EPIC (Book 1 of the Soundcrush series)

Chapter 53: Rock Stars Never F*cking Ever Want To Get Married Again

Author's Note: This chapter has a POV change in the middle...from Trace to Kat...just thought I'd point that out because I haven't done that so far...switch POV in the middle of a chapter...

Trace

Meeting my siblings Street and Bridge for the first time is fucking unreal, especially because it happens so casual. Kat and I step on the plane and no one hardly notices. Matt and Marianne are pacing at the back each on phones—each directing a staff of six people to call somebody else. There are calling every hotel, every casino manager, every promotions guy, every club owner in Vegas—all their contacts—letting them all know to intercept Row, if they can—hopefully before she gets hitched to someone whom I hear Matt describing as a "forty year old no-talent stoner that has been kicked out of every band in existence, and whose pretty face Imma bout to fuck up permanently." I can hear him ranting this even as the flight attendant is greeting us and ushering us in.

There is no mistaking the two kids sitting side by side in the seats where Kat and I were this morning—which seems like a lifetime ago. They both look pretty much like their mom—which is to say they are beautiful people. Raven hair like Marianne, angles cut on all the right facial planes, perfect symmetry—except Street has the gray eyes, just like mine and Matt's, and Bridge has darker eyes like her mom.

Both pairs of eyes boring through me.

Street rises. He's a bit shorter than me, but so is Matt. He rubs the back of his neck, and shakes his head at me. He doesn't have the assertive rock star thing like Matt. More like the SoCal surfer vibe. After a second, he shrugs and sticks out his hand with a friendly enough grin, but he doesn't say anything.

"Sup. I'm uhhh..." I shake. "Shit, I guess you know."

"Yeah, I know." His laugh is easy. "Life is hella weird, huh?"

I grunt amiably in agreement. "Creeps me the fuck out, on occasion." Beside me, I hear Kat's breathy laugh and she touches my back in support.

My half sister Bridge uncrosses her long legs and rises. She is taller than her brother on her wedge sandals and moves like a gazelle, her long navy maxi dress swinging as she comes forward. Bridget is like a younger, softer copy of Marianne. No wonder Matt fell in love with Marianne at sixteen. There is no other way to describe Bridget than to say she's as pretty as a princess—like the Snow White kind, not the spunky new kind. Dark hair, creamy skin and genteel. "You look more like him than any of us." Her voice is understated and her smile is sweet.

I smile at her. "Well, you look like your mom. Should I call you Bridget or Bridge?"

"Bridge," she confirms. "I just go with the theme. Why fight it?" She rolls her eyes.

"So this is Kat Ballard, my girlfriend," I put an arm around her and guide her forward a step, since she was sort of standing behind me, letting me meet my siblings for the first time.

"Hi," Bridget says. "You guys grew up together, right?" she asks Kat.

"Yes," Kat smiles back. "Neighbors practically my whole life, til he left for college, and then LA. He was always a punk."

I smile down at Kat. She's being so amazing about this Vegas bullshit. It can't be easy. She has to be thinking about me and Ashlynn and Vegas. But she hasn't brought it up. She's really being there for me, in this crazy del Marco family drama thing. The last thing I really want to do is take Kat to Vegas and make her think about where Ashlynn and I stayed, where we said our vows, all that. To be honest, I don't know what the hell I'm doing up in the middle of this hot mess. But Matt said "get your ass to the airport so we can handle business," and well...I'm here. Matt has that authoritative effect on everyone, apparently—in the industry, and his family. So it's like double for me.