Across the Miles (The Not So Bad Boys of Rock #1) (25 page)

“What if it’s not a good surprise for her? I don’t want to assume that I’m welcome to a pop-in conjugal visit, that would be rude.”

“I didn’t say you need to go out there and see her just for sex, idiot, I just meant that you two need some time together again. You can be physical in a relationship without having sex you know,” he replied sarcastically.

“I know that,” I snapped back, “I’m not stupid. But I would be lying if I said that wasn’t on my mind.”

“I know that, I’m not stupid,” he repeated.

“Ha ha, smartass,” I mumbled, mostly to myself.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” he joked.

When we got back to Mom and Dad’s everyone had just sat down to eat. Mom looked over at us, and we gave her a quick thumbs up to indicate that everything was fine, before we washed up for dinner.

“Hey Dek,” I called across the table. “You got any plans for next weekend?”

“No, what’s going on brother?” he asked, his interest instantly peaked, we hadn’t been out together in a few weeks, so the thought of me making a plan had immediately caught his attention.

“Oh, I’m planning on taking a little trip out east,” I smiled at Mom, who by this time was grinning like the cat who ate a canary.

“Count me in, I’m down for seeing Brooke, and I can’t wait to meet her hot little friend.”

Brooke~

This week had been crazy from the very moment I set my feet on the ground Monday morning. I had to take a quick day trip with Donnie to pickup our seafood order, and then I had to oversee inventory and a surprise health inspection. Then, on top of all that, I had one of my line cooks break his leg while mountain climbing on a trip out west, leaving me a man down, and I had to fill his shoes. With all of the stress I hadn’t been sleeping very well, today marked the fourth anniversary of Devon’s death, and each year this day was particularly hard on me, I would have thought that it would get easier with time but it hadn’t. I never pointed it out to Jade or Sebastian, I figured there wasn’t any point to it, I would just quietly
acknowledge it on my walk home tonight and keep moving forward, like I always did. I had been looking forward to having the weekend off until I received a phone bright and early this morning from one of our employees, waking me up after I had just fallen asleep, asking me to cover her shift tonight.

When I got out of the shower I found Jade in the kitchen making breakfast, a rare treat considering she usually preferred that I do all the cooking, the comforting smell of bacon and French toast filled the small space.

“Good morning sunshine, did you sleep any better last night?” she asked cheerfully, sounding a touch too peppy for me after the week I had just had.

“Ugh, not really. I had just fallen asleep when the phone woke me up, Kerri called in so I need to cover for her tonight,” I groaned into my cup of coffee.

“Oh no, this was supposed to be your weekend off. Do you have to close?”

“No, I’ll get off at eight but sometimes that turns into eight-thirty,” I mumbled sleepily. “I just want to come home tonight and relax, maybe try to fall asleep early. I don’t want anything waking me up early tomorrow either; I want to sleep in,” I sighed happily. “Geez, that’s really sad when just the mention of sleeping in gives me something to look forward to.”

“Did you ever connect with Sebastian last night?” Jade asked hopefully. At the time I had gone to bed last night she knew that I hadn’t been able to touch base with him, it had been the first night since I left him that we hadn’t talked before going to sleep.

“No,” I whined, “I’m sure he’s been really busy too, with the hours they’re putting in at the studio and the upcoming tour. I’m sure I’ll talk to him at some point this morning, he always calls me.”

Three hours later, I
was on my way to work, I chose to walk this afternoon, partly because it was a beautiful day, but also because I planned to spend a few moments at the accident site, something that I did every year on this day. While I was walking I decided to shoot a quick text to Sebastian, I still hadn’t heard from him and that was really strange.

Me: Hey, I haven’t heard from you for almost twenty-four hours, I’m starting to have withdrawals
Hope everything is okay with you. Love, B.

I received a response back almost immediately.

Sebastian: Hi baby! I’m sorry; things are just chaotic around here, and we’ve been hunkered down in the studio. I’ll call you tonight, and we can have our ‘cuddle’ time before we go to sleep
Love, S.

I wore a smile on my face for the rest of my walk to work, even though this was an emotionally heavy day for me, knowing that he loved me made it easier to get through. When I walked through the rear entrance there was utter chaos all around me, employees were scurrying about here and there, and it appeared that the entire contents of the walk-in cooler were strewn about the kitchen.

“What in the world is going on? Did the cooler break down or something?” I asked, half joking.

“Yep,” replied Jeremy. “Came in this morning and found a mess all over the floor.”

“Do we have a temporary coming in? We’ve got a full house tonight,” I stated, making my way to find Donnie. “Is Donnie in his office?” I called over my shoulder.

“No, I’m right here,” he muttered. I looked down and found him on all fours behind the upright blast chiller.

“Don’t tell me that went out too?” I rolled my eyes.

“No, I’m just checking connections,” he stood up and
pushed the unit back against the wall. “I’m going to need you to make a run with me to pick up some supplies; we lost quite a bit of product.” He started heading out the back entrance, where I had just come from, to the parking lot where a small, refrigerated truck sat waiting. We hopped in and started down the road, not getting far, before he turned to me. “What are you doing in today? I thought you had the weekend off.”

“I did, but Kerri called this morning and asked if I could cover for her. I should have said no,” I groaned. “This is going to be a long day.”

