Title: Love Runs Deeper: Chapter Twenty-six, Nightmarish Tension
Rating: PG-13 [language, drugs, mild violence]

Summary:  The band share two tracks of their new album with the label, introducing Lily to the music industry.  Lindsey loses his temper.




After tucking Lily into Richard’s bed, Lindsey slipped out of the bedroom and closed the door.  It was well past midnight and he had a meeting with the label midday, but he was not yet ready to sleep.  Instead he headed to the living room and accepted a joint from his best friend and plopped down on the sofa.

Lighting the end of it, he inhaled deeply before muttering, “Thanks for letting us crash here.”

“No prob,” he pushed smoke out the right side of his mouth. “Can’t imagine you’d go back to the house Stevie’s at.”

“No… Lily would definitely not go for that.  We won’t stay here long…”

“And when exactly when will you have time to find a place to stay?  We go into rehearsals, then a short tour, then back here to finish up the album,” Richard pointed out.

“I’m sure we can find some place to rent, maybe even tomorrow,” he declared.

His friend snorted, “So I’ll just be relegated to my couch for the next few months then?”

“No, of course not.  We’ll only be here tonight. It was too late to—”

“Linds?” Lily’s soft voice interrupted.

His eyes widened and he quickly handed the joint to Richard, “Lil?  Is everything okay?”

“I… I…” her eyes went to Richard, widening slightly.

Glancing at his friend, it took Lindsey a couple of breaths to figure out that she would not say whatever she wanted to say in front of him.  Dropping his feet from the coffee table, Lindsey ran his fingers through his hair quickly, trying to push away his high.  Realizing that was not about to happen and his girlfriend was already waiting, Lindsey stepped towards her.  His hazy eyes focused on her and he opened his arms slightly.  Lily quickly stumbled forward and fell into his arms, burying her face.

Concerned, Lindsey’s arms closed around her and he kissed the top of her head, “Lil, what’s wrong?”

She shook her head, not saying anything.  Figuring it had to do with Richard, Lindsey carefully turned her around and led her back to the bedroom.  Directing her to sit on the bed, he glanced out the door briefly, shrugged at his friend, and closed it before turning his attention back to his girlfriend.

“Lil, what’s wrong?” he repeated as he sat down next to her.

She instantly launched into his arms again.  As his arms folded around her, she began to tremble.  Completely dumbfounded by her actions, Lindsey nonetheless rubbed her back and attempted to calm her down.  Eventually her crying ceased and he was able to lean back and kiss her gently.

“Lil?”

“I… Linds, don’t make me sleep alone.”

His eyes searched hers for a moment, “What happened, Lil?”

“I… I’m not sure… it was all confusing and scary and I think it was a mix of all the horrible men I’ve ever met before, all the ones who have grabbed my ass or my breasts or…”

His arms tightened around her again, “No one is ever going to hurt you, Lily.  I will never allow it.”

“I know… I just…” she muttered.

Lindsey squeezed her again, “I know, sweetheart.  But you have me now.  I will protect you.  I promise you that.”

“They could… the police didn’t find them all, Linds.  They could come down here and—”

“Not going to happen, Lil.  We will find our own place with plenty of security.”

“But…”

Lindsey kissed her to silence her protests, “No one is ever going to hurt you, Lily.  No one.”



Dressed in a fashionable blue dress, Lily held Lindsey’s hand as he headed into the Warner Building.  Her eyes widened slightly as they entered.  Though the building seemed modest on the exterior, with dark wood siding and surrounded by trees, the lobby was breathtaking.  The ceilings were at least twenty feet high.  Gold records sparkled, interspersed with posters of their artists.  Naturally, music filled the lobby.

Lindsey paused at the reception desk to verify the band’s location.  He pulled his girlfriend up the steps to the large conference room.  Paying little attention to the equipment setup to play demos of the band’s newest work, Lily’s eyes glanced over the gathered executives.  Relieved to see people she recognized, she relaxed slightly, enough she was able to instantly charm the band’s lawyer, Mickey Shapiro.

“You be careful about this one, Mickey,” Mick declared, grinning as he hugged Lily. “She’s the one who really did all the work in Sausalito.  She even succeeded in keeping me almost organized!”

The lawyer chuckled, “So you’re the one who got him to almost catch up on the paperwork?  I don’t know where they found you, but I’ll be damned if you get away.”

She flushed slightly but did not have the chance to respond as Lindsey led her away to introduce her to a few others before the demonstration began.  Before long the conference room fell silent, attention falling to Ken and Richard as they remained near the stereo equipment ready to play snippets from the new album.

“What do you want to play first?” Ken asked Mick.

The lanky guitarist instantly responded, “‘Dreams’ and then ‘Go Your Own Way’ and that’s all.”

Everyone sat down to listen, Lindsey pulling Lily into his lap before she could protest.  A few long moments of silence filled the room while Ken rewound the tape to the requested song.  Mick’s drum fill followed by his phasing high hat quickly filled the room.   The track itself sounded great in the room, yet no one said a word once it was over.

Ken glanced around the room, seemingly upset that not a single word was uttered.  He turned back to the tape and spun the tape to Lindsey’s song.  Even though Lindsey outwardly looked at ease, Lily felt him tense slightly underneath her.  Mick’s drums quickly shook the room too attention.  Before long, the entire room was moving along with the music; a much better reaction.  Once the song ended, everyone in the room started to applaud.

“Let’s hear another,” one of the men in suits requested, which was quickly supported by others.

Mick held up his hands, “No, you’ll have to wait.”

