Chapter 61: The Ex-Husband

Mark Valentino sat across the desk from the private investigator he had hired. Ever since he had been banned from his ex-wife’s theater, he had been seething. There must be something she was hiding if she didn’t want him around, and he’d been in the business long enough to know that if it was worth hiding, it was worth knowing. He also was patient, and confident that he’d find out what it was. He had hired a PI who was the stereotype of a b-movie dick: rumpled suit, rumpled tie, rumpled hat, cheap cigar. Mark didn’t like him much, but the man did get results. Spread in front of them were pictures of his ex-wife cavorting with some men. Plural.

“What the hell is this?” Mark demanded.

“This is your ex-wife with a houseful of men,” the PI responded, leering at his employer. “They all went out together Friday, left separately on Saturday morning – your ex hauled ass out of there like the house was on fire, and the big one here,” he tapped the picture of Richie, “followed. Wherever they went, they were back Wednesday, and that’s these pictures here.”

“Who are they?” Mark demanded again.

“Some rock group,” the PI hedged. He knew he could sell these photos for a lot of money to some rags he occasionally worked with. He didn’t want to share all the information if he didn’t have to.

“Wait a minute,” he said, turning to his computer. He connected to BIO’s website and saw the ads for the new show. “That’s where I know them from. They’re working with her on the new show, you idiot,” Mark berated the other man. “Of course they’re hanging out together.”

“Yeah, but she seems pretty chummy with that big one,” the PI said. “More than just a working relationship, if you catch my meaning,” he said. “These two went back to that other house on the property by themselves.”

Mark turned up a lip in disgust and steepled his fingers together. Maybe he could use this information to his advantage. Maybe this rock star was married or something; he could use that. He thought more. They were probably doing something special for the show; something that she didn’t want to get out. Why else would they be out in the sticks rather than in New York?

He smiled an evil smile to himself. Time to pay the ex a little visit.

* * * * *

Richie was out picking up something for them for lunch, when there was a knock on her door. Thinking he’d forgotten his key again, she threw open the door without checking through the peephole first.

“Sweetheart, did you forget –” the words dried up when she saw who was darkening her door. “What are you doing here?” she asked incredulously; amazed that he’d have the balls to show up at her apartment.

“Is that any kind of way to greet the man you were married to?” he asked. “Hi, baby.” He dropped a kiss on her cheek and shouldered his way past her and into the room before she could react. “I told you I’d call; I thought I’d drop in instead. Where’s your rock star?” he asked.

“Out,” she said icily. “I ask you again, what the hell are you doing here?” She searched inside herself and didn’t feel any panic at his presence on her doorstep. She felt only anger, hurt, and betrayal. It didn’t even occur to her to ask how he knew about her and Richie.

“I was trying to be cordial, but OK, you want to do this the hard way? Fine.” Mark made himself comfortable on the couch. Julianna just glared at him. He had planned to try to finesse her, but something had happened since he had spoken to her last. He looked up at her, and grinned. “I want in on your show. You’re going to make that happen.”

Julianna gasped. “No fucking way.”

Mark was a little surprised. Where was the simpering little wench he spoke with on the phone nearly two weeks ago? No matter. Her newly found spine doesn’t mean shit. “Yes fucking way,” he said, his voice going hard. “You will or your secret will come out,” he bluffed. “I will make sure everyone knows about it.”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about but you’re done talking.” She pulled on Mark’s arm, levering him off the couch and surprising him with her strength. “I want to see you walking. Get the hell out of here, and don’t come back. You made your choices.” She pulled Mark toward the door, and he dug in and yanked his arm out of her grasp and grabbed her upper arms, giving her a little shake.

“Listen, you bitch,” he said. “You left me, remember? I’m the one who was left out in the cold. Your family made sure I didn’t have an easy time finding work here. You owe me.”

