Chapter 5

“So what are the plans for tonight Kid?” Richie looked across the room where Jon was sitting twirling his now empty glass of wine in his fingers. The last two days, both Jon and Richie kept things quiet, and stayed in the rather small town of Freehold. Although Richie had tried a few times to convince Jon to head home to be with his kids and talk things over with Dot, Jon kept refusing.

“I don’t know.. Was thinking about maybe going out to get a drink or two, wanna come?” Richie watched as Jon stood up from his seat and poured himself another drink.

“Yea I’ll go. Some one needs to keep an eye on you right?” Chuckling, Jon just nodded at his friend and sat back down, leaning his head against the back of the arm chair.

“How about we head down to Philly?? The clubs are better there.”

“Alright, we can do that,” glancing at his watch Richie noticed it was almost six, “we should probably get going though then.” Nodding his head, Jon stood back up, finished his glass of wine, then made his way back into the bedroom part of the hotel room and grabbed his wallet and jacket.

A few hours later the guys were climbing out of Richie’s car at a fairly popular club in downtown Philly that the guys usually went to while they were in the area. The owner of the club happened to be by the front door as the guys walked in. “Jon, Richie, so nice to see you!” Jon noticed the man and gave him a genuine smile and a slight nod as Richie extended his hand.

“Hello Andrew, nice to see you too.”

“Would you like your normal table in the back?” Richie looked at Jon to see what he wanted and, just like Andrew got a shake of the head.

“No that’s ok.. We’re just gonna go sit at the bar tonight, thanks.” With that Jon walked past Andrew and Richie and made his way through the crowd to the bar, quickly ordering himself a drink. Meanwhile Richie gave Andrew an apologetic look at Jon’s slight rudeness and was soon following Jon’s steps through the crowd.

When Richie finally found Jon along the bar he gave a heavy sigh when he noticed the shot glass attached to Jon’s hand. Just as Richie got himself settled into the stool next to Jon, he noticed a pretty little brunette rush up behind Jon trying to grab the bartenders attention. As she half lifted herself up onto the bar to look past the guys and the rest of the people sitting along the bar she took a few glances at Jon and then at Richie.

“Jon.. Is that you?” Jon glanced at Richie quickly and rolled his eyes before he slowly turned himself to look at the person standing behind him. “Oh my god it is you! How are you?” Richie flinched slightly as he watched the little brunette fling her arms around Jon’s neck.

“Good.. I’m… I’m good. How are you Nikki?” Jon slightly pushed Nikki away from him, trying to catch the breath he had lost when she practically jumped into his lap.

“Same old, Same old. What are you doing in Philly, I thought you had things to do in New York or something??” SHIT!! Thats right she doesn’t know, nor does she need to know.

“Yea, well, plans change a lot y’know. Rich, and I decided to just come out for a few drinks, relax a little. Thats all.” When Nikki heard Richie’s name she looked over Jon’s shoulder and saw, probably the most gorgeous thing that her eyes had ever seen. When Jon saw her eyes widen and watched her lips mouth ‘oh my god’, he couldn’t help but chuckle. “Nikki, this is my sidekick Richie Sambora. Rich, this is my new assistant at the Soul, Nikki Thompson.”

Richie got up from his seat and stood by Jon as he reached out his hand to the lady before him. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Darlin’” As Richie’s eyes skimmed over her he realized that she really was ‘little’ maybe no more then five foot three. She was wearing a black halter top dress that hugged her petite little body and flowed down to just above her knees. She had the biggest brightest green eyes he had ever seen, and the most luscious looking lips.

“Nice to meet you too Mr. Sambora.” Nikki reached her hand out to meet Richie’s. And although she knew she wasn’t at work, she had remembered that Richie was also part owner of the Philadelphia Soul, so technically he was a boss of sorts to her. When his hand wrapped around hers a shock of warmth, it seemed to her almost like a shock on sensation, went shooting up her arm.

“Please, call me Richie.” He couldn’t get over how stunning she was, sure Jon had mentioned his new assistant once or twice. But never did he ever imply that she was, well, a goddess of beauty almost. Goddess of Beauty, Rich what are you thinking?!?!?!?! You’ve seen plenty of gorgeous woman before in your life. But.. There’s something about her... what is it???

Jon leaned back against, folded his arms across his chest, and watched the interaction happening before him. He saw the gleam Richie’s eye and noticed it as that all to familiar attraction spark, and as his eyes gazed over to Nikki he saw something in her eyes that could very well be the same thing. Have I really had that much to drink!?!? Looking over his shoulder, he motioned for the bartender to give him another shot, and then turned back to watch Richie’s ‘charm’ kick in. No fucking way, he’s hitting on her!!! Just then Jon’s eye caught attention to a man quickly walking towards them, reaching his arms towards Nikki; and when close enough snaked it around her waist.

“Hey sweetie, thought maybe you got lost.” Jon and Richie both looked at the guy then at each other giving one another the same questioning look.

“No I didn’t get lost. Just ran into a friend of sorts. Honey, this is my boss Jon Bongiovi and his friend Richie Sambora. Guys, this is my... my..”

“Fiancé...” Nikki looked over her shoulder and smiled shyly.

“My Fiancé Tim Smith.” As she made the introductions, Nikki seemed, almost embarrassed of admitting that she had a fiancé, well in front of Richie anyways, Jon already knew. Richie’s eyes widened slightly when Nikki stuttered, searching for the right word to introduce Tim as, but when he heard ‘fiancé’ some of his thoughts shattered. Putting that aside he reached his hand out towards Tim’s.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Nodding his head in agreement Tim exchanged hand shakes with Richie then with Jon.

“Jon, it’s nice to meet you. Thank for hiring Nikki, we were so worried she wouldn’t be able to find something here in the city as quickly as she did.”

Jon slowly slid off of his stool and shook hands quickly with Tim. “It was no problem. Nikki showed some great potential at the interviews and she’s been doing an amazing job. Very glad to have her on the team.” Jon looked at Nikki and gave her a wink. “Drinks.. Let me buy you guys drinks. What’s ur poison??”