The executive airport was relatively busy at this time of night. After Ari had convinced him, she would make it worth his while, Jon had called ahead to the airport claiming he had car trouble and would be late for his flight.
Now here they were, a little after midnight, waiting to say goodbye again. Jon moseyed over to where she sat against the hood of Cara’s car, hands tucked under her arms, trying to keep them warm. Cupping her shoulders, he pulled her into an embrace. With one hand pressed firmly against her back, he tucked a tousled curl behind her ear.
“Time to go. For real this time.”
“I know.” She pressed her forehead to his. “Sorry, I made you late.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Yeah, I’m not.”
His fingers ran over the silk scarf around her neck. “Make sure you don’t lose this, I’ve grown awfully fond of it.”
Rolling her eyes, Ari slid her hands into his back pockets, “I’ll leave it hanging on the post.”
“Don’t. Keep it in your bag, this way we’ll never be without it.”
Ari nuzzled his cheek and laughed a little against him. “I love you.”
Jon pulled back and ran his hands gently through her hair as she looked up at him with her big, beautiful, sleepy green eyes. He slowly leaned down, kissing her softly beneath her eyes first then he pressed his mouth to hers and kissed her sweetly.
“Love you too.”
“Now, get outta here, I’m freezing.” She said, not holding back the small smile that came to her lips.
“Text me when you get home.”
“You too.”
Ari laced her fingers with his, prolonging the inevitable a little longer. This wasn’t like the last time he’d left, she knew that, but she had become accustomed to being with him in New Jersey and since she’s been here, her nights had been long and lonely.
“Excuse me ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to move your car.” The security officer interrupted them, which was good because neither of them wanted to be the first to let go.
Jon walked her around to the driver’s side and held the door open as she slid into the seat. One arm resting on the door, the other on the roof, he leaned in and kissed her once more. He felt her let out a sigh when their lips met.
“Get some sleep and I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“I promise I will.” Ari crossed her heart with her pinky and held it out to him, waiting as he did the same and locked fingers. This little ritual had been something they’d been doing since they became friends all those years ago.
Stepping away from the car Jon shut the door and tapped the roof letting her know she was good to go. He watched as she pulled away and drove off. He waited until the car was out of sight before he made his way inside the terminal and over to the security guard waiting to take him to his plane.
♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱
Tossing his bag by the door and his keys into the little clay dish made by one of his kids he looked at his watch. Four – thirteen. Having slept on the plane, he wasn’t tired enough to go back to bed and it was too early to call Ari. He had gotten her text when he landed that she had made it home and was going to bed, so he just sent her one, letting her know he had made it safely.
Standing in front of the refrigerator, he stared into the stainless-steel box, looking for what he didn’t know. He wasn’t hungry enough to eat, so he just pulled out a bottle of water and made his way to the bedroom.
Trading his jeans and sweater for sweats and a tee shirt, he walked back to the little clay dish, grabbed his keys and walked across the dimly lit path to the main house.
Entering from the back porch, he flipped the light in the kitchen, dumped his keys once again, turned on the coffeemaker and made his way to the gym.
It’d been some time since he’d last worked out, though he tried to run every day he hadn’t kept a regular schedule with that either. Things had been somewhat hectic for a while now, but he needed to stick to his regimen with the start of the tour right around the corner. Reaching for the remote control, he turned on CNN and punched in his usual course on the digital display.
Not really paying attention to the droning voices in the background, he surmised it was just more politics- as it had been for the past year. Catching snippets here and there, he stopped when something caught his attention.
“ .... And in other news, Jersey’s native son Jon Bon Jovi was in Canada. Seen here leaving this office building in downtown Montreal with his girlfriend yesterday morning, the two got into her car and drove off. It is unclear what or who they went to see. The historical building is host to offices for doctors, lawyers, and accountants.
The woman, Ariana Moretti, has family ties here in Montreal. She is the daughter of Salvatore Moretti and Hélène LeBlanc, both of whom are deceased. Ms. Moretti’s mother is a native Canadian, along with her maternal grandparents, who were born and raised in the little town of Plateau Mont-Royal. Her grandmother, Liliane LeBlanc, just recently passed away, leaving the family business to her only grandchild, Ms. Moretti.
The couple was later spotted at Gibby’s enjoying a romantic dinner and strolling, hand in hand back to the St. James Hotel and then again late last night sharing an intimate goodbye at the airport.
The rockstar recently announced his separation from his longtime love, Dorothea Hurley. It is still unclear if his relationship with Ms. Moretti was the cause.
