Friday, July 6th

Cape Neddick Maine

That evening while Alexis partied at Bon's house she barely thought of her sister Olivia at all. But that wasn't the case with Olivia.

Three hours earlier after she'd left Alexis' house, she had got into her rented car and headed to a nearby Holiday Inn and upon registering was taken to up to her room.

She felt a bit tired then and had stretched out on the bed for awhile to take a nap and had woken up just a few minutes ago.

Still laying on the bed, she started thinking about the visit to her sister's.

Although Alexis had given her that check, it didn't do her a lot of good. She didn't have a bank account in the states therefore she had no way to cash it. Her bank account was in London. Sitting up she walked to the dresser and grabbed her bag removing her wallet. She counted her cash which total was only around fifty bucks. Plus she had one credit card only and she knew she had only about a hundred left on that as her other cards were maxed out. So that left her very little funds even though she already had her ticket back to England and would be leaving in the morning. Oh well, she thought, at least she wasn't totally broke.

She grabbed the remote turning on the room t.v. and laid back down on the bed, channel surfing for awhile and then stopped it on a music network. There was a Bon Vincent special on and she sat up interested. She had been a fan for a number of years and had always been attracted to Bon's good looks like many women. Even though her sister wasn't a fan of theirs, Olivia at least got her to admit once that she thought Bon was good looking.

After a minute, Rye Sanders appeared and started talking about one of their newest tunes that he'd co-written. Rye was even more appealing to Olivia as she usually went for dark haired men especially smokin' guitarists. She had all of Rye's solo albums even and had played them to death.

Despite the fact that both Rye and Bon were married, Olivia had once attempted to get her some rock star ass by sneaking backstage at a Bon Vincent concert a couple of years ago. Either Bon or Rye she didn't care which. However when she entered the room, it was packed with all kinds of people, and she looked over and saw Bon completely surrounded by a horde of female fans and Rye was nowhere to be seen. That's when she'd turned around and left.

But Olivia didn't lack for lovers. She'd had a fair amount of them so she just chalked that up to being in the right place at the wrong time.

After the interview, a reporter came on and said to stay tuned tomorrow for the second half of the interview with Bon and Rye. As she was about to change the channel the man said, "Also don't miss our exclusive interview with Bon talking about his latest Philanthropic endeavors as well as conducting a tour of his new digs, next week. I spoke to Bon just this morning and he told me he's recently rented a house on the coast of Maine, of all places," the reporter said chuckling. "Well folks, I've heard of rock stars hiding out but this is ridiculous! I mean Bon, did you have to move all the way up to Maine just to have some privacy?" He asked laughing.

But Olivia had stopped listening to the reporter when he'd stated where Bon's new house was. The coast of Maine, she thought.

Suddenly Olivia remembered the card she had pulled from her sister's roses. It was signed, Yours, 'Bon.' How many guys with the name of Bon who lived in Maine spelled their name like that she wondered.

Christ, was her sister seeing the rocker? She got up and started pacing back and forth. She had to know. Lost in thought for a moment, she then wheeled about and walking in the bathroom she took a quick shower and then dried her hair. Walking back into the bedroom she opened her suitcase and pulled out a little black dress.

Dressing quickly she put on a pair of black sandals and going to the mirror she arranged her hair a bit and then touched up her makeup. Finally ready she grabbed her handbag and keys and left the room and climbed into her rental car...

******

"Hey Bon!" Rye called as he walked from the door onto the terrace. Bon was squatting down by the pool talking to a buddy of his and looked up and said, "Yeah?"

He got up then and walked over to him as Rye said, "Listen believe it or not we're out of beer and rum, and the tequila and whiskey are going fast. And we need a couple more bottles of Pinot.

"Who's been drinking my wine?" Bon asked looking annoyed.

"You! That's who!" Rye told him laughing.

"Oh." Bon chuckled a bit sheepishly. Lately he'd been on the Pinot kick. It was a light white wine. He could drink two bottles and wake up in the morning without a hangover.

"Plus," Rye continued, "we're almost out of coke and a few mixers as well. I just checked the supply. I mean how much booze can twenty-five people drink?"

Bon said, "I can't believe this man! I bought eight cases of beer, seven cases of coke, six bottles of Rum, five bottles of Tequila and five bottles of Jack Daniels!" he looked incredulous.

"I know," Rye replied.

"Listen would you mind doing me a favor and run up to the liquor store and pick up some extra?" Bon asked him.

"Sure man, how much do you think we'll need?" Rye asked picking up his hat and putting it back on his head.

"Uh, just get three more cases of beer and coke and a couple bottles each of the hard stuff and two or three mixers. If they drink that up well, then their either gonna have to do without or they can go home," he winked at Rye. "Oh and get me another bottle of Pinot."

He reached over to the chair where his jeans lay which he'd removed a bit earlier to go swimming and dug inside his pocket and removed his wallet. He handed a credit card to Rye and reached into his other pocket and gave him his truck keys as well.

