Hard Rock Love Box Set, page 2
But when she opened the door, expecting to see her roommate Rebecca sitting in the living room with their cat, Coby, she was greeted with another surprise. One that she definitely could have done without.
Standing in her living room, reaching out to pet Coby, was someone she hadn’t seen in a very long time. Not since he moved away with his family from their hometown in Oregon. He was just as handsome as the day he had left, maybe even more so, now that his dark hair was slicked back out of his face, and his warm skin was clothed in the fine-pressed silk of an expensive suit.
And that smile…she had missed that unconscious little half-smile.
Lillian couldn’t believe her eyes.
“Sebastian?” He lifted his head and looked at her in shock.
“Lillian?”
“You two know each other?” Rebecca looked between the two of them from where she sat on the couch. “Hold on, just a second, Lillian, you know my step-brother?”
“Sebastian’s your step-brother? Since when?”
“Since his mother married mine. Now, how do you know him?”
Lillian and Sebastian exchanged a look. There was a lot of history and emotion contained in that one moment of eye contact, and Lillian knew he understood that they couldn’t tell Rebecca, not yet at least.
“We were friends before I had to move,” he explained for both of them. “It’s been quite a long time since we’ve seen each other, in fact I didn’t think we would ever see each other again.” He sighed then, sitting down on the couch, next to Coby, who looked at him in confusion and then ran off.
“Oh, I’ll uh, get some tea going,” Rebecca said, her words and hand motions awkward as she tried to figure out the best way to respond in this situation. She scurried away to the kitchen, and Lillian found herself alone with Sebastian, for the first time in a very very long time.
She sat down next to him.
“Sorry, it’s been a long day.”
“That’s alright, I understand,” he said, and Lillian was, once again, filled by the thought of how much of a miracle it was that they might ever find each other again, that fate had aligned just so, so that they might see each other, even if it was late at night and she was exhausted.
“So why are you in New York?” he asked after a moment of silence.
Lillian laughed. “Wow, really starting off with the important questions aren’t we.”
“I mean, it’s been a while, I didn’t really want to just jump in—”
“No, it’s okay. I moved here to pursue my career.”
“And your parents are okay with that?” Of course, he would ask that question. He knew, just as well as her, how protective they could be sometimes, how it came off as controlling more often than not.
She shrugged. “Not really. But I’m an adult, I’ve got to leave the nest at some point.”
He smiled at that, no doubt thinking of all the times he had told her those exact same words, except that it had been ten years ago, and neither of them had been adults at that point. “I’m glad you’ve learned to think that way.”
“It was only a matter of time.” She shrugged, settling back into the couch and wishing the cat would come back.
“So, what is your career.”
“Well, right now I work as a photographer for a magazine. But I want to be a photojournalist. So, right now I just take photos of people for interviews and the like.”
He nodded. “Makes sense. You were always good with a camera.”
Lillian blushed, thoughts going back to that night, ten years ago….
Sebastian laughed, throwing his head back, suddenly seeming more human, more real. “Relax, I’m not gonna tell Rebecca. Or your parents.”
She punched his arm, pouting. “You better not.”
“So, photojournalist, huh?”
“Yeah. I want to travel the world. To capture what’s happening, to communicate those emotions to my audience, so they can really feel like they’re there.”
“Do you have any recent work I could see?”
“Maybe, uh, maybe later. I’m kind of tired right now.”
“Of course.”
With almost perfect timing, Rebecca came back into the living room carrying three cups of hot tea, Coby trailing behind her, mewling for a treat.
Sebastian eyed the cat as Rebecca handed him his mug. “Lillian, I thought you were allergic to cats.”
She shrugged. “I kind of take the lactose-intolerance view of things. Might as well enjoy life to the fullest.”
“But doesn’t it make you sneeze a lot?”
“She takes allergy medication,” Lillian explained. “The moment she brought home that kitten, cold and wet and abandoned, she said she would rather suffer than let her survive lonely. So now we have a very spoiled cat.” She ruffled Coby’s head, who purred contentedly.
“Did you two move in at the same time?” Sebastian asked, looking between his stepsister and Lillian.
Rebecca nodded. “Yep, that was maybe, what, two months ago?”
“Two and a half,” Lillian said.
“So, you haven’t been in the city for very long either then.”
Lillian shook her head. “No. I’m still settling in. But my job’s helped me get used to the city a little bit.”
Sebastian sighed, and Lillian could tell he was holding back a smile as he gave her that stern expression, like he was about to lecture her. “Working as a photographer won’t help you see enough of the city at all. No, you need a true native to show you around.”
“Sebastian, you do realize I know you were born in Oregon, right?”
“I’ve been here long enough to be considered a native.”
“I would beg to differ.”
“Yeah. Sebastian, you’re a lawyer, you should know better,” Rebecca chimed in.
“Wait, you’re a lawyer?”
Sebastian nodded, seeming solemn again.
