Griffin

by Marie James

  “Kennedy who?” He gives me a quick grin, and I slap him on the back as the elevator opens up.

  As if he’s seen a ghost, Samson’s feet stutter on the linoleum.

  “Camryn?” he asks, and just by the tone of his voice, I can feel his obsession.

  I grin at the woman as her lips turn from a pleasant smile to a flat line. “It’s Dr. Davison.”

  “Y-you…h-hi,” Samson stammers.

  When the elevator doors ding because he’s blocking them from closing, I push against his back, forcing him inside.

  “Hi, Griffin.”

  “Dr. Davison,” I greet with a quick nod. Dr. Camryn Davison is the daughter of the pediatrician we all had as kids. She’s followed in his footsteps, but she also babysat most of us when we were younger.

  As if realizing he’s acting like a complete dweeb, Samson reaches in his pocket, pulling out the slip of paper with my appointment on it before pressing the button for the fourth floor.

  His heavy breathing fills the car as we ascend, and he makes no move to join me when the doors open on our floor.

  “Samson?” I urge, but he waves me off.

  “I’ll see you after your appointment.”

  Dr. Davison’s eyes widen as I step out and the doors close with only her and Samson inside. A laugh belts out before I can stop myself. If there’s any truth in the stories he told me on the drive over here, that woman has her hands full.

  It only takes a few moments to find the correct door to the office for my appointment, and after a brief sign in, I’m walking to sit and wait, having only left a few minutes to spare before my appointment time.

  “Griffin Griggs?” I turn at hearing my name and come face to face with the warmest smile I’ve seen outside of my mother’s own glowing face. This woman is older, more of a grandmotherly type, and there isn’t an ounce of judgment in her eyes. She holds her hand out to me as I close the distance between us. “I’m Dr. Emma Alverez.”

  Her hand is warm, and her grip is stronger than I’d expect from a woman who has to be in her late sixties.

  “Nice to meet you,” I tell her as my blood fills with anxiety.

  “If you’d join me in my office, I’d love to get to know you better.” She says it in a way that doesn’t make me feel pressured, so the only thing I can do is comply.

  Chapter 34

  Ivy

  “Are you sure you have to go?” I ask Melissa as I give her a hug.

  “You think I’m all geared up to clean out the fridge we didn’t bother to think about before high-tailing it across the country?” My friend gives me one final squeeze before taking a step back.

  It was the longest day ever at the high school, and even though I’m glad to be back home, I hate having to say goodbye to Melissa, Delilah, and Lawson.

  “Better you than me,” I mumble with a quick grin.

  “When can I expect you back?”

  “I don’t know,” I answer honestly. My return to Rhode Island depends on a lot more than just needing to be home in time for the fall semester to start.

  I try to look toward Griffin’s house, but it’s blocked by the clubhouse.

  “I wish we had more time to talk,” she says, noticing where my gaze has landed.

  “I’m sorry I’m such a terrible friend, having made you come all this way and hardly being able to see you.”

  “I was distracted, too,” she says as Cannon walks up with a wide smile on his face.

  My life-long friend wraps his arms around Melissa’s waist, resting his chin on her shoulder. “Do I get one last kiss goodbye?”

  She turns in his arms, and I look toward Delilah to give them a moment of privacy.

  “Don’t cry,” Delilah says as she wraps me in a hug. “We plan to come back out once more before school starts again.”

  “I’m going to miss you guys,” I whisper, doing my best not to resort to full-on sobbing.

  “We’d stay, but Lawson has to get back to the shop.”

  I nod my head against hers in understanding, giving her one final squeeze before releasing her.

  “We’ll see you guys in a month or so,” I hear Lawson tell someone, and I look up, hopeful that it’s Griffin. Instead, it’s Samson gripping Lawson’s hand before giving his twin sister a hug.

  I want to ask Samson where Griffin is, knowing they went to town earlier, but now doesn’t seem like the right time. After his quick goodbyes, he disappears around the edge of the clubhouse before I can stop him.

