Chapter 5 - The Right Side of Wrong

 

 

Beth wakes up and looks at the time on the cable box.  It's 3:30 in the afternoon, it has to be, the sun is out - she thinks to herself.  She looks over at the rock star that is snoring next to her and laughs. 

 

She lays there for a minute, not wanting to wake him up, but the urge to pee was too strong.  She wiggled her way out from underneath him and made her way to the bathroom.  She went pee, washed her hands and face and brushed her teeth.  When she left the bathroom, she walked over to the window and closed the drapes the rest of the way, making it darker and easier for Jon to get the sleep that he needs.  Once she's done in the room, she heads out toward the kitchen.  Her body, that's dressed in boxer shorts and a Bon Jovi t-shirt, wants coffee.  And it wants a lot of coffee. 

Walking down the long hallway that connects to the living room, Beth loves what Richie has done with the whole house.  She picks up that gypsy vibe again, and kind of drags her feet to the kitchen. 

 

There are pictures of everyone that has ever meant anything to him hanging on the walls and framed on the furniture.  There's one of him and Cher.  That makes Beth laugh, not knowing that they had history.  She works her way to the smells and the sounds that are the Sambora's.  She finds Richie in the kitchen with Ava.  Ava is dressed in her cute school uniform, sitting at the counter while her daddy makes her an after school snack. 

"Hi guys." Beth says first, with a smile on her face.  Ava looks at her, and then looks at her dad really fast. 

"Hey gorgeous, how did you sleep?" Richie asks Beth, handing Ava a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, with the crust cut off.

Beth sits down next to Ava, "That smells good."

"I'll make you one."  Richie says, and then he addresses Ava's apprehension about Beth.  "Ava, Beth had a bad thing happen to her yesterday, you know that.  But what you see" referring to her black and blue face and still cracked lip, "is what the bruises look like as they get older." 

"Do they hurt?"  Ava asks Beth, with a little shyness in her voice.

Beth reaches up and touches her face and shakes her head.  "No not really, they're just a little tender.  They look worse than they feel."

"What happened?"  Ava asks, with all of the innocence of the world.  Beth looks at Richie, she needed guidance on this one.  She needed Richie to step in here.

 

Richie handed Beth a big mug of coffee and rested his elbows on the counter.  He looked at his daughter and said, "A bad man did that to her, and he's going to be punished."

 

"Why did he do it?"

 

Richie comes around to the side that Ava is on and sits with her in her chair.  "Sometimes people do hurtful things to others for no good reason at all.  But the police are looking for him.  He will get caught and put in jail."

 

"Is Beth going to be okay?" she gives her daddy a puppy dog look. 

 

He tousles his daughters hair and says, "Beth has all of us, we will make sure that she's okay."  That made Ava feel better, specially since it came from her dad. 

 

"Can I take my sandwich in my room, daddy?"

 

Richie nods and off she goes, but not before she hugs Beth.  "I hope you feel better Beth."  Beth hugs her back and says, "I feel better already Ava, thank you for the hug sweetie."  And she disappears.

 

Richie is sitting next to Beth. "Is Jon sleeping?"

 

As she sips her coffee, she nods her head yes.

 

"Good.  He was out here until about 1:00.  I kept telling him he needed to get some sleep, but he just kept talking." 

 

"Talking?  About what?" she questions.  That Xanax must have wiped her out.  She doesn't recall him leaving the bed.

 

"He's really worried about you."

 

"In what aspect?"

 

Richie wrings his hands and starts with, "This is some pretty heavy shit that happened to you and you seem to be handling it better than we thought that you might?  I thought you would be a mess, but you seem to be 'on top of your emotions'.  You don't have to be a hard ass all the time, we're here for you.  We all are!"

 

Beth takes in what he just said and feels that she needs to respond to that.  "I hide it well, and will continue until the asshole gets caught.  Once I know he can't hurt me again, I'll let my guard down."

 

Richie takes her hand and informs her, "Dalton was arrested this morning going through your house and destroying your things.  Captain called me about 11:00 and told me."

 

"Are you fucking kidding me?" she can feel her heart racing and she cracked a smiles.  "Why didn't you guys wake me up?  Jon knows??"

 

"Jon knows."

 

Beth sat back in her chair and propped her knees against the counter top.  Her coffee now has never tasted so good.  She looks out the wall of windows and feels a little tiny spot of her self worth, her self respect and he broken heart heal just a little bit.  She was sure that Dalton had left the country and that he would never be brought to justice.

Beth sits there and enjoys her middle of the day coffee with Richie.  She was 3 cups into her day when she can hear Jon coming.  He says something to the dog, but Beth couldn't make out what it was.  He walks up behind her and wraps his arms around her, "What are you doing up?" he asks her.

"Want some coffee?" Richie asks Jon as he gets up from the chair that was next to Beth, giving it to Jon.

"That'd be great." Jon replies.

"What are you doing up?  I hear you didn't go to bed until 1:00." she gives him a look over her mug. 

"I couldn't sleep." he admits, and I'm glad I couldn't.  Did Richie give you the good news?"

"That the asshole was caught trashing my house, yeah he told me.  Isn't that great!!"

Richie hands Jon a cup off coffee and tells them that he'll be in his studio if they need him.  And he excused himself. 

"Do you want to go home today?" he wonders, she seems pretty relaxed at Richie's; he can only imagine that being home with the kids will feel even better for her.

"I do.  I want to get on with life, as soon as possible." turning in her chair and putting her feet on his lap.  "Do you want to go home today."

He nods his head, "Yes"

"Then let's go home." he rubs her feet with one hand and drinks his coffee with the other.  When he remembers, "Did Richie tell you that Tony is going to your house to make sure it's okay and then he'll lock it all up."

"No he didn't."

Jon looks at his watch and says, "He's probably been there already.  I didn't think that you wanted to go there."

"If it's all locked up and there isn't anything like busted pipes causing damage, I'm good.  I'll get back here sometime."

"There isn't anything you want to get before we go?"

"No."

Jon and Beth finish their coffee and get cleaned up to go.  Before they finished with their coffee, Richie left with Ava.  She had cheer leading practice.  When they were ready to go, they got in the car that they called and headed toward LAX - Executive Airport. 

They get into LAX in pretty good time.  Jon made mention that they had over an hour before they could leave, his flight plan was for much later in the day.  He didn't think that she would bounce up and get ready.  As they walked into the airport, hand in hand, Beth stops dead in her tracks, and that scares Jon.

Looking at her, "What's wrong?"

"Spencer and Rowan's things.....Jon I have to go get those." she has the look of panic on her face.  "What if he found that stuff?"  she goes white.

"Okay, let's go get it."  Taking her hand, he turns her around and they head out front of the executive airport, thankfully the car they were in is still there.  Climbing into the back seat, Jon tells the driver the address and then he digs out his phone.  He called his pilot and asked him to change the flight plan back to New Jersey to a later time. When he was done with his business, they sat back and made the ride to her house in silence.  Her stomach was flipping, she's certain that Dalton found all of that stuff and destroyed it.