Chapter 38

Richie pulled her closer.  Her head was resting on his chest and her arm was draped lightly across his stomach, but he wanted just a little more.  He’d missed cuddling after sex.  It felt good.

“Are ya sure you won’t come back with me?”

 She didn’t say anything right away, and he hoped that was a good sign.  If she hated the idea she would’ve already told him off, wouldn’t she?

“We could do this every night,” he persuaded, kissing the top of her head and patting her on the ass.

She giggled and poked him lightly in the ribs.  “I don’t think either one of us has the energy for this every night.” 

Propping her chin on him, she stared into his eyes for a long minute, and he wondered what was going on in her mind.  “It scares me that I want to.”

He hugged her a little tighter.  “Why scared?  It’s just the same assholes you left a couple days ago.  Nothing’s changed.  Well, not really,” he amended.

“I don’t wanna lose myself in this, Richie.  It would be so easy to follow after you like a puppy and let you take care of everything, but that’s not who I am.  I’m not used to being part of a ‘we’ – I’m just me.”

“Sunshine, I don’t want you to be anything other than you.  I just want you to be you in my bed.”  He grinned impishly at her look of rebuke.  “Hey, I’d kick my own ass if I didn’t at least ask.  Ya gotta give a guy props for trying, right?”

She rested her cheek back on his chest without answering, and he counted ten heart beats before she finally asked, “Where are you playing in two weeks?”

“Fuck if I know.”  He eased away from her and stretched, reaching for his phone in his pants pocket on the floor.  Dropping back into bed with a soft grunt, he flicked his finger across the screen.  “Two weeks…”  He scrolled until he found the right day on his calendar.  “Here it is.  Vegas on the 6th, coming off the LA show on the 4th.”  He put the phone on the nightstand and drew back to look at her.  “Why?”

She took a deep breath.  “How about if I take the next two weeks to get all my ducks in a row here?  See if I can work out something to start working with the Soul Foundation.   Then, maybe, I could come join you for a few days?  Would that be okay?”

He saw the hopeful look on her face and laughed.  “Like I’m gonna tell you no after trying to bamboozle ya into coming with me now?  Hell yeah, it’s okay.”  Richie dropped a kiss on her nose and pulled her down into the pillows with a stifled yawn.    

Richie trailed his fingers through her hair and watched the strands fall into an organized disarray across his chest.  “I’ve gotta get up in just a little while to catch my plane.  Sleep with me until then?”

Allegra snuggled contentedly into his side.  “I’ll be right here,”  she assured him.

♫   ♥   ♫

He looked out the window of the plane and checked his phone for the third time in the last ten minutes.  Richie hadn’t gotten any messages or calls from Jon since right after the show Saturday night, and wasn’t sure whether that was a good or bad thing.

Granted, Tico could have done exactly what he’d promised and kept Jon calm until he got back, but he was afraid it was more likely a case of Jon giving him the silent treatment.  That was always fun.

Well, the first thing he would do when he got to San Jose was find Jon and get all this shit out in the open.  He could scream and yell and be pissed off and then he would get over it like he always did.  He was broody only until he’d had his say, and then he dealt with whatever had made him that way and moved on. 

Richie sincerely hoped that Jon would eventually be happy about it.  It’s not like Richie was some loser off the street dating Allegra.  He was family too, in that Jersey sorta way.  Jon should be thrilled that they were seeing each other.   And if he wasn’t?  Well, he needed to at least be over it enough to not give Allegra shit when she joined them in Vegas. 

That’s something else I should probably mention.

He was looking forward to showing Las Vegas to her.  There was no place like it in the world, and it was always fun to see a newbie’s reaction to all the lights and activity.  He bet she’d love the shows and people.

Not for the first time, Richie kind of wished Allegra was with him.  She had looked so content cuddled up in the big bed when he finally left this morning.  The memory of one of Jon’s famous stink eyes was the only thing that gotten him to haul his ass out of that bed without taking advantage of her warm and willing flesh again. 

A smug smile stole across his face.  Hell if he didn’t like the feeling of knowing that he was the only man she’d ever been with.  No matter who you were, it was an ego boost to know you’d satisfied a woman in bed.  But to know that you’d thoroughly satisfied and pleased a woman who’d picked you to take her virginity?  And not some groupie kid – a woman who’d saved herself for something special.  Yeah, he knew that something wasn’t him, but still, he was lucky he could fit his damn head in the plane.

This is going to be a nice diversion for as long as it lasts.

Which may be less time than anyone expected if Jon reacted badly to the news.  Sighing, he decided he’d had enough of the waiting game.  He tapped out a quick text.

Hitting town in abt an hour.  Where can I find u?

The reply came more quickly than he expected.  Maybe he wouldn’t have to deal with the silent treatment.

