Chapter 119

He leaned in a bit closer, his voice soaring higher on the chorus, and winked. In amidst all the madness of the concert she was the eye of the hurricane, the one spot his gaze kept returning too. He'd waited all night for the right spot to just briefly touch skin to skin.


His voice deepened as he sang the next words straight at her, and grinned when her face flushed with heat. Standing he whirled and leaned into Richie for the chorus. Holding the mic away from his face as Richie played his small solo he widened his eyes. "Girls are liking it out there." He knew his friend would understand he meant the two special ones, not all the crowd, and as the chorus went into the next verse he bounced and whirled like a dervish to center stage, and chuckled inwardly as he watched the crowd scream.

Richie smiled wide, his eyes on the front row more toward him than the center. Elena's happy face and her open, honest reactions had sustained him through the night. She was enjoying herself. Screaming and singing along as she did on the sidelines, but there in the front she was a wild woman.

She and Kate had collapsed against each other a few times in the night and he'd strained not to laugh out loud. Watching them enjoy the show was nearly as distracting as having a circus in the front row. He couldn't pull his eyes from them...most especially his wife. She was unadulterated pleasure in its purest form. Nothing was hidden as she soaked in every nuance of the show. From the solos to the duels, the songs that she knew by heart and the joy she brought just by being.

And for her he played harder. For her, he may have lengthened his solos a bit to watch the desire flare. And here and now let the solo to Runaway bleed into the dark as they went for bows. Walking into the center he angled himself to her and dipped low, watching her eyes.

She met his head on stare with eyes blazing with need and winked, her lips puckering into a kiss she blew his way. Glancing at Kate she chuckled. "It's not over yet, not by a long shot."

Richie slapped Jon's back and headed down into the pit. "Holy fuck man! What a crowd tonight!"

Jon laughed, "Yeah a crowd of two, there were others present? I swear I don’t think I noticed the others tonight."

"Glad I wasn't the only one having issues," Richie grumbled. "If Lains shook her ass one more time and spun around I was going to haul her back up on the stage and disappear."

Jon roared, "Least I wasn't the only one thinking that. Had Kate licked those lips again I woulda done the same, and fuck man I'm the singer."

"Kate was in a state of shock for most of the night. You probably should have warned her about the flying thing there Superman. She nearly had a heart attack."

He waggled his brows as he laughed. "Yeah, well she needs to live a little, probably did he good. I'll make it up to her later dude. She won't be complaining." He stopped at the door of his changing room. "You're little woman wasn't walking on calm street herself. Do you deliberately choose things to wear that she didn’t choose just to see her squirm?"

Richie looked down at his tank. "Hey I wore the star pants."

Jon shook his head as he toweled off, the roar of the crowd filtering loudly even backstage. "Riggghhht...." Looking around at the guys he shook his head, "It’s time for the encore guys. Let's get to it!"

Richie swapped guitars and headed up first. Wanted was first on the set list for the encore and he was up. Grabbing his Stetson he set it low. He ducked around the side and settled himself on the stool Lumpy'd set out for him. Letting the night dictate the solo he found her in the crowd and the notes went haunting and slow.

He picked out cords and slowed the progression as she stood. The crowd screamed but he couldn't see anything but her, couldn't hear anything but the beat of his heart as he played for her.

The solo was a bit different tonight and Jon knew Richie was playing straight to Elena. As it started to move towards the first verse he straightened the bandana on his head and began to slowly walk onto the stage from Richie's right.

Eyes smudged from sweat honed in on Kate as his voice started slowly to croon... "It's all the same.... Only the names are changed....." His attention centered on her as he sang of the loneliness of the road, the unending days of being without her.

"Everyday it seems we're wasting away,
Another place where the faces are so cold.
I’d drive all night just to get back home."

He leaned into the mic as the chorus began to soar, the crowd singing right along with him, as Richie's baritone joined in.

Richie played his part well, layering in and adding his fullness to Jon's straining pipes. He watched him struggle with his voice. He smiled as he watched the lonely man find his center even as his voice betrayed him. Singing louder he covered for him, punching up the quick change of guitar as he pounded through his solo.

