Addicted: A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance (22 page)

"Yeah," I admitted. "But I don't use it for much else."

"I gathered that from the way Yuki talked about you," Julian replied. "Do you know in almost a decade of working for Johnathan, she's never called me Julian? I've always been Mr. Castelbon, or sir to her. You know what that means."

"She doesn't like you very much," I replied. "I got clued in on Yuki's naming scheme very quickly."

"It's not even doesn't like. She doesn't respect me. Krystal, I thought about it, and I realized other than some guys in the gym, there's nobody who really respects me. They respect the Castelbon money, they respect the numbers I can put up in the weight room, and they probably respect the fact that I could whip their ass if I really wanted to. But not too many people respect me as a human being, let alone like me."

I couldn't argue the point. The fact was, I didn't even respect Julian all that much. I only took him in because he was technically family, and he hadn't pissed me off that much yet. Even while I said this to myself, a little voice in the back of my head added
and because he looks . . .
I shut it up before it could go on much further.

"Okay. Well, here's the deal then. You can stay, as long as you can follow the four rules. Stay as long as you want. Honestly, if you’re serious about getting your head right, I'm all for it. I would like to get to know you, and it would be great to have a brother. I have way too many cousins as it is. A brother . . . a brother would be nice."

T
wo nights later
, while I was in the kitchen working the meat preparation station, Horst came by to check my work. "Four more steaks, two medium, one rare, one medium rare," he said. "Also, we have a large party that just came in. Six, young, too much money. Be prepared."

I inwardly groaned. While Chicago was nowhere near as filled with these types as New York or Los Angeles, it still had them. Normally when Horst came by like that, it was because a baseball player, musician, or someone else who rolled with an entourage came in. The worst in my opinion was a week when not only did the Bulls have the Heat in town for a game, but the Bears were playing against the Raiders. That was three days of hell. "Yes Chef."

"Eight minutes on the steaks."

I got back to work, and prepared for the tsunami. It hit like I expected, with appetizers coming in and flooding our stations. As I worked my way through a flood of seven steaks, Horst came by again. "When those are done, check the dining room. I think you'll know who the party is for.”

I nodded as I finished the steaks, and turned my station over to another person on the line, wiping my hands and ducked over to the pass, where there was a see through portion that looked out on the dining room. "Excuse me, Tim?"

Timothy, the head waiter, turned and looked over at me. "Yeah, what's up Krystal?"

"Horst said I should take a look at the tsunami party. Which table?"

"Table twelve, over by the window next to the column," Tim said, pointing over. I followed his gesture, and felt my face go slack. Sitting in the middle of the table, surrounded by four women and another guy, was Julian. He seemed to be having a grand old time, laughing and drawing a bunch of attention to himself. He hollered for a waiter, and I turned away, not saying anything. My face was burning too much, and I only stayed in control by balling my hands into fists and squeezing until my forearms felt like they were going to explode.

I stopped next to Horst, who was back running the pass. "I'm sorry Chef."

Horst shook his head, and pointed to my station. "Not your fault. But if you let the steak tickets pile up more, that will be. You think you can keep that station clear?"

I grinned tightly and nodded. "Damn right. Tell Paul on seafood he better be hopping on the fish, he's going to be eating my dust soon enough."

W
hen I woke
up the next morning, I found that Krystal had already gotten up and left the apartment. I had been asleep when she came home, so I was a little confused. She had told me she didn't have any sort of practice for her competition that morning, and I had hoped we would be able to have breakfast together.

The few days I'd been staying with Krystal, I felt like things were different. It wasn't that I didn't want to sleep with her any longer. If anything, I wanted her more than ever. But in the three days of being able to spend time with her, I no longer wanted to use her for a quick fuck to humiliate Johnathan. I didn't even think of it as wanting to fuck her anymore, as much as I wanted to have sex, or maybe even make love with her. I shook my head as my mind took me in uncomfortable directions.

