CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
GRIFFIN

I reserved an entire restaurant for London’s surprise party, I had to agree to let Nigel premiere our latest music video tonight for The Machine to cover the expenses though. It might turn out to be a thoughtful gift since Nigel says it includes scenes of her and Carter. Nash, Adair, Carly, and Travis have their assignments to make sure this night is absolutely perfect… for her. For Carter. And now for her parents.

My nerves are shot, my stomach is rolling, and I thought I was going to hurl right there in the back seat of The Machine’s SUV—in front of her parents.

This has to go smooth.

London deserves to know how important she is to me, and to all of us. This isn’t about the bet either, it’s just because she’s that special and I will do whatever it takes to prove that to her. To be honest, the bet was a huge win for me because it gave me permission to do all the things that I already wanted to do for her without having to explain myself. It took some of the awkwardness out of it, which is weird because having a bet with a girl to prove you take them seriously is awkward in itself.

But… hopefully by the end of tonight, she will be completely aware of how much she means to me.

“Surprise!” Travis is the first one to jump out holding up his piece of the message I had gone through an incredible amount of planning and detail to get right, and then he screws it all to hell in less than three-point-two seconds. He and the giant L from the Happy Birthday, London! are standing there giving the whole thing away.

I choke down the overwhelming urge to punch him in the nose. “Damn it, Travis,” I growl, as London pushes past me.

“What is all this?” She turns and stares me square in the eyes. “What did you do?” She turns her focus back to where Travis is still standing, now with a cheesy ass grin plastered to his face, still holding the L up above his head.

“I didn’t do—” I can’t help but laugh at the epic fail. Christ.

“Surprise!” The rest of our Amaryllis family jumps out, revealing the rest of the message with the L just a little out of place. Sigh. At least the rest of them were on cue.

“Surprise…?” I say with a grin, hoping she won’t kill me later.

Her eyes shift from death glares to soft and warm. I want to pull her close to me and wrap my arms around her, but Casey is the first one to break the line and wraps London up in a hug instead. “Happy birthday, love,” she says. The rest of the Amaryllis family follows suit. When the line finally dies down, I smile and nod to where Adair is bringing out the piano shaped cake.

“Cake is here.” Adair calls from the center table we set up as the makeshift serving station. It’s not fancy, but I hope she’ll see how much effort we all put into it.

She giggles as she reads the cake that says, London, you rock our socks. Happy birthday! “Thank you, all! So much.”

“I tried to have it made to look like the one from the video you played for us the first night we met,” I say, feeling more than a little vulnerable.

She grabs my hand and leans her head against my shoulder. “It’s perfect,” she sighs.

Yes!

“Happy birthday, sweetie.” Her mom wraps her in a tight hug. “It looks like you’ve got a lot of people who care about you.” I don’t miss the fact she cut her gaze in my direction. I’m not a bit ashamed to be this obvious about how much I love her.

Carter spots a guitar sitting in the corner and tugs on his mom’s hand. “Can I go play it?”

“Oh, I think that’s Nash’s. We probably shouldn’t—”

Nash throws up a high-five for Carter. “C’mon. I’d be proud to have you play her.”

“Her?” he asks.

Nash nods as he grabs Carter’s hand. “Guitars have personalities very much like people.”

“That can’t be true.”

He bobs his head back and forth. “It’s mostly true. I’ll show you what I mean. You know how your guitar has a certain feel? You can sit down and you know exactly how to hold it, how to wrap your hand around it so that your fingers are sitting in just the right place to make the melody you’re hearing in your  head?”

“Yeah.”

He nods his head in the direction of his guitar. “Let’s go see if it feels the same.”

“Can I, Mom?”

“Don’t let him out of your sight for a second, Nash.”

Nash smiles and nods.

I put one arm around London. She is trembling, but she must feel like this is an important part of Carter growing up because she’s letting him do it. I can only imagine the fears rolling through her head right now, especially after she told me about his wandering off. She pulls out her phone and opens an app that says, Current location: 6 yards. It shows a path in blue footprints between London’s current location and Carters. So that was what she was checking when we were at the mall. “It’s connected to his tactical gear,” she explains.

“Nash is great with kids.” I take a deep breath. “When we lost our parents, Nash was barely legal himself, but he took care of us all and made sure we walked a very tight line. He’s always been that way.”

She nods, processing and keeping one eye on Carter. “Where’d my parents go?” She turns in a circle scanning the building until her eyes focus in on her parents in the corner chatting it up with Travis.

For the love of—

“Adair, you are the single most selfish, egotistical, arrogant, I—” Carly’s interrupted by Adair planting a huge kiss on her in the middle of the makeshift dance floor. She shoves him back making him stumble into the punch station. “Don’t you dare kiss me after you were with her last night.”

“C’mon, Carly.” He holds his arms out wide. “You know they don’t mean anything to me.”

She nods. “I’m overwhelmingly clear on that fact.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“No one matters to you, except yourself.” She storms off the dance floor in our direction. She stops short just in front of London. “I’m so sorry, honey. I hope you had an amazing birthday. I’m going to excuse myself now before I kill him.”

London returns the hug and whispers something in her ear before pulling back. “Call me later if you need anything.”

Carly nods and heads out the main entrance with Adair running after her.

Idiot.

