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.

Chapter 10

“Fine. Goodnight dear.”  The morning came and Mary was feeling restless so she decided to go into the office. Rick and A.J. were there and she decided to ask them if it was alright if she could tag along with them today.

 “You want to do what!” A.J. asked.

“I want to come with you guys. I feel a lot better.” She said.

 “I don’t know May. You just got your stitches out. And you left a note yesterday saying that you left early because you weren’t feeling good.” He added.

 “I know. But I feel a lot better today. Doesn’t that count for anything?” She asked.  

Just then the phone rang and Rick answered it. “Simon and Simon Investigations, How may I help you? Oh hi Jon, how are you? Mary?” Just then Mary started to wave her arms and whispering to Rick that she wasn’t here. Rick looked over to A.J. and gave him a weird look. “Um no she’s not here. Really, Mom told you she was coming here? Huh. Well she hasn’t gotten here yet. Yeah I will. Sure as soon as she gets here. Okay. Bye.” Rick hung the phone and then asked his sister, “What the hell was that all about?”

 “What?”

“That! The phone call and you not wanting to talk to your boyfriend that’s what.” He said sarcastically.

“I just didn’t feel like talking in front of you guys that’s all.” She said.

 “Yeah right.” Rick said.

 “Just drop it ok.” she said.

“Fine, but you’re staying here til we feel your fit. Got it!” Rick said.

 “A.J.!”

“You heard him. You weren’t feeling well yesterday and til we feel you’re up to it you are staying here.” He said.

Back in Chicago Jon was pulling out his hair trying to figure out why Mary wasn’t calling him back. Just as he was putting the phone back in it’s cradle, Richie walked in his room. “Hey man what’s up. You look like shit.” He said.

“Thanks.” Jon replied.

“No really, what’s the matter?”

“I’ve been trying to call Mary since last night and she hasn’t called me back. I’m pretty sure that was her yesterday that called when I was in the shower. Man how the hell am I going to explain to her that I wasn’t fooling around with that girl.” He said worried.

 “I don’t know, maybe just like that. Just be honest with her. Explain what happened, we’ll back you up.” Richie said.

“Yeah but she’ll expect that. She knows you guys are loyal to me. Plus her dumbass ex  really spooked her you know so it’s going to take her some time to trust me just because of him.” He said solemnly.

 “Yeah well I don’t really blame her after what you told me. He sounds  like a real prick.” Richie said.

“Yeah, if I ever get my hands on him I’ll beat him like there’s no tomorrow.” Jon said.

“Yeah were off for a few days after the 23^rd. Why don’t you fly to San Diego and surprise her.” Richie said.

“Do you think Doc will let me take the time?” he asked.

“We’ll cover for you. So just do it.”

Thanks Rich, I will.” Jon said.

The days went by and she still hadn’t talked to Jon. She didn’t really know what to think about the girl picking up Jon’s phone or the way she answered it. Michael had burned her really bad. He had not only lied to her but had physically and emotionally hurt her too. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to go there again. Especially with a musician who had women throwing themselves at him constantly.  It was a little past ten in the morning on the 24^th and her mother was just about leaving for the week. “Ok dear now if you need me just call. You have your Aunt’s number and everything is stocked.” She was about to continue when Mary stopped her.

“Mom if I need anything I have Rick and A.J or I can stay with A.J. don’t worry. Okay! Jees!” she said.

“I’ll always worry. That’s a mothers job! Now give your mother a kiss.” Cecilia said. Just as Cecilia open her door she found a surprise. “Oh sweetheart. Could you see me off please?”

“Oh Mom I said I’m fine.” she said as she walked over to the door. As she did she stopped dead in her tracks.

“Well then I can see you’re going to in good hands while I’m gone.” And with that Cecilia said goodbye.  Mary just stood there with her mouth open. She couldn’t believe her eyes.

“Hey beautiful.” He was standing there in front of her with one single red rose in one hand and in the other was a duffel bag. She didn’t know what to say or do. All she could do was just stand there staring at him. “Well do I get to come in or do I just stand here?” he asked her.

