What You Don't Know (Sequel to "Secret Love")(Hunter Hayes/James Marsden)

ID

I've been pretty dead on here recently, haven't I? My bad. Life is hard. Anyhow, here's an update that probably no one will read. xD

Let me know what you think! As always, I love your comments and votes and I have some other stories if you want to check them out!

God Bless and Happy Reading everybody!

Hunter took another look at his guitar, checking for damage. Someone had run into him on the street earlier, and his poor trusty Martin had been hanging out in its soft case when it went flying into a lamp post. So far he had seen no dings or scratches, but the experience had him kicking himself for not bringing the heavier case.

As he was running his hand over the wood once more, his phone began to ring, and he answered it without checking the Caller ID. He was expecting to hear Ned, his manager, on the other end of the line.

"What's the 4-1-1, Ned?" he started, setting his Martin aside for the moment. "Has the arena agreed to let us play? I know you said they were iffy about it since it's supposed to rain tonight."

"Well, I've no idea about that, but they've let you do it before, so I think your chances are pretty good."

Hunter raised an eyebrow. That voice sounded familiar. Whose was it?

"It's Darryl," the voice answered, as though reading his thoughts.

"Oh..."

"Listen, I know Amanda talked to you about my call, and I just wanted to ask if you were up for seeing me sometime while you're in New York. I mean, I'm not exactly in town, but I was going to catch a plane up to the city tomorrow anyway. I'm supposed to be meeting with an ex employer of mine up there so I figured I can stop by? Maybe get a cup of coffee and talk or something?"

Hunter scratched his neck. He had told Amanda to give Darryl his number, but he had not realized that meant he would have to see the guy in person.

"Ah, well, I'm not sure that we have time for coffee. Ned has me on a pretty tight schedule. But, um, maybe you can stop by and we can talk after the show? Would that be cool with you?"

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine. Guess you'll have to tell your lackeys to let me backstage?"

Hunter nodded. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll let 'em know. You remember Ted and Donald? They're always on backstage duty, so I'll just make sure they know to expect you."

"Cool, cool. Well, get back to what you were doing. I didn't mean to interrupt. I'll see you soon."

"No problem. See you soon."

'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'

New York. The tour bus had just arrived and Hunter could honestly not remember ever being less excited for a show. It was almost like he could feel Bethany's presence, and the effect was beyond depressing.

Just keep it together, man. You've done it for this long.

Tonight was going to be very rapid-fire for the crew. They had only just managed to book this show by the hair of their backs and, unfortunately, their last arena was several states away. The bus had driven through the night to arrive on time, and the crew only had a matter of three hours to set up for the performance.

The hours passed quickly, however, as everyone scrambled to keep up with the workload. Hunter ran into Karina, the uptight woman who had been hired to replace Bethany, several times. She was good at her job; that was irrefutable. Of course, she was a lot less fun than Bethany. Hunter got the feeling that no one would really miss her if she were fired.

He thought about Bethany right up until he heard his phone beep in his jeans. Reading the text from Darryl brought his mind back to the present. He had to meet up with Darryl Reddock tonight.

He groaned. The last time he had seen that man, he had been absolutely furious. Darryl had been trying to force himself on Beth, and Hunter had broken his finger. It had been an accident, but he would not have been able to apologize to Darryl even had he wished it.

Now, he supposed, he would have to be civil. There was the possibility, however slim, that Darryl had also been in contact with Bethany in the last several months, and Hunter was desperate for any kind of news regarding that particular woman.

The show went on, as always. Hunter gave a lackluster performance at best, and was already beating himself up for allowing his emotions to rule his life when he was thrown a large white towel backstage. He wiped off his face and neck as he headed to his dressing room. When he got there, he sat down to wait, playing with the bottle of hair gel on his vanity counter while he waited for Darryl to make an appearance.

The knock he was expecting finally came, and he opened the door for the larger man to enter. They exchanged pleasantries, but soon settled into opposing benches to get down to the meat of the meeting.

"So, Darryl," Hunter began, crossing his arms and resting one ankle on his other knee. "You wanted to talk to me?"

Darryl nodded, leaning forward and folding his hands together, his elbows on his knees in an obvious show of contrition. Whether his remorse was genuine or not was yet to be seen, and Hunter was sure to keep his eyes peeled.

"Yeah, Hunt...see, I feel like things didn't end the way I wanted them to. When I worked for you before...well, I was different than I am now. And I really believe that I've grown up and I just wanted to apologize for hitting on your girlfriend. That wasn't cool."

Hunter was tempted to laugh. What a silly situation this was! What Darryl was apologizing for was not even the worst of his sins, and yet he felt it was necessary to fly out to New York to present his apology in person?

He was not about to let Darryl off the hook that easily, however, and was quick to reply.

"Darryl, do you not understand that you did something horrible? I mean, you're right: it's not cool to hit on another man's girlfriend, but that's not all you did. You were trying to force an innocent woman to do something she quite obviously did not want to do. Don't you understand how wrong that is?"

Darryl wiped his eyes. "You have no idea, Hunt. And I feel so bad about it...I've gone to therapy over this, man. I'm really screwed up about it. But...I wanted to apologize to you for what I did to you, because I thought it needed to be said. I understand if you can't forgive me."

Hunter nodded. "Well, I can forgive you. I was never in danger of losing Bethany to you. No offense. But I don't think it's me you need to be apologizing to."

"I know. But I haven't been able to reach her."

You and me both, buddy. Hunter thought sourly, nodding slowly to fill the void.

"Well, Darryl, I really appreciate you coming down here. I have to go, though. We're actually having some of the fans come check out the backstage area tonight. Some kind of publicity stunt I think. But it was good to see you again."

Hunter got up to shake Darryl's hand, but he protested.

"Wait, Hunt. I mean...do you think...could you maybe give me like, an address or a phone number for Beth? I would really like to make things right with her, too."

Hunter shook his head automatically. "I don't speak with Beth anymore."

Darryl nodded. "I know, I heard, man. But...you still have her number, right? I mean, I understand it's hard and all, but I'm just trying to settle the debt here. Can't you help me out?"

Hunter was unmoved, but he did not get another chance to reject Darryl's plea for information. Just then, a form swathed in black from head to toe whispered through the door, staring at the floor as though they had not anticipated anyone's being in there.

The door closed softly behind the body and the eyes - the only part of the person that were visible - looked up and scanned the two occupants with obvious confusion.

The brown irises lit on Hunter's face, and he stared back expectantly. Just as he was about to say something, they moved.