“Fine. If you insist, but I don’t want to hear complaints from you when I can’t keep my hands off of you in public. And damn, this bed feels like heaven.”
“I know. I’m worried about you. You’ve barely gotten any sleep the last few days. All teasing aside, I’ll understand if you want to stay home to snuggle and sleep.”
“Oh no you don’t. It’s New Year’s Eve. We’re going out and going to ring in the New Year together. Let me go take a shower to wake me up and then we can head out to dinner.”
Troy has rolled away from her and is half way to the bathroom when his cell phone on the nightstand rings. Hallie notices his aggravated look when he walks back to retrieve his phone. She’s happy to have the chance to admire his naked body as he stands next to the bed, looking down on her with a grin.
“Hello, sir. I wasn’t expecting to talk with you again today. Do you have any new information?”
Troy is listening to the call and she watches as his grin turns to a scowl. “With all due respect, that’s bullshit. You know damn well this is out of our control for right now and you’ve made it clear we have to wait for Victoria’s results before we can move forward.” He scowl is turning to outright anger. “Hold on, Peter.” Holding his hand over his phone, he whispers to Hallie. “It’s my boss. I’ll take this in the bathroom. You can have the bathroom in like twenty minutes, okay?”
Hallie tries to hide her worry. “Sure. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. Just the issues with the project. He just wants to talk about the plan.”
“Okay, well let me know when I can have the bathroom to freshen up.”
He leans in to kiss her forehead and heads to the shower.
Twenty minutes later, as promised, Troy emerges ready to go to dinner. All traces of his anger are gone. “The bathroom is all yours. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. I hope you like Italian. I got us reservations at a new place that just opened a few blocks from the venue.”
Now it’s Hallie’s turn to wish they could just stay home tonight. “You sure we need to go?”
Troy reaches out to smack her on her bare ass playfully. “Oh no you don’t. No backing out now. We’re going, young lady. Get in there and get ready.”
Despite him telling her to leave, he is still hugging her close. Their eyes meet and she loves to see his grin as she replies playfully. “Yes, sir.”
Hallie is just finishing freshening up her makeup and brushing her teeth in Troy’s bathroom when she hears a phone ringing. Glancing to the counter, she sees Troy had left his phone in there after talking to his boss. She’s about to call out to him to come retrieve the call when she glances down and sees the incoming call is from a Victoria.
Even as she feels her heart lurch with insecurity, she tells herself she’s being silly. Victoria could be anyone. She could be someone he works with. She could be the next-door neighbor telling him his car alarm is going off. She could be… his other lover.
Hallie isn’t proud of herself when she accepts the call. She hesitantly holds his phone to her ear, but doesn’t say anything. Several long seconds go by before she hears a sultry voice talking. “Troy? Are you there? It’s about time you finally answered your phone. I’ve been trying to reach you for days.” Silence. Hallie’s heart is racing. “Troy, honey?”
“Sorry, but this is Hallie.” She hates how small her voice sounds.
There’s a long pause. “Oh. I must have the wrong phone number.”
“No. Troy is… he’s in the other room. Can I take a message?”
“A message? Who is this again?” The woman’s voice on the other end of the line sounds so confident. Hallie wishes she felt the same.
“Hallie.”
Another long pause. “Well, Hallie. I had hoped to talk with Troy directly, but you can pass on a message. Tell him I heard the good news that he and his team are going to be moving back to DC next week. Be a peach and let him know I’ll be anxiously awaiting his return, will you do that for me?”
Hallie’s heart is beating so hard she can hear the roar of blood rushing in her ears. She actually feels faint and has to take a seat on the edge of the tub. She takes several deep breaths trying to stave off the sudden urge to throw up.
“Hallie? Can you be a dear and pass that message along?”
“But, he just moved to Colorado. He wants to be here.” She hates the quaver in her voice. She sounds like a little kid.
