Chapter 7

As Rick and A.J. left their mothers house they decided to head to the auditorium to talk to Doc. They wanted to know if he had heard from Potter. When they got there he was in his office. It was about sixty thirty at night but it seemed Doc never stop when it came to his boys.

They knocked on his door. “Hey guys, what’s up? Is Jon okay?”

“Yeah he’s fine. “Rick replied. “We just came by to tell you that Potter was able to get bail.” Rick said.

“WHAT! How the hell did he do that! They had set bail high so he couldn’t make it. Don’t tell me he got some bail bonds men to stake him?”

“No apparently his uncle put up his bail. Doc we need to know who this guy is.” A.J. said.

“Sure, sit down. I’ll tell you what you need to know.” He told the brothers.

 “Well who is this guy for one?” A.J. asked.

“Well he’s from Jersey and he’s an up and comer. He’ll do anything for anybody to make his name known. That’s how I met him and I’m not proud of it either.” Doc stated.  

“What do you mean by that? “Rick asked.

“Well I like my pot. And someone mentioned to me that I could get a good deal from this Danny Potter. They were right. But what I didn’t realize when the guys started to hit it big, they start their own tour next month, was that he wanted an inside man to sell the stuff. And maybe other things too.” He explained.

“Why would you let him do that when you know the guys don’t do drugs and hate them?” A.J. stated.

“He said he would tell them what I did and go public with it. I can’t let him soil their name over me.” Doc just hung his head.

“Well that’s nice and all but is that why you signed Potter on?” A.J. asked.

 “Yeah that’s one of the reasons. Danny asked me to and I did. I wasn’t going to make waves, you know.” Doc explained.

“Well that makes more sense. “Rick said.

 “So now what are you guys doing to protect Jonny from Potter? He’ll want to get revenge for getting arrested and all.” Doc said worried.

 “We have a police car stationed at our mother’s house and the police force is on watch for him. It pays to have friends on the force.” Rick said.

Added A.J. “Especially when one thinks of our little sister as his.”

 As they were talking Richie and David walked in. “Hey what’s up guys” Doc said.

Richie started “Um, we just thought we come in and let you know we thought we saw Potter snooping around the stage area.”

Rick and A.J. jumped up. “When!” they both shouted.

“It was about an hour ago.” Richie said.

“Rich, why didn’t you tell me this sooner?” Doc asked.

“Well we weren’t sure until Sarah said she made him twenty minutes ago.” Rich explained.

 Rick looked at A.J. “Do you think he’s still here?” Rick asked.

“Well there’s only one way to find out. Let’s go.” A.J. said as they darted out of Doc’s office. As they got to the stage area they split up and started looking around. About a half hour later both came up with nothing.

“Well I think he’s gone. But who knows what he found out.” Rick said.

 A. J. replied “I think it’s time we called this Danny Potter.”

It was now nearing nine o’clock at night and Mary started to come around. He could feel her move around him. “Hey beautiful, finally waking up.” He asked smiling and giving her a soft kiss on her lips.

“Yeah, must have been more tired than I thought.” She said.

“You think, I was talking to you and when I looked down you were sound asleep.” He said laughing. He then asked “Are you hungry? I can heat something up.”

“Yeah, that would be nice. But we can eat down stairs, Okay. I need to sit up and eat. Maybe we can watch a movie or something.” She told him.

“Sure, anything you want.” He said smiling at her.

“Are you always this accommodating?” she asked.

“No so don’t get used to this. I don’t know when this will happen again. Okay!” he chuckled.

 “Okay, okay!” she said as she smiled at him. They went downstairs together, she in the living room curled up on the couch and he went into the kitchen to see what Cecilia had left them. She turned on the TV to see what was on when the lights went out in the entire house.

Jon yelled to her from the kitchen “Hey babe? Are you okay?”

“Yeah I fine.” She yelled back.

“Do you have any flash lights or candles?” he yelled to her from the kitchen as he was opening one of the drawers.

  “Yeah there should be a flashlight in the drawer next to the frig with the matches. And we have some candles in here.” She yelled again.

 “Found them!” He yelled back.

As he walked in with the flashlight and matches there was a loud crash that came from the kitchen. “What the hell was that! “ Jon asked as he bent down towards Mary.

 She grabbed his arm and whispered “Call 911 now. That was the glass window on the kitchen door.”  He didn’t even questioned her he just grabbed the phone next to the couch but when he picked it up there was no dial tone.

