Come Back

Part 15

Stevie pretended that Carol Ann wasn't there, when she walked by the reception desk. The other woman tried to say, hello, but Stevie wasn't paying her any attention. Everyone was already there, when Stevie came in and she was ready for Lindsey to bitch about her being late, but he didn't. However, he had something else to say.

"So, did you fuck both of them?" Lindsey asked and everybody went quiet, the tension in the room could have been cut with a knife. "Don and Joe? Or you guys met up with the rest of the Eagles later?"

"What are you talking about?" Stevie definitely wasn't ready for that. 

"It's your thing now, isn't it? Cheating on me?"

"Hey, Linds-" Mick tried, but Lindsey cut him off.

"Were they better than me? Or that first guy was, who you fucked behind my back?" 

Stevie didn't want to fight. She could have brought up Carol Ann, but she decided not to. Alexander was a mistake, an ongoing one, but it really hurt her being treated that way by Lindsey. He was allowed to be mad at her, to curse and shout at her, but not with the rest of their band in the room. 

"Well?" Lindsey pushed, when Stevie didn't respond.

Stevie wanted to at least say something, but she couldn't, feeling the lump of tears in her throat. Her eyes welled up, which only seemed to fuel Lindsey's fury. 

"Oh, so you're going to cry now?" Lindsey scoffed. "Yes, get everyone around feeling sorry for you. You've done nothing wrong." He shook his head, approaching Stevie. "It was me, of course it was me as it always is!" He jabbed a finger at his own chest. "Lindsey - the meanest, the most jealous, obsessive jerk there is! How could I have been so stupid and not realize that this whole thing is my fault!"

"Lindsey, come on now..." Christine felt extremely uncomfortable.

"See?" Lindsey pointed at Christine, but his eyes were still on Stevie. "See, she's defending you! The most fragile, the most precious jewel of our group!"

John sat quietly in a corner as he usually did, lighting up a cigarette. He sensed that there were other issues coming to the surface as Chris and Mick did as well. 

"Aren't you going to say something? Aren't you going to run and hide under Christine's wing to protect you from me?"

Stevie had never been so lost for words. She stood, taking it all. She wanted to slap Lindsey across the face and a part of her believed that he truly deserved it, but she wasn't going to do it. He had already stuck his knife in and with every word, he was pushing it deeper and twisting it with force. Stevie felt completely defeated. 

With her lips still sealed, Stevie blinked her tears away, she didn't bother wiping her wet cheeks. Saying nothing, she just turned around and left. Lindsey didn't expect her to react that way, more like not react at all. One hand clenched into a fist, he rand the other through his hair. For some reason, Lindsey thought that he should follow after Stevie, but Christine got up from her seat and grabbed him by the arm.

"I think you've done enough." She said and went after Stevie herself.

Stevie wasn't hard to find, she was just outside, sitting on the curb. Christine sat down next to her and lay a hand on Stevie's back, stroking up and down. 

"Are you okay?"

"No." Stevie mouthed, shaking her head. "But I will be. You should go back inside, Chris."

"Well, you're coming with me then. I'm not leaving you here alone."

"I'm not going back." Stevie said. "I-I called Alexander to come get me. I can't face Lindsey right now, I just can't." She sniffled, wiping under her eyes with her thumbs. "I just can't..."