Chapter 10-a long add :)

Just then the phone rang, and she jumped. He just grinned at her and headed back to his room to get dressed, as she answered the phone. It was Richie.

“Do you need reinforcements?” he asked.

“Got it under control, Rich,” she said, “He’s showered and getting dressed. On his second cup of coffee. Food is on the way. We’ll see you in about an hour.”

“Sounds good,” he said.

She hung up the phone and finished getting changed. She carefully applied some lip gloss and brushed her long waves out and was happy with how she looked. Room service came a few minutes later, and she wandered back into Jon’s room, food in hand, where she found him dressed and sipping on his third cup of coffee. He looked up at her.

“What the hell was I thinking?” he said taking a big bite of the burger, “Getting drunk this afternoon when I have a show tonight is definitely not my style.”

“Letting go of the past is a difficult thing,” she said gently, “Even if it’s not what you want anymore.”

“I know,” he said, “But I really thought that when the time came that she wanted this, and I knew she’d want this before I said anything; that I’d have accepted it. I knew she was seeing someone else. She was too happy every time I saw her.”

“Just because you knew that still doesn’t make it easier. This can’t be easy on either one of you. You have a lot of history.”

“We do,” he said. “Did you still want to hang out tonight? I understand if you don’t.”

“Why don’t we still plan on going out after the show tonight, but put off our talk until the dust settles a little?” she said, still afraid to open up to him the way he opened up to her. “Being that we both have a day off tomorrow, I give you full permission to drink away your demons with me tonight.”

“I think I’ll lay off the Jack tonight,” he said, “Oh and Steph?”

“Yeah,” she said.

“Thank you for listening. You didn’t have to, but you did. And thank you for helping me sober up this afternoon. I definitely needed someone to whip me back into shape.”

“Any time. I think that’s part of my job description,” she said.

“By the way,” he said, eyeing her outfit, “You look beautiful in that.”

“Thanks,” she said blushing. She looked at her watch. “We should get going.”

“Let me just brush my teeth. Can you grab the set list I wrote out for tonight? I think I put it on the desk.”

“Sure,” she said, walking over to the desk, and pulling grabbing the notepad where he had written out the set list. A few minutes later he came out of the bathroom.

“Ok,” he said. “Let’s get going.”

The show was awesome as usual. Steph stayed mostly back stage that night. She’d seen quite a few shows. Jon was actually a little different that night. He didn’t run up to her and kiss her before going onstage the way he did the first night. She figured it was because he was trying to deal with his own issues, and didn’t really care about her. After the show and a quick shower, Jon and the rest of the guys came to get her all amped up.

“What an awesome show!” Richie said. “The crowd was on fire tonight.”

“Definitely,” Jon agreed, as they walked outside, and saw two cars waiting for them.

Jon headed towards one of the cars while the guys headed towards the other one. Steph seemed puzzled.

“We are still going out tonight right Steph?” Jon asked with a grin.

“Of course,” she said. “If that’s what you want. I just thought with everything that happened earlier today…you said you were going to lay off the Jack tonight…”

He grinned. “Just because I’m laying off the Jack tonight doesn’t mean that I was cancelling. Come on.”

She smiled and climbed into the car with him. “So where are we going?”

“You’ll see when we get there,” he said mysteriously.

About twenty minutes later the car pulled up in front of a small building. Jon thanked the driver and they got out of the car. Jon held the door open for Steph and she stepped inside and heard someone singing.

“Where are we?” She asked.

“Keep walking and you’ll see,” he said with a grin.

She continued to walk inside and realized it was little tiny bar. The atmosphere was cute. Everything seemed to be purple, which was her favorite color. There were purple chairs and 4 small purple tables each paired with a black booth.

“Cute,” she said, “But what’s the big surprise with a bar?”

Jon smiled and pointed towards the stage, “A little birdie told me that you like to sing karaoke. It happens to be karaoke night.”

She smiled. “Yay! Come on let’s get drinks.”

She walked over to the bar and Jon was greeted immediately by the bartender.

“Hey Jonny!” she said, enthusiastically, “Your usual?” She reached for the bottle of Jack, and Steph grinned.

