Chapter Forty-Nine

To:     The Girls
From: Q
Re:     You’re Not Gonna Believe This Shit…

Holy crap girls, I’m sitting in the empty arena watching/listening to the guys run through their sound check.  How crazy is this?   Richie ripped up my ticket for the show tonight and nonchalantly hung an all access pass around my neck and told me it’s good for any show I want to see this tour.

I’m still shaking my head in disbelief.

*sigh*

Wish you all were here.

Hugs,

Q

~

Sitting on a couch in the curtained off area backstage, Stephanie did her best to not get in anyone’s way.  Jon was sitting alone on the big blue couch working on the night’s set list, the television was on but no one was paying attention to it.  She shook her head at the tackiness of the bling-ed out skull that was sitting on the table where Jon was working.  Tico was using his hand-held massager to warm up his arms, David was perusing the food table and Richie was chatting with Paul Korzilius.

It was all so surreal.

She closed her eyes trying to commit everything to memory and a long shadow fell over her.  She opened her eyes to find Richie standing in front of her.

“Are we boring you, sweetheart?”  The way she was curled up in the corner of the couch with her eyes closed, he thought for sure she had fallen asleep.  “I know it’s not as exciting back here as it used to be, but we’re old men now.”

She chuckled and shook her head.  “Not in the least.  I’m trying to memorize everything.  I don’t want to forget anything when I tell my friends about this later.”  She chewed on her lower lip, “is it okay to tell them?”

He held out his hand and pulled her up from her seat.  “You can tell them anything you want, sweetheart.”  They were long past there being anything incriminating backstage.  If she wanted to share the experience with her friends, so be it.

She grinned as she followed behind him.  “Thanks.  Where are you taking me?”

He stopped at the food table.  “I’m hungry, how about you?”

She looked at the table and her stomach grumbled.   She realized then that she hadn’t eaten since breakfast.  “I could eat.”

Together they made plates and went back to the couch she had been sitting on to eat.  Before she knew it, it was show time.

Richie walked her to where Paul was standing near the gap in the curtain and dropped a kiss on her lips.  “See you after the show.  Have fun.”

In her excitement she gave him a loud smacking kiss, “thank you, hon.” She turned to follow Paul and out and then turned back, “Rich?”

His heart did a slow roll in his chest at how uninhibited she seemed to be tonight and he couldn’t help but smile at her use of the endearment. It was the first time she’d called him anything other than his given name.  Tonight was going to be good night.  “Yeah, sweetheart?”

She smiled tenderly, “have a great show.”

Paul led her out to the side of the stage.  She had an unimpeded view of Richie and all across the stage.  She held her breath waiting.  Bouncing, trembling with anticipation.

And then there they were in the dark, Richie slipping the guitar over his head, Tico sneaking onto the drum riser, David taking his place at the keys, Hugh strapping on his bass.  And before she could blink, there were the opening bars of Last Man Standing and Jon bigger than life center stage.

She raised her camera and snapped a flurry of pictures, then let the camera dangle forgotten from her wrist as she got lost in the one thing that had no memories of Mark or Ben attached.  This music, was hers.  Mark had liked the band well enough, but not to degree that she had.  All her memories, save two, were linked with her girlfriends.  Every show, every song, every tried and true line from Jon’s mouth belonged to her and her friends.  Here, there was no grief, no sadness.  Here, she knew nothing but joy and happiness.

Here, this band, their music, filled her soul and all the broken pieces inside her started to mend.

And Richie.  

He played with such fierce, unbridled passion that it couldn’t be contained. Emotion contorted his face to a myriad of expressions as his fingers flew across the strings.  She chuckled to herself.  She’d seen his million faces and had rocked them all.

Her heart swelled and what she had been feeling since the night before bloomed bigger in her chest.  She was his.  He was hers, whatever.  The man who at this very moment was absolutely killing it through the solo in Dry County was hers.  She stared at him, her hand pressed to her chest, trying to keep her heart from pounding right out and onto the floor.  

She couldn’t wait for the show to be over.  She needed to touch him, be near him.  Be with him.

~

Taking their final bows, Richie glanced over to the side of the stage.  The spot where she had been standing all night was empty now.  Where did she go?  He bowed with his brothers, waved, blew a kiss and applauded the audience.  They really did have the most awesome fans.

Following the guys off stage, he moved quickly, grabbing a towel and wiping off the sweat as he moved, checking the curtained area first.  She wasn’t there.  His second stop was the ladies’ room.  Covering his eyes with his hand he poked his head in the door, “sweetheart?” When he got no answer he moved on down the hall toward his dressing room.

