John Francis

Amanda continued wandering around, sticking close to the directions on her map, but not really seeing anything. Okay, girl, time to decide. You said you wouldn’t put up with cheating, but that was before you fell for him like a ton of bricks. She knew what she should do, but her heart refused to listen to her brain and she knew she still loved him and still wanted to be with him.

Her self-worth had taken a huge knock seeing Jon and Carrie. The younger woman was beautiful and confident and had been with Jon for five years. Amanda could not dismiss the images that were burned in her mind and seeing it over and over planted the seed of an idea. She finished her afternoon with a few purchases at a specialty store.

Her cell rang as she was finishing; it was Jon. She let it go to voice mail. It rang again, and then again, and then a fourth time. She answered.

“Hello.”

“Manda!” Jon’s voice was relieved, yet careful at the same time.

“Hi Jon.” Her voice was emotionless.

“You coming back soon? We have to leave in an hour.” He tried regular conversation as he didn’t want to talk to her about Carrie on the phone.

“Yeah,” she sighed. “I’m on my way. See ya.”

She hung up before he could say another word. Moving back in the direction of the hotel, she tried her best to compose herself before she saw him. If only I didn’t have to see him again I know I could do the right thing.

In the hotel room, Jon poured himself a double Jack and then another. He was dreading seeing her face when she walked in and dreading even more trying to explain what had happened.

In a few minutes he heard a knock at the door. Thinking it was Richie again, he opened it to find Amanda standing there, her head averted from his. She moved into the room, still not looking at him.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to run late. I’ll be ready in just a few minutes.”

She moved away from him to the bathroom and closed the door before he could follow her. Jon stood there, watching her walk away from him and slowly closed his eyes. He could picture what she had seen with Carrie suddenly taking him into her mouth. How the fuck do I explain that, even though I stopped her?

Jon didn’t go into the bathroom to join her in the shower, instead waiting until she had come out. They passed each other and he desperately wanted to explain, but couldn’t yet seem to find the words. Amanda meanwhile was trying not to look at him as she felt she would listen and believe anything he had to stay if she was gazing into his eyes when he said it.

When Jon came out of the shower, Amanda had done her makeup and was dressed. He stopped in disbelief at the sight of her. She had always dressed before in a casual and elegantly sexy way, but nothing over the top. Tonight, however, she seemed to be channeling a different personality and demeanor.

She had on the short, black leather skirt she had worn previously, but had added a black leather corset that tied up the back with multiple criss-crossings of leather. He had never seen this before and actually hadn’t imagined she would wear something like it.

The corset pushed her already full C cup size into what looked like D’s and created some serious cleavage. She had on stockings, as well as boots that also laced up the front and had a spiked heel. She had done her makeup a bit more dramatically and her hair was such a riot of curls and waves that when it touched the top of her buttocks he felt he couldn’t draw a breath.

Seeing Jon stop dead in his tracks as he exited the bathroom did much to boost Amanda’s self-confidence and striding over to the bar she poured herself a Jack and coke, downed it, and then poured another. Her eyes met his then and he saw in them the dare that he say anything to her. He managed to refrain, but had trouble getting his own pants on. He felt anything but calm as he took her in from head to toe, seeing the strut to her walk and the sway of her ass.

He saw that she wore a necklace that this time drew the eye to her cleavage and she had on heavy amethyst earrings that swayed when she moved her head. Neither talked, Jon because he didn’t know what to say yet and Amanda because she didn’t want to discuss anything prior to Jon’s performance. It was 6:00 pm now and they had to leave. Amanda grabbed her carry-all and refreshed her lipstick, using a provocative color that made her already lush lips look even fuller, then moved to the door.

Jon joined her, still feeling that he was going to explode at the way she looked. He wanted to touch her, to reach out and bridge this gap between the two of them, but when he had moved toward her in the room she had raised one eyebrow and he had again stopped dead, this time from the waves of coldness coming from her.

Walking out of the room, they met Tico, Dave, and Hugh who actually stopped in mid step, watching Amanda strut down the hall. She was walking a bit in front of Jon, which gave him a bird’s eye view of her ass in the tight leather skirt.

Amanda’s voice was husky, the to-go cup in her hand filled with Jack and coke brought up for a drink before she addressed them, but her voice was eerily without emotion.

‘Hey boys, ready to play?”

The double-entendre of her question in comparison with the flat tone of her voice had all three of the men staring at her as she walked to the lobby, not even once turning back to glance at Jon. His eyes were dull as he looked at them and they looked at him. The question what the fuck? seemed to hang in the air. Jon shook his head at his friends, but didn’t offer a word of explanation.

Richie was already in the lobby and when he heard the click of female feet walking towards him, he instinctively turned. His own mouth opened at her appearance. Like Jon, he had never seen her in anything but casually dressy clothes and he would not have believed she was the type to dress in this manner. Holy fucking shit! was his only thought as Amanda moved with a predatory stride toward the door.

“Hey Richie,” she greeted him emotionlessly. She continued on her course, moving out to the limo where the driver hurried to open the door for her.

The men, with the exception of Richie who knew what was going on, looked at Jon, then at each other, then at Richie. No one said a word as they all moved to the door and out into the limo. It was only after they had entered the car and took their usual places that they realized the chill radiating off Amanda as she withdrew into herself, not once looking at Jon or touching him in some way.

