Mistake: A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance (13 page)

"Man, the dude you're holding tackled muscle man over there, got thrown off into my cooler," the one beachgoer said. "Motherfucker dented the thing too."

The lifeguard looked from Pete to me, then back. "Alright, why's he chasing you down?" he asked me. "You've got a few pounds on him."

"Old beef that he didn't want to let go," I said simply. "He wanted to start something, and I didn't want to do that any longer, so I took off running for here. He was a bit faster, took me down."

The fight had caused a small crowd to gather, and there were a few people who backed up my story. The lifeguard looked around, while Pete was let go as long as he stayed on the other side of the lifeguard. "Looks like I should radio for the police," he said, "you got a clear assault case."

I shook my head. "No need, man. I don't want to press charges."

"Yo man, what about my cooler?" the beachgoer asked, pointing to his now crushed device. It looked like it had been a good cooler too, but it now sported a dent that was about three inches deep in one side. I reached into my side pocket, where my wallet still sat comfortably, and took it out.

"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."

I
t 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 sneakers. 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?"

I
t 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 corruption 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.

"Sandra," Julian said, turning to Mom. "It's good to see you again too."

"Come here, you big lunk," Mom replied, getting out of her chair to give him a friendly hug. "God you're big. You promise you're not eating Krystal out of house and home?"

Oh, he's eating me out all right,
I thought naughtily, a smile coming to my face.
In fact, I love it when he does.
"I'm glad to see you're happy about this too," John commented as he came and gave me a hug, totally missing the reason for my smile. Not that I would tell him, even after we told them about Julian and I. There are just some things you do
not
tell your mother and stepfather.

* * *

A
fter we exchanged
hugs all around, Krystal and I sat down on the leather couch in the study. Dad rang for drinks, and Yuki herself brought it in, with steaming mugs of Earl Grey tea along with a sugar bowl and creamer. "Here you are, enjoy," Yuki said, disappearing silently.

I watched her go, and knew without a doubt that our rental car was already parked, and our bags were upstairs in the same rooms we'd used last time Krystal and I visited. Turning back to Dad and Sandra, who were sitting side by side on the other couch, I reached out and took a cup. "She hasn't convinced you to go with green tea all the time yet, Dad?"

"You know how it is," John said as he spooned an ungodly amount of sugar and a heavy dollop of cream into his mug and stirred. "I'm not saying I can't enjoy it after dinner or iced after I get some exercise, but for afternoons like this, nothing is better than a good British tea."

"Speaking of exercise, I wanted to tell you guys about some things," I said, taking my tea with just a squeeze of lemon. "I don't want to shock you too much Dad, but I've decided it's time I got a job."

"Really?" Dad said, sipping his tea and trying not to grin too much. "You know, if you're looking for a place to start, I can certainly find you a spot in our management program."

I shook my head, chuckling. "No offense Dad, but that's the last thing I want to do. Not that learning the Castelbon business wouldn't be interesting at some point, but I'm not you, and we've got a lot of work to do on our father-son relationship before I start reporting to you as my boss too. Also, I want to stand on my own feet, like Krystal has."

"I can respect that," Sandra interjected from her seat. "It takes guts to try and make it on your own, Julian."

"Well, not totally on my own, you know. Let's face it, even now I'm better off than ninety-nine percent of the population. But thank you. Anyway, I've decided to try and make a go of it as a personal trainer. Training is about the only thing I've done well over the past few years, outside raising hell."

"You'll learn a lot there son," Dad said, "Lot of sales and customer service. Not to pile on, but what about going back to college? Even someplace online or something would help when you want to move on to a management position."

"I've thought a little about it, but first I have to see if I passed my certification exam," I replied. "But at least I'll have someone to help keep me in check and show me how to be a good worker."

"Oh?" Sandra said. "How's that, are you getting a mentor or something?"

"What Julian's saying is that he's moving to Chicago, and is going to live with me," Krystal said, trying not to gush. I could tell she wanted to just blurt out what we came to say, but she also could tell how I was guiding them. It wasn't that we were trying to play them, but this was the sort of subject to be approached carefully. "I have a big apartment after all."

"Hmm, won't that interfere with your social lives?" Sandra said. "No offense honey, but since meeting John I've kind of been hoping you'd meet someone like him, and find some happiness outside the kitchen. I know you love it, but there's more to life than fine dining."

"Yeah.... well, about that," Krystal said, looking at her mom and then at me. "I kind of already have."

Sandra looked from her daughter to me and back, realization beginning to dawn on her face. "Well then.... uhm, wow. Excuse me please, I think I need to go think about this for a little bit before I say something I'll regret."

She got up to leave the room, Krystal standing up to follow her before I put my hand on her forearm. "Don't, babe. She needs some time alone, or at least with her thoughts." I looked over at Dad, who was watching the two of us impassively. "Dad?"

Dad shook his head slowly, and took another drink of his tea. "Julian, I lost you once years ago when I didn't tell you the truth. I missed years of your life, years I'm not going to get back. I'm too damn old to have that happen again. So for me, I'm just going to take this in stride. Now, part of me is surprised, not that you'd find Krystal attractive, but that she'd reciprocate. Krystal, I'm going to say something that might hurt Julian, but I need to ask. Are you sure? My son, as much as I love him, has not been the most consistent guy over the years."

"I love him, Johnathan. And he's a better man than history suggests. I've seen that over the weeks we've been living together."

My father finished off his tea and set the cup down, his face having the same expression I'd seen numerous times as a teenager when he'd tried to show me how his work went. Johnathan Castelbon was a thorough thinker, and when he said something, you knew he'd put his mind behind his words. It commanded respect when he was in the board room, and I respected it now.

"Krystal, your mother is the finest woman I've ever known. She's raised a wonderful daughter. A daughter so good that she appears to have rehabilitated my only son and brought him back into my life. If it was your love, or his love of you that caused it, who am I to argue? Despite what I've tried, I've not been the best father in the world myself. If I was, I would've told the truth to Julian long ago. For that Julian, I'm sorry, and I should ask you for forgiveness. But that's beside the point. Point is Krystal, if you love him, and he loves you, I'm happy for you both. This will take some getting used to, and I'd ask that you two take it a little slow around here for a while, but I'll have Yuki move your bags in together. I assume that would suit you?"