“No Amanda,” he said, “I think I’ll just stick with beer tonight. What would you like Steph?”

“Beer is fine,” she said.

Jon ordered a pitcher of beer and they headed to a table near the back and sat down.

“So,” she said, “Are you on a first name basis with bartenders in every country?”

He laughed. “No. Just in the countries we frequently visit. We have to have places to go where people don’t really recognize us. I stumbled across this place in the mid nineties. It has its charm and the girl behind the bar has been here for years. She’s always good to me here when we’re in town.”

“That’s a good thing,” she said, grabbing a song book from the table and flipping through it. “Hmmm…now what to sing? They have a ton of choices.”

Jon reached over and grabbed one from a nearby table. “How about I pick for you?”

“No,” she said, “You’ve never heard me sing before. I want to at least make it a song I’m not terrible at.”

He laughed. “How about I pick the second song?”

“Maybe,” she said, “Or maybe you can put on that baseball hat and sunglasses and sing a duet with me.”

He grinned. “I may have to switch to Jack for that. Although it wouldn’t be the first time that I got up in a bar and belted out one of my own songs. Of course all of the guys and I were piss drunk and it was not karaoke. That was in the late eighties when it was cool for us to be piss drunk all the time.”

“You guys are rock stars. I’m pretty sure it’s still considered to cool to be piss drunk all of the time. Now, tell me more about you guys singing in the bar.”

“Well, I think it was actually my idea. We had just finished a three night stretch at Madison Square Garden, and of course there was a backstage party with lots of booze for us. We all hit the bottle pretty hard that night and then stumbled out of the Garden and down the street to the nearest bar. Of course a fan recognized us and pretty soon the whole bar was begging us to sing. So we got up and started singing ‘You Give Love a Bad Name’. We were not in tune, and about 2 minutes into the song people were booing us. Except for the drunk girls who had attended the concert. They thought we were fantastic.”

Steph laughed, “That’s fantastic. I can just picture you guys with your big hair getting booed at a bar.” She paused and scribbled something down on a piece of paper. “Found the perfect song.” She got up and ran over to the DJ and handed him the slip of paper.

When she got back to the table, Jon looked at her. “What are you singing?”

“You surprised me with the karaoke. I’ll surprise you with the song. I usually go with sappy, but tonight I think I’m in the mood for upbeat.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said with a teasing grin, “When I pick your second song.”

She was called up to sing shortly after that and smiled at Jon as she started to sing.

“I saw him dancing there by the record machine, I knew he must have been about 17…”

She continued the song (I Love Rock and Roll) and felt good when she was done as everyone cheered for her. She grinned and walked back over to the table to Jon grinning.

“Well?” she said.

“Don’t quit your day job,” he joked, “But not bad.”

Jon was already thumbing through the song book and he smirked.

“What?” she said. “I know that look….can’t be good.”

“I’ve got one for you,” he said.

“What is it?” she said taking another sip of her beer, and leaning over to look at the slip, which he let her see. “No way!”

“Please,” he said with a grin, “For me?”

“No,” she said laughing.

“Ok…how about we have a little bet? If I win, you sing the song. If you win, you pick your next song.”

“Ok,” she said. “What are the stakes?”

“See that guy over there?” Jon pointed to a man sitting at the end of the bar by himself.

“Yeah,” she said.

“I bet you he’s here because his girlfriend dumped him. And I bet you that he gets up and sings a really sappy love song. Better yet, I bet he sings one of my songs.”

“Which one?” she said eyeing the man. She knew people. This did not look like a guy who would sing karaoke and he didn’t even have a book in front of him. This bet would easy. “Be specific.”

“Hmm,” Jon said thoughtfully. “Always. He will sing Always or This Ain’t a Love Song. Is that specific enough for you?”

She grinned, “Yes. You have a deal.”

“Good,” he said. “I plan on winning this one.”

“Should we set a time limit?” she said.

“One hour. If he doesn’t get up to sing by then, you win.”

“Ok, but I may get up and sing something else before then,” she said.

“Ok,” he said. “I’m going to enjoy winning.” He looked at the empty pitcher of beer. “Should we get another one?”

