Deacon. What was he doing here? He was supposed to be in Nashville. The universe officially hated her. Deacon had left Luke's tour because it was merging with Rayna's. He wasn't supposed to be in the same state as her let alone the same hotel! How was she supposed to get over him, how was she supposed to stand by her decision when for the first few days of her married life, he was going to be in the same building as her? Damn. What about Luke? How would he react? Should she tell him?
"Ray…" Bucky exclaimed.
"Hmmm… yeah." She had no idea what she had just agreed to.
"Ray? What is it?"
"Deacon… he's here in the hotel…"
"Here? Are you sure Ray? Leave it with me." Bucky said. "I'll sort it out before Luke finds out…"
"Thanks, Buck."
Sound check went terribly. Rayna was too distracted by Deacon and kept missing her cue or messed up the words. In the end, Bucky stopped it. He arranged for Rayna to continue it later that day. Usually, Rayna would've argued against it but the sound check was as far from her mind as possible. Instead, she kept seeing Deacon's face and Luke's reaction when he found out that Deacon was in the Peabody. She was doing her best to make the marriage to work, she wanted it to work but Deacon being there was not helping. It was making her question her choice. Had she made the right one? What if she hadn't? What if this was a sign that she had done the wrong thing? But then what was the right thing? A small voice asked her. Deacon? Of course he wasn't. She couldn't go there again. There was too much hurt. She had told him that what she needed was a clean state and it was true. She needed relationship without the painful past that she had with Deacon. Luke was the right choice. This was just a coincidence. She was overthinking it.
"You ok?"
"Yeah…"
"You seem distracted…" Luke commented. They were sat in a café, just the two of them.
"Sorry… I just… sound check went badly." She lied.
"You're Rayna Jaymes… the concert will be fine…" He said taking her hand in his. "Besides you know what they say… a bad rehearsal means a good performance…"
"Well tomorrow night is going to be one hell of a performance." She mused.
Luke laughed. "That bad?"
"I forgot the words and those I remembered were sang out of tune."
"Rayna Jaymes out of tune?" He joked. "Is something up?" His tone was less playful now.
"I just hope Maddie's ok…" She lied and then hated herself for it. This wasn't how a marriage was supposed to be, at least not at the start. She had been married less than a week and was already lying to him.
"I thought we had turned a corner with her…"
"We had but I don't know… it feels like her sudden change of heart was too sudden…" Ok, so she wasn't completely lying to him. She was concerned that Maddie had only changed her opinion for Rayna's sake and that once things were settled, she would revert to how she had been before.
"You think that it was just a show for the wedding?"
"Possibly…" she sighed.
"Well if that is the case, we will deal with it together when it happens." Luke reassured her, placing a hand across her back resting it on her chair. This was the right choice. He was.
"Thanks babe…" She replied; at least he didn't know about Deacon. That was a good sign. Hopefully, Bucky had spoken to him and she didn't have to worry about him anymore.
"Are you sure that's it?" Luke asked her after a few minutes of silence.
"Yeah… I'm fine…" she said convincing both herself and him.
"Good…" he gave her hand a squeeze before removing it and reaching for his drink. "So… we have a few hours before you have to go back to the stadium, how do you want to spend them?"
"How do you want to spend them?"
"Well, we could go back to the hotel…"
"Luke!" Rayna exclaimed.
"Or we could do some shopping or something…" That Rayna agreed to.
By the time Rayna returned to the stadium for her postponed sound check, Deacon had left her mind. She had completely forgotten that he was staying in the same hotel as her. He remained forgotten about until she returned to the hotel that night and she saw him again. Like before, they were both crossing the lobby. Unlike before, she was going into the hotel and he was leaving. This time, he saw her. Their eyes found each other across the space. The world stopped moving. They were paralysed. Then she saw it. The anger in his eyes. The hurt. He looked away and the world returned around her. Suddenly, Scarlett was by his side. She waved at Rayna, who waved back. Then Deacon smiled and waved. Rayna did the same. So maybe things weren't as bad as she thought. A wave suggested things between them were ok and she could live with ok. He was hurting, of course he was but he was prepared to be 'friends' with her. Was friends the word? Suddenly, her phone buzzed. It was Luke, wondering where she was. She looked back up from her phone but Deacon and Scarlett were gone.
