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.