Chapter 13 The Conclusion Part One

The brothers walked into Mary’s cubical where she was being taken care of. “Hey there sweetie, how are you feeling?” A.J. asked.

“Sore really sore. Have you seen Jon?” she inquired.

“No not yet. I thought you would like to come with me if the doctor gives you the okay.” He said. 

“That would be great. Where’s Rick?”

“Oh he went back to the station with Town to make sure Michael gets booked properly. He wants to make sure nothing goes wrong.”

“We got Michael red handed how can anything go wrong and plus he escaped the mental institution, right?” she asked him.

“Yeah but Rick is paranoid.” Just then the doctor came in.

 “Well Ms. Simon you’re making a habit of this aren’t you.” Dr. Walters said.

“Yeah I guess I am. My mother isn’t going to be too pleased.”

“No she won’t. But there wasn’t too much damaged done this time so I’m going to let you go home this time. But Please take it easy for a few days.”

“Yes sir I will. Oh by the way what about Mr. Bon Jovi. Can he be released?” She asked.

“Well I believe if he’s going to be in your care I don’t see why not. I’ll meet you in his cubical say in about ten.”

 “Thank you doctor.”

“You’re Welcome.”

Mary and A.J. made their way to Jon’s cubical. She quietly pulled back the curtain and looked in to see if Jon was awake which he was.

 He looked over and said “Hey there beautiful come on in.”

 “Hi how are you?” she asked.

 “I’ll live. How are you feeling Baby?”

  “Like you said I’ll live.”

 “Well are you going to stay way over there or are you going to come closer so I can give you a kiss?” Jon asked. She made a face at him and moved over to him and leaned down so she could kiss him properly. They were interrupted when the doctor came in. He started coughing so they would know he was there.

“Oh Doc hey sorry we didn’t hear you come in.” Jon said.

 “No problem sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to let you know that you both can leave but you both need to take it easy for the next couple of days. Here’s your paperwork, your all set. You can leave any time just take it to the front desk as you leave.” The doctor said.

“Thanks doc.” Jon said as he sat up.

Mary looked at Jon smiling “A.J. is out in the lobby waiting for us and said he would take us back to Mom’s.”

“That’s great; I can’t wait to get you alone.”

 “Is that all you think of?” she asked astonished.

 “Yes!” he said as he went to grab her.

“Okay, okay let’s go. You heard the doctor we both need lots of bed rest.”

“You can say that again!” as he wrapped his arms around her.

They had the whole house to themselves. A.J. drop them off and made sure they got settled before he left. She put Jon on the couch so she could keep an eye on him and went to make them some tea. When she got back with the tea she cuddled up with him and asked him, “Babe have you call any of the guys or Doc yet?”

 He had her wrapped up in his arms and looked down at her and replied “Yeah I called Richie when I got to the hospital and told him what happened. At least gave him a quick review of what happened. Didn’t want to scare him too bad you know. I’ll explain in more detail later. I’m just glad we’re both here, together safe. If he ever hurt you, I don’t know what I would of done.” He bent his head down and kissed her on top of her head.

“Shhh, its okay baby. It’s all over. When I saw you I thought, well I…” she started to cry.

He held her tight. “I know, I know.” And kissed her again. “When you said you didn’t care for me, love me, well I knew you were just saying it to humor him, at least I was hoping you were.”

She cut right in “OH MY GOD JON! You know I was! I had to say that. I needed to try and get his attention away from you…”

“I know Baby, I know, but for that brief second my heart just sank that’s all. But I knew especially when you jumped up and threw your arms around me that confirmed it Baby.”

She looked up at him and he gently pressed his lips to hers and started to kiss her. Before they both knew it the kiss turned passionate but before they got carried away the phone rang. “Sweetie I think I need to get that.” She said trying to get up, but he was holding on to her pretty good. “Let the answering machine get it, that’s what it’s for.” He said trying to push her down. She slapped him on his ass.

 “OH really! We’re going to play it that way huh?!” he said with his deep gravely low voice that came out as a low growl with his sly smile she knew she was in big trouble.

 “Oh shit! Jon! Stop Please!” she pleaded.

 He started tickling her nonstop and then he slowly started to nuzzle her neck while his hands massaged her breast. He whispered in her ear “You like this baby? You want more?” Her head was spinning out of control. All she could do was nod yes. “I thought so. Why don’t we take this upstairs were we can be more comfortable and I can do more naughty things to you, what do you say?”

“Hum um.” Was all she could say. He chuckled as he got up and then bent down to lift her up to carry her upstairs.

“Wait Jon…”

“What baby, what is it?”

 “Put me down.”

“Why?”

 “Because you’re going to hurt yourself. You shouldn’t be lifting me after what you’ve been though.” She said out of concern.

 “First of all I’m fine to lift you for this and second the longer you keep us down here with me holding you, well it isn’t helping you know. So if you don’t mind I liked to get you up those stairs and into bed before I do pull a muscle okay.” He said as he started to ascend the stairs.

It was early morning just as Mary woke and she was sore as hell, and it wasn’t because of their love making all night. She knew Jon must be feeling the same way, Michael really worked him over twice as bad. She turned to look at him as he laid there sleeping peacefully. She didn’t want to wake him so she got out of the bed as quietly as she could, put on her sweats and t-shirt and headed down the stairs. As she was getting the coffee ready for Jon she saw the light blinking on the answering machine so she hit the play button. She had remembered that the phone had rang last night but Jon had side tracked her and they let the machine take the call.

A very angry voice came over the machine “JON! What the hell is this I hear about a stalker kidnapping incident with you and Mary Simon? And Richie said something that you two were in the hospital! You call me as soon you get this, you hear me! I don’t need my lead singer in a position where he’s in danger AGAIN! Especially where he could end up dead! You fucking hear me!” then the call went dead.