Looking around the apartment, I couldn't find a note saying where Krystal had gone. I tried sending her a text message on my phone, but there was no reply after an hour. Finally, about noon, I got frustrated. Krystal hadn't given me a key, so I couldn't exactly leave the apartment. I mean I could have, but I would be locked out until she got home that night, or more precisely, until about two in the morning tomorrow if her normal work pattern held true. Not what I wanted to do at all. I already knew that going to the back at Alinea wouldn't be cool either.

Finally, in desperation, I found Krystal's home phone. It was one of her quirks, that she still had a land line phone, but I was grateful. It took me a while, but I found in the phone's memory a number assigned to "Kim," so I took a risk. Dialing, I held my breath. After the third ring, I heard the line get picked up. "What the hell are you doing at home? You should be at work, right?"

"Hi, Kim? It's me, Julian. Please, don't hang up."

The silence on the other end of the line drew out, and I was worried that Kim would hang up when she finally replied. "Julian. How'd you get this number?"

I realized my palms were sweating, and I went over to the chair in the living room to sit down. It was overcast, but I could see all the way over most of the city from where I was sitting. "I woke up this morning, and Krystal wasn't here. I tried messaging her, and she isn't replying. Kimberly, did I do something to anger her?"

I heard a huff on the other end, and it took me a minute to realize that Kimberly was laughing. "Let me clue you in, Julian. Going to your stepsister's restaurant and making a big scene is not the way to endear yourself to her, or her to the staff. What the hell did you think you were doing last night?"

I blinked, surprised. "That? I had a few friends of friends that I gave a call to, and I wanted to introduce them to Alinea. None of them had been there before, and I figured I'd make it rain a little while I was there. That was why I made sure to order the best of everything. We left with a tab of over three thousand dollars, and I dropped a two-thousand-dollar tip on top of that."

I could almost hear Kimberly roll her eyes at me from the other end of the phone. "Listen dude, that is not how to help her out. Jesus, what sort of thought process was going through your head? As you put it,
making it rain
doesn't work in fine dining. Those people charge out the ass for a plate of steak and French fries because they can, and because Alinea can pack them in night after night. Sure, you left a big tip, but you messed up the flow of the kitchen with that tsunami order as she calls it. You alone gave her another twenty minutes of work backup by ordering those seven steaks, by the way. Who do you think was on the steak station at Alinea last night?"

I felt the blood drain out of my face, as I realized what I'd done. "Ah hell."

"Yeah, ah hell is right. Julian, if you want to have a good relationship with Krystal, you're going to have to get some things straight. First off, she isn't going to be impressed by you trying to be a baller. Remember, she's got her own money, and besides that, she's never been the type to be impressed by cash anyway. So if you want to actually get on her good side, drop that stupid act right now."

I nodded, and swallowed. "Then what should I do?"

"Try being honest and open with her. The reason we're friends is because I'm one of the few people who hasn't tried to kiss her ass for being an Aksoy. We're friends because when we are on the mat together, it's just Kimberly and Krystal, regardless of the money we have or the places we come from. Do you even know where I live?"

“Uh . . . no, no I don't," I said, honestly. "Krystal's talked about you sure, but she never brought it up."

"I live in Edgewater, which if you're unfamiliar with Chicago may not be the worst neighborhood, but I plan on getting the hell out of it as soon as I can. The reason I live here is because it's cheap, if I can put up with the gangs and the occasional shooting. Tell you something about my socio economic background, Julian?"

I felt myself nodding. "Yeah. Kimberly, you know that doesn't matter to me. You're Krystal's friend, you know?"

"I know that, dumbass. What I'm saying is, offer Krystal something more than money and tattoos, and she'll be happy to have you as part of her life. Understand?"

I thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "I got it. Listen, one last question, if you don't mind."

"Go ahead, but a short one. I gotta get back to work."

"What's her favorite movie?"

Kimberly laughed again, and I could hear the ice in her voice thaw as she did. "She's a chef. What type of movies do you think she likes?"

