Chapter 2: David 'Fesses Up

Sunday, November 4th, 2007
early

Saturday night after the show, all the guys and Sam skipped the backstage party and went back to Jon’s house. They got cleaned up and handled the few interview things they needed to do, and they were gone. David called Hathor from the car, waking her from a sound sleep.

“’Lo?” her voice was rough and gravelly, and had David squirming in his seat almost instantly.

“Hey, baby, did I wake you?”

She just laughed. “No, I always answer the phone like Barry White. How’re you doing, baby? Were you tired tonight?”

“A little,” David admitted, “but I don’t care. It was well worth it, darlin’.” David could hear rustling on the other end of the phone. “What are you doing?”

“Getting more comfortable,” Hathor answered. “I had the covers all wrapped around my legs, and my nightshirt somehow got fucked up and is all twisted and strangling – hang on.” He heard the phone drop onto a table and Hath muttering something that sounded like ‘son of a bitch’, and a soft whispery thud, and he burst out laughing.

“What the hell is so god-damned funny?” she demanded when she picked up the phone. “I could hear you laughing through the phone, and it was on the nightstand!”

“Were you swearing at your nightgown?”

“Yeah, well, so what if I was?”

“I just think that’s funny,” he was still laughing, and had Hath chuckling along with him.

“Yeah, well I got pissed off enough to take the damned thing off and hurl it across the room.”

David stopped laughing. “You’re not wearing anything?”

“Not a stitch, baby,” she said after a moment. Her friends counseled her that it wasn’t too early in the game for a little phone fun, and she was choosing to believe them. Besides, he was laughing at her. He deserved a little payback.

David’s driver had pulled up in front of Jon’s place, but David didn’t get out of the car. He was in no condition to be doing anything right now. His pants were so tight that he thought he’d have to undo them just to release the pressure. He sure as hell didn’t want to walk by Sam in his present state. The guys had learned over the years to never even glance below the chest with each other, but with a woman in their midst, things were different. His driver started to lower the privacy panel to talk to David, but took one look at his charge’s eyes in the rearview mirror and hastened to raise it back up.

“Naked?” David whispered.

“Yep. Well, I should say I am slightly covered by these smooth, rose-colored silk sheets that hold the warmth and scents from my body, so I guess I do have something on,” she was grinning. “But, nothing, ohhh, restrictive.”

“Silk?”

“Are you OK?” Hath was giggling now. “You are not a one-word answer kind of guy. Are you in there baby?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m here,” he said, his head falling back on the seat. “Damn it, I’m at Jon’s and Sam is looking at me from the doorway, wondering why the hell I haven’t gotten out of the car yet.”

“Oh? Why haven’t you gotten out of the car yet?” she asked, knowing full well what the problem was. “That little lever on the door is what you pull to open it.”

“Smart ass. I can’t get out of the car because, well,” he jumped when someone pounded on the window.

“What was that?” Hath asked.

“Richie is banging on the window. Hang on.” David rolled down the window. “What?” he asked, glad that the cool air and the arrival of his friend seemed to help with his pants problem.

“Are you coming?” Richie asked.

Richie could hear feminine laughter coming from the phone – great gulping laughter. “Who’s that?” David just looked at him, not saying anything. Richie got the hint. “You’re talking to Goddess? It’s what, one in the morning?”

“Well, she did tell me to call anytime,” David said. “Gimme a minute, okay? I’ll be right in.”

“In a sec,” Richie said, refusing to be rushed. “Why is she laughing?”

“Because she’s a nut,” David said, holding the receiver up in front of his face, all but shouting into the mouthpiece. That just made the laughter come louder through the little speaker.

Richie shook his head, and grabbed the phone from David. “Hey, Goddess, what’s so funny?”

Hathor gradually stopped laughing. “Your timing is impeccable, darlin’. That’s all I’m gonna say. That and ‘not yet’. Give me back to my Joker, yeah?”

David had gotten out of the car, and Richie shook his head and handed the phone back to him. “She is a nut,” he said, and turned to go back to the house. “You’re two of a kind.”

David took the phone and asked Hathor, “What the hell did you say to Richie?”

Hath just laughed. “I told him ‘not yet’, and that his timing was impeccable.” Those two little words, ‘not yet’, had David in agony again. He quickly turned his back on the house.

“Jesus,” he hissed.

“No, baby, it’s ‘Goddess’,” Hath corrected, her voice low and seductive.

“Cut that out,” he said. “It’s getting cold out here, and I’m gonna have to go inside soon.”

“So go, already,” Hath laughed. “I’ll wait.” She started humming the theme from Final Jeopardy, and David could only laugh. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that Jon had finally dragged Sam away from the door. For once, he was glad for his friend’s obsession with a woman. David made his way to the house; phone glued to his ear so he could still hear her wonderfully off-key humming, and was almost all the way up the stairs when he heard Jon calling his name.

“Shit,” David said, stopping on the landing and banging his head on the wall.

“Listen,” Hath said with a soft chuckle, “call me back. Take care of what you need to, and come back to me when you can devote your full attention to the conversation.” She grinned. “I’m not going anywhere, and I’m not putting my nightie back on. I’ll be here, waiting.”

“Damn,” David said softly. “I’ll be quick.”

