Stevie stretched lazily and smiled as the television murmured in the background. Her eyes fixed on her sleepy eyed boyfriend and she reached a hand toward him. He took it immediately, pulling it toward his lips and causing her to lean forward. She giggled, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

"You're so beautiful. I'm glad we didn't go out tonight."

"Me too," she agreed.

"And I'm glad Robin took Summer out for pizza so we could have a little alone time."

"Me too," she repeated and Lindsey chuckled. "Even though all we've done is look at each other all evening."

"Hey, I gave you the greatest foot and calf rub of your life. Your words," he countered and she nodded.

"That, you did."

"But you're right, we haven't talked much. Tell me about what what Alex said."

She bit her lip, not knowing how he could take the news. She immediately changed the subject. "Why don't you tell me about your audition first, Rooster? I've been dying to hear all about this splendid plan of yours. I'm shocked it worked."

"Oh really now?" he said, looking rather wounded.

"No, you know what I mean." She pulled her legs up into her chest, visibly shrinking in response. She felt nervous. She gently stroked his leg beneath his pajama pants leg with her fingernails and he moaned in pleasure.

"That feels good, baby."

"Yeah?" She watched him tip his head back and sink deeper into the couch. He nodded.

"Mm, you're the best."

"That's you," she replied and he lifted his head, smiling at her. "Now come on, tell me all about how you wow'd Alex and got your rightful place in the band again."

"You make it sound like Beowulf. It was nothing, Steph."

"Don't do that. Come on, I'm on the edge of my seat."

He sighed, slapping his thighs, rubbing the soft flannel fabric of his pajamas against the worn palms of his hands. "Alright, well you know how I left. I was pretty delusional and that was all well and good until I got there. I was scared shitless," he told her with a chuckle. "I was sweating, I was nervous and I had to give myself a pep talk in the men's room before I could go on."

Her brows furrowed. "You're the greatest guitarist I know, Linds. You had no need to be worried."

"But I was fired, Steph. I worried about him knowing it was me but boy, is he dense! He had no idea!"

"None?"

"None. I went in and he asked to play Stairway." Stevie giggled, shaking her head. Everyone assumed that if you play guitar, you have to play Stairway To Heaven. "I played Greenback Dollar, gave 'em a little Kingston trio then we took a break. After I got off the phone with Summer, me and and the guys played a little something together. Funk #49, James Gang. I watched his facial expression at first, taking in all the nuances of his little rat face. After a while though, I zoned out and just let the music take me."

"Wow," she said softly, being one of the first to ever witness the magic of his playing. He always lost himself in the music and that's what she liked about him so much. He continued to tell her about the technical parts that would otherwise bore her but she was clinging to every word, following the gestures of his hands up and down as the story built to crescendo. He suddenly stopped and she blinked. "What?"

"Nothing, you just...you look so..." His lips began to curl into a soft smile and her lips parted. She touched her face, wondering what was wrong. "I love you," came his impassioned utterance.

"I love you too."

His smile widened. "Do you want me to continue? There's not much more."

"Yes, yes please." Her eager eyes, focused on his hands again as he began to play in mid-air. He knew his instrument better than anyone else, picking notes so perfectly she swore at one point she could hear them.

"So after that, I was invited back to play again tomorrow, which I guess brings us to your story."

"Oh!" Lindsey gave her the floor and she sat up a little taller. "Uh, well...I was invited to meet the new guitarist tomorrow, which is obviously you, and we are going to go over a couple songs. If things go well Alex said we could cut a couple tracks."

"For a producer, he knows nothing. It's not that easy to—"

She raised a hand, quieting him and he mimed zipping his lips. "He seems to really like you Linds, and I worry how it will go in costume when I can't touch you or act like I know you at all. We'll be riding together, I don't see how we are going to pull this off." She bit her lip again, still stroking his leg with her fingernails.

"Doesn't matter, we will figure it out."

"There's more."

"Oh?"

"He wants to take it on the road. New musicians, back up singers, managers, costumes...everything. He wants to do it all for me and he's fronting the money himself, but on one condition."

Lindsey crossed his arms, feeling the need to stand his ground and become territorial. "And that is?"

"You can't come. He wants me to be without you, to see the real me."

Stevie imagined smoke to come out of his ears like a cartoon character as soon as the words left her mouth. "He's seen the real you! Furthermore, how can I not be there? How can he say I can't be with my own girlfriend?! He doesn't own you! If I knew he would do something like this..." He flung himself off the couch and to his feet with the propulsion of a jet plane. Stevie looked up at him with wide, watery eyes and watched him intently as he began to pace the floor in front of her, waving his arms and gesturing wildly. "You know what, I should have I known he would do something like this. He's putting all these conditions on you to try to tear us apart."

"I told him no, but he's insistent. You're not a flash in the pan for me. You're it, Linds, and I told him so. After practice tomorrow, after the meeting, he wants me to meet a couple people he has in mind to manage me. I have to go alone."

"Another date," he said, his anger coming to a rolling boil. He was no longer shocked by anything she had to say but it just added more shit to a shit pile. Alex thought he was so smart. The more he thought about the man, the tighter his jaw set. He wanted to knock his block off, he wanted to forbid Stevie to go.

"No, no, it's not like that," Stevie tried to gently reassure him. "It's just business."

"Just like he tried to put the moves on you before?," he half-shouted, his voice raising from a mix of pure anger and hatred. "Just like he called it 'business' earlier when he was making comments about you and your 'petite but curvy body' to who he thought was a total stranger?"

Her mouth fell open and she sputtered. "I-I didn't know about that."

"Well now you do." He stopped dead in his tracks a moment and turned toward the diminutive woman. "I love you Stevie, and I want to protect you. I don't want to tell you, you can't do this or that. That controlling behavior messed us up last time but I...I'm not okay with this. I'm scared for you."

"I'm faithful, you know that."

"I do, but I don't trust him. He will keep coming up with schemes until—"

"Then why did you want to work for him again?," she asked and he immediately had an answer.

"To be close to you, to work with you."

"To keep an eye on what's yours," she argued.

"No...no that's not what I mean." He wrenched a hand through his hair, trying to make himself clear but still, he felt like he was fighting a losing battle.

"That's what it's boiling down to. I'm yours and you want everyone to know I'm yours. I told you that I spoke to him about not being okay with him banning you from my venues in the future and keeping you out of my work space but you're making it out to be this big conspiracy to break us up!" Her usually soft, smoky voice raised to a hoarse shout becoming almost shrill at points.

"It is!" He yelled back and Stevie got up, huffing.

"There doesn't need to be a big conspiracy, we are pretty good at doing that all on our own." She grabbed her silken robe from the back of the couch and dashed out of the room and up the stairs. Lindsey blew out a breath, still feeling the energy of her anger lingering in the air. He placed his hands on top of his head and laced his fingers together, closing his eyes as he drew in a deep breath. He was jealous, he knew it, but with good reason. Did Stevie really believe that what Alex was doing right in from of their eyes wasn't happening? Did she really believe that all of the rules and even his firing from the band was simply a coincidence? Her reaction was not what he expected- he dreamed she would back down and agree not to go, or at the very least take him along but he was dead wrong. As he stared past the pictures on the wall and deep into the recesses of his restless mind, he thought about ways to make it right but the fire inside that woman wasn't something he could easily tame.