Jon was sitting next to her, but saw she had turned a bit away from him and did not engage in conversation with anyone. Jesus! How the HELL did I get into this? He knew, of course, but just didn’t know how to get out of it.

With the exception of Richie, the other men were completely confused. They knew Jon, however, and if he wasn’t talking they weren’t going to get anything out of him with questions. Each at some point on the ride gave a small shake of their head and decided to just let whatever was happening go on without them.

Richie kept glancing at Jon and at his friend’s slight shake of the head knew that they had not discussed anything. Upon their arrival at the concert site, Amanda exited the car and strode towards the entrance. The men got out of the limo, but the confusion continued and they just followed her to security.

Chris was at the gate waiting for the band and his mouth dropped open at the sight of Amanda. He had never seen her dress so provocatively and his confused gaze immediately went to Jon. This didn’t help, however, as Jon seemed as bewildered as he was. Amanda went through security with Chris’ aid and proceeded to what she called “the beverage room”. Richie followed Jon to his dressing room and stood staring his friend.

“Jesus Christ, Jon!” came his hoarse exclamation.

“No fucking shit, Rich.” Jon’s voice equally hoarse.

“I’m just guessing, but you two didn’t talk, did you?”

“No and right now I’m not sure I can.” Jon shook his head and Richie joined him.

“Okay, show now, talk later, right?” Richie’s look was full of questions and Jon answered him honestly.

“If I don’t throw her down somewhere first…” His voice so hoarse with longing and regret that Richie didn’t know what to say. He left Jon then, moving off to change for the show.

Chris came to his door then, knocking.

“Uh, Jon, where, uh…Amanda?” He struggled to get out.

Jon didn’t know where to have her go tonight. He wanted her close, but knew she was angry and might not want to be near him right now. He shook his head in confusion, but managed to answer his head of security.

“Wherever she wants, man.”

Nodding rather rapidly, Chris agreed and left. Amanda was waiting down the hallway a bit and when Chris approached her, she said “front” and led the way, stopping again to get a drink. Chris had no idea what was going on, but was not about to argue with what seemed to be a determined and seriously pissed off woman. He watched as she poured a generous amount of Jack into a glass, topping it off with coke, and then looked at him, waiting for him to lead her to her seat.

“I’d like another drink later, Chris,” she informed him, her voice soft and undemanding.

“Sure, Amanda, no problem.” Chris replied, leading her to her seat.

It was now 6:30, with Bon Jovi due to take the stage at seven. Jon was even more frenetically working the halls than he always did prior to a show and Richie kept a close eye on his friend. They finally heard their cue to take the stage and walked on. Jon immediately sought out Amanda and saw that she was in the front row in the center, but unlike the others who were locked on either him or Richie, she had turned her head away from him.

Anger mixed with lust provided the fuel for tonight’s performance and as Jon strutted and did his stuff, his eyes constantly moved toward her. He saw though that whenever he glanced her way she seemed to be looking in another direction. In truth, Amanda had to force her gaze away from Jon whenever he came to her area of the stage as his mere presence was enough to draw her gaze like an invisible thread between the two.

Chris kept glancing at Jon and Amanda and saw a sign from Jon that meant for him to bring her to the side stage for “Bed of Roses”. Chris moved to her then, lifting her over the rail as she actually glared at him. Shouting to be overheard over the screaming fans, she informed him she was fine where she was. Chris only managed the word “boss…” before she scowled even more deeply at him and stalked off to where she was sure he was taking her.

The fan area changed just prior to that song and Amanda was moved out with the others. They were dancing to the next song, “Bad Medicine’ and so was she. She shook her ass, swayed her hair, made her breasts shake, and felt a moment of pure female satisfaction when Jon fumbled in the middle of the song, admitting to the audience that he had forgotten the words.

He started “Bed of Roses” then, moving along the stage, shaking hands with the fans, timing himself perfectly to end up before her when the song hit the dance stage. Amanda was waiting and instead of Jon taking her hand to lead her into a dance, she walked suggestively out toward him and he almost forgot the words again.

The crowd was screaming in appreciation at her nerve as it was always Jon who chose someone from the audience to dance with. They thought it was all part of the show and loved that a woman had him a little rattled. He gave her his smile, the mega-watt one, but she shook her head and when he brought her in close to dance with her, she made sure he heard her.

“Not working this time, Bongiovi.”

He grinned again, keeping the dance portion going longer than usual as Richie played along on the guitar, understanding a little of the duel that seemed to be happening before his eyes. Amanda subtly pressed herself against his front and felt his immediate response. She increased the pressure and saw Jon’s eyes blaze.

She swayed away from him then, turning to return to the fan area before he could kiss her, her movements a bit exaggerated as she knew Jon would be watching her. Giving the crowd wide eyes and eliciting laughter from them, he followed her, coming up right behind her and as she turned, he grabbed her and dipped her low, kissing her thoroughly until she gasped against him. Standing her upright, he mugged for the cameras and the crowd then returned to the show.

A song later and she moved off the stage with the others, ignoring their glances at her and the special attention she had received from Jon. Chris was waiting, but she walked past him back to the ‘beverage room’, fixing herself another Jack and coke.

“Manda? You okay?” He asked her quietly.

“Absolutely, Chris, no problems.”

Her response was quick and a bit tart. He backed off then, not understanding, but realizing that he didn’t need to be in the middle of these two. She didn’t return for the rest of the concert, another sure sign to Chris that something was very wrong.