“A very successful one too,” Rebecca added. “Really, he’s the reason I’ve been able to move out here at all, despite not getting a job yet….” She trailed off.
That had always been a source of shame for Rebecca. She wanted to work as a model, or an actress, or a singer, something in the arts. She had been trying really hard, attending casting calls and meeting with producers and agents, but she had yet to land anything. She was talented, but the field was competitive, and she didn’t want to use the connections of her older stepbrother.
“I keep telling you, if you want a job, I can help you get one.”
Rebecca shook her head. “No. I want to prove to myself that I can make it. That my talent alone is enough. I would feel like I was cheating if you got me a job.”
Sebastian sighed, as if they’d had this conversation many times before. Lillian was quite sure they must have, from how things sounded. “I’ve told you; I wouldn’t offer to help unless I thought that you were truly talented. Your performance reflects on me as well, you know. I’m just trying to help give a little bit of a boost so you can get out of the gates.”
“Which I will be able to do just fine by myself.”
Sebastian shrugged, raising his hands in defeat. “Alright, sure, whatever you say. Just let me know if you ever need anything.”
“Which I won’t.”
“Besides rent money.”
“Okay, you have no right to hold that against me.”
Lillian watched, amused, as the two siblings bickered, sipping her tea and petting Coby. This went on for a few minutes, then Sebastian pulled out his phone to check the time. He cursed under his breath.
“I’m sorry, but I have to get going,” he said, giving Rebecca a hug and then turning to Lillian. “Here.” He handed her his phone. “Why don’t we exchange phone numbers, and then I can help show you around the city later.”
Lillian’s heart beat a little faster in her chest as she typed her number into his phone and handed it back to him, the brief brush of their skin making contact causing her face to heat up, for some unknown reason.
“Sure, that sounds great.”
Sebastian smiled, but it was not that smile of triumph that Ash had had on his face when she agreed to stay for the show. It was softer, kinder, pleased instead of victorious.
“I’ll call you later then. I look forward to catching up with you more, Lillian.”
“Me too.”
When Sebastian shut the door of the apartment behind him, he felt like he could finally breathe. God, it had been hot in there. There had been so much he had wanted to say, and yet it had not been the right time, not after just meeting again, not with his little stepsister there.
He couldn’t stop thinking about her, not during the whole car ride home, not when he entered his own apartment, not when he sat down at his desk with his head in his hands and his heart in his throat.
Fuck.
She had grown so much since he had last seen her. Her pale hair had grown to a darker brown, and it was thicker now. It made him want to run his hands through it, see the expression she might make with those sunken copper eyes; that dainty, full mouth; see how her voice might sound when it was saturated with the same desire he was feeling now.
He wanted to put his hands on that waist, feel the fullness of her hips and her breasts against him, make love to her perfection and her imperfections just the same.
But he couldn’t be having these thoughts. It had been ten years. There was no way to know if she was even still interested in him at all.
Truthfully, he had almost forgotten all about her.
She had become a small thought in the back of his mind, a nice memory, but just a memory. But now that he had seen her again, all that latent lust was reawakened, memories flooding in like a tidal wave uncontrollable by even him— a man of authoritative nature.
Those nights had been the best of his life.
She had made him feel whole again.
And now he had a chance to get her back.
At work the next day Lillian uploaded the photos from her camera onto the computer, not paying attention to the jealous looks she was getting as she went through the photos of Ash. Like she had thought, the ones she had gotten during their conversation were the best, felt the most natural, and so she edited these and then sent them in to the editor, lingering for a moment over the photos she had gotten during the concert.
These were truly the most powerful. The composition of colors, the dynamism in the movement of the band, in the expression on Ash’s face, they all spoke to the experience of that night. But she pushed the thought out of her mind. These were not the photos the editor wanted. They would look good in her portfolio, but for the interview?
The assignment was to compliment the writing, not overpower it. Clarisse would be upset if a photo like this was published along with the interview.
And yet….
Lillian made a decision. One that she knew she might regret later, but at this point it was the only one to make.
She sent two emails to the editor: in the first were the photos of just Ash, in the second, her favorite shots of the concert, with the message Just in case these might add to the story.
Clarisse was…just a little bit upset. But mainly pleased. Because the editor was pleased, and most importantly, the readers were pleased. Thanks to the raw and emotional photos of the concert, the issue of the magazine did quite well indeed. So well, that the editor wanted to do another story with Ash, and with more photographs from Lillian.
Lillian was informed of this when the editor walked up to her desk the next day, a large smile on her face, and slammed a copy of the issue on the table.
“Lillian, do you know what this is?” she asked.
“The latest issue of Illusions?” Lillian wasn’t quite sure if it was a trick question, it certainly sounded like one.
“That’s right. And, our most successful issue to date. We’ve already had to reprint several times, thanks to your photos.” The editor flipped the magazine open to the story on Ash Bennett, and Lillian saw, to her rising pleasure and horror, that the magazine had printed not one, but several of her concert photos. They weren’t just even as little asides, or half a page, or even a full page. They spread across two pages, colors vibrant, details overwhelming.
