Lindsey eyes went wide and he jumped off the bed, gathering his clothes off of the floor while his girlfriend, Carol Ann continued banging on the door of Stevie’s hotel room. He had met Carol a few years ago but in his mind, Lindsey still used the term “girlfriend” loosely. Yes, she was his girlfriend by name but he certainly didn’t feel like he was in a committed relationship with this girl. She just happened to come into his life at a convenient time, when Stevie had told him they were done with. He was lonely and afraid and he sure as hell wasn’t going to allow Stevie to know this. So, parading around a new girlfriend, making it look like he was just fine was his only course of action.
“Bathroom” Stevie mouthed to Lindsey, as she tied her robe tightly around her and quickly fixed her hair. She took a quick scan of the room, making sure any evidence of her ex-lover was out of sight and made her way to the door.
“Just what in the hell are you doing? Who let you near my room?” Stevie’s voice was even but laced with anger at the sight of this deranged idiot standing at her door.
“Have you been fucking him? Where is he?” Carol was doing her best to look into the room behind Stevie, her face red with anger.
“Excuse me? I’ve been in here, alone, since the party finished up. Not that I have to explain myself to you, of all people. Who do you think you are?”
“Oh, I’m just this little thing called Lindsey’s girlfriend. The one he lives with? The one who can’t leave him alone around you for two minutes without you trying to get him back? Typical behavior from a typical whore.” She spat.
Stevie laughed at her mockingly and grabbed Carol by the arm. “Listen to me, you insecure little bitch. Just because you can’t keep tabs on your boyfriend, doesn’t give you the right to come up to my room at 8 in the morning and throw accusations at me. Look at you. You’re pathetic.”
Carol tried to free herself from Stevie’s grip but Stevie held on tighter. “I’m not done yet. You and I both know the reason you’re on this tour. Don’t flatter yourself by thinking Lindsey wants you around. He puts up with you doing coke on his dime if it means you’ll leave him the fuck alone for 10 minutes. It’s about time you remember your place in this whole situation. Now, you better leave right now and look for Lindsey elsewhere or I’m calling security.” Stevie had managed to not raise her voice at any point rather than give Carol any further ammunition.
She let go and Carol took a step back, giving her room to slam the door shut. Leaning her back against the door, Stevie could hear Carol screaming profanities down the hallway, knowing full well that everyone could hear by now but at least she was gone. For now.
Stevie took a deep breath in an attempt to gain composure and heard the bathroom door open. She looked up and saw Lindsey’s head peeking from behind it.
“Is she gone?” He whispered
Stevie looked at him. Her face colder than it had been 15 minutes beforehand when they had been sat on the bed together. She turned on her heel and walked through the suite, away from Lindsey and towards the mini-bar. It wasn’t even 8:30am but she didn’t care. A drink was needed. As she poured herself a brandy, she felt his arms go around her and almost instinctively, she relaxed.
“Well, that was a close call. I definitely thought we were busted for sure this time” He finally spoke, not trying to hide the amusement in his voice as he pressed a kiss to the back of her neck. Stevie slammed the bottle down on the cabinet.
“Can you just stop, please” She said quietly, walking out his arms and over to the window.
“Steph..”
“No. Don’t start that. I think you should leave.” She kept her back turned to him as she spoke. She still hadn’t raised her voice and Lindsey was trying to figure out if this was a good thing or not. Ignoring her request, he walked over to her and placed his hands on her hips.
“Baby, why –“
Stevie immediately spun around and her hand connected with his cheek. “Don’t touch me and don’t baby me. Do you honestly think the things your girlfriend said to me can just be forgotten and you can get right back underneath me, again? Are you really that dense?”
Lindsey rubbed his cheek, a little stunned by what just happened. “I’m sorry” being the only words his brain could come up with.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry. That’s all you ever are. I’d love to know how many apologies you’ve had to make between me and her.” The venom in Stevie’s voice couldn’t be hidden. “You come to my room and fuck me all night, tell me you love me and how much I mean to you. Then your girlfriend comes to my room and speaks to me that way, only for you to want to pick up where we left off and then eventually you go back to her like nothing’s happened?
“Well maybe if you hadn’t have left me to go fuck around, we wouldn’t be having this problem. You act like you’re blameless in all this. You left me!” Lindsey was descending into a blind rage. “You think I want to be in a relationship with anyone else but you? You think I enjoy hearing about who else has got between your legs? Or what about when you let Henley or whoever it was, knock you up?” He sneered.
Stevie stood frozen to the spot. Tears burned her eyes as she tried to process the awful words that had just come from his mouth. The baby had been Lindsey’s, he knew that. Others had speculated it might have been Don’s but Lindsey had never accused her of anything. He had been nothing but overjoyed when she told him the news. He was heartbroken when she lost it, they both were.
“You need to leave” her voice a mere whisper as tears rolled down her cheek. Lindsey said nothing and stood on. He too was frozen to the spot, unable to understand why he’d been so cruel.
“LEAVE, you fucking bastard!” Stevie screamed through the sobs, beating his chest as she pushed him towards the door. Lindsey tried to stop her, holding onto her arms. “Stevie, please” He pleaded. She broke free from his grip and walked over to the bedside table, taking the little black box he had given her earlier and shoving it hard into his chest. “Take this with you. I don’t need to be reminded that I’ve let you make my life hell for thirteen years” she choked on the words. They weren’t true but she needed to hurt him.
Lindsey left the room. He had no response. Instead he stood in the hallway, his heart breaking as he listened to the muffled sobs of the woman he loved more than life itself. How could he fix this?
