Chapter 1 - Casa Sambora

 

There is no right way or wrong way to handle being assaulted.  Which is a good thing, since Beth has no idea how to act. 

She's still sitting on the counter with Jon in front of her and the slam of the door felt like "GO" to both of them.  At once they both tried to talk, Jon laughs and says "You first.  What were you going to say?"

 

Beth leans over to him and wraps her arms around his neck.  He comes in close, leans on the counter and holds her tight.  In his ear she whispers, "Thank you for coming.  How are the kids?"

 

"The kids are fine.  Don't worry about the kids."

 

"What did you tell them?"  Beth knows that he didn't tell them the truth, he'd never want them to know but he had to have told them something. 

 

He picks her up off of the counter and takes her into the living room.  With her still cradled in his arms, he sits down and she lands on his lap.  "I didn't tell the kids anything, they were sleeping when I left.  Mom will tell them something."

 

Beth looks at him realizing that she never gave thought to what he would tell his mom.  "What did you tell your mother?"

 

"The truth." he tells her.  He think it's right that she knows what he told his mother as to why he had to fly to California in the middle of the night. 

 

Beth absorbs that and sits on his lap, in the comfort if his arms.  She hurts all over, inside and out and she knows that they have to get going.  Her anxiety is increasing again, hating the thoughts of what just happened in her own house.  "We should get going.  I want to get out of this house."  She tells Jon. 

 

"Ok. What do you need me to grab for you?" he asks her, as she climbs off of his lap. 

 

"Just a couple changes of clothes and my purse.  Is my purse even here?" she is having fragmented memories. 

 

"I'll look for your purse when I grab your clothes.  Anything in particular for clothes?"

 

She indicates no by shaking her head then says, "Anything will work."

 

Jon gets up, leans over and kisses her and says, "I'll be right back."

 

She nods as he walks off to get her the things that she wants and whatever he thinks she may need.  He did find her purse in the corner of the bedroom, empty.  His best guess is that Dalton had thrown it.  He gathers the contents close to the purse and puts them in it.  He's not been to her house in a very long time and hopes that she's kept things the way that they were, making it easier for him to find the things that she may want.

In her walk in closet, he flips on the light and sees that her wardrobe has expanded.  Her closet is spotless and the most organized he has ever seen.  Knowing her behavior the way that he does, he grabs one of her over night bags and starts to fill it with clothes.  A couple pairs of jeans, a couple pairs of yoga pants and some shorts.  On top of all that he adds shirts that make outfits and casual and dress shoes.  When he's done in there, he goes to the tall dresser and takes out some panties, bras and socks.  The bag is full and so are his hands.  He takes it all out to Beth and asks her, "What do you need from your bathroom?"

"I guess just my travel bag.  It should be in the closet in there."  she says with no confidence.  "I should have put it in there.  The one you bought me for Christmas."  Jon looks at her like, Is that all?  "And my Xanax, please."

"Xanax?"  Jon didn't like the sound of that.  "How long have you been taking that?"

She takes a deep breath and exhales with force, her anxiety is mounting.  "The doctor gave me the script two weeks ago.  I was having trouble sleeping, my mind doesn't stop at night."

He knows that's a conversation to have at another time.  He's not going to get on her about putting that stuff into her body.  She knows how he feels about it and right now, neither one gave a damn about it.

"Okay, I'll grab your bag and your Xanax.  Anything else?"

She shakes her head no and directs her attention to her purse.  She sees that all of the contents are out of place and wonders what Dalton would have done with her purse?  She takes a minute and puts everything where it's supposed to be.  She made sure that her cards, license and cash were still in her wallet, and it was all there.

Jon reappears with the rest of the things that she's requested.  They turn everything off and make sure the house is secure and leave.  She thinks to herself that she will never step foot in that house again.

The ride to Richie's was quiet.  Beth looked out the passenger window most of the time, but on occasion she could see Jon looking at her, out of the corner of her eye. She's wondering what he's thinking.  How he feels.  She has to know.  She looks at him, as she takes his hand off the shifter, "How are you doing?" 

Jon looks at her, smiles and says, "I don't know.  How are you doing?"

 

"What are your thoughts?  Talk to me?" she squeezes his hand. 

 

"I have way too many thoughts to answer that question."

