Chapter 77

Austin

It was several hours later when Piper finally responded to my text message.

 

Piper: Sorry it took so long to get back to you. I was with Mercy when you texted me. It was a busy day.

Austin: It’s okay. I know you have other things going on. How is Mercy doing?

Piper: Better than most would under the circumstances.

Austin: Bentley is worried about her.

Piper: I’m sure she is, but Mercy is going to be fine. She’s one of the strongest people I know. Me? I’m a bigger mess than she is about everything.

Piper: At least, I think I am.

Austin: Can you talk now?

 

Her response took so long that I was certain her answer would be no. The longer she avoided talking to me, the more I worried she was getting ready to end things. Piper loved me, but she didn’t seem inclined to forgive me. While I regretted calling her drunk and acting like a dick, I was annoyed that she wasn’t willing to let it go. Then again, maybe I’d already used up my allotment of fuck ups with Piper. I’d definitely had some big ones.

 

Piper: Sure.

 

I stared at the screen, certain I must be seeing things, but I wasn’t. Piper was finally going to talk to me.

She answered on the first ring. “Hi.”

That one word proved how far gone I was for this woman. I’d missed the sound of her voice so much that I wanted to sigh with relief. “Hey. I’m glad you’re finally speaking to me again.”

“It was ridiculous for me to pretend I wasn’t talking to you when you were texting me all the time, and I was replying,” she admitted.

“Do you have any idea how much I’ve missed the sound of your voice?” I asked in a rough voice. I wanted her by my side. There were only three more stops on the tour, but they were annoyingly spread apart. It would be twenty-five days until I was with her again.

“I miss you, too,” she replied. That part was great, but what she said next wasn’t. “This is for the best.”

“Not from where I’m sitting,” I muttered. “I’m really sorry about how I acted the last time we talked.”

“I know you are,” she assured me. “This isn’t about me not believing you’re sorry or not being able to forgive you. I’m not trying to hold an angry grudge over this. I’m just worried.”

“That it will happen again,” I finished for her. “I wish I could promise it won’t. I’d love to find words to make you feel better about all of this, but I don’t know how. It would be a lie to say I’m not going to fuck up again. One thing I know for certain is I love you.”

“I love you, too, Austin,” she replied softly.

“You should take some time off from work and fly out to see me,” I suggested. “I miss you so much.”

“I really can’t. There’s a lot going on.” I heard her struggle to keep her emotions under control. “I decided it was time for a career change.”

“You did?” I asked in surprise. If she’d quit her job, I wasn’t certain why she couldn’t fly out to finish off the tour with me.

“I still have to go into Euphoria part-time until your cousin has everything settled with the employee taking over as manager,” she added.

“My cousin?” I asked. Euphoria was a subject Piper hadn’t brought up often. She’d seemed reluctant to talk about it at all.

“Mercy is selling Euphoria to him,” she explained.

“That explains why Andy was at Euphoria,” I mused. I hadn’t even thought to ask.

“He’s helping out some,” she added. “My assistant manager is taking over managing the club soon.”

“Why did you quit your job?” I asked.

Piper didn’t respond right away, making me worry she wasn’t being completely honest about how she was handling the aftermath of her attack. “It was time,” she finally replied.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” I asked.

“I’m fine,” she insisted. “This is going to work out better for me.”

“Are you sure you should make a big career change now?” I asked. “You loved managing Euphoria. Is there any way you could take a leave of absence?”

“It’s not just what happened,” she replied. “Things have changed. My situation has changed. I’d rather talk to you about all of this in person. We’ll see each other soon.”

“Not soon enough,” I replied. “Please, tell me what’s going on, Button. You’re scaring me.”

“I’m fine, Austin. This really isn’t a bad thing. I need to go. There are a bunch of things I have to take care of today, but I promise I’ll try to call you later.”

“All right,” I reluctantly agreed. After we ended the call, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I needed to get to Piper. I stared at my phone for a long time while I contemplated what I was about to do. I had a little over a week until our next show, and I should use that time to rest and practice with the band. Grabbing my phone, I made the call.

“Hello,” my dad answered in a distracted voice.

“Hey, Dad, it’s Austin. I need a favor.”

There were definite advantages to having a father with a private jet.