* * *
Warmth trickled along the side of Griffin's head as he struggled to open his eyes but failed. It would be so much easier to just stay cocooned in the numbness the darkness provided, but the sound of footsteps approaching had him once more trying to open his eyes.
Griffin succeeded and stared up into a pair of clever green eyes, eyes that instantly reminded him of Cami. But as his own gaze came into focus he quickly realised the young girl kneeling next to him wasn't her.
The girl’s blonde hair was tied into a high ponytail that flopped over her shoulder as she peered down at Griffin with a mixture of fascination and fear on her face.
"Why are you on my doorstep? I don't know you," she said, her voice small and childish as she leaned in a little closer.
Griffin fought to sit up and winced, the movement sending pain shooting up and down his ribcage and making breathing difficult.
"And whose doorstep is it?" Griffin asked when he finally caught his breath long enough to get the words out.
"It's my doorstep," she said again, scooting back out of his reach, the fear beginning to win over the initial fascination he'd witnessed on her face.
"I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm here… What's your name?" Griffin glanced around at his surroundings.
Although it had been dark the night before, he quickly recognised the front porch and small pathway that led up to it as the same house he'd dropped Cami off at the night before.
"You know, Cami?" he asked, propping his aching back against the closed door.
The young girl cocked her head to one side and eyed him suspiciously.
"She's my mom. How do you know her?"
Griffin's mind was sent reeling at the revelation. It didn't seem possible. Cami didn't look old enough to have children, never mind one who was practically a teenager.
"She's your mom?"
The young girl nodded and tugged a cell phone from her pocket. "I'm going to call her and when she gets here she's going to be pissed to find a stranger on the doorstep." She shot Griffin a sideways look before lifting the phone to her ear and climbing to her feet.
He couldn't make out what was being said, but he could imagine after the way they'd left things the night before that it was probably wasn't anything good.
Griffin tried to push himself onto his feet and failed, the pain in his ribs still screaming through his body. He slumped back onto the doorstep, his breathing ragged as he fought to suck in a deep enough breath.
There was no doubt about it. Elijah had really done a number on him, all in the pursuit of teaching him some manners. Griffin smiled bitterly to himself as he imagined what Elijah would do when the time came when he realized Griffin couldn't pay back his money.
His life was a mess and now Cami was involved. Elijah's threat was still ringing in his ears, and Griffin knew that somehow he had to protect her. No matter what the cost.
Chapter 12
Cami gripped the steering wheel tightly as she swung her car onto her street. Her stomach continued to roll uncomfortably as she parked the car and stepped out onto the pavement.
She gasped, her hand covering her mouth as she caught sight of Griffin propped against the doorframe, his face a bloody mess. He'd been so badly beaten that it actually hurt to look at him, and Cami fought the urge to go running up the steps to him.
Sophie sat on the front step watching him, her heart-shaped face filled with curiosity.
"Sophie, go inside and get some water in a glass for Griffin," Cami said, her heart hammering in her chest as she made her way slowly up the path.
"You know him?" Sophie asked, turning to face Cami, her expression suddenly suspicious. "Is he your boyfriend?" Her voice took on the childish sing-song quality she was so fond of using when she really wanted to irritate Cami.
Cami knew she clearly wasn't forgiven for not being home before Sophie had gone to her friend's sleepover.
"Sophie, the water. Griffin is too badly hurt for you to start messing around."
Sophie shot her a dirty look and Cami took it without saying a word. She watched as the girl stomped up the last step and carefully tiptoed around Griffin, who appeared to be unconscious.
Sophie had said he was awake when she rang her and Cami feared he may have internal injuries that were causing him to lose consciousness.
She took the last few steps and paused next to him, automatically reaching to check for a pulse when Griffin's hand caught hers.
He opened his eyes and stared up at her in confusion. Cami felt her heart sink. Whoever had beaten him had obviously done such a good job that he didn't remember who she was, which made the situation far more complicated than Cami had ever imagined.
"What are you doing? I'm not dead," he said, his voice tinged with pain.
"Sophie said you were awake and when I got here… I was worried you might have internal bleeding or something."
Griffin pushed himself up a little higher and released Cami's hand.
"I was pretending to be asleep. Sophie asks a lot of questions and there are some things a girl her age doesn't need to know."
Cami dropped her gaze to the stone of the step she was kneeling on. Griffin couldn't have been more right even if he tried; it was the one thought that Cami fought the hardest against. There were some things a girl of Sophie's age didn't need to know and yet life had a cruel habit of often doing the exact opposite of a person's best interests.
"You were pretending? I knew you were a faker!" Sophie's voice was high and pitchy as she stood in the doorway with a glass of water in her hands.
"Sophie, give Griffin the water and then go inside and do your homework."
"Not until he apologises!" She stamped her foot as colour flushed her cheeks.
"Sophie!" Cami warned, giving her a look that brooked no argument.
She pulled a face and set the glass down on the porch just enough out of Griffin's reach that he would have to stretch to get it. Sophie turned on her heel and fled into the house, slamming the front door behind her hard enough to make it shake to its very foundations.