Rye took off then as Bon looked around for Alexis. He saw her sitting on the far side of the pool dangling her beautiful legs in the water while talking to Dane. She had on a black leather thong bikini with chains leading from the bra top to a choker around the neck, with small chains dangling off the bottom part of the suit as well. Up until a few minutes ago she had still been wearing the short black leather boots as well.

When she'd first walked out after changing, Bon's mouth had fallen open. Heavy metal beauty, he thought. He was actually kind of surprised to see her wear something this daring. Her body was made for the bikini though, he thought. When she turned around to speak to someone as he walked towards her, he feasted his eyes on her amazing ass cheeks on either side of the center thong strip mostly visible through the dangling chains and his package had responded promptly. He'd had to adjust himself when no one was looking as to hide the evidence.

A minute later as they danced he'd whispered in her ear, "You trying to torture me by wearing that suit?"

She laughed softly and put her head up but when she saw that his expression was mostly serious, she asked, her face sobering, "Is it too much? Maybe I should run over to the house and grab a different one? After all, I don't want you to be uncomfort"..... her words were silenced as his arms tightened and his mouth crushed hers.

After a moment she tore her mouth away and quickly looked around, but the only one that seemed to have noticed was Rye, who grinned and raised his drink to the both of them. However she turned to him, face pink and said in a quiet voice, "I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't kiss me that way in front of all these people. What will everyone think?"

Bon laughed and said, "You're kidding right? After they got an eyeful of you in that bikini the men are probably so wishing they were me and most of the women probably hate your guts by now!" He tugged at one of her chains.

"Actually," he said, "I was kind of surprised to see you in something this wild."

"I thought it was very heavy metal," she said, laughing shortly.

"Black leather and chains, yeah I guess you have a point," Bon said, "If you're modeling fashions for Judas Priest." He chuckled as she playfully swatted him.

"I wore it just for you," she said feigning a pout.

Bon's face sobered as he said, staring into her eyes, "And I love it. My God but I want you so much." At the passion in his tone, her face sobered as well as tiny flames licked at her body.

He pulled her in for another kiss but she backed away, feeling hot and saying she needed to cool off, she jumped into the pool. And now there she sat, hair wet and slicked back, her body glistening with drops of water, eyelashes long and wet, her beautiful sea green eyes never wavering from his as he walked over to her..

Alexis watched him coming, thinking what a great body he had. Although he didn't go for men's briefs preferring the looser board shorts that surfers often wore, they at least were set low down on his hips, as low as they could go without revealing his ass or pubic hair. Plus he had changed his cowboy hat for a baseball cap which she liked even better.

She stood up as he joined her. She said, "How come you haven't been swimming yet Bon? I mean everyone else is, except you and Rye. Afraid you'll mess up your gorgeous hair?" she teased him.

"Hey I went swimming! At least I tested the water a bit!" He pulled her to him, feigning a scowl. "Yeah," Alexis answered but you only went in up to your waist."

"Well, I got interrupted because of the problem about the booze," he said and then picked her up, "As for your question, no I'm not afraid at all!" Then tightening his hold on her he backed up as she laughed delightedly and ran and jumped into the pool making a huge splash as everyone laughed and ducked.....

****

Olivia drove through the small town of Cape Neddick and on the outskirts she saw a liquor store that said, TJ's Liquors. She quickly pulled in as she was hungry and hadn't eaten for hours. She would just pick up a couple of snacks or some cheese and crackers. She had to watch her spending having very limited funds.

She parked and left the car and headed into the store. On one side of the store were rows and rows of liquor but on the other side was a small cafe. She smelled the undeniably fantastic smell of grilled food cooking and her nose led her that way of its own accord. She watched as a waitress brought out a plate with a large T-bone steak, baked potato and cole slaw and set them down before a trucker who was the only customer, sitting at the counter. She added a plate of garlic toast next to that.

Her mouth watered, and she slid into an empty booth. Cheese and crackers wasn't gonna cut it, not after she'd seen that. She realized she would have to spend some of the last of her cash. She picked up the menu. The steak dinner was $14.95. Just then the waitress walked over and asked, "Can I help you miss?"

Olivia ordered the steak, telling the woman she would like her steak medium rare, with sour cream on the potato and she would have a margarita to drink. The woman then thanked her and said she would return momentarily with her cocktail and walked away.....

******

As Rye headed for the liquor store he thought about the conversation that he'd had with Bon earlier. Bon had confided in him about why Alexis had never RSVP'd and told him he had found her in a highly emotional state. He told him about Alexis' emotional break down, about Olivia's visit and the things Olivia had told Alexis. He also told Rye about the intimate moment that he and Alexis had shared together and Rye like Ronnie had laughed when Bon admitted what a jerk he was that he'd forgotten to bring condoms. But the smile left as quickly as it appeared when Bon whispered to him that Alexis had given him exquisite head relieving his torture in a way he'd never quite experienced before.

