Trouble Rising (New Adult Rock Star Romance): Tyler and Katie's Story #3 by Emme Rollins Page B

rightly, that she would know.
     
    “Arnie.” Celeste sipped her wine, making a face. “He had a meeting. He said he’s on his way.”
     
    Arnie was almost always late. Trouble’s agent—now Sabrina’s agent, too—had been singlehandedly responsible for putting Trouble together. He’d discovered Rob first, and together they’d found Tyler, still living in foster care. The other three Trouble members had been hand-picked by Arnie, although I couldn’t understand it. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to Jon, Nick and Kenny’s addition to the band. Sure, they could play, but that was about it.
     
    “I’m hungry,” I apologized, getting up off the sofa. “And I don’t get Daisy’s food enough anymore.”
     
    “Don’t miss out,” Sabrina agreed, nodding toward the platters of appetizers. “She’s in fine form tonight.”
     
    Before Tyler and I had bought our own place, we’d eaten Daisy’s food every day. It was the thing I missed most about living with Rob and Sabrina—that, and the fact that we’d always had dinner together, depending on our schedules. Sarah had lived with Rob, then, too, so it really was like “family dinner.” We tried to recreate that, now, once a month on a weekend, so we could catch-up.
     
    I filled my plate with appetizers—hummus and deviled eggs and some sort of pinwheel pastry with salmon—and the crawled under the piano to check on Jay.
     
    “Hey girlie,” I said, offering her the plate.
     
    “Oh yum.” She took a deviled egg—the inside was green, and I suspected it was avocado—and wolfed it down. “Daisy made me a grilled cheese sandwich, but I’m still starving.”
     
    “Her grilled cheese is legendary around here,” I said, through a mouthful of appetizer. “How are you, Jay?”
     
    “I’m good, now,” she said, tucking her long, dark hair behind her ears—out of Lucy’s reach as she toddled toward Jay. The teen’s hair was so black, it was almost blue, and it hung down past her waist.
     
    “How did you get here?” I sat cross-legged, smiling as Henry crawled into my lap. “Did you really hitch a ride the whole way?”
     
    “Yeah.” Jay shrugged one thin shoulder.
     
    I shook my head. “So dangerous. Why didn’t you just call me?”
     
    “I don’t know.” Jay rolled the ball and Lucy squealed and ran after it. “I guess… I just wanted out of there. And I thought, if I showed up here…”
     
    Her voice trailed off and she shrugged again. I knew what she wasn’t going to say—she thought if she showed up here, it would be harder for us to turn her away. And she was right, of course. Now she was here, and we were going to be forced to decide, one way or another.
     
    “Arnie’s here,” I heard Jesse say, and I knew, once he’d settled in, Tyler would have to make his announcement.
     
    “Come on,” I said to Jay, edging my way out from under the piano. “It’s almost time.”
     
    Jay blinked at me, looking confused, but she followed, crawling out from under, too. Lucy and Henry both followed her, Henry crawling and Lucy toddling. I caught Sabrina’s eye—Mama Bear was keeping a good eye on them, even from a distance—and smiled.
     
    I went over to join the group of women sitting on and around the sofa, but Jay veered off to fill a plate full of food. Lucy hugged her mother’s legs for a moment, sucking her thumb and looking around like she wasn’t quite sure about all of these people in her house. I watched Leanne playing silent peekaboo with her, both of them laughing.
     
    The guys were saying hello to Arnie, and I heard Arnie reprimanding Tyler for taking off after his rumored “announcement.” Tyler laughed and told Arnie he’d done worse—and Arnie agreed, laughing, too. Arnie had indeed spun a hell of a lot worse, I thought. He was the ultimate spin doctor.
     
    Although sometimes the public was stubborn. It had been a long road getting them to accept Sabrina in Rob’s life. I think part