Across the Miles (The Not So Bad Boys of Rock #1)

by Rhonda James

  “You need money? Babe, if you need extra money I will gladly help you out.” The phone went silent, and it dawned on me that I had probably crossed an invisible line.

  “I don’t want your money Sebastian; I can make a way for myself. Besides, I like being able to do jobs on the side, it gives me extra spending money, and I am saving for something special. Don’t worry about me, I can take care of myself.”

  “I didn’t mean it like that, I just don’t want you working too hard when I can help you out if you ever need it. That’s all I meant, honest. I know you are very capable of doing things on your own, I just want you to know that I’m here if you need me.” I heard a soft sigh on the other end.

  “Okay, I’ll take that into consideration. Thank you though, I do appreciate the offer.”

  “So, tell me about these catering jobs.” For the next ten minutes I listened as she shared all about the large events that she had cooked for. I couldn’t imagine overseeing all of the tasks that she was responsible for, she amazed me with her abilities. Her organizational skills and attention to detail were beyond impressive, I had no doubt that the restaurant in L.A. was going to be calling on her once the owner got back to town, and that thought brought a smile to my face.

  “What are you up to this evening? Anything exciting planned?” she asked.

  “Dek is here, and he invited me to go out with him, I think we might grab dinner and play some pool.” I wanted to tell her that I couldn’t stand the thought of leaving the house now that she had gone, but I didn’t want to sound weak. A small part of me wondered how on earth she managed to carry on with her day to day life without me in it. I wanted her to tell me her secret so that maybe I could do it too.

  “That sounds great sweetie; it’s good for you to get out of the house. Keeping busy is what helps me get through the day, if I stayed here all day I would go out of my mind wondering what you were up to,” she encouraged.

  “You’re having a hard time too?”

  “Oh yeah, I think about you all the time, it’s very hard.”

  “What kinds of things do you think about?”

  “Oh, you know, I think about how soft and warm your lips are, how I love it when you bury your nose in my hair and whisper in my ear, and I miss how great you smell when you hold me in your arms. I remember the way your piercing tickles my skin when you kiss me. But I really miss your hugs, I think that’s the hardest thing to go without,” she whispered.

  “I miss all of those things too, hell, Dek just gave me a hard time because I spend most of my time in the living room with my nose pressed into a pillow that still smells like you. We’ll get to do all of those things again soon, I promise.”

  “That’s the very thought that gets me through each day, knowing that soon I will be in your arms again. I don’t know exactly when, but I do know it will happen. Go out and have some fun, just not too much fun, I don’t want some other girl stealing your heart,” she giggled.

  “No chance in hell babe, you already stole it, and I don’t want it back, I only want you back in my arms. Call me later?”

  “You know I will. Bye.” She hung up the phone, and I couldn’t help but laugh, she had a way of putting me at ease, even from far away.

  “So, are you through with your mushy phone call?” Dek asked, waltzing into the room with his arms crossed over his chest.

  “You heard all that?” I winced.

  “Every last sappy bit, bro’, since when did you get so soft? What am I going to do with you?” He ruffled my hair and gave me a slap on the back. “Come on tough guy, let’s go get some food, I’m starving.”

  “You know, it kind of breaks my heart that you would eavesdrop on me like that,” I responded playfully.

  “I thought you didn’t have a heart anymore, it was stolen, remember?” he teased.

  “Shuddup.”

  We ended up eating dinner and catching a movie; the thought of hanging out in a bar playing pool didn’t seem like the best idea, given the state of mind I had been in lately. It felt good to be out with a friend, my best friend, and just cut loose. We talked about Brooke for a bit, but mostly, we just talked about the typical guy stuff. While we were in the restaurant a few fans spotted us and politely asked for an autograph, of course there was a lot of flirting on the girls part, and Dek always encouraged it by flirting back. I tried to remain neutral, the old me, before detox, would have been right there with him, trying to score a little action, but not tonight. We sat through the movie, a new Sylvester Stallon action-packed production, and it felt good to get lost in the plot, it was a great way to spend two hours and not mope about Brooke being gone. When I got back home, I gave her a call.

