42 - A Day in the Life

Jon tossed his purchases on the bed with a wicked grin, unable to remember the last time he’d been ‘perversion shopping’.  It was fun trying to figure out what his little imp was going to like.   He didn’t want to depend too heavily on gadgetry, but he wanted to give her a taste – just enough to enhance their play time.  He grinned again.  Petey wouldn’t have to tell him how to operate these electronics. 

Last night had been fun.  More fun than he’d anticipated.  They had sexual chemistry, no doubt about that, but he had been surprised how much her pleasure had turned him on.  Seeing the flush creep up her chest as she got close to orgasm, and then that sexy, husky moan she couldn’t suppress when it swept over her.

He adjusted himself.

Now was not the time to be thinking about it.  He had a few more hours to get through before Round Two started.

Fortunately, a distraction arrived in the form of a phone call from his right-hand man.

“Hey, Rich.  How’s mini-Heather?”

His friend responded with a sarcastic laugh.  “Ha, ha.  She’s better after passing the flu on to her old man, but this, too, has passed and we’re back to our normal charming selves now.  What’s up in the big city today?”

“Not a thing.  Coupla phone calls, coupla meetings, a little shopping.”

“I’m impressed.  Shopping, and it’s still six days ‘til Christmas.  You’re on top of things this year, Kidd.  I still gotta find something else for Ava and Ma, then I’m done.”

That reminded on that he needed to check in with Dorothea and make sure the kids’ shopping lists were taken care of.  She knew what they wanted, and he bankrolled it.  It worked for him, but he still had a twinge of guilt for playing the absentee father card when he was right here. 

He silently vowed to find the time to pick a special something for each of them.  Something just from him.

“Listen,” Richie, broke into his thoughts, not interested in a response to his own shopping quandaries.  “I really hated missing the shindig Saturday night.  It’s been too damn long since all of us guys have gotten to hang out just for fun.”

“It wasn’t really a ‘fun’ kind of event, man.  Strictly business, even though we did a few tunes for fun.”

Despite the disclaimer, Jon was inclined to agree with his friend about guy time.  The band had a restorative effect on him – on all of them.  They’d spent so much of their lives and experienced the world together, that sometimes it felt good to reconnect with his friends instead of his band members.

“Yeah, whatever.  I’m still pitching for a little reunion and, in support of that, I’m heading East next week.  I’ll be there in time for New Year’s Eve.  What do you say we all go out?  Have a private party someplace.”

That sounded like an exceptional plan.

“I can get on board with that.  It's only about an hour's drive to Stamford.  Why don't I check with Matty and see if we can use his back room?”  His youngest brother owned 84 Park, a successful nightclub in Connecticut.  It was a nice place and he probably had some big thing going on for New Year’s, but Jon would convince him to host a private party on Big Brother's dime.  

“Boo-yah,” Richie approved, and Jon could practically hear him rubbing his hands together with glee.  “I wanna jam, too, since I missed out on those festivities.”

“Bring your guitar, man.  I doubt anyone will be opposed to it.”

“Oustanding!  Now... you think you can find a lovely young lady to escort on the second biggest date night of the year?”

Jon’s mind immediately went to Petey, and as quickly as he thought it, he dismissed the idea out of hand.  That wasn’t what they were, and he didn’t want to lead anyone to believe they were involved.  It wasn’t… beneficial.   Neither one had ever said the words, but they were no more than fuck buddies – and he was good with that.  Glance flicking over the bag on the bed, he stifled a smile.  Very good with that.

“I have no interest in dating, man.  You know that.  If I take a woman to a party, she’s gonna think…  Well, shit I don’t want her to think.  I’ll go stag, thank you very much.”

“You’re going to be a bitter, lonely old man someday,” Richie warned him light-heartedly.  “But I hope that doesn’t mean you’re going to begrudge me bringing a date.”

Lord God, who had Richie found to hook up with now?  And did he even want to know?  The answer to that was no.  He would smile and be polite to the girl, but he didn’t wanna know about her.

“Hey, knock yourself out if you can find somebody willing to go out with your old ass,” he teased.  Jon had missed his crazy buddy and Richie’s penchant for a different flavor of arm candy every night.  They could often be…  interesting.

“Already under control.”

Following a few more minutes of chit chat and mutual anticipation of the upcoming tour, they disconnected their call.   

Jon loved his friend, but he was grateful.  He had work to do.