“Uh? OH! No come in! Please! You just startled me that’s all.” She said as she escorted Jon into the house. Jon turned around and looked at her.

 “What no hello kiss or hug?” he asked with a look of uncertainty on his face.

“Of course.” She said and walked over to him. He gently wrapped his left arm around her waist while his right arm and hand went up to her face to gently caress her cheek…he slowly leaned into her and gently placed his lips on hers. Moving his hand around to the back of her head and pushing her head more forcefully into his he started to part her lips with his tongue to gain access to her mouth. She resisted at first but he was intent on claiming his prize. She then tried to push herself away from him but he was resilient in not letting her win.

She finally gave in letting him kiss her passionately before he finally let go of her. She moved from him slowly and sat down on the couch. He looked at her worriedly and slowly sat next to her. Slowly taking her hand he asked her what was wrong. “Baby did I do something wrong? You haven’t returned any of my phone calls and I’ve been worried so I’ve hopped the first plane that I could.” She looked him back in his deep blue eyes and lied through her teeth.

“No of course not. I’ve just haven’t been feeling that great. Plus I know you’ve been busy so…”

But Jon cut her off. “Don’t give me that Baby. I know you tried calling me the other day when I was in the shower. Dave told me.”

 “Dave how did he know?”

 “The girl that answered my phone was his, how do I put this, he pick her up in the bar the night before during the after party.” He explained.

“Oh, so what was she doing in your room?” she asked kind of pissy.

 “Well if you bothered to call me back you’d know.” She just turned her head and didn’t say anything. So Jon continued. “Apparently we were going to have a meeting and I asked the guys to meet me in my room and Dave missed understood me and let the girls in and then went to get Alex. But you see we have this policy of not letting any of our girlfriends or dates answer our phones so this kind of thing doesn’t happen or misunderstanding happen.  Anyway it’s our rule but she did and said some girl call asking for me but didn’t leave a message and we kind of put two and two together. And when you wouldn’t return my messages well it wasn’t hard to figure out that it was you.”

“Well I didn’t know that you were a detective all of a sudden.” She said sarcastically.

“Hey, will you look at me please.” Taking her head he slowly turned it so she could look at him. He softly wiped a tear that was falling down her cheek. “Don’t cry Baby. Please.”

“I’m not! I’m just tired and when I’m tired my eyes water, that’s all.” She explained.

“Oh, oh okay. So then you weren’t ignoring me then?” he asked.

She was looking down at the floor “No of course not.” she replied softly.

But Jon knew better. “Okay, I’m not going to fight with you over this. But if you EVER do that again…”

Mary turned to look at him and asked “Do what?”

“Never return my phone calls then there will be consequences. Do you understand me.” he asked with a smirk.

“And just what do you mean by consequences?” she asked intrigued.

“Well that’s for me to know and for you to definitely find out.” He said wiggly his eye brows.

“Very funny.”

 “I’m not kidding. I’m very serious Baby.” And with that he took his left arm and encircled her waist and pushed her down on the couch taking her by surprise. Before she could resist he slid beside her and captured her mouth with his.  She started wiggling to get loose from his grip, but he held on tight. He wasn’t going to let her go. His free hand started to move under her t-shirt rubbing the side of her breast when she started to giggle.

Finally getting the hint, he slowly lifted his head and looked at her with his pouty face “And just what are you giggling about, huh?” he asked kind of annoyed.

“That tickles.”

“Oh it tickles does it?” he said coyly. She knew she was in trouble by the look in his eyes. And before she could jump up he started to tickle her without mercy.

“JON! Stop it! Please stop it!!!! Oh my god! Okay! Okay!” She screamed laughing and out of breath.

 “No no no. What’s the magic word.” he said holding strong and not letting her go.

“What?!”

“I said what’s the magic word Baby.” She couldn’t believe this. She was about to pee her pants.

“Okay Pleaseeee!” she squealed.