Hotel

Now.  All he had to do was figure out how was he going to tell his best friend he’d taken the innocence of the woman he thought of as a sister.  And a sister.

♫   ♥   ♫

Where the fuck is he? 

Jon checked his email again without really looking at it.  It had been over two hours since he heard from Rich and he was getting twitchy waiting for the confrontation he knew was about to happen.  He hated to fight with Richie, but there were boundaries he should know not to cross and, by God, he had crossed one by going to Jersey.

No matter how many times he’d asked, Tico had remained stoically silent on the reason for Richie’s trip.  He’d merely told Jon that he and Richie could deal with it later.

Jon snorted.  Yeah, we’ll fuckin’ deal with it. 

Finally – finally! – he heard the knock on the door he’d been waiting for.  He composed himself not to jump on his guitarist as soon as he got through the door, determined to handle this with as much poise and finesse as he could manage.  Which may not be much.

He threw open the door and found Richie on the other side, just as he’d expected.  He had that look on his face like he was going to the dentist’s office – something unpleasant that he had to do.  But at the same time there was a sparkle to his eyes.

Fucker looks pleased with himself.

Jon stood back without a word so that the other man could enter the suite and looked up in surprise as Richie clapped him on the shoulder as he passed.

“Hey, bro.  Everything going okay?”

‘Hey, bro’?  Are you kiddin’ me?  He’s sportin’ balls of steel today.

Jon closed the door without a word and followed him into the living area.   His lack of response must have given Richie the prompt he needed to get the show on the road.

 “I guess you want an explanation,” Richie said, sitting down on the couch.

“As long as you’re here to fuckin’ work, I don’t care.”  He had no idea why he felt the need to play this game today.  It would be so much easier just to go toe-to-toe and have it over with, but his damn ego wouldn’t let him do it.  He threw himself down in the armchair next to the couch and put his heavy black boots up on the table.

Richie leaned back with a sigh.  “Come on, man.  You and I both know there’s no way we’re going to be able to go out and put on any kind of decent show unless we clear the air first.”

“I can do whatever it takes because it’s my fucking JOB to put on a good show. Ring any bells?  Your JOB?”  He’d never admit it but a little part of him was pissed that Rich had left him.  He was his sounding board when he started to lose touch with reality - especially this early in the tour.  And to go and do what he’d done?  Add a dash of betrayal to that kettle of pissed. 

“I missed one lousy interview that you would have done most of the talking for anyway.  I’m sorry, but I had to go.”

“I told you, I don’t fuckin’ care.  Besides I already know what I need to.  You never fuckin’ listen!”  He picked up a bottle of water from the table next to him tossed back a swig.

Richie leaned forward and looked him in the eye, earning his respect yet once more in their lifetime.   “So you already know?”

“I TOLD you how I felt about this and you fuckin’ didn’t listen to me!” 

“Why dontcha calm down and tell me exactly what it is pisses that you off so much?”

Always the voice of reason, that Sambora.  Well, it was time to be unreasonable. 

Jon threw his half-empty water bottle across the room and sent a flower arrangement toppling.  “What pisses me off?  Gee, I dunno.  Maybe my best friend and my wife sneaking around behind my back, you son of a bitch!”

Richie’s look of bewilderment almost threw him off for a minute.  “Dude, swear to God this wasn’t planned.  It just happened.  I don’t even know if Dottie knew anything about it before I got there.”

“How could it not fuckin’ be planned?  You went to Jersey!”  He pushed his finger into Richie’s chest.  “To purposely persuade my wife to do something that I opposed to!”

Richie was still wearing that confused-as-fuck expression on his face.

“Jon, what is it you think I went to Jersey for?”

For the first time since Richie had gotten there, Jon took a good long look at him and considered that he might not know what the hell Richie had been up to.  So he did what he always did.  Bluffed.

“You know!”

Rich was eyeing him suspiciously.  “Yeah, I know, but do you know?”

Fuck.  Jon stifled a sigh and puffed his chest out.

“To convince Dot to let Steph model White Trash Beautiful for LA fashion week.   After I told you I didn’t want her to do it unless I could be there!  You know we’re playing Detroit that night!” 

If he’d thought Richie looked confused before, it was nothing compared to his face now.

“No, you dumbass!  You said no, and I said okay.  She can wait until June and do the London show just like you wanted.”  He threw himself back against the sofa cushions and glared at Jon.  “Why the hell would you think that?”

“Because no one would tell me any different!”

The two men just glared at one another for long minutes before, as usual, Richie was the one to give in.

“Well, I’m here to tell you now, although I don’t know if this whole episode is going to make it go down any smoother or not.”

Jon sat with his shoulders tensed and jaw set like granite, waiting for the shoe to drop.

Richie looked him dead in the eye and confessed, “I went after Allegra.”

