PREFACE

[When Thalia witnessed the argument between her host and the mortal her heart sank. Even though arguing was a part of the human existence from the beginning of time, Thalia experienced the anger, shock and pain that her host had felt, at the way the mortal had behaved. Her host had gone to bed, crying herself to sleep and Thalia seriously considered contacting Kronos again, but after thinking on it for awhile she decided to delay calling him. She would just wait and see if the two of them were able to get past this lover's quarrel.]

Friday Mid-Morning, July 13th

Cape Neddick, Maine

By Friday Alexis had heard nothing from Bon. He hadn't called her nor had he come to see her and quite frankly she was miserable. But she was also busy and for the last two days she had once again been in New York to appear on several talk shows to promote her book. It was 11:00 a.m. and she had just gotten back from her trip and was sitting out on the terrace lost in thought.

She couldn't figure Bon out. Why he had behaved the way he had. She still felt hurt that he took Jimmy Angelo's side telling her that he thought he was still a good and decent guy.

She had talked to Ronnie last night and her friend told her that she had been staying with her Aunt for the last few days as she just didn't want to be in her house right now because there were too many memories of Jimmy.

Alexis said, "Ronnie why don't you come and stay with me for awhile? I have more than enough room and would enjoy your company especially right now."

"You and Bon are getting close, Lex, so I'd just be a third wheel hanging around," Ronnie told her.

Alexis fell silent at her words and Ronnie said, "You're awfully quiet Alexis, is there something you're not telling me?"

She hadn't told Ronnie about the argument that they'd had and said, "Bon and I had an argument a couple of days ago and I haven't seen nor heard from him since."

"I'm so sorry sweetie!" Ronnie said. "What did you guys argue about?" she asked.

Alexis hesitated and then said, "I told him about you and Jimmy splitting up and why." She fell silent again.

Ronnie said, "And what did he say?"

This was the part that Alexis was nervous about telling her. She said, "Oh you know men, once they go through the bonding thing with another it's like they can do no wrong then."

Ronnie got quiet, and then said, "So in other words are you saying that Bon defended Jimmy?"

Alexis told her basically word for word of the conversation including her getting angry and storming out his house.

Ronnie assimilated that and decided she wasn't really angry with Bon, she told her. After all he and Jimmy were friends and he was just standing up for his friend as men tended to do.

She said instead that she felt bad for her as she realized Alexis was going through some pain of her own.

"I've made a decision," she'd said to Alexis. I would love to come out and stay for awhile."

Ronnie said she would arrive the next day at around 1pm. Then she had asked her about Olivia.

Alexis had talked to Ronnie before she and Jimmy left Bon's party as Ronnie had noticed the two sisters had made up.

"Are you sure you can trust her Lex?" Ronnie had asked. "I mean she's hurt you before and I would hate to have her revert to her old ways again."

Alexis said, "I hope that doesn't happen and unless she leads me to believe she is up to her old tricks again, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt."

But last night when her and Ronnie talked, she'd told her, "In answer to your question about Olivia. She won't be here until tomorrow and that won't be a problem anyway, as I have lots of room. Besides, I think I remember Bon saying that Rye was going back to L.A. on Sunday, so Liv will probably be spending a lot of time with Rye till then."

Then Ronnie said, "So what about the b.c. pills you got from your doctor? Are you still going to start taking them?"

Alexis told her she had gotten her period Wednesday and she was due to take her first pill tonight. "I'm going to go ahead and take them anyway. I'm hoping that things work out between Bon and I, Ron. Dammit I miss him and I'm dying to see him."

"Then go over and knock on his door!" Ronnie said. "Stop prolonging your agony!"

"No," Alexis said. "He's going to have to come to me or at least call."

Now as Alexis lay there on the chaise lounge she turned her head and stared over at Bon's property. She wondered if he was even home. Did he miss her at all, or had he simply decided he had made a bad mistake with getting close to her? She lay there feeling lonely and miserable.

