"Actually, no. It doesn't." She cringed, remembering what travelling with Jimmy had been like. Cramped buses at first and then, when the money was gone, their tiny minivan. "We traveled the country. Major cities and stuff. And then we got to Vegas and he had a regular gig."
"Right."
"And with his regular gig came...regular fans. Anyway, it started with the groupies, but then he got so famous that he felt I couldn't understand him. He fell in love with another performer on the strip and, well, there I was. Divorced by twenty."
"Wow. That's...quite a story."
"It's pretty normal when you think about it. I'd never been really loved that way before and when you have a guy writing songs about you and making all that sacrifice sound less like a horror movie, you go with it." She shrugged.
"So the travel?"
"The travel was husband number two. He was...different than Jimmy. In a way, at least. In another, they were weirdly the same."
She could stop it here if she wanted to. She didn’t have to say the rest. She could live with it, carry it by herself. Nobody had to know…
But she wanted him to.
Wanted to tell him everything and leave nothing out.
So, when he prompted her to continue, she didn’t pause to deliberate or try to figure out why she was pouring her darkest secrets out to a person she’d convinced herself she hated. She just kept going.
"So, after Jimmy left I was stuck in Vegas with no money, so I got a job as a cocktail waitress and I worked days as a maid in one of the hotels. It was a disgusting job, but I found ways to sleep and eat on the cheap, so it worked out."
He nodded, and she was momentarily surprised by how genuinely interested he seemed.
"Anyway, I was living like that for a couple of months and then one night this guy came into the club where I worked and started making small talk. In a job like that, it's pretty common, so I shrugged it off. But there was something about him. The way people looked at him when he walked into the room...the way he...I don't know." She shook her head. There was no way of explaining Dominic to a person who hadn't met him.
He simply had an air of power around him. And intelligence. And strength.
Like Brooks.
But unlike Brooks, that strength didn't know its limits.
"That's beside the point, I guess. He came in every night asking for me, and one night when he offered to take me out on the town, I accepted. There was just something about the way he asked things, you sort of knew you couldn't say no. So over the next couple of months he showed me everything Vegas had to offer. He taught me how to gamble, took me to the best shows, introduced me to the biggest stars..."
She swallowed hard. What an idiot she'd been back then. A young, stupid girl accepting gifts and favors without the thought of what he'd want in return. Without understanding the world. Or men.
"It wasn't the money. I don’t think anyone would ever believe me, but it wasn't. I didn't care about the dresses or the parties or the people. It was the way he doted on me. He made me feel...important. Like I belonged. And I was young and stupid, so I fell back into the same trap."
She shook her head. "Three months into his visit, he had to take off for Italy. He wanted me to go with him, and when he asked me to marry him, I said yes."
"Who was this guy? Is he...?"
She shook her head. He'd gotten her this far, but she wouldn't do that. Couldn't. "I can't tell you that."
"Can't or--"
"Can't. It's part of the divorce agreement." But then, so was the restraining order…
"I see."
"So, for the first year we were married, things were wonderful. My husband took me all over the world and showed me off to his friends. I got to know his family. It was...fine. But then..."
She swallowed hard. She'd gotten this far. It was almost over. There was just that one little detail. That one small bit of information.
"So, I always knew that he had a temper. You know, his family sort of laughed it off. But at home...at home it wasn't a joke. He, um, well, I'm not going to get into the details, but I think you understand what I'm trying to tell you."
Brooks' jaw ticked and he nodded solemnly, his gaze still trained on her.