29
CANNON
Iwas glad I knew all my music to the point I could play it in my sleep. I was barely conscious throughout our set, but the fans didn’t seem to notice I was out of it.
The moment we stepped backstage, however, Jagger tore into me.
“What the fuck was that, man?” he demanded.
I shrugged, not sure I could speak without losing the threadbare hold I had on my emotions. My brother-in-law grabbed my shoulders and jerked me around to face him, his blue eyes blazing because I hadn’t given my typical hundred percent onstage.
“Talk to me, Can. Is this about yesterday? Are you in more trouble than my mom let on?” His face filled with concern. “Just tell me. Maybe I can help.”
A humorless laugh bubbled out of me, sounding almost manic. “No one can help me now, Jags.” Pushing his hands off me, I walked away, unsure where I was going. All I knew was that wherever it was, Piper wouldn’t be there.
The tightness in my chest intensified to the point that it was nearly impossible to breathe, but I kept walking. Maybe my heart would give out and I wouldn’t have to feel the empty void that made my soul hollow.
Outside the stadium, Flint was standing around with his tablet in hand. When he spotted me, he didn’t waste any time. “Trinity has a performance scheduled for you on the local Live Late Night show,” he said as he urged me toward a town car nearby. “It’s being held at some club downtown in celebration of the show’s anniversary. They expect you to do at least one song. You should have been there ten minutes ago, but Trinity is stalling them.”
I let him push me into the back of the car, not really caring about any of it. At this point, I was just going through the motions. It didn’t take long for the driver to pull up outside of some club I didn’t even bother to check the name of. What surprised me was that there wasn’t a line outside waiting to get in. Figuring it was because of the show’s celebration and security keeping everyone away, I opened my door and jogged up to the front door.
A bouncer in black jeans and a red muscle shirt gave me a once-over before opening the door for me, not even asking my name. The music wasn’t what I expected when I walked in, but it wasn’t my job to judge the vibe the late-night show was going for. The tune was dreamy and romantic, kind of like what they would play on Valentine’s Day for couples to slow dance to.
Walking down the hall packed with security, I was caught off guard when I reached the open area and realized no one else was there. No DJ, no patrons, not even a bartender. “Fucking hell. Flint set me up,” I muttered to myself.
Pulling out my phone, I started to text him when a figure walked out of the back of the club. Piper stepped out of the shadows, and my heart gave a painful thump as my throat filled with a lump.
Dressed in a red halter dress that clung to her from chest to hip, her glossy dark hair framing her face, and her lips the same vibrant red as her dress, she was every wet dream I’d ever had come to life.
“Hi,” she greeted in her raspy voice.
“You shouldn’t be talking,” I reminded her, trying to keep my tone light.
She lifted her hands to stop me. “Just give me a minute, and then I’ll keep quiet for as long as you and the doctors tell me to. Okay?”
“Talking to me isn’t worth hurting yourself.”
She tilted her head to the side, watching me for a moment before the smallest smile teased at her lips. “Maybe I think you are.”
“No,” I argued. “I don’t deserve to hear whatever you need to say. I hurt everyone I love. Don’t risk your vocal career by giving me even one of your precious words.”
“Everyone fucks up,” she murmured as she continued to walk toward me. “I don’t know a single person in the world who doesn’t regret at least one moment in their lives.”
“My fuckup destroyed the life of someone I love dearly,” I admitted, swallowing with difficulty. “One drunken moment, and I set off a chain of events that took years before they were set right again. The guilt I feel over it eats at me, Pipes. It rots inside me, but no matter what I do, I can’t stop it.”
“Vi told me everything,” Piper said, stopping a few feet from me. “And I do mean everything. Even the part about wanting to kill herself.”
Shame weighed down on me, and I couldn’t look at her.
“And then she said she forgave you a long time ago.”
“Yeah,” I whispered.
