"Tell you what, it was my fault for running so close to your spot, I'll pay you for it. What do you say, eighty bucks to cover it?" The cooler had been good, but not that good. Still, I was being generous for a reason, I didn't want the police getting involved.
Thankfully, the beachgoer thought my idea was a good one. "Alright man, I can do that," he answered as I handed him the four twenties. "Next time have him land on my car, I could use a new one of those too."
A few of the onlookers laughed, and the lifeguard looked from me to Pete again. "Okay. Tell you what. You, skinny guy, take off. I see you near my tower, I'll call the cops. You, Richie Rich, come with me, hang out at the tower for a while, give your friend here time to get out of the area and cool off."
"I'm cool with that," I said, watching Pete carefully as he nodded and walked off without another word. The lifeguard stood next to me for a bit, then nodded towards his tower. I followed him, and climbed the ramp to the top, where he offered me a seat. "Thanks. And thanks for not getting the cops involved on something so petty."
"Hey, it's your life Castelbon," he replied, surprising me. The lifeguard smirked and nodded. "My little sister happens to like the society pages, and happens also to have a crush on a certain Southern California bad boy. She's going to freak out when she finds out I actually met you."
I laughed and watched the waves with him for a bit. "Well, in either case thanks. So, not trying to perv or anything, but how old is your sister?"
"Seventeen. I'm the oldest of four, she's the youngest," the lifeguard said. "She's not your type, by the way. I love Chicha, but she's not the type like you normally have been seen with."
I chuckled ruefully, thinking back to the asshole I was. "Can I see?"
The lifeguard gave me a careful look, then nodded, pulling his cell phone out. He flipped through his pictures for a few seconds, then held it out to me. The girl I saw wasn't ugly, but he was right, I'd never have given her a second glance before. She was the kind of sort-of-pretty girl that most likely made the best girlfriends or wives, because she was most likely sweet, smart, and probably could make a guy laugh. The lucky guy who ended up with Chicha would count his blessings, I bet. "She looks like a good kid," I said, handing him the phone back. Suddenly, a thought struck me. "Hey, that thing has a camera, right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Can you send your sister photos with it?"
The lifeguard nodded, a smile coming to his face. "Yeah, I can. You really willing to do it?"
"For the guy who kept me from having to deal with the cops? Hell yeah. Here, let's do it selfie style," I said, getting close and throwing my arm around his shoulder. With my arm stretched as far as it could, we could both just get in the shot. "Okay, one like this, and then maybe another normal one, just me or something. Ready?"
We took the photos, and the lifeguard, who I found out was named Curt, sent them off. We got a reply in about two minutes, his phone ringing. "It's my sister."
"Here, hand me the phone," I said, holding my hand out. I hit the call button and held it to my ear. "Hello, this is Julian Castelbon speaking, how may I help you?"
"No.... way!" a teenage girl yelled in my ear. "Curt, I swear to Christ that if this is you playing a trick on me...."
"No trick, Chicha," I said with a laugh, "I'm really Julian Castelbon. Your brother just saved me some trouble on the beach, and when he said you would appreciate a picture, well, I had to send it off."
The poor girl was in near hysterics, and I could barely understand what she was saying. In between repeated "no ways" and "oh my gods," she finally got a sentence out. "Yeah, yeah! God, it's really you!"
"It's me," I agreed. "Listen, Chicha, I wanted to ask you something."
"Okay!" the girl replied, still nearly unintelligible in her excitement. "You can ask me anything."
I nodded, and looked over at her brother. "Your brother said you kind of are digging on me. Now, save your wrath for him later, but I have to ask.... why?"
"You're just so awesome, and cute, and sexy and strong, and ohmygod ohmygod," she said, embarrassment fighting with excitement.
I nodded to myself and let her calm down before I continued. "Chicha, are you calmed down now?" I asked.
"Yeah, I think so."
"Chicha, I saw your picture. You're young, you're kind of cute yourself, and from the way you dress and stuff I assume you're smart. You're too good for a guy like me. I've been a world class fuckup most of my life, and am just now getting myself straightened out. So please, do me a favor, and promise me. Promise me that around your high school, you stay away from the guys like me. Find yourself a nerdy guy, some guy who's going to treat you like the princess, and not like a piece of trash like I've done too often. Find that guy, maybe get him on some weights or something to fill him out, and watch as he goes from nerd to rich guy who's driving a Benz while the punk asses like I was just keep getting into trouble in five years. You'll be a lot happier in life."
"I.... I will," she said in my ear. "I promise."
"Good. Well, goodbye Chicha. It was good to talk to you. Take care of yourself."
I hung up the phone and passed it back to Curt the lifeguard, who shook his head in disbelief. "You're the last person in the world I expected to say something like that," he said. He held out his hand and I shook it, his grip strong and respectful. "You must have had a recent change of heart."
"You could say that," I replied. "You could say I found my angel, and she's shown me the error of my ways."