Now it was Jon’s turn to be confused.  “Why?  What’s wrong?  Is she okay?”  What else were they keeping from him?

“She’s fine.”

“You’re gonna have to give me more than that.”  He was perched on the edge of his chair, waiting.

“Really, she’s okay.  We had a disagreement and I didn’t think would be right to work it out over the phone.  I hadda go talk to her.”

That still wasn’t making sense in Jon’s mind.  “What couldn’t you deal with over the phone that you had to take a hike all the way across the fuckin’ country?”

“Have you met your cousin?  Do you think she would let me finish an argument without hanging up on me a dozen times?  It needed to be done in person.”

“She’s got a hell of a temper, I’ll give you that.”  He could see that side of the story, anyway.  “But why all the secret squirrel shit?”

Richie picked up some papers that were on the coffee table and flipped through them restlessly, making Jon uncomfortable.

“Rich?”

“I wasn’t ready to talk about it.  I didn’t know what was going to happen.”  He glanced up at Jon.  “Bro, Allegra and I are seeing each other.”

“Seeing each other,” Jon repeated, trying to process exactly what that meant.  “Does that mean you’re fucking her?”

Richie tossed the papers back down on the table.  “Don’t start with that shit.  We’re dating.  In a relationship.  Significant others.  Whatever ya want to call it.  And before you lose your temper and your mind, I want ya to know I would consider it a personal favor it if you could just be happy about it – or at least content.”

“I can’t be happy about it when there are things you don’t know about her,” Jon informed him.

“There may be, but I think I know everything you’re concerned about.  We spent a long time talking to each other, man.  I know where she’s been and what she’s been through.  And , in turn, she knows the baggage I have and seems okay with it.”

Fuck.  When did this happen?  This can’t happen.  I can’t deal with the fallout this is gonna have when it’s over.

“You should keep in mind that she’s looking to sow some wild oats.  Don’t go trying to build sandcastles out of mud.”

Richie pinned him with a hard look.  “I don’t want to ever hear you imply that she’s fucking around again.  Why don’t you take a minute and think about what that sounds like from her perspective?  You leave the cloister and the man that you trust with your secrets has it in his head that you’re fucking his whole crew like some damn ‘nuns gone wild’ video.  Bet that makes her feel great, Kidd.”

“Jesus Christ!  Did she say that?”  Jon now felt like a piece of shit.  A really, really little piece of shit.

“She shouldn’t have to, dumbass.  Do you ever listen to yourself?”

“Well, that’s not what I thought.”

“Did ya ever tell her that?  Because I heard her accuse you of it more than once, and ya never told her she was wrong.”

“Every time I opened my mouth to say it, she was jumping down my throat with that damn temper of hers!  Dammit, I knew she wanted to explore… things and I just asked her to leave the crew out of it because they wouldn’t treat her with the respect she deserved.”

“Well, she did what ya wanted.  She left the crew alone.  Completely alone.”

Jon locked eyes with Richie.  They both knew what he was saying – felt he had to say – but neither wanted to give voice to it.

“Why are you doing this Rich?  Is she somebody else you’re trying to fix?”

“Man, I’ll tell you what I told her.  She listened to all my shit for, like, half an hour and still looked at me with a smile on her face.  She doesn’t give a fuck what I do for a living, I’m attracted to her and she’s called me on my bullshit since day one.  Well, I didn’t tell her that last part.  I’m not a total idiot.”

Jon took a deep breath and ran his hand through his already messy hair.  Leaning back in the chair, he drew on all the episodes of the Sopranos he’d seen to put a shot of intimidation in his voice.  “There are the obligatory threats that I have to make here, ya know.”

Richie nodded in understanding and braced himself for it.

“As tough-ass as she seems, she’s sheltered, Rich.  She thinks I’m just being a prick, but you saw her with that slimy fuck in the elevator.  She didn’t even know enough to be scared of him.  As far as our world is concerned she’s eighteen years old, and if you’re going to be involved with her, then you have to accept responsibility for that.”

The two locked gazes and neither had ever looked more serious.

“I’m not going to treat her like a child, Jon, but I understand what you’re saying.  I’ll make sure she’s safe, just like I would anyone else I was involved with.”

Jon acknowledged the statement with a lift of his chin.  Now, there was one more thing he wanted to know.

“Do ya think you’re in love with her?” 

Richie’s romantic-ass nature had a tendency to get him in trouble and, as much as he wanted to protect Allegra, Richie was really the one who needed protecting.  Heather had all kinds of fucked him up.  If Allegra was just sowing wild oats, he was going to get hurt, and Jon didn’t want to have to pick up all the pieces again – didn’t think he’d be able to.

“I like her.  I’m not looking for anything past that.”

Jon sincerely hoped that was true.