Julianna was incredulous. She tried to pull away, but Mark’s grip was firm. “Let go of me, you bastard. I’m not the one who brought someone else into my house or into my bed. Of course I left you, you ass. I loved you, and you treated me like shit.” She was able to shake him off, and started ranting at him, letting go of the bile that had been building up and poisoning her life. “You know, you are just a spoiled child. You expect everything to be all about you, and if you don’t get your way, or you aren’t the center of attention, you get all pissy.” She gave him such a look full of hatred, he was taken aback. “You are nothing to me now; less than nothing. I owe you nothing, and you are getting nothing.” She stopped and shook her head. “I take that back. You are getting two things. You are getting the fuck out of my house and you are getting the fuck out of my life before I kick the ever-loving shit out of you.” She stalked to the door and flung it open.

Mark knew that she wasn’t going to budge on this now, but that didn’t mean he was giving up. He made a show of shooting his cuff to look at his watch and grinned. “Look at the time. I have an appointment across town, and I need to be going.” He sauntered over to her and put a hand to her cheek. “You better watch your temper there, sweetheart. I’m sure you don’t want your rock star to see what a bitch you really are.”

Julianna turned her head and bit Mark, making him curse. “My rock star doesn’t make me mad, so it’s not a problem. Now, get out.” She pushed him out the door and slammed it closed behind him.

Mark was muttering all the way to the elevator. When the doors opened, he saw Richie getting out. “Scuse me,” Richie said, surprised to see someone waiting for the elevator. He was beginning to wonder if there were any other people living up here; he never seemed to see anyone.

“A word of advice there, rock star,” Mark said as he got into the elevator. “Julianna will go cold on you too. And she can be a real jealous bitch. Get out while it’s still good.” The doors slid closed before Richie could react. Puzzled, he stared at the doors for a minute, shook his head, and went back to the apartment. He couldn’t find his key, so he knocked on the door.

After a moment, Julianna flung the door open, her eyes hard and her color high. “For Christ’s sake, you son of a bitch, I told you – ” she stopped when she saw Richie standing there, and chuckled at the irony. “Richie! Thank God you’re back.” She threw her arms around him in a hug and pulled him into the apartment.

“I ran into someone at the elevator…”

“That charming man was Mark, my ex,” Julianna said. “Did he say anything to you?”

Richie shook his head. “Nothing really. He warned me that you can be a jealous bitch and I should get out before you go cold on me.”

Julianna’s color got high again, and she started to pace. “That fucking bastard.” Richie was surprised at the venom in her voice. “He has one hell of a nerve.” Julianna told Richie about the conversation she and Mark had, and Richie laughed when she got to the part about biting him.

“If I had seen him with his hands on you, he would have known what temper is,” he said stonily. “Why the hell did he come here?”

Julianna got quiet. She may as well tell him the rest of it.

Chapter 60: Rehearsals

Even as Richie pulled the car into the underground garage, Julianna was unfastening her seatbelt. Before he had the car turned off, she was circling around to the back, to grab some of their bags.

“Where’s the fire?” Richie asked.

“Well, we’re home now,” no sense in fighting it anymore, wherever they were was home, “and you still look a little sad.”

Richie laughed, and loaded his hands and arms with bags. “Get a move on, woman!” he shouted over his shoulder as he strode quickly for the elevator. Julianna laughed and hurried to keep up. They were laughing all the way up to her apartment, and barely had the door closed behind them before their bags were dropped on the floor, and they were in each others’ arms.

They toed off their shoes and kissed greedily, knowing that this time their joining was different. They each felt that this was forever, or as sure a thing as they hoped for. Julianna unbuttoned Richie’s shirt and pushed it roughly from his shoulders, all but tearing it off his arms. Richie broke their kiss to whip Julianna’s shirt up and over her head, tossing it behind him. He skimmed his hands across her collarbone and down over her breasts and Julianna thought she was going to lose control right then and there.

Julianna reached for Richie’s belt, and pulled him toward her. She unbuckled him and had had pants undone and shoved down in seconds. Her hand closed around him, making him growl. With a deft flick of a finger, Richie had Julianna’s bra unclasped and pulled the straps down her shoulders, trailing kisses in their wake. He spun her against the door, and bent to take one pebbled nipple into his mouth and suckled greedily while his hands unfastened her jeans and slid them and her panties down her legs as far as he could reach. He dropped to his knees, kissing the length of her torso, and pausing to lave at her tattoo before diving between her legs and thrusting his tongue into her. Julianna scrabbled for purchase on the door but could not get any. She settled for twining her hands into Richie’s silky hair and holding on for all she was worth.