 ‘Shit! Shit! Shit!’ she said to herself and ran upstairs to wake Jon. She threw open the bedroom door, ran over to the bed and jumped in on her side so she wouldn’t hurt him only to startle him. But all that did was make him grumble. She just shook her head and started to shake him while loudly saying “Jon wake up baby, come on wake up! Please wake up!”

 Finally Jon started to stir. “What? What’s the matter that you have to wake me up like the house is on fire?” he said a little agitated.

“I went downstairs to make the coffee for you and the red light was on the answering machine so I listen to it and and and …”

Jon just looked at her and was rolling his eyes and shaking his head in confusion “Baby calm down and take a deep breathe please I can’t understand you when start to ramble. Now what did the message say?” he said as calm as he could.

She took a deep breath and looked at him with a pained expression “Well you have to hear it for yourself but it was from Doc and let’s just say he wasn’t happy.”

Jon just sat there for a minute then looked at her and said “Fuck. Okay Ah I guess I’ll just have to call him back. He wasn’t too happy huh?” She just shook her head no. “Well let me get dressed and I’ll call him. But baby I want to do it alone okay?”

 “Yeah sure, you can use my phone up here. I’ll just go downstairs and do whatever alright.” She kissed him before she left for luck and left. She knew he wasn’t looking forward to making this phone call. She made herself some tea and just waited for him to come downstairs. It seemed like hours but actually it was over a little thirty five minutes. Finally he came downstairs not looking very good. He seemed very upset and plopped himself on the couch.

She went to ask him if wanted coffee. “Yeah that would good right about now.” She hurried into the kitchen to get him his cup and came back and sat next to him on the couch.  

“Here you go babe.”

“Thanks.” Was all he said. She didn’t want to push him but she had to know what Doc had said to him.

After a long moment of uneasy silence, she finally decided to ask him the inevitable, “So what did Doc say?”

 He just sat there for a moment trying to choose his words carefully. Finally he spoke “Let’s just say he told me to get my ass back to Chicago as soon as possible or there will be consequences.”

“Did he say what kind of consequences?” she asked.

He just turned his head to look at her and frowned. “No but I know what he means.”

“Oh.” There was silence for about another five minutes when she got the courage to ask him. “Jon when do you to leave?”

“Tonight.”

 “Oh okay.” She said disappointed.

 ”He’s sending a car for me about six so I have to be ready by then.” She went to touch his arm but he pulled it away which shocked her. So she decided to try and put her hand on his leg to see what he would do and he took off her hand. That said a lot right there. He was angry with her. It was all her fault that he got hurt and wasn’t back in time for rehearsals. Now she knew for sure that she was right, she wasn’t right for his world. But there was no way in hell she was going to cry in front of him.

 “Well then we should get you packed up. We don’t want you late for your flight now do we.” She said jumping up from the couch. He looked at her a little confused now. Did she want him to go?

“It won’t take long to get me packed up. Look at me, will you?” he asked as he got up from the couch.

“What?”

“You tell me? What’s the matter?” he asked.

“What do mean Jon?”

“You’ve change in attitude that’s what. Do you want me to leave?”

 “Excuse me? You know you freaking drive me crazy, you know that! One minute your all over me then your cold as ice too me and now your wounded because I’m acting like what you want me to act like that I could give a shit. So tell me how AM I suppose to act Jon just tell me okay?”

 “What? Am I supposed to follow that? Because I don’t.”

“Well the feeling is mutual pal! I was trying to comfort you and you threw my hand off of you twice so how the hell am I supposed to take that, huh? You were sitting here pissed off at who, I don’t know because you don’t talk to me. So I assume it’s both me and Doc and that you can’t wait to get the hell out of here.” But before she could finish her rant Jon grabbed her and planted a very passionate kiss on her which melted her down to her core. He slowly parted from her and she opened her eyes to see him looking lovingly at her.

“Are you okay now?” She quietly said yes. “Good. Now we still have quite a few hours before six tonight so why don’t we make the best of it shall we.” He said leading her up the stairs. But before they did Mary asked him. 

“Jon, Doc said I couldn’t come back with you didn’t he.”

He just looked at her with a sullen face and said “I really don’t want to talk about that right now okay baby. I just want to make the rest of the day about us.”

“Okay, that’s sounds great. Just you and me.” They spent the rest of the day together then finished packing his things before his ride came. Six o’clock came too quickly and the driver took his bag out to the car.

“I hate saying good bye baby. But I’ll call you as soon as I can okay. I’m sorry that I can’t take you back with me yet. But as soon as I can you come, okay. I’ll talk to Doc and make him understand that I need you.”

 “Jon, it’s okay. Don’t make things worse for you, please. We’ll make this work, I promise. You just concentrate on your music, and things will fall into place. We’ll be together before you know it. Now get your ass moving so I can miss it.” He shook his head as he smiled at her and kissed her before getting into the car.

“I Love You.” he said.

 “I Love You more.” She held in her tears as she watched the car drive away. With a deep breath she walked back into the house.

It had been two days and still no word from Jon. She really didn’t plan on hearing from him right away. He was in the dog house with Doc and was probably working his ass off for missing those few days. Besides Rick and A.J. had started a new case and she was involved in that. She loved working with her brothers and being a Private Investigator with them where she knew she didn’t fit in his world. She knew she had a decision to make but for now she could draw it out. Maybe she could make Jon make that decision for her. The new clients weren’t bad on the eyes. Jealousy just might be the answer to her problem. Maybe this could make Jon leave her; make him hate her that she can take the easy way out. 