  “Hey handsome,” she answered, her voice sounded incredibly sexy at night. “Did you have a good time with Dek?”

  “Yeah,” I yawned quietly, “We just had dinner and went to a movie.”

  “Isn’t it hard to go out in public like that? I didn’t realize that rock stars could go to movies in public, don’t you get hounded?” she asked innocently.

  “Not really, we wear a baseball cap or a beanie and dress like normal people. Most people around here are used to seeing movie stars out and about so it’s not uncommon, but the tourists are the biggest issue, they aren’t accustomed to it, so they don’t know how to act when they do recognize us. But, for the most part, it’s not too bad, it comes with the territory.”

  “I guess, I’m not sure I would like all of that attention, I would feel self-conscious all the time,” she groaned.

  “You have nothing to be self-conscious about, you’re the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever met.”

  “Wow, thanks. That’s quite a compliment, coming from you.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because you’re Sebastian Miles, drop-dead gorgeous rock star, perfect in every way,” she huffed, “Duh!”

  “I’m far from perfect Brooke,” I winced.

  “Well, you are to me, and half the world, so I think the odds are in our corner on that ruling buddy.”

  “Whatever, I don’t agree, but I’m not going to argue, if you think those things about me then that’s great, but I’m definitely not perfect.”

  “You are to me.” After that, I didn’t try to argue with her anymore, if she wanted to feel that way about me I would just have to learn to accept it, even though I knew it wasn’t true.

  The next morning, I woke to the sound of the doorbell. I got up, thinking it must be Travis or Dek, went to the door and peeked out the peephole, no one was there. I cracked it open and looked down on the doormat, finding a cup of coffee and a small notecard.

  “Just because it’s Wednesday, and because I can Love, B.”

  I couldn’t contain my smile; her wit carried right through that paper and into my living room. Typical Brooke. Not to be outdone, I pulled out my phone and placed an overdue call to her best friend, Jade.

  “Hey, it’s Sebastian; I need to know what her favorite flowers are.”

  “I’ve got to hand it to you; you’re single-handedly helping to keep the stores in this city in business for a lifetime.” After her snide remark, she proceeded to give me the information that I needed. Once that was taken care of, I had one more Michigan business to support.

  Brooke~

  “Order in! Table twenty, two covers – one lobster capellini one lobster bisque, two filet mignon, medium rare.”

  “Yes, Chef!” my team called out behind me. I really did love my crew, we all worked great together, I could always count on them to put out great food and for the most part we all got along really well while working under extreme conditions. While that order was taking shape, another came in through the ordering system, I pulled off the ticket and turned to my team once more.

  “Order in! Table thirty-two, four covers – two lobster bisque, one order steamed mussels, one escargot, one duck breast, one sea bass, two paella.”

  “Yes, Chef!” I turned and began plating up the filets, checkin
g for temperature accuracy, and cleaning the plate before setting it up on the service counter.

  “Service, please!”

  I had just turned to check on the appetizers when I heard someone behind me, clearing their throat. When I whirled around I caught a glimpse of a huge bouquet of the most beautiful pink and white calla lilies I had ever seen, they were my favorite flower. For a moment, I wondered how on earth he would have known that and then it occurred to me, Jade. I covered my face, attempting unsuccessfully to hide the blush that quickly spread over my face. I heard the click of a shutter and looked up to find Donnie taking a picture of me, I scowled at him.

  “Don’t bite my head off, he specifically asked for a picture of you blushing,” he retorted, hands raised in the air as if surrendering.

  “So, he’s sucked you into this too?” Good grief, the man knew no limits. Just when I thought I was one step ahead of him, he came up with something else to make my heart swoon and my knees weak.

