Chapter 16

Dorothea screamed as Jon held tight as Mitch ran over to Karen to untie her. Jeff went to help Jon as he took out his handcuffs and put them on Dorothea’s hands so Jon could let her go.

“Jon you Son-of-a-Bitch!” she screamed.

Jon just ignored her and got up to see how Karen was. She was tired and weak and needed help getting up. Jeff had gotten the ropes off of her and Jon had noticed the rope burns on her wrists.

“She needs medical treatment on her wrists she’s bleeding a little on both Mitch.” He told them concern.

Smiling at him, “Jon I’ll be ok right now they are really just sore as hell.”

“Well I don’t care we’re getting them looked at ok?” he told her and then took her face in his hands and kissed her gently.

Well Dorothea saw this as Jeff was taking her out of the room and she flipped.

“Are you fucking me? What are you doing fucking both of them Jon? Oh it’s a damn good thing I didn’t know that or she would be dead! Dead! Do you hear me?” she yelled. Well Jon wanted to say something back but Karen stopped him and Jeff just rushed her out of the room before either one could start anything more.

“Jon let’s just get Karen taken care of ok? We’ll deal with Dorothea later after we book her. You’re going to be ok with that right?” Mitch asked him.

“Huh? Oh yeah I’ll be fine. We also need to contact the guys and let them know what happened here so they don’t worry anymore than they are.” He told Mitch.

“Don't worry I’ll get one of my guys right on it. She didn’t hurt you did she?” he asked him.

“No I’m fine. Let’s, let’s just get Karen to the hospital alright.” He said as Mitch noticed that Jon seemed a little off. Maybe he was a little more concerned about her than he wanted to admit. The unfortunate thing was it didn’t just go unnoticed to Mitch. Karen noticed also.

Karen was quiet with the ride to the hospital and while she was there, Jon had asked Mitch about it and he felt why she was but he gave Jon some lame excuse why she was quiet. He didn’t want to get into right now and get him all upset.

“Jon she’s been thru a lot these past couple of days. Give her a break. You saw her face. It looks like Dotty hit her a couple of times and I think she’s not only pissed about it but she could be a little embarrassed about it too.” He told him as they waited to hear how she was doing.

“Wait why would Karen feel embarrassed about being hit by her?” Jon wanted to know.

“Because Karen hates her and she thinks that she is a bad ass herself right?” Jon shooked his head yes. “So for Dot to get the drop on her like she did she probably is pissed at herself for it and then hitting her like that? If I know Karen like I think I do she would rip Dot’s head off if she had the chance. So cut her some slack ok? And stop looking like you’re concerned for Dot’s ok? Just FYI. I saw how Karen looked at you when we were leaving.” He told him looking like a disappointed father.

“What? What did I do?” Jon asked as he really didn’t know what he did.

“You were showing sympathy for your ex that’s what you were doing. She nearly killed her and when I asked you if you could handle it you showed well how can I put it…a look that only someone who had a history with someone that maybe still had feelings for?” Mitch said to him.

Jon sat there listening to him and couldn’t believe his ears. He knew it was over between him and Dot. But they had gone thru a lot that no one would understand and she was there from the beginning. But she was also toxic to him. “Mitch I don’t give a damn about Dot you know that.”

“I know you don’t. But maybe deep down you still might have some unresolved feelings that you need to take care of. Just an observation man. Look I need to go downtown and take care of her and Kyle I’ll talk to you later.” Mitch told him as he left.  

Jon sat there as he thought over what Mitch had said to him. Yes he had gone thru a lot with her but Dot also had put him thru a lot and he couldn’t forgive her for that. Especially now trying to get even for him dumping her and trying to ruin his reputation and not just his but someone else’s. How sick do you have to be to drag someone else into your revenge just to get what you want? Just then Karen was being pushed down the hall by a nurse to the nurse’s station.

Jon jumped up, “Karen are you all right?”

“Yes she’ll be fine but she has two bruised wrists that are also raw and we have prescribed her some ointment that needs to be put on once a day. As for her face she needs some cold packs for the swelling to go down and no longer than fifteen minutes at a time. Her ankles weren’t injured that badly but she does need to walk around some to keep her circulation going because she was tied up for quite a while but if there’s any swelling then bring her back here right away ok? Oh and we did prescribe her these anti-inflammatory meds also. Is there any questions?  ” the nurse asked them.

Karen just shooked

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Richie had just got off of the phone and turned to everyone that was waiting to hear anything about what was going on.