Jon's acoustic gave his electric a full bodied flavor as the little song they'd written in the corner of the basement next to a goddamn washing machine soared. He smiled down to his wife and her friend, to the woman that drove Jon crazy and pulled him together at the same time.

He played for them tonight. And as the notes stretched out and they lifted their guitars high Richie let his head fall back and listened to the crowd cheer he enjoyed his job, and took that moment to soak it in.

And as they all quickly dispersed Jon came up to the mic.

Jon brushed the sweaty hair from his face, his smile reaching out over the crowd. "I wanna thank you all for coming down to party with us tonight. Drive safe, and we'll see ya next time."

Richie ran over and played it up. "C'mon that's not it," he spoke into the mic.

He leaned forward almost into the crowd. "WHAT? You still want more?" He grinned as the crowd roared its agreement, the chanting stomping and clapping reaching insane proportions. Turning to the guys he shouted, "Whatcha say men, I ain’t ready to go home yet, and neither are they, let’s do it a little more!" He nodded to David and the guys as they rolled into Drift Away.

Richie hummed through the harmonies and as Jon directed they nailed the cover song. His wife leaned up on the stage, her chin on her hands and he smiled through the ooohs and the ahhhs until the acapella hum of their voices soared into the rafters.

Fuck the critics and fuck the assholes that didn't come to their live shows. Even with Jonny's voice in tatters the show was amazing, and despite the rawness he'd yanked everything he could out of himself for the fans and for Kate tonight.

He laughed as the guys from Cinderella snuck along the sidelines and then Tom Keifer's raspy crack of a voice blasted behind Jon.

A rowdy rendition of Travelin' Band left antics galore at the mercy of the crowd. Thank God they cheered and screamed because by the end of it, the song was a shadow of its former glory as Eric butchered the bass line of the song and Tom tried to cover it up with his guitars only making mud of the song.

Jon ended up laughing more than singing as Tom tried to remember the words, going so far as to go on his knees to read the lyrics sheet taped to the floor. Giving up Tom ripped it off and handed it to Eric as they all sang.

Richie's sides hurt as he led the last song and the screaming licks of Get Ready rocked the house into the ground. And as he and Jon belted out the last notes he realized he'd had one of his best shows with his wife in the front.

No untoward crushing had hurt her. No overzealous fans had trampled her little self. She'd loved every moment of it.

Jon glanced over at Kate as the song began to wind down and couldn't resist throwing a wink her way. Even though his voice was raw and his throat felt like someone had set it on fire, the show had been great. He'd pulled out every stop he had in order to give Kate a good show for her first time seeing them.

He wanted it greater than great, he wanted it to be sublime, and with her in the front row, dancing a bit with Elena, her eyes wide and shining he'd managed to do just that.

And as they took the last of their bows Richie stepped forward and crouched low. He flung a few picks out to the crowd and lifted his left hand with his wedding ring shining until she did the same then backed into the laughing bunch of his brothers and waved goodnight to his fans.

Elena took a deep breath and turned to Kate, her gaze flicking back to the Mata Hari for a brief moment. "So what did ya think katydid?"

Without thinking Kate growled. "I'm thinking I'm going to roast him over the coals for not telling me about that high wire act. I swear I can't get that out of my head."

Elena laughed merrily. "Oh hell honey he does it every night. It's a lot safer than ya think, or he's a lot crazier than ya think. Either way the people love it."

"I vote for crazy. I swear to God I've never been so mad and turned on at the same time. The man's going down."

"Or the woman is." Elena winked at Kate, tickled to see the fire in her eyes. "Fuck you know you loved it."

"He's not Superman, no matter what he says dammit."

Elena grinned. "You convince him of that."

They pushed through the crowd and she swore as she was bumped, jostled and tossed against the barrier. Hell, she hadn't been pushed around nearly that much at the damn show. As they came to the barrier she waved to the crew member. She smoothed her hand down her front and swore. "Oh fuck."

Elena's brow arched, "What's wrong Katy?"

The roadie gave her a knowing look and laughed with his buddy. "Shit, my laminate."

Elena winked, "No worries, the crew knows me on sight. They won't argue when I bring someone with me."