He had? “I guess I didn’t hear you.” I glanced down at the cellphone.
“What happened?”
I handed him the phone. He took it, his eyebrows knitting closer together. “What?”
“Someone just called me.”
“Who?”
“I … I don’t know.”
“Well, baby, what did they say?”
Darting my eyes to his at the “baby” comment, trying to refocus on the phone call, I shook my head. “They said … um … they called me a slut and said that I couldn’t hide from them. That they were always watching.”
“What? That’s crazy! Wait, do you think it was Jeff?”
“I thought that, but how would he know I was down here?”
“Did he say he saw you here?”
“Well, no. Not exactly. He said he was always watching though and that I was a slut. I just wondered, why now? Why right after you and I … whoever it was must have seen us.”
Brodie came to me and took me in his arms. He pulled me close, stroking my head gently with his hand. “I doubt whoever that was, saw us. Even if he’d heard that we were coming down here for this gig, I seriously doubt the bastard would waste his time and money on following us. Besides, we never told anybody where we were staying. Derrick knows, but he also knows not to give that information out to anybody. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that he called after we kissed on the beach.”
The knock on the door startled me and I flinched in his embrace. “That’s just room service. I’ll get it.”
After the waiter wheeled in the cart and set up the table with the food, Brodie tipped him and let him out. The burgers looked yummy. Plump and juicy.
Brodie pulled out a chair for me to sit. “Don’t worry about it right now. Whoever it was can’t possibly find you. When we get home, I’ll check into it.”
I sat down, but didn’t move; only stared at the hamburger.
“Gabrielle, please don’t let this get to you. The guy’s a douchebag. I’ll make a call after we eat and let Jackson know. I’ll also call Doc and ask him to check to see if the jerk is still around up there. Will that help?”
I nodded, gave him a weak smile and smothered my hamburger and French fries with ketchup.
“Whoa, honey.” Brodie laughed.
“What?” I eyed him over the top of the hamburger I was taking a bite out of.
“Have a little hamburger with your ketchup, why don’t ya? For a girl who won’t eat green sauces, you sure make up for it with ketchup.”
“Oh. A hamburger’s not worth eating without ketchup, and as for the French fries, well, let’s just not go there.” I grinned.
“How about mustard?”
“I like mustard.”
“But it’s green.”
“Technically, regular mustard is yellow. It’s the other variations that have a greenish tint to them. I don’t eat those.”
Brodie was right. No sense getting all worked up over that asshole. I was safe here, with Brodie and the rest of the band. Except, what if it wasn’t Jeff?
Chapter 33
Brodie
I watched Gabrielle finish the huge hamburger smothered in ketchup, some of which ended up at the corner of her mouth. “Here, let me.” I swiped the bit of red leftover from her mouth, then kissed it. I stopped kissing her, lingering at her lips for several seconds. She sighed.
“You’re still thinking about the phone call,” I said as I pulled her in close against me.
“It’s hard not to. I mean, even if this person isn’t Jeff or isn’t violent, which, by the way, doesn’t seem likely, it sucks knowing someone hates me so much that they felt the need to phone me and call me a slut. She shivered in my arms.
“I’m sorry. I know this doesn’t help, but I need you to know, you are safe here with me.”
She glanced up at me. “I know. Thank you. I don’t think I could have gotten through these past weeks with what happened with Jeff without you. You’ve been a great friend.”
I’d thought about telling her we were more than just friends, but I wasn’t sure how she actually felt about me. Kissing is one thing. We needed more time exploring exactly what all the kissing meant and might become. Instead, I simply said, “Yep, that’s me. Friend to the end.”
She laughed. “It’s been a long day. It’s crazy how just sitting in a car for eight hours makes you tired.”
“I’ll take the sofa and you can have the bed.”
She looked at the small sofa and grimaced. Granted, it was only about five-feet long and my six-foot-two body would never get comfortable on that thing, but I was willing to give it a try.
“I’ll be fine,” I lied.
“I need to go brush my teeth.” She got up, grabbed something out of her suitcase and went into the bathroom. I opened the closet to find an extra blanket and a couple more pillows. After I tossed the pillows and the blanket on the sofa, I went out onto the balcony to listen to the waves. There was only a sliver of a moon, and the stars filled the cloudless sky. I picked out Orion’s Belt, the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper. That was about all my astronomical knowledge allowed me to recognize. I turned as the sliding glass door from the room opened and Gabrielle walked out and stood next to me.
I glanced down at her as she stared out at the dark water. “It’s scary, Brodie.”
I put my arm around her and tugged her against me. “I know. I swear if I run into that creep, he will be nothing but mincemeat by the time I’m finished with him.”
“No. You can’t do that. You know he’d get back at you and you’d get hit with an assault charge. I don’t want that. Promise me you won’t.”
I sighed. “That’s a difficult promise, but how about I just say, I’ll try to keep my cool.”
“I suppose that’s all I can hope for.” She smiled. “I’m tired. I’m going to bed.”
“Okay. I’m just going to stay out here for a while longer. Good night.” I kissed her on the forehead wanting to kiss her on the mouth, but knew if I did, she wouldn’t be going to that bed alone.
