Chapter 1

Austin

Fourteen Years Later

“This is going to be a total cluster-fuck,” Xander muttered as we set up to do the soundcheck for the show.

I wanted to tell him he was wrong, but I’m not a very good liar. We were performing for opening night at Euphoria in San Francisco. The owner’s sister was engaged to my buddy, Gage, the lead guitarist. Gage’s fiancée, Bentley, had also been heavily involved in the planning of the club.

Euphoria’s opening night had been scheduled to coincide with a break in our tour so we could perform. We were only in the Bay Area for a couple more weeks, and then we needed to be in Boston. The club looked great, and I was certain the opening would go off without a hitch. Nothing about the club itself had my bandmates edgy. They were worried about how I’d interact with the manager of the club, Piper Button.

She’d avoided me each time we’d come in to discuss details for the show. I wasn’t certain if she was intentionally avoiding me, or if the owner, Mercy, was trying to keep us apart to prevent any drama. I should stay away from Piper. Whenever I was around her, I acted like a complete dick.

It hadn’t always been that way. I’d first met Piper when she was eight and I was ten. I’d known her for twenty-two years. Her father had started working for my family a few months before we met. Piper had come to work with him over the summer. She’d been a gangly girl with red hair, green eyes, and a contagious smile. Even though she’d been too young to hang out with me, I’d still let her. She’d been different from most kids, too smart for her own good. At the time, she’d been only one grade behind me, having skipped a grade. Piper was brilliant.

Everything was fine until she stopped being a gangly girl. More accurately, everything was fine until she made me realize she was no longer a gangly girl. At sixteen, she’d shown up at my room and confessed her feelings. Before that night, I would have laughed at the possibility of seeing Piper as anything more than a kid. In a green dress that hugged her curves, she’d been far too much temptation. I’d been planning to move to LA soon, and I had no business getting involved with her, so I’d called her a child and sent her away. Harsh? Yes, but sending her away had been the right thing to do.

If only my history with Piper had ended there, we might have remained friends. I’d hurt her, but she’d still liked me. I’d played this mistake over in my head countless times. After using her, I’d insulted her. If there was an asshole of the year award, I would have won, hands down. I’d left her several messages apologizing, but Piper wasn’t interested in forgiving me, not that I blamed her.

Things had only gotten worse when I’d finally seen her again. She’d been dressed in a leather skirt that barely covered her ass. I’d been pissed to see so many guys checking her out. Threatening to spank her in the middle of a club hadn’t improved matters between us. I seemed incapable of acting like anything less than a total dick when she was around.

“Earth to Austin,” Harley said, waving a hand in front of my face to get my attention.

“Sorry.” I shook my head to clear it before continuing. “My mind wandered.”

“We all know where your mind wandered to,” Gage chimed in. “You need to talk to her.”

“Don’t you think I’ve tried?” I asked as I sat behind my kit so we could do our soundcheck.

“Not hard enough,” Harley accused. Since she’d become friends with Piper, she often gave me the evil eye when this topic came up. Harley might have been my friend first, but that didn’t mean she was going to forgive me for being an asshole to Piper.

Still, I had to ask, “Aren’t you supposed to be my friend?”

“I am your friend,” Harley insisted. “That’s why I’m not telling you to leave Piper the fuck alone. You really screwed up with her, and I don’t blame her for being pissed at you.”

“She’s right,” Xander agreed as he took his place at the mic. “Piper has good reason to hate you.”

“You hate yourself because of what happened,” Gage added. “You wouldn’t be the rebound guy if you hadn’t messed up so bad with Piper.”

“Low blow,” I accused. There were times I regretted my drunken confession to my friends. The rebound guy was a title some fan groups had given me a few years back when Reckless Release was gaining popularity. I only got involved with women getting over recent breakups. Women sought me out for that reason. After I’d told Gage and Xander about my history with Piper, they’d concluded that guilt over hurting her was preventing me from getting involved with anyone else.

“It’s the truth,” Harley argued. “You hate yourself for breaking Piper’s young heart.”

“You’re also still into her,” Xander remarked. “Not as into her as you’d like to be,” he added with a snicker.

“Fuck you all,” I grumbled. There were times when I hated my friends for knowing me so well. “What’s your point with all this?”

“You need to talk to her and work this shit out,” Harley replied. “I need to get this tattooed on your hand so I don’t have to keep repeating myself.”

“She’s right,” Gage agreed. “Not about the tattoo, but about you needing to work this out.”

“Woo the panties off that hot little redhead,” was Xander’s suggestion.

“No!” Gage and Harley said in unison.

“Do not even think about seducing her,” Harley warned.

“Why not?” Xander asked.

“I already fucked up her life enough,” I reminded Xander. She also wasn’t available.

“Fucked up her life?” Harley asked with a laugh. “Her life hardly seems fucked up.”

“Fine,” I agreed. “I already hurt her enough. I totally screwed up where Piper is concerned.”

“People screw up all the time,” Xander argued. “Make it up to her.”

“As a friend,” Gage added. “Austin should just be her friend.”

“I should leave her alone,” I muttered.

Thankfully, the woman handling sound was ready for us, so there was no more time to discuss Piper. After we finished soundcheck, I scanned the room. She was there, watching us. Her long black dress hugged her curves to perfection. The neckline was modest, but it did nothing to distract from her full breasts. My eyes moved down her body, and I smiled when I noticed the white bunny slippers on her feet.

When she turned to walk away, I followed her.

“Austin,” Harley hissed as I passed, but I ignored her. She was probably afraid I was going to act like an ass again.

“Nice shoes,” I called out to Piper.

Rather than turning to glare at me, she kicked one up behind her and smiled at me over her shoulder. “It’s the latest in clubwear.”

That smile hit me hard, and all the blood raced from my brain straight to my dick. Fuck me, she was stunning. I’d bet my friends were holding their breaths, just waiting for me to screw up. I reminded myself that I could have a civil conversation with Piper.

Her smile slipped, probably because I was staring at her like a creepy pervert. She turned to face me with a more forced smile. “Do you guys have everything you need for tonight?”

“Yeah, we’re good,” I assured her. “Does this mean you’re not going to call me an asshole today?”

“I owe Mercy a lot for giving me this chance,” she began. “I’m not about to screw up her opening night. We can both behave like professionals, right?”

“Sure,” I replied, a little disappointed that she was only being nice to me because of Mercy. Then, an idea came to me. “Does this mean you’ll also be nice to me when I’m a customer here?”

“I’m sure you have other places to go for a drink,” she replied. “I need to get to work. There is still plenty to do before tonight.”

On those words, she turned and walked away.

I was grinning like an idiot when I returned to my band.

“Can I take it by your smile that Piper has forgiven you?” Gage asked.

“Not yet,” I replied.

“Then why are you smiling?” Harley asked.

“I just discovered a great new place to hang out,” I replied.

Xander’s laughter echoed across the room.