“Please what?” he asked being dead serious.

“Are you kidding me?!” she yelled as her eyes were bugging out of her sockets now.

 “NO!” he said as he chuckled evilly.

 “Sweetie I don’t know but please stop. I’m going to pee my pants.”

“No you won’t. Now say Please Master.” He said as he wasn’t playing fair now.

 “You have got to be Fucking Me” she exclaimed.

 “No, we’ll do that after you say it.”  He said with a wicked grin.

“You’re out of your mind!”

                 “Okay then.” And he started up again and she screamed again.

“JON! Please knock it off!” she whined.

“Well then say the damn magic word.” He wouldn’t let up. And he thought he was pretty funny.

“Okay okay you win. PLEASE MASTER!” she said through gridded teeth.

 “Now was that so hard?” he asked with a smirk on his face.

“YES!”

He started laughing then grabbed her face with his hands and kissed her passionately for what seemed like hours. When they came up for air he suggested “Hey why don’t we go upstairs okay. We’ll be more comfortable.”

“Yeah sure.” She said breathing hard.

“You alright? You got your stitches out right?”

 “Yeah I did.”

“What about the headaches? Do you still get them a lot?” he asked concerned.

“They’re getting better.” She said looking past him. Noticing that she wasn’t looking him in the eye he thought he’d push a little harder.

“Well the only reason I ask is that every time that I did call that was your excuse you weren’t feeling well enough to talk to me. So the only reason I could think was that you were having one of your migraine attacks. At least that was one of the excuses your Mom told me. So which is it?” He asked giving her the stink eye.

“Jon please don’t start. We were having a nice time so don’t ruin it.” She asked. Giving him a pleading look.

“Well you’re the one that doesn’t seem to want to go upstairs. Are you still mad?” He asked really confused now. “NO! And I never said that. You’re making something that’s not there. Now come on let’s go upstairs Sweetie.” She said taking his hand.

“No I think we need to talk. Something’s still bothering you and I want to know what it is.” He said. He wasn’t going to let this go.

She was getting really annoyed with him now. And really didn’t want to discuss this right at this minute. She was going to prepare herself to argue with him but the doorbell rang and distracted both of them. Jon looked at her and asked with a surprised look on his face “Were you expecting someone?”

 Just as surprised “No I wasn’t. I have no clue who that could be. If it was my brothers they would of use their keys.” She got up to answer the door and he followed. When she did she let out a gasp. “Crap, I’m going to stop opening the door. What the hell are you doing here Michael?”

“I heard you were hurt pretty bad. So I thought I’d stop by to see how you were.”

 By this time Jon walked up behind Mary and put his arm around her waist. “So who do we have here Baby?” he asked.

 “Jon this is Michael Johnson. Michael this is Jon Bon Jovi.”

 “Well nice to meet you Jon. So Mary, aren’t you going to invite me in?”

 But before she could answer Jon interrupted her. “I don’t want to be rude, but we were just in the middle of something. You know how it is, right?” he said as he winked at Michael “So if you don’t mind.”

“But I do mind, I haven’t heard her say it yet.” Jon puffed out his chest and started to move forward but Mary stopped him.

“Michael you know you’re not supposed to be here. If my brothers catch you they’re going to kill you.” She told him out right.

 “Yeah, yeah. I’m real scared.” Michael was pushing it now.

 “You should be. After what you did! You son of a bitch.” By now Jon had to hold her back.

“Still feisty aren’t you.” Michael said with a smile of confidence on his face. 

Jon looked him square in the face “Get the fuck out of here. NOW!”

 “Fine. I just wanted to see that you were alright.”

 “Michael it was a few weeks ago that I got hurt. What took you so long?” she wanted to know and why he was interested now.

 “I was out of town. Peter told me when I got back the day before yesterday. Said it was pretty bad. So I just wanted to stop by and make sure that you were okay, that’s all.”

 Jon pulled Mary closer “Well you came, you saw, now leave.”

