, capturing his lips once more. “If I did that, it would be a lie.”
“Pi
per.”
“Just kiss me, Ben. Please. Let me remember this.” He wanted to tell her this kiss didn’t have to be both their first and their last, but instead, he showed her, loving her with his lips, asking her to love him in return.
Less than two weeks ago, he’d believed in fate, that the only person in the world meant for him was Quinn Hayes.
But that wasn’t love.
Quinn never brought tears to his eyes as he kissed her. She didn’t both mend and break his heart.
Only one woman could lay claim to that.
And she thought this was the end.
Ben should have seen it coming. The end Piper had been so sure about. She knew nothing could come of their kiss before he did, but the moment a series of flashes cut through the night, reality smacked him.
He was Ben Evans, lead singer of rock band Fate, and one half of the royal couple of music. He didn’t get more than that.
Piper jerked away from him as the photographer appeared, a lone intruder in the best moment of his life.
The man snapped picture after picture as Ben stood there numb. He didn’t see Piper inching away from him until it was too late. Two more photographers ran toward them, and Piper took off down the sidewalk.
Ben tried to run after her, but two men blocked his way as they fired off questions.
“Who was that?”
“Where is Quinn Hayes?”
“Has Fate broken up?”
He tried to push through them to follow Piper who’d run off at night in the city, but they didn’t let him through as they snapped picture after picture of the despair, the confusion on his face.
“Can you tell us her name?” someone shouted.
Ben whipped around with a growl. “No, you cannot have her name. Leave me the heck alone.”
They didn’t listen as they closed in around him, and he couldn’t breathe, worry invading every space in his mind. Was she okay?
Would she ever speak to him again?
Had he ruined everything?
His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out, ignoring the rain. Relief flooded him when he read the text.
Piper: Chase is on his way to get me. I sent a Lyft your way.
Love is a Lyric (Rockstars Anonymous) Page 13