Start Again

Part 10

Stevie lay with her eyes closed, her head resting on Eliot's bare chest, moments away from falling asleep. She was powerless when he or anyone really played with her hair. She was fully satisfied, in several different ways. It was too early to say that she was falling in love, but he definitely made her feel safe, he cared about her and he wasn't afraid to show it. She didn't feel the need to be the strong one in this relationship, for the first time in a long time she could be her true more vulnerable self. 

"Why did you let me stay tonight?" Eliot broke the comfortable silence.

"I've let you stay the night before." Stevie replied, sounding sleepy. 

"Only when Luke was at Lindsey's." He pointed out.

"Well, maybe I want to show you that I'm serious about us and that I'm not afraid to let you be around my son like this. You'll be here tomorrow morning, when I'm making breakfast for Luke and I'm okay with that." She shrugged, gently grazing his chest with her nails. 

Eliot didn't speak up for a minute. Unlike Stevie, he was wide awake, unable to make his mind rest. "What role does Lindsey play in our relationship?"

Instant alarm bells. Stevie moved to sit up, she pulled the covers up around her chest. "He doesn't have a role in our relationship." She shook her head, but she could tell that he wasn't fully convinced.

"I haven't been in a situation like this, you know? I know that he's your ex, who also happens to be the father of your child, but..." Eliot trailed off and shifted his gaze, she waited patiently for him to continue. "You're just so close still. I'd be lying if I said, I'm not a little threatened."

"Luke is exactly what keeps us so close." Stevie assured. "From the very beginning, we wanted our son to have a life as normal as possible even if his parents weren't together. Besides, there's so much history between Lindsey and I, we work together too. We still inspire each other after all these years, but that's it." She swore, laying a hand over her heart. "We have a son together and we work together."

"You mean, since you two broke up back in... what was it, '97?" Stevie nodded. "Not even once since then? You recorded and album, you toured. That's a lot of time spent together."

"True, but no. Not even once." Stevie said, which was actually the truth. "He broke my heart, Eliot. When the band reunited, when Lindsey and I started seeing each other again, I was ready for absolutely anything. If he had asked me to marry him after the first night we slept together, I would have said, yes. But he lied about so many things. I promised myself that I was never going to get involved with him again. And he has a family. He's been married for close to 10 years now. I think." She added, thinking, when it was exactly that Lindsey decided he had met the woman he wanted to settle down with. "They have three kids together. I mean, what else do you need to know?"

Eliot took a moment to process what she'd just said. It made sense. A smile slowly appeared on his lips and he shook his head. "Nothing. I just needed a little bit of reassurance." He said and pulled her back against him.

He wanted to believe her.