The phone went dead in my ear, and I hung up. Sitting back, I thought for a long time, then set the handset back on its base. I walked back into my room, and sat down to think. Finally, I got an idea, and went over to the laptop I had bought the other day. It was pretty decent, not a top flight gaming rig but I didn't need one for what I wanted to do. Krystal was letting me cadge off her Internet signal, and I pulled up my browser so I could start to learn.

"
H
e did what
?"

"He actually called and asked me about you. You know, if I didn't know better, he sounded like he has a crush on you, babe."

I was on my meal break before service time, that golden hour before final prep and service began. Traditionally, it was the time that a lot of restaurants would gather and let the staff fill their bellies with the scraps and cutoffs of what couldn't be reused or repurposed from the raw ingredients, and Alinea was no different. I'd finished my bowl of rice, beef and vegetables, and was sitting in the alley behind the restaurant, just getting some fresh air. Well, if you can call alley air fresh. "No way. Kim, he's my stepbrother."

"Who you've known for a total of about one week if you add up all the time you've actually spent in the same city together. Don't tell me he doesn't push some buttons physically for you, Krystal. I know your type too well. Hell, even I have to admit he’s nice on the eyes.”

I groaned. This is what getting drunk one night with a good friend does for you. "Perhaps, but you also know there's no way in hell I'm even thinking of going there. First off, he's now family. Second and more importantly, he's acted like a total asshole for most of his life."

"And while that’s true, his intentions were good this time," Kimberly told me. She explained the conversation they'd had, and how she'd told him what his little stunt had caused in the restaurant. She ended it with telling me about his final question. "If my guess is right, you're going to come home to an apology and an invitation to watch
Ratatouille.
"

I laughed despite myself. "Well, there are worse ways to get an apology. Alright, alright. He's forgiven for his little stunt. But that's strike one. Three strikes and he’s out.”

"And right into the Hilton or something even more upscale," Kimberly joked. "You know, it's not really my place to stick my nose in, but you were the one who asked me to look into John Castelbon those years ago. Julian doesn't know the truth. Shouldn't we tell him? I feel like a lot of his act is just that, an act. He's hurt and scared, he blames everything on his father, and he thinks his mother was some sort of saint. Maybe he needs a wakeup call."

I thought about it, and shook my head. "There'll come a time Kimberly, but not right now. Hey, my break is almost over, I need to get back to work. Thanks for the heads up."

"No problem. Enjoy your Disney movie," Kim joked, and hung up on me. I put my phone back in my pocket, and headed back inside. I still had a dinner service to get through, no matter what Julian might have planned for me.

T
he lights were
dim when I came in the door, just after midnight. It was a Wednesday evening, which traditionally at Alinea meant dinner service was light. In keeping with the preparations for
Iron Chef
, Horst had let me and Shannon's other team members go as soon as the last plate was off the pass, so I actually walked out at just after eleven fifteen. I thought about taking a cab but decided instead to take a ride on the bus like normal. Unfortunately, my timing was just off, and I ended up not getting home until after twelve.

"Hello?" I said as I closed the door behind me. "Julian?"

I heard a started sound from the sofa, and Julian sat up, obviously surprised. "Krystal? Oh God, what time is it?"

"Just after midnight," I said, setting down my bag and coming over. He had set up his laptop computer on the coffee table, and it was pretty obvious he had fallen asleep. "You must be getting caught up from jet lag."

Julian yawned and stretched before wiping his hands over his face and nodding. "Yeah, I must. Wow, jeez, sorry."

I chuckled and sat down next to him. With his hair a bit disheveled from sleep, he looked cute, a lot more innocent than I'd ever seen him before. "It happens to us all. I've gotten used to being able to catch some sleep on a moment's notice. So what's loaded?"

"Well, I figured you'd be coming home late, so I didn't want to keep you up all night. First off, I wanted to apologize about last night. I didn't mean to disrupt your work or to cause you any problems."