29 - Moving Right Along

Tony tossed the last of his gear in the worn, black duffel and zipped it up with a practiced flick of the wrist.  His ass was still dragging a little at ten in the morning, but he didn't really mind. Another smoke and a cup of cofee would go a long way toward solving that problem, and both were in his immediate future – as was another round in bed with the distinctly non-frigid Ms. Lilah.

An arrogant grin creased his face.

Nothing was hotter than a woman who went nuts at every touch, heated look, and sexy promise.  Lilah was that woman.  With him, anyway.  

What made it even better was the look of wonder on her face when she shattered into a million panting, whimpering pieces under him. That shit made a guy feel like he could conquer the world.

The enticing memory of her breathy cries was interrupted by the phone vibrating against his hip. Checking the display, he saw that Big Brother was calling.

"Yo."

"What's up?"

"Almost ready to hit the airport. Why?"

Jon was likely sitting around sipping coffee and making phone calls. He typically didn't leave until after the crew was well on their way unless there was a special appearance or interview lined up at the next tour stop.

"The band is going out to dinner tonight. Some Romanian bigwig wants to show us a good time I guess. Rumor has it he's inviting a few of the country’s ‘most beautiful’ women to join us."

Tony laughed.  Same shit, different decade. Trouble was that his brother didn't enjoy these little shows of appreciation the way he used to.  Same for Tico and Dave.  Old age and married life had a stranglehold on all of them.  Richie remained the lone single man of the group, and a noted connoisseur of fine women.  He appreciated enough for all of them, and would likely have the whole harem accompanying him back to his hotel room for an after dinner party.

"Yeah, okay. And...?"

"And I'm inviting you."

That was weird. He could count on one hand the number of times Jon had asked him to tag along on one of these things, and have fingers left over.

It made him unaccountably suspicious.

"That's real thoughtful of you.  Why?  You want the thing videoed for posterity’s sake?"

"What?” Jon inquired innocently.  “I can't just invite you to hang out and have dinner without having to work?   Matty's gonna be there."

"Working your security detail.  What's the real story Jon?"

A noisy sigh rattled in his ear, and Tony could picture the frown lines zig-zagging across his brother’s forehead.  “Christ! Stop with the Sherlock Holmes gig, would ya?  Beautiful women.  I thought you might wanna blow off a little steam.”

Tony laughed quietly, the feeling of being surrounded and consumed by Lilah still fresh in his mind. 

“Thanks, but I’ll pass.  My steam’s fine.”

“So you’re fucking her.”

The frown lines magically transferred from Jon’s to Tony’s forehead with those few words.  “I guess you’re talking about Lilah, and whether I am or I’m not is none of your damn business.  She will be with me in Bucharest, so let me repeat myself:  Don’t be a dick.”

“Define ‘be with me’.  In your room or backstage?  Because if she’s gonna continue to be backstage, then I’m gonna need to have a talk with her.”

He was completely and totally fucking over this.  Beyond over it.  Jon had lost his mind, and Tony had never been known as the politically correct one in the family.  Nice?  Yes, as a general rule, but never politically correct.

“Be nice to her.  If you can’t be nice, be civil.  Remember that time in Tokyo?  I will pummel your ass again.”

“I’m not the one who came away with a scar on my face.”

Tony absently rubbed his finger over the scar Jon was talking about.  If he hadn’t been wearing those big, gaudy rings in the eighties, Tony would’ve come away from the drunken brawl without a scratch. 

“No.  You came away with a concussion and a cracked rib.  Singing with a jacked-up knee is one thing.  Singing when you can’t take a full breath is another.”

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.  You’d fight over this broad?”

The offended indignation gave him a moment’s pause.  Tony hadn’t resorted to physical threats in years.  He was commonly known as the most easy-going of the Bongiovi brothers, and let most things roll off his back without a second thought.  But not Lilah.  Hell, Jon would want to protect her, too, if he knew everything Tony did. 

Tony was sure of it, because…

“Jonny, you’re the one who taught me to fight for the underdog when nobody else will.   That’s Lilah.”

“How is she an underdog?” Jon demanded, still steeped in a pit of distrust.  It took a lot to earn Jon’s trust, but once you had it, there was nobody better to have in your corner.  He trusted Tony, and Tony didn’t hesitate to remind him of it.

“It shouldn’t matter to you.  Only thing that should matter is that I know she is.”

“How do you know?  You found out why she was so determined to get backstage?”

No.  He still had no idea.  But he would before the day was over.

✧✧✧

[10:45 AM]TONY: Intercontinental hotel downtown. They have your name & will give you a key to my room.

[10:46 AM]LILAH: Ok. Thanks.

She was still nervous about staying with him, but at the same time excited.  They’d had sex and she enjoyed it.  Loved it.  Craved it again.  That had never happened in her entire life.  She might have avid fantasies, but whenever it came time to act upon them, things became had been a dismal failure.

Tony was not a dismal failure.  Her face felt hot just thinking about him and his lack of dismal-ness.  The next vibrating text jarred her from her thoughts.

[10:48 AM]TONY: Where are you?

[10:49]LILAH: Munich

[10:49 AM]TONY: WTF are you doing there??

Lilah laughed, drawing the cautious gaze of the stern-looking German man sitting across from her in the boarding area.  At this point, her slap-happy laughter may be due to lack of sleep rather than how humorous the text message was.  Regardless, it tickled her funny bone and had her tapping out a cheeky reply.

