Chapter 5

After waking up with a raging hangover Leah forced herself out of bed, she never usually mixed drinks but she had got carried away last night. Pouring herself a drink of water and making some toast she wished for some Irn Bru - that was her hangover cure while in the UK and it worked like magic, a bottle of that and the pain was gone but it was hard to find outside of Britain so she forced herself to eat the toast and found some pain killers. Packing up her things quietly so not to disturb Josh, she began making phone calls to book seats on a flight to New York and made sure she had a room at the hotel that she often visited while on business. Eventually Josh appeared looking worse than Leah felt and helped her finish off the rest of her packing. She placed her trophy from the contest on a shelf and told him to keep it safe for her since he seemed more impressed with it than she was. He looked as if Christmas had arrived early and threw his arms around her in a big bear hug. Breaking free, Leah started packing her belongings into Josh’s car since he was supposed to be taking her to the airport which he only agreed to after she promised that she would drive and Josh seemed convinced he was cursed around her at the moment. This even carried on when they arrived at the airport with him refusing to go inside incase a plane crashed - so they said their goodbyes at the door and promised to stay in touch.

The flight to New York had gone smoothly and Leah was eager to get to the hotel to abandon her bags and relax a little before going to work. She wasn’t in the hotel more than 5 minutes when she got a phone call from Dot. She had told her that the plan had changed and asked if she’d like to join them at a bar tonight and get to know the rest of the guys before the tour started the next night. After agreeing she forgot all about her need to relax a little and decided to treat herself to shopping for something new to wear for tonight. She had at least 5 hours to herself before she would have to get ready as she knew the place they were going to meet up and it wasn’t far from the hotel she was staying at. After trying on what felt like millions of outfits Leah finally decided that the outfit she had tried on in the first shop was the one she liked best so she made her way back there before going back to the hotel for a bite to eat.

The meal she has was delicious accompanied with a glass of white wine to get her started before she went out. She decided it was time to head back to her room for a relaxing bath before going out. Hanging the outfit over a chair beside the bathroom Leah ran the bath and added a little of the salts that came with the room. She loved it when the hotels provided these little bits and bobs because her own bathroom was full of them. Taking another look at the black skirt and black and white halter she had finally picked out she nodded to herself and got into the bath. A short time later she emerged feeling refreshed and ready to have a good time. After doing her hair and make up, she again studied the clothes she had chosen and gave them the final nod before putting them on and decided she had made the correct choice - it was sexy yet sophisticated.

The time had past rapidly since she arrived back at the hotel and Leah now found herself leaving her room and heading down the street. Turning the corner that lead to the bar she suddenly got hit with last minute nerves, oh shit, I’m going to meet the rest of Bon Jovi. Calming herself down she slowly approached the door and began to scan the room looking for them. She didn’t have to look for long as it was them who saw her first and Jon shouted her over. She made her way over and hugged both Jon and Dot who then introduced her to Tico first who greeted her with a kiss on the cheek, followed by Tico’s wife with whom she shook hands before being introduced to the last person at the table, David. He stood up and planted a big kiss on her cheek and made room at the table so she could sit between him and Jon. “So I hear you’re the Da Vinci of the design world then,” David had said after Leah had ordered her drink. “If your designs look half as good as you do then I reckon our Dot here’s on to a winner.” Leah blushed a little at the attention his comment had attracted before smiling and answering, “So if looks determine a persons success you would describe your music skills as say cute and cuddly?” David looked shell shocked, that certainly hadn’t been the reply he expected, he immediately knew this woman was more than just a pretty face, but he took it well and laughed it off with the others. Tico almost choked on his drink before shouting “I’m buying this girl a drink! Jon, I think you were right there’s not gona be any problems with her.” David nodded in agreement and they all raised their glasses to Leah. They spent the next hour chatting to each other and Leah found them all to be really nice people. She enjoyed watching them and how they were with each other and decided it was like a family - they all played off each other. Finding out Jon was actually their boss also came as a shock to her, she wouldn’t mind a boss like him, he messed around with the others as if he was just one of them. Seeing the glasses were drying up, Dot and Leah made their way to the bar to get the next round in.

“Well where the hell have you been?” Jon asked Richie when he appeared at the table. “You were supposed to be here ages ago.”
“Had some problems when I dropped Ava off at Heathers she wasn’t exactly in a friendly mood.”
Jon rolled his eyes, since the divorce 4 years ago Heather never liked to allow Richie to do something in a simple manner, it all had to be the way she wanted or else Richie would have to put up with her tantrums which at times included objects getting thrown at him from across the room. Jon felt sorry for his friend having to put up with it. Richie studied the table for a moment before asking “Where the hells my drink?”
“Well we started to wonder if you were ever going to show up so Tico drank it earlier, sorry mate,” David said. “You can still catch Leah and Dot at the bar though they just left to order.” Before David had finished the sentence Richie was already on his way.

“Oh, here comes trouble. That’s Richie on his way over,” Dot had informed Leah when she seen him approach them at the bar. Leah turned to look then quickly wished she hadn’t. She had seen pictures of him in magazines before but this man walking towards her took her breathe away. He was tall, dark haired and tanned and from what she could see he was in great physical shape. She met his eyes with hers and felt drawn into them, they were a warm brown colour like she had seen on a million people before but his stood out to her. “What’s a guy got to do to get a drink around here?” he asked with a cheeky smile and his voice made Leah shiver. “You must be Leah, pleasure to meet you,” he said while wrapping an arm round her pulling her into a cuddle and planting a kiss on her cheek. Leah responded by smiling and ordering up his drink for him before lifting the first tray of drinks back to the table leaving Dot and Richie to get the next. “Hey, don’t get any ideas Mr, I’ve seen that look on your face before,” Dot had said to Richie after seeing the way he watched Leah go back to the table. “What do you think I am woman?” he smiled back. “Well you have competition anyway, David’s been up there flirting with her all night so you missed your head start.” Dot informed him hoping it would put him off. “Oh, really?” Richie said with a glint in his eye before taking the next tray back to the table.