“You up for that, sweetheart?”
“Wait, you’re asking me?” This was Daddy’s night, not mine. “Whatever you want to do I’m good with.”
One of the guards whispered something to Shadow, then Shadow turned to Daddy. “Griff is here, he’s asking to see you. Do you want the guards to bring him over?”
“The fuck?” Daddy took a big drink of whatever the waitress brought him. “Uhhh, yeah, I guess now’s the best time.”
Why was that name so familiar…
Oh, shoot.
Chapter Sixteen
Stone
Fucker still made me look small, though he wasn’t quite as massive as Shadow, and as always he was unnerving as fuck, with those brilliant, ice-blue eyes of his. If I hadn’t known him most of my life I’d have sworn he was wearing contacts, but those were just the ones he was born with. The last time I’d seen on him, all the color had been bleached out of his hair and we’d taken to calling him an ice elf. It was good to see it blond again, like it had been when we were kids.
Neither of us moved.
Not a handshake or a hug was exchanged.
I was waiting for him to tell me what the fuck he was doing here.
I didn’t know what the fuck he was waiting for.
“I’ve been looking for you,” he said at last.
“I noticed. The question is, Why?”
“You were my brother before we were bandmates,” he said. “That doesn’t end because of a disagreement, no matter how heated it got. You were trying to help me. I should have listened.”
“Yeah, you should have,” I said, still standing there with my arms crossed.
I wanted to hug him. Damn it all, I needed to hug him, but if he was still the bitter drunk I’d left behind, then I couldn’t invite him into the life I was trying to make with Payden. Not when toward the end there, he had truly started to get mean. I might not have agreed with all our bandmates’ choices, but calling Mark a mediocre drummer on a good day had been hitting below the belt, especially when Mark had his own demons he’d been struggling with at the time.
“It took a few months,” he blurted, "but I went to rehab. Backslid a few times, but I’ve been out for six months, living above a tarot shop in Palm Springs and picking up occasional gigs with a glam rock cover band to make sure I can pay my rent. I got my chip and everything.”
He even pulled it out of his pocket to show me.
“I fucked up,” he said.
“We both did,” I replied, offering him my hand.
I yanked him into a one-arm hug as soon as he grabbed it, relieved to hear his news.
“Missed you, fucker,” he grumbled in my ear.
“Right back at ya, you rat bastard.”
We slapped each other’s backs, which probably wasn’t the best idea since he nearly knocked the wind out of me before we turned one another loose.
I wrapped my arm around Payden after we’d sat back down, Griff on the other side of me. Lucas had moved to the other side of Shadow so we could talk business. I pressed a kiss to the side of Payden’s head and buried my face in his hair for amoment to compose myself. “Griff, this is my boyfriend, Payden Walters. Payden, meet Griffin Creed. Former Bassist of Savage Destruction…and pretty much the only other family I have in this world besides you and your folks. We grew up together, sort of.”
“What he means is that we shared a foster mother for a while, as well as a couple group homes,” Griff said, being brutally honest about our connection.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Payden said.
“Nice to meet you too, Payden,” Griff said, “and thanks. Something tells me you’re the one responsible for his reemergence.”
