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3
PIPER
Australia was sixteen hours ahead of East Coast time, which meant it was lunchtime where my parents were. And that was why I wasn’t surprised that the minute I was able to take a deep enough breath, my phone started going crazy with texts from my dad.
When Mom’s name flashed across the screen, I groaned. Cannon glanced down at the device in my hand and grimaced. “Want me to talk to them?”
Not for the first time in as many minutes did my brows lift in surprise at his offer. First, wanting to fix my problem by stepping in as my bassist until Asher could join the tour, and now, trying to run interference with my parents. It was so unlike Cannon that it was a bit scary, making me wonder if I was in some weird alternate universe where Cannon Cage actually had a soul.
I touched my palm to his forehead. “Are you feeling okay? Do you think I should call Dallas and ask her if you need medical attention?”
He wrapped his fingers around my wrist and pulled my hand away from his face, but when he dropped it down between us, he didn’t release me. He stroked his thumb over my pulse point, making my heart rate jack up even more than it already was. I didn’t know what was up with him, but he’d been causing my heart—and other parts of my body—to go haywire tonight.
If it had been anyone else but him drawing such a strong reaction from me, I would have jumped in headfirst. But this was Baby Cage, and I didn’t trust him or the black magic he’d cast over me. I wished I could say my reaction to him was a recent thing, but it wasn’t. I’d been fighting my attraction to him for too damn long.
Luckily, I was smart enough to ignore it, but there were times when I’d been weak and had nearly acted on my overwhelming feelings. During those moments, the devil on my shoulder had always suggested that maybe—just maybe—if I did give in and fuck Cannon, then I’d burn him out of my system. Thankfully, the angel on my other shoulder was smarter than the devil and would tell her to shut the fuck up.
“I’m serious,” he said when my phone started ringing again. “I’ll take the heat for everything if you need me to. I’m the one who flung ol’ Robbie boy offstage like a rag doll.”
“Yeah, but only because I would have actually killed him if I’d gotten my hands on him. This is just as much my fault as it is yours.”
Cannon cocked his head to the side, a grin pulling at the corners of his mouth. My eyes were instantly drawn to his dimples. Fuck, I had the strongest urge to poke them, but he still had hold of one of my hands while my other clutched my phone. “Are you sure you don’t need the medical attention, sugar? Did you hit your head and I didn’t see? ’Cause that’s the second time you’ve defended me tonight.”
I didn’t like the way he called me “sugar,” not one damn bit. Not even a teeny-tiny, microscopic bit. Never mind that he was right. I had just defended him. Again. There had to be something wrong with my brain. Maybe I should call his mom after all, see if she could find me a good psychiatrist, or maybe even a neurologist.
My phone stopped ringing, only for it to start blaring again. I could almost feel my mother’s anger from the other side of the globe for not answering her call. Swiping my thumb over the screen, I closed my eyes as I lifted it to my ear. “Hey, Mom—”
A tirade of Italian hit me like a blast, and I bit my lip as I let her get it all out of her system before I even tried to explain myself. The whole time, Cannon still had hold of my wrist. The way his fingers caressed my flesh shouldn’t have had the power to distract me when there was a literal supernova exploding on the other end of the phone, but it did.
I barely caught every third word my mom was shouting as I watched him draw little figure eights on my skin. Goose bumps popped up along my entire body the longer he did it. My mouth was oddly dry, as if I’d spent the entire day sucking down shots without hydrating in between.
“Piper Alexis Bryant!” Mom’s rage had calmed somewhat, and I could hear Dad in the background trying to soothe her. “What the actual fuck are you doing? Explain to me why you and Cannon are trending at number one on Twitter right now, and why that boy tossed Robbie offstage during your set.”
Cannon tightened his fingers, offering support, but all he was doing was distracting the hell out of me. I tugged free of his hold, ignoring how his pout made my stomach fill with butterflies. Damn it. He was not helping the situation at all.
It took only a few minutes to explain everything to my mother, but at least by the time I was finished, she had calmed down a little more.
“Piper, angel face, do you need me?” Dad asked, and I realized Mom had put her phone on speaker.
“No, Dad,” I assured him, cringing. I loved him. He was one of the most talented bassists that I knew. The man was the best father a girl could ever ask for. But when he wasn’t with my mom, he turned into a growly bear. I really didn’t want to have to put myself and the rest of the band through that kind of hell. “We have everything figured out.”
“But Emmie struggled to find Robbie,” Mom grumbled. “And your brother is busy until at least the middle of July.”