Rayna made her way to the hotel room, her head spinning. She was so confused. She didn't understand what was going on. Deacon sent her a message giving her his blessing, Scarlett told her to ignore it, then when he saw her, he was hurting, then he waved. What was going on? It didn't make sense. Was he trying to give her his blessing, to be supportive of her decision or was he still annoyed that she had picked Luke? She didn't know and it was exhausting trying to work it out. Maybe it would be better if she didn't see Deacon until he had figured out how he felt. Maybe it would be better if the only relationship they had was about Maddie. Maybe they couldn't be friends because he clearly still loved her and seeing her was hurting him. That was the last thing she wanted. She may have been married to Luke but she did still care for Deacon and always would. He just couldn't be a rival for her heart anymore. That had destroyed her marriage to Teddy and she wasn't going to let it happen with Luke.
"Hey… I didn't see the point in texting you back when I was downstairs…" Rayna said as she walked into the suite.
"It's fine… I just wasn't sure if I should wait to have a shower or if I should start getting ready." Luke said, coming out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, his chest exposed. Rayna bit her lip.
"You should've waited…" She replied playfully, a smirk on her face.
"I should've…" He said just as playfully. "But I could always join you…"
"You could…" They were less than a metre away from each other now. His lips captured hers and she smiled against him. She was about to deepen the kiss when her phone rang.
"Leave it." Luke demanded in between kisses.
"I can't… what if it's Maddie or Daphne?" She responded. Reluctantly, he let go of her. It wasn't either daughter but was instead Bucky.
"Hey Buck…" Hearing that it was only Bucky, Luke walked up behind her and placed his hands on her waist underneath her top. His lips found the sensitive spot on her neck.
"Hey Rayna… about the problem… I couldn't find him…"
"Luke stop it…" Rayna exclaiming, the kisses becoming a distraction. "Ok thanks Buck."
"I'll try again later…" he suggested.
"Thanks… I appreciate it." She breathed out as Luke's kisses got more intense. "Luke!" This time, he listened and walked back into the bathroom.
"Was this a bad time?"
"No… not really. Luke was just… never mind."
"Well I will speak to Deacon later… make the most of tonight… it won't be long before you are wishing it back." Bucky joked and Rayna laughed.
"You're right. Ok, I'll see you in the morning." Rayna said concluding the conversation. Upon her hanging up, Luke came out of the bathroom fully dressed. Rayna frowned but didn't say anything. He was obviously annoyed that she had shouted at him but she was trying to have a conversation and Luke knew that he was distracting her.
"What was that about?"
"Nothing important." She stated, walking to the wardrobe, taking out the dress she was going to wear and walking into the bathroom. Two could play that game.
"Have you decided yet?" The waitress asked. "Or would you like a few more minutes?"
"Can we have a few more minutes?" Rayna asked. She still hadn't decided what she wanted. She was too distracted by the person sat at the table behind Luke. It was Scarlett. On seeing Rayna, she had waved and Rayna had waved back. Luke remained oblivious but Rayna was worried. Scarlett was sat on her own and kept both her watch and phone. As far as Rayna knew, Scarlett wasn't dating anyone and that meant that person Scarlett was waiting for was Deacon. If Luke found out Deacon was staying in the Peabody, well Rayna couldn't predict what would happen.
"What are you leaning towards?" Luke asked, pulling her from her thoughts.
"I really can't decide… the chicken sounds nice but so does the pasta…"
"The chicken's garlic isn't it?" She nodded. "Have the pasta…" she could tell from the expression on his face what he was insinuating.
"I think I'll have the chicken…" She teased.
"How was sound check?"
"Much better…" She replied, her attention more focused on the menu.
"Something must've been on your mind earlier…"
"Hmmm…" She knew where it was going: Luke wanted to know what was so distracting that she had for the first time ever forgotten the words. Rayna, on the other hand, did not want to talk about Deacon. Bucky had promised to resolve the situation without Luke finding out and that was how she wanted it to be. What he didn't know couldn't hurt him. She just had to get to tomorrow without Luke finding out and everything would be fine. "I think I've decided." She announced trying to change the conversation.