“Well, you obviously don’t know Troy very well then, do you? He’s very ambitious and he’s learned that he needs to be back in DC if he intends to get the promotion he is after. Not to mention, do you really think a man like Troy will ever be happy playing house in the country when he can have an exciting life here in the heart of things? Tell him I understand him wanting to stay there to wrap things up cleanly in Colorado before he heads back here, but I expect things back to normal next week. Have a nice night.”
The call is dead.
Hallie’s heart is breaking. She’d expect to be treated like this by Eddie the Asshole, but not Troy. Her mind reels. How could he be planning to move back to DC and not tell her? He’d made her believe he wanted to live in Corbin’s Bend. She replays Victoria’s words over and over in her head until it starts to make sense. He is going along with Hallie tonight without saying anything so he doesn’t ruin their last night together, but then he was going to drop the bomb tomorrow after he gets one more night of her in his bed.
She’d thought Troy Jackson was different, but he is worse than any of the other pricks that had fucked with her in the past. An anger like Hallie has never felt before bubbles up and takes hold. How dare he tell her he loves her? He’s used her and now he’s about to just throw her away.
She has to pull it together and come up with a plan. Sure, she could walk out there and confront him, demanding answers, but that would just make it too easy on him. She suddenly remembers the crock of shit he had fed her about the importance of always telling the truth… about never keeping secrets. What a fucking asshole. She knew this whole domestic discipline was a joke. The rules are just meant to keep the women submissive and come up with reasons for spankos like Troy to have a reason to light up their woman’s ass on a regular basis, but clearly the rules don’t apply to the men. No, not to the HoH’s. They get to lie and keep secrets all they want.
His knock on the bathroom door startles her. She quickly swipes her tears away and steels herself to be strong. He may think she is just a young, dumb blonde he can treat like this, but she’s gonna show him how wrong he is.
Chapter 15
Troy has a headache. He’s spent the last two hours trying valiantly to figure out what has upset Hallie, but nothing he has said or done is helping. He may not be the most sensitive guy in the world, but even he can tell something is bothering her. Considering she was in a fine mood when she arrived, he is absolutely at a loss as to what could be the problem. Her short, quip answers to all of his comments and questions both in the car and here at the restaurant have gone from concerning to just plain rude.
What is most upsetting is Troy hates to admit he just hasn’t known Hallie long enough to know if this is a common occurrence for her behavior or not. He’s wracked his brain for anything he might have said or done that could have upset her, but comes up empty. Perhaps she’s one of those women who has major mood swings with PMS. He spends a few minutes thinking through how he can try to get her into a specialist to see if there is something she can take to reduce her symptoms.
“I’ll have one more wine, thanks, Nick.”
“No she won’t, Nick. Hallie has had enough to drink for now. Thanks.”
Their poor waiter has also felt the brunt of Hallie’s bad mood tonight. He doesn’t look ready to piss her off. Glancing between the two of them, he finally nods at Troy and walks away.
“That’s crap, Troy. I’m not driving tonight. There’s no reason for you to not let me order another drink. Stop treating me like a baby.”
Re
aching across the table to take her hand in his, he looks her in the eye. “If you don’t want to be treated like a baby, then maybe you should stop acting like one. I don’t know what the hell has gotten into you tonight, but I’ve about had enough.”
“You’ve had enough? That’s rich.”
“Hallie, honey. Please. I can tell something is bothering you. Please. Talk to me. What’s wrong?”
For a brief moment, she looks like she’s going to cry, but it’s gone in a flash, replaced with a devious smile he doesn’t care for. “Wrong? Nothing’s wrong. I’m just trying to have some fun. If you’re not going to let me have any more to drink here, then let’s just get out of here and go to the concert. Or are you going to spoil my fun there, too?”
Troy is beside himself. “If this is how you’re going to act all night, then maybe we should skip the concert and go home where we can start the fireworks.”
“Oh goodie. Sex.” He hates her sarcastic tone.