NEXT:   Tale of Two Investigation Teams

Chapter 12

It was nearing nine-thirty in the morning and Rick and A.J’s morning felt like it was going nowhere. All there leads on Michael where ending down on a dead end street and it was driving them crazy. How was he even keeping a low profile and who was hiding him. Someone had to know and they were going to find out. This was not an option in their book. No one was going to ever hurt they’re sister again. Rick was discussing what they should do next when they heard a loud banging on the kitchen door accompanied by screaming from a young man. They just looked at each other shaking their heads. A.J. had clued Rick in on Mary arriving in the morning so they knew Jon was going to show up sometime today very angry. So they weren’t surprised when he did. “MARY! I KNOW YOUR IN THERE DAMN IT! LET ME IN! MARY! GOD DAMN IT LET ME IN!”  Jon kept screaming and banging on the door.

       

 Rick looked at A.J. and said “Well we better let him in before the neighbors call the cops or he bangs your door in.” A.J. just shook his head and opens the door as Jon fell in and Rick basically caught him.

“Hi” Rick said.

Jon looks up “Hey. Is she here?”

Rick and A.J. looked at each other. A.J. says “We need to talk Jon.”

“No you need to tell me if she’s here or not and if not where the hell is she.” He demanded.

“She specifically doesn’t want to talk to you right now. Can you understand that?” A.J. asked him.

 “Yes I can A.J. but can you understand why I need to talk to her. I get up this morning and she’s nowhere to be found, my hearts in my mouth and then I find this Dear Jon fucking note. How the hell am I supposed to feel, Huh!”

 Rick just looked at him then muttered “Ouch a Dear Jon note? How cliché.”

“Not funny Rick!” Jon said glaring.

“Sorry really didn’t mean it that way. I just meant Jon she needs time to reassess everything. You came into her life Bing, Bang, Boom. Then with this Michael problem, she doesn’t want you hurt. Try and see it from her point of view.” Rick tried to explain to Jon.

“Well how the hell do you think I feel! And I’m trying to see it from her point of view. But I Love her! I didn’t see this happening either but it did.” Jon was getting very emotional now.

 “Ok, so let’s do it this way. When your next time off?” Rick asked.

Jon just shook his head and finally said “Next month some time. I’ll need to ask my travel manager but sometime at the end of next month.”

 A.J. spoke up “Ok then that’s not that long and we should hopefully have things wrapped up by then. So why don’t you contact her when you’re ready to finish up and come back out; then you two can get things straightened out. Does that make sense?”

Unfortunately Jon couldn’t fight that. Not if he really wanted or loved Mary. “Fine, but will you guys talk to her for me? Make sure she’ll agree to that.”

“She will.” Rick said.

“How can you be too sure?” Jon said looking defeated.

 Rick looked him straight in his eyes “Because unless you’re really blind anyone can see she loves you too.”

 Jon just shook his head slowly and both Rick and A.J patted him on the back. A.J. asked Jon “Hey when you stormed out of the house did you lock the door by any chance?”

 “I don’t know? Why?”

 “Because I doubt it very much that you have the key to the house. Here take mine and let yourself in and put in the kitchen. I’ll get it later.”

 “Thanks.”

 “You’re welcome. We’ll talk to you later.” They escorted Jon out to the awaiting cab. The brothers felt bad for him but they weren’t going to betray they’re sister. She needs time and they were going to give it to her. As they entered the house, Mary was standing in the kitchen. She had overheard everything that had happen. “So you heard?” A.J. asked. She only shook her head yes.

 Rick asked her “Are you going to put that poor boy out of his misery or what? It’s not fair to lead him on like this you know.”

“Oh so you care about him now Rick? Before you wanted to rip his heart out.” She stated sarcastically.

 “Alright knock it off you two! What he’s trying to say honey is that it’s not nice to string him along if you don’t feel the same way. Even if we don’t like him or not. That’s all.” A.J. added.

“I know okay. And I do feel the same way he does. I’m just not sure of a few things that’s all.  Once I sort them out then I can make a decision alright. I just want to make sure it’s the right one for both of us.”

 “Ok there’s nothing wrong with that.” A.J. said as he walked over and kissed her on the top of her head.

 Just then the phone rang and Rick answered it. “Hello?  Carlos…Hey…What do you have on a Michael Johnson?” The guys were researching all of their sources as Jon was getting ready to leave the house for the airport. He was lucky enough to get an early flight out and back to Chicago much to his chagrin. He had called the cab company again and was wondering why it was taking so long this time to get here when finally after an half hour they showed up. He left A.J.’s key of the kitchen table and locked up. When he got to the cab, the cab driver got out to help but Jon only had his duffel bag. The cab driver was a little taller than he was and had sunglasses on with a beard and dark hair.

 “Hey its ok I can take care of this.” Jon said. So the cab driver opened the door for Jon as he slid in, duffle bag first then he bent down to slide in and felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck. Jon yelp out grabbing his neck “What the hell!” and as he turned around to face the cab driver he felt dizzy and passed out cold in the back seat. Michael just chuckled and took Jon’s legs and bent them so he could close the door.

“Well, well, well Mr. Rockstar. Can see you don’t do drugs very well now do ya! I really don’t see what she sees in you. But we’re going to find out.”

Michael had been using this old abandoned building by the river front and that’s where he had brought Jon. In the backroom he had turned it into a gym room where he could work out as he did in the mental health facility. He also turned some of the other rooms as a kitchen and one as his bedroom which he was hoping to share with Mary. He dragged Jon into the gym room and stripped off his shirt. Took out two handcuffs, and lifted him up so he could handcuff him to the hanging bars from the ceilings. Then took out his cell phone and made his call. He was really going to enjoy this.

As Mary was having her tea and watching some TV; her brothers were gathering their things for they believed they had a lead to where Michael could be. Just as Rick stepped back into the house to tell A.J. he was all set the phone rang and he picked it up, “Hello? Hello?”