At that moment Bon was sitting at his desk going over some notes. He had just talked to Dane on the phone. Tek had went back to Florida a few days ago and Dane headed for Jersey to take care of some business, but would be returning later today. Since his marriage had ended over a year ago he'd confided to Bon he'd been pretty lonely, only dating casually but still hadn't found anyone special.

Bon put down his pen and rubbed his eyes, leaning back in his chair.

Dane's whole problem was that he needed a good woman. That could make all the difference in a man's attitude he thought. Then his thoughts went to Alex.

She had gotten so angry with him and he felt like a total asshole now and realized he should have chosen his words more carefully the last time they had been together.

God he missed seeing her beautiful face, holding her beautiful body and hearing her soft sexy voice. He had been a bear for the last 2 days and Rye had gotten so fed up they were pretty much avoiding one another.

Just then there was a knock on his study door. "C'mon in!" Bon yelled.

Rye opened the door and said, "Well I haven't seen you all morning so I thought I'd better make sure that you didn't fall and hit that stubborn ill tempered head of yours!"

"Okay, I apologize for biting your head off before," Bon told him.

Rye came over and sat down in one of the chairs in front of Bon's desk. "So how long are you gonna drag this out?" he asked him.

After the moment on the terrace when he'd stalked off leaving Rye standing there, a bit later he'd explained what had happened. When Rye had suggested that perhaps Bon should have phrased his reply to Alexis better, Bon had jumped all over him again. This is the first time they'd talked since.

"I thought about it and I realize you were right," Bon told him. "I didn't handle myself very well and I've been sitting here trying to figure out a way of undoing the damage. Jesus fuck but I miss her!" he said running his hand through his hair.

"I've always thought the direct approach to be the best," Rye said. "Just go over there and talk to her. Tell her that while you don't think the way Jimmy handled the situation with Ronnie was the best, he's a friend of yours and you could always say there are two sides to every story. By the way, have you talked to Jimmy since you last saw Alexis?"

"Yeah," Bon said. He called me last night, and the weird thing Rich is that when I talked to him, he sounded almost totally different than he normally sounds."

"What do you mean?" Rye asked a little confused.

"How can I say this? Bon hesitated and then said, "Basically he came off like a prick," he said staring at him. "He told me he was never in love with Ronnie even though he admitted he'd told her that many times, because in his words, 'women love to hear that.' When he said that, I wondered if I had pegged him wrong. By the time the conversation ended with him admitting that he and his new girlfriend, or his ex-girlfriend that is, that they'd had sex just five days after he'd moved in with Ronnie, I pretty much lost respect for him at that point. Now I'm ashamed to have to admit, I agree with Alex, only I don't know how to take back my words," he finished.

"What an asshole!" Rye said frowning. "And to think I actually thought he was a cool guy! He may be a great guitarist but his head is seriously fucked!"

Bon said, "Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more."

"You know, she's probably much better off without him," Rye said. "But I feel for her. She seems like a really nice girl. Beautiful, sweet, smart too. She just needs to find someone right for her," he said looking at Bon.

"I agree with you my friend," Bon told him. "And that's basically why I invited Dane to come back to spend the next week with me. He's available and he needs a good woman in his life as well."

"Jesus, man," Rye said laughing shortly, "I've never seen you get into the matchmaking thing before. But hell if the two of them get together, it might be interesting. We both know that Dane has a preference for beautiful intelligent blonds and Ronnie is certainly that. It's worth a shot."

Just then Fran knocked at the door and at Bon's yell to enter, she stuck her head in and said, "Herr Vincent, da lunch ez ready. It ez out on da terrace!"

Bon thanked her as he and Rye got up. He'd skipped breakfast and was hungry. As they left the room he said to Rye, "After lunch I need your help in figuring out how to get Alex back."

"Did you lose her?" Rye asked with a straight face.