Chapter 17
Krystal
It was my turn to wait at the baggage claim at O'Hare, while outside a late summer storm was blowing through town, soaking everything in sight. Thankfully there was no lightning or heavy winds, and from the last I'd been able to see, Julian's flight was going to land on time. I'd come in my car, I actually did have one, I just rarely used it. However, I knew Julian was going to have clothes and baggage, and I didn't want to struggle with that in a cab or on public transportation.
When the board changed and Julian's US Air flight went from on time to landing, I almost shrieked in excitement. The weekend at Alinea had been good, but I didn't care. I wanted to see my Julian, and the longer I went without him, the worse it got. The night before, at jiu-jitsu, Kimberly had ragdolled me I was so distracted, and I pretty much got my ass handed to me by everyone I rolled with. I didn't care, although the bruise in my left calf muscle was giving me at least a small hitch to my step.
The traffic going into Chicago on a Tuesday morning is pretty light compared to the weekends, so I could see Julian as soon as he came out of the secure area of the airport. I ran and threw my arms around his neck, kissing him even as other passengers flowed around us like water. I'm sure some of them bumped into Julian, but he was so strong I didn't feel them at all. "I missed that," he said softly once our lips parted. "I've been dreaming about that for four days."
"Me too," I replied. I looked around, and then cocked my head. "Where's your bags? I thought you'd be coming back with a few suitcases at least."
"Oh, they're coming, but I'm having them shipped here," Julian said. "When I got there, I realized that I just had so much crap in that apartment that I could have filled our place three times over and still had more. So, I picked out what I wanted for Chicago, packed it up and arranged for it to be shipped. The rest I donated to Goodwill, except for a few things I left there just in case we go back to Los Angeles for a vacation or something. The penthouse is my dad's, after all. It's not like it's going to be rented out or anything."
"Donated to Goodwill? Julian, did you really donate a lot of your clothes there? I've seen pictures of how you dressed in LA, you walked down the street in Gucci. Just how much of that did you donate?" The image of a homeless person or somebody who needed Goodwill rocking Dolce Gabana or Ralph Lauren gear from Julian made me want to laugh out loud.
"Oh, all of that crap," he said with a smile. "I don't need hundred dollar t-shirts or five hundred dollar snea
kers. I have something far more valuable right here, and she doesn't care if I wear Jean Paul Gautier or Costco."
"That's true," I said. "Come on then, let's get home. I did some furniture rearranging, I hope you like it."
"Oh, like what?" he asked me as we left the terminal, and he followed me to the parking garage. "I didn't know you brought your car."
"Like I said, I thought you'd have suitcases," I replied. We got in, and I fired up the engine on my Nissan. I'd had it for a few years, but the compact SUV got good mileage, and I didn't drive it often. "I'll know better next time."
"I will," Julian said. We left the parking lot and got back on the freeway towards downtown. "By the way, while I was in Los Angeles, I thought of something we really need to do."
"What's that?" I asked, changing lanes to go around a slow driver. "And don't tell me take a shower, that's already on my agenda."
Julian reached over and patted my thigh, shaking his head. "No, but I like that idea too. What I thought of was, going up to Castelbon Manor. Krystal, we really should tell our parents about us, and it's not the sort of thing you tell over the phone or over Skype."
I nodded, and looked over at him. "You sure about this?"
"Dead sure. In fact, there is nothing in my life I'm more sure of than that I want to be with you for as long as I can, and that I want my father and Sandra to know that I am in love with you."
I nodded, and turned my attention back to the freeway. "Alright then. I'll talk with Horst at Alinea tomorrow, and as soon as I can get the time off, we go up to Castelbon Manor."
"Now, in the meantime," Julian nonchalantly commented now that the matter was settled, "what's this about new furniture, and what's this about a shower as soon as we get home?"
I raised an eyebrow, but kept my eyes on the freeway. "I may have gotten a king sized mattress delivered for our bedroom while you were gone," I said, "and as for the shower, well, that's something we'll just have to find out when we get home now, isn't it?"
Chapter 18 - Part 3
Krystal
It was rare for me to get two vacations from work at Alinea so close together, but after the performance on Iron Chef, Horst was willing to give me a long weekend, which meant four days off in a row. Monday to Thursday. Because of that, Julian and I took the earliest flight out of O'Hare that we could to Boston, and from there, we rented a car that we drove up to the Manor. In a nod to my more modest tastes, Julian had passed on the luxury sports car and we took a compact Toyota. He fidgeted with the seat constantly until I reached over and put my hand on top of his. "You keep doing that, and I'm going to crash," I said with a smile.
"Yeah well, next time I'm also thinking we can drive our own car, something not designed by a bunch of people who are five seven and top out at a hundred and sixty pounds," he grumbled. "I mean, even the stereo sucks."
"It gets us where we need to go," I said, setting the cruise control. "We should be there in just over an hour and a half, traffic is pretty good. Don't worry, we'll be there by noon."
Julian snorted and looked out the window. "I know it was my idea to tell them so quickly, but I have to admit, I'm not exactly looking forward to it."
