Page 11 of Everything Is Yours
“Well, you didn’t come to us, so we figured we’d better come on over and see this awesome guitar player, Archie Simmons, for ourselves. I hear your band is looking for a gig? Alfie, we should see if we can arrange for Archie’s band to play something at Rick’s festival event.”
That was the one thing I loved about Lily. Nothing was beyond her thinking. It didn’t matter if Rick didn’t want that to happen. Lily had a way of making Rick agree to anything. The fact that she was gorgeous, and Rick had a thing for her, it was almost a given that he’d say yes.
Lily wouldn’t normally go offering something that big to just anyone but as part of our briefing we’d watched a few YouTube videos of his band, and we thought they were pretty fucking awesome for a bunch of sixteen-year-olds.
We spent two hours with Archie and his roommates, who joined in our conversations after they got over their initial shock. They had a brilliant relationship with the nursing staff, and the care they received was second to none. The only thing they complained about was the hospital food. Nothing else. I took that to heart and asked my team to set up accounts at the Chinese, Indian and Pizza restaurants under the hospital wards name, but to send the bills to me. That small thing made them so excited. They could have whatever they felt like eating, rather than what was available on the limited hospital menu. Henry brought a box in from the car with all of our albums, and Lily had some XrAid stuff she passed around as well.
As the kids drifted off with various items, Archie quizzed me on just about every aspect of playing in a band for a living. When he’d exhausted the question and answer session, we listened to him play an acoustic version of, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” by The Who. His talent and the unique raspy tone to his voice blew Lily and me away.
When he was finished, I had Henry bring in a personal gift for him. Rather than offer him a new guitar, I figured he’d appreciate something of mine. My Fender Custom Stop 59’ Closet Classic Strat. It was the Vintage White six-string guitar that I used for rehearsals since before Crakt Soundzz was famous. Archie knew of the guitar as soon as he saw it. I’d mentioned it in a few interviews in the past because it was the first guitar I earned a living from.
Lily left him her business card with her PR team contact information when it was time to leave and just as we headed for the door, Archie called out to me.
“Mr. Black, I knew you were different from all the rest. Coming here today proved that to me. Three months ago I didn’t want to live anymore. Today, I’m so glad God ignored me. Thanks for being the inspiration for my music, man. You saw me through some pretty dark days.”
Devoid of speech due to the swollen lump that had grown in my throat, I just stood there holding his gaze. Nothing clever or appropriate came in response. A few seconds passed, and I just bowed my head in respect to the young man with the balls of steel who was able to articulate what he felt when I couldn’t find the words to respond.
Duty done, although I hadn’t viewed it as such, Lily and I held hands just a little bit tighter and left the hospital in a reflective mood. Once we were in the car I slung my arm over her shoulder and pulled her tightly against me. Lily shed a few silent tears, and I pretended not to notice for her sake. Being famous had its upsides, and it’s downsides, and sometimes it had a side that was bittersweet, today was one of the latter.
Henry headed for the airport once we were back in the car and about half an hour later Heathrow airport came into view. I kissed Lily’s head and inhaled her sweet scent, then she shifted and looked up at me. I tried to ignore her tear stained face, but she was one of those people that still looked beautiful even after she’d been crying.
“Ready to have some fun?” I asked, hoping to lift her mood and change the tone of the day now that we were officially on vacation.
“Lead the way, superstar,” she replied, her voice was a little croaky, but she tried to sound more upbeat than I knew she was feeling.
A VIP airport ambassador was waiting to check us in and lead us to our plane. I hadn’t intended on ever buying one, but with Lily’s band and mine constantly hopping from one country to another it made sense. I could see Lily wondering where everyone was. I knew they were already on board, the security guy had commented that we were the last. Lily was getting frisked at the security check at the time and couldn’t have heard them.
Climbing the steps to the cabin, we heard Jack’s voice with about three steps to go. Lily’s pace quickened, and she almost ran onto the plane shoving impolitely past the blonde female cabin attendant on her way.