"At last…"
"I'm surprised we haven't had any autograph requests…" Rayna mused.
"Maybe we're just not as popular as we thought." They both laughed. The waiter returned a few minutes later and took their order. As he was going so, something caught Rayna's eye. Someone had just walked past their table, behind Luke to where Scarlett was sat. He took a seat. Scarlett said something to him, no doubt about Luke and Rayna. He turned around. Rayna froze. It was who she had been dreading. Deacon smiled. She smiled back. By now, Luke had finished ordering. Deacon was still staring at her intently. She couldn't look away as though some force was holding her there, drawing her toward him. He wanted her and she was going everything in her power to not want him. But when he looked at her like that, she couldn't help it. Thankfully, Scarlett said something to Deacon and he turned away, breaking the connection. Rayna turned back to Luke, trying her best to keep up with whatever he was talking about.
There were several moments during the course of the meal that had Rayna on edge; several moments in which Luke came so close to turning around and seeing Deacon. But thankfully he didn't. He didn't see Deacon when came back from the bathroom. He didn't see Deacon when he the waiter almost split food on him from behind. He didn't see Deacon when a woman a few tables behind dropped a glass, smashing into one thousand tiny pieces. He didn't see Deacon when he knocked his folk on the floor. He didn't see Deacon when the two chairs bumped into each other as Deacon stood up. With every incident, Rayna had mentally rehearsed the surprise in her voice she would have to feign, the shocked smile. But each time, Luke had remained ignorant to Deacon's presence.
"You know, after tomorrow we're going to be pretty exhausted…" Rayna said stepping out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, dressed only in a thin, silk slip. Luke was sat on the bed, reading something on his phone. Rayna climbed onto the bed behind him, took the phone out of his hands, tossing it onto the carpet and placed her hands around his torso. Her lips made their way to his neck, sucking gently. He laughed. "And that means we won't have a lot of time for this…"
"Hmmm, we'll just have to make this amazing…" It was Rayna's turn to laugh as Luke turned around to face her, capturing her lips with his. For a few moments, the two were lost in a passionate embrace before Rayna's phone sounded. Someone was face- timing her. Luke pulled away sighing.
"It's Daphne." He said holding the phone out to her. "I think I'll go down to the bar." Rayna rolled her eyes.
"Hey sweetie…"
Luke was annoyed. All wanted was to be able to make love to his wife without someone or something interrupting them. Apparently, the universe didn't want that to happen. Instead it insisted on phone calls that Rayna had to answer. Of course that didn't help his mood either. She didn't have to answer every single one! Rayna had been somewhat distracted today and didn't want to talk about why. Maybe she had changed her mind about marrying him, maybe she was regretting it. He didn't know what to do. Cooling off seemed like the best solution and so he had told her he was going to the bar. It also gave her the chance to talk to Daphne and probably Maddie without him being there. He knew Maddie wasn't thrilled about the wedding so perhaps it was best he wasn't there.
"Beer please." He said to the girl behind the bar; she wasn't very old, not much older than Maddie he guessed. Despite her age, she was quick at serving and within minutes handed him the drink. Then she looked at him.
"Put it on my tab…" He assumed she was waiting for payment. "Room…"
"There's no need…" she interrupted him. "I would've thought that you would be upstairs… you know… with your wife…" she paused second guessing herself. "You are Luke Wheeler?"
"Yes."
"And you did get married the other day?"
"Yes."
"So…"
He frowned at her, unsure of what she was asking for a moment. "Oh, right… she's upstairs on the phone to her daughters… I thought it best to let them have some privacy."
After that she left him alone. She was too busy working to have a conversation with him and thanks to her, he was beginning to feel guilty for leaving Rayna. He decided he would finish his drink then head back upstairs to pick up where he had left off.
"Whiskey sour…" A man had just appeared on Luke's left. The voice sounded familiar. Luke turned to see who it belonged to. His eyes fell upon the last person he expected to see. Deacon…