  “They’re really pretty, he must have spent a fortune,” Donnie made a clicking sound with his tongue against his cheek.

  “Yeah, impressive. That one’s going to be hard to beat.”

  “What, is it a competition?”

  “Not really. Before I left I told him that I wanted to be romanced, this is his way of doing that from afar. He’s doing great so far; I just like to keep him on his toes, so I send him a little surprise every now and again. It helps keep things interesting.”

  “What kind of surprises are we talking about here?”

  “My lips are sealed,” I laughed, walking off to place the flowers in the cooler, the heat from the kitchen would wilt them for sure.

  “So what’s your next move?” Donnie called out after me.

  “Not sure yet, but I’m working on one.”

  Me: So I received an embarrassingly large bouquet of flowers at work tonight

  Sebastian: Oh yeah, wonder who would have done that to you?

  Me: My new boyfriend, he’s always doing the sweetest things.

  Sebastian: Is that so?

  Me: Yeah, he spoils me rotten.

  Sebastian: Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

  Me: Definitely good, I love it! Don’t stop

  Sebastian: Oh, so you think I’m the one sending these presents, that’s pretty presumptuous of you

  Me: Well, it could also be this really cute guy I met last week while grocery shopping.

  Sebastian: That’s it, no more shopping for you. I’ll order all of your food and have a woman deliver it. Stay away from the grocery store! Just kidding

  Me: You know, I meet men every single day at work too.

  Sebastian: Ugh! You’re going to have to start working from home. So did you like them?

  Me: Like what?

  Sebastian: The flowers silly.

  Me: Oh, they were from you. Gee, it’s getting harder and harder to keep all of you men straight.

  Sebastian: Keep it up, and the next present you get will be me standing at your door with a baseball bat, ready to fight off all of your admirers

  Me: I’ve got news for you baby, that threat only makes me want to tease you more. I would like nothing more than to find you on my doorstep.

  Sebastian: Well, one of these days you just might get your wish pretty lady

  Me: There you go again, making promises… Seriously though, the flowers were insane. I loved them, and I love you.

  Sebastian: I love you more. Sleep well baby.

  Me: You too. Miss you.

  Sebastian: Miss you more.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  It was Saturday night, and the first Saturday I wasn’t scheduled to work since I had gotten back from California four weeks ago. Jade insisted that we had to get out of the apartment and go to a club; I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gone out dancing, so I immediately said yes. We spent two hours getting ready. Jade informed that I needed to straighten my long curls, she thought I would look hot, so she spent the next thirty minutes going over every strand until it laid flat. When she was finished, I stood and looked in the mirror, she was right, I did look hot! I changed into my jeans and sapphire blue blouse and took a picture of myself, sending it to Sebastian with a message that I was going dancing with Jade. Less than a minute later, my phone rang.

  “Hello,” I answered sweetly.

  “You’re going out dancing looking like that?” I could hear loud music in the background and what sounded like Dek yelling something incoherent to someone else.

  “Well, I had planned on it. Is something wrong?”

  “No,” he stammered, “you just look really hot. I’m afraid some guy’s going to hit on you and sweep you off your feet.”

  “Aw, that’s so sweet baby, but you have nothing to worry about, I’ve already been swept off my feet, and I only have eyes for you. We’re just going out to have some fun; this is the first weekend that I’ve had off in a month. We’ll be fine.”

  “Just promise me you’ll be careful, I know guys Brooke, one look at you and they’ll be tripping all over themselves trying to get at you. The thought of that pisses me off.”

  “You have nothing to worry about, I promise. Now, where are you, at the studio?”

  “Yeah, we’re on a break.”

  “Were you on a break when you got that text?” I grinned, knowing the answer.

  “No,” he mumbled.

  “Sebastian, you can’t spend your time worrying about me meeting someone else; it’s not going to happen.”

  “Well, what if you did meet someone else?”

  “I’d tell him that I’m already taken and that I have the best boyfriend in the whole world. Now, go back to your work, and I’m going to go burn a few hundred calories. Love you sweetie.” I blew him a kiss through the phone.

