Even though Diego was a sixteen-year-old kid, he was still old enough to participate in his own future. I knew that Diego would probably agree to anything that got him away from Sonny. After tonight, I could certainly understand why.
I let myself into the room and nearly swallowed my tongue when I saw Griffin sitting with Diego on the sofa as they played a video game on TV. They both turned to find me, staring open-mouthed, at this completely unexpected development.
“What are you doing here?” I asked Griffin before I could stop myself.
“I called him,” Diego answered.
“Why?”
“He thought maybe you could use some help,” Griffin answered. “He told me everything, Jordi.”
I sighed as I bent to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. “I wish you hadn’t done that,” I mumbled to Diego.
“Why not?” Diego asked. “He could have helped you.”
“I didn’t need any help,” I responded. “I got your clothes, no sweat.”
Diego’s eyes widened. “Was he home?”
I nodded. “He’s not going to be a problem, Diego. I have it all under control,” I added as I glanced at Griffin, hoping he’d take the cue to leave.
“Good,” Griffin responded as he dug into his backpack. “Then you have time to relax and watch a movie with us.”
He pulled a DVD out and walked over to the game system to insert the disc. “What movie?” I asked.
His eyes met mine. “Our movie.”
My mouth fell open. “
The Journey Home
?” I asked. “But how?”
He wore a smirk as he returned to the sofa. “I know the director,” he offered blithely. “I figured we could see the movie, absorb the mood and then we could have a better idea of what Angus is looking for
to set the mood and the tone of the story.”
I could hardly decline. It was actually a brilliant idea. I opted to
sit in one of the accent chairs while Griffin and Diego bonded further as they sat together on the sofa.
They talked quietly about the music Griffin had written for the score, while I fell headlong into the beautiful cinematography and flawless acting of the cast. I could see why the movie was getting the kind of buzz it was getting. I hadn’t seen many of the other
contenders for best movie of the year, but I couldn’t imagine any other movie being as pitch perfect as what Angus had put together. I was in tears by the time the credits rolled, which – if I did my job right – would be exactly where my song would be placed in its entirety. When moviegoers left the theater, it would be on the sweeping notes of my song.
Now I could see why every other interpretation had fallen short. It was such an epic story that it demanded an equally epic song to capture it.
I dug out the sheet music and the three of us sat together in the sitting room of my hotel suite, with Diego playing along on his guitar. Griffin backed up my vocals, which surprised me. I had never really heard him sing before. He had always been billed as a guitarist, which brought him plenty of fame and glory all on its own.
He was far more talented than I could have imagined, as was Diego as he sang along. By the time the sun peaked through the curtains of the room, we were all still on fire with what we had created in the wee morning hours. We headed to the studio before seven o’clock, and by noon Griffin finally called Angus to let him know we were done with the song.
Diego was overwhelmed to be included in the process. After his thoughtful, insightful input all night, there was no way either Griffin or I would have shut him out. Diego was floored when Griffin asked what name he wanted to use for the songwriting credit. Out of that dark, Goth exterior, a new Diego emerged the minute he brushed his hair from his face.
He even smiled.
There wasn’t one whisper of complaint as we headed back to the hotel to grab what little sleep we could. We were still flying high from the successful creative process, which usually put such necessities like food or sleep on the back burner.
The three of us celebrated with room service, and finally Diego passed out on the sofa.
I walked Griffin to the elevator. “Thank you,” I offered sincerely. I didn’t know why Griffin had picked this night to become human, but I was endlessly grateful he had. He hadn’t just given me a song worth of a coveted Oscar, he had given me my brother.
It was a priceless gift.
Griffin smiled down at me. “Thank
you
, Jordi,” he responded softly.
“For what?” I asked.
“For letting me in,” he answered simply. “You’re closed off. And I get why. But beautiful things can happen when you open up to other people. You can’t save the world all on your own.”
I shrugged. “I’m the only one I could ever count on,” I replied. “I’ve been burned a lot, Griffin.”
“I get that,” he said. “You certainly had no reason to trust me. I’m the biggest phony in show business.”
My eyebrow arched. “What does that mean?”
The elevator chimed as it reached our floor. He chuckled as he quipped, “Saved by the bell.”
I grinned. “This time, Griffin Slade.”
He stepped inside the elevator. “’Night, love. If I can call you that.”
I thought about it only for a second. “Yeah. I guess it’s OK.”
He wore a happy smirk as the doors closed behind him. I mirrored his smile as I walked back to my room to catch a few hours of sleep.
Las Vegas, Nevada
July 14, 2012
Angus was so pleased with the final recording of “Pieces of Me” that he invited all three of us back to New York to record another version complete with a symphony orchestra. Diego was blown away by the idea, but reluctant to leave his mom. Maya was scheduled to go back home, and he felt now more than ever that he had to stay in the apartment with her to keep Sonny’s influence at a minimum. I wanted to take her with us to New York, but her frail health posed a whole list of new complications… the biggest of which is that Sonny would insist on going anywhere that she went.
Angus had already offered to let us fly out on his private jet. He had a pilot’s license, and regularly flew his friends around the world. He coul
d easily accommodate Diego and me, along with Maya and any staff she needed to take care of her during the journey. I suggested that Griffin bring Kamaria, but since Unapologetic B!tches had won the battle of the bands, her schedule had suddenly filled with obligations she couldn’t postpone.
Instead Griffin would travel with Emma, his trusted assistant. So there was plenty of seating for Maya and her unfortunate other half.