"Don't joke, man," Bon said.

"I'm not joking!" Rye defended himself. "I mean it. Have you really lost her? I don't think so Bon. The woman's crazy about you, I saw that, the night of your party. I mean, basically you had an argument, that's all."

"I hope so," Bon replied as they walked out on the terrace. "For I have to tell ya bro' that I'm just as crazy about her!"

They sat down at the table to eat Fran's delicious lunch of chicken Caesar salad with iced tea.....

******

Close to 1 p.m. Alexis heard a honk and ran to the front door and opened it. Ronnie had just pulled in the driveway. The brunette walked over to her car and the girls hugged.

"Unfortunately," Ronnie said, "I had to go back to my house and gather together a few more things seeing that I will be staying with you for awhile."

"Are you alright?" Alexis asked her as she grabbed a couple of suitcases and Ronnie grabbed the other two.

"Yeah, I guess," her friend replied. "I had a moment there being in the house but I'm okay right now anyway."

"So what is your housekeeper doing in the meantime while you're away?" Alexis asked.

"Oh Adelle only works on a day to day basis, so even though she doesn't have cooking to do she'll still be cleaning and doing the laundry and other chores."

Picking up Ronnie's luggage, they entered the house and went upstairs. Alexis led her to the bedroom she had chosen for her which was at the end of the hallway on the opposite side of the house from the Master, as she wanted to give Ronnie her privacy.

Ronnie said, "Oh Lexie! It's the green room! I've always loved this room." The room was good sized and the walls were painted a deep forest green. It had a breathtaking view of the ocean with it's own small balcony. The bed was queen sized and had a beautiful satin forest green bedspread with various light pastel pink roses and light green vines decorating it. The room had it's own large flat screen t.v. and a large walk in closet plus a decent size bathroom attached.

"You're welcome sweetie," she said. 'Listen I'll let you get settled and then maybe we could go out to the ice cream shop would you like that?"

Ronnie said that would be fab and Alexis told her she's see her in a bit and left the room.

******

After Bon and Rye finished eating lunch it was past 1pm and then the two of them went back to Bon's study. They talked about the situation with Alexis and they pretty much agreed that Bon should pay her a visit. Trying to makeup over the phone was a bit awkward.

Bon knew he was going to have to eat crow and was not looking forward to it, but thinking about it he realized he owed that to Alexis as she had been right about Jimmy all along. And he had acted like a total jerk defending the bastard. He hoped that she would forgive not only his poor character judgement but also the anger he'd displayed to her.

Rye went off then to make some phone calls and Bon went up and took a brief shower. Afterwards, he dressed in a black jersey with three quarter length sleeves and a pair of black levis.

At the last second he grabbed his Yankees cap and headed downstairs. Picking up his car keys from the table near the front door he yelled to Rye that he was leaving. He had decided to drive over this time and walked to the driveway and got into his Toyota.

Less than a minute later he pulled into her driveway. He didn't see her Porsche but saw another car which was a red Corvette.

He parked alongside the 'vette and got out and walked up to the door. Ringing the bell, the door was opened a moment later by Marie, Alexis' housekeeper.

Bon said he was here to see Alex, was she home he asked. But the woman told him, "No Mr. Vincent, she and her friend went out for awhile."

"Oh," Bon replied. "Is her friend Ronnie visiting?" he asked the woman.

"Yes sir," Marie replied.

"Well when do you expect them back?" he asked her.

She said she wasn't sure but her guess would be in a couple of hours.

Bon said, "Thanks Marie and just tell her that I stopped by." He walked away and got back in his Toyota. He was sorely disappointed at not being able to see Alexis. He drove back over to his house and when he walked in, Rye was just walking down the stairs and said, "Well that was short!"

"She wasn't home," Bon said, "but the housekeeper said Ronnie's visiting right now and the both of them went out for awhile."