  Cannon and I stand and watch as Melissa, Lawson, and Delilah climb into their rented SUV. We wave until the back of the vehicle is engulfed in the dirt kicked up from the gravel road.

  “Well, sister-in-law,” Cannons says as he swings his arm around my shoulder and redirects me toward the clubhouse, “what are your plans for the evening?”

  I want to beam at the new nickname, but all I feel is sadness knowing my two best friends are leaving already.

  “Aren’t you going to miss Melissa?”

  “Sure,” he says. “She was great to hang out with.”

  “I thought you two would fall in love, and you’d beg her to stay.”

  His laugh is rueful. “Neither one of us are the falling in love type, Ivy. I’ll leave that mess for you and Griffin.”

  I don’t say another word as Cannon leads me through the clubhouse and out the back, delivering me to my back door. He smacks a quick kiss to my forehead before walking away, and I can’t help but wonder by the slump in his shoulders if he isn’t just pretending that he’s okay with her leaving.

  After grabbing a bottle of water and a fruit roll-up, I climb the stairs, suddenly weary with sadness. Griffin hasn’t texted or called all day, and it has taken every effort I have to keep from second-guessing where we stand.

  He barely fluttered his eyes when I gave him a soft peck on the lips before leaving for work this morning, and as the day crawled by without hearing from him, dread slowly crept in until I’d imagined I made everything up.

  “Knock, knock,” my mom says as she sticks her head through the open crack of my door. “May I come in?”

  “Of course.” I grab the trash from my snack off my bed and place it on the bedside table so she can have a place to sit down.

  “I feel like we haven’t had a chance to catch up since you got home.”

  “Seems I’ve been neglecting everyone.”

  “Oh hush,” my mother says, chastising me with a soft slap to the back of my hand. “You’ve had other things going on.”

  “I guess.” I hang my head because even with her here, I’d rather be with Griffin. I love my mother, don’t get me wrong, but I get this sense of unease every time I walk away from Griffin.

  “Misty is over the moon about you and Griffin,” she says as if she knows where my train of thought has wandered.

  “And how do you feel?” I lift my head, so I can read her face in case her words don’t match her expression.

  “I support your decision.”

  That’s not a very strong position, and my eyes narrow as I try to read her better.

  “And if I decide to run off with him and get married?” I frown right after saying it because as much as I’d love for that to be our fairy-tale ending, I also don’t want to jinx us by putting things like that out in the atmosphere.

  Her lips twitch before she responds. “Let’s not get carried away.”

  Her words come out with a light laugh, and it’s clear, she wouldn’t be completely opposed to the idea. Her reaction makes some of the tension in my muscles ebb away.

  “Are you guys in that sort of place?” I can tell she’s trying to be diplomatic, but at the same time, she’s dying to know more details.

  “I feel guilty more than anything,” I confide. “Even after what I heard yesterday, my feelings haven’t changed one bit.”

  I look up to see sadness on my mother’s otherwise beautiful face.

  “Doesn’t that make me crazy? Or selfish? I have to be evil
to hear the things he’s done and still care for him.”

  “It just makes you a girl in love, and understanding what he’s going through and having the ability to love him through the ugliness makes you an amazing young woman. You’re not crazy; you’re incredibly strong. Your father and I are so very proud of the way both of you girls have turned out.”

  “You don’t see love as a weakness?” I don’t even know why I ask the question knowing my parents are so strong in their marriage, that they’re solid and unshakeable.

  “Not at all.” She clasps my hands in her own and gives them a little squeeze. “Two people who love each other have one of the strongest bonds I can think of. If you two are willing to work together and get through the things you face, you guys will be unstoppable.”