☠ ☢ ☠

“Hey. Petey.”  Tony sidled up next to her, glancing over her shoulder at what she was working on for “Have a Nice Day” with a grin.  It was looking good. 

No creativity my ass.

“Yeah?”  She was still engrossed in the screen before her, and barely acknowledged him.  Her ponytails swayed back and forth as she nodded her head at the computer.

“There’s somebody up front asking for you.”  He nodded toward the door, laughing quietly at Petey’s visible attempt to rejoin them in this world instead of the one she had her head stuck in.  Vacant gold eyes took a minute to focus, and she frowned, her forehead scrunching up in confusion.

“Huh?”

“There’s somebody asking for you,” he repeated patiently, this time pointing at the people standing across the ‘office’.  Her eyes followed the direction of his finger, and got as big around as Frisbees when she realized it was Dorothea and Stephanie. 

Stephanie, dressed in jeans, scuffed Chucks and a gray puffer jacket, smiled that radiant smile she had, waving cheerily.  Dot’s smile was a little more reserved, while her hands remained firmly in the pockets of her black wool swing coat.  Clearly the daughter was more excited about this visit than the mother.

I'm not too excited about it myself Mrs. Bongiovi.

“What do they want?” she asked, lifting her own hand in a slight wave for the girl.

“You,” he laughed.  “I tried to offer my services, but they wanted ‘professional’ assistance.”  He should probably be offended, but he liked Petey, and she didn’t have any friends that he’d seen.  Maybe this could develop into something more than a consultation.  She could do far worse than having Dorothea Bongiovi for a friend.

Petey tugged at the sleeves of the black hoodie speckled with pink rhinestones, and swiped her hands down the thighs of her black skinny jeans..

“They didn’t say with what?”

Tony wondered why she would be nervous.  Dottie had been happy with the work she did at the house, and Stephanie loved pretty much everybody.  Had Dot given her a hard time about the whole Goth girl thing?  She was pretty live-and-let-live, so he found that unlikely.

“No.”  He frowned, propping a hip on the table where she was working.  “Petey, did something happen at Dorothea’s house that I don’t know about?”

Just that Stephanie wheedled something out of me that no one else has in three years.  Oh, and yeah, I’m having clandestine kinky sex with her Daddy.

“No.”

“Then why are you so freaked out?”

“Not freaked out, just… confused, I guess.”  She unenthusiastically rolled her chair away from the table and stood, scuffling her glittery pink tennis shoes against the carpet.  Tony gave her another bewildered look, but when she didn't offer anything further, he stood too, escorting her to where the two Bongiovi women waited.

Each step that took her nearer to his ex-wife and daughter, made Petey's insides knit together a little more tightly. 

Stop being dramatic.  You’ve been spending too much time with Candace.  They don't know anything, and it’s not like you’ve got a scarlet K emblazoned across your chest.

“Hi, Petey,” Stephanie greeted cheerfully.

“Hello, Stephanie.”  Petey replied and accepted Dorothea’s outstretched hand, nodding with a benign smile.

“Petey, thank you for taking time out of your busy-“ She darted a chastising look at her daughter. “-work day to talk to us.”

“Well, as long as the boss is okay with it, it's no problem,” she murmured quietly.

“I am,” Tony affirmed, swooping in to give his niece a hug and her mother a kiss on the cheek.  Was it Petey’s imagination or did that kiss linger a little longer that social decree mandated?  “I’ve got an appointment across town, or I would hang around and eavesdrop.”  His hand held at Dorothea’s waist when he turned to Petey.  “Bill and Randy are in the back packing some stuff up for a shoot, and Candace is God knows where.  I’ll be back about four to go over the project you're working on.”

She nodded silently, and he ruffled Stephanie’s hair before sliding out the door and leaving Petey alone with them.

“Ladies, would you like to have a seat?”  She gestured to the round table tucked away on the right-hand side of the room, which was clean for a change. It was their makeshift conference table, but more often they used it for coffee and lunch.

She selected the furthest chair, leaving the visitors with their choice of the other four straight-backed office chairs.  They settled in with a minimum of fuss and Stephanie quickly shrugged out of her jacket, although her mother made no move to discard her own coat.

Petey cleared her throat while touching the leather, studded dog collar snugged around it.  “I have to be honest.  I can’t imagine what’s brought you here to see me.”

“We need your help,” Stephanie began vividly, until Dorothea silenced her with a hand on her forearm.