“Yes,” she said, “But I’m buying this one. Don’t want you to go cheating now and paying to get that guy to sing.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he grinned, “But you go right ahead.”

She walked over the bar and got them more beer. The DJ came over to chat with Jon while Steph grabbed the pitcher. She came back over, and sat down, while the two men were talking.

“You wouldn’t be cheating would you?” she said as she sat down.

“Never!” he said. “I’m shocked you would think that. We never actually set any ground rules.”

The DJ laughed. “Good luck you two,” he said with a wink at Steph.

“What did you do?” she asked watching the DJ walk up to the bar and order a drink. She noticed him say hello to the guy they bet on.

“Nothing. I told him about the bet. Maybe they know each other,” Jon said innocently.

“Well,” she said standing up again. “Two can play this game. I’m going to get shots.”

“I’ll join you,” he said standing up.

“No way,” she said with an innocent expression on her face, “Wouldn’t want to lose our table.”

He looked around. There was an actual good amount of people in the bar he huffed. “Ok. You win, but I still have 45 minutes. Oh and Steph?”

“Yes dear?” she said grinning.

“I see a song book in front of him. And he’s flipping through it. He doesn’t look like he’s too far into it. Could be in the Bs for Bon Jovi.”

“Bite your tongue,” she said turning and tossing her hair back and walking over to the bar. She said down and smiled at the guy at the bar, batting her eyelashes a little. “Hi,” she said. “Can I see that book?”

The guy looked up at Steph. “Oh um, sure,” he mumbled, handing it over to her. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Jon pouting, and she grinned.

“So,” she said with a flirtatious smile at him, “What were you planning on singing?” She looked at the page he was on. Fuck. Jon was right. There were two pages of Bon Jovi songs there.

“I don’t know,” he said glumly. “My girlfriend broke up with me earlier tonight. So I wasn’t going to sing anything happy. More like a love song. She dumped for another guy. I was thinking about singing Always. In fact, the DJ said it was a good break up song.”

“Don’t sing that,” she said. “I hate Bon Jovi. You should sing a more upbeat song. You know who is sexy to hear? Nickelback or Aerosmith. I love Steven Tyler and Chad Kroeger.”

The bartender set the two shots down in front of Steph having heard the conversation Steph was having and had heard the whole conversation between the DJ and the guy. “Yeah,” interrupted with a grin and a wink at Steph, “I couldn’t help but overhear, but I think that definitely Aerosmith or Nickelback would be better.”

“Here you go,” she said handing him the book and pointing at a song. “I think this is a good angry breakup song. How You Remind Me or Figured You Out are both good actually. I’m going to go back to my friend now, but I think you probably have a great Chad Kroeger style voice. Its very low and sexy.” She winked at him and slid off of her bar stool and walked away swaying her hips to the music. She was pretty sure he was watching her walk away, and had won this bet. She sat down at the table.

“Flirting huh?” Jon said with a grin. “Sneaky. Very sneaky. You know what your mistake was?”

“What?” she said with another smile. “I don’t think I made one. I’ve got this bet won and in the bag.” She tossed down her shot. “One ground rule. You can’t talk to him. He may recognize you.”

“Fine,” he said with a grin. “But I can talk to Amanda.”

“She’s already on my side. Sorry,” she said innocently.

“Hmm,” he said thoughtfully. “I’ve got an idea. I’ll be right back.”

“Ok,” she said, “But I think I’ve got this down. You only have 20 minutes left to get him up there to sing.”

“Don’t worry your pretty little head. You just worry about keeping him from putting in a song. Because I guarantee you it will be one of those two songs.” He stood up and walked over to the DJ, and pulled him out of the light while the current singer was singing. He mentioned something to him and handed him a something out of his pockets and grinned. This will work. He thought walking back over to Steph.

“I think you underestimated me,” he said sitting down.

“What did you give him?” she asked.

“You’ll see.” He grinned.

