CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
GRIFFIN

“London!” Nigel yells from the end of the corridor. He’s waving a small stack of papers in his hand. “You need to sign these before you go on stage.” 

“What are they?” she asks studying Nigel then quickly glancing back at me. “Do you have any idea?”

I shrug. “No clue. But I’d read ever single word before you sign anything.”

She nods. “Duh.”

Nigel’s eyebrows raise as he peeks up over the top of his wire rimmed glasses at us. “You need to sign these for the music video that went live this morning.”

“What does a music video have to do with me?” she asks the same thing I’m wondering right now.

He sighs and uses his pinky to push his glasses back up his nose. “The video was pieced together using concert footage and a few behind the scenes moments caught by a v-logger.”

Jess.

“The Machine hadn’t planned on you being in any of them, but because of the candid nature of the video some of the scenes include you and Carter.”

“Great.” She cocks her head to the side. “Shouldn’t I have signed that before the video went live.”

“Probably.” Nigel shrugs. “We’re doing it now though.”

“Whatever.” She snatches the papers from Nigel and signs the line at the bottom. “It can’t be that big of a deal.”

I step in front of Nigel before he takes off back down the corridor. “When do we get to see the video, since it already premiered?”

“Tomorrow night.” He spins to glance at London. “Looks like your parents get to experience a world premier their first trip here.”

She shakes her head no and puckers her lips. “The world premier was this morning, apparently.”

“Touché.” He smirks and disappears back into the makeshift office area at the back of the building.

Adair and Nash are already warming up the crowd. “Am-uh-real-us,” they’re all chanting in unison just like they do every night.

“Hey!” Travis bounces out of his dressing room. “You ready to play to a full show tonight, London?”

Her face turns red, but she recovers after a quick gulp.”I’m nervous, but excited.”

“Ah, don’t worry. You’re a pro.” He gives her a wink and a pat on the back as he moves past us toward the stairs. As soon as he hits the stage, he clicks the sticks over his head to count us off and the crowd booms with cheers.

I give London a slight nudge in the side with my elbow. “You ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” She takes the stairs before I can even put one foot in front of the other and takes her spot behind the electric piano. The dude in the southwest corner of the pit is watching her way too close for my personal comfort. Gah. Jealousy is an ugly thing, isn’t it? “Who’s ready to let off some steam, tonight?” I yell into the microphone.

The crowd responds as usual. Here we go…

---

This is the first time I’m actually grateful to have that jet. I never really needed it, but the label gave it to me anyway. I doubt London would have agreed to this tour without being able to ensure her parents could still see Carter regularly. She didn’t want him to have any interruptions to his normal routine, outside of the obvious like living out of a bus for ninety days… Groan.

I respect her for that. I cannot wait to meet the people who helped shape her into the woman I’ve fallen completely in love with. Yes, I said love, and she doesn’t even know it.

Maybe she does.

Maybe she’s just enjoying toying with my heart.

It’s okay either way. She can do anything she wants as long as I get to see that smile… That one right there. My god. She’s beautiful.

“Thank you for doing this for them, Griffin.” She grabs my arm intertwining it with hers.

I’m so grateful for the feeling of her hand in mine, I wrap my fingers around hers pulling her closer. “I told you, I’ll do anything I can to make you and Carter happy.”

“Is this just because it’s my birthday?”

How can she not already know this is an everyday for as long as we both shall live thing?

She stands on her tiptoes and plants a kiss on my cheek. The fact she is wearing stilettos and still has to resort to tiptoes doesn’t go unnoticed. It’s adorable.

I know there is a pink lip mark on my cheek.

I do not care.

I’m leaving it there.

The tarmac crew scrambles on the runway just the other side of the window. “I think they’re here,” Carter says with excitement looking up at the jet that is just barely coming into view.

“I think you’re right.” I lift him up on my shoulders so he can get a better look. “Wave as they come in, they’ll be able to see you as he brings it in for the landing.”

Carter waves wildly on top of my shoulders, giggling as he does.

London rests her head on my arm, and this is all I will ever need. I don’t think I can go back to what life was before I met London James. My stomach is twisting into knots. I want to tell her what I have planned for tonight after the show. It’s hard as hell keeping a secret from her. It destroys me when I can’t be just as open and authentic with her as she is. She deserves the same in return.

A woman exits the plane who is exactly what I expect London to look like in thirty years. “Is that your mom?” She is wearing a bright pink top and cuffed denim. Her dark hair hits just beneath her chin, and she sports a smile that lights up her entire face. Just like London’s.

“Yep,” she smiles, tugging on my arm so I’ll follow her to the waiting area outside. The gates are just being opened to allow Melody and Richard James through as we walk out. “Hi Mom… Dad.” She lets go of my arm for the first time since we got here to wrap her arms around her parents.

I help Carter hop to the ground from my shoulders, so he can join the family hug. I’ll just stand back here. I shove my hands in my pockets, rocking back and forth on my heels like an idiot.

“This is Griffin,” London gestures for me to join them.

I’m not sure my feet can move at this point. Meeting her parents is literally the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done in my life, even though I’ve talked to both of them on the phone already. They seem like genuinely kind and loving people…

What if they hate me?

I’m a goddamn rockstar, of course they’re going to hate me.

They’re all staring at me. Her parents are both giving me a skeptical look. I don’t blame them. I’m sure they googled me and nothing they found on Google is accurate. If I didn’t know the real me, I’d hate me too. Actually, I kind of hate myself for going along with this gimmick for this long. Maybe it is time to talk to the guys. “Hello, Missus James.” I reach to shake her mother’s hand first, since she is the closest to me.

“Don’t give me that Missus crap,” she slaps my hand down and wraps me up into a huge bear hug. “Call me Mama J like everyone else does.”

I can’t help but laugh. She’s definitely where London gets her spunk from. I love it. I nod and smile as I pull back. Her father’s hand is outstretched waiting for me to acknowledge it. “Papa Q, I assume?”

“You can call me Mister James, young man,” he deadpans, gripping down hard on my hand. It’s a little difficult to take him seriously in the floral vacation shirt, but I think I just felt at least one knuckle crack, so I nod and hope to save the rest of my knuckles.

“Daddy!” London half-yells and half-laughs.

“Ahh, I’m just kidding son.” He slaps me on the back and shakes me a little bit. “You can call me Bob.”

“Bob?”

“Yes, Bob.”

“I thought…” I lean over and whisper in London’s ear, “I thought his name was Richard.”

“It is,” she says, as if this is the most normal thing ever. “It’s a long story, just go with it.”

“Bob it is.” I shake his hand and think I might be in over my head, but it’ll be a fun ride. “How was your flight?”

“The flight was amazing,” Bob says.

His wife whacks him on the arm with a pocket-sized book. “You wouldn’t know. You fell asleep.”

“That’s why it was amazing,” he says with a smirk. “It’s been a long time since I slept that good. We need to get some of those chairs for the living room.”

I nudge London’s arm. “That sounds like you when I passed out on the way through New Mexico.”

“You were literally missing life,” she huffs. “Those views were everything.” She gets so excited to see new places and try new things. It makes me miss that feeling of adventure before everything about this job became so mundane and fake.

“Here,” she hands them both a VIP badge and a Crew label. “You’ll need this because we have spots saved for you just off-stage.”

They both nod and smile. I’m guessing they have no idea what that actually means and are probably picturing seats in the area behind the stage where you can’t see a thing. “Which means you’ll be able to watch London play from up close,” I explain. “Carter too, of course.” 

He gives me a high-five.

“My baby girl,” her mom squeals and gives her another hug that looks like it might be cutting off circulation. “This is so exciting.”