Chapter 62 - Micro Not So Soft?

 

 

 

Headline News: Jon Bon Jovi breaks contract with Microsoft, the technology giant considers suing for breach of contract. Jon hears that as Beth turns the television on in their hotel room. It stops him dead in his tracks, and he listens. 

 

 

With each word, he get angrier but just laughs it off. He knows that he breached nothing, he was hired to do a 90 minute show and that’s exactly what he did. A set list or agreed on songs was NOT part of what his management team signed. Jon takes the remote from Beth and sits next to her. She’s on the settee in their room, slipping her shoes off . “I’m sorry you had to see me like that.”

“Like what?’

“How I was before the show.” he rests his head on her shoulder, “I’m tired, I’m tired of it all.”

“What do you mean? Tired of all of what?” she asks, rubbing his leg and kissing his head. “Talk to me babe.”

He sits there quiet for what felt like a life time to Beth, she was worried about him. Jon Bon Jovi never gives in, never gives up. “This deal with Microsoft was what I needed I guess? I mean, when I seen that none of our riders were met, I snapped. Something inside me said, I do all that’s asked of me and then some, I’m a good man, you’re a great woman why are we so plagued with heartache and despair?”

“Go on.”

“We do good work, we give to our community, we are involved with a million different things, why does complete happiness elude us?”

“Do you really think that it does?”

He lifts his head from her shoulder and looks to her, “Are you happily whole?”

“What does that even mean?” she asks him, never hearing happiness referred to that way. Where was all of this coming from?

“I’m who I am due to hard work and determination. I busted my ass all of these years and for a company like Microsoft to do what they did really makes me question it all.”

“What they did wasn’t really all THAT bad Jon. I know what you mean and I agree with you, but it was food and a toilet seat.”

“NO it wasn’t, it was more that that. It was the blatant disregard to a couple of small demands. It was a spit in the face, like who the fuck is Bon Jovi?” He gets up, throwing his arms in the air, “We are just the biggest fucking rock band in the world and Microsoft thought that treating us that was would be acceptable?” He walks to the window and looks out over Atlanta, “Maybe it’s time to retire?”

“What?” She jump to her feet and goes to him at the window, grabbing his arm she turns him to look at her, “You need to tell me what’s going on, right now. You’re scaring me.”

“Scaring you? How in the hell am I scaring you?”

Beth steps into him, “You’re talking craziness, what’s going on? This really can’t be about Microsoft, what else is going on?”

Jon reaches out and pulls her to him, holding her he kisses the top of her head and starts to cry. Her arms go around his waist and she holds him, “Honey, talk to me, please.” Beth begs him, pleads with him. “Don’t shut me out, tell me what’s happening.”

They are interrupted by a knock at the door,. Jon simply yells, “Go away!’ but the door opened. It was Richie, concerned about Jon and what had happened at Microsoft. As stated, Richie isn’t religious - but he does believe in the spiritual world and that sometimes that world gives us answers that we may seek somewhere else. Jon sees that it’s Richie and just turns his head and faces away from him.

Richie looks at Beth and she can only give an expression that says she has no idea about what’s going on with Jon.

Standing with them at the window, overlooking Atlanta Richie looks at his best friend and says, “I know you have some demons that you’re fighting right now, and I’m not going to hound you to tell me about them or even talk about it, but I want you to know that I am here for you should you ever want to talk, or need to talk.”

Jon nods to Richie, giving him the silent thank you. Richie can see that Jon has been crying and he can also see that Beth has never had to deal with Jon on a level this dark for him. They have had their darkness as a couple, but this is a demon, an issue that Jon is making just Jon’s. Richie has only seen it once before, and that was when they buried his best friend’s baby girls. Jon mumbles, “I know man. Thank you.”

Richie leans in and kisses Beth on the cheek and tells her the same thing. “I am right down the hall if you need me. I see that you have this under control,” he winks at her, “He’ll talk when he’s ready. Don’t give up on him.”

“Never.” she says without hesitation. “Thanks Richie.” She wanted to hug him for reaching out to them, but her arms are full with Jon and she wasn’t letting him go - not until he wanted to be let go.

Richie leaves and the two of them stand there, in silence. Beth can hear that Jon has stopped crying, but she can feel that his heart is still beating fast. She’s dying to know what’s going on in his head, but she’s not going to push him. Pushing him may make him withdraw even more and she would die if that happened. They have reached a point to where she thought they could talk to each other about everything, but in the last couple of days something has happened that she doesn’t know about. Or if she knows about it, she didn’t know that it’s affected Jon like it has. She runs it all through her mind and wonders, Is this about Dot’s dad? Did something happen between him and Dot that he’s feeling guilty about.? Beth knows that letting her mind run crazy will give her anxiety, so she needs to mentally stay with Jon right now.

“What can I do for you honey?” Beth whispers to Jon. She can feel his hold on her get tight again.

“Just keep doing what you’re doing.” he replies to her, feeling her grip get tighter on him. “Just keep loving me and never let me go.”

That raised a red flag for Beth, her heart skipped many beats and it even shortened a breath. “I promise.” she tells him, freaking out inside. What has impacted him like this that he feels he can’t share with her yet? Why is there a wall between them that just manifested only a few hours ago?

After a few more minutes, Jon loosens his hold on her and asks, “Are you hungry?”

“Food is the last thing I’m thinking about.”

He kind of laughs at her, “Well, I’m Italian - we always think about food. Food fixes everything. Someone dies, let’s eat. Someone gets divorced, let’s eat. Someone has a baby, let’s eat. Food fixes everything baby cakes.” he smacks her on the ass. “You need to eat.” He tells her.

Beth stands at the windows, unsure what to say or even what to do. Jon walks over to his bag and takes out his cell phone. Looking at it, he sees emails and texts from people on his payroll that think he has lost his mind too. He was all over the news, being accused of breaching a contract and needs to do something to set the record straight - or so they all thought. Jon knows what Jon did, and what the outside world thought about it, didn’t matter to him.