[10:51 AM] LILAH: Scenic route :)

[10:52 AM]TONY: When do you land in Rom?

Either he didn’t find it as amusing as she did, or he wasn’t one of those people who used emoticons.  She had a feeling it was both.

[10:53 AM]LILAH: 1:55

[10:55]TONY: I’ll be at the hotel before that. See you there.

She had to admit to being impressed by his use of actual words in a text, instead of the abbreviations that drove her crazy, like ‘C U’.  She had to admit to being impressed by him, in general. 

There were three qualities to the perfect man, in her book: responsibility, intelligence and humor.  Granted, Tony hadn’t shown a whole lot in the humor department, so far.  He was angry with her more than anything, but the potential was there. 

Was she looking for some big, grand romance?  No, but she liked him, anyway. 

With a yawn that nearly had her swallowing her own head, Lilah calculated that it would still be a while before boarding began.  She’d managed to missed her window of time to call Joanna and Andrew was no doubt asleep at five in the morning – or just going to bed.

That left her online friends. 

Tapping the proper icon, she found e-mails waiting from both of her friends.  She glanced over Morgan’s email first, knowing that it was the middle of the night in Oregon, and she wouldn’t have to respond right away. 

July 10, 2011

TO:  misslilahjane

FROM:   Morgan_Prince

WOMAN!  WHERE ARE YOU???  Did Bon Jovi's brother kill you or what?  I don't care if you're pissed off that I think you've lost your mind for shacking up with the guy but you need to get in touch with me so I know you're okay and not laying dead by the side of the road being trampled by camels.  (You ARE in camel country, right?)   Don't mess with me....let me know you're alive!  NOW!

Rolling her eyes, she sighed and sent a short reply.

July 10, 2011

TO:  Morgan_Prince

FROM:  misslilahjane

Good grief, yes I’m alive.  He didn’t kill me and all is well.  I’ll send more later.

xoxo

Sending it away, and seeing Angel’s subject line ‘WHERE ARE YOU????’, Lilah winced.  She was becoming a professional anger target.

What else is new?

July 10, 2011

TO:  misslilahjane

FROM:   aussie_angel

Li-Lee!!!!  What's going on, Missy?  You didn't email me back last night which is causing all kinds of crazy scenarios to play out in my mind.  It occurred to me that you don't *really* know Tony that well.  Certainly not well enough to just pack up and share his room.  Or his bed?  Are there two beds in there???  Do you realize how very uncharacteristic this is of you??  Email me back!  I need to hear from you, dammit!  And not just a two word "I'm ok" email.  I need detailed information!

PS)  Is his chest as hairy as his big brother’s?  Hmmmm?  ;)       

Snickering quietly, she mentally performed a time calculation, estimating that Angel should be lurking somewhere near a computer.

July 10, 2011

TO:  aussie_angel

FROM:   misslilahjane

I’m ok.

July 10, 2011

TO:  misslilahjane

FROM:   aussie_angel

You know what, Lilah?  That's not even a little bit cute.  In fact, ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?  Seriously???  Do you know how much I hate it when you respond so vaguely?  There is one thing I can assume from your email - you are NOT ok.  And, if you really ARE ok, you are going to need to convince me.  What's going on over there?  Are you still hanging out with Mr. TBJ?  Has something happened?  Did he turn into a jerk or something?  WHY DID I ONLY GET TWO WORDS?? 

EMAIL.  ME.  NOW!    *blood boils over*

Lilah Jane, stop bein' a bitch.  You know how high strung she gets when she thinks you’ve been wronged. 

July 10, 2011

TO:  aussie_angel

FROM:   misslilahjane

You got two words because I’m yanking your chain.  Sowwy.  *smiles sweetly*

Everything is fine, and Tony is definitely not a jerk.   Bossy, maybe, but not a jerk.  I’m at the airport in Munich waiting on my connecting flight, and he just texted to say he would be waiting for me in Bucharest.  As of right now, I’m staying with him.  Still not quite sure how that happened.

I…  I have no idea what else to tell you, mostly because I can’t think straight.  He took me through the backstage setup yesterday and answered a million questions.  I got to meet Jon, Richie and Obie.  Jon doesn’t like me, and I have no idea why.  Of course, I probably didn’t help matters any by getting defensive and telling him it wasn’t ‘all about him’. 

*blushes*

Yeah, I know.   It kind of IS all about him.   I asked Tony to apologize for me, and I apologized myself, but…  Well, I may have burned a very big bridge.  You know me and how non-eloquent I am.  Lightning Lilah strikes again.  *sigh*

My plane is boarding soon.  Just know that I’m fine, and I’ll email again when I can. 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There was really about half an hour before her plane boarded, but she was going to the ladies’ room and to find something to drink.  Lilah stood and shouldered her laptop bag, sticking her hand into the pocket with the pink bow on it, feeling around for her wallet. 

She shouldn’t get anything with caffeine if she hoped to get some sleep on the hour-long flight, but sleep probably wasn’t happening, anyway.

Tony was going to be waiting on the other end of that flight.  In a hotel room.  That was enough to keep her slightly wired, even without the aid of caffeine. 

Too bad she was going to turn up looking like a haggard zombie. 

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