Broken Promises

Part 9

"How did you get this number?" Stevie asked in a hushed voice.

"It's not as difficult as you might imagine." Don replied calmly, then inhaled deeply. She guessed, he was still a smoker. "So, what are you up to?"

"What do you want?" She responded with a question and heard him laugh lightly.

"You don't have to be so hostile, doll."

"Don't call me that."

"What would you like to call you then? Steph?" He asked. "I don't think that suits you. Steph is a boring housewife and you're far from that, baby."

Stevie took in a deep breath and repeated herself. "What do you want?" 

"I want to see you."

The audacity, she thought, pinching the bridge of her nose. "We've got nothing to say to each other. I thought, we both have moved on. It's been years."

"I'm not interested in talking, trust me. And yes, I believed, I had moved on as well until I saw you again."

"You've got a wife, I have a husband." Her argument sounded weak and he laughed again.

"Hasn't stopped you before, has it?"

"I'm no longer that person. I'm sure that you can find yourself someone on the road." Stevie wasn't exactly sure why she was still talking to Don. She could have just hung up. She should have hung up by now.

"Why would I want to do that? Everyone just pales in comparison, baby. And it's not just coming from me, you know. Joe comes to mind and-"

"That never happened." She interrupted. 

"Oh?" Don pretended to sound surprised. "You mean, you didn't drop to your knees every time he provided you with copious amounts of coke?"  When Stevie didn't reply, he continued. "I don't understand, how you managed to do all that shit behind Lindsey's back. Is he that fucking oblivious to this day?"

It wasn't that Stevie didn't want to respond, she couldn't. She was a wife and a mother now, but Don was bringing up her sordid past, which she didn't want to think about. The drug part was true, but Don was the only man she had ever been unfaithful with. She knew that, but clearly, there was no point in trying to prove her truth to him.

"So, we've drifted off course." Don took another deep drag of whatever he was killing himself with. "The band has a short break and I'm coming back to LA tomorrow. I'd love to treat you to a nice dinner and... well, we'll see what happens then."

Wiping the tears that escaped away from her face, Stevie breathed in and exhaled heavily before she spoke up. "And what if I don't come?"

"Do you honestly want to test that theory?" Silence. "I'll send you the details. Have a lovely evening, doll."

The phone nearly slipped out of her hand, when the line went dead. Why was this happening? Why now? Why Don?

Taking a minute to compose herself, Stevie moved over to the fridge for a cold bottle of water. Her hand was shaking as she brought the it up to her mouth. She dropped it on the tiled floor, when Ella's voice reached her from behind.

"Jesus..." Stevie sighed, looking at the mess she'd made.

"I'm sorry." Ella apologized, a concerned look on her face. "Did you receive some bad news? You're as white as a ghost."

"No." Stevie shook her head and repeated. "No. Just... someone called from a very long time ago."

"Oh? A friend of yours?"

"Not really." Stevie replied and went to get a mop. 

"Give me that, it's my fault anyway." Ella held out her hand, knowing that something definitely wasn't right. 

Stevie pulled out a chair and took a seat. She heard Ella talking, but she wasn't listening. All she could think about was Don's unspoken threat.