Rye thought to himself, the lucky bastard. Why can't I find an exciting beautiful interesting woman like Alexis, he wondered. Shit, but he needed a woman. It had been a long time since his last relationship with that actress. Which he'd had found out after it ended that she was just using him anyway. He had thought she loved him and when he had asked her to marry him, she refused saying she didn't really want to get married at least anytime soon.

Didn't anybody want to get married anymore, he wondered. His heart had been wounded and he had not been with a woman seriously since that time a little over a year ago. If only he could find a woman as interesting as Alexis, his life would be back on track again.

His thoughts went idly to Alexis' sister Olivia. He had never met the woman and had only seen one picture of her. Which had been taken two years ago. It was right after she had left the modeling industry the article said. The picture was highly unflattering. The image he got was a woman with bleached blond wild looking hair, her face without makeup standing between two police officers as they arrested her. He'd read that she was arrested for cocaine possession. The judge later found her guilty and she was put on probation and had to check in to rehab. He hadn't seen or read much about her after that as really he wasn't one to read the gossip rags, or pay attention to the gossip mongers on t.v. either. The last he heard was that she'd opened a boutique.

He wondered if she was as beautiful as Alexis, as he'd heard other men say she was hot, so he had a feeling she was good looking, after all she had been a model so she must have some beauty and he guessed that the picture he'd seen must have just been a bad picture or a bad day.

Rye suddenly saw the liquor store come up on his left and drove into the store's parking lot. He walked in a minute later and looked around and spying the beer cooler which was located near the entrance to the restaurant part of the building he walked over and was just reaching for the cooler door when he heard a voice coming from the restaurant say, "Thank you, that looks delicious. Could you bring me some steak sauce and maybe some extra sour cream too?" The woman had a sexy soft voice and Rye paused mid reach. He turned his head in the direction of the voice and saw the back of a woman sitting in a booth on the left side of the room. She had honey blond hair falling in a cascade down her back and was wearing some kind of black halter top.

Intrigued, he dropped his hand and turning he sauntered into the restaurant......

******

Back at the party, the food had arrived and people started lining up with their plates. There was roast beef, roast pork, Baked honey ham, BBQ chicken wings, Bratwurst, BBQ rib tips, egg rolls, various potatoes, salads and hot veggies along with relish trays and an assortment of breads such as dinner rolls, French and Italian bread. There were several plates of hors d'oeuvres that Bon's housekeeper had prepared as well.

Bon and Alexis sat in a lounge chair on the far side of the pool and Alexis was sitting on his lap. He had his arm around her waist with her arm around his neck and occasionally she would dip her head to meet his mouth as they devoured each other in open mouth french kisses. Alexis had relaxed even further now that she had a couple of stiff ones in her belly and Bon couldn't be more content.

However he was wondering what was taking Rye so long thinking he should have been back by now.. Thank God he and Dane had, possessed the foresight to put the food out so people had their attention on eating now instead of consuming large quantities of alcohol.

He said, looking at Alexis, "Hungry Alex?" "Hm a little, but I want to wait until the line thins out a bit how about you?" she asked him.

"Definitely, cause I can think of way more pleasurable things to do than standing in a long slow moving line." he smiled wickedly as she laughed as he pulled her close to him for another searing kiss.....

******

Rye walked into the restaurant and passed by Olivia and sat down in a booth in front of her. Olivia who was sipping her Margarita barely glanced at him as she was so into her food. The steak was absolutely one of the best she'd had in years. Who would have thunk it, she thought. This little greasy spoon, sharing space with a liquor store in a tiny little no nothing town. Everything else was delicious as well. The cole slaw was creamy and sweet, the baked potato fluffy with crispy skin and the garlic bread was crunchy and delicious. She carried on with her meal unaware that a pair of smoldering chocolate brown eyes were watching her every move.

Rye sat down and looked over at the woman. He felt a spark ignite as he realized that here sat a gorgeous young woman who looked to be about late twenties maybe. Although she wasn't paying him a bit of attention and was eating her steak like she hadn't had a meal for days. His eyes traveled down from her lovely face, to what she was wearing which was a black halter dress Her cleavage was slightly visible and was honey tanned. Her arms were the same honey color and had a little bit of muscle definition. He couldn't see the rest of her but he thought if the rest of her looked this good, he was toast.

Olivia eating the last bite of her steak but feeling full asked the waitress to wrap up the rest of her potato and french bread. She took a drink of her coke then and then another. Then she belched softly putting her hand over her mouth.

Wiping her mouth gently on a napkin, she reached in her bag for her compact. Holding it up she looked at her face and then applied some lipstick and removed her powder puff and patted at her cheeks and nose.

Rye watched as she looked into the mirror and suddenly her eyes went up and he found himself looking into beautiful sapphire blue eyes framed in dark lashes as they stared into his. She lowered the compact revealing a full pouty mouth and as recognition dawned that beautiful mouth dropped open. She smiled then revealing even white teeth and Rye said, "Hi." as the waitress brought him a cup of coffee.