Nigel taps the microphone set up just to the side of the huge screen currently sliding down the wall. He clicks the button on the remote to turn on the projector. “It’s time for our first gift of the night. London James’s debut appearance in the music video for Amarylllis’ latest single, Live Alone.”

Her face puckers up and she motions for Carter to come join us to watch the unveiling. Richard and Melody join us too, clearly excited to see their daughter’s debut. Scenes of us running around and acting like idiots play through the intro, until the camera zooms in to catch London’s face as she plays the song at the Tulsa show, the night we met. It’s a beautiful moment and the passion in her face as she lets the music flow is equally beautiful. A bolt of electricity shoots through my veins as the camera catches a moment that looks like she’s watching me through the chorus. I can’t help but steal a glance in her direction now.

She’s blushing.

Yep, she totally checked me out.

Score.

She squeaks as she covers her face with both hands.

“What’s wrong?” I was too busy watching her to know what set her off.

Her parents are both giggling, now she is too. She looks up at me through one eye and points at the screen. “Cactus PJs.”

“Hey, at least they’re super-hot.”

She rolls her eyes and elbows me in the ribs. It didn’t hurt, but I pretend it did.

“Whatever,” she whispers to not interrupt the playback.

Carter jumps up and down. “Mom, that was me!”

“It sure was.” Adair scoops him up and perches him on his shoulders so he can see better. “We totally nailed that three-point shot, thanks to you. Good job, buddy.”

Carter giggles.

London smiles.

My heart feels full.

This is the life I want. Nothing else will ever fill the void inside my soul the way these two do.

---

Vic pulls The Machine’s SUV in front of the hotel’s lobby. “The Machine’s already checked you in. You can pick up your key at the front desk,” he says to London’s parents as a concierge attendant wheels a golden luggage rack through the doorway.

“This is all so… much.” Melody takes in the courtyard and the elaborate design of the entrance, her eyes widening with each new detail she discovers.

London just smiles and gives her mom a kiss on the cheek. “You deserve to be pampered a bit, Mom. Dad does too, but I’m not sure you’ll be able to convince him to take advantage of the spa.”

“There’s a spa?” Melody whirls around with a glimmer in her eye. “I’ve always wanted to try one of those cucumber peel things.”

“I’m sure you can probably do that here,” London says through a smile.

Carter tugs on his grandma’s shirt. “Can I stay here with you tonight?”

London’s eyes almost pop out of her head. “Uh—”

“C’mon, Mom. I haven’t seen them in a couple weeks.” Carter’s really mastered the puppy dog look that us boys always give our moms when we know the answer is one-hundred percent no.

And it almost always does the trick.

“London, you know your father and I will look after him.” Melody ruffles his hair. “We’ve missed you too, kiddo.”

Richard clears his throat. “C’mon, Carter. Lets go get our room key.”

“Wait, Dad!” London swallows hard, clearly trying to decide how to handle this situation. “He’s been through a lot of changes lately. I’m not sure another new environment is a great idea.”

Carter holds up his wrist. “I won’t take it off.”

Devon steps forward, he hitched a ride with us since Casey left the party early. “I am technically still on duty, London.” His smile looks like one a comic villain might wear, but he’s the most dedicated security guard Amaryllis has had. He’s a good guy to the core.

“So, we’re doing this again, huh?” It seems more a statement than a question.

Devon holds his hands up. “I’m not sponsoring either side here, I’m just offering to help if needed.”

She shakes her head. “I’m sorry, Dev. I’m not mad at you, I appreciate the offer.” Kneeling beside Carter she places one hand on either side of his face. “Remember, if you start to feel anxious you can push this button,” she touches a button on his wristband, “and it will tell me exactly where you are and to come get you right then.”

He nods. “I know, Mom. I won’t though. I’ll be fine. Love you,” he says and gives her a kiss on the cheek before bouncing off into the lobby with Richard.

Melody offers London a hand as she’s pushing herself back up off her knees. “I know it’s hard, but I swear to you that little boy is safe with us watching him.”

“I know that. It’s not any easier though.”

She gives London a knowing look and repeats the same thing London just did with Carter, placing one hand on either side of her face. “I love you, honey. It’s going to be just fine.”

“Love you too, Mom.”

I nod to Vic to open the hatch so the attendant can get their luggage, which he does. “Is this the last of it?” He asks as he pulls the last bag from the SUV.

“Yes, sir.” Melody gives London another hug and follows the attendant through the doors.

London sighs and leans into my arm. “This is harder than I expected.”

I have absolutely no idea how to help comfort her, so I just put my arm around her and hope it is enough. “Do you want to stay?”

She shakes her head. “No. The number one goal, other than keeping him safe, is to help him learn to be as independent as possible. He needs to do this. I just have to let him.”

“Are you ready to go back to the bus?”

A heavy sigh tells me exactly how she feels about the idea, but still she takes my hand and pulls me into the SUV behind her. She falls into the bench at the back of the SUV and slides over so I can sit next to her.

“You don’t want to sit up there?” I ask, confused why she’d want to sit at the back of the vehicle instead of in the middle.

She shakes her head and looks like she’s choking back tears. “Oh.” I let myself fall into the seat next to her, wrapping both arms around her as she breaks down in the backseat of the luxury SUV. My heart breaks, but I am clueless of how to help so I just hold her and let her cry in my shoulder.

I feel so helpless.