He barely got the door shut behind him when he had his arms full of his sweet, eager woman.  “Thank God” he murmured between the kisses she was raining down on him.  He framed her face in his hands and pulled her mouth from his.  “I’ve been looking all over for you.”

She met his gaze with hers.  “Sorry.  I came back here to wait for you.”  She pursed her lips, watching him, waiting.

Gently he drew her chin up and met her lips with his own.  He couldn’t deny the hunger in her eyes.  Ideally they should wait until they were back at the hotel, but he didn’t want to. He hadn’t dallied like this back stage in years, but her eagerness and his own need for her mingled with the adrenaline rush had him throwing good sense out the window.  

Maneuvering them, he pressed her back against the door, his hand trailed down her side, pressing against her breast.  He didn’t miss the fact that her nipple was pressing against the palm of his had though the material of her bra and her shirt.  He tweaked it harder than he intended and her hips jerked forward against him. 

“Ri-” the sound was lost as their mouths came together again.

He caught the groan before it could become a shout or a scream.  “Shhh, you need to be quiet” he breathed in her ear.  His hand traveled lower, skimming over the flat of her stomach, his fingers slipping down along the seam, rubbing, teasing her over the heavy denim before walking back up to find the button and zipper.  He slipped his hand inside, found her wet and ready for him.  He’d quickly give her what she wanted now, but later, when they were somewhere infinitely more private, he’d take his time, slowly giving them both what they needed.

Her hands fisted in his shirt as his fingers danced between her thighs, plucking at her clit and stroking her to near insanity.  She grappled with his shirt, pushing it up, her hands racing across his chest, his stomach, his back, anywhere she could touch.  She swiped her tongue across his still sweaty nipple and groaned.  She was right there, if he would just… “Rich… I…” she sucked his nipple into her mouth to stifle the scream as her orgasm consumed her. 

He grunted and pressed her head against his chest, “that’s right sweetheart” he murmured as she rolled her hips against his hand.  “Come for me, come for me.”  He kept his fingers moving in and out, as she rode out her release and slowly started to settle against him.

As the tremors eased, she swirled her tongue around his nipple one last time before releasing him.  Her eyes started to clear and she could see she left a love bite on his chest.  “Sorry.”

He slid his hand from inside her jeans and glanced down, there was definitely going to be a bruise there tomorrow but he didn’t care.  “S’okay.”  He looked back at her, “you all right?”  She was leaning against the door looking slightly hung over.

She smiled at him, “never better.”  She let her eyes roam over him, pausing as they took in the very large bulge just below his belt.  Reaching out, her fingers toyed idly with his belt.  “I can help you with that.”  She licked her lips and looked up coyly at him, “if you want me to.”

He had no idea how much time had passed since he had left the stage and no idea how much time they had before the vans left to go back to the hotel, but when a beautiful woman offers to give you a blow job, you don’t say no.  He didn’t answer, but his hands made quick work of buckle, button and zipper.

She took his non-answer as a yes and slowly pushed his pants to the tops of his thighs.  Any rumor she had ever heard about his size were not lies.  His erection was impressive.  His cock was so hard and heavy that it didn’t curl up to hug his belly.  Once free from his pants, it hung low, waiting, twitching expectantly.  She stroked him lightly from tip to root, her hand sliding down lower to tease his balls which were full and tight.  She looked up at him.  He was leaning over her, his hands braced against the door.  “Maybe we should switch places?”

With him leaning against the door she slowly dropped to her knees, licking her lips as she went.  The broad head was slick, shiny with the drops he couldn’t hold back.  She laved the tip with her tongue, tasting him for the first time before slowly taking him into her mouth.  She eased back, wetting his shaft and head thoroughly before taking him back in again. When she felt his head nudge the back of her throat, she braced her hands on his hips and swallowed.  Then she sucked.  Hard.

Richie closed his eyes and his right hand fisted in her hair.  Fuck, he was gonna come in a minute if she kept that up.  No one had ever accused him of being a minute man before, but fuck she was good at this.  He pumped his hips as she moved along his length, sucking again at the tip.  She took him deep again and someone rattled the door knob and knocked loudly.  He jumped and pressed his hips forward and Stephanie nearly gagged.

“Rich?!  Five minutes man, vans are leaving in five minutes!.”

He looked down at her, she had pulled her mouth from him and was looking up at him.  “Sorry darlin’.  Are you okay?”

She nodded and started again and there was another knock. 

