My gaze went back to my beautiful woman. “Always.”
“She’ll die for you.”
I took a swig of my beer and placed it back on the bar. “I’ll never let her ‘cause I’ll die for her first.”
Talia squeezed my shoulder again. “Good.”
The bar stool beside mine scraped across the floor, and I turned to see Breaker deposit a very drunk Kennedy on it. He grabbed the one next to it and immediately pulled it close to Ned’s before he sat down and wrapped his arms around her.
Kennedy looked at me and Talia with glazed eyes before announcing, “I’m lit.”
“Everyone’s drunk, babe,” I assured her. “Right about now, you’re one of the most sober ones in the room. Saint’s so wasted that she’s a little bit in love with Diablo the cock chopper, and even Talia’s all up in her feelings.”
“It’s those fuckin’ cocktails,” Breaker rasped, shooting Gopher, who was serving someone down the end of the bar, a glower.
Kennedy waved a hand dismissively. “Oh, stop pretending like you care, golden boy. You know I get dirty when I’m drunk. You don’t fucking complain then.”
My ears pricked up.
Breaker’s glower turned into a wolfish grin.
Talia laughed.
Three hollow taps sounded from Jonny J as he thwacked the wood on his acoustic guitar, and Boomer immediately came in strumming the opening chords to a song I recognized but couldn’t place.
After a beat, Saint nodded to D, who began to strum his guitar, though not as fast as the others— for every four chords Boomer played, D only played one—but it seemed to fit. Then Kady came in, adding another layer of sound, followed closely by Saint and Sam. Hendrix soon joined in, and by the time Kady began singing, everybody was strumming the chords to thetrack, and the room was filled with the sounds of guitars.
The hair on the back of my arms stood on end.
It was cool as fuck.
Kady closed her eyes, her sweet and surprisingly husky tone filling the air as she leaned her mouth so close to the microphone that it almost became an extension of her. I smiled at the way she felt the music the same way Saint always did.
My woman sat back with a knowing smile on her face, giving Kady her moment. The only time she sang was to harmonize and elevate Kady’s performance, and my heart flipped over with pride for my incredible woman.
This was an everyday thing for Saint, but to Kady, it was a dream come true, and the fact that my girl gave the kid a moment she’d remember for the rest of her life filled me with so much respect for Saint that my heart swelled with it.
“What song’s this?” I asked Kennedy in hushed tones.
“These are Days,” she replied distractedly, grasping Breaker’s hand as she gazed at her daughter in awe. “It’s pretty, right?”
“Real pretty,” I muttered, taking in the words that conveyed how we should all live in the moment and appreciate life in all its glory.
It suited Kady and her voice perfectly.
Talia sat forward, her stare glued to the kid, then she glanced at Breaker. “She’s yours, right?”
My brother smirked. “She is. Kady’s also fifteen years old and too young to have the pressures of a music career on her shoulders.”
“I get it,” Talia announced. “Respect it even, but she won’t always be fifteen, and I need to point out that if you try to stop an artist making art, they wilt. There are ways you can let Kady be who she is, but stillcontrol the outside noise. I can help you and her with that. But don’t waste her potential. She won’t thank you for it. Let her be who she is and let her do what she needs to do. She’s got a good family and a solid foundation, so as long as she has the right people around her, too, she’ll be okay.”
Breaker and Kennedy glanced at each other.
“We’ll talk before I leave,” Talia told them.
Breaker pushed a deep breath out, but he nodded, almost resigning himself to the fact that Talia made perfect sense.
Kady’s voice soared above the guitars, and goosebumps trailed down my arms.
