Chapter Sixty-Five

Philly 1989.



Her heels clicked on the pavement as she pushed through the heavy steel door, VIP pass swinging. She glanced at her watch; they'd be due to go on stage any minute. It was a split decision to drive from Jersey to Philly, but hell they hadn't seen each other in forever--three weeks, five days and twenty two hours, but she wasn't really counting. Third year medical school was trying to kill her, add in a boyfriend that toured just as much as he breathed, and it was a textbook definition of disaster. Somehow, someway they were writing their own chapter of happiness in all of that. They each had to do what they had to do, understanding that made it work.


She darted past the roadies, waving and smiling back at the faces that had become her unlikely family. Humidity, the house music thumping out AC/DC, and the hum of an excited crowd was as welcoming as a hug. She grinned, spotting Richie sucking on a cigarette, his guitar slung over a jacket with more sparkles than should be humanly possible. "Richie!"


He stopped dead, talking through a haze of smoke. "Hey Doc, good to see you! We're about to go on. Jonny's gone to the waiting area--want me to go get him?"

She hugged him, smoke and liquor swirled around her. She caught his face in her hands, giving him a once over before she dragged him down for a kiss on the cheek. "No—God, no—not before he's about to go on. I don't have a death wish. I'll slip into the crowd for a bit and watch.” She clutched his hand. “Is he doin’ ok?"

Richie chuckled, hooking an arm around her neck, dragging her around his gear to kiss her forehead. "You know him too well, darlin’. See you after the show." She frowned, that wasn’t an answer, but she heard the warning shouts that signaled the guys to get their places so she let him go.

His voice had been giving him all kinds of issues, even with the cortisone injections he'd started. Plus the back to back tour dates were killing him inside out. Doc had pre-booked the dates so there wasn't much Jon could do about it, even with his new contract, without letting the fans down. This time in their careers was far too important, but it worried her that she couldn't be there when he needed someone to pull him back.

She blew out her breath and snuck around to the side entrance to the arena. Her eyes widened at the wall-to-wall faces that spread across the stadium.

Holy crap.

How he did this every night was beyond her, but he got off on it. She'd been around him enough post-show to know what it did to him before he collapsed in a heap of dead. She took a deep breath and walked into the pit with a nod from Jerry, one of the security guards. A sea of cheap perfume, blood red lipstick, and low slung spandex surrounded her. She blended in…kinda, with her jeans and blue off the shoulder top. Of course she didn’t need to flash her charms here, he’d get first crack at them after the show.

Callie pushed her way to the front and leaned against the barricade. Everyone was preoccupied with how tight Jon's jeans were, or how they were going get backstage to sleep with him after the show. She just smiled. Hell, those comments were everywhere when Jon was in the vicinity. To her it was just Jon who had a crazy job that he was brilliant at.

All this had nothing on what they had between them, she knew that now. These girls could drool over him for three hours, but she got to take the real Jon home. She loved him for reasons that these girls would never see or understand. And that's all that mattered to her.

The lights dimmed, and in seconds she was catapulted into Jon's world. The boys exploded onto stage in a flash of light and the ground shook like thunder. Her heart beat as loud as the feet stomping on the floor.

And then there he was. Jonny, singing about being wild and young in the streets. She knew the songs. She had her cassette player going while she studied, keeping a piece of him with her even when he couldn't be. That boyish smile was spread wide, his eyes sparkled under the stage lights, and he let go.

She laughed, he was so good at what he did, drawing each person in with a wink, a smile, or a hand touch. And they hung off every word, every command, for the rest of the night. It always amazed her how much co-ordination that they had, always in tune with each others movements, all orchestrated by what Jon did.

Richie smiled several times during the show in her direction but Jon hadn't seen her yet. She swore he'd look at every person except her, but she could live with that. It was fun watching him be so unaware that she was just yards from his touch.

New Jersey was her favorite album so far. Maybe she was biased since she'd been around when he wrote it. But this album was so much more personal than the first. He and Richie had written amazing songs. She smiled as the song changed and he pulled the crowd in with a rasping whisper as he talked about brotherhood, critics and clichés. She wondered how many people really knew how close that was to her Jon away from this stage. Blood on Blood was her second favorite song from the album, the first being something very close to their heart.