“So, you’re going to let the rock star over here do all your talking now? Funny how you got a boyfriend out of this. Oh by the way she’s a good fuck.” Michael said trying to get a rise out of both of them. Which he did as Jon threw a punch to his jaw and Michael went half way down while spitting blood. Then Michael bounced back up to punch Jon but Mary threw herself in between the two of them.

“THAT’S ENOUGH! Michael leave now before I call Rick and A.J.”

 “Fine I’ll leave, but um you haven’t seen the last of me Sweet heart.”

 “Is that a threat?”

“No it’s a promise.” He stated and left to go to his car.

Jon nearly leapt at him. “It’s ok Sweetie let him go. Let’s just go upstairs and make me forget that he was even here okay.”

Jon wasn’t going to argue with her right now. Not after the incident with Michael. But he still needed to talk with her about what’s bothering her. They spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon in her room making love and sleeping. It was nearing three pm in the afternoon when Jon finally woke up. He looked over to Mary who was lying on her side, her back to him. As he was looking at her and he notice her scare on her upper left arm. He took his finger and started tracing it lightly. All he could think of was how close he came to losing her and it would have been his fault. He let Doc hire them, and let them have her play his girlfriend and lure Dave out. He didn’t even notice her stirring awake. “Hey Sweetie, what are you staring at?” she asked.

“You, and how lucky I am.” he said.

“What did you do, sleep on your head?”

“Will you stop that and take a compliment. I hate to bring this up but we still need to talk Baby.” He said with a very concern expression on his face.

“Oh God Jon you’re not going to let up on this are you?” she asked miffed.

“No. We need to talk about yesterday and what’s still bothering you. I know there’s still something.” He said getting more agitated.

“Okay FINE! You want to know.’  she sat up in the bed’  Here goes. You’re a musician slash rock star. You have woman throwing themselves at you constantly, right!” she asked. He shook his head yes. “Well then you tell me how you can constantly turn down beautiful woman who come on to you nightly and want to give it up FREE and stay faithful to one woman. UM! Tell me. Isn’t that why you’re last girlfriend left you? Well isn’t? Mr. Rock Star!”

He just looked at her in shock. He didn’t expect her to go halfcocked on him about this. But then again he did push her. “Yes my last girlfriend left me because I cheated on her. I’m not going to lie about that to you. But she wasn’t a saint either okay. I found out she had a boyfriend back home. So we were both dishonest with each other. And yes they do throw themselves at me but I can control myself despite what people think. And I can stay true to one person if given the chance. Especially if it’s the right person.” As he said that he pulled down the blanket and ran his finger over her scar on her stomach. She flinch because it tickled. “So are you done yelling at me?” He asked still caressing the scar.

 Tears were welling up in her eyes. “Yes.”

 “Are we okay now?”

“Yes.”

 “Are you still my girlfriend?”

 “If you’ll still have me you dumb rock star.”

 “If you stop calling me a dumb rock star maybe.”

“Okay.” She said biting her bottom lip.

Oh that killed him right there. What was it when girls did that. “Then kiss me.” And he bent down and softly kissed her when the phone rang. “Let the machine pick it up Baby” Jon said as he was really trying to distract her. By the third ring the message kicked in “Well Honey I told you, you would be hearing from me again. So I take it since you haven’t answered the phone that your fucking that rock star of yours. You little whore! ‘by this time Jon and Mary had sat up fully in bed and Jon wanted to grab the phone, but by the look on Mary’s face and her body was frigid, he doesn’t want to leave her and envelopes her in his arms’ What you really need is a good fuck and you know I’m the only one that can give that to you. Not that pussy rock star. Don’t worry I’ll take care of him and then you once and for all. Maybe I’ll even have him watch and give him a few pointers first before I, well you know my love. Until then.” And then phone shut off.

 “That son of a bitch! I’ll kill him! He touches you and that will be the end of him I swear!” Jon yelled.

“Jon, Jon.” Mary said quietly.

 Jon turned “What Baby?”

