Page 49 of Hard Rock Sin

"No," Cameron murmured. "Just wasn't expecting you." He seemed to recover from his shock and gave them a bright smile. "It's good to see you. Really good, actually. Are you going to be here for long?"

"For the foreseeable future, yes." The woman gave him a bright smile. I could see traces of Cameron's mad grin in that expression.

These must have been Cameron's parents.

The ones who left him the moment he turned sixteen.

I had imagined them as cold, distant people. Without quite realizing it, I had mentally filed them away into my "bad people" category, reserved for strict, sour teachers and the mean rich girls at boarding school who looked down on me because I'd grown up in foster care.

But these people looked warm and friendly, or at least not unwelcoming. And Cameron seemed happy to see them, if not a little taken aback.

Cameron's mom looked around the place, taking in the details.

"You haven't changed the decor," she noted.

"No. It's fine the way it is. I mean, I like it the way it is," he said, almost stumbling over his words. "You did a really great job with the interior designer in the first place."

I found the exchange odd. Cameron didn't seem like the type to have any opinion on the decor in the first place. Precious rugs and antiques were regularly smashed during his parties, and he never seemed to notice, or care.

"What are you doing here?" Cameron asked. He seemed to realize how tactless that sounded and tried again. "I mean, why didn't you guys call?"

"We tried, but your cell phone number was disconnected," Sharon said.

"Right," Cameron winced. "It got leaked on the net and I had to change it. I left a message with your assistant to tell you."

"I recently had to fire my assistant," Grant explained. "He couldn't take the stress. That could be why the message never made its way to us."

"So we decided to drop in and hoped you would be home." His mother's eyes fell on me, still hiding around the corner on the stairs. "Cameron, you didn't tell me you had company."

I flushed and came out from hiding. I twisted the hem of my shirt in my hands unconsciously.

"Hello," I said with a weak wave.

"Mom, Dad, this is Lily." Cameron made proper introductions, gesturing to me. "Lily, these are my parents, Sharon and Grant."

"Very nice to meet you," I said politely.

The both of them scrutinized me carefully.

"Good to meet you, too," Cameron's father said eventually.

I stepped into the foyer, feeling oddly uncomfortable. I hadn't felt out of place at all since coming to live here. With Cameron's parents in front of me, with their shiny polished shoes and perfectly pressed attire, I couldn't help but scratch at a paint splotch on the sleeve of my shirt.

"I didn't mean to disturb you," I told them. "I just thought my brother might have been coming to visit me."

"Visit... you?" Sharon asked as she gave Cameron a forced smile.

"Lily's staying with me for a while," Cameron said.

"I see," was all his mother said.

Cameron shot me a look, almost pleading.

"It's like a roommate thing," I said, hoping that was the right thing to say. "I'm just staying with Cameron temporarily."

"How did the two of you meet?" Sharon practically jumped on me with the question. "Are you in the music industry, Lily? Oh, but you're so beautiful dear, you must be an actress. You did meet Cameron through work, yes? What exactly do you do?"

She shot the questions at me so fast I didn't have time to respond. I glanced at Cameron, confused and wondering why my choice in career was so important to her.