The encore started, she squeezed past a couple of people to beat the crowds out of the pit but froze. The lights fell low, and the lone deaf drumbeat turned her, Jon stood in the middle of the stage, his guitar slung down the side, leather jacket and tight blue jeans. He reached for the microphone and closed his eyes as the crowd fell a few notches above a hum.




Woah ohhhhhhhhhhh woahhhhh ohh baby
Dont' know where to begin
Where we fit in
Livin in Sin, baby
Come over to your house
Knock on your door

She knew the medical term for blood rushing to her cheeks, but fuck if she could think of anything remotely intelligent at this point. Her belly bottomed out as her fingers curled over the railing. He stood, in his moment separated from the twenty thousand people around him. His words, like arrows in her chest as he crooned.

Her song.

Neither of them had revisited the idea of marriage over the last two years. He'd joked the song was her engagement ring, with the irony of the lyrics. Living in Sin had worked well for them. They’d never been conventional, nothing about their relationship had fit into that definition. Somewhere along the way being unconventional had become their perfect and their right.

This is me, for you.
Where do we fit in
Where to begin

His whiskey roughened voice hit her in the back of her knees. God, she'd missed him, more than she'd let herself admit to. She was so used to being independant, that craving Jon's love was something that still blew her mind.

Living on Love and Living in Sin—two lines that summed them up better than anything else in this life. Through the smoky haze, he bared his soul. Then he stood back and his eyes met hers.

"Jon," she whispered blinking away the blur.

The band lurched into the verse, he held her gaze, nodded at her and turned to the band. Richie bowed his head and gave her a sly grin. Holy Christ, her heart was racing fast enough to be a Tachycardia. Her knuckles were white around the railing as he continued the song. No one knew. That moment between them, in the midst of twenty thousand people, and no one knew how intimate he'd just been with her.

Oh god she needed to see him now.

The screams made her clench inside. Worry that he was shredding his vocal chords couldn’t combat the passion that oozed all over the stage. For her, and maybe a little bit for them, he let the crowd see his ache, feel his ache and every moment became her ache. God, body and mind screamed with exhaustion but this made the trip worth it. Skid Row joined them for the last song, and she slipped backstage.

~

He took his bow, waiting as the band walked off and then waved to crowd one last time. He jogged down the stairs and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I've got the physio and doctor lined up Jonny," he waved Doc away like a fly on food and searched down the hallways. Those things he had to take care of, but there was one thing he needed to do first.

He smiled when he saw her, cornered by David yapping away. God for a medical student that was burning the candle at both ends, she looked great. Her hair spilled loose around her shoulders, her blue eyes danced at David’s jokes. God he’d missed her, just one look and the throb in his throat faded away. He nudged David with his shoulder to the side, "Move Bryan, now." He pulled her in, wrapping himself around her and sighed into her hair.

"What are you doing here? Don't you have a test tomorrow?"

She linked her arms up around his neck and they kissed, the rest of the world melted aside. "It was two days ago, I have another on Saturday so I thought I'd come down."

He buried his face into her shoulder. "God, I don't know what day of the week it is. Thank you, just thank you."

She rubbed his shoulders, he took a moment. He just needed one, and then he'd be good. He needed her, and then he could go back and face the world of needles, doctors and press. "You ok?"

He looked up and pushed back her hair, he thumbed around the groove under her pretty blue eyes. "I am now. You're working hard?"

She straightened his jacket. "I do what it takes. Nothing below A's for this girl."

He smiled, and drew her in, her sweet scent more effective than any of the potions and pills waiting for him in his dressing room. "I'm so proud of you."

She kissed his chin. "And I'm of you. You killed it on stage, I didn't think you'd seen me until..."