“Call Rick and A.J. and tell them to get over here. Tell them what happened. They’ll know what to do. Please.” She begged Jon.

 “Sure, right away.” They got dressed right away and headed to the living room. Jon called her brothers and explained what happened and they weren’t too happy with what they heard. They said they would be over as soon as they could. Jon went into the kitchen to make her some tea to try and calm her down. “Here Baby try this. I promise I won’t let him hurt you, okay.”

“Jon I’m more worried that he’s going to hurt you.” She said looking into his eyes.

“Well I’m not going to let that happen. We know who the threat is. Not like Potter. So the advantage is with us. We’ll be waiting for him.” He stated as he kissed her gently on her lips. Just then the front door open and her brothers walked in with Town. They ran over to their sister as she sat on the couch white as a ghost. Jon sitting across from her on the coffee table. A.J. sat down to her left as Rick sat to her right. Town looking on from the end of the couch.

A.J. asked “Okay honey you want to tell us what’s going on. Jon told us you had a visit from Michael. You okay?” She just shook her head yes. Jon went to hold her hand but she pulled away from him. He looked hurt, and A.J. just put his hand on his leg to reassure him that it was okay.

“Well Rick, Town and I are going to come up with a strategy on how to handle Michael. In the mean time we want Jon to take you back with him so you’ll be out of harm’s way.” A.J. told her.

“No, it won’t work. Michael won’t buy it. He’ll follow us. He’ll know. He always knows. Jon should leave. I should stay. He wants me. We’ll use me as bait and you guys will get him. Simple.” She stated calmly.

Jon just looked at her like she was out of her mind. “Is she FUCKING KIDDING ME! First of all I’m not leaving her. Second we’re not using her as BAIT!” he screamed. A.J. shook his head and looked at Rick.

 “Rick, do you want to take Jon into the kitchen and try to explain to him what happened with Michael.” A.J. asked.

“Sure come on.” Rick took Jon by the arm and led him to the kitchen begrudgingly. “You want some coffee?” Rick asked.

“No I want an explanation on what the hell is going on. What the hell did this guy do to her to make her so complainant?” Jon asked sounding very frustrated.

“Well if you really want to know I’ll tell you but you’re not going to like it.” Jon shook his head yes. “Okay then. First of all Michael was a cop. He was a good one too. They were dating about a year and things were going fine, and then he went out on a call when he and his partner were ambushed. His partner didn’t make it. And he got shot pretty bad. Was in a coma for three weeks. They didn’t think he was going to make it, but he pulled thru. Lot of blood loss, but the thing was he was gone for over the seven minutes allotted. They thought there could be brain damage.”

Jon cut in “Wait a minute, this guy has brain damage? Then why isn’t he in a mental hospital.”

“I’m getting to that. Anyway after he got out of the hospital she nursed him back to health because she loved him. But he changed and not for the better. He got an early retirement from the force because he wasn’t up to par health wise so he sank in to depression, his anger went out the window. But Mary didn’t tell us that he was taking it out on her at first.”

“Great! Did she tell you guys why?” Jon asked.

“No. She never has. Well this went on for a while and then one: Mom went away for a few days; they had the house to themselves and things went drastically wrong. He flipped. He thought she was cheating on him and he went nuts. So he was going to teach her a lesson.” Rick could see the horrified look on Jon’s face. “Do you want me to go on?” he asked Jon. He just shook his head yes slowly. “Alright. We got lucky. One of Mom’s neighbors was walking her dog when she heard Mary screaming. So she ran back to her house and called A.J.’s house. Told him what she heard. Then he called Town. We got there about the same time the cops and Town did. The three of us went in first. We made our way up stairs. Her screams will forever stay with me. He had her tied to her bed. Naked.”

“Rick, did he rape her?” Jon asked terrified.

 “Yeah, over and over again. Plus he did this whip thing and kept hitting her with it. So there was blood all over her. Plus coming from her vagina. He was pounding so hard into her, well you know.” Rick just looked sick remembering the story.