Her head thrashed back and forth as Richie worked his magic on her. One finger had maneuvered into caress her clit, stroking in light, lazy circles that had Julianna moaning loudly. Her eyes rolled back as the tension started to build in her toes and moved its way slowly up her body. The tightness crept over her, tensing her like a cat and when she thought she couldn’t take anymore, Richie latched his lips onto her nub and sucked hard as he drove two fingers roughly into her. Julianna screamed as the waves overtook her, and her legs gave out. Richie eased her down to the floor, never stopping his assault. Julianna was whimpering helplessly, her arms useless to push Richie away to give her a minute to compose herself. All too soon, she felt another wave cresting. She cried out Richie’s name on a breath, and let the flood overtake her.

Smiling, Richie stood, gathered Julianna up into his arms, and carried her into the bedroom. He seemed to be doing that quite a bit, and he loved it. He loved that she made him feel so deeply. A line from one of his songs popped unbidden into his head: To make you feel like a woman makes me feel like a man. As sure as he knew his own name, he knew he was drowning in her and God help the man who tried to save him. He wanted to go down that third time. He sat on the edge of the bed, and settled Julianna across his lap. She shifted to straddle him, and sunk roughly onto him, making his head drop back for a minute before he brought it up again to lock eyes with Julianna.

Neither moved as they sat joined intimately and just stared at each other. “I love you so much, Julianna,” Richie said, pulling her in close to his chest. “So much it’s scary. You are as essential to me as breathing.”

“I love you too,” Julianna said, “more than my own life.”

She kissed him hard, holding his head captive to her plundering mouth, tasting herself on him. Richie wasn’t complaining, however. He gave as good as he got, twining his hands in her hair and anchoring her to him. She started undulating against him, moving as sensuously as a cat. She hooked her ankles around Richie’s back when he stood and turned them so Julianna was lying on her back at the edge of the bed.

Richie stood there, looking down at his love, and started stroking slowly in and out of her. He lifted her hips to give deeper penetration, and started quickening his pace. Julianna gripped Richie’s wrists and begged, “Harder.” Richie complied, bringing himself roughly into her over and over again. He could feel her tightening around him, and saw her eyes start to roll back. “More,” she cried, as her head started thrashing from side to side. Richie pounded faster and faster; sweat covering his chest. He felt his orgasm building, and it was taking all his willpower to not lose himself. He watched as her chin hitched just a little, and she bit her lower lip; tell-tale signs that she Julianna was as close to oblivion as he was.
“Jules?” he croaked, “I want to watch you come for me. Open your eyes, my love.”

She complied and stared with unfocused eyes at Richie. It was a struggle to keep her eyes open as the waves of pleasure crested again. Her body flushed and convulsed, and clamped down on Richie so hard he hissed.

“Oh thank God,” he said, thrusting fiercely once more before he spilled inside her. He rode her until he felt her relaxing, and gently slipped from her. He crawled up on the bed next to her, and pulled her to him, cuddling her against him. Julianna kissed Richie’s chest and laid her head against his heart. With his strong heartbeat in her ear, and his arms banded around her, she sighed, “I love you,” and fell asleep.

* * * * *

“What’re you doing today,” Julianna asked Richie as she was getting ready to go to the studio. She was dressed for working, in footless tights, a leotard, and filmy skirt overtop of it.

“I’m, uh,” he was distracted by Julianna’s proximity to him, and didn’t really want to tell her what he had planned anyway. “I’m just gonna bum around the city for a while, I guess,” he hedged. That wasn’t entirely a lie, he convinced himself, because he did plan just to hang out for a little while.

“OK,” Julianna said, distracted herself with thinking forward to rehearsals. “I’ll probably be late, but I’ll try to call and let you know.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Richie said.

Richie waited about an hour after Julianna left before heading over to the theater. He really did want to watch some of the rehearsals. He parked around back, and Stan let him in, as pre-arranged.