Rye seeing the look of total disappointment on Bon's face said, "Well they'll be back later and you can try again." Then he said, "What time does Dane's flight get in by the way?"

Bon looked at his watch and said "Around 4. We're gonna have to leave though around 3 as the airport is about 45 minutes away."

"Good!" Rye said. "This will give me a chance to beat your sorry ass from the last three Pool games you cheated on, which by the way were not legitimate wins!"

"I did NOT cheat you asshole!" Bon retorted giving him an indignant look. "I won fair and square!"

"You moved the fucking cue ball not once but three times," Rye said. "You didn't think I saw but"....

As their arguing continued they headed for the family room as Fran walked by shaking her head and mumbling underneath her breath, "deez fooking Americans and der love of playin' wid der balls."

******

Alexis and Ronnie sat in the ice cream shop talking and eating their cones. Alexis had ordered her favorite, a double scoop of Pralines and Cream. Ronnie wanting to try something new, tried a scoop of chocolate smores with a second scoop of her favorite peanut butter cup.

Both girls were talking about music and Alexis was deliberately keeping the conversation away from Van James. Instead she was talking about Bon Vincent.

She said, "Yeah the other day, when I was at my hotel in New York I went down to the gift shop and bought some new CD's. They had quite a selection there of popular artists. I actually bought a couple of Bon Vincent CD's.

"Wow!" Ronnie said. "It's about time! Which ones?"

"Uh," Alexis said, "I bought the Arms of An Angel CD and the one called A Fan Fantasy."

Ronnie laughed shortly and said,"It's called 'Just A Fan's Fantasy'."

"Oh yeah," Alexis said grinning. "I listened to some songs from the Angel CD that night on my little CD player and I have to say I was impressed. I had heard the title cut from the CD and then that other one that I really still don't care for, 'At Home.' But I liked some of the others though the titles escape me, right now."

They continued to talk about music for awhile then Ronnie fell silent. Alexis reached her hand across the table and took Ronnie's hand saying, "How you feeling, girl?"

Ronnie said after taking a bite of her ice cream, "It still hurts, but I'm trying to deal with it. I still have moments where I just sit down and cry my eyes out, but I know it's gonna take time."

"You know what they say," Alexis asked rhetorically. "The best way to get over someone you've lost is to find someone new."

"I'm not interested in men right now," Ronnie stated firmly. "Men are trouble."

"Oh sweetie, you don't believe that," Alexis said popping the last of her cone in her mouth and then gently blotting her mouth on a napkin. "You're only saying that because that bastard hurt your heart."

Ronnie was silent and then said, "Maybe you're right but since there are no prospects right now in my life, it's truly hard for me to imagine myself being with another man after Jimmy." As she said his name she made a face as if she wished she hadn't of.

Alexis told her to give it time. "There's a good man out there just waiting for you Ronnie who is going to love and cherish you, I just feel it," Alexis said as the girls got up to leave then.

Ronnie said, "Always the optimist Lex, but I hope you're right as I'm twenty-nine and not getting any younger. I'd hoped I'd be married by now and would have at least one child and here I am alone with no one." her voice broke but then she quickly got herself under control.

Alexis reached out and hugged her briefly saying life had a way of surprising you when you least expect it.

They left the little ice cream shop then and headed back to Alexis' house.

******

At 5 that evening Rye and Bon were sitting out on Bon's terrace talking to Dane. Bon had finished telling Dane about his and Alex' argument and Dane said, "Just go over there, take her in your arms and tell her you apologize for being a complete and utter asshole and beg her forgiveness!"

Bon who'd been standing in his favorite place as of late, which was the at edge of his terrace, continued to stare over at Alexis' property. At Dane's words he turned around and walked over and sat down on a bench flanking the terrace. He looked at him and said, "It's not that easy Dane!"

"Sure it is," the curly haired keyboardist told him. "Hell it works for me every time. Women love it when men apologize and especially when they admit they've been wrong. Begging her forgiveness will be the icing on the cake."