Olivia said, "Hi yourself. I know you. You're Rye Sanders. So what are you doing up here in Maine?" Her voice sent chills down his spine. It was soft, confident and breathy. Rye got up then and walked over and said, "May I join you?"

"Absolutely," Olivia said, thrilled to her core but trying to stay calm.

"Well Miss," Rye began and stopped...

"Liv," she said smiling at him seductively.

"Well Liv, I'm visiting a friend. Are you from around here?" he asked.

"No," said Olivia, I was visiting someone too. But tomorrow I'm heading back home."

Just then the waitress came and placed the check on the table. Olivia picked it up and looked at it and asked him as she opened her purse, "So just out by yourself having coffee?" She looked inside her purse with a frown moving things around as he answered.

"Actually," Rye told her "I'm procrastinating and I should get going. I was supposed to be picking up some extra booze for the party my friend is having and I'm sure he's probably given me up for lost about now."

Olivia said, "I don't understand." She looked stressed.

"Something wrong?" Rye asked her.

"My wallet's not here." Then she thought. At the motel she had taken it out to count her money. She must have forgotten to stick it back in her bag. "I left my wallet back at my motel. It has all my money in it as well as my credit cards."

"Well, if you'll allow me," he said smiling. He picked up her check and walked to the register as Olivia said, "Oh no Rye, you don't have to,".... but without missing a beat he just kept going. She gathered her bag and joined him then.

He paid for her meal as well as his coffee and then as they walked out she said, "How can I ever thank you? I mean this is pretty embarrassing," she said giving him a distressed look.

"Hey, rescuing a beautiful damsel in distress is one of the things I do best," he said smiling and giving her shivers down her spine. "Besides, forgetting a wallet could happen to anyone," he said.

He walked her to the door and said "Well, I gotta hurry and get my butt in gear before Bon sends a posse out to look for me!" He laughed.

Olivia's ears perked up at that. "Bon?" she asked.

"Yeah...Bon Vincent, he's the friend." Then he paused and said, "So I suppose you have to get back to your boyfriend huh?"

Olivia smiled and said she was between boyfriends at the moment. He smiled as well and said, "I have an idea. Are you doing anything tonight? I mean if you're free, would you like to go to a party?"

"Actually," Olivia said, " I am free. I was just going to go back to my motel and watch some old movie on TV but I have to admit your offer sounds like a lot more fun so I'd love to go to your party!" She hesitated then and said, "But am I dressed properly or do I need to change?"

"You look great, just perfect," Rye said eyeing her up and down. She stood at about 5 feet 7 and she was wearing black sandals. Her dress was slit up one leg joined together by some fancy piece of metal and ended several inches above her knees. Her legs were average length but very attractive, he thought.

"So let me just run and get the booze and then we can go," he told her. He had to make two trips out to Bon's Toyota as he had several cases of everything plus the other hard liquor.

Placing the last case in the car, he said, "Listen why don't you just leave your rental here? I can bring you back later to pick it up." She said that would be fine and he said he'd just run in and let the clerk know.

He returned a moment later and then they were off.

They both started chatting then. Rye talked about how much he liked the area up here and Olivia thought she could not believe how this night had turned out. She had met the great Rye Sanders, who had paid for her dinner without blinking an eye and now was on her way to a party with him and Bon Vincent!

She was lovin' every second of this. The both of them joked around and she told him what had happened once when she had went out on a date with a guy and spilled a plate of spaghetti all over his white suit. Rye listened to her totally enchanted.

After she finished her tale, he told her about Bon's new house. Then he said, "Yeah it's great and the bonus is he lives right next door to Alexandria Grey the model. You've heard of her, I presume?"

Olivia had just looked out the window and jerked slightly when he said that. She said, "Yeah, I know her but we're not close or anything." It really wasn't a lie she thought. Then Olivia abruptly changed the subject, but in her mind she was thinking, that her sister lived right next door to Bon Vincent. She was sure now that, that's who the flowers had been from. Her sister was involved romantically with the rocker.

By the time they reached the driveway Rye was singing one of their recent singles and Olivia was harmonizing along with him.

Rye said as he parked the car, "You have a really nice singing voice." And then as she blushed he reached over and kissed her and she kissed him back and they both laughed delighting in one another.

******

Moments earlier Bon was looking grim. He couldn't understand what had happened to Rye. He was thinking of calling the hospital to see if there had been any accidents when Dane walked up. "So Rye isn't back yet, huh Bon?" The curly haired keyboardist asked.

"Nope," Bon replied. "I can't understand it. He should have been here a half hour ago.

"Maybe one of us should go and see if we can find him," Dane replied. "He could have had a flat tire maybe."

