Friday, April 29, 2016

Chapter 115

“Oh daddy, I trusted him.”  She started to cry.

“But you knew he did this drug and you still went out with him Stephie?”  Jon said as he walked into his dressing room.

“Daddy we’ve been together for years, I knew him when we lived in Redbank. It was always just smoking a joint, this was all new to me.”  The tears were drying up and she started to get on the defensive.

“A joint or two, Steph this is more than a few joints, this was heroin and based on what that shits lawyer says, you got him into heroin.”  Jon repeated what the lawyer had reported.

“Daddy believe me I had one pill, and he must have put more in my beer.  I had told him I would only do one, since it was my first time.”  Stephanie told him.

“First time, Stephanie Rose, how many times have I told you that it only takes one to kill you, even Lexie has told you about drugs?”  Jon tried not to let his anger take over the call. But she doesn’t seem to understand that drugs could have killed her, and if she had any of the Bongiovi luck she wasn’t going to be kicked out of school.

“I can see that now, I’ll never do it again, I promise daddy.”  Stephanie told Jon.  Almost dying opened her eyes to how fragile life was.

“Don’t promise Steph, I’ll keep you to that promise.”  Jon told his daughter.  “I got to go to the arena, I’ll be home as soon as we can so I can be there when you go before the Dean.”


Stephanie was shocked at how her father was talking to her.  The kid gloves were off and all hell was about to break loose when he got home.

“Not to do drugs, I’ll never try them again, I promise daddy.” She tried not to anger him anymore.  “Mommy Lexie has me on lock down and I broke up with Ryan.”

They hung up with love yous, Stephanie took a deep breath, and this was an easy call. Once her dad got home she would be doing a lot of babysitting as she will be grounded to the max.


Jon had slept through most of the flight, the closer to home he got, the more worried he because of what he was walking into.  He and Lexie had talked all the way to the flight taking off.  They would make a unified front, he on the talk show circuit and her though her writers circuit.  He looked out the window at the clouds parting as they flew into Philly, his heart rate upped as the flight attendant asked them to prepare to land soon.

Matt put the papers up he had been working on, got a juice for Jon and a coffee. 

“You get some sleep?”  Matt handed him the coffee and the juice.

“Some, not enough, but once I get home and though the meeting with the Dean, I can crash and burn.”  He sipped the coffee and handed the juice back to Matt. “I was thinking about rehab in California, the second one Richie was in that helped him, I’ve looked into putting her there.”

“I read a lot of bad ones from the one in Utah.  Bad reviews, but I’m still looking. I want her clean.”  Jon put his seatbelt and pulled out his phone and showed Matt the one he found.

Matt told him he would look into it once he hit his house then call him with the news.

They exited and went into Customs and right out to the driver that would take them to the heliport, he was waiting for them.  Jon climbed into the helicopter and Matt got up with the driver and soon they were winging to the Heliport at Teterboro.  One more hour and he would be home.  Jon leaned his head back and closed his eyes, home he was on the way home.

Touch down and the car was waiting on him, Jon grabbed his go bag, he and Matt jogged to the car and they were on the way to his house

“Have him take us to the back.” Jon saw photographers out front and the back would be quieter and safer.  “How do they know, the band is just now loading to come home.”

Punching the key code into the back door, he waited for Matt to drive off before going in.  Taking the steps two by two he made it to the landing and hit the pass code for the door and walked in.  The house was quiet, he went into the kitchen and checked on the four legged family members and then dropped his bag outside the Trio’s room, checking each of the beds and touching fingers and tucking them in.

“Welcome home Mr. Jon” Sally whispered. 

“Thanks Sally, didn’t mean to wake you up.”  Jon whispered.

“It’s ok, I thought I heard Lexie coming in to check. Livie has a cold and she isn’t sleeping too well.” Sally told him.  We were going to move her into the office so the other two didn’t get it.”

“Go back to sleep Sally, these three will have you up soon.”  Jon left the room and picked up his bag. Checking on his other kids, finding them all where they should be. He finally made it to his and Lexie room.  Quietly walking in and dropped his bag in the closet, skimmed out of his jeans and shirt and headed to the bed.  Slipping in he cuddled up to Lexie. Taking in a deep breath, taking in the sweetness of her lotion she used at night and the smell of her shampoo.

“Welcome home Rockstar.”  Lexie sighed. Feeling him relax behind her, she smiled. It was so good he was home, and that he would be there for the last meeting.  She felt his breath on her next and shivered a little. Knowing the alarm would be going off soon, she let him just hold her till he relaxed and fell back asleep.

