CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
GRIFFIN

“Maybe I shouldn’t have tagged along, man.” I needed to see her, but… “She clearly doesn’t want me here.”

Devon just chuckles and shakes his head. “Dude, you’re going to stress me out. Calm down, would you?”

“I can’t help it.” I drag my hand down my face. “I think I’m losing it, man.”

“Women, huh?” He smiles and allows his gaze to shift, following Casey’s movements. 

She’s standing just out of earshot inside the dressing room corridor. Her mouth is moving but, despite all my straining to focus, I can’t hear a word she’s saying. “I wonder what they’re talking about.” 

“I have a feeling you might be at the center of it.”

“Thanks, man. Super helpful.”

Devon pulls his phone from his back pocket. “Let’s just settle it right now.” 

“What are you doing?”

“I’m asking Casey if she wants me to make you leave.” 

“Dude.” 

He shrugs and stuffs his phone back in his pocket. 

Really? “Come on, man. You can’t leave me twisting in the wind like that.” 

“She said…” He clears his throat like a jackass. A jackass that I want to punch in the face right now.

“Devon!” I give him a deadpan glare, which doesn’t seem to interfere with the theatrics.

“Sorry.” He makes a gag face. “I had something in my throat there.”

He’s still biting at his own tongue like he’s choking on a furball. Great. I have a werecat for a security guard. Fantastic. He’s drawing more than a couple of glances our way. They are clearly wondering if we’re mentally sound and if they’re safe to be in the same vicinity as us. “She said, London would rather you stayed.” He throws in one last gag for good measure.

“Really? Why did she bolt back into the dressing room like she was afraid of me?”

Devon squints one eye and scrunches his face up as he holds up his phone. “You really want me to ask that?”

“Not particularly, no,” I admit, training my eyes on the floor.

He slaps me on the shoulder and chuckles under his breath. “You’re being kind of precious about this, dude.” His eyes grow wider. “Oh. My. Gawd. I think I just found your new nickname.”

“What the hell?”

He nods with smug satisfaction on his face. “Precious.”

Yep. I’m going to punch him. “Do me a favor?”

“Depends.”

I need better friends. “Shut the eff up.”

His laugh echoes in the store. “Nah.”

“Don’t tell my brothers how far gone I am.” They are already concerned enough. I don’t need to give them anything else to worry about.

“Not my business to tell,” he agrees.

Why can’t my brothers live by that same motto? I look up to see London hauling an armful of clothes out of the dressing room and Casey helping Carter gather up his things. “Can I help?” I reach out to grab some of what just looks like shreds of pink fabric sliding off the top of the pile in her arms.

“Thanks,” she says with a smile that grabs my heart and squeezes so hard I don’t think it’ll ever let go. I don’t want it to either.

“I’m sorry if I startled you when I showed up earlier,” I stumble and stutter over my words. She probably thinks I am a complete and total headcase. A bright red lace… something, falls out of the stack and onto the floor. I don’t know what it is, but it looks hot and now my brain is mush.

This is your brain.

This is your brain on red lace.

I picture one of those old commercials where the egg gets cracked and leaks into the skillet. I think I can actually hear my brain sizzling and popping right now as thoughts of London wearing the bright red lace whatever-it-is play through my mind.

I need a distraction.

Carter tugs on his mom’s arm. “I’m getting bored.”

Distraction mode activated.

London sighs and looks toward the makeup section. “I know, sweetheart. We’re almost done, I swear.”

Carter lets out a low groan that is universal dude code for I am going to explode if I have to look at one more glitter encrusted piece of clothing. It’s something we’re all guilty of when we’re shopping with the women in our lives. We might want to make them happy and spend all day watching them twirl and smile at their own reflections, but seriously the shopping thing is like a death sentence to most of us.

“I saw this little music shop on the lower level on our way here,” I suggest. “You said he loves music, right?”

She nods.

“I could take him over there and let him blow off some steam playing with the instruments.” I shrug. “It’d keep him from being bored.”

“I don’t know—” she starts to object, but Carter cuts her off.

“Please, Mom!” he hops up and down just a little bit. Enough to make her smile at him and glare at me. I don’t know how she does it, but she can literally look like the warmest most loving creature on Earth and the single most terrifying all at the same time.

I hold my hands up in complete and total surrender. I hope they can’t all tell just how literal that gesture is. “I swear on my life, I will watch him and not take my eyes off him for a second.”

London grumbles with Carter tugging on the hem of her shirt. She fires a glance off at Casey that either says Help me or I’m going to kill this guy as soon as we’re out of the public eye. I’m not sure I’m okay with either option.

“Listen,” I say, placing the armload of clothes on the station in front of the register. The young woman behind the register seems to be amused with our little discussion. I see her fiddling in the drawer. I know this look and I’d really like to get out of here before she asks for an autograph. I love our fans, but I need London to know that life with me does not have to be chaotic. We could have a normal life…

Mostly normal, anyway.

“I swear to you,” I cross my heart, “I will not let anything happen to him. If you’re not comfortable with the idea, then I’ll drop it right now. Just let me know what I can do to help, so you can finish your day however you had it planned.”

“Please. Mom.” Carter is still begging and I kind of feel like an asshole for bringing it up.