“Can’t sweetie, the phone’s dead.” He told her.

“Shit. Okay.” She said as she started to crawl towards the end table where she knew her gun was stashed.

Jon turned to her and said “Its Potter isn’t it?”

“Pretty sure.” They could hear movement in the kitchen then out in the hallway.

“Hey Bon Jovi! I know you can hear me. Did you think that stunt back at the auditorium was funny?! Do you know what they do to you while they process you, it’s not fun. But I’m going to do that to you and a lot worst to your girlfriend there.” he screamed. Jon grabbed Mary and held her tight. But she looked at him and shook her head no. She knew she still had to protect him whether he liked it or not.

“You stay here. I’m going to go around and see if I can get behind him.” She said.

“Like hell you will! He wants you dead. Can’t you just stay here and get the drop on him or whatever it is from here?” he asked nervously.

 She went to answer him when Potter yelled out again “BON JOVI! Answer me!”

 “Go ahead, answer him. But stay down, okay.” She said as she aimed her gun in his direction.

“What the hell do you want Potter?” He asked annoyed.

“You’re kidding right? I thought you and I were best friends and then you just ignore me like I’m nothing. Then all of a sudden this bitch walks into your life and you’re all over her like a dog in heat!” Potter screamed. Mary started to move around the couch for a better look. The moon light coming in from the window she could see his silhouette. What she didn’t know was Potter could see Jon as well.

 Jon replied back “I never said or implied that we were best friends. My best friends are the guys. They have my back. Not like you who tried to scare me with those stupid dolls then trying to kill Mary.”

“So you liked my little gifts huh? I thought you would get the point with them. But like most self-involved people you only saw what you wanted.” He started to move closer to the couch but realized he couldn’t see Mary. So he screamed out “Where the hell is she Bon Jovi!”

“What, Where’s who?” Jon yelled out hoping to stall for time and that he wouldn’t see Mary.

 “You know damn well who! Simon!” he yelled back pissed.

 “She’s here with me. On the floor, I’m not going to let you hurt her again.” he said trying to give her time to get where she wanted. But just as she was about to get settle to get the drop on him, he lunged himself over the couch at Jon.

Landing on Jon he found that Mary wasn’t there. But he couldn’t worry about that right now. He just started beating Jon senseless. Luckily Jon was raised in Jersey so he knew how to fight back. They were rolling on the floor, fist flying as Mary came around as fast as she could. But it was hard to make out who was who, seeing that Potter tried very much to look like Jon. She couldn’t shoot fearing she’d hit Jon or try to jump Potter for fear of ripping out her stitches. Besides she knew she was no help to him in the condition she was in. She felt so helpless, this was so not her. She’d helped her brothers more times than she could remember jumping right in there but knew if she did now she wouldn’t come out of it all that well. She watched as they tumbled around on the floor. She was waiting for an in so she could do something. Anything! Then the front door was slammed open and she saw her brothers come flying in.

“Rick! A.J.! Potter’s fighting with Jon! I think he might have a knife or something!” They ran over to them and tore them off each other.

“Get the Fuck off me! I’m going to kill that Son-of-a-Bitch!” Jon screamed. A.J. held on tight to him while Rick grabbed Potter who came up swinging and Rick knocked him out with a punch to his face.

 “Calm down!” A.J yelled to Jon. “We’ve got him. We’ve got him.” A.J. said reassuringly.

“I’ll go down and get the lights back on. Someone call Town to come pick up this trash.” Rick said.

 “Can’t, phones don’t work.” Mary said making her way over to Jon. They just looked at each other and he grabbed her in a bear hug.

Rick said making his way down stairs “Great no phone. A.J. go next door and call Town while the love birds here can have a few minutes.”

The two of them couldn’t hear him. They were too busy with each other to care about anything else. “Baby are you okay?” Jon asked.

“Me! I should be asking you.” She said. And right then the lights came on. Mary could now see the damage to Jon. He had a bloody nose and lip and his shirt was ripped at the collar.  “Oh baby, look what he did to you.” she said as she tried to wipe the blood from his lip. But he stopped her and looked loving at her.

 “I don’t care about me as long as you’re alright. You didn’t rip your stitches did you?” he asked.

“No I don’t think so. I just hurt something like a bitch, that’s all.” She said as he kissed her gently on her lips still not wanting to hurt her. Her mouth was still a little swollen from the other day.

Rick came back up the stairs “Hey is it safe now to come back in?” he laughed.