“Then why—”
“I can’t forgive myself!” I exploded and let her see the tears as they spilled free. “I can’t, Pipes. I’ve tried, but it always comes back to haunt me. Night after night, I wrestle with the disgust I feel for myself. It takes me hours to even fall asleep, and that’s only after I’ve gone through every one of Luca’s pictures to make sure Vi truly is as happy as she tells me she is now. And even when I do sleep, I have nightmares that she actually went through with those dark thoughts and ended her life. I wake up in a cold sweat every damn night, knowing if she had done it, it would have been my fault.”
“You’ve slept pretty soundly this past week,” she reminded me.
“Because of you,” I confessed.
“I was hoping you would say that,” she breathed.
The air suddenly seemed trapped in my lungs. “Pipes?”
“You should forgive yourself. Not just because Violet forgives you, but because you deserve to be at peace.” Closing the distance between us, she cupped my face in both her hands. At her touch, a sob choked out of me, and I leaned into her, craving her softness against my flesh. Through my tears, I saw her earnest compassion. “You were young and dumb. Something I am all too familiar with where you are concerned. But over the past few years, I’ve witnessed the changes in you, Cannon. Before my eyes, you became a better person. And I’ve come to understand that everyone deserves second chances.”
Closing my eyes, I covered her hands. “The only person I want a second chance with is you, sugar.”
“Why is that?” she husked.
My eyes snapped open. “Because you are the only person I’ve ever loved with my whole heart.”
“Can—”
“I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you, Piper. That was why I bought all the dates for Feed the Music. I knew I didn’t deserve a chance, but fuck, I hoped I could get you to fall in love with me. If only just a little, that would be enough.” I lowered my head, and when she didn’t pull away, I nearly sobbed my relief. “I love you so much, Piper.”
“I love you too.”
My ears had to be playing tricks on me, because I was sure she’d just said…
“I love you, Cannon,” she repeated, a little louder this time. “I’ve always felt something. When you gave me the power to control how fast we moved, asking permission for everything sexually, when you could have so easily taken it without force, I finally admitted what this pull we have to each other really is.”
She snaked her arms around my waist when my knees went weak and I began to sway. Dark eyes looked up at me with a mixture of love and concern, forcing another sob from me. Everything I wanted was right there, holding me up, tethering me to the world that I’d only dreamed of being a part of with her.
“Say it one more time,” I begged, locking my knees so she wasn’t taking my weight. “I need to hear it again, sugar.”
A mischievous smile lifted at her luscious lips. “I love you, jerkface,” she said in that raspy voice that I hated hearing because I knew it caused her physical pain and discomfort, but it was so sexy it made my cock swell and twitch against her abdomen.
“Fuck, I love you too,” I groaned, burying my face in her hair.
In the background, the music changed, but only to a different slow-beat romantic song. Piper groaned as it filled the club. “This is the corniest shit I’ve ever heard.”
Kissing her temple, I lifted my head to glance around, only then noticing all the heart-shaped balloons and streamers. It looked like an event specialist had thrown up Valentine’s Day decorations. “Did Trin do all this?”
“No,” she muttered. “My dad called in a favor as a way of apologizing for how he treated you earlier. Either he or his friend who owns this place is stuck in a different era.”
“A different millennium,” I agreed with a laugh. But I couldn’t have cared less about the music or the decorations.
All that mattered was that Piper had said she loved me. She hadn’t let my past tear us apart as I’d always feared. If I played my cards right, we would have that future I’d been dreaming of.
“Okay,” Piper said, grimacing as she spoke. “Let’s take a selfie for Feed the Music, and then I’ll stop talking like I promised.”
Extracting my phone, I turned it to snap a picture of Piper wrapped in my arms, her head resting over my heart as she smiled up at the camera with me. Once it was done, she took the phone and uploaded it to the Feed the Music pages.
Date 4 of 12, but hoping for a million more to come. #FeedTheMusic #LoveOfMyLife #NewBeginnings