Chapter 96 - Walking A Road, But You're Going Nowhere

Jon and Beth stayed up way passed when they should have.  He couldn't sleep with the constant voice in his head telling him that he needs to protect his family.  


Beth can't sleep because she has the same worries and now she's worried about Jon.  Together, they are in his office running through some websites that offer personal protection, discretely.  "We need someone for Stephanie and Jesse as soon as possible."  Jon reminds her, "They leave in a couple of days."

"I know, do you think we should get someone from here or someone local to the school area?"  Beth asks, with a heavy sigh.  Her head hurts from all of the stress.  Gently she starts to rub her temples in a circular motion, "Or should we transfer them back to here?"  Without lifting her head, she looks over at Jon.

"I refuse to let that happen.  They have had to deal with more than they should have concerning the pack of idiots that we have to deal with."

"I know, but don't you think they will be safer close to home?"

"Not necessarily." he states as he gets up from his desk.  With just a few steps, he's standing behind Beth and starts to rub her shoulders.  "I think everyone would be safer away from here."

"So, where should we go?" she turns around and looks at him.  She grabs his hands and kisses his fingers, "Where do you want to go?"  He can hear that Beth really liked that idea, he can also see it in her eyes.

"We can't go anywhere babe.  The kids have school and we have a life."

"I know but......"

"There are no buts about it.  We can't let them have control over us again, you know that and I know that." he leans over and kisses the top of her head, inhaling deeply.  Her scent was calming for him, to him.  "We can not let them win again."

"Again?" Beth stands up and faces Jon, "They have never won, Jon."

"You know what I mean."

"They are all losers and they'll lose at this too."

"I know, but we need to be ready and get prepared for whatever they are planning."  Jon steps in and wraps his arms around Beth.  She lets herself slowly melt into him, concentrating on the sound of his heartbeat in her ear.  "I'm sure they have something demented in mind and we need to be ready."

"Knowing that they are here and the possibility of their wrath makes us far more prepared that we ever were before."

"Granted, but I am leaving nothing to chance."

"So we need security for Rose and Jesse for school.  And then what do you want to do for the rest of us?"  Beth quietly mumbles, not lifting her head or looking up at Jon.  The embrace that she has him in gets a little tighter, "Pete will need someone too."

"I'll get a bodyguard for everyone.  At this point, I can't be too careful.  I'll send one to Matt and Tony. Someone for mom and dad."

"Okay...."

"You need someone and so do the kids."

"We all don't need one for ourselves.  We can get someone for all of us.  Me and the little kids."

Jon gently places his hands on her shoulders and with a little guidance, he backs her off a little bit.  He needs her to see how serious he is about it all, "Jake and Romeo will need someone for school and you can't be with the twins all of the time."

"We only need on guard for me and the twins."  she looks up at him, reaching up and putting the tip of finger on his lips, "We don't need one each babe.  That's a waste."

"Let me worry about it, okay?" he sort of snaps at her and she detects it in his voice.

With a little irritation in her voice, she tells Jon, "This isn't just your fight.  They are my children that need protecting, that's my family that they have threatened, Jon."

"I know, Beth."

"An those are my demons that I need to fight.  You are not protecting me this time Jon.  I'll fight my fight and you should support that."

"Beth, these aren't assholes that we can fuck around with."

"I KNOW THAT!"

"So let me do my job and protect you!" Jon pleads with her, feeling a little unappreciated for the attitude that she has suddenly displayed.  "I know what I'm doing."

"Like you did when you fucked Melissa and this whole thing started??  Is that your idea of protection?"  As soon as she says it, she can hear what she really just said.  In an instant, her hands cover her mouth and through her fingers she mumbles, "That's not what I mean, Jon."  Jon stands over her, with a shocked look on his face.  The words that she just said hurt him deeper than anything that she has ever said to him before.  "Jon, I'm sorry.  That didn't sound right."  

His fingers course through his hair and his nerves are on edge and raw.  "Is that really how you feel?  What the fuck do you mean by that Beth?" he snaps at her, his nostrils flaring from the rage, from the anger in the words that she just said to him.  

"That came out all wrong." she steps into him, taking his hand that he quickly pulls back from her, "You know that I didn't mean that."

"I bet you meant every word that you just said.  I bet you still blame me for everything, even though we have proven that it all started when you were rude to Dalton at the park."

"Do you really think that's what started all of this?  Me being mean to Dalton in an L.A. park a hundred years ago is what started this whole nightmare?"

"That IS what he told us Beth."

"Jon, stop!"  she walks away from him and goes to the window.  As she stands there and looks out, she's reminded of the river view that they had on Navesink River Road.  She remembers the benches that Jon had put in when she was pregnant, she remembers the parties, the late night walks and the late night talks that they used to have, way back when they had the life that they both dreamed of. Back before they buried any children, back when they were happy just to share the same air.  "You know that they all went crazy when you slept with Melissa."

"Really, Beth." he snaps again, scrolling through the contacts in his phone.  The conversation wasn't going where it needed to, but Jon wasn't going to lose sight of the task at hand.  He scrolls until he finds the contact information for Dave.  His head of armed security, the guy that they had to hire when Matt was no longer able to provide the security that he needed for backstage events.  Dave was armed, dangerous and Jon's number one.  Jon started to compose a text to the man as he continued his conversation with Beth, "They went crazy after one night of indiscretion, after one night forever ago when I was single because you left me, AGAIN!?!?!?"

Beth turns around and faces him, "How can you say that it didn't happen then?"

"I can say that it didn't happen then Beth, because in all reality, it started when Brian faked his own death."  Jon feels like he had a small win right there, he has waited a long time to day that, sadly.  He knows that Beth blames him for all of the heartache that they have suffered through, in her mind the snowball went out of control when he slept with Melissa.  She's not too quick to remember that her life went secretly out of control when Brian died.  It may have taken years for it all to come out in the open, but when she buried Brian, she buried any normalcy that she could have ever wanted for her life.  Hitching her wagon to one of the biggest starts in rock and roll only slowed the roll.  "i'll be in my studio!"  He storms out of his office, down the hallway toward the front of the house.  He's pissed and he's hurt - and all of that is added in with being scared.

"Why are you running off, Jon?"  Beth screams at him as he walks away, "Don't walk away from me Jon."

Turning his head to yell back at her, "I'm not doing this Beth.  I am not going tit for tat with you."  He leaves the house and goes into this studio.  Beth remains in the office for a few minutes before she lets her feelings get the best of her.