Jon rolled over and noticed the bed was empty, stretching he listened to the noises in the house. Kids getting ready for school, one of the trio was not happy and his wife trying to keep them all quiet for him to sleep.  How he missed this being on the road.  Getting out of bed he scratched his chest and yawned.  Pulling on his discarded jeans and a tee shirt he went to greet his family.

The first thing that hit him was the smell of coffee, then bacon.  Walking into the kitchen, where he thought he would find his wife, instead he found his little brother frying bacon.

“I see you’ve been domesticated.”  Jon teased Tony.

“Yeah, I sort of help out when I can.  Now that you’re home I can head to mom and dads.”  He took the last of the bacon out of the pan and started cracking eggs.  “Cullen is into everything and the puppies are his main target when he’s down here.”

It dawned on Jon how much he’s missed listening to Tony.  They weren’t due to go out on tour till after the holidays, but he would have to do damage control over this over dose problem.  He could hit all the New York talk shows and he might have to go to Los Angeles to hit the late night shows. 

“Hey Dad, welcome home.”  Jesse said as he came into the kitchen.

He was followed by Jacob and Romeo, who were excited to see their dad.  He heard all about what had been going on at school and sports.  Jesse hooked up Snowball and put the puppies in a carry bag and took them out for their morning romp.

Lexie came in with Cullen and put him in the high chair.

“Good morning Rockstar.”  She got the tray clicked in and turned to look at Jon. “Look Cull there’s daddy.”

Cullen smiled at Jon and made noises that might have been daddy or momma it was still garbled.  Sally came in with Olivia and Maddie, who squealed out for their daddy, which made Jon smile.  Lexie cut up a banana and put a third on each try while Sally got sippy cups for them.  More banana was smashed on their face as got into their mouths.

“Okay boys, you got twenty minutes to get down for the bus.”  Lexie finally got her cup of coffee and some bacon.  Sipping her coffee she looked up at Jon.  “You ready for the day?”

“As I ever will be, I got Matt setting up some talk shows, I might have to go to LA for a week.  Martin coming by before we go?” Jon got up for another cup of coffee and snagged some bacon and put it between a slice of bread.

“Martin will be here at ten and we leave at twelve to head to Hamilton.”  Lexie told him and she got another cup of coffee.  She put her cup down and turned Jon to face her.  “I missed you.”  She leaned in and gave him a kiss.

Jon leaned into the kiss and put his hands on her hips and pulled her in closer. Just about then they heard the kids coming down for school.

“Take the boys out for the bus, I need to help get these three cleaned up and I need a shower.”  Lexie stayed snuggled in his arms for a little while longer.

“Save room for me in that shower.” Jon said with a smile.

“Always.”  Lexie stepped away.


Thursday, April 21, 2016

Chapter 114

The doctor informed them, that Stephanie would be discharged tomorrow. Martin would meet them at the house to bring them up to speed.    Jon on the other hand would be home four days later and he wasn’t too happy about that idea. He wanted to be there when Martin was there to let them know what was going to happen. 

Stephanie was up in her room, while Lexie and Tony were in the living room when the door opened and Jesse, Jacob and Romeo rushed in. They stopped in their tracks, shocked to see their mom and their Uncle Tony, dropping books and book bags on the hall table.

“Hey Guys, snacks are on the counter, I picked up some goodies on the way home.”  Lexie told them from her cocoon on the end of the sofa.

“Hey Uncle Tone, you gonna be here for dinner?”  Romeo asked his favorite uncle.

“I’ll be here till your dad comes in. We have to go back to the college on Monday, and your dad will be home on Tuesday.  I’ll be heading back to California for a while, but I’m always a call away, right Ro?”  Tony hugged Romeo and made sure Lexie understood that the last part was for her too.

Lexie nodded her head and watched the boys head off to the kitchen for snacks.

“Thanks Tone, you’re the best little brother I could ever ask for.”  She uncurled from the sofa and got up to hug her brother in law.

“Make sure you say that in front of Matty.” Tony chuckled.

“Will do.”  Lexie laughed.

“Is there any juice?”  Stephanie asked coming down in her pajamas.

Lexie stepped around Tony and watched her step daughter, no she’s my daughter, bought and paid for.

“We have about four kinds, there’re also snacks.  The boys just got home and they’re in there raiding the fridge.”  Lexie smiled and watched her go into the kitchen.  When she heard the boys and then her laugh, Lexie sighed.

“Everything’s gonna be fine Lex, you got to believe it.”  Tony said softly.

“Yeah, I know.” She turned to him.  “It’s got to be, we have six other kids to raise.”