“Ricky! Is that you?  Long time no see. How have you been buddy?” Michael said to him.

 “What the fuck do you want Michael!” Rick blurted back to him.

 “Now, now Ricky temper. I’m calling because I know Mary is there and I would like to talk to her.” Michael asked Rick as Rick’s temper soared.

 A.J. and Mary were listening intently to what Rick was saying as the tempers were very high. “Over my dead body Asshole!”

“Well that is so tempting but it’s not you right now I want dead.” Michael chuckled.

“Well you’re not getting Mary.” Rick told him outright.

 “Oh eventually I will but for now I’ll be satisfied with that Rockstar of hers.” There was a pause as Rick looked back and forth from Mary to A.J. and they looked at him confused. Mary went to say something as she tried to grab the phone from Rick but A.J. stopped her. In the background Rick could hear the blasting of some boat horns. “What the hell does that mean Michael?”

 “What do you think it means Rick? If your sister wants to ever see her Rockstar lover ever again she’ll do as I say.”

 “That’s never going to happen; you’ll deal with us or nobody. Got that asshole!”

 “You know name calling will get you nowhere. I will only deal with Mary or nobody, plain and simple. Think about it Ricky I’ll call back in a half hour, or he’s dead.” Then he hung up.

Mary looked at Rick. “He has Jon doesn’t he?”

“We’ll get him back, I promise.” Rick said calmly. 

“He wants me Rick so I’m going.” She said determinedly.

“Like hell you are!” Rick stated. “Sweetie we are not going to let you put yourself in danger with that manic. We have an idea where he is.”

“Where?”

“I heard horns blowing off in the distant, so I believe he’s at the worf. So you call Town and let him know where to meet us.” Rick said.

“Wait that’s a big place where do you want him to meet you guys?” she asked.

“Well Carlos said there’s a couple of abandon buildings on 34^th East Main Street. So tell Town to meet us there, ok?” Rick asked.

“Yeah sure.” She said staring out into space.

“Hey did you hear me?” Rick asked.

 “What? Yeah I did. Call Town, right.” She confirmed.

“Ok, we’ll call you when we have Jon. Don’t worry sweetie everything will be alright.” A.J. said. And they left. She picked up the phone and called Town and told him what happened and where to meet her brothers. He stressed to her that things would be okay and to stay put. Yeah like she would. She had remembered that Michael had bought some property just before they broke up. He had talked about also going into the Private Investigation business and had looked into several buildings down by the worf.  

She ran upstairs where she kept her business folders and looked into the papers. She came across some legal papers where Michael’s name was scrolled on them as they said that the address of 42 East Main Street on them. Bingo. That must be where he was holding Jon. She ran downstairs and went to the key rack and grabbed the keys to A.J. classic car and headed to the garage. She had to get to Jon before Michael hurt him or even killed him. The brothers met Town and they decided to split up as they searched East Main Street. Mary arrived about ten minutes later coming in the back way so she wouldn’t be seen.

In the meantime Jon was waking up finding himself hanging from the ceiling. “Well it’s about time you’re waking up. I thought I gave you too much and might have killed you too early.” Michael said slapping Jon on the back. Jon grimaced as he was still groggy from the drug.

“Where, where the hell am I?” he asked a little scared.

“You don’t know? Can’t guess? Not to bright are you. I really thought Mary would have picked a brighter one. But what would you expect from a whore, right.” Michael said laughing.

“Stop calling her that.” Jon said trying to look around and to get his bearings.

 “Oh did I hurt your feelings? Well I’m going to do a lot more than that. You see I tried calling the Simon's again and nobody answered. Which means they’re out looking for you. But I think the only one who might know where you are is my little whore. But I’m not sure if she’ll tell her dim witted brothers where you’re at because she wants you alive. So she’ll be here shortly I believe and I need her to find you but not in this condition so if you’ll indulge me we’ll get started then I’ll set my trap for her.”

Jon just looked in horror at Michael when he realized what Michael had in store for him. But there was in no way he was going to show him that he was scared because that’s what he wanted. As Mary arrived she quietly went around back and picked the lock so she could get in. She wasn’t stupid she knew Michael was waiting for her. She slowly started to walk down the hall and looked into one of the rooms. It must be the bedroom because when she opened the door there was a bed and pictures of him and Mary all over the room. She only shook her head in disgust and shut the door quietly. She continued down the hall when she pasted the kitchen and a hand covered her mouth and an arm went around her waist. “Hello my sweet thing I’ve been expecting you.” he said as his hand moved up to her left breast. She started to squirm and he squeezed her tighter. “Now stop that or I won’t let you see that Rockstar of yours!” he growled. He slowly took his hand off her mouth “Ok sweet heart now don’t scream because it won’t do you any good. I’ll just have to hurt you, ok?” he said. She just shook her head yes. “Good girl, now let’s go see how Rockstar is holding up shall we?”

Michael led Mary into the room where he was holding Jon. When they walked in Mary gasped when she saw him hanging from the ceiling. She tried to run over to him but Michael grabbed her. “Nuh uh uh! No touching the Rockstar!” He exclaimed.

“But he’s hurt you jerk!” Michael backhanded her.

Jon gathered all his strength and yelled through gritted teeth “Don’t touch her you Bastard!”

“You don’t have a say in this.” And turned to Mary again grabbing her by the shoulders. “What? Did you think we were having a tea party? Please, and I can’t believe you can stand there a give a damn about HIM! He won’t give a shit about you when he’s gone. The first thing when he gets back is find the groupie to give him a blow job. He’ll cheat on you and break your heart then you’ll come crying back to me and I’ll just laugh in your face.”

