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“Beau?” Piper’s voice calls softly on the other side of the door and I nearly crumple to the floor at the waver in her tone. “Can we talk, please?” She chokes out a sob with the last word, making my heart nearly crack in two.
Would it be so bad if I let her inside? If I’m leaving tomorrow morning, this could be a goodbye — we deserve that. Before my head can convince me not to, I stand from the couch and casually walk to the door, swinging it open with a frown. There are fresh tears rolling down Piper’s cheeks, her nose red from rubbing it, and I hate seeing her like this.
“Yeah?” I ask, trying my hardest to sound unaffected by her.
She blinks, taken aback by my lack of emotion. “Can I come in?”
I step aside, giving her enough distance to walk through without touching me and wave her inside. Her small frame stumbles past me and I have to clench my hands at my side to keep myself from grabbing hold of her — if I touch her, I’m not sure I’ll be able to let go anymore.
When she’s seated on the couch, her gaze pointed straight ahead rather than at me, I clear my throat. “What do you need?”
“I’m, uh, not really sure. I wanted to see how you were doing, I guess?”
I shrug. “It’s something I knew would happen. I just hoped it would’ve come later than this.” After I’d had time to convince her father that I am in love with his daughter, a girl that I watched grow into this beautiful young woman.
It’s hard to believe this is the same girl who would have me sit at a table with all her Barbies and pretend to drink tea. Or she’d put a tiara on me, telling me that I was the princess. Now she’s grown and my eyes linger on her for far longer than should be allowed.
Piper lets out a snort and covers it with a cough. “So, you’re okay?” I nod in response, not trusting my words right now. “My dad?”
“He had a few choice words for me, but I’m going to get it all figured out.”
She nods and gives me a small smile, one that doesn’t reach her eyes, then she stands. “Alright, well, I’ll, uh, leave you alone.” When she gets to the front door, which is still wide open, she turns her gaze over her shoulder. “And I’m sorry. About the picture and all that.”
I open my mouth, ready to tell her that none of this is her fault, but she disappears before I can get the words out. The door shuts softly behind her and I mumble a few curses to myself, hating that I had to act like none of this bothered me. Of course, it bothers me — things were going great for a minute, we were getting closer and my feelings were increasing with each moment we spent together — but I need to focus on John and salvaging what’s left of our friendship.
As soon as I leave in the morning, I’ll call John and let him know, then hope that he’ll meet me somewhere for lunch. Somewhere public where he’ll have no choice but to act professionally unless he wants to tarnish Piper’s image by punching me in front of a bunch of people.
What if he rejects my invitation though, how will I be able to fix everything if he doesn’t want to be around me? The way he talked about me to Piper still has my blood boiling. Does he really think that I would prey on children? He’s known me most of my life, and doesn’t know that I’d never lay a hand on them?
I shake my head and sigh. He has a right to think the worst of me, especially when he had to find out about Piper and I through the news. We should’ve told him as soon as the feelings between us were getting deeper, far less innocent, but we didn’t and now it’s biting us in the ass.
And Piper — what will her fans think of this, and right before the launch?
Clearly, she was upset when she knocked on the door, yet she still worried about me being okay instead of herself. Why didn’t I do the same thing? I should’ve asked her howshewas doing, what Penny was saying to her after seeing the news article, and if I possibly ruined the launch for her.
Shit.
Did I go and fuck everything up?
There’s barely a bird chirping when I rush out the door, meeting the new contractor outside in the driveway. My gaze darts to Piper’s house, making sure she isn’t up and catches sight of him out here with me.
“Romeo,” I mumble with a nod.
He grunts in response, then glances around the large space. It’s going to be weird not waking up here anymore, but hopefully, Piper will understand why I had to leave. There’s no way I’ll be able to be this close to her and restrain myself from touching and kissing her.
“All that’s left is the inside of the addition, which you can find the plans for inside the guest house.” He walks behind me as I lead him into the small house, the place now bare of my things because I already put them into my truck.
Romeo nods and peers around the place, a look of appreciation flashing across his face. “I’m surprised you worked this job.”
“Why’s that?”
He shrugs and stuffs a hand in his pocket. “You’ve been more of a suit for years now. It’s been a while since you’ve worked a job site.” His eyes survey my face before he snorts. “And you look like shit.” Leave it to my most trusted employee to put me down when I’m already there.
“Thanks for that. Just make sure this gets done exactly as I have it in the blueprints, okay?”
“No problem.” Before I can walk out of the house and leave all that’s happened behind he asks, “Why aren’t you finishing up anyway? It’s unlike you to not finish what you started.”
“It’s… complicated.” Heartbreaking is more like it. I haven’t even left the property yet and my chest hurts from the cracks in my heart. I can’t imagine what it will feel like when I’m gone. “I’ll call for an update in a week. I expect you to answer. Call anyone else you may need to help you.”
