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

by Rhonda James

  The house felt empty when I walked through the door. I’m not sure why I expected anything else, knowing that she wasn’t here had been a fact made clear to me more than three hours ago. Natalie and Travis tried their best to offer me consolation, but it had done little to lift my spirits. Natalie told me to give her some space, that she would come around after having a chance to go home and clear her head. I wasn’t feeling as sure about it, but I was willing to take her advice. If time and distance were what she needed, then I was going to give it to her, it was the least I could do. I won’t lie, though, it wouldn’t be easy, and it was going to take every bit of resolve that I had not to call her and try to clear up her comments about intimacy and me pressuring her.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Brooke~

  I panicked. That’s the only explanation I had for what I had done. I panicked and then I ran, back to the familiarity of my apartment and my friends. As I boarded the plane, on shaky legs, I thought about the last words I had spoken to Sebastian. I had accused him of pressuring me intimately, which hadn’t been entirely true. While it was true that he had tried pressuring me early on in our relationship, I asked him to wait, and he had respected that completely. Any decision we had made since that initial discussion had been unanimously agreed upon, whether related to the topic of sex or anything else, we had always been on the same page. The look on his face had been one of hurt and confusion, I know this because I remember it vividly, and I see it every time I close my eyes.

  I’ve been back for three days, three long days with no word from him. I know that I’ve hurt him, what I don’t know is if he will be able to forgive me. Part of me wants to believe that we mean more to each other than that, that one fight isn’t going to break us, but another part can’t help wondering if my leaving did more damage than my words.

  Jade hasn’t said much; she’s just been there offering her silent support, listening to me cry. The thought of leaving her behind as I go off and live my dream makes me sad, but the thought of not going scares me even more.

  “Hey,” I said, joining her at the kitchen table.

  “Hey yourself. How are you feeling today?” she smiled at me.

  “About the same I guess. Listen, we need to talk about something,” I suddenly had her full attention, the cupcake she was eating pushed aside as she leaned forward, elbows on the table. “I had a meeting with Chef Wolf while I was in California. He offered me the job and I’m going to take it.” I puffed out my cheeks and let out a big breath as the butterflies did a number on the contents of my stomach.

  “I’m not surprised. I always thought he was a fool for not calling you back,” she said encouragingly.

  “Thanks. I secretly thought so too, but he told me that he had some trouble at his London site and that had taken center stage. They have a strong team in L.A., but the executive chef wants to take a step back from the industry and spend time with his kids before they graduate. I think they like me, not only for my culinary skills, but also because I am single without any kids, meaning they will get a lot of years out of me,” I laughed nervously.

  “What did Sebastian say? I’ll bet he’s happy,” she replied, unaware that Sebastian and I hadn’t spoken, or that I left without saying goodbye, or even telling him that I was leaving. She just thought that I had been crying because I had to leave him again, I didn’t have the heart to tell her all the details when I first arrived back home.

  “Well, we haven’t spoken to each other in a few days.”

  “What do you mean, why not? Did you two have a fight?” she asked “Wait a minute, is that why you came home early and have been crying ever since?”

  “Yes,” I nodded, “to all of the above. We had a fight, our first major fight, and neither one of us handled it well. I wanted to call him, but I’m afraid he won’t answer.”

  “Seriously? You two have been head over heels in love for the past six months, you talk continuously, and can’t keep your hands off each other when you’re together. Isn’t this the same man you’ve been talking about moving in with? And you’re afraid he won’t talk to you because of one fight?” she rolled her eyes dramatically and grabbed my phone, pressing the speed dial for Sebastian, and I couldn’t stifle the groan that made its way past my lips.

  “Hey Sebastian, sorry, it’s not Brooke, it’s Jade,” she paused momentarily, and the sound of his muffled voice made my heart ache. “Yeah, I know this is her phone and I’m sorry to disappoint you but, here’s the thing, you two are both idiots.” Sebastian and I both protested at her comment, but she cut us both off. “Now, I don’t know what happened, and, to be honest, I don’t care about the details, what I do care about is what this is doing to both of you. I’m going to put Brooke on the phone now and you guys are going to work whatever this is out and go back to being the overly romantic couple that we’ve all come to know and love.” I heard his muffled voice one more time and whatever he said made her smile. “You’re welcome sweetie; I love you too.” She gave me a toothy smile and thrust the phone in my direction. “You can thank me later over a glass of wine. Love you Brooklyn,” she trilled.

  I placed the phone over my ear and took a deep breath, summoning up the courage to speak.

  “Brooke,” he spoke first, “baby?”

  “I’m here.” I heard an audible sigh, and then he cleared his throat. “Sebastian, I am so sorry for running out on you like that.”

  “No, it’s okay; you don’t have to apologize for anything. If anyone should be apologizing it’s me.”

  “You? No. You didn’t do anything wrong. This is all on me, I’m not even sure what happened. I got to your house, and I was so excited to share my news with you and I never gave any thought to how you might react. I know that you are excited about the idea of us living together, but honestly, I panicked. I shouldn’t have said those things to you.” My heart was racing as I tried to get everything out that I wanted to tell him.