"Bill back to you....”
“Thank you, Josie.”
Jesus H. Christ...
Jon muted the television and traded the remote for his phone. This needed to be fixed and fixed now. Not caring about what time it was, he found Ken’s number and pressed send. The half groggy voice on the other end answered on the third ring.
“Jon, what’s wrong?” His publicist asked.
“What’s wrong, I’ll tell you what’s wrong. That fucking reporter Josie Johnson is at it again.”
“Calm down and give me a second to open my eyes. Have a cigarette or something.”
“Not funny, Ken.” Jon panted into the phone while he paced around the room. Wiping his face with the towel wrapped around his neck, he waited what seemed like for forever for Ken to come back on the line.
“Okay, now tell me what happened.”
He could hear fingers clicking against a keyboard.
“I’ll tell you what happened. There are photos of Ariana and I in Canada and now they apparently know who she is.”
“Jon, you know this would eventually happen. I’ve told you, the only way to nip this in the bud is to make a statement.”
“We’ve done that already.”
“No, we issued a statement. Two different things. You need to acknowledge it, then they will back down. The longer you stay hushed, they will keep digging.”
“It’s none of their fucking business, Ken.” Jon growled.
“I know, but they’re vultures, they feed off of this shit. Tell me what you want to do, and I’ll do it.”
“That’s my other line ringing. Let me call you back.”
Jon pulled the phone away from his ear and barked out ‘fuck’ and answered the call, he was not ready to answer. Bringing the phone to his ear, he wasn’t given the chance to say a word...
“Goddammit Jon, do you ever think with the head that sits on your shoulders or do you just go around thinking with your dick!?!” Her screech had Jon pulling his ear away from the phone and clicking the volume down before resuming the conversation.
“C’mon, that’s not fair.” He tried to placate her, though it didn’t work out very well.
“Fair. Who said life is fair? Have you’ve seen this morning’s news?”
“Yes, Dorothea, I’m on the other line with Ken trying to figure this out.”
“Well, do you think you can figure it out before the kids get up and have to go to school?”
Ouch. That one hurt, she knew it would, that’s why she did it. She knew damn well he’d give his life for his kids and if she made this about them, he would feel it even more.
“Nice. Use the kids Dorothea, especially when we know damn well, they don’t watch the news. Let’s get right to the point here, you have your La Perla panties in a twist, again, and the only way to stop this is to put it out there so they stop digging. I don’t know how many times we’ve been over this.”
“All I asked for was for one, just one last happy holiday, Jon. But, no, you couldn’t do it. If we put this out there, like you want, how about the kids, what’s that do to them, huh?”
“Then I don’t know what to tell ya. It’s half a dozen of one, six of another. If we wait to tell them, they start the new year off shitty. If we tell them now, we can still give them the Christmas you want.”
“You’re still coming to St. Bart’s, right?”
“That’s my plan.”
“She’s not coming?”
“She has a name, and no, Ariana will not be in St. Bart’s.”
A muffled ‘good’ came from her mouth. Jon let it slip because he did not want to go down that path right now.
“Fine, then. Make your statement. Just give me a day or two to pack.”
“Pack? For what?”
The pounding in his temples had gone from sticks tapping on a snare drum to a full fledge pedal pushing bass drumbeat.
“St. Bart’s.” Dorothea sighed heavily. “Why wait one more week? Besides, the further away from this, the better off we’ll all be.”
“What about Christmas? My folks and your sisters?”
“I’ll ask my sisters to come. You can do the same with your folks. But, I’m not staying here.” she smarted back.
Jon felt his temper rise again, coming dangerously near boiling point. If she didn’t stop with the condescending remarks, he was going to lose it. “And when do we tell them?”
“That will depend on when you plan on joining us?”
“I’ll get there as soon I fix this.”
“Good. Fix it fast, Romeo and Jake have already been asking questions.”
“What kind of questions?”
“Fix this Jon.” Was the last thing she said before the line went dead?
Argh!!!!!!!!
The water bottle hit the wall on the far end of the room with a thunk as Jon watched the water trickling down. Jon knew it was too good to be true during Thanksgiving with how pleasant she had been. He should have known it was all an act. If she wanted to be like this, fine, he would not stoop to her level. He swung open the door and stomped down the hallway to his office, passing Lidia in the hall along the way.
“Morning, Mr. Jon.” Lidia smiled politely at him.
“Yeah, what’s so good about it.” He grumbled, slamming the door.
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