“Mr. Sambora, a pleasure,” Stan gushed.

Richie smiled wryly. “It’s ‘Richie’, and thanks. Where can I watch from?”

“Well, that depends on what you want to see. Julianna is working with the leads in one of the smaller rehearsal rooms, and the company is on the main stage, working through the second act.

Richie nodded. “I’d like to watch the stage,” he said.

Stan led him up to the control box at the back of the theater. “This room has darkened windows, and nobody save the techs will know you’re here. Does that work for you?” Richie nodded again, and let the other man lead him away.

From the booth, he watched as the company of performers went through “It’s My Life” and “As My Guitar Lies Bleeding”, impressed with the story and the company. He called Jon and told his friend where he was, and held up his phone so Jon could listen for a couple minutes.

“Sounds great,” Jon said. “How’s Julianna?”

“:She’s fine; she’s rehearsing with the leads in another room; I didn’t want to disturb them.”

“Uh-huh,” Jon said. “So, we’ll be out in two weeks. What do you need?”

Richie knew exactly what Jon meant, and asked him to bring the Alvarez Julianna had given him. He had his strat, and between those, he should be all set.

Hours later, Julianna was watching her dancers when her earpiece buzzed. It was Jerry, her main tech. “What’s up, Jer,” she asked, using the small mic that was clipped to her sleeve.

“Nothing, Ms. Cavanaugh, just wanted to let you know that Mr. Sambora had left. I don’t know if he found you or not,” he answered.

Julianna smiled. Bumming around the city, indeed. “Thanks, Jer, we missed each other, but I’ll see him later.”

“OK, Ms. C.,” Jerry said, signing off.

Julianna smiled to herself, thinking about Richie coming around and trying to keep it a secret. He was too much. She sighed happily. Things seemed finally to be perfect. Julianna was happier than she could ever remember being.

Chapter 59: Looking Ahead

The next morning, Julianna and Richie headed for Manhattan. They had the radio tuned to a classic rock station, and sang along with nearly every song they heard. Julianna laughed when “Livin’ on a Prayer” came on, and Richie pulled a face.

“What’s the matter, baby?” she asked.

“Classic rock? This song is classic rock?” Richie did indignant well. “Why not play it on an oldies station, then?”

“Yeah, well it is twenty years old,” Julianna said. “That counts as classic rock, you know. You should be flattered.”

“Flattered?”

“Yeah, not all the boy bands of the 80’s are considered classic rock.” Julianna was smirking. She knew that would push his buttons.

Richie nearly plowed Julianna’s car into the guardrail. “B-b-boy band? BOY BAND! What the –” he broke off when he heard great gales of laughter coming from the passenger seat. “You bitch!” he said, joining in her laughter. “If Jon ever heard you refer to us as a boy band, he’d KILL you!”

“No, he wouldn’t. He likes me,” Julianna countered, smugly.

“Oh yeah?” Richie pulled out his cell and pressed a button. “Yeah, man, it’s me,” he said into the phone. “So, how do you feel about us being called one of the boy bands of the 80’s?”

Richie pulled the phone away from his ear, wincing, and Julianna could hear colorful Jersey language coming from the tiny speaker. That made her start laughing again. She pulled the phone from Richie’s hand, and yelled into it. “Jon! Jon!” Finally, it got quiet on the other end. “I was kidding.”

“That was you that said that?” Jon was incredulous. “How could you? We like you!”

Julianna laughed. “Sorry, but Rich was acting all sad about hearing ‘Prayer’ on a classic rock station, and I was trying to cheer him up!”

“Well hell, Julianna, fuck him next time! Don’t call us a boy band, for Christ’s sake.” Jon hung up on Julianna’s strangled giggles.

“What’s so funny?” Richie wanted to know. “Why aren’t you in tears from the lashing you should have gotten?”

Julianna slid over closer and dropped a hand in to Richie’s lap, making him jump and jerk the steering wheel a little. “Well,” she said, whispering in his ear. “Jon said next time you need cheering up, I should just fuck you instead of calling Bon Jovi a boy band.”