“No. I was thinking more like a spanking. And not the funishment kind.”
That got her attention, but Troy feels like an ass. He knows that in spite of her enjoying the playful spankings they’ve experimented with so far, Hallie is not ready for a true punishment, no matter how badly she might need it. And considering he doesn’t even understand what’s wrong, he knows he can’t punish just for being in a bad mood.
“Thanks, but I think I’ll pass.”
Nick has returned with the check. Troy throws his credit card down without even looking at the bill. The sooner they can get out of here, the better. Hallie has made herself busy digging through her purse, looking for something, but to Troy it looks like she’s just trying to keep busy to avoid talking with him.
He hates that she’s painted him into this corner where he feels more like her father instead of her boyfriend. He knows the right thing to do is to drive them back to his apartment and hold her hostage in his bedroom until he gets to the bottom of what’s bothering her. He just feels like a heel skipping the concert that she had spent her own money on and had been such a thoughtful gift for him at the time.
Nick is obviously ready to get rid of them too, because he is back in record time, and Troy stands to leave, helping Hallie with her coat. He takes her hand and leads her quickly from the restaurant. They are only a few blocks from the concert location and they’d planned on leaving the car in the garage. When he heads in the direction of the car, Hallie pulls him to a stop.
“The concert is the other direction. You’re going the wrong way.”
Turning back to her, he pulls her close. “We aren’t going to the concert, Hallie. We are going to the car and then we are going back to my apartment where we are going to sit down and you are going to start at the very beginning and tell me what the hell has you so upset tonight, because honestly, if I didn’t know better, I would swear you are a whole different person than the Hallie I know.”
“Me? I’m different? What about you, Troy?”
“What about me? Nothing has changed with me.”
“Really? You sure about that?” She is shouting at him.
“Lower your voice. You’re making a scene.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry. I would hate to embarrass you.”
“That’s it. What the fuck is going on with you?”
“Nothing. I just want to go to the concert is all.”
“Well, we aren’t going anywhere but home with you acting like this.”
“Home. Very funny. Listen, I spent a lot of money for those tickets and I’m going to the concert. You can’t stop me. If you want to throw your ticket away, I’ll just take it and pawn it. I’m sure I can sell it at the gate.”
Troy is beside himself. “Let’s go.”
She digs her heels in. “No. I’m going to the concert.”
She breaks away from him and starts walking in the opposite direction. Troy regrets letting her carry the tickets in her purse. He catches up to her easily, pulling her to another stop in the middle of the sidewalk. Other concertgoers have to detour around them as they stand in their stare-off.
“Hallie, please. Talk to me. Honey, what’s going on with you?”
She was tempted, but he sees her steel herself again. “I just want to go to the concert. Please, let’s just go. I don’t want to be late.”
Troy knows it’s a mistake the second he allows them to continue walking towards the stadium. He should throw her over his shoulder and carry her home, but he just doesn’t have enough history with her yet to do that. Mistake or not, it’s New Year’s Eve and they are going to go to the concert. One thing is for sure. He’s not going to give up trying to get her to open up tonight.
The only thing holding Hallie together is the alcohol and sheer determination. She’s having trouble holding onto her anger at Troy’s betrayal and planned move back to DC. The sadness and sense of loss for something she almost had is setting in. She wants so badly to crawl up into a corner and cry, but sheer pride is the only thing keeping her from falling apart.
She has to hand it to him. He’s a very good actor. Several times tonight he’d almost convinced her that he really cared about her, but she had to steel herself to remember he was just hoping for more sex before he cuts her loose.
She’s on her second glass of wine since hitting the stadium. She had pulled in some favors with friends in the industry to get them really great seats and Troy doesn’t know it yet, but her contacts had also sent her two backstage passes for after the concert.