A moment later, the song finished and the DJ took the microphone. “Hey everyone! We have ourselves a celebrity in the house. And that celebrity has offered up two front row passes to his show tomorrow night at the O2 arena.” He paused for effect as most of the crowd gasped and looked around to see if they could see Jon. Fortunately their corner of the bar was dark and they couldn’t be seen. “Anyway, we’re going to have a little sing off in which Jon himself will be the judge. Here’s the catch. You have to sing one of two songs. Always or This Ain’t A Love Song. He will judge from where he’s seated and let me know the winner. So if you think you have a great voice and can win, it might make a great gift or a great way to get an ex back if you win.”

She looked over at their friend at the bar. Sure enough, he was eagerly filling out a slip. “Cheater,” she said. “I can still stop him.” She stood up and went to walk over to the bar once more.

“Give it up!” Jon called after her. “I won and you know it.”

Laughing she shook her head. This was a challenge, but she was going to win.

The guy looked at her a little excited. “I know hate Bon Jovi, but I have to win these tickets. I had promised my ex I would get her tickets, and then she broke up with me. I’m sure if I gave her front row tickets she’d take me back.”

“Honey,” she said slowly trailing a finger up his arm. “You don’t want a girl like that. One who will take you back just because something material. You want a girl with some substance.” She said seductively.

“It’s not about that. She said I can’t keep promises. If I actually follow through on this promise, she’ll see I’m really serious about her. I’m going to sing.”

She sighed defeated. She had to admit that what the guy was doing to get his girlfriend back was sweet, and she was a sucker for romance. “Go,” she said. “Sing. Maybe I’ll put in a good word with Jon for you.” She winked at him, and headed back to her table leaving the guy shocked.

She said down at the table. “Okay,” she said. “You win. But he has to win this contest. He’s doing it to get his girlfriend back.”

“I’m sorry,” Jon said. “I don’t think I heard you correctly.”

“I said, you win.” She muttered.

He grinned. “I always do. To be fair I had planned on him winning the tickets all along.”

“Don’t you worry,” she said. “I’ll get you back.”

He grinned again, “But round one goes to me.”

They watched and applauded as about 10 people sang those two songs. The DJ made a big show narrowing it down, while Steph walked up and handed the slip of paper with her song and the winner’s name on it. She winked at the poor guy that she and Jon had used for their little bet and walked away, as the DJ announced the winner, the other singers looked disappointed until the DJ handed them each a ticked for the show the next night-they weren’t seats as good as the winners but they were still tickets.

Steph looked at Jon and smiled. “You’re so good to your fans.”

“Someone has to look out for them.” He grinned as the DJ called her up to sing.

“I hate you,” she said laughing and taking a big chug of her beer.

“You love me,” he called back as she walked away rolling her eyes.

She got up and heard the opening chords of a familiar song and decided to put on a little show. She started moving along with the music seductively and began to sing the song Like a Virgin.

She made it through the entire song, dancing and singing while the whole bar was cheering and all of the guys were practically drooling as she gave a little bow at the end of the song and walked back over to their table, where Jon was grinning.

She sat down and crossed her legs, and took another sip of her beer. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was starting to feel just a little on the tipsy side, but was having a fabulous time.

“I’m impressed,” he said grinning. “Not too many people can pull off that song with a straight face.”

“Honey, just you wait. I’ve got skills.”

He scooted over a little closer to her in the booth, and leaned over closer to her. “I’m sure you do beautiful.”

She pulled back and looked him in the eyes. “You know your eyes really do shine like diamonds.”

“So I’ve been told,” he said gently said.

“It’s probably way too soon for either one of us to be getting involved with anyone, and really not a good idea for us go get involved with each other considering I work for you,” she said, not sure who she was trying to convince anymore, and moved closer to him so that their legs were touching.

“Yeah,” he breathed, “It would be an absolutely terrible idea.” He reached over and ran one hand up her leg, causing her to shiver a little in the dark booth from excitement. It had been a very long time since she felt this kind of attraction to anyone, and she kept trying to deny it, and now she was trying to figure out why she was denying it.

“Fuck it,” she said softly and reached up and cupped his chin in her hands and pulled him closer for a kiss. They had kissed a few times before, but this just felt different. Their lips were both soft against each other, and they each slowly opened their mouths so that they could taste one another. The kiss was amazing for both of them. It was soft and sweet, and tender. They pulled apart and stopped to look at each other both smiling.

