Her body reacted moments before she heard his voice. The sound of his voice caused her whole body to quiver, like tiny butterfly wings were caressing her skin causing tiny sparks of electricity to explode within her. Her breath caught in her throat she knew there was no way to avoid confronting him. Her mind pulled up image after image of him with that woman, each scenario more painful than the one before. Her anger grew as she imagined Deacon sleeping with the blonde and then daring to waltz in here like everything was fine.

"Hey Ray…." he cried out as he opened the door.

Before she knew what was happening, she had picked up an old stained coffee mug and threw it at the opening door. The sound of it splintering against the wall inflamed her anger. Reaching for the empty bottle of soda, she threw it at Deacon as he stood in the doorway stunned.

"Want….. woooo hold on Ray….hey…"

Ducking out of the way of the surprisingly accurately thrown bottle, Deacon quickly entered the room, taking cover behind the old tatty couch. Rayna continued to throw items in his direction, regardless that she couldn't see him hidden behind the couch. Between sounds of shattering glass and the dull thud of plastic hitting the wall behind him, he caught the verbal assault of words thrown in his direction. It didn't take a genius to work out that Rayna was angry at him, but for the life of him, he had absolutely no idea why. He had done what she had asked, he had told Vince that he couldn't see him. He had told his best friend that until he cleaned his act up, he couldn't see him. Rayna meant too much to him.

"RAYNA! Stop… I didn't see Vince. I did what you wanted….Geez…RAYNA"

He didn't imagine that her anger could get any worse, but no sooner had he told her what he imagined she wanted to hear, she had begun to yell back at him"

"OH, I KNOW YOU DIDN'T GO SEE VINCE…HELL I WISH YOU HAD GONE DRINKING WITH HIM. YOU ARE A FREAKING LIAR DEACON CLAYBOURNE…"

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT RAYNA…. JESUS, WOULD YOU STOP THROWING THINGS AT ME…"

That earnt another round of objects thrown at him. Scurrying back down behind the couch, he crawled to the end of the couch before launching up towards a fired-up Rayna. Surprised to see Deacon leaping up towards her, Rayna stumbled backwards until she felt the solidness of the arm of the armchair behind her. Her eyes threw flames towards Deacon as he slowly walked towards her with his hands up.

"Rayna, what is going on?"

"You tell me. Can't believe you have the nerve to turn up like nothing has changed."

"What…. Are…. You …..Talking…. About Ray? Where else would I be?"

Rayna gave him a disgusted snort of disbelief. She had hoped that he would be honest with her, now that she knew what he had done. She didn't want to say the words out loud as it would make it even more true, somehow, that what it was.

"Deacon, I saw you. Hell, the whole world saw you." Her words were laced with venom, no longer able to hold back the waves of hurt that were brewing up a storm within her.

A look of confusion covered Deacon's face as her words, heavy with pain, stabbed at his heart. He had no idea what had happened between their disagreement earlier and now. He knew that she hadn't want him to catch up with Vince, but the anguish of her words and the heartache that was written over her face told him it had nothing to do with Vince.

"Ray?"

Reaching out, his fingers stretched to lace with hers.

"Don't, don't touch me"

"Rayna, what the hell is going on? This can't be over Vince asking me to meet him. Because I never saw him."

"Oh, I know! It appears you didn't go very far at all!"

Frowning at her words, Deacon's mind frantically tried to work out what she was referring to.

"Don't play dumb with me Deacon, I saw you with the blonde"

Her statement confused Deacon ever further. He had gone from their room to the lobby of the motel to wait for Delia.

"Delia?"

"I don't need to know her name, I don't plan on getting that cosy with her, unlike you"

Deacon chuckled at her last comment.

"Don't you dare laugh at me. You know what Deacon, get out! I don't need you. I don't need you on that stage and I sure as hell don't need you in my life"

"Rayna, come on. Nothing is going on with me and Delia." Deacon's voice broke with panic. He had never seen Rayna so angry. Initially it was nice to see her jealous, it was rare. Normally it was Deacon being jealous of the men who hung off Rayna. Deacon has always only had eyes for Rayna. His heart had long ago beat for one woman, and that woman was currently standing in front of him with a look of murder in her brilliant blue eyes.

"I don't know what you saw, but I agreed to meet her in the lobby to sneak her into Shelly's room. Delia is Shelly's girlfriend. She wanted to surprise her for her birthday. We went through rehab together. There is nothing going on at all."

Lacing his fingers with hers, he raised their joined hands and lovingly kissed her skin.

"Rayna, you are the only woman I will ever love. I will love you with all of my heart until the day I die."

Rayna's eyes pooled with tears at his words. She wanted to believe him, her whole body thrummed with the love that she felt for him, but she couldn't erase the image of him and that woman no matter how much she wanted to believe his words.

Pulling her hand away, she crossed her arms to prevent herself from touching him.

"Deacon, I'm not dumb. That wasn't a 'friends' embrace. Luke will back me up on this. That was not the way two friends greet each other'

"What's Luke Wheeler got to do with this?" Deacon could feel his anger rising at the mention of Wheeler's name. He knew that Luke had been lusting after Rayna since the moment he had meet her.

"He was with me when we saw you. He was the one who told me you were in the lobby"

"I bet he did!"

"What's that meant to mean?"

"Oh, nothing Rayna. Just that he has been just waiting for any opportunity to get between us"

"For gods sake Deacon, this has nothing to do with Luke. I can't believe you are focusing on that. You have no right to be snooty right now."

"Come on Ray, Wheeler has been trying to get into your pants from the moment he saw you. Bet he couldn't wait to come running to tell you that I was talking to a woman"

Rayna's eyes flashed with rage. The nerve of Deacon to turn this around and make it about Luke's crush on her. Jabbing her finger into his chest, she heatedly exclaimed,

"You have some nerve to be angry at Luke. He has nothing to do with this"

"Pfft, Ray don't be naïve. Luke has been praying for a day like this. Bet he couldn't get to our room fast enough to tell you about Delia".

Deacon used his body to push back against her finger, forcing her to place her palm against his chest.

The weight of Deacon's body against her hand, caused Rayna to lean back against the arm of the chair. Her anger flared again; the combination of his words and feeling cornered forced her to shove back against him.

"Leave Luke out of this, this is about you!"

Deacon grabbed her wrists, forcing her towards him.

"Ray, for the last time, nothing happened. Delia is Shelly's girlfriend. We are just friends. She got me through the last rehab, she is just one of those effervescent people and overly affectionate."

Deacon's voice broke with emotion as he quietly proclaimed, "Rayna, you know I would never cheat on you. I love you. You are my everything."

Rayna could feel her anger subsiding. His words spoke the truth, she knew deep within her heart that he would never cheat but seeing him at ease with someone else besides her, her anger and jealously ignited. Nodding her head, she acknowledged that she had heard him. She didn't trust herself to speak at the moment, she could still feel the tendrils of her fury flowing through her veins.

Deacon released her wrists, cupping the back of her head, he lent his forehead against hers. Whispering, he said "my heart is yours for as long as it beats."

Rayna's eyes shone with love at his words, a small smile gracing her lips. He really was a good man. Her hands reached up and tangled her fingers in his thick hair.

"and mine beats for you" she whispered against his lips as she sharply pulled his hair.