“Rich!”  The door knob rattled again.

She looked up at Richie again, “answer him this time so he leaves us alone.”

“What?!”

Stephanie leaned in, “keep talking” and took him into her mouth again.

“Fuck!”

“Are you all right man?”  Jon was beginning to wonder just what his wingman was up to.  He had left the stage in a hurry and hadn’t been seen since.

“I’m fi-” fuck he was nearly there and didn’t want to shoot his load with Jon standing on the other side of the door talking to him.  “I’m fine man.  I’ll-” he gripped Stephanie’s head with both hands and pumped his hips, he tried to keep his growl quiet as he emptied into Stephanie’s mouth.

Taking a deep breath he slumped back against the door and gave Stephanie a sated smile.  Then he remembered Jon was on the other side of the damn door.  “Jon?”

“Yeah man?  Are you sure you’re all right?

“I’m more than fine.  Get the fuck outta here.  I’ll be along in a minute.”  He heard Jon’s heavy footfalls as he walked away.  He turned his attention to the woman who now stood in front of him.  She looked like a woman who had been thoroughly ravished.  Her lips were full and slightly swollen, her eyes were heavy, her hair mussed and damn did she look good to him.

He took her hands and pulled her in to him, tucking her head under his chin while he continued to catch his breath.

Chapter Forty-Eight

Moonlight slanted through the window and across the long line of her back.  Her hair was spread in a dark wave across the pillow.  Richie traced his fingers lightly up and down, unable to stop touching her.  He couldn’t say he had ever taken an interest in a woman’s back before.  He had always been a boob guy, but the vision of her in that damn gold dress she had worn a month ago had him changing his favored female body part.  His fingers drifted up to toy with a lock of her hair.  Apparently he was no longer partial to blondes either.  

His fingers slid lower again, and around to cup her breast, to tease her nipple.  He marveled at her body’s response to his touch even when she was asleep.  Her nipple puckered and goose bumps blossomed along her skin as he caressed and stroked.  The silvery light of the moon through the window sparkled along her skin and he saw the slight movement even as he felt her hand close over his.

“Richie.”  His name rolled off her lips in  a soft, sleepy whisper.

He dipped his head, pressing his lips to her shoulder.  “Shhh” he replied as his lips roamed across to her neck.

She rolled to face him, their lips met in a tender, heated kiss.  Her hand slid across the warm, broad expanse of his chest.  She levered up on her elbow, her hair spilling to the side and her hand braced on his chest.  “You have so little hair” she murmured as her fingers caressed absently.  Mark had had a chest full that arrowed down and across his belly.  Richie had about ten on his chest and an even sparser amount on his stomach.

He chuckled quietly.  “Does that bother you?”  He tugged her gently, their legs tangling under the sheets until she was draped across him.

She shook her head and pressed her lips to the side of his neck.  “Not in the least.”  She closed her eyes.  This was not the time to be thinking about Mark or making comparisons.  Sliding lower, she pressed her lips to his chest and heard his sharp inhale as her hair slithered along his skin.  “It’s orchids.  Midnight orchid” she said quietly as her tongue found a coppery male nipple.

“Mmmm.  What was that?”  He was sure she had said something but he had no idea what.  Her mouth could be very distracting.

Stephanie picked her head up and looked at him.  “You asked me earlier about my perfume.”

His brows beetled together in a question.

“When you walked in the door, before you kissed me senseless, you asked me what it was.  It’s Midnight Orchid.”

“Oh” he remembered as he pulled her down to him again and kissed her.  “It’s my favorite of all the ones you wear.”

She smiled against his mouth.  “I could tell.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded her head again, “Yeah.  You keep smelling me.”

He nuzzled into her neck and inhaled again.  “I can’t help it.  You smell damned good.”  His hand slid down between them, finding its way between her thighs.  She gasped as those too-talented fingers brought her to the edge of orgasm and then retreated only to end up in his mouth.  “You taste damned good too.”

Their conversation faded and their kisses and touches grew more frenzied.  He pulled her on top of him once more and reached for the night table.  Her hand closed around the foil packet first and, sliding back on his thighs, she rolled the latex down over his more than impressive erection.

Rising up on her knees, she took him in hand and slowly lowered herself onto him.  The size of him hadn’t worried her.  Mark had been a big man too.   It was the feeling of him inside her that brought her the greatest pleasure.  She had never thought she’d feel this sense of completeness again.  Never thought she’d find another man who could mean so much to her again.