 She looked up at Jon who was trying hard to hold it all together. She didn’t want to believe he would do that to her. Then she noticed that a shower was installed over his head and that a car battery was lying on the floor next to him as was a cattle prod. “Oh my God! You didn’t you Son of a Bitch!” she screamed.

 “I didn’t what?” Michael asked sarcastically.

“You electrocuted him! How could you? You could have killed him!” she screamed and again tried to run to him and again Michael backhanded her but this time she fell to the floor hard.

Jon again gathered all of his strength and pleaded with Michael “Please don’t hurt her I beg you. Whatever you want I can get you. Money, you want money I can get. Just don’t hurt her please.” He puffed.

 Michael sauntered over to him and punched him in the stomach. Jon let out a groan. “Do you really think I need money you little Cretan. What I want is for her to be in pain for what she’s done!” as he was speaking to Jon, Mary was trying quietly to move over to the cow prod and see if she could use it on Michael but before she could Michael turned around quickly and kicked her in her side. She dropped the prod and folded herself into a fetal position as Jon screamed.

 “Nooooo!”

 “I told you no helping him. But I do have a proposition for you.” he said kneeling down to her. Looking up at him he continued. “You have a choice, you can chance places with him and stay with me and I’ll let him go or I’ll just kill him and you stay with me anyway. Your choice whore.” It wasn’t a choice for her.

“You’ll do as I ask?” she asked him as the tears were running down her face.

“Tell me and find out.”  Michael said.

“Michael promise me please.” She begged.

 “Tell me first!” He yelled.

 “This isn’t a game Michael!”

“Where the hell have you been, huh? Of course this is a game. My game. It’s called Life and Death. Yours and his. Now which will it be.” He said angry.

She looked at Jon then looked at Michael. There was no choice. “Let him go Michael I’ll stay as long as you let Jon go.”

 Jon couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Nooooo!  I won’t let you!” he yelled through his gritted teeth trying hard to get free from his bonds but he was only having the cuffs digging into his wrists making them bleed.

She looked at him and said “I can’t have him hurt you any more than he has already.” She said shaking. “Besides he’s right you’ll find someone else, be strong please.” She said looking down at the floor.

 Jon knew in his heart she didn’t mean a word of it but it still hurt hearing her say it. As this was all going on, outside Town had spotted A.J.’s car and had radioed the brothers to meet him at 42 East Main Street as soon as they could. When they all met up Rick freaked out when he realized Mary hadn’t listen to them. “She lied to us A.J. She knew where he was!”

“I don’t think so; if she did she would have told us. But I think she had an idea and waited for us to leave to check it out.”

 “Well we can talk about this later why don’t we go inside and see what we can find.” Town suggested. Rick and A.J. looked at each other and just hoped it wouldn’t be anything that would be disastrous.

As they quietly entered the building they could hear yelling coming in from the back room. So they started down to the end of the hall where they slowly came to a stop as Rick slowly looked into the room. He could see Jon strung up and Mary standing a few feet by his right. Then Michael entered his view so he backed off. He waved to the guys that they were indeed in there so they waited before storming in. They didn’t want anyone to get hurt not knowing if Michael had a gun or not. They needed a better look. They heard Michael yell at Mary. “You would choose staying here and letting him go, changing places with him, torturing you instead of him, than me killing him?”

 “You heard my choice Michael. Let him go and I’m all yours. I’ll go with you anywhere and do anything, just let Jon go.” She said staring him right in the eyes.

“Well I’ve made up my mind and I don’t think so.” He said matter of factly with a smirk on his lips.

“But you promised!” she screamed.

“No I didn’t. I said to tell me first. You just did now I’m telling you, besides I have you so why should I let either of you go. Now here’s what’s going to happen. Before I kill him we are going to make love in front of him so he’ll have something to remember for eternity, then I’ll kill him in front of you for your disloyalty. How’s that?”

Spitting in his face “It will be a cold day in hell before I let you touch me again.” She spat out.

Michael didn’t like being spit upon and got up and hit her across the face and as she fell and started to kick her again. Jon started struggling to get out of his bonds and yelling when all of a sudden a hand grabbed Michael and spun him around and slugged him in the face.

Stunned as he hit the floor he looked up to find Rick Simon hovering over and grabbing him again and slamming his fist into his face over and over again until Town came over and grabbed Rick and pulled him away “Rick, he’s not going anywhere.” Town said.  

A.J. ran to his sister to make sure she was okay. She looked up and to her relief she saw her brother A.J. and grabbed on to him. “A.J. thank God it’s you.”

“Yeah well we’ll talk about that later. Are you okay sweetie?”

“Yeah, but Jon!” She looked up and saw him slumped over but with relief in his eyes, she jumped up and wrapped her arms around his waist. Right then and there he knew how she felt about him. “Well any of you guys going to get him down?” she asked.

 “Don’t worry sweetie just step aside.” A.J. told her but it was hard to pull her away.  As they got him down he fell to the floor and she held him in her arms. She kissed him softly. “Are you okay baby?” she asked him caressing him softly.

“I am now Baby. I am now.” As he laid his head on her chest. She noticed that he was also bleeding from his back from where Michael had whipped him.

 She looked up at her brothers. “Can you call an ambulance? He’s really hurt.” She asked with tears in her eyes.

“We already did honey they should be here any minute. Town will bring them in when he gets Michael settled.”

The ambulance came and took both Jon and Mary to the hospital because they both had substantial injuries. But Jon wasn’t looking forward to telling Doc what happened. So he called Richie and filled him in on what happened. 

Chapter 11

A.J. quickly asked “What is it sweetie?”

“Oh my God. I just realized something Michael said.”

“What?” The guys said in unison.

 “How the hell did he know that I was seeing Jon and that Jon was a singer in a rock band?” she asked.

“What do you mean sweetie? When did he say that?’ Town asked.