 “Very funny Rick! Of course it is. And you better hurry up because Potter is starting to move.” Mary yelled back.

Rick hurriedly came into the room and put his cuffs on Potter. “Just stay still you creep. The police are on their way.” He spat.

Potter was wriggling underneath him now. “Get the fuck off me you asshole!” Potter screamed!

“Now, now language.” Rick said as he put his foot into the back of his head.

A.J. finally came back from next door. He asked “Are you two okay?”

“Yeah, we’ll be fine.” Jon said wiping some more blood from his face.

“Yeah you look fine. But thanks for protecting our sister. You did a great job.” He said walking over to them to access the damage to them.

“Dude, I’ll be fine. As long as Mary’s okay then I’m fine.” Jon stated.

Mary just wrapped her arms around him stronger. “What’s Mom going to say about the house? The back door is wrecked.”

 A.J. spoke up “She’ll be okay as long as the two of you are. And we’ll take care of the back door.”

Just then a squad car drove up and Town walked up to the house. Town just looked around and shook his head. “Is everyone okay?’ he asked.

“Yeah just fine but what about the squad car you had parked outside.” Rick demanded.

Nixon had just walked in, “I radioed for an ambulance. Office Parker’s out cold. It looks like Potter bashed him in the head pretty good but he’ll live.”  Nixon said.

“Well that answers my question.” Rick said.

“Nixon, get this piece of shit the hell out of here.” Town commanded.

“Yes sir, gladly.” Nixon said bending down and pulling Potter up to his feet. But Potter wasn’t about to go that easily.  He lunged at Mary kicking and swearing obscenities at her. Jon twirled her around to get her out of his reach.

Rick again punched him but this time in the stomach “I don’t think you want to EVER CALL HER THAT AGAIN!” he shouted.

 “Hey, you all saw that he attacked me! Well do something! Arrest him!” Potter shouted.

Town looked at him dead in his eyes and said” No one saw a damn thing. Nixon, get him out to the car and to the station. I’ll wait here for the ambulance and go with Parker to the hospital.” Nixon did what he said.

But as he was escorting Potter to the car, Cecilia had driven up. She was freaked when she saw the ambulance drive in behind her so she ran into the house not knowing what she was going to find. “Oh my God! What happened here?” she asked scared to death.

A.J. ran to his mother to try and calm her. “It’s okay now Mom. Potter’s been arrested and Officer Parker needs to go to the hospital. But we’re fine.” A.J. explained.

“Well thank God for that.” She said but then she saw Jon’s face and asked “What happened to your face! Did he attack the two of you?”

 “I fine Mrs. Simon. I’m sure I’ll feel it in the morning. But there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to make sure that Mary wasn’t safe.” He said holding her in his arms.

Mary added “Well let’s get you cleaned up. Huh. Come on and don’t try to resist you won’t win.”

“I won’t.” was all he said as they headed upstairs to the bathroom.

“Oh um Mom, Sorry about the house but A.J. and I will fix the backdoor right now. The son-of-a-bitch broke the window to come in. Tomorrow we’ll get you a new solid door.” Rick said.

“That’s fine sweetheart.” she said just looking around her living room and shaking her head.

“Mom, are you okay?” A.J. asked.

“What if he..” she started to say but A.J. cut her off.

“Mom she’s okay. So is Jon. We were lucky he was with her. But she had her gun but didn’t use it because she was afraid she’d hit Jon. At least now we definitely know how he feels about her. He wouldn’t of attacked Potter back if he didn’t love her. He was trying to protect her.” A.J. stated.

Rick added “Yeah and he beat the crap out of him in the process. I didn’t think he had it in him.” Rick said surprisingly.

“Well let’s get that door window fixed. Mom why don’t you go upstairs and try to relax.” Rick said gently stroking her arm.

“I’m fine. I think I’ll go make some coffee for you and whoever wants some.” She said as she headed to the kitchen with her boys.

Back upstairs Jon and Mary were in the bathroom while she was trying to take care of Jon’s cuts. “Will you sit still, I can’t help you if you keep fidgeting.” She said annoyed.

“I’m not fidgeting. It hurts, OK!” he said pouting.

“Okay, okay I’ll try and be more gentle you big baby! Why are men such babies.” She stated.

“Because we like being taken care of. Now finish what your doing so I can do this.” He said friskily, while trying to put his arms around her waist.

“Stop that! I can’t do this if you’re..” then she let out a yelp.