He chuckled. "Your song." He'd seen her. He hadn't intended to sing the song at all tonight, to rest his voice from the screams, but one look at his pretty girl and he couldn't resist. Shattering her to pieces was definitely worth the pain. "You and me baby. I don't care how, and I don't care where. Just you and me." He squeezed her tight. "How long are you here for?"

"I'll head back tonight. I've got class at noon."

"No.” At her frown, he linked their fingers. “I've got to go and get the chiropractor to do his thing, get a shot, and then we're outta here. I'll have you up at seven and you can drive back then." He wasn't past begging. If he could take a few hours with her, he'd have paid in blood for it.

"OK, OK--I'll stay. Come on then, you better go and get your treatments."

His world for the past year had spun out of control. It was exciting, it was outrageous, and it was a fucking lot of hard work. But he would never change it. It pissed him off that his body was crapping out on him before he was ready, but his one constant in all this crazy mess was her.

Thank fuck for her. If he wasn't about to get a needle shoved in his throat, he'd have taken her in a back room and pounded a few orgasms out of her with the adrenaline high still riding him like a drug. The tour had been nuts, and his popularity had skyrocketed. Maybe he was arrogant but he could score any piece in this place, but he only found himself wanting one.

He tugged her into the dressing room where the chiropractor was waiting. He stripped off his shirt and lay flat on the table while Callie sat in his line of sight. He groaned as things clicked and stretched that he didn't really want to know why. "I can't believe you're here. Did you drive down?"

She nodded. Instead of the snap, crackle and pop, he admired her sparkly blue top that bared creamy shoulders he’d missed so bad. "In your new car?"

She chuckled. "Yes Jon, in the new car. It drives like a dream."

"Good." He smiled, pleased with himself. He'd bought her the car before the tour and had a helluva time convincing her to use it. Finally, the old one had died and she’d had no choice. The house thing he’d deal with when they had a break in a few months. He'd already set aside her medical tuition for the next few years. She wouldn't let him pay it, but he was still working a way to get around that. She would want for nothing when he was finished, and it was what she deserved.

He rolled over and the doctor came in. Fuck he hated needles. He closed his eyes and wished the damn thing over. He relaxed when a hand wrapped around his and warm lips pressed against his knuckles. The prick was lethal, fire flooded his blood, but he stayed there with her hand in his until the doctor stepped back. As the cortisone found a new track he finally couldn’t stand it. "Son of a bitch." He blew out his lungs as it finally eased and managed a small smile. When her face came back into focus her eyes were filled with worry and tears. He squeezed her hand. "It's OK, I'm good now. We can go."

He didn't say goodbye to the band, they were all smart enough to work out where he'd be going. Somewhere away from them, maybe it was so much touring and time together but his temper was shorter these days. So it was best to remove himself. They pulled up to the hotel, a far cry away from what they were staying in a year ago. He dropped the key card and slammed the door.

"Wow, this view is amazing Jon." The city lights sparkled against the skyline, but he wasn't interested. His insides still felt like they were burning and his body ached with a tired that blazed past the definition of tired. He needed her. He needed to lose himself in her and forget about tour dates, interviews, partying, drinking, and snorting. He just needed her.

He admired her perky ass that sat perfect in her jeans. He slid his arms around her waist, pulling her back from the window, his eyes on hers, not the skyline. "You're right, it is amazing."

In seconds clothes were strewn to the bed and he was wrapped deep in blankets, deep inside her. He kissed across her shoulder, up her neck, to her lips until gasps turned to sighs and the healing began, as always, in her arms. She was the one he could fall apart around, the one that picked him right up off the floor again. He was burning out, but never once did she complain, never once did she threaten to walk away. She just loved him.

He rolled her into his chest and laid his cheek in her soft hair. No matter where he was, no matter how many times he wondered how the fuck he was going to survive this tour, it was these moments that told him he could. As long as he had her.

The End.




There will be a short epilogue in a few days. ;) A little sneak peek into the future.

I can't thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing this journey with me, Callie was very close to my own heart in many ways and like the song says, It's Hard Letting her go. All your comments, feedback, tweets etc have meant the world to me, so thank YOU for allowing me to share the story of Jon and Callie with you.