“When he came to the door. He said something about if I was going to let That Rock Star do all the talking for me and then on the answering machine he said it a few more times. How the hell did he know I was seeing someone? We’ve only been seeing each other what less than a month. And we met while doing a job. How did he know?!”

 “Okay, okay calm down. Apparently he’s been keeping tabs on you for a while. Then he saw Jon arrive today and realized it was over between the two of you. So he stepped things up. Made himself known.” A.J. said.

Rick asked Jon “How much longer are you here?”

“Hum, after today another two days, why?”

“Because he may call again so we’ll put a tap on the phone. Hopefully we can get a location as to where he is. But then again he might anticipate that too, but we’ll do it anyway. Here and at the office just in case.” A.J. suggested.

“You know he just might know when Jon is leaving so he might not do anything til then.” Town said.

“But he can’t stand Jon so he might not wait.” Rick added. A.J. was watching his sister as everyone was adding their two cents and could see she was just about to bust at the seams.

“Hey Jon why don’t you take Mary upstairs and see if you can get her to try and relax a bit, okay. Rick and I are going to stay here for a while and secure the house and wait for the tap.” A.J. suggested hoping to calm his sister.

“Sure sounds good. I’ll call you guys if I hear anything.” Town said as he left.

As Jon brought their sister upstairs Rick asked “Okay what was all that about?”

“Mary was getting jumpy so I thought it was a good idea that she go upstairs and try and relax. Try and get her mind off some of this. Maybe with us down here she might be able to do it.” A.J. said.

Back upstairs Jon led Mary to her room. As she got settle Jon asked her “Hey Baby is there anything you need?” She just shook her head no. “Are you okay? You seem upset.” Jon asked.

“No not really. Just tired and everything’s getting to me a little I guess. I’ll be okay. I just need to take a nap.”

 “Sure, want some company?” he asked wiggly his eyes. “That would be nice Baby.” They spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping as her brothers secured the house and set up the tap. As she was sleeping, Jon woke and wandered downstairs to talk to her brothers about the progress that they were making.

“Hey what’s up?” A.J. asked.

“Nothing, Mary’s asleep.” Jon said. 

”That’s good. She needs it. She was getting a bit upset a little while ago.” A.J. said.

“You think. Where’s Rick?” Jon asked.

“He went to office so we could put the tap on the phones there too.”

“Oh good.”

“Okay Jon what’s the matter?” A.J. asked him concerned.

“Why do you think something is the matter? My girlfriends’ life is in danger, again! And there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. And what pisses me off the most is I have to leave in two days and she won’t leave with me while her manic ex-boyfriend stalks her. Anything else?” he said sarcastically.

 “Nope.”   

“Thanks” Jon said sarcastically again.

“Jon look, I know you don’t think we have this covered but we do. So calm down. We have done this before you know.” A.J. told him.

 “I know but A.J. look what happened when Potter was after me. She got hurt when it should have been me.” Jon said as he ran his hands thru his hair.

 “I know and she knew what the chances of that were. It’s the business were in. And she knows what the chances are still Jon and you have to know that. Just as she has to know your business and what goes on in yours. You have talked to her about it haven’t you?” A.J. asked.

“About what” Jon asked innocently.

“You know what Jon. What goes on backstage? She’s not stupid, she knows what goes on backstage Jon. Why do you think she got all upset about that phone call.” A.J. told him.

“Oh you know about that?” Jon asked uncomfortably.

 “Yeah we kind of figured it out when she wouldn’t answer your calls.” A.J. said trying not to be all big brotherly like Rick would be.

“Well I explained that to her and also told her if she answered my phone calls she wouldn’t of got upset.” Jon told A.J. miffed.

 “Well welcome to the world of women.” A.J. chuckled.

 “Gee thanks, but been there done that.” They both laughed.

“Well hate to tell you kid but it doesn’t get any easier when you get older.” A.J. told him while shaking his head.

 “Thanks, but I don’t intend to look any further than Mary. I love her A.J.”

 “Yeah I kind of got that.” A.J. said smiling.

“So you’re okay with that? Because I kind of got the idea you and Rick weren’t too crazy with the idea.” Jon asked in amazement.

“I’m okay with it, but Rick is a little more over protective than I am. But he’ll come around he always does. Especially if he wants Mary to be happy.” A.J. explained.

 “Good I’m glad. And I’ll talk to her I promise. Are you going to stay the night?” Jon asked and was kind of hoping.

 “Yeah, Rick’s gone to check a few things and will check back with me and I’ll let you guys know. Go get some rest and I’ll see you in the morning.”

The rest of the night was quiet and morning came quickly. “Hey beautiful wake up it’s morning.” Jon said trying to wake Mary up. But all she did was turn over and grumbled at him. “Oh no you don’t. If I can’t get sex because your brothers are here then you’re getting up with me and coming downstairs to face the day with me and them. So up and adam young lady.” He said as he slapped her on the ass.

“Hey, that hurt!” she said as she rubbed her butt. Sitting up she gave Jon her pouty face look. “Can’t you just give me like another hour baby? Huh?”

 Jon just looked back at her with a sly smile on his face. “Ah no. Get up now before I pull you out of there.” He said wriggling his eyebrows.

 “Party pooper.” She said as she stuck out her tongue at him. As they reached downstairs the guys already had the coffee made and reading the newspaper. “Morning guys.” Mary said.

“Morning sweetie.” A.J. replied. As they got their coffee and tea they sat at the kitchen table and Mary tried to start a conversation.

“So are you guys going to hang around the house all day or what. Because you know you don’t have to you know we’ll be perfectly fine here.”

“Yeah we know, we’re going to head out to the office as soon as we’re done here so don’t worry you’ll have the house to your selves soon.” Rick said. They both looked at each other relieved.