When Rick looked over to Jon he saw tears running down his face. “Hey, are you going to be okay?”

“How can a man do that to a woman? Especially one he is supposed to love.” Jon asked.

“That’s a good question. I don’t know. But it took all of A.J.’s and my strength not to kill the son of a bitch right there and then. If it wasn’t for Town he would be dead. She got help but I don’t think it took. As you can see. Jon give her time but she needs to make this decision.” Jon just shook his head but still wasn’t sure.

“Rick if he was in a mental hospital how the hell did he get out? “Jon asked.

“He dressed up as an orderly and just walked out apparently. They didn’t know he was gone until bed check that night. Which was the day before yesterday. Town just got the notice on his desk this afternoon. Just when we called him about it.”

 “Wonderful, just wonderful.”  Jon said as he shooked his head.

Rick just rolled his eyes. “Yeah, let’s get back to the living room. Okay.” And they headed back in. As they entered the living room A.J. was still sitting with his sister on the couch as Town was on the phone. Rick went to sit across from Mary on the coffee table as Jon paced the living room floor. Rick looked at his sister then his brother and asked “Well have we made a decision?”

A.J. spoke “She’s dead set on staying here and being bait. She wants this to end now.”

Jon exploded “Oh just great! JUST FUCKING GREAT! That’s just what he wants. He wants to be able to get to her.”

 Rick looked at Jon and said “What did I say to you in the Kitchen! Now calm down.”

“Fine!” Jon said as he flung his arms in the air.

Rick took Mary’s hand “You sure you want to do this? It’s going to get rough you know.”

“I know, but he has to be stopped. I can’t just let him keep terrifying me like this and never knowing when he’s going to pop up. What if he hurts Mom? I can’t let that happen. Plus he wants Jon dead too.”

“I can take care of myself! It’s you I’m worried about.” Jon huffed.

She turned her head to meet his “Oh right! Do you remember how we met smart ass!”

“We didn’t know who the hell was after me, REMEMBER!” he yelled back. The boys just shook their heads.

A.J. spoke up “Will you two stop sniping at each other please. Town, what did you get?”

Town looked at the four of them and started to explain what he found out “Well nobody knows where the hell he is. It’s like he fell of the face of the earth. But I have everyone I can on it. When he surfaces we’ll find him. Plus I’m pulling a few favors in to put a few extra guards here on the house and on A.J.’s place. And I’m getting Martin and Fell to guard Mary twenty four seven so she’ll be safe, and if Jon stay’s with her there shouldn’t be a problem because he’ll be covered to.”

 “Yes I’ll be staying.” Jon spoke up.

“No you won’t. You need to get back. You have a concert to play don’t you?” she asked.

“Oh crap! Yes I do. Okay we can get around this; you’ll just come back with me. We can take who ever with us just in case, plus we have the arenas security, the guys, we should be all set.” He said hopeful. Mary just looked at her brothers and Town. She didn’t want to hurt Jon’s feelings but she knew she had too.

“Jon, Honey come here.’ Rick got up so he could sit down in front of her, he took her hand’ I can’t come with you. ‘Jon went to say something but she stopped him’ please let me finish. This won’t work if I go with you. He’ll know that I was sent away and probably think it’s a trap for him if he follows us. He has all the time in the world to wait when we have our guard down. But if I stay here and he thinks I’m waiting for you to return he might just might think its okay to strike out at me. Don’t look at me like that please.”

“Alright Try and get this through your head please! He wants you dead. He will do anything to make sure this happens. Do you understand me?” He asked trying very hard not to snap.

“Yes I do, but do you understand that I need to get this lunatic off the streets.” She asked.

“I do Baby but not at the expense of your life.” He said trying not to choke on his tears.

“I promise I’ll call you every day okay. It will be okay. I have Rick, A.J. and Town, I’ll be alright.”

“I hate this, right. You call me every day and I’ll be back in three weeks top. And you better be in one piece.” He told her sternly.

“I promise.” Then Mary all of a sudden had a horrified look on her face.