  “I don’t even know if he loves me.” I won’t tell her about the things he said to me while he was staying at the cabin. Deep down, I’m afraid that she’ll change her opinion of him, and I need her support right now because what happened before doesn’t even factor into how I feel about him. If hearing what he did in Syria doesn’t change what I think of him, I don’t imagine that there’s much I can be told that would alter how I feel.

  “Then you need to ask him.”

  I huff a humorless laugh. “I can’t just ask the man if he loves me, Mom. That’s not how it works.”

  He did ask you that very same thing, I think as I watch her face.

  “Sure, you can. The last thing you want is miscommunication getting in the way of your happiness. Not talking ruins more relationships than anything else.”

  “You sound like you know from experience.”

  “Believe me,” my mom says with a smile that tells me she’s thinking about the past, “I did my fair share of avoidance when your father and I first met. I’m just grateful that he’s the kind of man who refuses to give up. We have an amazing life together now.”

  “I want what you guys have,” I confess.

  “Then understand that sometimes you have to fight for it. My relationship with your father didn’t come without disagreements. You know how overly possessive and strong-willed he is.”

  I laugh, knowing exactly what she’s talking about. There was a time when my mom, Gigi, and I weren’t allowed to leave the property without someone from Cerberus escorting us. I think we were in double digits before my mom had enough and put her foot down. Even now, when he feels like there’s a threat, we don’t even go into town alone.

  “Fight for it,” I say more to myself than to her. “I think that’s something I can do.”

  Chapter 35

  Griffin

  Twisting my hands together after knocking on Ivy’s door, I’m second-guessing myself for coming here so soon after my appointment at the hospital. I would’ve shown up sooner, but my emotions were all over the place right after getting back.

  “Come in,” Emmalyn says as she opens the door and sees me standing on the porch.

  “Hey, Em,” I greet as I step into the house.

  “Do you want me to get Ivy?” Hope fills her face before she closes the door.

  “Actually…” I pause, my nerves getting the best of me.

  “You’re here to see Kincaid,” she predicts. “He’s in the living room.”

  Leaving me to regain my courage, I watch her as she heads toward the kitchen.

  The evening news is on low as I walk into the room, and Kincaid doesn’t look up from his laptop.

  “Sir?”

  “Griffin,” he says with a quick glance in my direction. His face shows no emotion, so I’m unsure of what to do next. “Have a seat.”

  He nods toward the other sofa, and I sit reluctantly. This position situates him between me and both exits from the house. I’m praying I won’t have to get out of here quickly, but at the same time, he may not be very receptive to what I have to say.

  “You’re here to talk about Genevieve?”

  “Y-yes, sir,” I stammer before clearing my throat and hoping I don’t sound like an injured animal the next time I speak.

  “I suspected I’d see you soon.”

  “I’ll fight for her if I have to.”

  My eyes widen as Kincaid lifts his head, eyebrows shooting toward his clean-shaven, bald head. He doesn’t say a word as he lifts the TV remote, and the room fills with silence. I almost apologize for my sudden defensiveness, but he opens his mouth first.

  “And if I told you there’s absolutely no chance you’d get a blessing from me where she’s concerned?”

  His voice is smooth, but with everything I know about the man, he’s like a cobra. He doesn’t have to put on a show before hitting you with one fatal strike. Even at his age, he’s both intimidating and capable of showing me my ass.

  “With all due respect, sir, she’s an adult. Capable of making her own choices.”

  My palms grow damp as my heart begins to pound in my chest. I was telling the truth when I said I’d fight for her. I was just hoping that it wouldn’t come to something like that.

  “Do you think she’d go against my wishes?” The evenness of his voice is the scariest part. I honestly can’t tell if he’s arguing with me, or if he’s so sure of his position that I’m not even worth a second of his anger.

  “I’d hope you wouldn’t force her to choose.”

  “What makes you worthy of her?”

  His dark brows draw in when I remain silent. I don’t have the ability to tell him that I’m not worthy, but I want her anyway.

  “Maybe coming here was a mistake.”

  He holds his arm out when I begin to stand.