"I'm sorry about that, she's got quite the temper sometimes," Cami said, reaching over and handing the glass to Griffin.
He shook his head, hissing out through his teeth as he wrinkled his face in pain.
"We really need to get you to a hospital," Cami said, watching as he took a small sip of water and then set the glass back down on the porch.
"I don't have time for the hospital. I'll be fine."
"You're not going to be fine. We don't know what's going on inside you, how much damage has been done."
He shook his head and tried to push himself to his feet once more, gritting his teeth as he fought to drag his body up against the door frame. He failed and dropped back down, the air whooshing out of his lungs as he hit the ground.
"Maybe I need a hospital after all," he said, low enough that Cami wasn't sure if he meant for her to hear him.
"But only if you take me. We need to talk about a few things." Griffin opened his eyes and stared up at Cami; the vulnerable look she'd seen in them the night before was back, causing her heart to clench.
"Griffin, I don't know, I…"
"Look, I can't get there myself. I can't stand so I'm pretty sure driving is out of the question."
Cami nodded and glanced up at the house, the hairs on the back of her neck standing to attention as she felt someone watching her. She scanned the windows and caught sight of Sophie staring at them from the front room. She was torn; Griffin couldn't get to the hospital himself, but how could she take that risk?
Cami glanced back at Griffin, the lines of his face telling her just how much pain he was actually in. She knew she had no choice.
"Fine. I'll drive you to the hospital, but that's it."
He nodded and closed his eyes, his face and body relaxing back against the doorframe.
Cami's stomach flipped as she watched him. She reached out to him once more, grabbing his arm with her hand an
d shaking him gently.
"Griffin, you can't go to sleep yet, not until you're in the hospital and a doctor has seen you."
His eyes opened slowly and he seemed to take her words on board.
"Fine, but you're going to have to help me up."
Cami nodded and climbed onto the porch next to him. She quickly wrapped her arms around his chest and allowed him to throw his arm across her shoulders. Griffin gripped the edge of the doorframe with his other hand and Cami pushed upwards. He gritted his teeth and groaned out as Cami put pressure on his ribs. She had a feeling at least one of them was broken.
It was a struggle to get him on his feet, but once he was up he seemed to be a lot steadier.
"Are you ready to try and get down to the car?" she asked, holding him around the waist as tightly as she dared given the risk of internal injuries.
She glanced up at him; his face appeared ashen beneath the blood that had dried along his cheeks.
"Yeah, no point in prolonging it," Griffin said as he took the first step down.
The walk to the car was agonisingly slow and Cami felt bad every time Griffin sucked in a pained breath. She helped him into the passenger seat before running back to the house and pushing open the front door.
"I'm taking him to the hospital…" She didn't have the chance to finish her sentence before Sophie appeared at the top of the stairs with her backpack in her hands.
"Fine, I'm going to Angie's. I'll do my homework there."
There was no escaping the anger in Sophie's voice, and Cami sagged against the door frame. It didn't seem to matter what she did; Sophie always seemed to be upset about something.
"Okay, but you really have to do your homework this time. I don't want a repeat of what happened before."
Sophie just rolled her eyes and pushed out the door past Cami.
"Whatever!" she said, half skipping down the steps and out the gate.
Cami watched her until she reached the house at the end of the street and disappeared up the path to the front door. At least at Angie's house she'd be safe for the evening, but Cami had a sinking feeling that Sophie's attitude problem was going to become the topic of their next family meeting. And a discussion like that would only lead to one thing.
War.
Sighing, Cami hurried around to the driver's side and climbed into the car. Griffin was silent; she cast a worried look in his direction but he half smiled, reassuring her that he was still in the land of the living.
Cami started the engine and let the car roll gently away from the curb before building enough courage to ask him the one question that had been circling her head from the moment she'd first seen him on the porch.
"Who did this? Was it the same people who killed your manager?"
Cami glanced over at Griffin when he didn't immediately answer, and he let out a long sigh in response.
"Yeah, I went to see them this morning to find out what the hell they were playing at. Steve was a good guy who didn't deserve to end up dead."
Cami nodded and concentrated on the road ahead of her before asking him another question. Her stomach knotted in fear as she prepared for an answer she knew she wasn't going to like.
"Why did you end up on my porch, Griffin?"
Cami didn't look at him, afraid that his reaction to her question would confirm her suspicions.
"I don't know. I guess they left me there…" he said, his words falling into the tense silence that flooded through the car.
"I don't understand why they'd do that. Why not leave you with your bandmates? After all, Steve was your manager. I didn't know him."
"They know you were there, Cami. They know you're a witness…"
She swallowed hard, his words almost causing her to lose her grip on the steering wheel.
"Wow, easy! I'm beat up enough already. I really don't fancy my chances in a car wreck," Griffin said, putting his hand on the wheel to steady the direction of the car in the lane.
