Chapter 20

The flight to Europe was one of the most uncomfortable journeys Leah had ever experienced. The whole flight she could feel Jon and Dot glaring at her. Walking past them onto the plane hand in hand with Richie, she felt like the most hated woman on earth. Richie had plans to tell them but had to give himself the time to calm down first, part of him was angry that Jon let him make the mistake and part of him was glad he was watching his back. Richie seemed to have sensed how uncomfortable Leah felt as he made his way up to Jon and pulled him aside. Watching from the corner of her eye she could tell Jon was really embarrassed and sorry for the whole thing but that didn’t stop her from wanting to escape from the plane when she noticed him coming towards her. “Leah, I really need to apologise for my behaviour last night it was out of order. I shouldn’t have treated you like that without knowing the whole story,” Jon said as his head hung in shame. “Don’t be sorry, it’s nice to know you’re looking out for Richie. It’s me that should be sorry, I should have told him earlier,” Leah smiled at him. It felt like a huge relief knowing that they didn’t hate her, there was no way she could stay with Richie any longer if that was what the atmosphere was going to be like.


After the plane had landed they all made their way to their hotel, the guys hoping to catch up on the sleep they missed on the plane before the show tonight. Leah was now booked to share her room with Richie, which both of them were happy about but Leah couldn’t help but think of it as strange. Now and again the thought would occur to her that she was dating a rock star. It felt surreal, especially since she didn’t think of him as a famous person. She once met Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones and turned into some star struck mess even though she wasn’t a great fan of his. The thought made her chuckle, how could she have been so uncontrolled when she met him and yet since her first meeting with any of Bon Jovi they all seemed so nice and normal. A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts and she found Dot at the other side. “I’m so sorry!” Dot threw her arms around Leah before she could manage to say anything. Leah pulled away laughing. “How can you laugh when we were so horrible to you,” Dot asked. “It was just a misunderstanding, everything’s sorted now so it’s all good,” Leah assured her. She was glad this would be the last apology she had to deal with since the others didn’t know about it. They arranged their plans for going back to the project which was almost in the final stages now. They had a number of products that had been a success and Leah was sure they would do well when they hit the shops. With work plans in place for the last couple of months to finalise things they decided they would have enough time to attend the show that night and abandoned all attempts at an early start the next morning.


Arriving at the stadium together, Dot and Leah were in high spirits and ready to have a good time. That seemed to be the general vibe from everyone backstage and the guys were more than eager to get back out there. Leah could sense this was going to be a good show, the atmosphere was electric and everyone was looking for a good time. Dot and Leah spent the first couple of songs at the side of the stage which was a great experience in most peoples eyes, but having been a festival goer for most of her life while in the UK, Leah was always convinced that the middle of the crowd was the best place to be. Grabbing Dot’s hand, they both ran through the backstage area and out to the front making their way towards the centre of the stadium. Within ten minutes of being there Leah knew Dot understood why she had taken her here, the atmosphere of being in the middle of all these fans was just amazing and although they had a better view before it didn’t have the same feeling. They spent the rest of the show jumping up and down and enjoying themselves with the rest of the fans before making their way back to the stage to go back to the hotel.


At the hotel everyone was still buzzing so they stayed at the bar for a couple of drinks before heading back to the rooms. It had been a really enjoyable night and Leah found it was the best show she had been to which pleased the guys. Eventually they all parted ways and headed to bed. Leah watched Richie as he lay on the bed deep in thought and then joined him as he started to talk. Leah sensed this was going to be a serious talk from the way he couldn’t quite find the words to start the sentence. He eventually managed to tell her about his relationship with Heather. Leah could tell he loved her very much and was devastated when he found out she was having an affair. He told her of how her behaviour changed all of a sudden and she just went crazy on him, out with different men all the time and leaving him to look after Ava. He spoke about how difficult it was to leave her after loving her so much and because he didn’t want to hurt Ava who seemed to have taken the situation better than them. Leah was glad that he opened up to her but also scared as this meant the pressure was now on her to do the same and she still wasn’t ready to relive the whole experience again. It was only right that she at least try to tell him and so she explained how her mother and father worked away and left her with her aunt who was less than supportive in everything she did. They didn’t get on at all and any time away from the house she could get she would take it. She explained how she had met Joe and Josh at School and they were her rocks throughout her life and told of how her and Joe were the childhood sweethearts that married early and people thought they would never last. That was as far into the story as she managed to go and Richie sensed it, he didn’t want to push her for more and turned the light off so they could sleep.