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“Didn’t do anything, my ass!” Piper barked.
“I don’t care.” The bartender—Sasha, apparently—pointed at the door. “You made a giant mess, and I want you both out of my bar.” Piper had come down from her Hulk-level anger enough to realize that dumping ice all over Leo’s head, though satisfying, had just created yet another mess that someone who was underpaid would have to clean up.
“Uh, do you have a broom?” Piper started frantically kicking the ice on the floor with her feet to sweep it into a pile. Leo jumped into action simultaneously, swiping napkins off the table and dropping them on the ground to soak up the water. “Leo, that’s not going to help, you’re just blocking me from getting all the ice.”
“There’s sugar water everywhere, too, thanks to you. It’s going to be sticky, and you’re just spreading the liquid around more.” He stepped on the stack of napkins with his foot and shifted his stance to block her from getting to a few more pieces that had flown under the table. Even when cleaning up a mess, Leo found new ways to aggravate her.
“Stop it! I’m trying to—”
“Get. Out.” Sasha cut Piper off with an indignant clap of her hands. “Both of you. Now. Before you manage to tip a fucking table over.”
“We’ll go!” Talia was clutching Piper’s arm, practically shoving her out the door as Thea grabbed hold of her other arm.
“No problem at all. We’ll get him out of here.” Sam yanked at one of Leo’s arms as Wes took the other.
Before Piper knew it, all six of them were standing outside the karaoke bar, and she was staring at the door as if that would magically make everything from the last half hour of her life replay in a way that didn’t get her kicked out of a bar for the first time in her entire life.
“Thanks,” Leo said under his breath when he finally shrugged off his friends.
“You ate my fucking cherry!” Piper snapped. The statement sounded incredibly sexual, and she realized it entirely too late after it had already shotgunned out of her mouth. Thea let out a small cackle from beside Piper as Talia tactfully looked away. From the look on his face, Leo hadn’t missed the double entendre, either. Piper’s cheeks flamed, and she quickly spun around to avoid whatever cocky retort Leo was about to respond with.
“I think I’m gonna head home,” Talia said, raising an eyebrow at Piper. “Think you can stay out of trouble?”
Piper bit her lip. “I think I can manage. Please don’t tell Walker about this.” Even though she was a twenty-one-year-old woman, she still had the urge to hide any missteps from her uncle, the man who had dropped his entire life to pick up the pieces after her parents died.
When Leo saddled up beside Piper, she thought he was going to make a quippy comment about how she was acting like a child by trying to appease her uncle, but instead, he just looked nervous and ran a flustered hand through his hair. “Are you going to tell my parents about this?”
Talia curled her lips over her teeth like she was trying to bite back a smile before she said, “There are certain people in life that make us lose control. I’ve had my fair share of battles with someone who got on my nerves, so I’m gonna let you two deal with this on your own.”
Leo let out a deep exhale and nodded before walking back over to Sam and Wes, who were waiting in the wings. Curiosity piqued, Piper asked “Who?”
“Who what?” Talia furrowed her brow.
“Who makes you so insane that you’d dump ice over their head?” Thea asked for her.
The grin that Talia gave Piper said who the culprit was before she gave her answer, and Piper immediately regretted asking.
“My husband,” Talia replied, the implication heavy in her voice.
“Sexual tension is not the same thing as hatred.” Piper rolled her eyes. She was ready to fight her aunt on this until her dying breath. Talia and Walker’s love story had been obvious from the start. It might have taken them entirely too long to figure it out, but the comparison was borderline insulting.
“There’s a reason they say all’s fair in love and war,” Thea mused.
“I’ll take the war,” Piper said and rubbed her hands over her arms, steeling herself against the chill of the night. She could hear Leo arguing with Sam and Wes off to the side and could vaguely tell that Sam was still being relentless in his pursuit to make her the next Sarah Brown. She had to hand it to him, he was persistent, but it was not going to happen.
A somewhat sad look crossed over Talia’s face. “I just want you to be happy.”
Piper stepped forward and squeezed her aunt’s arm. “I am happy, I promise.” She finished off her statement with a smile. “This was just a momentary lapse in judgment. Leo and I should just stay away from each other, and this won’t be a problem.”
“You’ll call me if you need me?” Talia asked, digging her keys out of her purse.
“Of course.” Piper nodded. It wasn’t altogether untruthful. She would call if she needed her aunt, but there were just some things that Piper didn’t quite feel Talia or Walker needed to know. There were parts of herself she locked away on purpose. There was no use burdening other people with her problems when those problems could never be fixed.
By the time Talia had said her goodbyes, Piper had regained control over her emotions enough to face Sam and Wes again. Regardless, Leo was forever going to receive the cold shoulder from her.
“I’m going to have to say no to the Sarah Brown role,” Piper said curtly. She could practically hear Thea’s disappointment beside her. “I don’t think I’m your girl. I also think being in the same room with your friend seems to always end in disaster, and the idea of him directing me makes my skin crawl.”
“I’m right here, you know.” Leo threw up his hands. “I can hear you!”