“Jon! My family is down stairs. Now stop that!” she said. He was laughing now because he grabbed her ass and was making her nervous. He liked making her nervous. “The last time I did that you almost belted me.” He said with a wicked grin.

“Well I didn’t feel that way about you as I do now.” she said softly and finishing up.

“I know, and I’m sorry for being such a jerk to you then.” As he slowly and gently placed a kiss to her lips. The kiss then turned passionate and his hands started to rome her body. It took a few minutes to get her wits about her.

“Jon, really my family is downstairs.” She said sadly.

Pulling away from her unwillingly he said “Okay. I’ll stop but I’m not happy about it. Do you think they’ll still let me stay here tonight? I mean it’s only eleven thirty and Potters in jail hopefully for good now. But you’re still not up to par right?” he asked hopefully.

“No, you’re right I think I still need someone to watch over me tonight. And I think Mom would feel better if there was a man in the house. I know I would.” She said still feeling her aches and pains.

Cecilia made the coffee while Rick and A.J. finished with the door. As they finished it they asked her, “Mom, are you still going to let Jon spend the night?” Rick asked innocently.

“Well I don’t see why not. It’s really too late to send him back to his hotel and I think your sister would kill me if I did.” She said as she chuckled.

“Well they’ve been upstairs now for quite a while. Should I go look and see if they’re alright?” he asked questionably.

“Only if you want to get killed. Rick she’s a big girl now. And as much as I want to watch her twenty four seven to make sure nothing happens to her I know I have to let her go as I do you two. I had to do it to the both of you. Well to a point anyway. But she’s in love right now, so let her be.” Cecilia told both of her boys. As much as they knew that their mother was right, Rick always played the father role to her and it was very hard to let that go. “Now why don’t you both go home and get some sleep. I’ll take it from here. I’m exhausted and we all had a pretty bad night.” said Cecilia and said good night to her boys and went upstairs to bed. As much as they knew it was now safe in the house they still felt funny about leaving. But they did. Making her way upstairs she ran into Jon and Mary as they came out of the bathroom.

 “Oh, hi Mom.” She said feeling a little guilty even though she didn’t do anything with Jon that was inappropriate.

“Hi sweetheart. I see you cleaned Jon up just fine.” Cecilia said to her.

 “Yeah well I did but you know how men are.” She said.

 “Hello, I’m standing right here. I can hear you, you know.” Jon said feigning being hurt.

“Oh shush.” Mary said slapping him on his arm.

“Oh, by the way Mom, it’s okay that Jon stays the rest of the night and tomorrow right.” She asked hoping.

“Well of course he can. You don’t have to ask permission but I’m glad you did.” she said as she chuckled to herself remembering the conversation she just had with her sons. “The boys fix the kitchen door so if you want anything to eat there still food in the frig. I’m going to bed. Goodnight.” And she headed off to bed.

 “See I told you she would be okay with you staying over.” She said to Jon kissing him on the cheek. Then added “Do you want anything to eat or do you mind if we go to sleep, I’m kind of exhausted.”

“No I think I should get you into bed. Wait that didn’t come out right.” He said.

“No, I know what you mean.” She told him smiling.

 “Are you in pain?” he asked.

“Well if I say a little are you going to freak on me?” she asked making a face.

“Maybe?”

 “Then no, I feel fine. I just need to get some sleep.” She said as she tried to give him puppy dog eyes.

“You don’t lie that well.” Jon told her standing there with his hands on his hips.

 “Wait til you know me a little better.” She chuckled, and led them to her bedroom. As they entered she seemed a little uncomfortable all of a sudden. Jon could tell something was up.

“Hey baby, what’s wrong. You seem weird all of a sudden.” He asked a little concerned.

“Um, Oh I’m fine” she said not sure what she should do next. It’s been a long time since she’s been with a man especially in her room. He walked up to her and put his arms around her and gently kissed her forehead.

“Hey. It’s getting late and I know you’re exhausted. So why don’t we just try and get some sleep. Okay. So let me get you into bed. We’ll just cuddle nothing else okay, sweetie.”

“Okay, but you’re sure you don’t mind.” She asked.

“Of course not. Why would I mind? As long as I get to hold you and hear you breathe I’m fine.” And he kissed her again this time on her lips as gently as he could. They got into bed and he held her most of the night until she had to move to get more comfortable. The night went by fast and before Jon knew the sun was coming in from her window waking him up.