The Sauna Part 204

Jon and I returned home and we discussed the situation in greater depth, but we decided we would follow his father’s lead regarding how to handle the situation. Jon wanted to discuss Matt’s behavior and how to respond to it, but I wanted to handle it myself.

“I appreciate your support, baby, I really do, but I think it would be better if you left it alone. You can’t just hand me the reigns and force everyone to follow my lead. I need to earn their respect and their trust, so just give it some time and let me work on it. You’ve got a tour to prepare for, let me handle the Fan Club?” I cajoled him.

“Trish, he insulted you and I’m not about to let that slide. I can force him to toe the line or I can relieve him of the position he holds. You don’t have to tolerate that behavior just because he’s my brother” Jon insisted.

“I don’t intend to tolerate it, love. I would just prefer to handle it myself. If you continue to intervene on my behalf, I’ll lose credibility with Matt and the others who are loyal to him and your mom. You put me in charge, now let me BE in charge. Please?” I persisted.

“Okay, baby, okay. But if you need my support, promise me you’ll ask me. Deal?” he agreed.

“Jon, if I have to depend on you to back me up, then I don’t deserve the position you’ve given me and it defeats the purpose of taking this off your shoulders. All I ask is that you stay out of it and direct any complaints from Matt or anyone else back to me. Can you do that?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.

“I can try” he said resignedly.

I knew it was hard for Jon to give up control and what I was asking was a pretty tall order. He was accustomed to always having the final say in all things and I was asking him to step back and let go. But I knew that I could never feel like a real partner to him if I had to keep asking for his approval to sanction my decisions when anyone disagreed. I needed him to trust me completely and I couldn’t back down now.

“Baby, it doesn’t mean I won’t share what’s going on with you; I just can’t be in a position where I need your approval for day to day operations. I will discuss any major changes with you, though, as my job is to make sure that your wishes are being followed, okay?” I elaborated.

“Okay, I do trust you. No one knows me better than you do. I just get protective and it’s hard to ignore it when someone insults my wife” he winked at me.

“Defend me as your wife, Jon, but trust me as your partner” I relented. “Hopefully Matt will come around and begin to respect me in both roles.”

Jon hugged me to him and buried his face in my hair. He breathed in the scent of me and began to relax. It would be a challenge to let go the reigns, but it felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders. At least there was one aspect of the business he didn’t have to manage himself and he knew he hadn’t given the Fan Club the attention it deserved anyway. Now he knew it was in good hands.

“I love you, Trish” he said softly.

“I love you too, Jon” I said with a sigh, knowing I had just won the first battle in my new position.


*************************


The first week of the year flew by as we both became involved in the business at hand. Jon was engaged in the final preparations for the tour and I immersed myself in the Fan Club and meetings with the lawyer as I learned all the ins and outs of setting up a Foundation too. I was glad to be busy as it kept me from dwelling on the impending separation. But the closer it got to Jon’s departure, the harder it was to forget.

It was two days away now and the luggage in the bedroom was a constant reminder. Jon caught me one day as I paused in the room, staring at the packed bags by the closet. He would be heading first to England and then on to Scotland before making his way across the globe. I wished I could join him as I fingered the worn leather case that would hold his personal items.

“I wish you were coming with me, baby” he purred as his arms slid around my waist to embrace me.

I leaned my head back against his shoulder and sighed deeply, savoring the feel of his breath in my ear. I would be meeting him in Germany for a few days later in the month for my birthday, but it would still be the longest we’d been apart since we first met.

“Me too, Jon” I said simply as my eyes moistened with regret.

The phone rang again, just as it had almost continuously over the past several days and I took a deep breath as he released me to answer the call. There had been a steady stream of phone calls from promoters, assistants and agents regarding last minute details, but this time it was Richie.

“Shit, man, is Trish there? I’ve gotta talk to her” Richie said anxiously.

“Yeah, bro, she’s right here. What’s up?” Jon wondered, his eyes narrowing.

“It’s Elaine, man! She disappeared after that incident at the holiday show and no one’s been able to locate her. She just started posting shit on Backstage and I’m hoping there’s a way to track her from there” Richie explained excitedly.