“Well that was Mitch and they got them. Karen is fine and little beat up but fine. He said we’ll get the whole story later when they get here but he said he dropped Jon and her off at the hospital to get looked at.” He said happily.

Well everyone yell happily and hugged and kissed when Sarah realized that Richie said hospital.

“Wait Richie did you say hospital?” she asked him scared.

“Yeah I did. Mitch wanted to get them checked out. I guess Karen’s bruised up a bit and Jon too. We’ll know more when they get here. Hey don’t worry ok they’re both tough and what I’ve seen of Karen I’d be more worried of what Dotty looks like.” Richie chuckled trying to make her feel better. 

                     “Yeah if she ever got her hands on her Karen would kill her. I know Dot knows all that karate crap and stuff but when you piss Karen off well let’s just say I wouldn’t want to be on the other end of her wrath.” Sarah said as she held on tight to him.

About a half hour later the door opened to Jon’s room and he helped Karen in as there were cheers from all the guys. They all descended on the two of them hugging and kissing them as Sarah was last and she wouldn’t let Karen go. The two of them started to cry as they held each other as the guys just smiled and gave Jon hugs and slaps on the back.

Finally Jon said to Sarah, “Hey ok where the hell is my hug Sarah?”  Well Sarah laughed and went over to Jon and gave him a huge hug and he kissed her hard as Karen laugh too. Richie walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.  

“Ah hum excuse me but you can let go of her now Kidd.” Richie said as he was still poking Jon and Jon was waving him away. “Fine hey Karen did I ever tell you about the time when we were in Japan and we went to these baths that they have…” Jon nearly dropped Sarah right there and turned to Richie and jumped him.

“You asshole! You know what goes on in Bon Jovi stays in Bon Jovi!” he yelled as he was on top of him hanging as Richie was laughing his ass off.

The girls were just watching as they were goofing off and saying to each other that later on they would have to find out about that story and what happen in Japan. Sarah saw the bandages around Karen’s wrists and the bruise on her face as they were talking and it broke her heart. She knew those were meant for her. The girls were trying to keep a brave face as Jon was telling them what happened when he dropped off the bag and Kyle came out of nowhere and took him to Karen and Dotty. He told them what had happened up til Mitch had gotten there and at the hospital.  They also had ordered dinner as Karen really didn’t want to go out anywhere either she just wanted to stay in and eat then she told them that she was getting tired and wanted to try and get some sleep and take the meds that the doctor gave her.

Jon took her hand and took her over to the corner of the living room so he could speak to her in private. “Hey why didn’t you tell me you were getting tired? Why don’t I tell everyone to leave then we can go to bed how’s that?” Jon asked her.

She didn’t want to insult him but she just wanted to go back to her and Sarah’s room so they could talk and then maybe she could try and get a good night’s sleep.

“Jon would you be hurt if I would go back with Sarah to our room?” she asked him as she made a face with a half-smile.

Jon really didn’t know what to think all he knew was that he wanted to curl up with her and hold her tight. “Well if that’s what you want. I’ll miss you thou but if you need time with Sarah I get it. Girl talk right?” he asked her.

“Yeah is that ok?” she asked him.

“I guess but I would rather you do it in the morning or actually the afternoon so we could be together. But I get it. Ok then do me a favor then?” he asked her.

“Ok what?”

“Promise me you’ll come over when you feel more comfortable.” He told her with an almost hurt look on his face.

“Jon it’s not like that I just need to talk to Sarah like you do with Richie ok?” she told him with a little kiss on his lips.

“Ok then but I do want to talk to you about some things and then maybe well you know.” He told her as he drew an outline on her face.

“I’ll ring you tomorrow I promise.” She told him then he gave her a kiss that she soon wouldn’t forget.

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The girls had gone back to their room and Tico and David made their goodbyes to Jon so he could try and get some rest. Jon had asked Richie to stay so he could talk to him and Mitch was just about out the door when the phone rang. Jon told him just a second that he had something he wanted to ask him as he had picked up the receiver.

“Hello?” Well Mitch and Richie could hear Doc screaming over it at Jon. All Jon could do was make a face of disgust and shake his head. So Mitch walked over and shooked his head at Jon and gestured to him to give him the phone. Well Jon was more than happy to because he just couldn’t take him right now.

“Doc Hi it’s Mitch I think you and I need to talk.” He told him as the guys took their drinks and walked into the bedroom to get away from what was going to be just another anxiety attack for Jon.

Richie closed the door as Jon sat on the bed making himself comfortable. Richie took the chair by the bureau next to the bed. “So I guess Doc found out huh?” Richie said.

