Destiny Rules: The Sequel

Chapter 32

Hi! Happy New Year, everyone! Hope you all had a nice holiday break. This is just a short and lazy update as I just got back from vacation but I did want to share a little something :) more to come soon I promise. 

August 6, 2010

"Christine!" Stevie yelped as her bandmate once again filled her wine glass to the brim.

"Oh, hush up, we all know you're going to drink it anyway!"

The five of them sat around a table in a local brewery they stopped at after tonight's show in Houston. While the guys were drinking their weight in beer, Christine and Stevie opted instead to share a bottle of red — which quickly turned into two bottles of red. So far, they hadn't had any time just as the five of them on this tour— though that was something they never really had much of anyway. Still, it felt nice to break away from the rest of the group for a change.

Lindsey's eyes remained glued to Stevie over the brim of his glass as he endured another one of Mick's stories. He watched across the table as Christine and Stevie huddled giddily, swapping stories that seemed much juicier than the one he was currently listening to. He watched as Stevie's smile widened, her nose crinkling as she laughed at something she said, somehow managing to look as adorable as she did when he first met her. As Mick and John continued on, he relished in the fact that no one at the table knew how he and Stevie had woken up this morning. And yesterday morning. And the day before. He was currently in heaven.

"My ex can really handle her wine," John smirked proudly as he nodded in the direction of Christine, who sat across the table chugging her glass of wine.

Lindsey laughed, looking at Stevie next to her who sat in hysterics, "Mine used to be much better at it," he teased.

"Same," Mick smirked, looking at Stevie too.

Lindsey rolled his eyes, deciding to let that one slide as they continued watching Stevie and Chris.

"What are you boys staring at?" Stevie asked, the crimson blush across her cheeks letting them know the wine had certainly gotten to her.

"Just a couple of beautiful women," Mick teased.

Stevie turned around, pretending to look behind her and Christine with the raise of her eyebrow, "You've got groupies hiding around?"

"You're our groupies," John chimed in.

"You WISH," Christine spat back with a smirk.

"I really do, my darling ex wife, I really do."

They all laughed again, Stevie meeting Lindsey's eyes with a playful smile. She'd been eyeing him hungrily all day since they had to separate in the early hours of the morning at their hotel. Nobody knew their secret, which, like always, made it much more exciting for the both of them. It had only been a few days since his wife left, and already she'd let herself fall in deeper than she expected. They were back to playing their dangerous game of house, desperately trying to disassociate from their realities.

As Christine dragged Stevie to the bathroom with her, Mick took another chug of his beer before turning to Lindsey. He'd been putting this off, but decided it was finally time to address.

"Lindsey," he cleared his throat, both Lindsey and John turning as they noticed his change of tone. "There's something I've been meaning to bring up..."

"And what would that be?"

Mick sighed again, adjusting his jaw and biting his lip before proceeding, "I think you should know that Lynn was asking me some pretty strange things the other day..."

Lindsey's brow furrowed, "What do you mean, strange things?"

He took another breath, John eagerly awaiting more as his interest piqued too, "She asked me if we'd been with any groupies...or if any girls were hanging around with you specifically."

Lindsey laughed, "Why the hell would she ask that?"

"I have no idea, but obviously it was based on something Kristen said to her. I couldn't get out much detail, but she kept asking if I knew anything about a girl."

"A girl???"

"His wife's been glued to his hip this whole tour," John grinned amusedly, taking a sip from his beer, "He's not that talented."

Lindsey shot him a look, "Thanks John. Mick, what the hell? What did you say?"

"I said of course not! I told her exactly what you just said, he's been a family man this whole tour and I had no idea what she could possibly mean. Then she said, what about before the tour? Like, in the studio."

Lindsey held his temples in his hands, trying to figure out where all of this was coming from. He hadn't spoken to any groupies, especially not any girls. In fact, that was something that quite literally never even entered his mind. How would he be able to when he was so preoccupied with Stevie? His mind stopped. He thought back to Kristen and Stevie's blowup fight, her kicking him out of the house, and all the aftermath. How would she think he was talking to some groupie when she already thought he was with Stevie? None of it made sense.

"Miss us?" Stevie chirped while skipping back to the table giddily.

Their eyes all went to her blankly.

"What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," John laughed, "Just Mick entertaining us with another one of his crazy stories."

"Oh darn, sad to have missed that," she grinned playfully.

As they waited for their check, Lindsey's phone buzzed in his pocket. The caller ID read 'Kristen,' and while he would normally just call her back later, he felt unsettled by what Mick had just said. With an apologetic shrug, he stood up from the table excusing himself to go answer the call. Stevie turned her attention back to Christine, pretending not to know who it was.

"Hey honey," he answered nervously as he shuffled down the hallway towards the restaurant bathrooms.

"Hey, what are you doing? What's all the noise?"

"We all stopped at a brewery here after the show, Mick's insistence on supporting the locals, you know."

"Oh, I figured you'd be too tired. Who's we 'all?'" She asked.

"Just the five of us tonight, actually. We had some business to discuss and just kept it us."

"Oh. The kids miss you."

"I miss them too," he sighed, backing himself against the wall.

"And me?"

"I miss you too, of course," he added.

"Just ten more days, sweetie."

"Honey? I've got to run, everyone's waiting for me at the door. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Oh okay," she sighed. "Call me from your hotel room later. Or text me."

"Okay, goodnight," he hung up, waltzing back over to the others. 

They all piled into the back of an SUV, their driver taking them back to the hotel now. Stevie eyed Lindsey curiously, his demeanor had changed since his phone call, but she tried not to get too hung up on it. He was much more quiet now, their eyes avoiding one another as they rode mostly in silence. When they finally made it out of the car and were walking through the hotel lobby, she made an effort to take her place next to him casually. 

"Everything okay?" she asked in a soft whisper. 

He gave her a reassuring smile, "Yep, all good. I'm exhausted. You?"

"Me too."

"Your room? Twenty minutes?" he muttered staring straight ahead to not cause any suspicion. 

"Make it thirty, I want to shower."

He grinned at her from the corner of his eye with a nod as they piled into the elevator.  It seemed they were both determined to prove the last two nights hadn't just been a fluke, their new nightly routine was back on in full force.  No matter how dangerous or reckless that may be.