biological father had resurfaced and had snatched her. The media world had lost their shit trying to get pictures of Lucy after that little fiasco and one of them actually had.
Lucy had been one big bruise. No part of her face had been left untouched. Her eyes had been swollen and her nine-year-old little body had looked like someone had used it as a punching bag. The scar on her lip was the only lasting outward sign that still remained, but I couldn’t help but wonder if that part of her life had left some emotional scars as well.
Since then things had calmed down—with the exception of a few other tabloid moments for the other Demons—and Lucy had tried to keep out of the limelight as much as possible. For celebrities and their kids, however, that was nearly impossible. Which explained the ex-military dude in a suit who was watching Lucy like someone was going to jump out of nowhere and attack her at any moment.
“Can she sing?” Harris asked Lucy as he scooted his chair closer to the chick.
Lucy shrugged. “I haven’t heard her yet, but she can play the guitar like a goddess.”
My gaze went back to Kin who was sitting down on the stool on stage, getting ready. “Caleb taught her,” I informed my friend as I watched Kin closer.
Someone would have to be looking hard to notice how nervous she was right then. She was always so brave and strong that, unless you really knew her, you wouldn’t know how anxious she could actually get. Her smile was bright and friendly, but there was a detachedness in her eyes that would have kept most people at bay.
“Caleb?” Harris murmured.
Before I could explain, Lucy spoke. “Kin’s stepbrother. They’re pretty close. Kin’s been pretty bummed about being away from him, his twin sister, and her stepdad.” She blew out an angry sigh. “Her dad isn’t ever home and her stepmom and her evil step-bitches are making her life miserable. Before she died, Kin’s mom made her promise to spend this year getting to know her dad and his family. Pretty hard to do that when her dad is more interested in that piece-of-shit movie he’s directing, and his family would rather she disappear.”
Well, fuck. So that was it. I hadn’t really thought that Abigail would actually follow through on making Kin keep that promise. Why would she make Kin leave everything that she knew and everyone that she loved to spend time with her piece-of-shit father and his asshole family? That seemed too harsh coming from a woman I’d known had loved Kin so completely. Abigail had been a great mother, but this…
This just wasn’t right.
No wonder Kin looked so miserable. It wasn’t just because of what had happened between us, I would bet money on it. She was feeling lost right then, having just had to uproot herself from Caleb and Angie, and felt abandoned.
On stage, Kin finally settled in and licked her lips a little nervously, before releasing a small laugh that seemed to wake up my entire body. “Hi,” she greeted the room with that easy grin in place. “I’m Kin and this…” She broke off and I watched as her eyes filled with tears. Seeing how she tried to blink them back only made me want to jump up on that damn little stage and wrap my arms around her. “This song is for my mom.”
I clenched my hands into fists as she started to play. Because she was still fighting tears, she started out a little slow but less than half a minute into it her natural skills with the guitar took over and she settled into it like the rock star I knew she was. The longer I watched, the harder it was to catch my breath.
Fuck, she was amazing.
Her voice was better than a lot of the pop stars I’d heard on the radio with Auto-Tune making them sound the way they did, but it wasn’t the kind of rock voice that people would stop and take a second look at. That didn’t matter, though. Her skills with the guitar made up for that, and the words that I knew she must have written herself, were so full of