One Hundred Forty-Three

“What’s wrong?”

Jon could be as politically correct and polite as the next person, but he felt like he could take a pass this time.  His cousin was knocking on his door, looking shell shocked at two in the morning with her nightgown clutched to her chest.  It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that everything wasn’t all rainbows and kittens.

“Can I stay with you tonight?”

His brow furrowed, but he immediately stepped aside, allowing her to enter.  “Of course you can.  You and Richie didn’t work things out?”

The door closed behind her about the same time Dot stepped into the living room, tying a robe around her waist.  She wasn’t the one who asked the question, but Allegra’s eyes were riveted to her when replying, “I think we just broke up.”

“Oh, honey.” Dot reached for her and guided her to the sofa, where Allegra sank into the middle cushion.  She was immediately flanked by husband and wife, concern flooding their features.

“You can’t break up, you’re having a baby.”

Dorothea gave her husband a withering look, placing a comforting hand on Allegra’s shoulder.  “Do you want to tell us what happened?”

Allowing the wadded nightshirt to fall to her lap, she rested tightly curled fists on top of it and stared straight ahead.  There was a beautiful gold gilt-framed painting on the wall that may as well not have been there.  All she could see was Richie, harsh lines of anger stealing away his boyish charm. 

“I don’t think I really know,” she pondered quietly.  “We kept missing each other this evening and everybody else had stuff going on, so I hung out with Criss Angel.  He was one of the few people I knew and he was nice enough to spend time with me.  We took his limo over to the O2 and watched the concert together.  When I finally got to Richie after the concert, he was angry – supposedly because Criss was all over me.”

Jon picked up one of her hands and cradled it in his.  She wasn’t crying at least.  That was a good thing, but he idly wondered if she was in shock, being as her hand was like a chunk of ice. “It was all innocent though, right?  Richie should know that.”

Her head bobbed up and down, but she never turned away from the rich oil portrait of a horse and rider.  “I told him Richie and I are having a baby.  He congratulated me with a hug and kiss.  Richie saw and got pissed.”

“You said ‘supposedly’,” Dot prompted gently.  “Why supposedly?”

“He wouldn’t talk to me after the show.   He wouldn’t talk to me at the after-party either, really, other than telling me his tomorrows weren’t my concern anymore.  Oh, and then he made a cynical comment about me running his life.”

She saw his face and heard the sarcasm all over again.  The more times it replayed in her head, the more her blood began to boil. 

“I had to chase him back to the hotel to get any answers at all.  After practically pulling it from him a syllable at a time, it turns out he found out about the incident with the models and thinks I’m trying to take over his life.  All because I saved him one damn headache!”

“What the hell?” Dot’s brow furrowed in scorn.  “That’s an awfully big jump.  And how did he find out anyway?”

Jon’s hand slipped away from hers and he leaned against the cushions piled at the end of the sofa, as her tirade built steam.

Allegra couldn’t keep the bitterness from her voice as she redirected her anger toward Richie’s ‘business partner’

“I guess Nikki told him.  That’s what I get for being nice!  What do they say?  No good deed goes unpunished?”  She forcefully threw her nightshirt down on the coffee table with a growl.  “After I specifically asked her not to mention it, she goes and tells him instead of quietly taking the credit for a perfect show.  Any doubts I had about the dumb blonde thing being an act just flew out the window!”

She turned to Dorothea looking for support, only to find the other woman staring suspiciously.   Following Dot’s line of vision, she twisted around to see her cousin casually reclined and looking perfectly innocent – almost too innocent.

“Jon?” Dorothea asked.  “What do you know about this?”

If it were possible, Jon exuded even more innocence as he carelessly bit at the cuticle on his middle finger.  “Why would I know anything?”

“Oh God,” his wife groaned.  “He found out from you, didn’t he?”  When her husband didn’t respond, it merely confirmed her suspicions.  “Jesus Jon, I told you that in confidence!  And of all the people to tell, it had to be Richie?  Do you think you could explain to me exactly why you couldn’t keep your big mouth shut?” 

“What?!  You’re the one responsible for that?”  Physical abuse was apparently becoming second nature to her because Allegra’s fist thumped Jon’s thigh hard enough to make him grunt with pain.  “Why the hell would you do that?  It wasn’t any business of yours!”

He rubbed his thigh with a scowl for both women.  “It’s not like I was doing it to rat anybody out, for Christ’s sake.  I wanted Richie to know you had his back.  He needs that.”

“Yeah, evidently that’s just what he needs to decide that I’m trying to steal his life out from under him!  Thanks for that, Jon.”  She punched him again for good measure, with another scathing look.

His hand wrapped around her fist before she could draw it back again, unable to control the irritation bubbling to the service.  “Stop that!  When the hell did you become so violent?”