I had heard the conversation and I knew this was an opportunity we needed to jump on. No one had heard from Elaine since that night she showed up at the concert and we’d all been on pins and needles, wondering where she was and what she was up to. Richie had managed to serve her with divorce papers just before that concert, but he’d cut off her access to his bank accounts by having them frozen and the trail had stopped there. Jon handed me the phone and I immediately started asking questions.

“What user name is she posting under? Is she still on there? We need to track her IP address…” I began.

Richie gave me the details he knew and I handed the phone back to Jon while I used the cell to call the webmaster and give him the info. I logged onto Backstage and quickly found the thread and read through the posts by “Mrs. Sambora”. She was bashing all of us except Richie, but Jon worst of all. I needed to respond, but there was little point in cutting off her access as we’d lose her and she could always re-register under another name.

I decided to play her and logged in under a fake user ID I had set up just in case I ever needed it for any particular reason. I responded to her posts about Jon with engaging questions as I wanted to keep her there as long as possible. She was getting a lot of heat by both Jon and Richie fans alike and I knew she’d just disappear again if she couldn’t get someone to sympathize with her, so I played along, drawing her out.

Jon was on the phone with the webmaster and they had her IP address. They tracked it down to a server in Jersey and they were attempting to track it back to the actual point of origination. “Mrs. Sambora” was posting her story and painting Richie as an unwitting stooge while she tried to persuade the fan community that she was a victim of Jon’s jealousy when she declined his invitation to have sex with him. No one was buying it, though, except me, at least facetiously. It was one of the hardest things I had ever done as I resisted the temptation to attack her, but we needed a location so I strung her along.

“Got it” Jon said with satisfaction as he gave the info to Richie who relayed it to his Private Investigator as I typed a sympathetic response on the computer.

“Keep her talkin’, babe. The PI is on his way” Jon encouraged as he watched the activity on the board over my shoulder.

It was becoming hard to post as the Board was clogging up with all the responses and the true fans were slamming her with replies. She was right here in Asbury Park at a café and the PI would be there in no time. Once he spotted her, he could follow her whereabouts until Richie could serve her with a restraining order.

I couldn’t believe the garbage she was posting, but I was pleased to see the reactions from Jon’s fans. They weren’t buying her bullshit for a minute and many didn’t even believe she was who she said she was. She disclosed details about the wedding and how Jon had come to her on the eve of the ceremony and tried to seduce her. I egged her on until Jon gave me the phone and I heard Richie’s voice.

“He’s got her! He’s right outside the café and he’s spotted her. She won’t get away and he’ll make sure there’ll be people watching her 24-7 now, so go ahead and blast her Trish!” he squealed with delight.

My fingers flew to the keyboard as I hurried to log in as the administrator. I already knew what I wanted to say and I punched out the following reply:

Elaine, thank you for showing the fans your true nature. I’m confident now that no one with a brain would believe a word you say since your story is so outrageous. And since both Richie and I were there, we can verify that your version of events couldn’t be further from the truth. Your access to this board has been terminated. Trish

With that posted, I quickly disabled her account. I knew that she could resume posting in the future under a different name, but the mods that were monitoring could now cut her off if she tried. We had what we needed. I winked at Jon and he grinned as he read what I typed to Richie.

“Way to go, doll! Thanks for playing along until we could spot her. The PI won’t let her outta his sight and I’m dialing the lawyer right now” Richie cackled. “I’m just so sorry to put everyone through this” he added sadly.

“Richie, we’ll survive just fine. I’m really glad we could help and I hope this will all be resolved soon” I told him.

“Me too, babe, me too. She won’t be able to drag this divorce out much longer now; she doesn’t have Heather’s resources” Richie replied.

“Let us know if there’s anything else we can do, bro” Jon said into the phone and hung up.

I was more relieved than I realized now that we knew someone would be keeping an eye on Elaine. With the guys leaving on tour soon, none of us wanted any more surprises and now we could rest easy. But I knew Elaine wouldn’t just walk away quietly. It wasn’t over yet.

We watched the board as a flurry of posts appeared in Jon’s defense and the Richie girls came out in force to support their hero. No one doubted the veracity of what I had posted after “Mrs. Sambora’s” posts were promptly deleted. Things were under control for the moment.