"Yeah, I'm sorry, it's just a shock. Seeing what they did to you and knowing they murdered your manager…" Cami let herself trail off, disappointed that her voice was so badly strangled by the fear and panic she was feeling.
"Cami, I swear I won't let them hurt you or your kid."
His words hung in the air and for a moment she felt confusion wash over her.
"Sophie isn-" Cami stopped herself before she blurted out one of her deepest secrets. Fintan was the only person who knew Sophie was her sister, and that was only because she felt she could trust him to keep his silence.
Griffin cast her a look that Cami ignored as she pulled the car to a halt outside the main door of the emergency department.
"You know you can tell me anything, Cami. It'll never go any further than me."
She turned to look at him. The blood drying on his face and the swelling around his jaw and left eye weren’t enough to take away the handsome boyish charm she'd seen in him the minute he'd first walked into the bar.
There was a part of Cami that wanted to trust him, that wanted to tell him every sordid detail of her past and present.
But she couldn't.
Griffin had already gotten her into trouble without even knowing anything about her. What would happen if he finally found out the truth? Cami just couldn't take that chance, not when it wasn't just her future at stake.
"I’m not going to go in with you, but when you're out, we'll talk, okay?" Cami said, hoping that it would be enough to put him off her track for now. He was her only chance of getting out of the hole she'd wandered into.
Griffin studied her for a moment before nodding. "When you think you can trust me, I know you'll tell me the truth. I can wait until then."
Cami smiled and felt her shoulders sag as the air rushed out of her lungs.
Griffin climbed from the car, and it took every ounce of Cami's strength not to get out after him and help him into the hospital. He didn't look back as he hobbled towards the door. A doctor heading in the set of double doors caught sight of him and started to help, and Cami let the car roll away.
Cami drove away from the hospital and parked the car a couple of blocks from where she'd left Griffin. She held the wheel as hot tears started to fall down her cheeks unchecked.
Why she was crying wasn't clear to her. The only thing she knew for certain was that she had an ache in her chest that refused to unknot itself. She'd been running for so long she was beginning to doubt herself, and she was tired of constantly having to lock out everyone around her who tried to break through the walls she'd built.
But how did you explain to someone like Griffin that the walls were there for a reason without having to tell him the truth? He wasn't the type to just take something at face value, and yet Cami knew she would have to ask him to do just that.
And if he didn't, she was in far more trouble than she'd ever believed possible.
Chapter 13
As he sat in the hospital room, Griffin waited for the shit to really hit the fan. He'd made it through the door on his own steam, but that had sapped all of his strength.
Passing out had caused the doctors to search for identification and, of course, a contact for next of kin.
"What the hell happened, Griffin? And I expect a proper answer this time, not the crap you tried to fob me off with last time."
Griffin sighed and sank back against the crisp white pillows as Riley swept in the door without so much as a “hello,” or “how are you feeling?” It was typical of his family to go for the jugular first and ask questions later.
Griffin groaned and angrily pushed upright in the bed as Stuart sauntered in the door after Riley. The look he shot Griffin was far from friendly and the position he took near the door spoke volumes of what he was used to doing every day of the week in his work as private security.
"I'm fine. You didn't need to come down here. It was just an overreaction on behalf of the hospital. Something about protocol." Griffin tried to force a lightness into his voice that he wasn't particularly f
eeling, but he failed miserably, his words coming out a lot bitterer than he had intended.
Riley stood at the end of the bed and shot Griffin a withering look. There would have been a time when Griffin felt the weight of his brother's stare and complied with whatever was being demanded of him. But not anymore.
"I want the truth. I want to know why you're lying in a hospital bed looking as though you were run over by a two ton truck. And I want to know where the hell my guns are."
Griffin ducked his gaze at the mention of the guns. There were many secrets he could keep from Riley but that wasn't really one of them, particularly after what Elijah had threatened.
"You better start talking or I'll finish whatever rearrangement was attempted with your face."
Griffin snorted and winced as the pain of his bruised ribs lanced through his utter derision of his brother.
"It's more likely you'll have Stuart do your dirty work for you. Why else would you have brought him with you? I know it certainly wasn't because he was worried about my welfare."
"Actually…" Stuart started to answer and then seemed to change his mind. He shook his head, a mocking smile on his face. "I'm not even going to bother answering that, so think what you like, little brother."
It was typical of Stuart to duck out of the conversation rather than delving into the nitty-gritty of what was really bugging him. Ever since they'd had their big argument all those years ago, it had felt as though Stuart was looking down on him. Griffin was tired of it.
"We don't have time for this. You two really need to get over your petty differences and just move on. We have far more important issues at hand to be concerned with," Riley said, his commanding tone grating on Griffin's nerves.
"I need a name, Griffin. I need you to tell me who did this."
"Why? Why is it so important that I tell you who beat the crap out of me? What does it matter now; it's over and done with, and I'll be better prepared next time."
"Is his name George?" Stuart blurted out. Griffin could see his anger simmering just below the surface, and he knew it wouldn't take much to send him over the edge.
Breaker's Point Bad Boy Billionaires Boxset Page 41