“Well it’s not that I’m kicking you guys out but I already have a baby sitter in Jon and I don’t need two more you know.” Jon playfully hit her on the arm. “Hey stop hitting me or I’m going to belt you.” Her brothers just smiled at her remark knowing full well she would. “I just mean I feel couped up here and maybe we can go out and do something.”

The boy’s heads popped up and looked at each other then at Jon then at their sister then back at each other. Then A.J. spoke. “Um I don’t think that would be a good idea honey. Laying low and staying indoors while we’re not with you is the best thing possible right now. Okay.”

 As he said this he was trying to give Jon the eye to give them some support in this which Jon caught on very fast because he really didn’t want to leave seeing that he was leaving the day after tomorrow and wanted time alone with her. Before she could say anything Jon interjected. “Baby they’re right, we really should stay here probably until I leave the day after tomorrow just to be on the safe side, don’t you agree?” he asked her trying not to be too obvious and hoping she got he meaning.

She sat there at first fuming thinking that these three men in her life were thinking how weak she was, then as Jon was talking and the look on his face she put two and two together. “Well if you insist but I don’t like it. I can take care of myself you know.” She said through gritted teeth and really tried hard not to giggle at the same time.

“We know you can take care of yourself Sweetie but we’ll just feel better knowing where you are, okay. Alright Rick let’s get going the sooner we start researching where we can find this asshole the faster we can put him behind bars.” A.J. said.

As soon as her brothers left Jon scooped up Mary, “What the hell are you doing?” she giggled.

“Well if I have to tell you then I’m doing it wrong.” He said as he carried her upstairs to her bedroom. As they reached the top of the stairs, “I was hoping you would get my drift when your brother asked me about you staying here in the house. I was so afraid you would fight me on it.” He said as he kick the door shut and walked over to the bed and laid her in the middle of the bed. “Okay Baby now that were alone what shall we do. Tell me what you want, can you do that for me Baby?” he said as he nuzzled her neck and slowly worked one hand behind her neck and the other down her back. By this time Mary’s head was so frazzled she couldn’t think straight. Jon’s kisses were driving her insane.

 “Um I’m sorry what did you say?” she said fuzzily.

 Jon just laughed. “Okay Baby you just hang on I’m going to take you higher than you’ve ever been.” The morning went by quickly and quietly. They had fallen asleep in each other’s arms. Jon was awakened when he heard the doorbell ring. He got up carefully as to not wake Mary up, put his jeans on and went down stairs to see who was at the door.

 When he opened the door no one was there but when he looked down he noticed a long packaged that a florist would have delivered. Bringing it inside and placing it on the dining room table he carefully opened the card which read: To my Darling I will give you one last chance seeing that Rocker star is leaving tomorrow and I am willing to forgive your whoring ways. Yours Forever Michael. Jon was furious and wanted to rip up the note but knew he couldn’t. He had to call Rick and A.J. and let them know that flowers had arrived. He called them and explained what had happened and that Mary didn’t know anything about the flowers or the note. A.J. told Jon to put them out in the garage and that they would swing by later and pick them up. After he did that he quietly walked back upstairs and as he entered the bedroom he was extremely happy to see that she was still asleep. He carefully took off his jeans and gently crawled backed into bed and curled up to her. He gently took a stray hair out of her eye and brushed it out of her way. He propped himself up on his side and just stared at her and wondered how this cute, bright, outspoken, vulnerable, and loving girl could have gotten under his skin so fast. He didn’t like the idea that he was leaving the day after tomorrow so that psycho could think he could get to her more easily when he was gone.

He decided that she had slept long enough and that he would wake her the only way he knew how. So he burrowed under the blankets and before she knew it she let out a Yelp! It was getting into early evening when they decided that they needed to eat something and headed downstairs. “I don’t feel like cooking so do you think it would be okay if we order out?” she asked.

 “Sure Baby anything you want.” he said as he walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “How about pizza?” He asked.

 “Is that all you ever eat?” she teased him.

“Basically yes.” He said as he grinned.

 “Fine I’ll call it in.” She said shaking her head. As she went for the phone Jon slapped her ass.

Turning around, “Hey what did I tell you about that.” She said laughing.

 “Hush You!” Jon said laughing.

 Just as he was going to go in for a second slap the phone rang and Mary grabbed it. “Hello? Oh hi Rick. No things have been pretty quiet here. Yeah he’s right here, Jon?” and she handed the phone to Jon with a very confused look on her face.

“Thanks babe, Hey Rick. Huh uh, Huh uh Thanks” and Jon hung up the phone. As he turned around he saw a very confused and bewilder woman standing behind him. “Yes?”

“What the hell was that all about?” she asked impatiently.

“What was what all about?” he asked giving her his best dumb as can be look.

“Don’t do that. Don’t give me that sweet and innocent look. It may work for those stupid groupies that hang around you but it won’t work with me.” She said as she stood her ground. He slowly started to walk towards her with this simmering look in his eye. She started to back up and hit the frig. “Jon cut it out! I thought you were hungry!”

“I am!” he said with a certain look of hunger in his eyes.

“Crap!” she exclaimed and slid out and ran out of the room giggling. He loved a chase and took off after her.

“I’ll get you my pretty!” he yelled after her.

“Well you’re lucky my dog isn’t here pal!” she yelled back laughing. All of a sudden things got real quiet. She tipped toed around the living room and down the hall back to the kitchen to peak in to see if he was there. She didn’t see him so she turned around and retraced her steps and peaked backed into the living room and still didn’t see him. ‘Crap’ she said to herself. ‘Where the hell could he be?’ she thought. So she peaked up the stairs and still nothing and quietly back into the kitchen when he quietly looked around the couch. He stealthily got up and before she made it to the kitchen grabbed her from behind as she let out a screech as they fell to the floor.

