* * *
The sound of my alarm had me reaching out blindly for my phone to shut it up. As I moved, the warm body on top of mine complained with a mewl-like sound that went straight to my cock. Blurry-eyed, I lifted my lashes to find Piper curled up on me like a little kitten.
She’d insisted on sleeping in my bed—alone—once we got to my apartment at an ungodly hour. But not an hour after I’d settled onto the couch, the television tuned to one of the soothing spa music channels, she’d come tiptoeing out of my bedroom and climbed on top of me. Her reasoning was that she couldn’t sleep and would just talk to me until she got tired.
Yet not two minutes later, she’d been sound asleep, wrapped around me. Just like she had the previous two nights. I didn’t mind, though. I liked that she was comfortable enough with me now that she could so easily fall asleep. Whether she realized it or not, that told me she was beginning to trust me, and it gave me hope that I could earn more.
That maybe one day, I would be able to win over her heart.
With her slight weight on top of me, I had found it easy to fall asleep as well. Usually, it took me hours of looking through all of Luca’s pictures of Violet and Love Bug, making sure there wasn’t a single sign that she was sad or lonely or hurting in any way, before finally falling asleep for a few hours. And even then, most nights, I was haunted by her. By the destruction I’d caused. The pain I’d put her through—physically, emotionally, spiritually. My drunken mistake had fucked up so many lives, but none more than Violet’s.
Did you know that I was even thinking about ending my life?
So many times I’d woken up, my heart pounding, sweat dripping off me as those words echoed through my head.
I’d done that to her. I was the catalyst that had put everything in motion to turn my sweet little Violet’s life upside down. The girl I loved just like a sister. Fuck, sometimes I thought I loved her even more than my actual sister. Violet had always been good to me, cheering me on, forgiving me for being an idiot throughout my entire life.
And then I’d destroyed everything.
Without her, I probably would have stayed on the same destructive path I’d been on when I’d come home from military school. Maybe I would have even turned into that monster she’d once accused me of becoming. But she’d shown me the error of my ways and guided me to be a better person. All because I’d craved her forgiveness. I’d prayed for it, and shortly before she’d married Remington Sawyer, she’d given it to me.
I didn’t deserve it. Even to this day, I knew that all the way to my soul. But I was still thankful.
Over the past three nights, however, I hadn’t had a single nightmare. Sleep had come easily. All because of Piper.
Finally able to grab my phone, I silenced it and then kissed Piper’s forehead. “Time to get up, sugar.”
“But sleep,” she garbled into my chest.
“We have a busy day.” She whined and pulled the blanket up over her head, making me laugh. “Come on, gorgeous. You have to be at the studio in an hour.”
Lifting her head, she glared at me through barely open eyes. That fierce look was hot as fuck, but I kept my hands to myself as she mumbled something under her breath about prick producers and the ass-crack of dawn while getting to her feet. I held back my laughter until she stomped into my bedroom and slammed the door, before going into the kitchen to make us some coffee.
While it brewed, I went through my emails, noting that Flint had already set up everything I’d asked him to take care of for me regarding my date with Piper that night. Her personal assistant was more efficient than she even gave him credit for, so I knew he would help out Trinity so that she had only minimal contact with Jarrett.
Thinking about her, I shot her a quick text to ask how things were going and got a GIF of someone saying “Like, I’m so annoyed” in response. That could have easily meant anything, but I took it to mean she was annoyed with Jarrett. Before I could ask, Piper walked into the kitchen, and I lost the ability to think.
Dressed in a black sports bra, matching bike shorts, a long purple cardigan, and her hair pulled up into a messy knot on top of her head, she looked both comfortable and so fucking hot my phone nearly fell out of my hand. Tightening my fingers around it, I tried to unglue my tongue from the roof of my mouth.
“Do you have a travel mug I can use?” she asked, walking over to the coffeepot. “It’s going to be a multi-cup morning.”
Unable to form words, I opened the cabinet above the coffeepot and extracted two huge travel mugs.
“Perfect.” Opening my fridge, she hummed happily when she saw the fresh bottle of her favorite creamer. “Someone stocked your fridge, I see. It was sweet of you to include my caramel macchiato.” Setting the bottle beside the mugs, she pushed up onto her tiptoes and kissed me.
Before I could reach for her, she stepped back, that mischievous look in her eyes once again. “You should get dressed.”
“Maybe you should get dressed,” I countered, unable to tear my gaze away from the delicious cleavage her sports bra was providing.
“I like to be comfortable when I’m in the studio. It can get really hot while I’m recording.” She nudged my leg with her foot. “Get ready so we can go. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can get to our date.”
“Does that mean I can wear just my boxers?” I muttered, still standing there looking down at her tits and the silky skin stretched tight over her flat stomach.
“You’re hilarious.” The bite in her words put a smirk on my face. I liked that she sounded jealous, but it was nothing to what I would have to go through with every damn eye on her all day long. “Hurry up, Baby Cage.”
“Fuck me,” I groaned as I shot her one last lingering look and pushed off from the counter to get dressed.
“Maybe later,” she called after me, making my cock even harder than it already was.