Chapter Sixteen

Rachel’s eyes dropped to gaze at the rings nestled safely in her hand, their familiarity soothing yet unnerving her at the same time. She didn’t want to explain their existence, they were a part of her history and history was meant to stay in the past – right?

Jon watched as she silently stared at the rings he’d just handed over, his pulse quickening when she made no attempt to answer his question. God damn – he knew he should leave it, it was none of his business yet there were mysteries surrounding this woman that he wanted to solve. Also if he was messing around with a married woman he needed to know about it – the media would have a field day with it.

“Listen Rachel, I’m gonna be pretty blunt here.” He fixed her with a grim look. “If I’m screwing around with some guy’s wife then I need to KNOW that. I get enough shit written about me already without being blindsided by some pissed off husband going to the press about me fucking his wife blind." 

The blood drained from Rachel’s face as she blanched at his direct words. So here was the impetuous rock star in all his glory. A red hot anger surged through her veins.

“Through twenty years of marriage I never ONCE even THOUGHT about being unfaithful to my husband!”

Venom dripped from her words as she gripped the side of the kitchen island defiantly.

“Can YOU say the same?”

Ice cold blue eyes clashed against hers as Jon felt his temper rise to meet the one that was simmering just in front of him. A flashback to the woman he had first met on that dusty side road materialised in his brain, he hadn’t imagined her after all.

“My marriage is obviously no longer a concern – you should know considering you ‘Googled’ me.”

Shrugging he returned the glare she was pinning him with.

“I don’t have the advantage of being able to look up YOUR private life on the goddamn internet!”

Rachel stared into his angry eyes for a moment longer, her brain slowly registering the validity of his words. How would she feel if at the touch of a button her life and all its trouble were instantly accessible? She dropped her eyes to the floor, her shoulders quivering no longer with anger but with regret.

“I’m sorry……… but you should learn not to jump to conclusions……….”

“I generally don’t have much time to do anything else. My life is pretty fast paced at the best of times, I roll with the punches.” 

Jon’s tone was still icy and unrelenting, he wanted an explanation and he wanted one now.

“You said in twenty years you weren’t unfaithful to your husband – where is he now Rachel? Why isn’t he living over there with you…..?”

He gestured angrily out the window to her house in the distance.

“.... Maybe you’re morally opposed to actually WEARING your wedding ring while you fuck me senseless...it's somehow more palatable if you strap it around your neck? Guess I should be grateful you were hot enough for ME that you gave up on your twenty year run with monogamy.”

He cocked his head sideways, a cruel glint shining from the frosty depths of his eyes. 

“I can't imagine your better half would've been too thrilled with your rings, or you, winding up in my bed which makes you a real piece of work judging ME about my marriage...you know what? Why don’t we give him a call - maybe he and I can compare notes while having a beer."

Rachel whipped her head back, her eyes burning with such intensity he nearly flinched. How had she been so blind to even think she could ever have another relationship with anybody, let alone a world famous rock star whose ego was apparently as big as the house they were currently standing in. Her voice was dangerously quiet, the smooth lines of her face clenched in temper.

“You know something? You go from Prince fucking Charming to the ghetto with remarkable swiftness! This is NONE of your business, I don’t care who the fuck you THINK you are but I know now WHAT you are – an egotistical, self-obsessed, self-serving bastard!”

She paused for breath, hot and angry tears falling freely from her eyes. 

“Have no fear Mr. Bon Jovi – the press won’t hear about this from me, you can keep your precious slate clean!”

Jon felt his heart skip a beat at her outburst, he knew he’d been crueller with his words than he’d meant but his blood was up. He couldn’t help himself and he’d be damned if he’d stand here in his own kitchen and take crap from a woman who up until about ten minutes ago he’d thought of nothing more than a sweet, uncomplicated seduction. He'd only asked a simple fucking question for Christ's sake.

“Touché baby……." His lips curved into a thin sneer, “YOU went from being irresistible to 'common' also with remarkable swiftness.” He shook his head wryly. “It never ceases to amaze me how fast a woman is willing to shed her precious wedding ring to jump in the sack with me and THEN I’ve got the goddamn husbands wanting to tear me apart all because their beautiful wives couldn’t keep their panties on!”

He couldn’t figure out whether the look in her eyes was conveying hurt or disgust but he carried on regardless, his temper in full Bongiovi swing.

“So I’m presuming the husband in question must be arriving shortly huh? Considering you slinked back here to reclaim your lost symbols of fidelity in such a hurry.”

Jon reached behind him to pop the muscles in his neck, grimacing when he felt the familiar tension pop down his spine. The inscriptions in the rings that he had puzzled over this morning flashed back through his brain provoking another mocking outburst.

“Always my Hero? Yours Until My Forever Ends? What a crock of shit! So what time can I expect the mysterious Mr Braden to come banging my door down to fight for your honour? I’ll be sure to have the beers in……”

Rachel’s face was stony and pale but her eyes were swirling in a tumultuous storm of rage. Quietly and calmly she cut across him, her words effectively stopping him in his tracks.

“My husband is dead Jon.”

Her words slammed into Jon like a tornado, his brain whirling inside his head. His mouth dropped open in shock as she continued on her quiet but volatile rant.

“And, just for the record, he didn’t sell a hundred million records or make People Magazine’s list of sexiest men alive.  He didn’t sell out football stadiums or fly with Presidents on Air Force One. Nobody interviewed him asking about his hair or his ‘mega-watt smile’…or refer to him as the ‘charismatic front man’ of a rock band.”

The extent of her research amazed him, clearly she’d thought about this before giving in to his advances. He stared dumbfounded at her as she continued.

“I always thought of Nick as a bad boy, only slightly domesticated….” Rachel gave a small laugh, the storm in her eyes abating momentarily at the apparent memory, “…. and he was a man who saw in me something MORE than just ‘common’ as YOU put it. He took to fatherhood like a duck to water in spite of the fact he had a terrible role model in his own father…he relished it.”

“I adored him and I saw stars every time he touched me. I respected him but most important to me, was that HE respected ME.   In my ’twenty year run with monogamy’, as you so eloquently put it, he would never have dreamt of treating me like you just did – like some common groupie whore!”

Her lips quivered with anger as she spat the words out at him, her face contorted with such fury that when Jon made to speak with his shoulders slumped in regret she stopped him dead in his tracks.

“Not ONE more word from you! I think you’ve made it QUITE clear what you think about me.”

Jon's face fell as he listened to the coolness of her words, the tears that had been trickling down her face no longer in sight.

“No doubt you’re relieved that the husband of your most recent married conquest won’t come looking for you and for that matter, neither will I.”

With those final damning words Rachel marched around the island across the floor back to the door she had come through. Lightning bolts of anger and hurt jolted her body as she stumbled onto the patio, the bright sunlight momentarily blinding her. She should have known this was never going to work out, who was she kidding?

Jon stood rooted to the spot, his heart banging in his chest at the knowledge he now possessed. Lifting his head he dumbly watched through the window as Rachel walked swiftly across his lawn once more, her shoulders straight and her golden hair floating behind her with every defiant step that took her further away. He felt like he’d been kicked in the gut, how could he have been such a cruel bastard? 

He couldn’t recall an argument that vicious between himself and Dorothea even when they had been on the verge of divorce. He swore silently to himself as he lifted a shaking hand to run his fingers through his hair in frustration.

Way to go Jon, you complete fucking asshole……….