"I'm gonna give him a few more minutes and I think that's what we might have to do," Bon told him. He looked over to where Alexis sat talking with Ronnie.

People were just finishing up eating and dumping their paper plates in the dumpster at the edge of the terrace. they then mingled chatting and/or dancing.

Just then Bon saw Alexis get up and walk towards him. She had a look of concern on her face as she had been watching him closely for the last ten minutes.

Reaching him she said, "What is it Bon? Are you worried because Rye isn't back yet?"

He was just about to answer her when Tek came walking out of the French doors and yelled, "Bon! He's back! And he has a beautiful woman with him!"

Bon said to Alexis, "It figures. I should have known. Whenever Rye's late it's usually because of a woman!" He laughed then totally relieved as she joined in.

They turned and as Rye appeared , several people looked as well and someone shouted, "Hey Sanders! Glad to see you're okay! We were gettin' worried, cause we're all thirsty as hell," as everyone laughed.

Rye carried a case of brewski's over and clunked them down on a table.

However Alexis' smile left her face and she froze as she saw the woman who followed him through the door.

Her knees swayed, and Bon seeing her teetering, suddenly grabbed her in his arms. "Alex?" he asked, "What is it?" She turned her head staring at him with a shocked face and said, "Not what, or it, but who. It's Olivia.... my sister".....

At her words, Bon turned his head in surprise and they both looked at the woman that despite their being twins, was so different from Alexis. They watched as she chatted and laughed with people.

Alexis' head was spinning. Did Rye know her sister? If not what was Olivia doing with him? She felt very confused at this point and what had been such a pleasant evening had turned into a disaster in the making.

Rye put his arm around Olivia as they stood talking to Ronnie and Jimmy and she saw Jimmy take Olivia's hand and kiss it. She so wanted to barf as Olivia giggled looking like an innocent school girl.

Then Rye looking around saw them and waved saying to Olivia,"C'mon let me introduce you to Bon and some of the others."

Olivia who had been smiling, lost her smile as she saw Alexis staring at her with a murderous look on her face. She really wasn't surprised that Alexis was there however. In fact she would have been surprised if she hadn't of been.

Rye took her hand and they walked over to them and Olivia, her face innocent said, "Alexis! What are you doing here?"

"I might ask the same thing of you sister," the brunette replied, her tone cold. Alexis needed to sit down. But first she needed to speak to Olivia alone.

She took her arm telling Rye and Bon that they needed to have a little chat and smiled sweetly, but inside she was verging on violence. She wanted to slap Olivia's face not only because she had popped back in her life again, but because she had the sneaking suspicion that Olivia wasn't as innocent as she was pretending to be.

Pulling her over into a secluded corner she said, "What the fuck are you still hanging around for? I thought you left Olivia! And why are you with Rye? I swear to God you are NOT going to sink your hooks into a great guy like Rye Sanders, not if I have anything to say about it!" She glared at her, her eyes dark and dangerous.

"Calm down, Lex," Olivia told her looking around. "For your information, I met Rye by accident. I went out for a ride and stopped at a restaurant for a bite to eat. Rye came in a minute later and we started talking. It turns out I forgot my wallet back at the hotel and Rye was so sweet that he paid for my meal, otherwise I still might be there washing dishes!" she said with a mild attempt at humor.

Alexis stared at her and said, "Let me ask you a question. Did he know you were my sister when he brought you home?"

"No," Olivia said, "I didn't tell him, I figured he'd find out soon enough. You see sis, when Rye told me that his friend Bon Vincent had thrown a party and that he lived next to Alexis Grey, I put two and two together. I remembered seeing the name Bon on the card I pulled out of your roses. I pretty much figured out your new admirer was none other than him. Am I wrong?"

"I love the way you avoid the issue and then turn everything around. You have such a talent for that," Alexis said. "This isn't about me, or my love life. It's about you."

"Look," Olivia said, "I didn't know until we were on our way here that you probably would be at this party," Olivia said. "It was only when Rye said that Bon lived next door to you that I figured it out. What was I supposed to do? Tell him to turn around and take me back to my car, that I didn't want to go to his party after all?"

"Yes!" Alexis shouted, as people turned their heads and stared. Alexis turned and saw Bon and Rye together looking over at them. She turned back to Olivia and lowered her voice. "What do you want with Rye? Please Liv, I'm begging you, PLEASE leave him alone, he's a good guy whose had a lot of hurt in his life and if you hurt him I swear I'll..." she broke off and Olivia said, "You'll what sister dear?"

Stormy green-blue eyes stared into mocking sapphire blue ones and Alexis, furious that she couldn't find any more words, turned and walked away.

She walked quickly over to the bar at the end of the pool area and asked the bartender for a Long Island Iced Tea. A minute later she sat down on a stool sipping her drink in silence.

Rye said to Bon, "I had no idea Olivia was Alexis' sister Bon. I'd only seen one picture of her and"....