"Kimberly warned me along the same lines when we talked about it, about being so quick to tell them that is. She's worried that a lot of people won't understand or accept it."
Julian looked over at me, his blue eyes burning with intensity. "Krystal, I'm kind of used to it, people not accepting me and being on the outside, regardless of it being my fault or not. But you, can you handle it?"
"I think so, and if I need, I have you and Kim," I replied. "What else do I need?"
"Well I know I could use a cheeseburger," Julian joked in reply, lightening the mood. "So are we there yet?"
"Smart ass."
The drive was beautiful, especially as we left the urban areas around Boston and headed north into the countryside. Living in Chicago was great, and working at Alinea was a dream come true for me, but there is something about New England that just resonated with me. Maybe it was the memories of visiting my grandfather at the Hepburn estate near Bretton Woods, or maybe an overabundant love of pancakes and maple syrup helped. Regardless of the reason, I loved the drive. Even Julian seemed to relax as concrete was replaced by pine trees as we got closer.
It wasn't until I turned up the long driveway to the Castelbon Manor that I started to feel nervous. What if Julian was right? What if Mom and John didn't understand? In the short time that Julian and I had been together, it was more than just sexual with us. There was a connection we'd formed, even before that first kiss, and the days afterwards had just deepened it. Of course, being sexually satisfied to the point that I spent my nights almost delirious was a great benefit too.
Parking the car, I shut off the engine and looked over at Julian. "Well, we're here."
"Yep. You know, if you turn on the engine and hit the gas now, I don't think they'll know we came," he semi-joked, before the front door opened and Yuki came out. "Damn. Too late. Listen, it's not that I don't want to tell them, but how about we hold off on the public affection until we do? I mean, it might be a little less shocking that way."
"I can do that," I said, giving his hand a squeeze. I wanted to kiss him. Hell, I wanted to be kissed by him, but I understood. Instead, I got out of the car, and came over to shake hands with Yuki. "Yuki, it's good to see you again so soon."
"It's good to see you too, Krystal. I was surprised when Sandra said you'd be coming again so soon." Yuki, as always, looked professional and beautiful in her normal work clothes of black slacks and a blouse. Today it was a pale peach, although she had foregone the jacket to allow for the weather. In winter though, she looked more like an executive than a house manager, which I guess she was. "Mister.... sorry, Julian, it's good to see you too."
Julian came around to shake Yuki's hand. He then surprised us both by bowing very deeply in the Japanese style. "Yuki," he said simply.
Yuki bowed in return, then chuckled. "Who taught you how to do that?"
"Would you believe a guy I know in Los Angeles? There's a lot of Japanese people out there, you know."
"Yes, I know," Yuki deadpanned. She broke out in a smile, and patted Julian on his massive shoulder. "Let me get your car moved and parked while you two go inside. I'll have your bags taken to your rooms."
"Actually, I have something for you first," I said, opening the trunk of the car and pulling out a paper bag. "I figured I would let you wrap it for your uncle."
Yuki opened the bag and took out Chef Morimoto's jacket, her jaw dropping and tears coming to her eyes as she read the script. "Krystal," she whispered, folding the jacket up and placing it neatly back in the bag. "Thank you. This is beyond wonderful."
There are times when it sucks to be rich, and this was one of those times. I could tell Yuki wanted to give me a hug, and I would have been more than happy to get one from her. But, she was the employee, and came from a very hierarchal society, even if she was American now. Employees don't do that with employers. Still, I could tell her meaning, and I nodded, smiling. "Good. I hope your uncle likes it. So, where are our parents?"
"They're in the study," Yuki replied. "John is working from home today, and Sandra has decided to start assisting him. It's quite intriguing to see when the time allows.”
"Thank you," Julian said, and the three of us headed inside. Yuki peeled off to get the rental car and our bags taken care of while the two of us headed upstairs. We found John and Mom in the study like promised, reading over a pile of documents.
"They're expanding in their European division," John said, pointing at one piece of paper. "With their growth there and the potential in their Asian division, I think they're going to be fine."
"Maybe John, but I'm still worried about their tie-ups in Russia and Greece. A lot of companies made a lot of money in the BRIC countries when times were good, but are finding it tough to pull out now that the growth isn't being sustained and the corrupti
on of those nations starts sucking them dry like a vampire."
"Well, I see you're on your way to making your next billion dollars," Julian said after knocking on the door. "Think I might be able to get in on it?"
John set his pen down, rising slowly to his feet to come around in front of us. Julian walked towards him, and the two met in about the center of the room. I swore time stopped and everything went quiet as the two Castelbon men faced each other. Julian spoke first. "Hi, Dad."
"Hi, son," Johnathan replied, his face starting to crack. I couldn't see Julian's face from where I was standing in the room, but the embrace the two men gave each other was impossible to miss. They held each other like that for what seemed an eternity, while Mom and I stood transfixed. When they stepped back, both of their cheeks were a little wet, and I could see Julian do his best to casually wipe his face to play it off.
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