“That was amazing,” Jon said softly. “I know we’ve kissed a few times, but it’s usually me, and then you end up pulling away. It just felt so-“

“Right,” she said finishing his sentence. “I don’t know why I hesitated for these last several weeks.”

“You had some pretty solid reasons,” he pointed out.

“I did,” she said softly, “And this is probably still all wrong. This is probably a rebound thing for you. Just this afternoon you were upset about your failed marriage.”

“Hey,” he said leaning in and kissing her lips gently, “I wasn’t upset because I was still in love with my soon to be ex wife. I was upset at having failed at something, and because you’re right. It is hard to let go of the past, even if you don’t love it anymore.”

“Maybe we should get out of here, and talk this over back at the hotel,” she said, wanting to say more, but not wanting to say it in this bar.

“Good idea,” he said before giving her a quick peck on the lips again. “Why don’t we walk? We’re really close to the hotel.”

“Ok,” she said. They walked out and this time she reached out and took his hand in hers and walked back to the hotel in a comfortable silence.

They arrived back upstairs and walked into Jon’s room. They both sat on the couch. She looked at him.

“I’m scared of this,” she said softly. “I mean, I know you don’t see me as a rebound person, but at the same time you are going through all of this with Dot. What if I am just someone that you need to help you let go of the past, and am just a rebound thing? What if you don’t see that?”

“You can’t deny that there has been a spark and attraction with us from day one,” he said. “I opened up to you and more or less told you that my marriage was a sham and had been for a long time.”

“But Jon,” she protested, “We’ve only known each other a few weeks. How can you be so sure I’m not a rebound thing to help you get on your life after marriage?”

“Doesn’t it feel like we’ve known each other a lot longer than that? I mean, I can honestly say that you know more about me than Richie or the guys do, and you learned these things so quickly. You seem to have figured out my moods and what makes me happy and you just do it.”

“That’s called my job,” she said simply.

“It’s more than that and you know it. Because as much as you’ve figured out about me, I’ve figured the same about you. Granted there are still things we both don’t know about each other and our pasts, but we’ve got the important stuff figured out, and I have no desire to let you go little one. Ever.”

She didn’t want to let him go either. It still scared her, but she was falling for him. And she didn’t want to stop falling for him. She leaned in and kissed him again and snuggled into him on the couch.

“Ok,” she said happily.

“Ok what?” he said.

“You win,” she said still snuggled against his chest.

“I win what?” he teased, kissing her forehead.

“We can try this. I’m ready if you’re sure you are,” she said softly. “But don’t you dare hurt me or I’ll kick your ass from here all the way back to New Jersey.”

He chuckled softly and wrapped his arms around her. “Never. Now what do you say we go to bed?”

She didn’t want to disappoint him, but she wasn’t quite ready to have sex with him, “Um, Jon?”

“Yeah,” he said and looked at her, and realizing what she was thinking. “Oh, we don’t have to have sex yet. I want you to be ready for that and I want it to be a special night for both of us. I just meant sleep. I want to hold you.”

“That we can do,” she said smiling happily, as he scooped her up and carried her over to the bed. They lay there snuggling and kissing each other for what seemed like hours before finally falling asleep content in each other’s arms.

The next day they both slept until noon woke to someone knocking on the door.

“Ignore it,” they both whispered at the same time, and chuckled softly.

“Maybe whoever it is will think we’re out,” she whispered, and just then her cell phone rang loudly and so did his.

“So much for that,” he groaned. “I’ve got Tico calling me.”

“I’ve got Rich. I swear these guys know when we can sleep late and just have to bug us.” They both pressed the ignore button on their phones.

“We know you’re in there!” David’s voice called cheerfully. “We heard the phone ringing.”

Out in the hallway, Richie and Tico grinned. “They both just pressed the fuck you button on the phone to ignore us. That means it’s time we woke their asses up.” Richie said, knocking louder on the door.

“Ok,” she grumbled pulling herself out of Jon’s arms, and he pouted at her. “I’m officially going to kill them. Whoever is out there is dead.”