"Hey you don't have to defend yourself to me bro', you're a grown man," Bon said, "and I'm not about to tell you what to do with your life, but I will say you might want to use a bit of caution with that one." Then he walked over to Alexis.

Olivia was standing there examining something on her fingers, looking down when Rye joined her. She put her head up. "I guess you'll be wanting to take me back then?" she asked.

"Why didn't you tell me you were Alexis' sister?" Rye asked her. "I'm curious."

She said, "Could we go somewhere so we can talk without a thousand eyes on us Rye?"

He hesitated and then he took her arm and led her into the house. He took her upstairs to his bedroom. When she walked in she was elated. She worked best in the bedroom, this was her arena.

However before she turned around she made her expression contrite. He walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed and she joined him sitting next to him.

At her nearness and the fact they were sitting on his bed, Rye's pulse was going a mile a minute. God but she was so damned beautiful. He tried to be angry, he tried to find her distasteful, but all he could see were her huge dark blue eyes, that full pouty mouth, golden honey tanned skin. And then her lower lip trembled as her eyes filled with tears.

"I'm sorry Rye. But I'm not as bad as my sister has made you think. I may not be as perfect as her but I have feelings too. And I may have made some mistakes in my life, but I believe I've paid for those mistakes," she said, remembering that line from a movie she'd seen more than once.

"My sister hates me right now, because I slept with her fiance, a man who was going to dump her anyway." She then told him the whole story although Rye had heard most of it before from Bon.

Rye reached out and hugged her suddenly, stroking her soft hair. Olivia felt moved by his display of affection and then she told him something that she had never admitted to anyone before including Trey.

She said, "You see, when Alexis and I were young I always believed that Mom and Dad loved her more than me. When we were 13 I overhead my Mother tell my Father that Alexis was her favorite. I listened hoping that my Mom would say something nice about me, but all she said was that she wished I were as beautiful and sweet as Lex. All my Father said was that he pretty much agreed with my Mother, that as twins we were very different.

It hurt me terribly and I felt miserable and inadequate. At that time I was not really very pretty, being all arms, skinny legs and rather scraggly hair. But that whole next year and a half I tried to show Mom how much I loved her." She paused and Rye felt his heart strings tug.

"I did little things for her all the time, so wanting her approval. I helped her around the house, more than Alexis and tried to keep my temper under check, not fighting with my sister, because I knew that bothered her. But then came the day that my Mother passed away, right before our fifteenth birthday. My Father fell into a terrible depression. I was devastated, we all were.

But I turned to my Father, helping him around the house when I could and he seemed appreciative and for awhile there I was almost convinced that maybe I'd become his favorite girl. But then not long after Lex and I turned fifteen, one day he didn't come home. He just disappeared, the police could find no trace of him. I blamed myself of course. It was my fault that he'd left us, somehow I had driven him away. After that Lex and I went to live with our Uncle Ned. And even he seemed to prefer the company of my sister to me."

Rye listened not saying anything till she'd finished. He felt moved by what she'd told him. He said, "I don't want to get between you and your sister's relationship Liv, or should I call you Olivia?"

"Liv will do," she told him softly, not smiling.

"Nor do I want to get involved with someone who's looking for just a roll in the hay either or to be just another conquest for them. I'm just too old for that. But I am attracted to you and that attraction hasn't died even though I found out who you really were," he told her his face more serious than she'd ever seen him look in any photo.

"There's something about you. Something in your eyes. I don't know how or why, but I can see past your tricks and your little charades and there's something beautiful, something so awesome, deep deep down inside of you, that I'm willing to bet, most people never see and you want to know why?"

Suddenly Olivia's eyes filled with tears for real this time, as she nodded and he said, "Because you won't let anybody see it. You put up a wall, that keeps that part of you hidden from most. And that's sad. For it is the most beautiful part about you," he said as he reached up to brush away a tear that was rolling slowly down her cheek. "You are a woman that is longing to be loved, am I wrong?" he asked gently.

Olivia's lower lip trembled as she shook her head no. She couldn't speak but tried to as her voice broke on a sob. He pulled her into his arms as his mouth gently brushed her own and then he said, "I would like to see you again Liv. Would you like that?" He caressed her cheek with the back of his hand saying, "But I need to know that you're going to be honest with me, that you're not going to lie or try to manipulate me. I want whatever it is here that's happening between us to be based in honesty. If you don't think that's possible than we have nothing else to say to one another," he finished.

She pulled away from him slightly and said, "You're SO different. I never expected you would be like this. So honest, so sweet and you see things in me that I've never allowed any other man to see," she said, her tone filled with wonder. "I want to get to know you too Rye, but I wasn't honest with you before, though I intend to remedy that right now. I haven't yet ended it with my current boyfriend Trey. He's back in London waiting for me."

"Are you in love with him?" Rye asked. She shook her head no, saying, "I've never been in love with a man before. And this relationship was no different," she said a bit wistfully. "He's not in love with me either. It's over between us but I just need to go there in person to tell him. I owe him that much."