“I’m sure you will,” Hathor agreed evilly. “But you’ve got to call me back first. Hurry back.” She disconnected before David could say anything more, and he went in search of his frontman. He found Jon and the others in the library.

“What the hell do you want?” David asked, a little brusquely, taking Jon by surprise.

Jon put his hands up in front of him. “Whoa, man, what’s gotten into you?” He had settled into a chair with Sam on his lap, and her head was resting on his shoulder. She looked a little tired, but David was damned if he was going to say anything. He didn’t just fall off the turnip truck – you never tell a woman she looks like she needs some rest. Not unless it’s your daughter, and even then, he mused, you’re better off not. Richie was lounging on a sofa, and Tico was sitting by the patio doors, smoking a cigar.

“Nothing,” David sighed, dropping heavily onto a couch. “Sorry. What do you need?”

“I don’t ‘need’ anything. I just wanted to say whatever happened Friday night, it’s been good for you, man,” Jon said. “You were on fire tonight.” He grinned. “Can I take it to mean you got to know Goddess a little better?”

“Her name’s Hathor, well, actually it’s something else, but she swore me to secrecy,” he leveled a look at Richie who raised his hands in an ‘I give up’ gesture. Rich knew her legal name because she was going to have to show ID for the show last week, and he needed her legal name. There was nothing wrong with her name, she just didn’t like it, and he knew Jon – if he found out Hath’s real name and that she didn’t care for it, he’d be an asshole about it. “And yeah, you could say that.”

Richie laughed. “From what Lucy told me, you got to know her a whole lot more than ‘better’; I’d say intimately is closer to the truth. She heard Hath, you know.” He grinned and gave David a thumbs-up. “Way to go, D.”

“Jesus, Rich,” David said, sliding a look at Sam. She hadn’t reacted, so he guessed she was asleep. The guys just laughed. “I don’t need everyone knowing my business,” he grinned, “but she is fantastic, and we have so much in common other than just being smart asses.”

Tico just rolled his eyes. “Here we go,” he said.

David ignored him. “She nearly kicked the shit out of me in the hallway of the hotel because I surprised her. She’s incredibly strong. I had to use all my strength to keep her from kneeing my balls halfway to heaven.” He smiled at the memory. “So she stomped on my foot and shoved me so hard I thought I was going to fall ass over elbow.” Everyone laughed at that. They didn’t think she looked like the type to be physical like that, and they found the image of David stumbling around sophomorically hysterical.

Jon gave him the “get on with it” look; he knew his friend wasn’t ready to stop talking yet. David happily obliged. “We chatted for hours and just clicked. It’s like we’ve known each other as long as I’ve known you losers. She’s funny, smart, and,” he looked to make sure Sam was asleep, “so damned responsive I can’t believe it. That is just so incredibly hot. Jesus, I was talking to her a few minutes ago, and she had me ready to —”

Jon cut him off, laughing. “Too much information, man.” Sam smiled secretly against Jon’s chest. She learned that the guys would relax a whole lot more if they thought she wasn’t listening. She knew Hath was a little insecure about this whole thing with David, and couldn’t wait to tell her to just relax. Seems like David was smitten with their GSA.

“And guys, she’s inked,” David continued. “She’s got three other tats aside from the one she showed us,” David was smiling broadly. Tattoos on women was one of his weaknesses. “One of them,” he said, laughing, “is the heart-and-dagger thing.”

Tico groaned. “God, she’s one of THOSE?” he asked. “Bro, watch out, those girls are trouble.”

“Nah, the ink is nearly 20 years old,” David said. “She said she and her girlfriends all got them done as high school graduation presents to each other.”

Jon raised an eyebrow. “And just when exactly did she graduate from high school”

“Well, it’ll be her twentieth reunion next year,” David said. “She’s not that much younger than I am.” He took in the looks he was getting from his friends. “Besides, she got the ink updated when she got home. It doesn’t say ‘Bon Jovi’ on it anymore.”

Richie looked at his friend, and saw something in his twinkling eyes. “What does it say, then, D?”

David smiled. “Nope, she’s gonna send me a picture, at my request, so I can show you.”

“Joker’s Wild,” Sam mumbled from Jon’s lap, opening her eyes to look at David.

“What’s that honey?” Jon said to her.

“Hath’s tat. It says ‘Joker’s Wild’,” she yawned and curled up again and closed her eyes.

David’s friends just stared at him. “Is she serious?”

“Yeah,” David answered. “Hath told me that she did it because regardless of whether this thing between us was forever or for a day, it was momentous.” He stood and looked down his nose at his friends. “That’s the word she used: momentous,” he said again, smirking. “Top that.” With that, he left the room, dialing Hath’s number as he went.

“Hey baby,” she said when she answered. “I’m just the way you left me.”

“Oh?” David asked, as he slammed through the door to his room and locked it behind him. “And how’s that?”

“Naked and rumpled, but lonely,” Hath answered sadly. David had shucked his shoes, and was working on the buttons of his shirt.

“I’ll be with you soon, baby, and we can be naked and rumpled together.” David had managed to get the rest of his clothes off, and had slid into bed; sitting up against the headboard.

Hath giggled. “Is that right? Well, what will get us rumpled?”

David chuckled.