The Sauna Part 234

The guys enjoyed their performance at the Heineken Music Hall and had even thrown in a few acoustic numbers for good measure. The audience was appreciative and they’d thrown tulips on the stage as a tribute and I had to laugh as I remembered Obie’s comment about that years ago. I noticed Jon smirking too when it happened and knew he understood what they meant after I’d explained it when he’d asked so many months ago.

The guys were pumped after the show, but I was exhausted. We’d left the venue immediately after the encore and we were now on our way to the next stop in Germany. I was finding the schedule rather grueling and I hadn’t exactly adapted to the rock star lifestyle as quickly as I’d hoped. I was glad this wasn’t a full tour and Tico laughed when I commented about the hectic pace they maintained.

“We’re trying to break you in gently, Trish. This is easy compared to a regular tour” he reminded me.

“I know, I know” I yawned, wondering where they got all their energy.

“Babe, it’s okay. We’re just used to this. Go ahead and take a nap” Jon suggested, watching as I struggled to keep my eyes open.

I felt like a wimp, but I didn’t resist and I let my head drop back onto the seat and closed my eyes. I fell asleep almost instantly while Jon took this opportunity to talk to the guys privately. He’d wanted to discuss something with them for some time, but he wanted it to be a surprise and now was the perfect moment. He gestured to all the guys to follow him as he walked toward the seats at the back of the plane.

“Trish’s birthday is coming up in a few days and I want to do something special to celebrate. Any suggestions?” he ventured.

“What day is it? Do we have a show that day?” Tico wanted to know.

“It’s three days from now and we’ll still be in Germany, but there’s no show that day” Jon answered.

“Geez, Jon, it’s a little late to start thinking about it now. Don’t you have any ideas yourself?” Richie chided him.

“I have plenty of ideas for what to do privately, bro” Jon grinned. “but none of them involve all of you assholes.”

Richie made a face and the rest of the guys laughed, but the best idea they could come up with was a surprise dinner together. Jon felt rather bad as he wanted to do something special, but being so far away made it impossible to invite any guests and he resigned himself to the fact that there wasn’t any better way to celebrate. He phoned Rick and asked him to get someone to arrange a surprise dinner party at a good restaurant and left it at that. He’d just have to make up for the lack of excitement in other ways.

It was a short flight and we touched down in Munich at around one o’clock and Jon shook me gently after we’d landed. It felt like I’d just fallen asleep and I was still a bit groggy as we disembarked and headed for the limo. The guys had all settled down a bit too and we were glad to reach the hotel. We’d just about gotten to bed when my cell phone went off and I checked the caller ID. It was a Buffalo number and I took a deep breath before answering.

“Hello?” I said warily.

“Trish? It’s Dave. Am I catching you at a bad time?” he asked, his voice sounding anxious.

“We’re just about ready for bed. It’s after two here in Germany” I explained, somewhat annoyed.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t too sure about the time zones, but I needed to talk to you. I’m really worried. Cherie and I had a fight and she left. She said she needed some time to herself to think about things, but she hasn’t been answering my calls and it’s been almost two weeks. I was hoping she was with you. Have you heard from her?” he asked hurriedly.

“She isn’t with me, Dave. I have spoken to her and I know about what happened and she’s pretty upset, but she was safe the last time I spoke with her. If she’s not answering your calls, she probably isn’t ready to talk” I said rather flatly.

“You’ve heard from her then? Do you know where she is? Trish, I really messed up. I’ve got to talk to her and try to explain” he insisted.

“Dave, I know where she is, and she’s safe. More than that- I can’t tell you. She’ll contact you when she’s ready” I explained curtly.

I really had little sympathy for him and I’d been prepared for the eventual call. He’d brought this on himself and I was secretly glad he was anxious. He should be. I made no attempt to comfort him and I’d emphasized the fact that she was safe, hoping he’d get the implied meaning in that.

“Trish, please. I need to tell her how sorry I am. It’ll never happen again, I swear. I just lost it. You know how she is, she just pushed me too far and I lost it. Please tell me where she is” he pleaded again.

“No, I won’t do that” I responded.

Dave changed his tactic and I could hear the edge in his voice.

“I thought you were our friend, but I can see you don’t really care. You’ve got your life now and you don’t give a shit about our marriage. If you were a friend, you’d be trying to help us” he sneered.

“I see it differently” I replied, unwilling to be manipulated.

“Why won’t you let me talk to her?” he demanded, now blaming me.

“Because I’m respecting Cherie’s wishes” I said pointedly.

“What about me? I made a mistake and I’ve paid the price. Trish, dammit, tell me where she is” he screamed.

Jon took the phone then and I didn’t stop him. I’d dealt with batterers plenty and I knew Dave was no different. He didn’t get it and he wasn’t going to get it. He was furious with me now because I wasn’t intimidated and he hated women he couldn’t control. There was nothing more I wanted to say.

“Listen, man, you don’t get it, do you? You hit her and there’s no excuse for that. Get some help, man” Jon said with finality and hung up the phone.

Jon looked at me then and I could see he was pissed. I was really just tired as I’d been expecting Dave’s call. In fact, I was surprised it had taken so long. Only his pride had kept him from calling sooner and I knew he was feeling desperate. I knew it would get a lot uglier before it was over.

“Shit. He really is an asshole. He just doesn’t get it, does he?” Jon said disgustedly.

“No, he still wants to blame Cherie. I hope she can see that he’s not gonna change” I shook my head sadly.

“Should we call her and Jim and warn them?” Jon wondered.

“I’ll call her when we get up. It’s still early over there and she won’t be up yet and it’s not a conversation I wanna have right at the moment” I yawned.

“Yeah, she’s safe for the moment. He couldn’t find her out there and we should get some sleep” he nodded, yawning himself.

“Oh, he’ll find her, Jon. Believe me, he won’t give up quite that easily. But he won’t find her right away. But now he’ll really start looking. He’s getting desperate now if he called me and admitted she’d left him” I explained.

“Should we get her some security? Do you think he’d show up there?” Jon offered anxiously.

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea, but let’s go to sleep. We’ll deal with it in the morning and we need to talk to Cherie and see what she wants. Okay, babe?” I smiled.

“Okay, but remember, anything she needs. Anything” he added with emphasis.

“Thanks love. We’ll call her when we get up” I agreed.

I snuggled against him, grateful for the fact that he understood. I wasn’t so sure about Cherie, though. I had to let her call the shots, and I hoped that she’d made her decision and was ready to end it with Dave, but I knew how hard that would be for her to give up on her marriage. I also knew that if she did plan to end it, she’d be in the greatest danger she’d ever faced. Most women who ended up dead were murdered when they tried to leave, even in situations where there’d been no prior injury. I needed to make sure she understood the risks because failing to do so could be deadly.