Ten

He paced around the tune up room, his eyes shooting daggers at the offending object. It had been three fucking days and no response to his pm. For a matter of fact, even though he’d gotten a few ‘thuds’, and that exploding thermometer icon thingie, with the girls waxing poetic over the heat of his chapter he’d not gotten a response there from Rosary either.

“What the hell is up with you woman? You haven’t responded to me?? What’s up with that?” he muttered as he paced closer to the laptop. Well maybe she had responded, he hadn’t checked the site in a couple hours. He walked over to the small couch and sat, pulling the laptop from his leather tote. With practiced ease he had the site booted and was staring at the main page, frowning at the lack of the blinking flag and clicking into the news area. She’d posted that insane link about them stealing music there and the debate had been ongoing for days with Rosary and a few other girls adamant about their talent and a couple of obviously non Jovi fans as adamant it was possible.

David stepped by the tuning room, glanced in, kept walking then stopped as it hit him. Richie was on the computer. Richie? Mr, I don’t have time for shit like that Sambora? Stepping back and seeing the half frown on his face David grinned. “Fave Porn site down Bro?”

‘Awww Shaddup Joker, I’m reading here!” Richie shook his head and went back to the thread.

David’s brow arched. Fucker never reads, twenty five damned years, he rarely reads. Walking into the room he plopped down beside Richie and grabbed the laptop before his friend could react. “Ohh hoohoo.. what is this?? You’re online for more than Ava’s mail?” David quickly scanned over the page in front of him and started laughing. “A fan site? You’re reading a fan site?”

David’s gaze fell on the greeting at the top upper right. Welcome Who Dares Win, you have no new messages. “Mother of God you …. You…” He looked up at Richie his blue eyes twinkling, “Man, you’re a Bon Jovi Fan by the name of Who Dares Wins? Ya couldn't have come up with something a bit more original? Whoda thunk it? You have it tattoed on your arm jackass. Come to think of it,I gotta ask Why?”

Richie groaned, of all the people to find out, it just had to be Joker. He’d never let up and he’d never let him live it down. “Not what ya think man, interesting stuff here. It’s research ya know? Research. Find out the fan’s mindset, able to write music that will talk to them. To do that I can't walk in and say Hi, I'm Richie, defeats the purpose man. These folks think I'm some chick called Faith.”

David shook his head. “Don’t we hire people for that man?” He knew there had to be something more too it. Richie and Jon didn’t write music that way. “Yeah right, Man, you’re eyes are brown cuz of all the shit you talk right?” He clicked a link called Richie’s Realm his eyes going wide. “Fuck you’re reading the …” He leaned back and started to laugh. He’s reading stories? Rich is reading stories?

Before he had a chance to razz Richie more, a roadie stopped in the door “Mr. Sambora, you’re needed on stage again, your mic is acting up.”

Richie grumbled and stood and glanced at a very bemused David. “Coming Joker?”

David shook his head and grinned. “They didn’t ask for me jackass. You just go on, I’ll keep myself entertained.

Richie groaned as he walked out. He knew he couldn’t get that computer away from David now, he’d just have to take his lumps.


David clicked the link on the top story, one noted as a very hot topic and started to read, his eyes going wide, but when he fell on the post by Who Dares Win he started to grin.”Well well well that’s ONE way to write an autobiography. You sly fuckin’ dog.”

Finishing the thread he had to admit that Richie’s flair for lyrics had turned into a flair for some righteous smut. He wanted to see more, damn he had to see how this all turned out. As he clicked back to the main page he saw reams of forums, even one with his name on it. “Oh hell they have a place for me too? Well alright!”

He glanced at the message box and almost didn’t go in, but the temptation to see exactly how far Richie was taking thingswas running rampant. Opening it up he saw responses from someone called RosaryDarlin and grinned. “Well we know who she likes obviously.” He scanned down the list of messages and read the first one. Now that seems like a reply to something, what the hell did he send? He studied the page a moment before finding a link to an outbox and clicked that and spent the next fifteen minutes reading each message and its corresponding reply. “Well isn’t this interesting,” as he scanned over the last message from Richie and started to grin. “She’s so gonna know you aren’t a girl.” A glimmer of a thought hit him then, and he began to plot. “She’s so gonna know you aren’t a girl.”

Putting things back to the front page he settled Richie’s laptop on the couch and stood. Just as he reached the door Richie came back in, a wary look in his eyes. “Have fun while I was gone?”

David gave him a wink. “ehh too boring for me man, Id rather do my research live and in person. See ya on stage!” Throwing his hand up he sauntered down the hall. Richie wouldn’t know what hit him, and dammit it would do the fucker good for a change. He smiled as he went his way, his mind repeating the sites addy until he got to his room and wrote it down. He'd just visit there again real soon, he had mayhem to create.




Lindsay fell in her door, exhaustion in her every movement. She’d been pegged suddenly for a three day symposium on accounts receivable. She hadn’t wanted to go, but when the one who signs your checks gives you that GO or ELSE look you go, and wouldn’t you know it, her laptop had chosen that exact moment to give up the ghost and die. She dropped her suitcase to the floor, shambled into her bedroom and fell across her bed tiredly. She’d just take a nap, freshen up some then she’d check the forum. Hell they’d done without her for three days and nights a couple more hours wouldn’t kill them.

As she awoke, her eyes strayed to her beside clock. Well hell she’d slept longer than intended. She’d be awake all night now. Stretching she pulled herself off the bed and dropped clothing along the way to the bathroom. Twenty minutes later, hair pulled back and fresh from the shower she padded into her work area and booted up her comp.

Within moments she was inside the forum, her eyes widening at all the new posts in the last few days. And that was the half of it. As she opened her message box she had no less than ten new messages.Ten? What the hell did Faith need to tell me that took ten messages.

The first message was from someone new, JokersWild. Well how odd, ya don’t often see a name like that. Obviously had to be someone that fancied David. As she opened and read the message her eyes widened. Well what the fuck did that mean? “Sometimes somethings and some people aren’t what they seem.”

Lindsay leaned back and studied the message a moment. Shaking her head, damn there were quite a few weirdos out there, she moved into no less than eight where the hell are you why haven’t you updated messages from Faith. “Eager are we? Well I’ll have to go read what you did in a moment.”

Opening the final message she finally found Faith’s reply to her former message and read it quickly. Something was off about the message, but she wasn’t sure exactly what. She read it again and the words suddenly leapt off at her.. grow a set, we, curves like a guitar, that’s when you know. If I didn’t know better I’d think I was talking to the man himself. She shook her head at the idiocy of that thought and moved back to the messages screen, JokersWild’s names staring at her.

Things and people don’t appear to be what they seem…. She forced the thought away and moved into the fiction area, ready to see what Faith had come up with for Richie this time. Shivers raced over her skin as she started the first paragraph, the visual of the lake and canoe taking her straight into the mind of a man she’d often thought of and had no chances of meeting.

Backing out of the forum she stood and moved to the bathroom. She needed a shower and needed it fast, as the visual of her response simmered and the reply to Faith’s message ran around her head in a twirling vortex of words.