Chapter 43

Billie blinked at him, confused. Mom? He called her mom? But why would Jon do that?

“Jon?” She whispered, reaching out to him, shocked as he recoiled from her, but his sudden movement brought his face into a shaft of afternoon sunlight, and she blanched even paler than the blood loss had caused as she realised what she’d just done. “Oh, God……Jay.”

“Mom, what in the fuck are you saying? Is it just the drugs wearing off?”

Numb, she shook her head, the distress on his face breaking her heart.

“Not the drugs, Jay.”

“But……….but my dad’s name was Craig.” He blurted, bewildered. “You were engaged and he died in a car wreck, then you had me. That’s what you told me.”

“And it’s true.” Billie fought the woolly chains of drugs in her brain, trying to explain. “It’s mostly true, Jay. I just left out a few details.”

“Details.” He repeated in a flat, icy tone. His father’s voice.

“Yes. I was engaged to Craig, and he did die in that wreck. But he died a few years before you were born.”

“So everything you’ve told me - everything I am - it’s all lies!” Jay exploded, pushing away from the bed.

“No! No, Jay.” Billie struggled to push herself upright, fighting back the pain. “You’re still exactly the same person, Jay. Just that now……now you know….”

“Oh, now I know all right.” He spat, anger - embarrassment? fear? he wasn’t even sure what - driving his words. “I’m surprised you kept me. You had a one night stand with a fucking rockstar and I was the unfortunate result, huh? Jesus, even then, hadn’t you guys heard of protection?”

“It wasn’t like that!” She protested, anguish overriding pain and sense so she pushed herself fully upright, immediately knowing it was a mistake as pain lanced through her. “It wasn’t….”

She cried out in pain, falling back onto the pillows. Panicked, Jay went for the door, yanking it open and yelling for a nurse before returning to the bedside, his anger evaporated. His anger at her, at any rate.

"Mom........" All he could do was grip her hand as she gasped in pain again, then the nurses were there, taking one look at her before telling him to leave.

"But....." Jay protested, but they weren't to be moved, and one took hold of his arm.

“You need to leave now.” She said harshly, propelling him out of the room and shutting the door behind him.

Kadie was sitting on the bench just outside, but Jay barely even glanced at her before heading for the stairs, needing to vent his anger somehow, and knowing just the target he needed. Her heart pounding, Kadie jumped to her feet and followed him, catching him in the stairwell and grabbing his shoulder.

“Jay! What’s happened?!”

“Nothing.” He muttered. Damn, this isn’t her fight. Isn’t her problem. Why should I drag….

“Don’t fucking lie to me.” She snapped, the first time he’d heard her curse, and it was enough of a surprise to make him actually look at her, seeing the tension in her eyes as she scoured his face.

“Sorry.” He forced the anger away, keeping it for someone far more deserving. “I just……mom’s awake, and….”

“She is? That’s great.” Kadie frowned at him. “But not. Why not?”

“She…….aw shit……” Jay turned around, leaning against the wall as he looked at her. “When she came around, she mistook me for someone else. For my….my father.”

“And?” Kadie didn’t get it. “It’s quite common, Jay, for people coming out of sedation to be a little confused.”

“Oh, she was confused all right. She was confused enough to think I was him, and to say enough that I know….”

“Know what?” Oh, sweet Jesus, he knows! He knows his father isn’t some dead fiancé, but is the very much alive rockstar sitting downstairs.

“That my dad wasn’t the guy she lost in a car wreck all those years ago. Not the guy she told me was my dad.” His eyes were huge with hurt and confusion as he looked at her. “You wanna know who my dad is, Desi? My real, actual, fucking biological father?”

“I……”

He wasn’t waiting for a response, though. He just had to say it.

“Jon Bon fucking Jovi.”

“He………what?” Every instinct in her told Kadie to play dumb. After all, she didn’t know Jon was Jay’s father - she only had Richie’s swift words of caution as a guide, though there was no other reason she could imagine for him saying what he’d whispered in her ear. If nothing else, anyway, she had the proof of her own eyes, in that ‘eureka’ moment. “Your dad is……..is…… Jon’s your dad?”

“Yeah. Pretty much what I thought. So what does that make me? The product of some quick fuck backstage at a concert? Some drunken night they both regret?”

“Stop it!” She snapped, grabbing his shoulders, her grip tight enough to hurt. “You don’t know that, Jay! Hell, your mom is a strong woman - if she’d not wanted a child - not wanted you - she wouldn’t have had you! Don’t jump to conclusions!”

“Why didn’t she tell me?”

“Why? What difference would it have made?”

“It……I……..” He looked at her lamely. “I’d have known.”

“And that’s the only difference there’d have been.” Kadie said firmly, moving in to hug him. “Please, baby. Please, please don’t jump in and do something you’ll regret. Let her explain, once she’s a bit more lucid.” A thought finally occurred, and she drew back. “Why did the nurses throw you out of there?”

“Mom…….oh, Jesus…….she sat up, tried to sit up, to reach for me, and it hurt her…….hurt her so bad…..I…..they…….”

They were still in the stairwell, and Kadie made a swift decision, pushing him around until he sat on a stair.

“You stay there.” She said firmly. “I’m going to go see what’s going on. Just stay.”

“Yeah.” Jay mumbled, dropping his head into his hands. The boss? The boss is my fucking father?

Kadie looked at him dubiously, but went back into the hallway, along to Billie’s room, rapping gently on the door. After a moment or two, a nurse opened the door.

“Yes?”

“Hi. Sorry. I just wanted to check if Billie’s okay? Her son said she jerked up and hurt herself.”

“She’s……resting.” The woman said cautiously.

“I’m a nurse, over at University.” Kadie explained. “But I used to work here, with Doctor Riviello.”

Professional courtesy, as always, took over, and the nurse nodded. “She hasn’t torn anything - no further bleeding - but the bruising hurt her, and she pulled against some stitches. She will be okay, so long as she doesn’t do anything else silly like that.”

“Okay. Thanks.” Kadie breathed a little easier. “I’ll let him know. Can he come back and sit with her?”

“Not for a while. We’ve just hit her with more painkillers, so she’s out of it again.”

Kadie nodded and backed away, heading into the stairwell once more.

“Jay, she’s……….Jay?” The stairwell was empty. “Oh, dammit, Jay!” She snapped, heading down the stairs at a run.

After Kadie had left, Jay sat for only a moment before the tension set into him again, his shoulders hunching like a boxer ready to punch. Punch. That sounded good right now. And he knew just whose face he was picturing as the target. With an angry curl to his lip, he got to his feet and started down the stairs.

At the waiting room door, he didn’t even try to calm himself, but just slammed in through the door, seeing the two men on the couch.

Jon jumped to his feet, the tense line of Jay's jaw worrying him, the expression too similar to his own when bad things had to be faced.

"What's happened?" He asked, and Jay glanced at Richie before deciding he didn't give a fuck what the guitarist thought.

Before he could speak, he heard the door open again, and swung to see Kadie enter the room. Her eyes were telling him - begging him - to be calm, but he wasn’t in the mood to listen to even her entreaties.

"Have I said, boss, how much it means to me that you're this concerned about my mom?" He asked, his voice sweetly poisonous. Jon didn't hear the sarcasm, but Richie did, and he ground his teeth together. Shit, but this could be bad. "I just wondered, though........"

He did retain enough sense to look back, double-checking the door was shut behind him, seeing the worry on Kadie's face before turning back to the older man. "Is my mom something special to you, or are you this concerned for every groupie you've fucked and knocked up, Dad?"