Well it certainly has been a while since I last updated this story. MEGA writers block, but thankfully it appears to have passed.
This chapter picks up from Chapter 39. 'International Naked Day' continues... so consider yourself warned! At some stage over the next few chapters their will be some naked good times. Once again, thank you for reading and for being so patient waiting for an update.
Deacon grabbed her hand, and without taking his eyes off the road, kissed the centre of her palm.
"Ray, what can I say, I was a fool"
The scratchiness of his stubble combined with the softness of his lips against her skin, sent shivers through her body. Even after all these years, he still had the same effect on her. A casual touch, or a glance her way and her heart would start pounding and waves of desire would course through her. Even while married to Teddy, being around Deacon could set her body on edge. At the beginning, she would disguise her desire for him by directing it towards Teddy. At first Teddy was wary of this change in desire towards him, after all prior to their marriage they had only intimate a handful of times, and even then, he had sensed a remoteness in Rayna's desire for him but he had been too dazzled by her to question it too deeply.
"Yes, you were, but you are my fool"
Her fingers scratched at his beard as she leant over and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. A gentle smile graced her face as she watched the face of the man she loved with every bone in her body, snicker at her comment. At times she had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming, that they were finally a couple, and in a few weeks, they would finally be married.
Flicking his eyes off the road for a second, he caught her staring intently at him.
"What?"
"I am..." shaking her head, momentarily lost for words, "god, it's nothing. This scenery, the road, all the crusty roadhouses that I am sure we played in, it's just reminding me how lucky I am. You amaze me. After everything I put you through, not only did you forgive me for lying about our daughter, but you never once stopped loving me. You are such a beautiful human and god, Deacon, I love you so much"
Blinking back tears at her words, Deacon slowed the car to a stop on the road edge. Turning towards the only person who has ever owned his heart, he tenderly brushed the tears away as they slowly fell. His large hands cupped her face, as he kissed away the pain of the past.
"Rayna, we each have inflicted so much pain on each other, but none of that matters now. What matters now is that we found a way to forgive and move on and that we are together. You and me, that is what matters. You and me and our beautiful girls. And in a few short weeks the whole world is going to know that I am your ball and chain, and that you are stuck with me forever"
Laughing through her tears at the sarcastic dig at hers and Luke's hit song, his playful kisses on her lips broke the melancholy mood that had descended on her. Pulling slightly back to look at him, she gave him an embarrassed smirk.
"I'm sorry, I just miss you so much that I allowed all that murkiness from our past sneak up on me and..."
"Babe, you don't have to apologise, I get it."
Giving her a gentle kiss, he released her face and turned his attention back to the road.
"The only thing you have to apologise for is for allowing that jack arse Wheeler to sing that god-awful song Good Woman to you"
Pulling the car back onto the road, he acknowledged that they had most certainly played in every single dive bar from Nashville to Austin. They had criss-crossed these counties so many times, playing in so many dark dingy bars that it became impossible to distinguish between them. They all had the same sticky floor, badly in need of a good scrub. There was always that one guy who seemed to be permanently drunk, who would always yell out obscene comments, the young couple who were on their first date, giggling nervously at each other's comments, the older waitress who would call everyone hun or love and would flirt harmlessly with the craggy bar man. The only thing that set the places apart was the way they treated Rayna. Some were encouraging and welcomed a young female country singer to the stage, whereas others would begrudgingly introduce her, followed quickly with some sexist comment about the little woman hanging up her apron and leaving her man at home to fend for himself while she was busy playing pretty little tunes. With a firm grasp on his hand, Rayna would silently plead with Deacon to ignore their comments. His jaw would ache from clenching it, while his other hand would be tightly wound into a fist ready to punch the next person who disrespected her.
Interlaced with the memories of cutting their teeth in sleazy bars, were the ones of his deep-seated anxiety knowing that Rayna was too good for him, mixed in with his childhood darkness and constant anger at the way Rayna was treated. Tumbling throughout all these feelings was a growing addiction to alcohol. Deacon could remember glimpses of joy on these roads; laughing hysterically from tiredness as they sat cross legged on a sorry looking bed eating greasy takeaway and dreaming of one day staying in a penthouse room; stumbling into a backwater motel room oblivious to anything other than each other, brimming with desire only to break the bed as they fell onto it; or the times their neighbours banged on the paper thin walls, demanding that they keep it down.
By the time he had got clean and realised what his addition had cost him, he had delegated most of those memories to the trash heap. Reliving them just brought to the surface the pain of losing Rayna. It has only been recently that he has allowed himself to view them through a different lens, one that recognised that their years of touring together was dotted with memories of young love. Of a love that fought for so long to be enough to overcome the destructive hold his addition had on him. Even after Rayna had married Teddy, the love between them was resilient enough to negotiate that hurdle, allowing them to cultivate an added depth to their love.