Two hours later, after stopping to pick up fresh produce, meat, and seafood, we walked back into the restaurant to find the owner standing there overseeing the hookup of the temporary cooling units.

“Hey Mark, any report on how long the repair will take?” Donnie asked.

“We’ll be up and running, good as new, by tomorrow afternoon,” he clapped Donnie on the back. “Hey Brooke, I thought you had the weekend off?”

“I did,” I smiled, “guess I just can’t stay away.”

“That’s why we love you kid. I’m going up front to help out Denise, you good here?”

“Yep, we’ve got this, no worries,” I assured him, turning to begin re-stocking the fridge. With three of us moving the inventory back in place, the task didn’t take much longer than an hour. Once that was finished, we had to get everything prepped for tonight’s dinner service.

“How’s it coming over there?” I asked Jeremy, who had been fileting out fish for tonight.

“I’ve got all but two fish broken down, there’s enough for forty-five over on those two trays,” he indicated with the filet knife. I walked over and did a spot check on his
portion sizes.

“Great job, thanks for all of your hard work this afternoon,” I encouraged him, before moving on to the next station.

Dinner service ran smoothly, and everyone managed to keep up a good pace, despite the mad rush of energy that had been expended earlier in the day. After everyone had been served, after everything had been shut down, and once the kitchen had been thoroughly cleaned, I said goodnight to Donnie and made my way out the front door, locking it as I shut it behind me. What a crazy day this had turned out to be, with all the commotion I had almost forgotten about what day it was, but as I made my way down the sidewalk I remembered the task that lay before me.

I walked slowly down Main Street, thinking about the same walk I had taken four years ago today, the day that my world, and all that I had come to depend on, had changed in the blink of an eye, all because of a drunk driver. Two lives had been lost that night, but many more had been shattered in the aftermath. Devon’s parents had a difficult time dealing with his death, eventually divorcing because neither could get past it. His sister had lost her only brother, and never knew what it was like to have him look out for her and give her advice as she went off to college. And me, I lost the first person that truly believed in me and accepted me for who I was, the one person that loved me unconditionally. Devon had been very good to me and each year I took this walk and reflected on our time together, to honor his memory.

When I reached the site of the accident I sat down on a bench, the very same bench that the officer who had removed me from the car window had carried me to and sat me down, before doing his best to try and console me.
After four years I really didn’t have any tears left, just the memories. I had cried enough during the first year to more than makeup for any lack of them that I had now. Instead, I just sat there and stared ahead at the road, a black strip of asphalt that looked innocent enough, bearing no sign of the tragedy that had occurred there, in fact, only those of us that had been affected in some fashion knew any different.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Sebastian~

“Dude, you really need to calm down, and for crying out loud will you stop shaking your leg, you’re vibrating the whole row of chairs,” Dek muttered quietly, trying not to attract too much attention.

“I’m sorry, I can’t help it, I’m nervous and excited,” I whispered back. We were sitting in LAX at the terminal, waiting to board a plane to Michigan. In an attempt to keep a low profile, we wore hats and regular clothes, trying to blend in. The airlines had our real names, but they were accustomed to famous people flying commercially, so they were always very discreet. It wasn’t so much that I hated being recognized, I just didn’t feel like being polite or entertaining, I needed to concentrate on what I was going to say when I showed up on Brooke’s doorstep, unannounced.

“I don’t know what you’re nervous about,” Dek replied, exuding all the confidence in the world. “You know she’s going to flip out when she sees you, it’s been
three months, she’s probably going to lock you up in her room and I won’t see either of you for the next three days. No worries though; it’ll give me more time to get acquainted with her friend, Jade.” His eyebrows wiggled back and forth, and a lop-sided grin formed on his face.

“You’d better control yourself around Jade, she’s Brooke’s best friend and I don’t want you screwing things up for me, understood?” I warned.

“Whoa, lighten up,” he threw his hands up mockingly. “I’m just talking about spending some quality time getting to know more about her. Jeez, relax already, you’re going to give yourself heart failure or something.”

“I can’t take this anymore,” I stood up, “what time is it? Shouldn’t we be boarding by now?” I turned to head for the restroom when they announced the boarding call for all first-class guests. “It’s about time,” I muttered.

“Good Lord this is going to be a long flight,” Dek groaned, rolling his eyes as he bent down to grab his backpack. “Sebastian, slow down,” he called after me, as I hurried down the jetway. “Unless you’re planning on running down the airstrip and flapping your arms all the way to Michigan, which you and I both know is impossible, we’re going to get there at the same time.” I turned to glare at him but when I saw the smug grin on his face I couldn’t help but crack a smile.

“Fine, point taken; I’ll try to relax.”

“That’s all I ask. Any way, it’s like I said earlier; I don’t know what you’re so anxious about, she loves you,” he slapped me on the back and darted past me. We took our seats in first class and waited for the plane to take off, all the while trying our best to blend in. So far we hadn’t been spotted, I sat back, hoping that our luck wouldn’t run out.

“Oh my God! It’s Sebastian Miles and James Dekker,
from Paradox. They’re here on this plane! Tina, look who it is!” The squealing woman turned and called out to her friend who was a few feet behind her. As soon as the words were out of her mouth heads snapped around to confirm her claim, and a low groan escaped my pursed lips.