Both Griffin and Diego pointed out it was safer to take both of them and keep them under a watchful eye than leave her alone with him in an apartment that now needed an extensive cleaning. I used that as the main excuse to get Maya to consent to the trip. She hadn’t wanted to return to the East Coast, particularly in the shape she was in, but finally relented when she realized that she could see both her children live their dream on a New York City stage.
And of course Sonny couldn’t miss that.
We hired a nurse to travel with us, and were in the air together by Sunday afternoon.
We all stayed in the same hotel, booking an entire bank of rooms overlooking Central Park. Sonny was on his best behavior, as I knew he would be
. Since he considered himself a VIP by proxy, he did his level best to impress the other people who traveled with us. He waited until Maya had drifted to sleep and the nurse put her head in a book before he walked over to Emma, using his best charms to openly flirt with her, but he kept any menacing behavior just below the surface.
Only Griffin, Diego and I knew what he was capable of beyond his slimy exterior. Griffin proved a handy shield to keep Sonny away from Diego and me
. We used song rehearsal as an excuse to huddle together on the other side of the plane.
Sonny didn’t challenge us. He was enjoying his new jet-setting life a little too much to rock the boat. He sipped on expensive champagne as we soared across the country, killing enough bottles to pass completely out for the blissful latter half of our flight.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I took a seat to myself and watched the patchwork quilt of America pass below our feet. Griffin sauntered over to where I sat. “You OK?” he asked as he sat.
I nodded. “It’s not ideal,” I said quietly as I glanced where Sonny napped, “but it’s better than the alternative, I guess.”
“What are you going to do when you get back to Las Vegas?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I said with another sigh. “I haven’t thought that far ahead. The doctors aren’t confident how much longer she’ll last,” I finally admitted. “They didn’t even want us to take this trip. But I figured the fewer minutes one had left in
life, the more important it was to make those minutes count.”
“Always been my philosophy,” Griffin agreed without looking at me. “A carefully lived life is no life at all.”
“You should know,” I teased. “You live life to the limit.”
He shrugged. “Life is too precious not to,” he said. “It only takes one real loss to bring that message home.”
I glanced at him. “Sounds like the voice of experience.”
His dark eyes met mine. “You could say that.
” He changed the subject easily. “Like I’m telling you anything you haven’t already learned. Look at all you’ve lost.”
I thought about my dad, which
was another reason I desperately wanted Maya to make this particular trip. I had hoped to learn more about him, to share with her the memories she made with him, but more importantly I needed to remind her of him, so that she could see how anything less than what my dad had offered wasn’t love at all. He had given her the gift of hope when nothing in her life up until that point had shown her hope was even possible.
It was what I had hoped to prove to her now, to show her that she deserved so much more than the things for which she had settled.
The number one thing on that list did not make my job any easier. Sonny hovered over us whenever I tried to talk to her about it, which made my skin crawl and backed me out of conversations more times than not.
I hated that he insisted on taking this trip. I was still working on a way to forcefully eject him from Maya’s life. I hoped, if nothing else, she could see how little he did for her in comparison to everyone else.
Even Diego had stepped up to the plate, to be there at her side and give her everything she might need or want. She was overjoyed to have her son back, and somehow couldn’t piece together that Sonny’s presence jeopardized that newfound relationship more than it facilitated it.
In her mind, her family was finally pulling together. She was happier than I had ever seen her.
How could I take that away from her in her waning days of life?
Maybe once she remembered my dad, and all the days they had shared, she’d want more for herself than a cheating, lying, abusive asshole.
Unfortunately for all three of us, she couldn’t see that was what Sonny Quintero was. He was a constant in her life, one of the few she could count on to be there even when things fell apart.
All I could do was shift her focus onto those things which made Sonny’s contribution insignificant. It was delicate work, and I was truly clueless in how to do it.
Unbelievably, Griffin had become my biggest weapon in this new war.
Diego had been a fan of Griffin’s for years, so he accepted Griffin’s new role as mentor without argument. This bridged the gap between us in a way I hadn’t expected. It also showed me a whole new side to Griffin, who softened when he worked with Diego to the point he could treat me like a real person. He didn’t hide behind his phone or a long list of lovers he could call at any given time.
He was willing to put everything aside to work with Diego.
And Diego blossomed under this attention, opening up to the both of us as he shed his sullen persona
with each new passing moment we spent together.
I could only hope that Diego would open up as much to Jace. That would make the next step, relocating Maya and Diego to Los Angeles, that much easier.
I said as much to Griffin, who agreed immediately that I needed to get them out of Las Vegas. “They need you, Jordi,” he had said only the night before.
“I need them, too,” I confessed softly. He took my hand in his and we said nothing more.
It was an odd relationship that was further complicated by the constant speculation from PING. The longer I stayed in Vegas with Griffin, the more the fans revolted on social media. Both Jace and Griffin advised that I not address the rumors. “Let them think whatever they want,” Griffin had said. “If it protects your family, it’s worth it.”
But by the time we landed in New York, PING had already pieced together my connection with Diego. Unfortunately for all of us, they had horribly misconstrued it to fit their own anti-Jordi agenda.
DIVA SPLITTING TIME WITH PLAYBOY AND BOY TOY?
“
Lock up your teen sons, folks! The notorious man-eater, Jordi Hemphill, is once again on the prowl, apparently having bored of her playboy part-time lover, Griffin Slade. Sources close to Hemphill and Slade have confided that a Vegas teen musician named Diego Palermo has joined the lusty duo for a special New York performance of their new song for The Journey Home. Palermo, the guitar prodigy for the Vegas band Catastrophe Rising, apparently caught the diva’s eye a few months ago, when she was spotted leaving a performance. Recent reports say that Palermo is staying with Hemphill in her VIP suite. Is she grooming husband #2
?”