  “Stop.”

  I settle back on the couch because even as disappointed as I am, I’d never purposely disrespect this man, especially not in his own home.

  “I wouldn’t make the mistake of forcing Ivy to choose between the two of us. That is something only a selfish man would do to his own daughter. I also have an idea who’d be the loser in that scenario.”

  I drop my head. As if this conversation isn’t a kick to the balls already, now I have to listen to him gloat about the fact that Ivy would never pick me over him.

  “It wouldn’t be you.” I nod in agreement. “No, Griffin. You wouldn’t be the loser. I would be.”

  My head snaps back up in his direction to find him nodding.

  “I’m her father, but she sees you as her future.” A small smile forms on his lips, and I can’t help but wonder how bitter that realization is for him to vocalize. Somehow, he seems at peace with his words. “I asked what made you worthy of her not because you aren’t but because I have a sinking feeling that you don’t think you are.”

  “I’m n—”

  “You are, son.”

  Oh, God, what that one word does to my damaged soul.

  “You are worthy of her. I can’t think of one single person on the face of this earth that is a better match for my amazing daughter.”

  “You don’t mean—?” I can’t even get the words out, still fearful of rejection.

  “You have my blessing.”

  Tears prick the back of my eyes, stinging as I try to gain control of my emotions.

  “Your blessing?” I say just to clarify.

  He nods, but his face is still stern. “Do I need to have the conversation with you?”

  “Which one, sir?”

  “The one where I threaten you bodily harm if you hurt her?” I shake my head. “The one where I tell you about how many weapons I own, and I know how to use them if you step out of line?”

  I chuckle. “I don’t think that will be necessary.”

  “Well,” he laughs a little, “she’s too old to be given a curfew, but I’ll go looking for the both of you if she leaves again like she did last night and doesn’t tell me where she’s going.”

  “That was my fault,” I confess. “She told Mom that she was going to let you guys know, but then she... I distracted her.”

  His hand shoots toward the ceiling. “Nope. And that shit is at the very
top of the list that I will not be discussing with you.”

  “No,” I hedge. “She didn’t… we haven’t… I… shit.” I drop my head in my hands as Kincaid’s laughter fills the room around us.

  “See? You’re more worthy of her than you realize.”

  I just nod in agreement because telling him that things may change on that front very soon doesn’t seem like the appropriate thing to say right after he’s given his blessing, especially if I don’t want him to recant so soon.

  “That means so much coming from you, sir.”

  His eyes sparkle for a second before he grows serious again.

  “Your dad tells me he offered you a spot with Cerberus. I want you to know that the offer still stands.”

  I don’t know how to react, so I blink at him like an idiot. I was sure that my dad’s offer was just his way of placating me so I’d feel useful after getting my ass kicked out of the Marine Corps.

  “I was discharged from the Corps,” I remind him. “I don’t deserve a spot with your team.”

  “The only mistake you made was not coming forward and talking to someone about what was happening. I wish we could’ve saved you from all of it somehow, but I don’t hold it against you for the way you reacted. You knew you had to get away from base permanently, and I imagine the drugs were the only thing you could think of to make it happen so quickly.”

  “It was a mistake,” I agree. Had I known talking to General Holstead would’ve made a difference, I would’ve done that instead of what I did.

  “It looks really bad on paper, but it doesn’t change the soldier I know you are. You’d be an incredible asset to Cerberus.”

  “I’m not turning you down, but it isn’t something I can even consider right now.”

  Should I tell him about my doctor appointments? Selfishly, I don’t want to sign up for anything that would take me away from spending even a single minute with Ivy. It’s like I’ve waited my whole life for her, and just the thought of missing time with her makes me want to cringe.

  “I understand. Let me know if you are ever ready. The position is yours.”

  “Daddy?”

  Kincaid and I snap our heads up in the direction of the stairs to find Ivy standing there, nervously twisting a strand of hair around her finger.