 “Damn it Jon!” she screamed! But before she could wiggle out of his grip, he had her pinned to the floor. She was breathing hard by now and trying hard to catch her breathe. He was looking down at her grinning

“You had enough?” he asked her smiling evilly.  

Again breathing hard “Maybe.”

“Give up.” He said sternly.

 “I said maybe.”

 “Not good enough.”

 “And if I say yes?”

“Then you get a surprise.”

 “I don’t think that’s a surprise” she said giggling.

“Oh you’re funny. But I haven’t showed you everything you know.” He said smirking.

“Oh really, then it’s a yes baby.” She told him wanting to know what that could be.

 He lent down and kissed her. He slowly decided he was going to make love to her right there. And that’s what they did. He covered them up with the afghan that was on the back of the couch. He looked lovingly at her and asked “Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you did I baby?”

 “No why?” she asked him.

 “You look uncomfortable that’s all.” he asked squeezing her tight.

“We just made love on a hardwood floor silly. I’m just a little achy and I might be bruised in the morning on my knees. What about you? Or are you used to doing it in weird places? Huh?” she said with a smirk on her face. He kissed the top of her head.

“Are you trying to be a smartass?”

“Depends am I going to get an answer?” she asked.

 He rolled over to his side and propped his head up on his hand. “What do you want to know? How many girlfriends I’ve had or how many girls I’ve fucked.” He asked annoyed.

She wasn’t pleased. “That’s a good question Jon; let’s start with the second one shall we! What am I number two hundred fifty eight!” she said angrily and started to get up but he grabbed her arm and gently pulled her back down into his lap.

“Okay, okay stop will you. I’m sorry I didn’t mean that.” He said stoking her back. “Is that what’s bothering you? How many girls I’ve been with?” he asked. She couldn’t look him in the eye. All she could do was look at the floor. He gently took her chin with his hand and pulled it up so they could see eye to eye. “Baby look at me. Is that it? Because if it is that’s all in the past; I swear.” He slowly bent down and kissed her on the lips.

As they parted “I know it’s ridiculous but you could have any beautiful woman you want, so why me. I’m no raving beauty Jon so…”

He stopped her right there. “Just stop right there. You’re beautiful, smart, fun, kind, but most of all real. Everything about you is real and you don’t want anything from me, but me. That’s more than I can ask for. So let’s not waste any more time arguing okay. I have plans for you. So let’s go upstairs so I can show you properly.”

They made love through most of the night. But Mary woke up before Jon did. It was early morning and she was still feeling uneasy about their conversation earlier about how many women or groupies Jon has gone through. Would that change, she was very confused right now and needed to clear her head but couldn’t do it with Jon around. She knew he was leaving tomorrow but didn’t know if she could keep a calm demeanor between them before he left. She got out of bed as quietly as she could but it would take a bomb to wake Jon up. She quickly got dressed and headed down stairs. She quickly wrote him a note and left it on the coffee table and grabbed her keys and left. She really hoped he would understand why she had to leave. She just needed time to sort things out. She headed over to A.J.’s and prayed he wouldn’t give her the third degree.

It was about six-thirty when she arrived at A.J’s and she quietly entered the house. Marlowe was curled up in his corner and only looked up at her and didn’t bother to move seeing it was only her. She just chuckled to herself and headed to the stairs to head up to her room. When she got to the top of the stairs she was about to open her bedroom door when A.J. open his bedroom door. “Hey what are you doing here sweetie? I thought Jon was leaving tomorrow?” A.J. asked confused.

 “Hi, he is but I um decided I um needed to um ah hell A.J. I just needed to get off, okay? I have a lot to think about A.J. so I ran. I just can’t deal with it right now with everything else that’s going on too. Okay. So just tell Jon I’m not here, please A.J.” she begged.

 A.J. thought for a second, “You know that’s not going to help matters. Putting things off.” He said.

She just looked at him. “Yeah I know but with Michael and this shit I just can’t handle this. Please A.J. I just need some time to think, okay.” She asked him with pleading eyes.

“Okay go get some sleep. Rick and I will handle it.” He said and kissed her on the forehead.

It was about nine fifteen am in the morning and Jon rolled over in the bed when he realized he was the only one in it. He patted the empty side beside him and looked around the bedroom to see if Mary was up. He slowly got up rubbing his sleep ridden eyes and put on his sweats. He left the bedroom and went to the bathroom to do his morning routine when he realized she wasn’t in there either. After he headed down stairs to see if she started the coffee or breakfast he hoped. Not smelling anything he had a bad feeling in his stomach and went quickly to the kitchen still not finding her. A sick feeling went through his body and ran into the living room and quickly looking around for anything that would tell him something. Finally he eyed a note on the coffee table and grabbed it; feeling a little wobbly so he sat down on the couch clutching the note. Hoping it wasn’t from that scum bucket Michael he slowly opened it praying as he read it:

Dear Jon:

I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up. I was thinking about what happened last night and I just think I need some time to think. Things happened between us very quickly Baby and I’m very very confused right now. The one thing I do know is I do Love You very much but I don’t think that’s going to be enough for you. For your life style. Can you really just have one woman? Do you Love me for me or for what happened between us. You need to sort out your feelings as well. I don’t doubt you but you need to be sure. When you get back from your next leg of the tour then we will know better from the time off. And things here should be cleared up. Then we’ll both be sure.

Until Then My Love,

Mary

He put down the letter in disbelief. He muttered to himself ‘She gave me a fucking Dear Jon Letter!’ Shit. ‘I don’t fucking believe this!’ He was bullshit. He couldn’t believe she would do this to him. Not after what they have been through. How they or what he thought they felt for each other. He ran upstairs and got dressed and called a cab. He was going to drag her back if he had to do it with her kicking and screaming.