After about fifteen more minutes of watching waves crash and counting how long it took between each one, exhaustion took hold and I went in. I laid down on the tiny sofa, my legs dangling over one end. I wasn’t the type to sleep on my back and tried to roll over on my side and scrunch my knees up so I would fit, only as I pulled my legs up, I slipped off and landed on the floor, grunting from the impact.
“Are you okay?” Gabrielle asked.
“Yeah. I thought you were asleep.” I picked my sorry ass up and scooted back onto the sofa.
“No. I can’t sleep. I keep thinking about that phone call. It doesn’t look like you fit on that thing very well, Brodie. Why don’t I sleep there and you sleep here?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m okay here. Just takes a little … adjusting … that’s all,” I groaned as I tried turning again, only to have my legs hanging over so far that my feet were on the floor.
“Brodie. Come up here. If you won’t switch with me then we’ll both sleep in the bed. There’s plenty of room. It’s a king size bed. You can have that entire side and I won’t even know you’re there. Please. Besides, I think I’d feel better if you were closer.”
I eyed the bed. It was rather huge. “Okay.” All I had on were my boxers. I hadn’t planned on sleeping so close to her and wondered if I should make an effort to get up and put on a t-shirt, but I didn’t want it to look like I was doing that because of her either, so I decided to just go with my naked chest. I got up and quickly slipped under the covers. “You better not try anything …” She laughed. “Or I’ll have to tickle you to death.”
“Brodie.”
“Yes.”
“Since we kissed this afternoon and some more this evening.”
“Yes.”
“Well, do you think you could hold me until I fall asleep?”
“Absolutely!” God, I sounded like an eager beaver if I’d ever heard one. I might have trouble sle
eping because of what I really wanted to be doing. Sleeping wasn’t on my body’s agenda, but I also knew I wanted to take things very slowly with Gabrielle. We had too much good history now to ruin things if I tried to move too fast. Besides, I still wasn’t sure exactly how she felt about me. But thinking about it, she was the one who initiated the kiss on the beach.
I inched closer to the middle of the bed and she did the same. She had her back facing me, and I pulled her against me. She fit so perfectly, I draped my arm over her midsection and rested it there. About ten minutes later, she was breathing a bit heavier and I guessed she was finally asleep. I had to remind myself that a couple of kisses on the beach and back here in the room didn’t constitute a relationship, but I had a great feeling. I closed my eyes, reveling in the great fortune that the fates had bestowed upon me. Yes, at that moment, I’d become a believer in relationships once again.
Chapter 34
Gabrielle
Sun kissed the lids of my eyes and I opened them to the view through the sliding glass doors leading to the balcony. All I could see was blue sky with a few clouds gathered to the right. We were lucky it wasn’t heavily overcast, and I was so glad Brodie hadn’t closed the curtains before he came to bed so we’d have this beautiful view to wake up to. Hmmm… he had come to bed with me. I felt like purring like a happy little kitten. His arm was still hung over my waist and I wanted to snuggle into him. Instead, my body went into rigid mode not wanting to disturb him. I wanted to turn around and look at him, so I slowly turned to find his eyes closed and his lips curved into a smile. “You’re awake,” I accused, snuggling my arms between our chests with my hands under my chin and scooting closer to him. As our knees knocked gently together, he straightened his long ones a bit so I would fit.
“Just woke up.” He slowly rubbed his hand up and down my arm a few times. “How did you sleep?”
“Okay. What time are we practicing today?”
“I think Jackson said eleven.”
“Good. I think I’d like to go for a walk on the beach.”
“Breakfast first.”
“Really? I’m not very hungry yet.”
“At least coffee.”
“Yes. Coffee I can go for.”
Brodie threw the covers off of himself and sat up. I couldn’t keep my eyes from his naked back, but when he stood, my eyes automatically traveled down to his rear end and below that, his thighs. They were the best looking thighs I’d ever seen, usually hidden under his long shorts or pants, but with only the tight boxer briefs stopping right at the point where the back of his leg muscle indented right before his buttocks, the view was spectacular. He turned to glance at me as he headed to the bathroom. “I’ll let you get dressed in private … unless you need to get in here first?” he said as a question. I could only shake my head since my vocal cords had been struck temporarily speechless by the gorgeousness of him.
After he shut the door, I pulled on my purple jog shorts and purple flowered sports bra that matched. My body screamed for some running-on-the-beach time, and I figured if I actually put the workout clothes on, it might really happen.
Brodie came out of the bathroom and grabbed his cargo shorts, stepping into them he tugged up the zipper and buttoned them. He snatched a black t-shirt from his bag and pulled it over his head. The shirt had a guitar on it and underneath the guitar it said, “Live To Play.”
Brodie spent the next ten minutes reassuring me that there was no way Jeff could have followed us down to Malibu. Before we headed downstairs, he called Doc and then Derrick to see what they could find out about Jeff still being in town. Once inside the little café downstairs at the hotel, I let Brodie talk me into some pancakes with the coffee, conceding that walking after eating pancakes made more sense than before.