While Richard and Ken packed up the music, the men of Fleetwood Mac, including their lawyer, shifted into business mode.  Even though she felt a bit out of place, Lily remained in the room with the men.  She slid out of Lindsey’s lap and blended into the wall.  It was not that she did not feel as if she belonged there, but rather she wanted to observe without anyone paying her any attention at all.  She felt that way she would get the best education on this industry if she disappeared in the room.

For the next few hours, Lily did just that.  It was eye-opening.  She knew how restaurants ran from working in them for years.  She even had a good handle on most legal terms and work, for the same reason.  Quickly she was beginning to understand the correlation between all she had done before and what she would be helping Lindsey with in the future.

Slipping into a chair after standing against the wall for over an hour, Lily wished she had a notebook to jot down important thoughts.  Her memory tended to be impeccable though, so she hoped she would not regret stealing paper from the table.  It fascinated her and she really wanted to know everything she could about the business, especially since she was officially Lindsey’s personal assistant.

“Linds?” her hand slipped into his as they left the conference room nearly three hours after entering it.

“Yeah, Lil?” he grinned and quickly kissed her.

“That was really… fascinating.  I want to learn more.”

“About?” he asked, leading her down the steps.

“This,” she motioned around the lobby. “All of this.  If I’m going to be your personal assistant, I should probably understand what all of this is about.”

“You don’t need to understand the music business in order to know how to be my personal assistant,” he countered. “You just have to know how to take care of me… and so far, I have no complaints.”

She flushed slightly, “Be as that is, I still feel like I need to know more so I can do better.”

“Well…” he opened the door for her “…what would you like to know?”

“To start?”

Lindsey nodded.

“Everything.”



While he had been tempted to just sit down with her and explain whatever she wanted, Lindsey instead decided to take Lily to Seedy Management’s offices.  He introduced her to the three women who handled the band’s affairs.  As she quickly fell into conversation with the women, he stepped back and looked around the office.  A smirk filled his face when he realized that Mick had all women running the band’s business.  He wondered how much on purpose that had been.

Leaving the women to their discussions, knowing it would all be better in the end, Lindsey slipped out of the office.  He lit up a cigarette and glanced around.  The management offices were located in a group of former film creative offices.  He thought perhaps one of the bungalows was where Charlie Chaplin used to write, but he was not entirely sure.  Perhaps when Lily was done with the other two women, he could take her on a little tour and impress her even more.

However, as his thoughts drifted, Lindsey realized what would impress Lily the most: finding some place for them to live that was not at his best friend’s house.  Though it would have been ideal to slip out and drive around looking himself, Lindsey was unsure how long Lily would be detained.  So he headed over to one of the other offices and asked to borrow their phone.

After a couple of phone calls, Lindsey felt pretty good about things.  He lined up two properties for them to look at in the early evening.  Both were fully furnished so they could move in pretty much immediately.  And then he could get his things from Stevie.

The thought of having to deal with Stevie instantly put a scowl on his face.

Deciding to deal with the tension head on, Lindsey snatched up the phone again and dialed Stevie’s house.  He turned his back on the person he was borrowing the phone from, a part of him hoping Stevie would not answer.  Neither she nor Chris had been present during the label meeting, something he found a bit odd but had not questioned it when told.

“Hello?”

He grimaced slightly, “Hi, Stevie.”

There was a long pause, “What do you want, Lindsey?”

“I just wanted to arrange and appropriate time to come by and get my things,” he declared.

“That won’t be necessary.”

“…why?”

“There is nothing for you to come and get.”

Lindsey remained silent for a moment, running his hand through his hair, “Why not?”

“I already took care of it.”

“…what did you do, Stevie?”

“It’s taken care of.”

He repeated his question.

“I got rid of it all.”

He once more fell silent, “You did what?”

A moment later, he slammed the phone down and punched the wall.  Not bothering to apologize, Lindsey stalked out of the office and returned to the Penguin offices.  Struggling to not kick the door in, he quickly entered, his eyes wildly looking for Lily.  He hurried over to her, interrupting her question with one of the women.

“Linds?” her golden eyes went to his. “What’s wrong?”

He grabbed her wrist, pulling her up.  Her eyes widened, terror shooting through her body.  She tensed, as did the other three women.  Lindsey’s blue eyes met hers, filled with anger.  Yet through the red haze of his rage, he suddenly realized the emotions on Lily’s face.

“L-Linds?” she muttered.

“The bitch threw out all of my things,” he hissed.

Lily twisted her wrist in his hand, “L-Linds, you’re hurting me.”

It took a couple of tense breaths before her soft plea broke through his fury.  He slowly unwrapped his fingers from her wrist, his eyes dropping to their hands.  Waiting until his fingers fully released her hand, Lily snapped her hand free, her other hand covering the red marks around her wrist.  Tears rimmed her eyes before rolling down her cheeks.

“Baby…” Lindsey reached out for her.

Lily evaded his grasp.

“Lil, I’m sorry… I don’t… I don’t know what came over me,” he muttered, stepping towards her.

Judy Wong stepped between them, “You should go, Lindsey.”

He stared at her blankly, “What?”

“Go,” she pointed at the door.

“But Lily—”

“Now,” Judy stated, her voice and eyes unwavering.

Hesitating for a long moment, Lindsey turned and left the office, his shoulders slumping slightly.  He could not believe he had just been tossed out of the band’s office, forced to leave his girlfriend behind.  It made no sense in his mind whatsoever.  All he had done was…

“Fuck,” he muttered as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it, his blue eyes glancing at the door. “What have I done?”