“C’mon,” Aubrey said, taking KC’s hand, then they were heading for the door. Mom had to back off and so did Gibs to get out of their way. As soon as the door opened, cameras went off and questions began to fly. Dix remained at the door, holding it until all three were through. Teddy didn’t follow them.
The door closed again, leaving us out here with Gibs and Mom. The manager excused himself and then it was just the five of us.
“How can you—” Mom started but Gibs shook his head.
“Linz,” he said, his voice quiet. “Not now.”
Impatience creased her face and she glared at us before she wrapped an arm around him. She was really unhappy. For the first time in my life, I found it really hard to even care about that. Gibs didn’t react to her contact, his gaze was on the door to the press room.
Arms folded, I moved to lean against the wall and a moment later, Lachlan dropped back to lean next to me. We weren’t going anywhere without KC.
Period.
Five
KC
“How do you balance maintaining your privacy and connecting with your fans?” The question came from Mike Reader. He was a familiar face in a sea of strangers. Far closer to Dad’s age than ours, he’d interviewed us before. I was actually kind of surprised he was here.
“Not well,” I admitted. The three of us split who spoke into the microphone. I could have let them answer, but I could handle this. “But we love our fans, so we do our best.”
Not that the press let us have that much in the way of privacy. Kissy Kat, for example, happily made up all kinds of stories with her speculation. She didn’t need to talk to us to come up with the doozies she liked to report.
Then again, Mom and Dad hadn’t always been that circumspect, either. Mom liked it when they were talking because as long as people cared about the scandals, or lack thereof, in her life, the more she stayed in the public eye.
At least, that was her theory.
“Are any of you dating currently?” There came the question.
“Maybe,” Yvette answered with an easy smile. “We don’t kiss and tell. We leave that for the gossips.” The fact she added a saucy wink earned us some laughter.
“You took a break to go to school, but you’ve graduated now, right? Are you looking at another tour soon?”
“We’ve been discussing it,” Aubrey said, keeping it noncommittal. “Trust us, when we’re ready to announce, you guys will probably be amongst the first to know.”
I bit back a smile.
“Miss Crosse,” someone called from the back, and I focused on the woman standing there. I didn’t remember her name, but she worked for one of the billboard sites. “Can you tell us more about the inspiration behind tonight’s new release?”
“Let’s just say that she’s very close to me and I adore her. While we put ourselves out there and sacrifice our privacy, I don’t want to do that to anyone else, you know?” At her faint nod, I plowed onward. “That said, she does love it when we sing to her and tell her stories so that’s why I wrote the song the way I did.”
“Two more questions,” Teddy said as he appeared next to us. “We need to get these girls going again, and we have more acts for you to talk to… Jet?” He nodded to one of the reporters in the room who was more of a celebrity podcaster than a reporter these days. We’d sat down with Jet before and been on his show.
“Thanks, Teddy. I have a question for all three of you. Aubrey and KC are both attending college, but Yvette isn’t. Are you ladies planning to break the band up permanently?”
“Never say never,” Yvette commented. “And I am going to college; I just prefer my classes online. As for the rest of it, these ladies are my best friends and my sisters. Whatever we choose, we’ll always have each other’s backs.”
That was an excellent answer.
“KC,” Demi Brown got her hand up next. “Throw us a bone. You performed with your dad tonight. It was a first on stage together…what was that like for you? Performing with a legend while being a legend yourself.”
Despite the fact I was aware they’d have questions about it, I still took a moment to consider my answer. Teddy shot me a look, but I shook my head. No, I didn’t want him cutting anything off.
“That’s hard to answer,” I said, choosing as much honesty as I could. “I used to imagine what it would be like to perform with my dad. You know, hard not to when he’s the one who taught me to play half the instruments I know. That said…” I touched my tongue to the roof of my mouth. “Nothing I could have imagined even touched the reality of it.”
And I was leaving it at that. Let them interpret the answer how they wanted. “Thank you,” Teddy said as he moved in to take over the microphone. “We’ve got more coming up for you.”
Dix got the door opened and held it to let us out. Relief coursed through me. I was still sweating from the stage, and my stomach had been doing flip-flops since Dad appeared in the hallway with the new wife.
I half-expected Dad to be gone when I got out there, but he was present along with the guys, and… what the hell was her name? Linzi. Her name was Linzi.
Fuck, I hated her name. Worse than being Dad’s wife, she was Jonas, Lachlan, and Ramsey’s mother. Which meant as long as they were in my life, so was she.
Ick.
Lachlan brushed his knuckles down my arm before offering me another fresh water bottle. Belatedly, I realized Ramsey was also holding out bottles to Yvette and Aubrey.
“All good?” Lachlan asked softly.
“Yeah,” I said slowly, even as I locked eyes with Dad.
“Where do you want to do this, Siren?” Ramsey asked. He and Jonas moved in closer to form a semi-circle around me. We were still in the hall, Linzi glaring daggers at me. Dix and the girls were right there and the guys were firmly on my side.
This was—a lot.
“Dressing room,” I said after a beat. “Somewhere quieter.”
“We can do that,” Dad said as he pushed off the wall. “Lead the way.”
I nodded and pivoted. Rough sympathy waited for me in Jonas’ eyes and I gave him a small smile. I could do this.
“No, Linz—this should just be me and Kaity … ”
The comment had me pausing to glance back to where Dad was facing Linzi.
“The boys are going—”
“To wait for Kaity, if you want to wait for me,” Dad said, his slow tone lingering on those last few syllables. “But I’m gonna talk to my girl now. Alone.”
“I guess I’ll wait, then,” Linzi said, her expression blanking.
“Oh boy,” Lachlan muttered under his breath, and when I shot him a look, he simply shook his head.
Dix took the lead again, with Aubrey and Yvette right behind him. I followed with the guys and Dad trailing us. I didn’t know if Linzi followed to wait outside or if she stayed right there.
Frankly, I didn’t care.
I’d downed about half the water before we got to the dressing room.
“You wanna change first?” Dad asked me when I pushed open the door. Oh, I glanced down at the sparkly outfit and shrugged.