  “No, you were right; I probably did pressure you. Brooke, if I did anything to cross a line I am sorry, it was never my intention to hurt you, I would rather die than hurt you.” The anguish in his voice cut me right to the core, and I would have given anything to be there with him, holding him and assuring him that he hadn’t made me do anything that I hadn’t wanted.

  “I know you would, and that is just one of the many reasons that I love you so much. But Sebastian, you have to know that I’ve wanted everything, you’ve never pressured me.”

  “Thank you,” he said softly.

  “I want to talk to you about something that affects both of us. I’ve decided to accept Max’s offer. I’m moving to California,” I declared.

  “And, will you be moving in with me?” he inquired hopefully.

  “If you’ll still have me, then I would love to move in with you.” I heard quiet laughter on the other end and got nervous. “It’s okay if you’ve changed your mind, I mean, after that fight I would understand if…”

  “Stop,” he cut me off, “I’m not laughing at the thought of you wanting to move in with me, I’m laughing because I’m thinking of all the fun we’re going to have. I’ll get to see you, and badger you, every day of the week. I can hardly wait. And you know what else?”

  “What?”

  “Mom and Chris are going to wig out when they hear you are moving to our neck of the woods. You know we’ll have to set limits on their visitation, they can’t just stop by whenever they want, what if we’re napping again and they come ringing the bell? No, we definitely have to set boundaries,” he rambled on.

  “Okay, okay,” I finally gave in, “we’ll set boundaries. There, are you happy? Now, we need to discuss how I’m going to get all of my stuff out there.” We spent the next hour discussing logistics and how much we couldn’t wait to move in together, now that we had found a way to make it work for both of us.

  I walked the four blocks to the restaurant, painfully aware that this wasn’t going to be an easy transition for me. I loved working wi
th my team, and Donnie had been the best boss I could have ever had.

  “You’re going to love working with Max, he’ll teach you so much more than I ever could,” he encouraged me, just after I had informed him of my final decision. We had discussed this when I first got back but at that time I was still trying to decide if I wanted to go out to California for the right reasons. My original reason had been to prove to the culinary world that a young, female chef could hold her own in this male dominated industry. After I met Sebastian, I started to fear that my reasons for wanting to go had shifted, with more emphasis being on the romantic instead of career expansion. It took a meeting with Max, and walking out on Sebastian, to help me see that there wasn’t any reason that I couldn’t have both. I had spoken at length with Max about my situation with Sebastian, and he did his best to encourage me to hold onto love, but to also always keep a firm grip on reality.

  “Donnie, you have been amazing; I wouldn’t have traded these past five years for anything. I have learned more from you than you will ever know, and I’m not just talking about food either. You also taught what it means to be driven, to be a good employee, a responsible person, and most of all, a great friend. I’ll always treasure our time together. Hey, who knows, maybe someday we will work together again, wouldn’t that be cool!” I hugged him.

  “Yeah, that would be pretty sweet. I’m going to miss you kiddo,” he hugged me really hard. “Promise me that you’ll stay in touch, come back and see us and all that sappy shit.”

  “I promise, and hey, if you ever want to bring the family out to California we’ll have plenty of room,” I elbowed him playfully.

  “How’s Jade going to survive without you?” he asked mournfully.

  “She’ll be okay. I have a feeling she’ll be coming out to visit more often than she realizes.” Jade and Dek had been talking pretty much non-stop since their initial meeting. To hear her tell it they were just friends, but when I asked Dek he would get all glassy-eyed and start talking about how wonderful she was. Sebastian gave him a hard time, probably payback for all the ribbing Dek had given him early on in our relationship.

  The next two weeks of work seemed to fly by and before I could even blink it was almost time to drive out to start my new future. Between work and packing, I had lost all track of time. The kitchen team at the restaurant threw me a going away party on my last night of work, which just happened to coincide with Homecoming, so the restaurant was packed. Once all of the customers left, and the kitchen had been cleaned out, Donnie wheeled out an enormous cake with the endearment ‘Yes, Chef!’ stenciled in chocolate buttercream frosting. After a few hugs and tears, I grabbed a knife and cut the first piece, serving it up to the hardest working man in the kitchen, and my dear friend, Marcus.

  “Give ‘em hell out there Brooklyn.” He gave me a full-on hug and a kiss on top of my head, it should be noted that Marcus, a former guard on the basketball team, stood over six foot seven and was a solid wall of muscle. Lisa came and finished handing out the cake while I made my way around the room, saying my goodbyes. I was looking forward to my new adventure, but I was seriously going to miss these guys, most of them had been with me from day one of my professional career. There are many things that I love about being in the culinary industry, creating art with food being one of them, but a key reason is the camaraderie that comes from working alongside a team of professionals like these, they will be hard to beat, and will never be replaced in my heart.