“You think? All I can say is thank God Mitch took the phone because I really can’t handle him right now. So don’t need him blasting me about risking my life you know. Oh damn and I still need to call my parents before they see it on the news crap.” He said tiredly.

“Yeah you better because if you think Doc is not taking it well wait til your Mother hears about it.” Richie told him feeling his pain.

“God I’ll pay you a million dollars if you’ll call her for me.” He asked him with a painful look on his face.   

“I wouldn’t do that even if you HAD a million dollars Bongiovi.” Richie told him smiling. “Hey why didn’t Karen spend the night here or you spend it with her? I thought after what the two of you went thru that you guys would want to spend the rest of the time together?” he asked curiously.

“Yeah you would think so. She had said something after our night together that she and Sarah were going home and I told her I wanted to talk to her about that because I thought we had an amazing night. I mean you know with groupies it’s in and then out right?” he asked Richie as he shooked his head yes. “Ok then with our girlfriends you know we love them and feel connected to them and want them around well some of the times.” He said with a smirk.

“Ok right there that smirk is what got you in trouble with Dotty.” Richie laughed.

“Yeah like you don’t feel the same Mr. Revolving Door. I’m just saying in the beginning it was puppy love with me and Dotty for crying out loud we met in high school at the age of sixteen. Now we are out in the real world meeting all these people and how the hell are we supposed to not be tempted and not want to try different taste so to speak. Plus she even decided to she wanted to try different guys herself so why shouldn’t I try different women? It’s only human nature.” He explained to him.

“Well I have news for you if you do get together with Karen you try and explore with anyone during your time together with her, and she’ll cut your balls right off.” Richie started laughing.

“Well if you do that too with Sarah, Karen will do that to you too so there!” Jon told him as he stuck out his tongue at him.

“I know she already told me so there!” Richie told him back.

“Rich why does she want to leave I thought we were connecting. I really haven’t felt this way about a girl like this in a long time. Did I do something wrong?” Jon asked him.

“I don’t think that you did something wrong Jon. I think Karen is just scared. Scared of you cheating on her and of all the groupies hanging around with the threat of you cheating on her. She saw them when they came to the concert the other night and well she and Sarah just couldn’t believe how ballesy they were trying to get on stage to get to us and how they just lifted their shirts and well you know showed their wares at us. They would do anything to get to us and Sarah said that scared them and mix the booze into it and well one morning you wake up married to one of them.” He said smiling at him.

“Oh very funny King, but I do get it even I wouldn’t want to date me.” Jon said taking a swig of his drink.

“Yeah right. Look Kidd we were in this from a young age they weren’t so they don’t get the drive that we have. We live, eat, breathe this. But if we want a relationship on top of this the one thing we have to change is that we have to be monogamous to a fault or we’ll lose them. Do you think you can do that?’ he asked his best friend.

Putting his head back against the head board, “Ohhh I don’t know, I really want to Rich but you know how lonely it gets out on the road. I don’t want to promise her something that I’m not sure that I can keep. I fucked up with Dotty so what makes you think that I won’t fuck this up.” He told Richie sadly.

“What makes you think you won’t Jon? Look if you don’t try you won’t know right? Look even I know you care for her more than anyone that I’ve seen you with and I know you even want to give it a try. I even know that you never back down from a challenge so why are you even thinking of backing out of this?” he wanted to know just as there was a knock on the bedroom door.

“Yeah come in.” Jon yelled.

Mitch stuck his head in, “Hey well I talked to Doc and boy was he pissed off but I took care of him for now and I think I got him off of your back for a while anyway. I told him if he has anymore questions to call me.” He told them.

“Hey thanks Mitch I really appreciate that.” Jon told him relieved.

“No problem. I also told him to put out a press release and told him what to say. If he needed my office to send over anything I’d get Carrie to send over a memo to him so he could send it out to the outlets. But knowing him he still might say something to you so just remind him who is boss ok? Tell the girls if they need anything to give me a call. And try and have a good night.” He told them and left them to wallow in whatever was bothering them.

After Mitch left Jon just groaned as Richie got up to go into the other room. “You want another refill?” he asked Jon.

“Yeah why the hell not.” He said as he got up and followed him out into the living room.

Pouring two more drinks Richie handed him his. “So what’s our next move Kidd?”

“It beats the hell out of me. Normally we would get drunk and then find some girls and well you know.” Jon said sarcastically. 

“Yeah I know but we are trying to be better now seeing that we are interested in these beautiful women and not act like two dogs in heat.” Richie chuckled back at him.

“Isn’t it just grand being Rock Stars Rich.” Jon said as he lifted his glass.