Lillian didn’t know whether to scream, or laugh, or cry, or just run out of the place from pure joy and loathsome embarrassment.
“We want you to photograph another story with Ash,” the editor continued, and now Lillian really felt like she should run away. Another photography session with Ash Bennett? After that concert? Nope. Bad idea. Very bad idea.
“You want me…to photograph him again?”
The editor nodded. “Of course. You truly understand how to capture him, how to capture the emotions of the moment, your work is absolutely brilliant! Genius! Why would we ask anyone else?”
“Thank you.” Lillian could feel her face getting redder by the minute. She had never received this kind of praise before from her superiors. It felt good, but also, she was going to have to deal with Ash again.
“Now, this time we’re going to do things a little differently. The interview was wonderful—Clarisse did the good job she always does—but it was your photos that made fans feel like they were connected to the elusive Ash Bennett. So, we’re doing an entirely photographic story. Just you, him, and that lovely little camera of yours, giving the audience an idea of what Ash Bennett is really like, off-stage. We’re thinking of making it a series.”
Lillian could barely breathe. Was she alive? Was this her office? Were those her fingers she was moving? Was this woman speaking to her?
The moment felt too strange, too unreal. Nothing like this would ever happen to her, surely. She must be dreaming. Or hallucinating. Or…something….
“So, do well on this one, okay? If it sells well, we might make this kind of story a recurring thing in our magazine.”
That was all Lillian had ever wanted, but still, she felt hot, like she was going to throw up from the shock.
“Okay.”
“Oh, and by the way,” the editor looked over her shoulder as she was leaving, “You’re scheduled to spend all day with Ash tomorrow, for the story.”
All day, with Ash Bennett.
Now Lillian thought she might truly die.
Three
Lillian stood on the sidewalk outside her work building, camera in hand, waiting for Ash to show up so that they could start work on the story.
It was a typical autumn day; air was crisp and ever so slightly chilly. The days were shortening and becoming colder as New York usually did that time of year; which reminded Lillian that she needed to start dressing in more layers.
She spotted him then, pulling up on his motorcycle, hair blown around by the wind beneath his helmet. She snapped a couple of pictures and then tucked her camera safely in her bag as he came to a stop next to her, holding out another helmet.
“Here, put this on, and hold on tight,” he said with a grin.
“We could have just taken a cab, you know. Or the subway,” Lillian said as she took the helmet from him, fastening the chin strap so it fit snug on her head. She slid onto the back of the motorcycle, hesitating before putting her arms around his waist.
His body was warm and sturdy against hers, and it shook as he laughed. “And what would be the fun in that? Your magazine wants the true Ash Bennett, and here he is, in the flesh.”
“The true Ash Bennett apparently takes unnecessary risks,” Lillian muttered beneath her breath, but, being so close, Ash caught every word.
“The motorcycle is just part of the package, princess, either take it or leave it.” He revved the engine and sped into the traffic.
Lillian resisted the urge to scream, shutting her eyes tight against the wind, and holding Ash even tighter as they swerved around taxis and angry commuters.
He let out a loud and wild exclamation of pure enjoyment, and to Lillian it almost seemed mocking of her fear.
“We’re going to Koreatown first to shop and then get some lunch; you cool with that?” Ash called over the noise of the traffic, the wind, and Lillian’s own fast-beating heart.
“Yeah,” she squeaked out, but she couldn’t even hear her own voice. It was no matter though; Ash was clearly set on their destination and needed no confirmation from Lillian.
At last, she opened her eyes. At first, she could only see Ash’s leather jacket, the scent of which was surrounding her as she pressed her face to his back. Then she looked around her, took in the passing city, these sidewalks and buildings she knew so well, the pops of color, the occasional cluster of plants, the rising buildings, both old and new, relics and modern additions.
She found herself enjoying the ride, enjoying this close proximity. She was beginning to understand why Ash would make the choices he did, do what he did. It was a way to see the world completely anew, to experience everything as a fresh rush of emotions and adrenaline. And maybe she didn’t exactly agree with everything that he stood for, but she could begin to empathize, and that was a start.
Ash parked and locked up his motorcycle in a parking structure—Lillian taking a few pictures, maybe they would be good for the magazine spread? —and then they headed out into Koreatown.
The neighborhood was populated by a number of Korean businesses and restaurants, and Lillian had heard it being called the Korean Times Square before, but she’d never explored the area. Being new to the city and focusing on her job, she hadn’t had much time to sight-see at all.
So, the overload of lights, storefronts, advertisements, and the crowds of people—tourists and natives alike—were a bit overwhelming to say the least.
“This is one of my favorite places to go out,” Ash said, looking back at her over his shoulder. “You can always find something new; it seems. Not to mention that the food here is delicious. Have you ever had Korean tacos?”
Lillian shook her head. “No, not really. I didn’t even know those existed.”