  “I can’t believe you’re leaving in two days,” Jade sighed, jutting her bottom lip out for the full pitiful effect. We were in my room, and she was watching in earnest as I packed away the rest of clothes, knowing that whatever I decided I no longer needed would be handed down to her.

  “I know, where have these past two weeks gone?” I tossed two more shirts her way, and she caught them with one hand. “I feel like I’ve been packing boxes forever but I never seem to finish. Can you hand me that tape?” I reached a hand out to her.

  “Yeah,” she handed it to me. “When is Sebastian getting in?

  “Sometime tomorrow night,” I grinned, barely able to contain the excitement that had been building up inside ever since I admitted to him that I wanted to start living our lives together in the same state.

  “That’s quite a long drive to make on your own. I hope he’s stopping and sleeping somewhere, knowing him, he’ll try to drive it straight through.” She said, shaking her head mildly. “When it comes to you, that man has no self-control.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t say that, he reigns it in when he has too,” I blushed.

  “You mark my words, that man is wound up so tight over you that I’m willing to bet that you won’t leave his house for a week after you get there,” she snorted.

  “That’s what I’m counting on,” I mumbled, making myself blush at the thought of being wrapped up in Sebastian’s arms.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Sebastian~

  The drive from L.A. to Ann Arbor would have taken a sane person at least three days, but when it came to Brooke I wasn’t exactly what you would call sane, in fact, I leaned more toward the term ‘out of control’. When I told Dek that I was driving out to help Brooke haul all of her stuff to California, he had been all over coming along, the incentive of seeing Jade again had worked greatly in my favor. Once Chris got wind that Dek and I were planning a road trip, then he wanted in on the action so he decided to tag along. Then, Travis, not wanting to miss out on the fun, jumped on the bandwagon, after getting permission from Natalie, of course. And that’s how it came to be that a tedious three-day drive had turned into thirty-six hours of fun.

  So, here we were, driving cross-country in a rented Escalade, to bring my girl home with me. To say that I was happy would have been an understatement. I knew how fortunate I was that things had worked out in my favor with her being offered the opportunity of a lifetime to work alongside one of her culinary heroes. To put it mildly, I was one lucky son of a bitch, and I knew it.

  After thirty-four hours of driving, with many stops and naps for everyone around, we were finally nearing the Michigan border. Every mile marker that I passed brought me that much closer to Brooke and it took everything I had within me not to push the speedometer past ninety in order to get there faster.

  Each of us took turns driving, and managed to grab a few hours sleep, but for the most part we were wide-awake, wired on caffeine, and slap happy. Music blared out of the speakers, as it had the entire time, and, for the most part, we had all agreed on the music selection. I was currently behind the wheel, and when the intro of the next song came on, I turned it up and began crooning along with Maroon 5 as Adam Levine belted out the words to their current hit “Sugar”. It wasn’t long before Dek was harmonizing, with Travis and Chris beating out a rhythm behind us. We got into it too, I mean we were right there with Adam, reaching all of the high notes, hand motions came into play and by the time we reached the second run of the chorus I was in my element. I looked over at Dek and caught a car full of college-aged girls riding along beside us, watching us as we put on our show, when they finally realized who we were, or at least who they thought we might have been, their mouths hung open in mid-scream and they held up their phones, trying to catch a photo of us. I sped up the SUV, quickly changing lanes and avoiding their flashes, at that moment I had never been so thankful that my exit had me veering off to the left, away from their hormone filled sedan. Chris laughed so hard at my reaction, telling me that I damn near got us killed out of embarrassment. Needless to say, the rest of the ride was filled with music but no more shows, I didn’t think my ego could take another hit like that.

  The final two hours seemed to take longer than the first thirty-four, and when I pulled in front of Brook’s complex I had never been so happy to get out and stretch my legs. She had no idea that I would be here this early, or that the guys had decided to ride along with me, and I couldn’t wait to see her gorgeous face when she opened the door.

  Wh
en we reached the main entry door, I caught one of her neighbors leaving the building and slipped in before the door closed behind him, avoiding the use of the security system altogether. I bounded the three flights of stairs, Dek hot on my heels, and chuckled as Chris and Tyler pulled up the rear, both grumbling about having to haul all of Brooke’s things down that many floors. The guys quietly moved around to the other side of the door in order to surprise the girls, and I let out a heavy sigh before reaching my hand up and rapping on the door, hopeful that I wouldn’t have to wait too long before she answered.

  The door swung open and, before I knew it, Brooke had launched herself up into my arms, small limbs wrapping aggressively around my body, and warm kisses covered my face and neck.

  “How did you get here so soon?” she shrieked, covering my waiting mouth with hers, not giving me a chance to respond. As the kiss went deeper, I forgot that we had an audience and backed her against the wall, my hands gripping tightly at the flesh just beneath her rear. After a few beats, I heard someone clear their throat, causing Brooke to flinch and break away from my mouth.

  “What the hell?” she snapped, their faces not immediately registering with her. Jade came running out into the hall to see what was going on.