The Dark Side of Family (The Dark Side, Book 1)

Remember

[Quick Author's Note: Hey, everybody. I started this days ago, but I just finally finished it. Sorry it took me so long between the last update and this one! I hope you enjoy it!]

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Kale held the door open for Kylie, and as she stepped into the Presidential suite of the Hyatt Regency, her jaw dropped. Kale closed the door and stood beside her, amused by the awestruck expression on her face. “Like it?” he asked affably.

“There’s a freaking piano!” Kylie exclaimed.

“Yes, there is. Do you play?”

“Me?” she said, snorting. “No, I’m afraid not. I’m about as musically inclined as a goldfish,” she scoffed.

“Ah,” Kale replied, nodding sympathetically.

“Do you?”

“Do I what?” he asked, perplexed.

“Oh,” he said, and then went quiet. For a moment, Kylie thought that he wouldn’t answer. Then, he said simply: “I used to”.

“Used to?” Kylie asked gently, sensing that she was venturing into dangerous waters.

“I haven’t in years,” Kale said darkly.

“I see,” Kylie replied, understanding that it was time to drop that line of questioning.

Kale sighed. For some reason, he felt as though he could trust Kylie. The girl with the strangely familiar green eyes and broken smile, he thought to himself. She reminded him of Aurelia, in many ways.

“What is it?” Kylie asked as she watched Kale shake his head.

“Do you want to know why I don’t play anymore?” he inquired.

“If you want to tell me,” she responded diplomatically.

“I used to love to play. I had my own grand piano. It was red. I used to compose, too. My father came home from work one day and found me writing a song for a girl I liked. I was eleven at the time, and Celia was my first real crush.”

“Celia?” Kylie repeated. “You mean the concierge downstairs?”

“The one and only,” Kale replied.

“You wrote her a song? That’s sweet. Did she like it?”

“She never heard it. When my father realized what I was doing, he hauled me off the bench, grabbed a fire poker, and started whaling on my piano. When that didn’t work, he went to the left wing of the house. It was under renovations at the time, and he came back with a sledgehammer. He decimated my piano. I haven’t played since.”