Richie curled himself up, wrapping her legs around his waist and holding her on his lap as she gradually took him inside.  His lips trailed down the slim column of her throat, her quiet purrs music to his soul.  He lost his hands in the long fall of hair down her back, lost himself in the one woman who felt more right in his arms than any had before.   

 
Locked together in the middle of the bed in the deep of the night, they rocked together, giving and taking, pushing each other until all they could do was hold on as release slid through her and rolled into him, leaving them sated and satisfied.

~

Pushing at her hair, Stephanie stood and paced to the window.  Richie had left to go work out and meet with Jon and she had been trying to work.  She couldn’t concentrate.  She crossed from the window to the bedroom.  The bed was still rumpled from sleep and sex.  She sat on the edge and picked up a pillow, bringing it to her face.   She could still smell him there.  Holding the pillow she fell back across the bed.  Her feelings were all jumbled and she didn’t know what to do with them. 

How could she possibly feel like this for another man?  Mark was supposed to have been her one and only, wasn’t he?  She stared at the ceiling.  How could she possibly love another man?   She shook her head.  It couldn’t be love.  It was just…she sighed.  She liked Richie, a lot obviously otherwise she never would have slept with him.  The attraction between them had been too strong to ignore, but love him?  No way.  It had to be a serious case of like on her part.  She had given her heart and those three words to one man and vowed “all the days of her life” to love him and just because his life was over didn’t mean her vow ended, did it?

Frustrated at her lack of answers, she sat up and hurled the pillow toward the headboard.  She was going to make herself gray and crazy at this rate.  She needed to set this aside, stop thinking about it for awhile and hit the shower.  Richie was going to be back soon and she wanted to be dressed and ready to go when he did.

The knock on the door came sooner than she expected.  Wearing only her jeans and a burgundy push up bra, she crossed the room to answer the door.  “Hi.”  Her eyes met his and she felt more settled, less confused.  Maybe it would be love after all.

Richie leaned in and bussed her cheek.  “Hi yourself sweetheart.”  He scanned her up and down, “as much as I like what you’re not wearing, you might want to put a shirt on.  It’s cold outside.”  He turned her into his arms, “and in case you didn’t know, I don’t share well with others.” 

She chuckled, “and here I thought this was an appropriate rock concert outfit.  Damn it.”

He laughed.  “For a private concert, absolutely.”  He walked them into the living area.  “I thought you’d be ready to go by now.”

“So did I” she told him as they sat on the couch together.  “I lost track of time after you left.  I just need a few more minutes.”  She pressed her lips to his cheek and stood to head back to the bathroom. 

He followed her.  “Where’s your ticket for tonight?”  He watched as she pulled on her shirt and fixed her hair. 

“It’s in my purse.  Why?”

He held up a finger, “can you get it for me?  I want to see where you’re sitting.”

She dug in her purse and handed the print out to him.  “I told you, it’s a craptastic behind the stage seat.  I hope you’re wearing tight pants tonight.”  She finished up in the bathroom and came out to sit on the edge of the bed to pull her boots on.

He looked from the ticket to her face.  “This is a shitty seat” he told her and then ripped the paper in half. 

“Richie!”   She couldn’t believe he just ripped her ticket in half.  Now what was she going to do?  There were no tickets left for the concert.  She was about to let him have it but he stopped her.

He held up a hand to stop her from yelling at him.  “You deserve a better seat sweetheart.”  And before she could say anything more he pulled something from his pocket and slipped it over her head.  “I know you have a pit ticket for tomorrow night, but for tonight, you won’t have to look at any of our asses.  You can see the show from wherever you want.  Preferably down front so I can see you.”

Trembling fingers lifted the pass and held it up to her eyes.  “Oh my God.”  All the mad went out of her.  She had an all access pass hanging around her neck.  She threw herself into his arms, peppering his face with kisses.  “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

He laughed and kissed her back.  “Your welcome.  If you had told me you wanted to come, you wouldn’t have had to pay money for a ticket you know.”  He stared down into her face, “that goes for any show you might want to come see.”

“But I can afford to buy my own tickets and I really don’t mind.”  She looked at the torn paper where it lay on the floor.  “I’ve actually had worse seats than that and didn’t mind.  At least I was in the building.”

He took her hands and brought them to his lips.  Yep, he was totally in love with this woman.  “As long as we’re together, you don’t have to spend your money to come see me play sweetheart.”  Letting go of one of her hands he picked up the pass, “this is good for the entire tour.  Just don’t lose it.”

She shook her head.  She’d keep it under lock and key.  Right after she took a picture of it so she could show her friends.