I peeked up at Cannon through my lashes. “Cannon is going to step in?” It came out as a question, which caused him to narrow his blue eyes on me. “Cannon is going to step in,” I said with surety this time.
“Really?” my parents asked simultaneously, the doubt thick in both of their voices.
“Um, yeah,” I confirmed. “He offered, and it makes sense. Plus, he can play the bass better than Robbie.”
I caught sight of Jagger walking up onto the back of the stage. Cannon spotted him and leaned down to whisper in my ear, “Gotta go, sugar. I’ll see you after.”
While my parents were agreeing that it was a sound plan, I nodded at him and watched as he walked over to meet Jagger. “But are you sure you’ll be okay with this, Piper?” Mom asked hesitantly, even though she’d just said it was a great idea. “This is Cannon we’re talking about here. Maybe Jagger could do it instead.”
“Mom, Jagger and Shaw have Grier, and I’m not going to pull him away from his family any more than he needs to be.”
I heard her huff, but she didn’t argue. She knew how devoted Jagger was to his baby daughter. Now that Grier was walking and getting into everything, Jagger and Shaw had to be on their toes twenty-four seven.
With Dallas Cage and Emmie Armstrong as her grandmothers, little Grier was hell on wheels. I’d only seen Jagger a handful of times in the past couple months, but I’d noticed a few streaks of gray in his hair that hadn’t been there before. I’d overheard his dad teasingly telling him that was what happened when a man had daughters, but from the strained laughter, I wasn’t so sure it was a joke.
“I’m calling Asher right now,” Mom told me. “I’ll light a fire under his ass and make him hurry his project along so he can join you sooner.”
“Mom, stop,” I groaned. “Asher can take his time. This is important to him. I promise I’ll be fine with Cannon.”
If I wanted them to stop babying me and take me seriously, I knew I needed to suck it up. It wasn’t forever. Just a few weeks and my brother would be with me. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about anyone pulling this kind of bullshit with Hymn. If nothing else, at least Asher would help me protect my best friend from all the crap people tried to toss her way just because of her disability.
“Okay, I guess,” she muttered unhappily. “But if he does even one thing that upsets you, I want to know about it. We might be in Australia right now, but Emmie isn’t. She can do a hell of a lot more damage to him if I ask her to.”
“That won’t be necessary,” I promised. “I need to go. The guys are about to take the stage, and I won’t be able to hear you.”
“Don’t forget about your date!” Mom reminded me, making me grimace. “This is important to Feed the Music.”
“I know, Mom,” I said, fighting back a sigh. I loved the Feed the Music charity. Not only did they provide music programs in impoverished areas, but they also acted as a food bank for the kids who were a part of it. Mirriam Baskins, who was the founder, worked her ass off to keep the charity funded throughout the entire US, but Mom and I were hoping to help her take it global.
When Mirriam had approached me to be a part of the fundraiser, I hadn’t hesitated. Then she’d told me what I had to do, and I’d nearly backed out. Twelve individual dates with a celebrity would definitely bring in some serious cash, but I wasn’t very good at the whole dating thing. I’d tried it enough times to realize it was something I seriously sucked at. Guys, girls, nonbinary, I’d even gone on a date with a transgender cello player. The latter had been the most fun, but it had still ended in a disaster.
I had come to the conclusion that it was more of a me problem than anyone else’s fault.
After I’d confessed to Mirriam that I wasn’t the right person for this particular promotion, she’d laughed it off and assured me that she only expected me to do the bare minimum. Be cordial, take a few pictures to post on Feed the Music’s social pages as well as my own, and try to have a little fun.
I could be nice for an hour or two, maybe. A few selfies wouldn’t kill me. But having fun with someone I didn’t know wasn’t likely to happen. It took a lot for me to let my guard down around anyone, because I’d learned quickly that most people simply weren’t worth it.
They were always after something. In my experience, it was either to use or abuse you. I didn’t allow anyone to do either of those to me or anyone I cared about.
But I’d given Mirriam and Mom my word, so I couldn’t back out of it. Especially not after finding out that my first winner had won the date for fifty thousand dollars. All twelve of the dates had already been auctioned off, each winner keeping their identity anonymous, but Mirriam had called me the day before to let me know we’d raised over a million dollars from my dates alone.
Now she was after other single celebrities in hopes of getting them to participate. Mom and Emmie were asking everyone they knew who wasn’t in a committed relationship to help out, and so far, they had at least a dozen people lined up.
I was happy for all the good the charity would be able to do with that money, but I still didn’t think I could live up to the expectations of everyone, my dates included.
