Chapter Thirty Five

She walked to the closet and pulled her suitcase out. Damned if she'd stay here and be told what to do. Who did he think he was?? She wasn't ashamed of her feelings for Richie, wasn't ashamed of those articles. Yeah it looked bad, but damn, all ya had to do was give them that they wanted, the truth. There had to be reputable reporters out there somewhere!


And Richie, following along like a little puppy. Well it made sense she guessed, he'd spent over 20 years letting Jon guide the entire sum and being of his existence. Still it rankled a bit, she was an adult, she'd take her chances, why couldn't Richie? was the next album or their sales that important?


She turned and started throwing things into the case, not even bothering to fold them. She knew if she stayed here she'd break down and say something to someone without thinking. Safer to just go home and go back to work no matter how it would kill her. They wanted things to blow over and with her temper and her mouth it might blow up, but never ever over.

Richie walked into the bedroom not expecting what he found; there she was packing things into her suitcase looking as determined as any Bongiovi could be. His heart filled with worry, he couldn’t have her leave on him again, no way.

‘Princess, baby, where are you going?” he asked softly as he placed a hand on her shoulder trying to read whatever was going on in that head of hers.

Her shoulder slumped as a soft sigh signaled her aggravation. "I'm going home. If I do that , I won't be causing problems for you or Jon. Dammit I can't stay cooped up here, I CAN'T, and I can’t sit around all quiet and pretend we dont exist. I'll...."


She turned and looked up into his eyes, "I don't care about a stupid bunch of words in a paper, but its not my job or my living that is in danger from bad press. You have my number, my address.. its just.. well better if I leave now. Jon's got Mom firmly in control.." Her throat tightened making her husky voice even huskier, "I can't... its just better, ya see?"

Richie’s heart slumped, she felt like a caged animal in this environment, and he knew it wasn’t fair to expect her to understand or abide by what he and Jon had for the last twenty years. Just like her father he knew that she hated this; she hated being locked away and kept away from it all.

“Princess, you can’t leave, I won’t allow it. We’re not pretending we’re not together, we still are Darlin, I know it, you know it, and Jon knows I won’t back down, I made that clear to him before” Richie shut her suitcase before she could pack anymore into it.

“Look I know this is really hard for you, and you hate not being in control of this situation, and everything you had has been taken away, but its not like that Ces, it’s not, and I don’t want you to go, I wont handle it if you go away” he said as he made her sit down on the bed and knelt in front of her on the floor taking her hand in his.

She shook her head, "It's not just that, I do have a job to get back to, ya know the thing that pays my bills? Besides, I know how this is gonna go, I can smell it coming. I dunno how I know, I just do. He's gonna tell me to stay in for a while, not be seen at all. I'll go crazy Richie. "

“I wont let him keep you like that forever Ces, I won’t he will have to understand, as he is just like you in that respect. Please, you don’t have to worry about the bills or anything, Jon has taken care of all that. And you cant leave your mom, I know you don’t want to as much as your sense of duty is compelling you to, what’s it going to take for me to convince you?” Richie asked his frown turning into worry.

"You can tell me you didn't just say Jon's taken care of MY responsibilities." She looked at him eyes wide with disbelief. "He didn't take care of things without so much as ASKING me first??"

Richie cringed he didn’t mean to let that one slip, as it was obvious Jon hadn’t told her. "Yeah he's paid your rent and bills for the next year I believe," he said quietly. "You know he only wants to make things easier for you Princess," Richie said still staring up at her blue eyes that were gradually storming over.

She stood and began to pace the room muttering softly to herself as she gathered her thoughts. What else could he take from her? As she turned towards Richie her cell phone rang. Closing her eyes she picked it up and answered. Speaking softly for a few moments, she alternated between shock, amazement and anger. "It's just a stupid .. No its not true.. You.. Oh COME ON!" Flipping the phone closed she hurled it at the wall and bit her lip to keep from screaming.

Plastering a deceptively mild smile on her face she shook her head. "So, he wants to make it easier on me, and by doing that he ripped my independence away, took away my control over things in MY life that should be MY decision. Just fucking peachy. But lets put a bit of frosting on the cake. He's gonna fucking get by with it, cus the school board just fired me. They don’t want MY TYPE teaching. Jesus. So guess you get your wish, I don't have to go home. He gets his fucking wish. When the hell do I get MINE?"

Richie stood up immediately “I am so sorry Ces,” he said as he pulled her into a hug close to his body. “I never wanted any of this to make you so damn unhappy and I know you are,” he said as he stroked her back. “I am so sorry, so sorry he’s taken everything away from you, but it’s what he thinks is best for you. I know that’s the only reason he’s done it all, but he should understand,” Richie said as he tangled his hands in her hair.

“I promise you Ces this will get better, one day I will take you outside into that world and proudly tell them you are mine, proudly tell them that I intend to marry you one day,” he said softly.

“You will get your wish, I promise you, I will make your dreams come true one day princess” he lightly whispered in her ear.

"It's not that I'm unhappy, God Richie out of ALL of this you are the only spot of happy there is. And he coulda talked to me, not turned into a dictator. Hell is he like that all the time?" His last words blistered through her mind at warp speed and hit here like an ancient star going nova. "You intend to do what?"