Just as I took the last bite of the syrup smothered glob on my fork, Lena and Jackson strolled in holding hands, looking every bit the newlyweds. They made the perfect couple. I was glad Lena’d colored her hair back to the dark auburn I’d known her to have. She had very pale skin, and the red complimented her skin tone more, producing a radiant glow instead of making her look like a pale person lacking some vitamin D.
After she and Jackson filled their plates from the buffet, she plopped down next to me. Jackson and Brodie were already talking about what we, the band, needed to accomplish today in order to be ready for tonight. Lena leaned her head close to mine and whispered, “How did it go last night?”
I smiled, thinking of the kisses on the beach and later in the room, Brodie holding me all night long, then stopped and gave her a restrained glance. I knew I could tell Lena anything, but was I ready to confess my feelings for Brodie? “It went fine.” I settled for a simple, non-committal answer.
“Good.” She took a sip of her coffee. “I’m glad. I … we were worried a little.”
“No need to worry. Brodie and I are friends. We live in the same house for crying out loud. I think we can handle sleeping in the same room.”
“Yeah. Sure.” She buttered her toast and took a bite. After she swallowed it, she leaned close to my ear again and whispered, “What about when you were walking on the beach?”
“What?” I stared at her, knowing full well that an incredulous expression must be plastered all over my face.
“You know what I’m talking about.”
“Um … no. I think you’d better tell me,” I said, feeling my cheeks warm with redness.
“You and Brodie.”
“What about us?”
“Kissing!” she whispered.
I turned to stare at her, unable to figure out how she knew about the kissing.
She shrugged. “We saw you,” she said in a matter of fact way.
“You saw us?”
“Jackson and I were walking on the beach too. We stopped when we got close enough to realize it was you and Brodie laying on the wet sand tangled in each other’s arms, faces smashed together like …”
“Shhhh,” I demanded. Lena giggled.
Resting my elbow on the table, I placed my forehead in my hand, unable to look up at her. I peeked a glance through my fingers at Brodie and sighed with relief to see he was still talking with Jackson and not paying any attention to what Lena and I were discussing.
“I think it’s awesome, by the way,” she added still keeping her voice down.
I took in a deep breath. “I’ve liked him for a while now. Probably even since last year.”
“I know.”
I stared at her again, unable to believe what I was hearing. “Take a jog with me?”
“Sure.” Lena gulped the rest of her coffee and stood. “Jackson, Gabby and I are going for a jog on the beach. Be back in about half an hour.”
“Wait. I’ll come too,” Brodie stood.
Jackson frowned at his brother.
“I don’t think they should go alone.”
“There are two of us,” I said.
“I’d just feel better if I tagged along.”
When neither Lena nor I said anything, his eyes caught mine. “Humor me.”
“I’ll come too,” Jackson said while standing to leave with us.
“Okay,” Lena smiled, and I figured I might as well agree too.
I knew why Brodie wanted to come. I hated that he felt like I needed a babysitter. I never should have told him about that stupid phone call.
Chapter 35
Brodie
Jackson and I ran ahead of the women. Their strides were half ours, and I took the hint that Jackson wanted to talk as he sped ahead first and gestured for me to follow. He slapped me on the shoulder when I caught up. “So, you and Gabrielle.”
“Me and Gabrielle, what?”
“You know.”
“No clue.”
“Lena and I took a walk on the beach yesterday around sunset.”
“Oh.”
My jogging became a little slowed and I tried to relax my shoulders. I glanced behind us to see Gabrielle and Lena jogging so slowly they we
re almost walking … as they talked. I guessed Gabrielle was having a similar conversation with Lena that I was having with Jackson.
“How long?”
I gave him a reserved glance. “Since yesterday. And before you start to lecture me, let me tell you that I’ve stopped sleeping around. In fact, I haven’t been with a woman since before you and Lena tied the knot.”
“Wow,” was all he said.
We ran in silence for a few seconds until I couldn’t stand it. “She’s different.”
“Uh huh.”
“She is!”
“I know. I said, ‘uh huh.’”
“Yeah, but there was something in that ‘uh huh.’”
“Nothing in my ‘uh huh,’ bro, ‘cept a couple of u’s and h’s.”
“Well, keep ‘em to yourself.”
“Sure.” He glanced behind us. “I can do that, but not sure I’ll need to.”
I followed his glance with my own. Lena waved, smiling profusely, and I knew she and Gabrielle were discussing the kissing. Not a big deal, I told myself.
“I like her.”
“Glad to hear it. I don’t need to tell you how bad I’ve felt about the Beth situation, and I’ve always understood why you did the things you did. I probably would have been the same way. It’s hard to trust someone once that’s been damaged.”
“Yeah, well, I’m over it. Well, over the shock of it. I don’t know if you ever get over something like that.”
“No. I don’t think so.” My brother had never chastised me for the way I treated women after the fiasco with Beth. My mom had left me alone, as well. I supposed I should be grateful for having such an understanding family. I sometimes wonder what my dad would have had to say about the way I’d acted.
“Gabrielle got a phone call last night from that creep Jeff.”
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