"And after that, what then? What are your plans?" he asked.

"Gather my things and come back to the states. I have enough money to live on for awhile until I can find a job or decide what to do with my life," she told him.

"Well," Rye said reaching out and pulling her close, until you return tomorrow why don't you stay here with me tonight?"

Her face looked unsure.

"What?" he asked. "You think it's too soon?"

"If you'd asked me that an hour ago I might have said, hell no," she told him, "But now, you got me really thinking, something that I have apparently stopped doing for the most part. Thinking about consequences and about what would be the best thing in the end. You and I just met an hour ago, so I have to say yeah, I think it may be a bit too soon for that."

Rye smiled a rueful smile but said, "That's okay I'll be here when you get back. I'm staying with Bon next week and then I'm heading back to L.A. I would say you could stay here but I'm gonna have to discuss that with the man first. I mean he has plenty of room, in fact "..... he paused... "you could stay in one of his guest bedrooms tonight. I mean it sure as hell is an improvement over that hotel you're staying at isn't it?"

She laughed and said by a mile. He said he would go talk to Bon about it.

They both got up then and went downstairs and back to the party...

******

Rye found Bon and Alexis sitting out by the pool as guests sat around and listened to the live band play. They were the new band that Bon was producing, The Works.

As the four young musicians ended their first song everyone clapped, yelled and carried on and Rye whispered into Bon's ear that he needed to talk to him.

Bon told Alexis he'd be back in a moment and he and Rye went back inside the house.

Which left Alexis and Olivia.

Olivia hesitated wringing her hands and then said in a small voice, "Could I talk to you for a moment Lex? It's important."

Alexis stared at her sister sensing something different about her. She seemed subdued she thought and she heard herself saying, "I guess. Let's go inside though where we can hear one another."

They walked into the mansion and Alexis led her to the nearest bathroom. Olivia looked at herself in the mirror. Her mascara had smeared, but turning she looked at Alexis and said, "I just wanted to say something. I won't hurt Rye, I promise."

She smiled then and said, "He's so different Lex. Different than any man I've ever known. He sees right through me to my core and sees things I've mostly kept hidden." She looked her sister in the eyes.

"He made me cry, Lex, I mean really cry," as her eyes then welled over again and her lips trembled. Fighting to get a hold of herself, she said, her voice breaking, "and for the first time in my life I felt as though someone saw the REAL me and appreciated that." Then she told Alexis, what she had told Rye about when the both of them had been thirteen years old.

Alexis listened to her and realized she had never seen her sister this way before and felt her eyes tearing up at the picture Olivia presented as she explained that she basically felt she was not loved, at least not in the way that their parents had loved her. It explained so much regarding the way Olivia had turned out, Alexis thought.

"I'm sorry that I ruined your evening, Lex. But I'm happy for you," Olivia said. She looked at Alexis who was standing there with a very strange look on her face and said, "I'm very happy that you have a great guy like Bon in your life, because you definitely deserve it sis."

Olivia looked at her, tears sliding down her cheeks and Alexis said, "Oh Liv, Mom and Dad DID love you honey. They told me that many times. But I guess they didn't convince you of that now did they?"

Olivia shook her head no.

"And besides that" Alexis said, "I remember a few months right before Mom passed away, when we were having a conversation. She told me that she was very proud of you. That you seemed to have changed in the last year and she also said that you were blossoming into a real beauty."

Olivia started sobbing then and said, trying to control herself, "She said that? I mean you're not making that up just to be nice?"

"No, honey," Alexis reassured her. "It's the truth." As Olivia stood there crying, futilely trying to wipe her face, Alexis turned grabbing a couple of tissues from the box on the vanity. She moved closer to her and handing her the tissues said, "Wipe your face sweetie."

Olivia took the tissue and wiped at cheeks and blowing her nose, she bent over the sink as she rinsed her face. She stared at herself and her mascara and eyeliner were in smudgy dark circles around her eyes.

She grimaced and then said, "God I look ugly."

"Ugly is the last thing you look, even with smeared makeup and a pink nose," Alexis told her.

"What's happened to you Liv?" she asked. "You are very different from the girl who stood in front of me an hour ago."

"Rye happened to me," Olivia said and she smiled a tiny secret smile.

"He wants to see me again," Olivia told her, her face lighting up like the sun. "I REALLY like him Lex. I've never felt this way before. And the funny thing is, he's never even laid a finger on me."

Alexis smiled then and thought if she didn't know better she'd think her sister was falling in love for the first time in her life.

She watched Olivia repairing her makeup and felt a touch of tenderness for her sister and remorse for all the harsh things she said. She intended to rectify that starting now. And the first thing she needed to tell her, was that she had been thinking of ending her relationship with Jet before that fateful day when Olivia had slept with him.

As Olivia tidied her hair with her hairbrush Alexis walked close to her and grabbed her arm as Olivia looked at her with a question in her eyes. Alexis gently removed the brush from her hand setting it down.

