John Francis

Richie and Jon walked off into one of the alcoves that led off from the bar and sat at a table. Looking at his friend, Jon asked if he knew what had happened to Amanda tonight at the show.

As he had also been thinking a bit about that, he was able to answer Jon with the conclusions he had come to.

“It hit her, I mean really hit her who you are and what you do. In front of her eyes you turned into Jon Bon Jovi and she didn’t know what to do with everything she was feeling. For the last few weeks you’ve been a pretty normal guy to her, but tonight, shit bro’, we were on fuckin’ fire and you drove that audience wild. That is probably one of the best shows we’ve done in a while and it was her first show. That’s why I mouthed your real name to you as you came in. She needed to be snapped back into the reality of who you are, not what you are.”

Jon nodded at what his friend said. “Once I saw you do that, it’s the first thing I thought. Do you think she’ll get used to this, man? I don’t want someone again who can’t be with me and there’s so much I want to show her. I’m so fuckin’ tired of being alone. Without a word, just being in the same room with me she makes it feel like I’m home.”

Putting his hand on his friend’s shoulder, Richie spoke what he felt was true. “I don’t think it will ever be like it was tonight. It was just overwhelming for her and she needed to adjust.” Laughing now, he continued. “She recovered pretty well there for that after party fiasco!”

Jon groaned loudly. “If I find out who let that bitch in I swear I’m gonna kill him. Somehow I’ve got to get it known that anybody from that bad time is NOT welcome back stage!”

“I’m gonna head back in to the party, bro’. We good here?” Richie asked.

“Yeah, man, I’ll be along in a few minutes.” Jon had some thinking to do.

~~

Amanda sat at the bar sipping her second drink. She was deep in thought and although she heard several calls of “Hey Matt!” it didn’t mean anything to her. A few minutes later a man sat down beside her and asked if he could get her a drink. She smiled, but said no thanks. She was turning back to her own thoughts when she heard the man say something to her.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t hear what you said.”

He began again, “I said I heard you put on quite a show tonight.” She looked at him in confusion as she had never seen him before.

He continued and his attitude did not improve. “Don’t you think he’s been through enough lately? You think acting like a slut in front of the press and others in that backroom tonight wasn’t enough to get him in the news? Do you know he has kids?”

Amanda sat in stunned silence. She had no idea what brought on this verbal attack or what she had done in public that could have someone she didn’t know talking to her this way.

The man didn’t stop. “Don’t you know that when you were out fucking him in the limo there were photographers out there who saw the car rocking and the two of you in there? Ever hear of infrared lenses? I don’t know who you are, but I am going to make sure he gets you the fuck out of his life before you drag him down even further!” At that he stalked away from her as she continued to sit there, unable to move. Tears started down her face and she turned her head away from the room, using her hair to hide herself.

Richie had seen Jon’s brother Matt talking to Amanda. He had not been around during the last few days as he was attending to his own family, but he had showed up here tonight for the after concert party to get together with the guys. Matt helped with several aspects of Jon’s many businesses and was a trusted friend, as well as Jon’s brother. He saw Amanda turn toward the bar after Matt left and saw her shrug her hair around her face. Richie had been with a lot of women over the years and something about that gesture made him squint his eyes in curiosity and walk over to her.

“Hello again, darlin’,” she heard his deep drawl. She kept her head turned away from him, but nodded hello. Now he was really curious as to what was happening and he turned her in the chair to face him. She tried to keep her face turned away, but he grabbed her chin and saw her tear-streaked face.

He swore profusely. “Honey, what the hell happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Nope, that’s not working for me. Spill it girl!”

Her tears continued to fall softly as she asked, “Richie, did you see that man who was just sitting beside me?”

He nodded, “Yeah, that was Matt.”

“Do you know who he is?”

There was confusion on his face as he answered her. “Sure, that’s Jon’s younger brother.”

Her face went completely white and she actually swayed on the chair. “His…brother? Oh my God!” Her voice was a hoarse whisper of its usual self. “Richie, I need to use the ladies room, excuse me!” Turning quickly, she grabbed her purse and was off the chair at a near run. He started to move to follow her, but got blocked by people passing by where they had been. By the time the way was clear, she had left the room and was out of sight.

Richie went to where the ladies room was and waited for Amanda to come out. He was going to find out what was wrong. He waited five minutes, then ten, and finally he opened the door a crack and called her name. No answer. He entered and looked for her. No one was in the bathroom. He went to find Jon.

~~

Jon was just coming back into the main room when he ran into Richie in the hallway. He took one look at Richie’s frantic face and asked, “What happened?”

Richie explained that Matt was sitting talking to Amanda at the bar and when he left she had turned and hidden her face. He had gone over and she was crying. She had asked who the man was who was talking to her and upon learning that it was Jon’s younger brother she turned pale and he thought she was going to faint. She had grabbed her purse, saying she was going to the bathroom, but he had waited now almost fifteen minutes and she wasn’t back.

Jon started towards the main room immediately, Richie right beside him. They both looked for her, but she wasn’t there. Spotting his brother, they moved in that direction. Matt gave Jon and Richie a smile, saying he heard the show went great tonight.

Jon wasted no time on niceties, asking Matt directly. “Matt, did you speak to a dark haired woman at the bar tonight?”

“Yeah, Jon, I had words with your current slut. What the fuck are you thinking of man? Carrying her out of the room with press there and then screwing her in a limo? I wouldn’t be surprised if there were photos of you taking her into the limo tomorrow or someone having an infrared camera! Then you have the balls to bring her here where you know there are close friends. You want the word spread about how far you’ve fallen into the bottle and that you’re screwing pretty much anything that moves these days?”

Every word that his brother spoke had Jon’s eyes turning colder and colder until there was not enough arctic ice to match their color.

Turning quickly to Richie who was already reaching for his phone, he demanded. “Call her!”

He grabbed his brother by the arm and pulled him over to a more private corner. Matt got a good look at Jon’s eyes and face and wondered what the hell had set him off.

“Ok, I know we haven’t talked for a few weeks, but let’s get something straight. You have no right to speak to anyone like that and if you’ve lost me the most important thing in my life, brother or no, I’m going to kill you!” With that Jon ran off in the direction of the exit, frantically calling Amanda from his cell.