“Wait!” Jon said before she got to the door. “Mess with them a little. They’re messing with us right now. Tell them we’re busy,” he said with a meaningful wink. “That usually gets rid of them. Or it makes them hound us more.”

She slipped on a terry cloth robe and grinned at Jon, and reached up and smoothed out her hair. He laughed.

“You look sexy when you first get out of bed.”

She opened the door and did her best to glare at the guys. All of them were standing in front of her. “Do you guys mind? I was in the middle of something very urgent.”

They all looked at her appearance. “Um, did you just wake up?” Tico asked innocently. “We didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Teek, man have some sense,” Richie said suddenly apologetic. “It’s after noon. None of them sleep that late. Ever. Clearly we interrupted something else. Steph, my apologies. If we had known…hell we probably still would have interrupted.”

Steph just gave them a look. “Why don’t we all do lunch later and I’ll go back to what I was doing?” she smiled innocently.

“Wait!” Richie said. “Kidd isn’t in there with you?”

“He’s at the gym,” she said. “I was busy. And about to get in the bathtub for a hot soak. Jon’s tub is bigger than mine and he said I could use it. It is my day off after all.”

“We’re so sorry Steph. Maybe we’ll go find Jon and see if he wants to hang with us.”

She gave them all a look. “He said he’d be back up in about an hour or two if you guys want to come back. Better yet, we’ll meet you guys upstairs in the restaurant for lunch. I’ll call and make a reservation for us.”

“Ok,” the guys said. “Sorry we bugged you Steph,”

“Please try not to bug me on a day off again. I like to relax too you know.” She smiled at them. “I’ll see you guys around say 230?”

“Ok,” Richie said. “See you then.”

She closed the door and practically ran back to bed to snuggle with Jon who was laughing softly. “I’ve got to say, you’re good. You had them thinking we’re not in this room together. That gives us 2 more hours before we have to go to them.”

“So…” she said giving him a good morning kiss, “Should we tell them at lunch?”

“Tell them what?” he asked.

“About us?”

“That’s your call to make. I’m sure they’ll figure things out eventually. Richie probably will first. He can read me like a book.”

“Think they’ll be okay with it?”

He kissed her. “Baby, anything that makes me happy will make them happy. If I was miserable, they’d be just as miserable. Probably worse because I was being a dickhead and taking my mood out on them.”

She snuggled against him. “Well, then I’ll just have to keep you happy then.” She rested her chin on his chest and smiled at him.

“Then lets never leave this bed,” he teased, cupping her chin with his hand and pulling her into a deep kiss.

They both pulled apart a minute later. “You’re a good kisser,” she said smiling at him.

“So are you,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll ever grow tired of your lips on mine.”

She smiled, and sat up and stretched her arms. “Didn’t you promise me a workout today?”

“You sure you want one of my workouts? I can think of some great workouts we can do right here without even going to the gym,” he said. He couldn’t help it. He had a little bit of morning wood just seeing her in his arms made him want her.

She bent over and kissed him feeling just as much as he was feeling, but still afraid to completely let go with him. “Jon, I want you. I really do.”

“Well good,” he said running a hand up her leg and pulling her to him in a long, slow kiss. He pulled back for a minute and looked at her, and gently laid her down on her back. “I know I said we’d wait, but if you’re ready, I am.” He said smiling at her, and leaning over to take her in another long slow kiss. She returned the kiss, so torn between pulling away and letting him continue this. His hands expertly reached up under her tank top she had worn to bed the night before found her breasts and he gently massaged them causing her to let a out a little moan. She was quickly losing all self control as far as he was concerned, and she wasn’t at all sure if she cared anymore. She sat up as they continued to kiss each other and she ran her hands down his naked back wanting to feel more. She knew he had worn sweats to bed the night before, but slept shirtless, and her fingers continued to massage his back while he massaged her breasts and slowly lifted off her tank top. They continued to kiss and roam the top half of each other’s bodies, when a flashback started to hit her and she froze.

He sensed her freeze and pulled back, and gently ran his fingers through her hair. “Baby,” he said softly. “It’s ok. Whatever it is, we can stop. It’s okay,” he said.

She was crying softly.