“About the time Richie decided to have a drink instead of talking to me about something you should have kept to yourself!”  She wrested her hand free and bopped him in the shoulder this time.

“Jon, seriously, why did you tell him when I specifically asked you not to?” Dorothea’s tone dripped with censure and disappointment.  He thought he was probably lucky that Dottie wasn’t willing to reach around Allegra to beat the hell out of him too. 

This was why he honestly tried to stay out of people’s relationships.  Nod, smile ask a casual “how’s it going?” and mind his own fucking business – that’s what he should do.  It sounded brilliant in theory, but was damn hard to accomplish when the relationship in question was between two people he loved.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute!”  Jon formed a ‘T’ with his hands to signal a timeout.  “Richie was drinking?”

“Yes!”  Allegra sprang to her feet as though sitting still was now physically impossible.  Circling the back of the sofa, she smacked him on the shoulder.  “Because he was so upset about this horrible thing I did – which, by the way, is comparable to keeping my pregnancy from him.”  Agitated hands flew up in a gesture of exasperation.  “Whatever!”

Scrunching his handsome features into a face of displeasure, Jon shoved wide hands through his hair, causing it to stick up in all different directions. 

“Well, hell…” he sighed.  “I had no idea that would happen.”

“Imagine that.  Something you don’t know!  I’m sure it’s hard to believe, but everyone doesn’t act the way you want them to, jackass!  Why haven’t you figured that out yet?!” Allegra crossed her arms over her midriff, feet planted in a wide stance. 

Contempt emitted from her body in waves, and while he may have deserved a little bit of anger, Jon thought she was laying it on kind of thick.  Richie was the one acting like a douche bag, not him.

“Excuse the fuck out of me for caring!  I can see how much you love him.  Why the hell is it so wrong to want to make sure he sees it too?”

“If he can’t see it, then he doesn’t want to see it.  I haven’t exactly been hiding it from him.”

Why did he get no respect whatsoever in his family?  Even when he was trying to do something nice, he caught six different kinds of hell.  It just wasn’t right.

“Fine, fine, I get it.  ‘Mind your own damn business, Jon’,” he snarked with a fair dose of Jersey attitude to hide the fact that his feelings were hurt.  He really had just been trying to help.

“Exactly!”  Allegra approved.  “And in addition to minding your own business, you’re going to his room to spend the night and make sure he doesn’t crawl into a whole bottle instead of just one drink.  It’s the least you can do, don’t ya think?”

He’d never make another deal if his business associates knew that the women in his family could have him tucking his tail between his legs like a whipped puppy.  Jon hoped to God they never found out.

“Whatever  you say.”   He got up and went to the bedroom without another word, intending to grab a t-shirt and tennis shoes.  The only thing he had on at the moment was a pair of athletic shorts he’d pulled on when Allegra had knocked.  Patriots shirt in place, he had just crammed his bare feet into a pair of Nikes when he felt a soft hand on his arm.

“Did you come to chew my ass some more?” he asked his wife reproachfully.  “’Cause I think she may have left a little.”

“Believe it or not, no.”  She tugged at him until they were face to face, arms draped around one another.  “I know you mean well, honey, but you can’t bully people into doing what you want.  Well, at least not their personal lives.  The band is a whole other story,” Dot amended with a smirk, brushing the hair back from his forehead. 

 “I can’t help it.  I see a problem and I wanna fix it.  They love each other.  They should fuckin’ be married, and I told Richie as much.” 

“But that’s not your decision to make.”

Jon tightened his grasp, tucking his chin into her shoulder and saying softly, “He’s been carrying around an engagement ring for two months, Dottie.  Richie made the decision a long time ago, but he got afraid that she didn’t love him enough, or in the right way, or some such shit.  I just wanted him to know that she’s looking out for him.  That’s all.”

He didn’t know what went on inside his friend’s head.   He supposed the things that had happened in Richie’s life would forever affect the way he looked at the world.  For the most part, he was still the same easy going, big-hearted guy he always was, but there had been changes in the past few years – enough to let Jon know that the man who appeared to love everyone now guarded his heart very closely.

The only thing he’d been trying to do was convince Richie that he could let his guard down with Allegra.  She would take care of him. 

“I don’t tell you nearly often enough, but you’re a good man John Bongiovi.”

A tender smile curled up the corners of his mouth at her soft words.  She always loved him.  He knew that.  But she didn’t always give him the sweet affirmations that went along with it.  Catching hell was almost worth getting one of these special moments.

This is what he wanted for Richie.  Allegra would take care of Richie the way Dottie took care of him, body and soul.  Who could ask for anything better?

“I’m only what you made me, baby.”