 

"Come on Jon, what's going on up there?" she asks, almost afraid of the answer.  She  knows him well enough to know that most of his thoughts right now aren't very good ones, but neither are hers.

 

"I want him dead." he looks away.  "I want him to suffer a long and agonizing death."

 

"What else?" she tries t get him to talk, she needs him to talk.  "What else are you thinking?"

 

"Babe, I don't think that you really want to know, or need know right now.  My thoughts are coming from a very dark place and you know that's not me."

 

"I have some pretty dark thoughts too.  Just talk to me then.  I need to talk."

 

He hears that and pulls over to the side of the road.  Turning in his seat to face her, "Baby, what do you want to talk about?  We can talk about anything you want."

 

"I want you to talk to me like you did this morning." she starts to cry.  This morning was a whole different life than what they have now.  This morning she made love with him before she flew home.  This morning they had coffee on the riverbank.  This morning they had breakfast with family that included laughter and love.  This morning they were so in love, now they have a big brick wall between them.

 

He reaches for her and pulls her closer, "This morning seems like a lifetime ago."  He kisses her lips, paying close attention to the one that was split.  He kisses her several times and then kisses the owie and says, "I love you."

 

She smiles and says, "I love you, too!"

 

"Are you ready to go to Richie's and take care of what we need to?" referring to calling the police and having Dalton taken care of. 

 

"I am.  I want to start dealing with this instead of not."

 

They arrive at Richie's and are greeted by the big and bright smile that Ava gives as she says, "Hi Jon, hi Beth."  She's jumping around like a cheerleader, loving the fact that the Sambora's have company.  Jon and Beth walk in and find Richie. 

 

Richie is in the kitchen with Wanda putting the groceries away that he had her go buy before they arrived at Casa Sambora.  He sees them and says, "Hey guys, come in, come in.  Can we get you anything?"  Richie seems just as happy as Ava does that they have company.

 

"I'm good." says Beth, to the offering. 

 

"I'll have a glass of wine."  Jon replies, thinking that he really needs something to take the edge off.  It's late for him, and he's had a long day.  He's preparing for the long night that lies ahead.

 

Richie grabs a bottle of some wine that he bought while they were in Europe.  The locals raved about it, so he had some shipped home.  Popping the cork, he pours Jon a glass and adds an ice cube, just like Jon like.  Jon takes the glass and thanks him.

 

"Let's go into the living room."  Richie leads the way and they follow. 

 

The chit chat that they tried to make was torture for Beth.  So much in fact that she was getting irritated, partially because she was hungry.  She started to fidget and Jon picked up on that.  "Are you okay?"

 

"No, can we get Richie's neighbor over here, please.  I want to get this done." she snaps at Jon.  "I'm sorry, I just want this over and done with so I can start dealing with it."

 

Jon looks at Richie, "Can you call you neighbor?"

 

Richie springs to his feet and says, "I'll go get him right now."  And he disappears from the room.

 

While they are alone, Jon tells Beth, "I want you to do just what you want to do.  Give him the facts and if it gets to be too much, stop.  We can do it another time.  I don't want you to relive it again."  His arm goes around her shoulder and he pulls her in.  He's careful to not squeeze to tight, but his love just wants to squeeze her so hard she'll feel safe in his arms forever.

 

"Honey, I'll be okay."

 

"That right there is exactly what you don't need to do.  You are a bad ass but this is pretty heavy, you are not okay.  I'm right here if you need me."

 

She rests her head on his shoulder and closes her eyes.  She's thinking about the attack, but it isn't scaring her right now.  She believes it's because Jon is at her side.

 

Richie returns with his next door neighbor, introduces him and Richie excuses himself.  Telling them that he will be in the studio if he's needed.

"I am sorry to have met you under these circumstances.  I have heard so much about the both of you from Richie."

Beth smiles.

Jon asks, "Okay, what do we do?"  He still has Beth in his hold with no intention of letting her go.

"Well, from what I understand, you know your attacker?"

"He's an ex boyfriend."

"A recent ex?'

Jon says, "About three weeks."

"Any idea what precipitated the attack?" he questions?

"He has been humiliated and embarrassed."

"What do you mean?"

"He caught Jon and I together in Greece almost three weeks ago.  I haven't heard from him since, until today." Beth tells him.

The officer asks her, "Okay, what happened today?