Page 538 of Lodestar

When Conor glowered at her, she stuck out her tongue and grinned when Aidan kissed her cheek.

“You’ll get used to who I am, Conor,” was Dagger’s friendly retort. “Like Aidan said, I’m just a guy who plays guitar.”

“For one of the bands that got me through my childhood,” Conor quipped.

I squeezed his knee and shared a look with Aidan. It was probably the first time Aidan and I ever really had a moment, so it was both strange and…nice.

Ugh.

Was this my life now?

Describing emotional connections as ‘nice?’

Before I could vomit in my mouth, Lorelei mused, “Let the boy crush on your rock god self some more, Dagger. It’s always good for your ego after you go on the girls’ show.”

Dagger’s nose crinkled. “That’s demoralizing.”

“Our audience loves you, Dad,” Paris trilled.

“They love him a little too much,” Lorelei said lightly, an odd combination of annoyance and amusement lilting her tone.

“What happens on set?” I queried, curious enough to ask him.

“Girls as young as Paris and Aspen come on to me like I’m not happily married,” he said with a huff.

Savannah chuckled. “That’s because most ‘rock gods’ would enjoy having girlfriends as young as their daughters.”

“Ew,” Aspen said with a shudder.

“Youdon’t need to get your leg over an old man to make money,” Savannah retorted.

“Savannah!” Dagger barked, his tone tougher than usual.

She merely arched a brow at him. “Tell me I’m lying. Nepotism babies?—”

“Savvie, I’m sensing a lot of unresolved tension building between you and your sisters,” Lorelei stated as she picked up one of the savory pastries on her plate.

Savannah sniffed. “No unresolved tension here.”

“We only asked if we could talk about Camden’s addiction problems on our show, Mom,” Paris whined, making me shoot a concerned glance at Camden who, unsurprisingly, had tensed up like he’d been shot.

For the first time, Lorelei’s calm demeanor quivered. “You wanted to feature Camden’s addictions on your reality TV show?”

“I don’t understand why it’s such a secret. Everyone already knows about that stalker who broke into his rehab facility?—”

“That’s the exact goddamn reasonyoushould understand, Aspen,” Lorelei snapped.

Camden’s chair scraped against the dining room floor, but Savannah grabbed his hand and dragged him to a halt. “Over my dead body will they talk about my problems on a fucking TV show!”

“You should have brought this to us, Savannah,” Dagger growled, his eyes growing narrower as he pinned his twin daughters in place with a stare. “Of all the insensitive… You know how delicate a topic this is for our family. You know how your brother and I struggle every goddamn day, and you think our addictions are?—”

“Fodder,” Savannah supplied when he hesitated.

“Fodder,” Dagger agreed, “for your show?”

Apparently sensing she’d gone too far, Paris swallowed. “We didn’t mean any harm by it.”

“To even ask was to mean harm. I’m just grateful you broached the subject with me first,” Savannah snapped.

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