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Don’t you DARE leave. If you give a shit about your career, you’ll be at the studio in an hour. We’ve got a lot to get through and right now your dumb crybaby attitude is costing everyone, including you, a shit ton of money. I’m not fucking around. Do not disappoint me. Tucker.
Benji didn’t know what to do. In fact, such was the severity of Tucker’s messages Benji was suddenly having doubts about even leaving with Harrison at all. As he looked at the phone screen and read the series of angry messages from Tucker, Benji felt hopeless, lost, and a little bit scared too…
‘I… I… I… don’t know what to say,’ Benji said, his bottom lip trembling and his eyes beginning to tear up. ‘It’s… Tucker… he’s… mad at me!’
Benji flung himself into Harrison’s embrace and held on as tightly as he could manage.
‘Give me your phone,’ Harrison said, his voice tender but also making it clear that he wasn’t requesting the phone, he was insisting upon it. ‘Let me see exactly what’s going on.’
Benji handed Harrison the phone and then immediately snuggled himself back up against Harrison’s wide, strong chest. Benji could feel Harrison’s body tensing up and was momentarily worried that Harrison was angry with him.
But Benji needn’t have worried. Harrison was about to make it very clear as to whose side he was on…
‘I’ve never met him, but I’ll say it: I don’t like this Tucker guy one fucking bit,’ Harrison said. ‘And I’ll be damned if I’m going to let him push you around like this.’
Without a second’s delay, Harrison switched Benji’s phone off and handed it back to Benji.
‘Problem solved,’ Harrison said, a kind smile on his face as he opened the passenger door for Benji. ‘The drive is a couple of hours and I want to hear all about your favorite foods. You can even try and think of some new dishes you’d like to try out. I’ll be your test subject!’
Harrison’s words meant so much to Benji.
As they pulled away from Benji’s apartment block to a car stereo soundtrack of some classical music, Benji felt good – certainly a lot better than he had in quite some time. But Harrison wasn’t quite ready to let Benji relax on the journey just yet…
‘Boy, what you need is a complete social media detox,’ Harrison said, the prominent bulge in his pants very clear due to the angle of his seat. ‘If I suspect that anything outside of messaging friends is going on, there will be trouble. Am I understood?’
Gulp. Is he talking about… punishments?
Does Harrison want to… spank me?
OMG, I might just… explode.
‘I need to hear you say it, Benji,’ Harrison said, his voice sounding impatient, like he didn’t appreciate having to ask twice. ‘Do you understand?’
‘Y-y-y-yes, I understand,’ Benji said, his voice full of nerves, excitement, and anticipation. ‘T-t-t-thank you, Da…’
Benji stopped himself just in time. He couldn’t quite believe that he had been about to call Harrison Daddy. Benji could sense that things were about to go up a notch between him and Harrison. And it excited him. It excited him a lot.
‘Good. I’m glad to hear it,’ Harrison said, breaking the silence. ‘Now, let’s go. We’ll refuel with caffeine and warm milk in about an hour. I know the perfect place.’
Their road trip was about to begin, and Benji couldn’t wait for their first diner pitstop!
Chapter 6
HARRISON
The drive out of the city and upstate was a joy. Harrison could tell that Benji was still suffering from burnout, so was happy enough to see Benji drifting in and out of sleep during the journey.
But when Benji was awake, the conversation flowed as smooth as hot butter off a knife. Harrison couldn’t believe just how much him and Benji had in common. Yes, they were very much polar opposites in many ways but there was a clear and undeniable common thread between them.
As Benji talked about his all-consuming passion for food, Harrison thought back to his own childhood where he would spend hour after hour working on his own stories. Harrison hadn’t had much growing up, and money was tight in the Hawk household. But one thing Harrison’s parents always made sure of was that Harrison and his brothers had enough paper, pens, and books.
Reading and writing was such a big passion in their home that it was no wonder that out of the three brothers, one was a book reviewer, one a screenwriter, and of course… Harrison was an author.
Harrison couldn’t help but look back on those early years with a slight sense of regret. Somewhere along the way, Harrison’s massive success as an author had seen him lose his spark. The breakup with his former Little had been a huge blow, but it was more than that. Something had been missing for a long while.
But speaking to Benji and hearing just how enthusiastic he was for the art of making innovative, fun, and tasty food was enough to get Harrison thinking that his own passion for writing might come back one day in the not-too-distant future.
‘Kid, we’re nearly home,’ Harrison said, cringing at little at his choice of words. Yes, it was home to him – but as far as Benji was concerned it was just somewhere he was staying. ‘I mean, home to me. You know what I mean.’