Martin showed up the next day, and it didn’t look good.  Drug possession, expulsion, and rehab were a few words thrown around.  Jon didn’t like not being there, but speaker phone was the closest thing for him right now. Two more days and he would be home, and he would do what needed to be done.  Lexie and Martin would go to the college with Stephanie and be with her when she appears before the student court and when she had to go before the Dean. Martin had made sure any court dates would happen when he was home.

The press finally found someone else to harass for a while, but he knew that once he got home he would have to make the rounds of talk shows.  He would make plans to take the family to the Hamptons on fall break, then he was taking Lexie to London.

Matt stopped at the hotel bar and grabbed a beer, spreading out the itinerary for the next two days.  He got the last two seats in first class from London to Philly, then chopper to Kennedy, driver to the house.  They would drive up to the college themselves.  There they better keep that little shit of a boyfriend away from Jonny, and maybe I could get Uncle Guido to take him on a long walk off a short pier.

He ignored his cell for about an hour’s worth of calls from his big brother. Speaking about him, he just about made him pull what little was left of his hair out.  Downing the dredges of his beer, he pulled all the paperwork back into the folder and headed out the bar and to the elevator.

Jon was on his second lap of twenty around the suite when he heard the key in the lock.

“About fucking time.”  Jon mumbled as Matt came in and sat the folder down on the table.

“I just got off the phone and waited for the fax to come through. Contrary to your beliefs, things don’t just happen when you snap your fingers, it takes a little bit of time.”  Matt walked over to the mini bar and pulled out a bottle of water.

“But you got it done.”  Jon walked over and started riffling through the file on the table.

“Damn it Jonny don’t mess up the whole damn folder. Give me a fucking second to swallow some damn aspirin for this Bon Fucking Jovi headache I got.” He grabbed the folder from Jon and tried to put it all back together.

“Fuck it Matt, this is my daughter’s life and I’m in fucking London.”  Jon slammed his hand on the table, then regretted it as the pain rain up his arm to his shoulder.

“That’s it asshole, break you fucking hand before the last shows.”  Matt sat down at the table and began to put the papers back in order. “We leave right after the last number, so no multiple encores or will never make the flight.”

Jon sat down and rubbed his hand under the table.

“Okay one encore and I’m out, we can do Prayer and I can leave, quick run through the shower and out the door.”  Jon grabbed his cell and made a quick change to the set list for tonight’s show.

“Do you really need a shower? We can wipe you down with diaper wipes in the limo.”  Matt gave him a look that said no shower.

“I’m not flying home a stinking mess.” Jon gasped.

“We’ll hose you down with water once you get off the stage, then dry you off and dump you in the limo.”  Matt tried to state it with a straight face.  “I can arrange for you to shower at the airport.  We have two hours to get from here to the airport shower and board the flight.”

“Okay shower at airport and then sleep across the Atlantic to Philly, Chopper to Kennedy, finally car to home.”

Knock on the door got Matt up and to the door, it was the pre-show meeting. They all came in, hit the bar and dropped their notebooks on the table.

“Okay Kidd, what’s the news from home.”  Richie flipped to an empty page in his tour book.

“Steph’s home, the lawyer came by to take her to the student court, they send the recommendations to the Dean.”  Jon told Richie.  “The police will not prosecute since she is a first time offender and something about charges being dropped due to a local law that prohibits prosecution of people who have a drug overdose.  Now the college could suspend her or kick her out.”

“So that’s good, the not prosecuting her?”  David said as he took the top off his water bottle.

“Yeah, that’s good.  I just can’t believe we didn’t see this coming.”  Jon ran his hands through his hair.  “Pot I could understand, thought we had nipped that bud, but heroin, what was she thinking?”

“She wasn’t, you said her boyfriend gave it to her.”  Richie told him.

“He gave her more than she took herself.”  Jon told him.  “Enough about this, I’ll deal with it when I get home.”

They went over the set list for the next two nights. Jon told them he was leaving after the last show, one encore.

They left to go eat and then head to the arena, Jon called home.


“Hey Rockstar, on the way to work?”  Lexie said as she adjusted her laptop over and looked over at Stephanie who was reading on her tablet.

“Yeah, one more show, I wanted to send you the flight times.  I’ll have Matt fax it to you when we get there.”  Jon said as the streets of London rushed past.

“Good, you want to talk to Steph?  She’s right here,” She looked up at Stephanie, who had a shocked look on her face. “Steph, your dad wants to talk to you.”  Lexie got up and took the phone over to her.  Once she took it, Lexie left the room to go check on the kids.

“Hi Daddy.”  Stephanie said as she felt tears stinging the back of her eyelids.

“Hey, baby girl.”  Jon said softly.  “Are you okay?”