  “Damn, now I have the image of you dancing in my mind, that’s way too distracting,” he groaned.

  “How is that distracting?” I laughed.

  “Because you’re adorable when you dance,” he growled into the phone. “Go have fun, but call me later.”

  “You got it. Bye!” I turned and found Jade watching me, shaking her head.

  “Girl, that man is so smitten with you. I’m not sure what you did but you’re going to have to teach it to me ‘cause I need to meet me a man that treats me the way he treats you.”

  “Let’s go, I’ll tell you all about it in the car,” I giggled, not quite certain myself what I had done, but I was certainly thankful for it.

  The nightclub was packed with young twenty-something’s dancing and hanging around in small clusters. We squeezed our way through the crowd until we reached the bar, Jade ordered a martini, and I ordered a glass of wine. We stood there sipping on our drinks, and it wasn’t long before we were approached by a couple of guys, definitely not our type. We politely declined their offer to dance and made our way further into the club before we found a high-top table. Within minutes, Jade was approached by another guy and this time she smiled and took his hand, looking back at me and grinning from ear to ear. I gave her two thumbs up and silently cheered her on before turning back to my wine. I danced in place for a few minutes before I finally decided to head to the dance floor by myself, I had only been there for a few beats when someone came up behind me and danced with me, keeping enough distance between us so that I didn’t feel threatened. I never turned around, not wanting to make eye contact and encourage him to stick around. The next song started up and the beat was a faster tempo, and a really good song to move to, this time the guy placed his hands on my hips and pressed in close to me, too close, he reeked of cigarette smoke. I turned on him and tried to put some distance between us, but he held me tight, shaking his head.

  “Easy honey, just go with it, it’s just a dance.” His hands guided my hips from side to side, and he smiled slyly. “See, no big deal. You know, you really are beautiful. Are you here with anyone?”

  “No,” I replied firmly, “and there’s a reason for that.”


  “Oh yeah, what’s that sweetheart?”

  “I have a boyfriend, and don’t call me sweetheart.” I kept dancing, trying to play along for a minute, just to see where this was going.

  “He’s a fool to let you out of the house without him. He must not know how to treat you right.” Please, as if this clown stood an actual chance with me, not in this lifetime.

  “And what makes you think that? Just because I’m here with a friend and he’s working, that makes him a bad boyfriend? Because, if that’s your thought process you are way wrong, he’s a fantastic boyfriend, and he’s super hot.” By now my blood was starting to heat up, I needed to try and calm myself before I cut loose on him and said something that might get me into trouble.

  “I guess he’d have to be pretty hot to land you,” he leaned in close, his mouth was near mine and I started to pull back. “But, is he hotter than me?” Boy, this dude was definitely an arrogant ass.

  “There’s no comparison, so don’t even bother, you’ll lose,” I replied flatly, pushing him further away, this only made him angrier and he gripped me tighter. “Listen, asshole, if you must know, my boyfriend is Sebastian Miles.” I glared at him, hoping to burn him with the flames I felt must be coming out of my eyes.

  “Yeah, right,” he snapped, “the guy from Paradox? No way.” At that very moment my phone rang and I pulled it from my pants pocket. Sebastian’s face appeared on the screen, I flashed it angrily at the guy with a smug look on my face and swiped the screen to answer.

  “Hey baby, listen, I need a favor, I have a guy here that won’t leave me alone and he didn’t believe me when I told him about us. Okay, he wants to talk to you.” I thrust the phone at the offending specimen of a man standing before me, his mouth hanging wide open. He took the phone tentatively, his grip on the phone much gentler than the one that had just been on my waist. I stepped away, distancing myself just enough that he couldn’t grab at me again. After a minute, he handed the phone back to me and walked away swearing.

  I placed the phone back over my ear, and all I heard was heavy breathing. “Sebastian, are you okay?”