As she settles into her seat to wait for the show to start, she takes stock of how it feels to be surrounded by her old lifestyle. While Eddie and The Kings are not here tonight, they have played in endless concert halls just like this and the memories of that life are fresh. It’s not that she missed Eddie and the band necessarily, but it hits her how much she had walked away from when she got in Gopher and drove away from her old life.
She was good at managing the band. In spite of being so young, she had just begun to get really good at her job and then she’d thrown it all away. It depresses her to think that she’ll need to start all over again and worse, she has absolutely no clue what she is going to do to support herself if she stays with her aunt and uncle. She knows she can’t live off their charity forever and the little nest egg she had saved is just that… little.
As the lights go down and the warm up band takes the stage, Hallie is relieved. It’s finally too dark and loud to have to try to talk to Troy. He hadn’t given up trying to get her to open up to him and he was wearing her down. As the concertgoers around her reveal in the music, Troy and Hallie stand silently miserable in the middle of what should be a fun event.
Hallie’s thoughts turn to Corbin’s Bend and her aunt and uncle. She’d planned on telling Troy tonight that she had made up her mind to stay in Corbin’s Bend, but now what’s the point? Yes, her family is there, but she’s an adult. They don’t need to have her complicating their life. If Troy isn’t going to be in Corbin’s Bend with her, maybe she should move on.
Hallie’s head is pounding by the time they make it through the concert. Troy is reaching for their coats as Hallie decides to spring the VIP passes on him.
“Listen, I have back stage passes since I got the tickets through some of my contacts.”
“No way. We came to the concert, but we need to get home and talk.”
“I’m not passing up on going backstage, Troy.” Hallie breaks away from him and takes a few steps to the nearest security guard. Even Hallie is surprised how easy it was to flash the VIP badge and the next thing she knows, she’s being ushered behind the scenes by the burly security guard. She can hear Troy’s boots rushing to catch up to them and she ducks into the backstage dressing room just as Troy grabs her arm. She knows he plans on dragging her out of there, and she only hopes he won’t make a scene.
The sight that greets her turns her stomach. The smell of pot and beer mingle with sweat and sex to permeate the air with what she likes to think of as the smell
of rock and roll. Half dressed men and women mingle around the room while a lone guitar player sits in the corner strumming out a sad melody. Memories Hallie would rather forget flood her brain and she’s just about to turn and leave when she hears her name being called from across the room.
“Hallie Boudreaux! What the hell are you doing here, girlfriend?”
Hallie looks up to see a woman she’d gotten to know pretty well when she had been working on the record deal for The Kings. Stacey is with the management company and pretty much has the same band management gig for tonight’s opening act that Hallie had for The Kings. She and Stacey had gotten to know each other pretty well when their groups had both been recording in Los Angeles for a few months together and she is a sight for sore eyes.
“Stacey! Wow, I’d hoped I’d see you tonight.” Stacey hugs Hallie tight.
“I’m so glad to see you. You have a lot of people worried about you, you know. You kind of dropped off the map there and none of us knew how to get in touch with you. Eddie has called a couple of times to see if I’d heard from you.”
“Oh God, don’t tell him you saw me. I don’t want him to know where I am.”
Stacey looks confused. “Well, if you say so.”
Troy has caught up to Hallie and has stepped up close. Stacey looks up to acknowledge him with a grin. “Well hello there. And who might you be?”
Before Troy can speak, Hallie cuts him off. “This is Troy Jackson.” She leaves it at that.
Troy adds on. “Hi, I’m Hallie’s boyfriend. So sorry to cut your visit short, but we were just heading out. It was nice to meet you.”
Hallie turns on him. “Really? I haven’t seen my friend in months and I get two minutes with her?” Even she can register she’s slurring her words. The stress and alcohol are catching up to her. She doesn’t feel well.
Troy lowers his lips to talk into her ear. “You are out of control. I don’t know what happened, but we are going home and we’re staying there until I get to the bottom of what’s going on. Let’s go. Say goodbye to your friend.”
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