“I think I’m feeling a little sad,” he said, pulling a face that would make angels weep. “Can you cheer me up?”

“Can you wait until we get ho – to the apartment?” Dammit, she thought. That slip again. She didn’t understand why her subconscious was so far ahead of where she and Richie were.

“Yes, darlin’,” he answered, his eyes soft and full of love. “I can wait until we get home.”

“Sorry about that,” Julianna said. “It just keeps popping out. I don’t know why.”

“I do,” Richie said. He checked the rearview mirror and pulled off to the side of the road. He stopped the car and turned to face Julianna, taking her hands. “You keep saying that because it’s the way we both feel. You can’t deny it – I know you feel that this is it – that whenever we’re together, it feels like home. Julianna, I think you feel that this is forever.”

Julianna gasped. “That isn’t what I meant –”

“Yeah, it is,” Richie insisted. “I feel it too. These last few days have been perfect. We’ve gotten into a routine that seems so natural, like we’ve been doing it forever.” He squeezed Julianna’s hands gently, and waited for her to look him in the eyes. “Can you honestly tell me that you aren’t thinking ahead to what happens after the show opens?”

“No, I can’t say that,” Julianna answered. She had been. She had been wondering what was going to happen when he went back to LA and she went back to Connecticut. She was afraid to plan for anything past the end of the summer, because she didn’t know if this was really as strong as she thought it was. Looking into Richie’s eyes, she saw now that it was.

“I’ve been thinking, too,” he said. “There are lots of logistical things to work out, but bottom line, I don’t want to go back to LA – not alone.”

Julianna stared. “But I can’t --” she started in protest.

Richie held up a hand. “And I’m not asking you to. I said there were logistical things to work out, and I’m working on them.” He sighed. “This really isn’t where I wanted to get into this,” he said, sighing again. “Heather was talking about relocating to New York; the California scene isn’t treating her too well right now. Plus, there’s a guy in her life,” he paused for a moment, “and he lives in New York. He wants her and Ava to move closer.”

“So, you’re thinking about moving to the city?”

“Well, if it ends up being where my daughter will be, then yeah; or close to anyway.” Richie looked at Julianna, trying to gauge her reaction to that. He really hadn’t wanted to mention anything to her until things were finalized with Heather – no sense in getting their hopes up until he had things worked out.

Julianna was thinking. On the one hand, she was ecstatic that he was considering relocating to her side of the country. On the other hand, she couldn’t help but see the regret in his face when he was talking about his ex-wife and her new love interest. She was quiet for so long, that Richie started getting nervous.

“I gotta say, Jules,” he said softly, “I thought this would please you; at least a little.”

Julianna looked at him closely. “I won’t lie to you, I’m very happy that you’re considering moving out here; I just want to make sure it’s for your daughter, and not for your ex-wife.” Richie just looked at her.

“How can you say that?”

“What was that pause all about? Do you have regrets about your ex-wife?” Julianna knew she sounded like a petulant child, and she couldn’t believe she just asked him that. This was not the time or place to get into it, but she couldn’t take it back now; and besides, she really wanted to know.

Richie considered her question. “I regret the way we handled things, but no, I don’t regret that she’s my ex-wife now. I spent a lot of time looking at our relationship.” He laced his fingers with Julianna’s and continued. “We weren’t going to get any better. Even if all the shit that happened didn’t happen, we couldn’t sustain ‘us’ anymore.” Richie searched Julianna’s face, trying to gauge what she was thinking.

Julianna nodded thoughtfully. “OK, I believe you. Sorry, old habits are hard to break, I guess.” She smiled sadly. “It’s been so long since I could trust a man implicitly; I don’t think I remember what that feels like.”

Richie’s heart was breaking for her. “I’m not asking for implicit trust. You have questions; all you have to do is ask. I will never lie to you. I do ask you to trust me, at least a little. At least trust what you’re feeling and what we have together.”

Julianna nodded. “I can do that,” she said.

“Good,” Richie replied. “Now, how much longer until we’re home?” He had lust in his voice and a twinkle in his eye.

“Not as long as it will take if we stay here yapping,” Julianna answered.

With squealing tires, Richie sped them away.