"Now it's my turn to talk," she said softly......

******

Alexis told her saying, "And I know it was very wrong of me to not tell you that. So you see Olivia, I make mistakes too. Can you forgive me for keeping that from you?"

Olivia said, "Seems we both have made some mistakes Lex. Yes I forgive you, if you will forgive me. And I meant what I said before at your house. I would like us to be real sisters again like when we were young. We had our fights but we also had some good times, special times because of the bond we share as twins."

Alexis agreed and said she'd like that too and then both sisters hugged one another and left the bathroom to rejoin the party...

The girls walked back into the hallway and found Bon and Rye standing there talking. As they walked up both men sensed something different about the women. The fact that they had their arms around each other was pretty much a dead giveaway that the both of them had set aside their differences.

Bon looked at Olivia as she held out her hand and said, "Hello Bon. We were never introduced properly. It's so nice to meet you, I've been a fan of the band's for a long time." Bon shook her hand then said "Nice to meet you too Olivia. And yeah Rye told me he invited you to stay in one of my guest rooms tonight. It's okay by me and if you need a place to stay temporarily when you return from London, that's okay as well."

"She won't need a place to say when she gets back, because she is staying with me," Alexis spoke up then. Olivia startled, turned to her and said, "Are you sure it's okay sis?"

"Of course it's okay, I have a big house with lots of room, no problem," she replied.

Olivia thanked her and then all four of them went out to the terrace as Rye said, "Man am I hungry!"

"Yeah you missed the massive lineup but there's plenty of food still left and at least you won't have to wait," Bon said placing his arm around Alexis' waist.

Olivia went with Rye then as he went over the heavily laden tables to get himself some grub.

"So what happened between the two of you?" Bon asked her. She told him everything, and then Bon said, "Well I'm happy that you both have patched things up. She doesn't seem so bad at least from what Rye told me."

"Yeah, I have to say Bon, that I think Rye has been an awesome influence on her even though they haven't known each other but a couple of hours. Olivia really likes him," she told him.

"And he is into her as well," Bon said. "It's been a long time since Rye has been this excited about a woman, and it makes me feel good to see him excited and happy again."

They both looked over at the couple as Liv picked up an olive and stuck it into Rye's waiting mouth. Then Rye bent his head and kissed Olivia lightly on the lips.

Bon and Alexis smiled then and turned towards each other as Bon pulled her close and said, "Stay with me tonight."

"I don't know Bon," Alexis returned hesitating.

"Please babe, I need to be with you," he begged.

"Bon you and I need to talk. About something we haven't talked about up until this point. Actually we should have talked sooner."

"What is it?" he asked noting her serious expression, as she turned then and walked over to a corner and sat down on a bench. As he joined her she said, "It's about our sexual history. One can never be too careful these days you know."

He agreed and she said, "I'll cut to the chase...I have no sexual diseases. Right after I left Jet, I got tested. Seeing that he had been with other women I needed to know if he passed anything on to me."

"And?" Bon prompted her.

"Thankfully I'm clean. All tests were negative. Now, what about you?" she asked.

"I've only been with one woman since my divorce," he said. "Rye and I went on a trip to Mexico for a couple of days. He thought it might cheer me up some. It happened with a very pretty prostitute," he said his face reddening a little, "but I used protection and there was no oral sex involved. It was over in a matter of minutes. But later I chose to have the test just to be sure and I'm clean," he said.

"Okay," she said, "So at least we don't have to worry about spreading diseases to one another. But there's the other concern. I'm not ready to have a child yet. I stopped taking the pill a few months ago so I've decided I am going to see my doctor tomorrow and get a new prescription. Because to tell you the truth I really hate condoms!" she made a face. "I would very much like it to be you that I'm feeling and not some damned piece of latex!" she said and this time it was her turn to blush a little.

Then she said, "But regarding tonight, even with what we just talked about aside, it's been a long stressful day for me. My sister visiting, my being upset and crying myself silly, not once but twice and then you and I having an intimate".... she stopped and smiled at that.

"Then Olivia showing up here at the party. And finally the realization that she'd had some kind of epiphany which at least resulted in us working out our differences. I am pretty worn out Bon. I don't want to our first night together to happen when I am so dog tired. So I guess the question is," she said, "can you be a bit patient for a few days?"

He pulled her close and kissed her and then said, "Well ya know, I'm not nineteen anymore. I think I should be able to handle waiting a little."

She said, "Of course there might be a few days more we'll have to wait. One normally has to take the pill during their period. Mine is due in around five days."

Bon said, "I'll make it, but I sure hope you make it worth my while when that day finally comes."

She smiled and said, "Oh I will for sure. Hell, you can even chain me to your bedpost if you'd like!" He laughed at the expression on her face when she said it. It looked as if she were totally delighted by the idea. He filed that away in his head for future reference....