London leans in and whispers in my ear. “How can you keep an eye on him when people are constantly throwing themselves at you like that?” She nods toward the woman behind the register who is currently adjusting herself in her bra.

Great timing. Just great.

I can’t help but laugh. “It’s just noise in the background. You know what I mean?”

She levels her gaze at me, the warning look. “I just don’t know if—”

Casey plops an arm around London and nudges her. “You know, Devon is a security guard.”

“So?” London asks.

“So…” Devon pipes up, “I’ll go with them and make sure the little guy has my full attention. He’ll have his very own secret service agent with him.” He holds up a hand for a high-five, which Carter gladly accepts.

“It’s your day off.” London scoffs. “You shouldn’t have to work on your day off.”

“I don’t mind at all. I’ve grown pretty attached to this little dude,” Devon responds. I make a mental note to check on the status of his raise.

I don’t want her feeling pressured though, and I’m afraid that’s what’s happening. “If you’d rather wait, maybe we can all stop in there together after you’re finished here.” I hold my hand out hoping to feel her fingers wrap around mine again. Instead, she pulls out her phone and swipes at the screen.

“Okay, fine,” she finally says, tucking the phone back into her pocket.

Carter claps, hopping up and down again. “Really?”

“Let’s meet at the food court in what…?” She gives me a look that says it’s not really a question and I need to just accept the offer with absolutely no renegotiations. “Thirty minutes?” 

“Works for me. I’m starving.” Thirty minutes is more than enough time to distract Carter from his own boredom and maybe even have a little fun while we are at it. I reach for his hand. “Let’s go.”

---

The music shop is small, which is to be expected in a mall, but they have a great selection of guitars for a budding musician. I help Carter reach the ones on the top row, pulling them down one by one for his inspection. He knows a lot more about them than I expected, his eyes are bouncing between a pristine Les Paul and a mahogany acoustic, which is very similar to the one I learned on. I pull them both down from the top row.

“Are you guys still doing okay?” The overly helpful woman asks, pushing herself into me close enough that her name tag, which says LeeAnn, scratches the bare skin just under the hem of my sleeve. I can feel her tits rubbing against my arm. This is not what I need in my life right now. Her perfume is assaulting my nostrils and I would really like it to stop. To top it off, Devon is about to blow a gasket from trying not to laugh. His spit just hit me in the face. This is going well…

“Aside from things being a little cramped, everything is fine.” I turn to head in the opposite direction, holding on tight to Carter’s hand. There is a make-shift jam area, complete with two stools and a djembe, set up at the end of Guitar Row. “All right, which of these do you want to try first?” I hold both guitars up as Carter settles in.

He perches atop the little oak stool and studies them both. He reaches for the mahogany acoustic first.

“You got it!”

He props it up on his knee and already looks comfortable holding it.

“Have you played before?”

“No,” he deadpans as he plucks away at an A chord. “I’ve watched some YouTube videos though. He strums the chord until he finds a pattern he likes.

“This kid’s a natural.” Devon pats me on the back. “He might be coming for your job someday, man.”

“He totally is.” I shove the Les Paul into Devon’s chest. “Take this, would you?” I grab the djembe and find a groove that compliments what Carter’s playing. “How many chords do you know?”

“Just a few,” he says just as he switches to plucking out an F chord. I adjust the rhythm to match.

LeeAnn pops around the corner and scares me half to death. I swear she added another layer of that bright purple eyeshadow and I am relatively sure she undid at least three buttons since the last time I saw her. I’m really not interested. “Time’s up, guys.” She plants her foot on the stool’s footrest pushing one hip out as she twirls a blonde braid between her fingers. “I could make an exception though,” she squeaks, staring right at me.

Why me?

“So, what do you say, babe?” Devon asks flinging his arm around my shoulders, nudging LeeAnn right out of the way and leaning into me like I’m his date for the night. “Are we going get this for our little man?”

“Ugh.” I squirm and jerk my arm out of his grip. “What the fu—”

He smacks me on the back and wraps his arm around mine again. “I know you’re still getting used to the PDA’s, but really babe…” he plants a kiss on my cheek, “get used to it.”

What’s happening, right now?

LeeAnn’s eyes flash from confusion to recognition and suddenly it makes sense. He’s saving me. “I didn’t realize. I’m sorry…”

I laugh nervously. “When you’re right, you’re right.” I make a kissy face at Devon and scoop Carter’s bag up, grabbing his hand in mine. “I think we should probably just keep looking.”

“Come back anytime,” LeeAnn calls after us as we haul ass from the back of the store.

I almost run into a dude with a beard as long as my arm. He doesn’t look happy to be here anyway and I really don’t feel like getting punched in the dick today. “Sorry, man.” I back up and step around the human roadblock. “I can appreciate you’re a good-looking man, but I’m taken.” I growl in Devon’s ear as we scurry out into the mall.

Devon chuckles under his breath. “You’re welcome, boo.”

“I hate you.” I cannot believe I am running with my tail between my legs because of a blonde with too much eyeshadow.

Carter’s yanks back on my hand, pulling us to a stop. He watches as she places the guitar back on its perch in the middle of the top row.

“You really like that one, huh”

“Yeah,” he says with a shrug as he tugs his headphones out of his backpack and plops them on his head.