Angel

Part 1

August 4th, 1980

~

Lindsey groaned when he picked up his nearly empty bottle of whiskey. He cocked his head back and poured the last gulp down his throat. Carol Ann stopped flipping through a magazine to glare at him. They arrived at the hotel just a few hours ago and she had only had a couple of glasses from that bottle. She opened her mouth to say something about it, but she knew, he'd lash out and blame everything on her. She couldn't wait for the tour to be over, she couldn't wait for him to be away from all his usual triggers.

"Why don't you join me?" Carol Ann smiled and patted the empty space beside her. 

"I'm not tired yet." Lindsey replied on his way to the minibar. "Shit." He cursed, slamming it shut. "There's nothing there!"

"Lindsey, it's fully stocked." Carol Ann said, trying to entice him to come to bed again by reaching for his hand.

"Would you stop?" Lindsey snatched his hand away making her back off. Looking around the room for his discarded T-shirt, Lindsey grabbed it off the floor and pulled it down over his head. "I'm heading out. Don't wait up."

"What? Where are you going?" Carol Ann frowned, ready to follow him.

"None of your business. And I'm going alone." Lindsey added as he turned around abruptly and pointed a finger at her.

Lindsey didn't care to stay long enough for Carol Ann to come up with something to say. He knew, she was pissed, but that was nothing new. She got angry the second they boarded the plane and Lindsey gave Stevie a small smile and said, hey.

It was pretty late when Lindsey came down to the bar of the hotel Fleetwood Mac were staying at. There weren't a lot of people around, which relaxed him a bit. Not that he was the main attraction anyway. People considered him to be an asshole, so they rarely approached him.

His whole body tensed up a moment later when his eyes landed on the lone figure sitting at the bar. That was unusual. Lindsey couldn't get Stevie away for even a minute these days, unless he forced her into his or hers dressing room and was quick enough to lock the door. 

"And here I was thinking I could have a drink in peace." Lindsey said, sitting down on Stevie's left. 

"Plenty of empty seats." Stevie replied dryly with a shrug. "I didn't ask for your company."

"Hey-" Lindsey held up his hands, indicating he had no bad intentions. "I didn't come here to pick a fight. Besides, I had no idea, I'd find you here."

"Fine." Stevie sighed, turning to face him. "Why don't we drink in silence then?"

"What's crawled up your ass?" Lindsey rolled his eyes before ordering a glass of the same kind whiskey he had finished off in his room. "One of your many boyfriends didn't answer your call tonight?"

"Fuck you." Stevie narrowed her eyes at him. She wasn't going to admit that he was right. 

"Not even your flock wanted to spend time with you?" Lindsey knew, he was pushing it. "Usually, your girls don't leave you alone for a second."

"I wanted to be on my own, okay?" Stevie stopped him from digging in deeper. "Sometimes, I need to be by myself."

"Oh, so you must really hate me being here right now?" Lindsey smirked, sipping his drink. 

"What do you think?" Stevie replied, a fake smile on her face. "Why are you even here? Carol Ann's sick of your shit?"

"She's not the company I want tonight." Lindsey shrugged. "Looks like it's just you and me, huh?" He cocked his head to one side, waiting for Stevie to look his way. "Of course, I don't carry around a gram of coke with me so-"

"Oh, fuck off." She groaned and knocked back her drink. "I don't have to be high as a kite 24/7, you know."

"Could have fooled me." Lindsey laughed and she really didn't like that.

"Why are you even talking to me? It's obvious you can't stand to be around me as much as I hate being around you." Stevie jabbed a finger into his chest for emphasis, but before she could pull her hand away, Lindsey wrapped his around her wrist and tugged, which caused her to lean in closer.

"That's a lie." Lindsey said, their faces inches apart. "You keep saying that, but somehow, when we're alone-"

"You know-" Stevie freed her hand from his grasp and drew back. "It's funny. When I'm with one of my many boyfriends-" She echoed his words. "I'm a whore. But when I'm with you, it's suddenly okay. Make up your mind."

"I hate seeing you with any one of them." Lindsey's breathing grew heavier, he clenched his fist.

"What else is new?" Stevie scoffed. "You don't have a right to feel that way. You lost the right of telling me what to do years ago."

"Someone's gotta look out for you. Whether you like it or not." Lindsey added with a shrug. "I can't just sit back and watch you as you slowly destroy the person you once were and do nothing about it."

His words angered her, but she had no energy to fight him tonight. "I know, you like to kid yourself, Linds-" Stevie smiled, cupping his cheek, she brushed her thumb over his skin and he closed his eyes for a moment. "But you're no better."

Lindsey's eyes snapped open at the loss of her touch as Stevie got up and turned to leave. His teeth gritted, he watched her walk away. She was barely out of his view, when he slammed the glass down and jumped from his seat to follow her.