Across the Miles (The Not So Bad Boys of Rock #1) (23 page)

“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?”

“No, I’m not okay. Go home Brooke, just please go home.” And then he hung up the phone. I stood there on the dance floor, phone in my hand, looking around and wondering what had just happened. Why had he hung up on me? I was just out trying to have some fun; I wasn’t doing anything wrong. Should I not have said anything to him about the guy? I don’t know. I’m not one to keep secrets, and when I saw his face on my phone I thought it was a great way to get the guy to leave me alone. In hindsight, maybe it hadn’t been the best decision. I sent him a quick text, just to make sure things were okay between us.

Me: I’m truly sorry. I promise I didn’t do anything wrong, he just wouldn’t take no for an answer. I love you.

He didn’t respond.

Sebastian~

I’m sitting at home, working on some new music, when I get the feeling that Brooke is in trouble. I grabbed my phone and called her, she answered right away, and I heard my voice singing in the background of the club, how ironic.

“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.” At the sound of her words panic flooded through me, she was in trouble, and I wasn’t there to help her. I knew something like this might happen; I had even warned her. What was it with women, not wanting to listen to anything their men told them? Why did she have to be so stubborn?

“What the hell Brooke? Put him on the phone,” I groaned. How on earth was I going to convince this guy that if he knew what was best for him he would turn tail and run in the other direction?

“Okay, he wants to talk to you.” I heard her transferring the phone to the asshole currently trying to hit on my girlfriend.

I didn’t even give the guy a chance to say a word, I just started in on him with the first words that came to mind. “Listen buddy, I don’t know who the hell you are, or how you came to be hitting on my girl, but I’m going to give you to the count of ten to get the hell out of there or I’ll make a phone call and have your ass kicked. Stay away from her, she’s mine. And if she tells me that you didn’t walk away I’ll make you sorry that you didn’t take my advice. Now give the phone back to her and leave.” I heard him swearing profusely as he handed the phone back to Brooke.

“Sebastian, are you okay?” she asked, her voice sounded small and timid.

“No, I’m not okay. Go home Brooke, just please go home,” I begged her, then I hung up, I couldn’t bring myself to talk to her, I was furious. This was exactly what I had been worried about, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it, she was there and I was stuck here, completely unaware of what she was getting herself into. I threw my phone and heard it crack as it hit the wall. I
cursed loudly and ran my hands through my hair, pulling on it as my fingers worked their way through. After a few minutes, I got up and walked over to my phone, already knowing it had been badly damaged. The screen was completely cracked and when I pressed the Home button the phone lit up faintly. I saw that I had a text from Brooke; I could barely make it out, I strained my eyes and sighed heavily when I read it.

Brooke: I’m truly sorry. I promise I didn’t do anything wrong, he just wouldn’t take no for an answer. I love you.

I tried to type a response but it was no use, the phone was a broken mess. All I could do was wait until morning to get a new one, until then, I could only pray that she was safe, and hope that she knew I still loved her too.

Brooke~

I had to find Jade, I needed to get home. Suddenly, the thought of staying here and dancing seemed like a betrayal to him. It didn’t help that he was still singing to me through the speakers that surrounded the club. How long was this song? Dammit, I never should have answered the phone; I should have handled that guy on my own. What if he was too angry to talk to me? He had never ignored my texts before, I was scared that I had made him angry with me, he had warned me about guys coming on to me and I blew him off, I promised him that he had nothing to worry about. Crap.

I made my way through the crowd, desperate to find Jade, and all the while more guys tried to get me to dance with them, seriously, where were all these guys when I didn’t have a boyfriend? Now, when I suddenly have the best one there is, they all come out of the woodwork. I
kept looking at my phone, hoping and praying that he would text me back.

I finally found Jade, dancing with the same guy that had approached her earlier, they were dancing close, and I hated to interrupt her, but I had to let her know I was leaving. I tapped her on the shoulder and when she saw my face she knew that something was wrong.

“What is it?” she asked, stepping away from her new friend.

“I’m sorry Jade, but I have to go home, something happened with Sebastian and now I think he’s mad at me.” It was all I could do not to cry in front of this guy who wouldn’t take a hint and back off so that we could talk privately.

“Okay, I’ll go with you.” She took my arm and started to pull me with her.

“No, I don’t want to ruin your night, you stay here and have a good time. Just promise me you’ll be safe and text me if you need anything. I just need to go home and try to get in touch with him, I can’t do that here, I need privacy. I’ll be fine.” I grabbed her hand and squeezed it tight, assuring her that it was okay to stay behind. “Go on,” I nudged her toward the guy and turned to leave the floor.

When I stepped outside the club I was hit with the strong stench of cigarettes. I stopped, fearing that I might run into the guy from the dance floor. I heard deep laughter behind me, and the sound of it made my skin crawl, I knew that laugh.

“I guess your boyfriend thinks you’re pretty special, maybe I need to find out for myself just what he’s trying so hard to protect.”

“Just stay away from me, I told you before that I wasn’t interested.” I kept walking, but he started
following me, so I increased my pace, trying frantically to get to my car. His pace slow and methodical, like he knew he had me trapped. I made it to my car and punched in the code, opening the passenger side door and leaning in before he grabbed me from behind. I placed a hand on the inside of the door and held on for dear life, fighting against him and screaming for help, but the loud music from the club bounced off the surrounding buildings, blocking out all ability for my screams to be heard. His hands found my waist and he tried once more to pull me to him, but I planted my feet firmly, grinding one of the heels of my boot into his foot, causing him to let go for a moment, it was all that I needed. My hand found the glove compartment, and I reached in blindly and found what I had been looking for, a can of pepper spray that I kept handy in case of an emergency. I spun around and emptied most of the can in his face; no one heard his screams either. When I finished spraying, I brought up a knee and made hard contact with his groin, making him scream louder and fall to his knees. I threw down the can and stumbled around to the driver’s side door and got in, locking all the doors, and started the car. I backed out quickly, not caring if I hit him in the process; I was so shaken up that it was difficult to drive.

I tried deep breathing, and placed all my focus on Sebastian’s face, I couldn’t stop the tears from falling, I had almost been viciously attacked by someone that I didn’t even know, if he had actually gotten away with it how would Sebastian have felt about me? Would he have been able to look at me the same? Would I? By the time I got home, I still hadn’t heard from him. I tried calling, but his voicemail wouldn’t even pick up. I felt completely helpless and fell back on my bed, trying to piece everything together and make sense of it. I needed to talk
to him; nothing would be right until that happened.

At some point I started to doze off when it dawned on me, I could call Chris and maybe he could help me get in touch with Sebastian. I hated to go through his friends to get to him, but I wouldn’t feel right until I heard his voice, I needed to tell him what happened, even if he couldn’t be here, just the sound of his voice would offer me the comfort that I so desperately needed right now.

“Hey, pretty lady,” Chris spoke cheerfully into the phone. I could practically hear the smile in his voice.

“Hey Chris, how are you? I’ve missed you.”

“I wondered when you were going to call me; I was beginning to think you forgot about me.”

“Well, the phone works both ways buddy,” I attempted to laugh, but it sounded forced, and he picked up on it immediately.