Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Richie’s flight home was typical. Nothing new happened. When he flew during the day there was usually someone from TMZ or the press to bug him. Must be everyone’s in Nashville covering the awards. The driver took him home and he called Ava, telling her to come home now. Ava wanted to know what the hurry was with her having to return. Richie reminded her it was Sunday, a school night and time to come and relax at home. Upon Ava’s arrival she had a slight teenage attitude. “Didn’t you miss me?” Richie asked her. “Oh please, dad. You were only gone for 2 days this time.” Ava was used to much longer absences during world tours with Bon Jovi. Ava said “since I’m home, lets go do sushi tonight.” Richie said “we can get sushi and bring it home and eat. I don’t really want to go out tonight. Something is on TV I want to watch.” Ava looked surprised “you hate Sunday night TV” She told him. “Well tonight’s different” he said grabbing his car keys. “I want to watch the country awards” he told her. Her pretty blue eyes opened to the size of half dollars. “WHY?” she demanded “because I do, that’s it and that’s all” he felt it really was too soon to tell her about Harley.

While they were out, Richie’s cell phone rang. It was Denise. “Hey darlin’” he answered. “How was your trip?” she asked him. His mind went straight to Harley, “Good, real good and productive. What’s up?” he just figured he’d cut through the chase. “Wanna come by after the girls are asleep for some adult time?” she asked. By now Richie knew “Adult time” was sex, pure straight up fucking. Even though his dick felt a tinge of excitement when she suggested it, he knew all he would see in his mind was Harley while fucking Denise. “I can’t angel. Not tonight. I haven’t seen Ava in a few and I just want to be here if she needs me. But we will get together for something soon, I promise.” he told her. Denise wasn’t stupid. After all these years of being on again or off again with Richie, she knew him pretty well and knew something else was going on. But figured it best not to press him about it tonight.

Ava couldn’t help but notice her dad was acting strange, as soon as they returned from getting their sushi. He didn’t eat. He ran up to his room, into his changing room and put on his shorts and t-shirt. Came back, turned on the television and sprawled out on the couch. Turned his phone to silent and began to eat in front of the TV. She frowned at his actions, not sure what to think.

The show had begun and he thought Brad was doing a great job hosting. Richie couldn’t help but to say to Ava, “honestly, this is better than the Grammy’s and AMA’s combined!”. Ava spun her head around to look at her dad, rolled her eyes, “your seriously starting to worry me, bro.” she said. He stuck his tongue out at her and said “seriously, a lot of that was shit. Don’t get me going on what real music….” he stopped speaking immediately. They showed her! She was sitting in the audience. The announcer said she would be performing soon. Ava had started to speak, but he shushed her to hear. He couldn’t tell what she was wearing. It was a close-up of her face. Her hair was up, but done in such a way, it looked like she’d gotten it cut. Her makeup was perfect. Not too much but definitely an impact. Her eyes glowed. ‘Oh my God’, he thought, his stomach was in absolute knots.

The behind the scenes people at the show came to get Harley and put her in a dressing room. She needed to have her makeup touched up. Thinking of the song she was about to perform, it was a ballad called “When The Lights Go Down”, a very insightful song. The orchestra would be playing with her. Then her mind flashed to him. Why did he keep entering her mind? She certainly had other things to worry about at this moment. Was he watching? Would this be the first time he’s heard her? She said to herself in the mirror ‘make this great’. A knock on the door and a voice “Miss Stewart, your up.”. She hated being called Miss, it grated her very core. She opened the door and smiled, “lets do this”. Walking down the corridor the nerves in her stomach churned. The song she was about to sing filled her with so much emotion. During rehearsals, she had to fight back the tears at a few spots that were relevant to her life. She didn’t want to cry while doing this, but sometimes the music just took over. Harley was standing at the stage entrance with the young man and the producer of the show. Once given the cue, she took a deep breathe and walked out.

Richie sat on the edge of the couch when she walked out. Nervous for her. She wore a floor length, sequenced gown, charcoal colored, with spaghetti straps. She was stunning, beyond all expression. Her skin shimmered and her breasts, well they were just perfect. The band began to play the intro and Harley began to sing. “When the lights go down” she sang. Richie felt his heart race. He got very warm, his breathe quickened. Her voice pierced his soul. Trying to concentrate and memorize each word and sound she made. Harley kept going, looking at her eyes, it was like she was singing about herself. “When you feel that hole inside your soul, wonder what your made of, well, we all find out, when the lights go down”. ‘damn’, he thought. She was beyond sexy. In all his wildest dreams, he never expected this. To feel this way. This verse was heavy. He could see the emmotion in her eyes. “as I lay there alone in this big empty bed, nothing but thoughts of you in my head, I think of the things I wish I had said, when you were still around” her voice got more powerful. Sucking him in. She was an angel. He could feel her. Her sadness. Feeling a lump in his throat. Richie hadn’t felt this way since Heather and look how that ended. He needed to keep his cool, but all he wanted to do is get on yet another plane and go to her. Hold her, kiss her, touch her perfect silk skin and make love to her sweet body. He got upset at himself for feeling all this. Ava had given up and gone up to bed without so much as a goodnight. He was relieved that she had. Not wanting her to see him this way. This woman wasn’t going to do to him what Heather did, that’s for sure. He wouldn’t allow that hurt again. It nearly destroyed him. Feeling very angry, yet aroused for obvious reasons. He grabbed his phone and called Denise.