“Petey,”  Dorothea put her oversized hobo purse in the floor beside her, “My daughter got an idea in her head a couple of weeks ago, and no matter how many times I try and discourage her, she’s been persistent in encouraging me to share in her vision.  I finally got tired of fighting with her, so here we are to ask for your help.  Before Stephanie tells you the specifics, I want you to know you’re under no obligation to say yes.”

“While that only feeds my curiosity further, Ms. Bongiovi, I assure you I have no problem with the word ‘no’.”

A spark of humor lit the other woman’s eyes as she pushed the long, brown curtain of hair away from her face, offering Petey a genuine smile.  “That makes me feel better, and please call me Dorothea.”

Petey bent her head in acquiescence before turning to Stephanie.  “So what do you so desperately need my help with?”

Stephanie tossed her mother a frown of disapproval, no doubt at being cast in the role of a willful child, but it was fleeting.  The girl almost immediately leaned toward Petey, her eyes dancing with excitement.

“Okay, you know about Dad’s mental block with electronics.”  At Petey’s nod, she continued.  “That always creates a problem at Christmas, because all the really cool gifts require at least some kind of tech-savvy, which Daddy seriously does not have.”

“Are you here to ask for suggestions on what I think he could handle?”  Petey chuckled to herself.  The man wasn’t stupid, he could handle anything with the right kind of instruction.  Once she’d streamlined his apartment, he’d been fine.

“No, no.  I already have something – well, a couple of somethings – in mind.  The first is a really cool looking old-style juke box that I thought would look awesome in the living room beside the bar.  It actually plays mp3 songs though, instead of albums.  The other is an iPad2.”

“Okay…?”  She still didn’t understand where she fit into this picture.  “What do you need from me?”

“I told Stephanie that her dad already has his sound system wired through the apartment.  The jukebox would be a stand-alone novelty that I didn’t think would get much use.”

“But,” Stephanie interrupted.  “I know he would L-O-V-E, love it.  He just needs help learning how to put his songs on there and getting it connected with the centralized sound system.”

“So you want me to hook this thing into the existing speakers and controls.”  That didn’t sound horrible, and shouldn’t take more than an afternoon to accomplish.

“Well, yes, but could you maybe teach him how to put songs on it too?”  Stephanie’s big blue eyes were imploring.  “I could do it, but Daddy never understands when I teach him, and he told me how you made him understand the whole entertainment system in the living room.  I just know you could teach him this, too.”  Her eyes dropped to her hands and flipped back to Petey again before she tacked on, “And how to use the iPad.”

Seeing that refusal was on the tip of Petey’s tongue, Dorothea interjected quietly, “Of course we would pay you for your time.  We understand that your time is valuable and that you already have a job.”

“Please, Petey?  You know how to teach.”  Blue eyes met gold in a meaningful look, and Petey knew she was referring to the ‘secret’ they shared.  “I want Daddy to have something fun for a change, and I know you could make him understand.”

What an interesting predicament. In five days her week of...  debauchery with Jon Bon Jovi would be over, and his daughter was presenting a plan to extend their personal acquaintance past that.  She assumed their interlude would end on good terms, but being in his apartment again after...  Well, it would be awkward at best.  There had to be a graceful way to excuse herself.  

“Stephanie, maybe your father doesn’t think those things are fun.  They might just frustrate him,” she suggested gently. 

His daughter was adamant.  “No.  He wants the cool stuff, I know he does.  Daddy just needs somebody who speaks his language to help him enjoy it.  I think you speak his language.”

The sensation stirred up by Stephanie’s off-hand statement was not a welcome one.  She didn’t like the butterflies that fluttered through her stomach at the girl's speculation over any kind of connection between Petey and Jon.

“I don’t know about that.”

The girl leaned forward and grasped her arm, the pleading blue eyes reminding her so much of Jon.  “Please, Petey?”

Stephanie was working so hard to do something nice for her father, and it was incredibly sweet.  Really, it was.  Jon was a lucky man to have this generous, thoughtful child as his own.

Petey knew it was completely inadvisable and that it would be trying to have this kind of professional relationship with him after their week of wickedness drew to a close.  But she was going to have to figure out a way to do that anyway on tour.  It just meant she’d be dealing with it sooner, rather than later. 

There was no way she could refuse a young woman who wanted nothing more than to make her Daddy happy for Christmas.

“Sure.  I’d be happy to help.”