“Jack,” she exclaimed in her excited tone, and I could see her mood was instantly much lighter.
I knew it was stupid, but another small pang of jealousy shot through me and struck at the edge of my heart. I glanced at Mya, who was smiling casually, totally relaxed with her man wrapping his arms tightly around what was mine.
My jaw ticked from how tightly I was grinding my teeth. Whenever I saw them do that together, I had a small internal struggle with how I was going to live with that behavior for three whole days. I’d agreed to share a cabin with Jack and Mya. I thought maybe I wanted to do it to prove to myself that there was nothing there. We had all moved on…mostly. Everyone told me I had nothing to fear with them. Hell, I’d told myself that until I almost believed it, then Jack would do something that made me think twice.
Jack squeezed Lily and kissed her on the lips. They always kissed, and it bugged the shit out of me. It was only a peck, but still. I’d never dream of kissing Mya like that. Then again, I told myself they had probably been doing that from such a young age that it became a force of habit, rather than something they thought about.
I knew we were supposed to be the last people on the plane although I couldn’t see Rick anywhere. Mya was very intuitive and immediately put me at ease.
“Uncle Rick is taking his own transport, Alfie. He isn’t sure he’ll be able to stay for the three days. He says he’ll wait on his plane until we arrive.”
I was surprised when Mya suggested inviting him. Even more surprised that he’d agreed to come. I figured maybe once we were all together it may be too much for him, and he’d use it as an excuse to leave. As long as he stayed for a day or two, I’d settle for that.
Lennon, one of Lily’s band mates and a really great guy, was talking to Emma, the only female that was not attached. Cody, another member of XrAid, was deep in conversation with Dave and Emily, two more of Lily’s friends. If I was honest, I envied how close everyone was before I was a part of their group, and now that I was on the inside, I felt blessed we all get along so well.
I had initially wanted to go large and have luxury cabins for everyone. It was Mya that convinced me small was beautiful. She had the foresight to think that if we were in huge places it would be all too easy for everyone to disappear to their own devices, and the purpose of the vacation and spending time together would be lost.
We agreed the cabins should be rustic and not elaborately furnished, but should offer accommodation for six comfortably. The cabins we chose slept twelve, and we divided the group into who we felt would want to spend the most time together, but that we’d spend an evening in each cabin altogether.
So, Lily, Jack, Mya, and I were together in the biggest cabin, along with Henry my close security detail. Rick, and Jed, his bodyguard, in another. Cody, Lennon and Lance, one of XrAid’s security, in another. Dave, Emily and Emma had yet another. We had two extra cabins booked just in case any of the guys started to exhibit their rock star behavior around everyone. Rick and Cody were usually the main culprits that hooked up with random women.
Chapter 7 Frigid
The two-hour flight from London to Kuusamo, in Finland, went in the blink of an eye, and it was times like those when every second counted and I was thankful we had invested in a Learjet. Loud, excited chatter took up all the flight time as everyone caught up on what was going on in each other’s lives. By the time we’d eaten and drank, it was almost time for the descent. When the plane touched down, Dave gave Henry a hand to dole out padded coats and hats, gloves and scarfs to protect us against the minus twenty-eight wind chill factor outside.
An icy blast met us at the door, and where my skin was exposed, it contracted hard against the painful bite in the night air. It was so cold the air crystallized in front of my eyes and for a minute I couldn’t get my head around that. Lily slipped her gloved hand in mine, and I could feel her small, slim fingers were almost lost inside them. When I squeezed, it took a bit of pressure to actually feel her hand in the padded material.
Watching Lily’s eyes dart excitedly from the large snowman that stood at the entrance of the tiny airport building, to watching the reactions of her friends was wonderful. All of her London friends had been skiing together before. I hadn’t, and as far as I knew Rick, Lennon and Cody hadn’t either. Growing up in the sun, I’d have given my right ball for a trip like that as a teenager.
