Broken Record

Chapter 27: Stevie

The music from the expensive headphones Stevie had lifted from the studio was blaring so loudly in her ears that she was fairly certain she was going to cause permanent damage. But she didn't care. She needed the distraction. Her blood was still boiling from Mary's revelation back in the lobby of Pacific Records and she felt like she wanted to claw out her skin. She was working on a remix and she knew it was trash, not worth seeing the light of the day. But she couldn't stop. If she stopped her mind would wander and if her mind kept wandering, she didn't trust herself to not do something really stupid. Like make a tell-all remix titled, "Mr. X" or key one of Benton's fancy cars.

The music poured through her headphones, a loud ding interrupting the melodious wave. Strive glanced up, looking for her phone. She found it discarded on the coffee table, sitting between a few empty cans of tequila waters.

Unknown @ 9:15 PM: Where the hell are you? Being late is breaking one of my rules, you should know that.

Stevie's stomach dropped. She slowly pulled the headphones from her ears, the music still able to be heard as they rested around her neck. He'd texted her. Benton had texted her. One of his rules had been that she never, ever text him. Whether this was some sort of test or not, it didn't matter. Stevie wanted nothing to do with Benton, or Mr. X and his stupid rules for the remainder of her legally binding arrangement with Pacific Records. She tossed her phone on the couch, knowing deep within herself that that wasn't entirely true. She still wanted Mr. X and everything he was able to give her at The Den. But no matter how badly her body craved it, her morals wouldn't allow it. She'd already given up so much of her personal social code. She was working for the man, literally being fucked by the man. Stevie from a year ago wouldn't believe it. And it was for that Stevie, the pink-haired badass bitch who never gave a shit, that she promised she wouldn't keep having sex with a cheater. A liar. A man with too much power who happened to be good at tying ropes. Stevie let out a loud groan before stomping over to the fridge in her small sleek kitchen for another tequila water. She threw her headphones back on and deleted all the work she'd done over the past few hours, starting fresh.

Stevie was layering a few tracks, finally somewhat liking the remix she'd come up with, when her headphones were snapped off of her head. She spun around in her desk chair, a gasp catching in her throat, her blood pounding wildly. She didn't have roommates. She barely had friends other than Aero.

Benton. Benton fucking West was standing over her horrified expression, her headphones dangling from his hand. His jaw was ticking, his blue eyes razor sharp. He looked collected but Stevie didn't miss the slight flair of his nostrils and the deathgrip he had on her headphones.

"Do you make a habit of leaving the door unlocked?" Benton dropped Stevie's headphones, which were technically his since they were property of Pacific Records. Stevie found her legs and stood up quickly, almost falling over with shock.

"Get out." Stevie's voice shook but she tipped her chin up, indignation coloring her features.

"Have you forgotten already that this is my apartment that my company pays for?" Benton cocked his head, a challenge in his eyes. But there was also a note of confusion. He hadn't been expecting this reaction from Stevie.

"Fine." Stevie shrugged her shoulders, "I'll leave." She headed off toward the bedroom to pack a bag when Benton caught her by the upper arm.

"What is going on, Stevie? What's wrong with you?" Stevie let out a high-pitched disbelieving laugh, trying to shake herself free of Benton's grip with no success.

"What's wrong with me? You really have the audacity to ask that? You should be asking, what's wrong with you? Fucking cheater." Stevie mumbled the last words under her breath but Benton didn't miss a thing. He pushed her up against the wall, his grip still on her upper arm, trapping her in.

"What the fuck did you just say?" Benton's words were a growl, literally vibrating the space around him.

"Cheater." Stevie spat out, her fear gone as adrenaline took over. "Or liar. Or master manipulator. Take your pick." Benton squinted his eyes studying Stevie's face. She responded again before he could interject.

"I know about your fiancé. The question is, does she know about your weekly meetings at The Den or should someone like myself inform her?"

Benton's face lifted into genuine confusion before setting into something like understanding. He pushed himself away from the wall, away from Stevie, releasing her upper arm. But to both of their surprise, Stevie didn't move, her chest rising and falling with the rush of nerves throughout her body as she stayed in place with her back flush against the wall.

"So," Benton crossed his arms over his chest, dragging one finger across his bottom lip, "if you know about my fiancé then you also know she's my ex fiancé and we ended our engagement four years ago. Furthermore, you must certainly know that I hadn't seen or talked to her in exactly four years until she strode into my office yesterday unannounced." Stevie's large pale green eyes blinked rapidly, her head shaking slightly from side to side. But Benton continued. "And since you know everything about my ex fiancé, Cora, then you also know when she propositioned me earlier tonight to get back together, I politely rejected her. Because all I could fucking think about, like a loop playing over and over in my head, was how I was going to tie you up and fuck you senseless when I left the goddamn restuarant. Now, is there anything else you don't know since you've apparently become the expert on my personal life in the past twenty-four hours?" Benton stood like a statue, Stevie's cheeks growing pink at her previous misunderstanding. She should just stay quiet and nod her head 'no.' Better yet, apologize. But instead, she asked the genuine question that had popped into her head during his practical monologue.

"Why...why did things not work out between you two?" Benton rubbed his jaw, tilting his head slightly in surprise. He hadn't expected her to ask that after he'd practically eviscerated her with his honesty at her childish misunderstanding. Benton didn't even have to explain himself to this woman and yet he felt the urge, the impulse, to do just that.

Benton reached out and twirled a lock of Stevie's hair around his forefinger before tugging hard. Stevie lurched forward a few inches, her body coming closer to his.

"I hurt her. Badly." Benton continued to twirl another lock, not able to look Stevie directly in the eye.

"Hurt her how?"

"Physically. Emotionally. I guess, sexually too on a technicality." Stevie let out a rush of breath, surprised at his honesty and horrified at his revelation.

"What do you mean?" Benton let out a sigh at her question, moving his hand from her hair to her jaw, not wanting to lose physical contact with her as he revealed one of the most shameful experiences of his past. He didn't even know why he was doing it. Stevie would have never known the truth. He could have told her that he and Cora simply wanted different things. That they'd grown apart. But he didn't want to lie to Stevie. He couldn't.

"You know what I like, Stevie. What I need." His voice dipped impossibly lower, his eyes focused on Stevie's slips, "I had never shown that side of me to Cora. She...well she was what I'd call vanilla. I thought maybe for her, I could be vanilla too. But one day, I'd had enough. I couldn't repress it. I told her," Benton swallowed hard, the painful memory from his past clogging his throat, "I told her I wanted to try something. When I pulled out the ropes she looked so fucking horrified. I should've stopped then but she trusted me. I tied her too tightly, too quickly. It wouldn't have mattered either way. She didn't want it. She didn't understand it. She looked at me like I was a fucking monster. Like I was sick. I knew I could never make her happy after that. And that she could never be what I needed. Not exactly a great foundation for a marriage." Benton raised his eyebrows, letting out a small rare laugh. Stevie couldn't believe he'd been this honest with her. He almost seemed slightly embarrassed which was never something she could have imagined seeing from Benton.

Stevie reached up and grazed her small hand along his strong jaw, a little smile coming to her lips. "Rocky road."

Benton cocked his head, pinching his eyebrows together, "What?"

"Rocky road. That's my favorite flavor. Never been a big fan of vanilla. Not worth the calories for something so plain." Benton let out a loud, full-bodied laugh, something so rare and unexpected that Stevie instantly wished she'd had a camera to record it. To capture it. Just to remind herself that it had actually happened. Stevie had made Benton The Devil West laugh.