"I don't beg," Bon said staring over at Alexis' house.

"Well okay, maybe I phrased that wrong," Dane said. "Just say it in your own words man. Hey the lady is nuts about you, everyone knew it the night of your party, so you know she will forgive you."

"Thanks for the advice Dane, I'll think about it," Bon told him.

Just then Fran stuck her head out the French door and said, 'Herr Vincent. I need your help with da groceries." She had just returned from the market having picked up some additional food because of Dane's arrival.

Bon stood up and told the guys he would return momentarily, following the woman inside.

Just then Rye's cell phone rang and after answering he told Dane, "I'm gonna go up to my room. It's Evie and we need to have a decent conversation since I haven't talked to her in a few days."

He went back inside and Dane stood up and looked around the property. As he turned in the direction of Alexis' house his eye caught a glimpse of someone on her property through the trees. He heard the sound of laughter. Definitely female laughter. Then he heard the strains of music playing. He recognized it immediately. It was one of their songs. It was a bit of a windy day, and the wind had carried the sounds from her place all the way over here. Curious he found himself walking across the terrace and then sprinting across Bon's property heading for the trees.

******

Alexis and Ronnie were out on the terrace listening to the title cut of from the current Bon Vincent's LP. They had invaded Alexis' special liquor cabinet which held aged Brandy's and Cognac, and had drunk at least a half of a good sized bottle of brandy.

They were pretty blasted so much so that right now, they were both standing and Alexis was imitating some of Bon's onstage moves while Ronnie jumped up and down clapping and laughing herself silly.

Then Alexis turned and grabbed a small spade stuck in an empty flowerpot at the end of the terrace and using it for her mic started lip syncing to the song. She was standing in one of Bon's famous stances. Spreading her legs and at certain parts of the song, she would mimic Bon's moves as Ronnie laughed so hard she fell backwards into her chair, grabbing her privates thinking she was gonna pee.

Alexis carried on imitating Bon and then Ronnie jumped up suddenly and started playing air keyboard mimicking Dane and the way he held his body as she had always been attracted to him and had studied his moves in most of their videos. She had some of Dane's facial expressions down as well and this time it was Alexis' turn to laugh like hell.

Finally the song ended as both collapsed in two chairs. Ronnie said, "Okay you've never been much of a Bon Vincent fan. How the hell did you know some of Bon's moves?"

Alexis said, "Well I wasn't much of a Bon Vincent fan, but I've been a Bon fan for years and there's been a few songs I've even liked too. Of course I've seen Bon perform Ron, in the televised videos and I loved the Arms of An Angel video so much that I even taped it!" Alexis stood up then and said she had to visit the little girl's room before her bladder exploded.

Ronnie got up and started looking through the stack of CD's Alexis had placed on the umbrella table as Alexis went inside the house.

Dane stood among the trees looking over at Alexis' terrace. He could see two people sitting there, both of them definitely female. One of them, a brunette, which Dane realized was Alexis got up and walked into the house. Which left the other female. She had blond hair and since Bon had told him Ronnie was visiting he knew that's who he was staring at. Wishing he had a pair of binoculars, suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder.

He spun quickly to find Bon standing there with a broad smile on his face. He brought his hand up and handed him a pair of expensive binoculars. "Try these, they work really well from this distance."

Dane grinned, his embarrassment fading at Bon's words and put the binoculars up to his eyes.

He saw Ronnie looking through a stack of CD's. Man she was beautiful he thought. He'd thought so the night he'd met her at Bon's party and remembered having the fleeting thought, too bad she was already taken. Only now Dane realized, she wasn't.

Ronnie was wearing a black minimally there bikini and as she grabbed a CD from the stack and walked over to the boom box sitting at the corner of the terrace, he moved the binoculars down to her ass. She had a beautiful curvy full ass and the bikini bottom was basically a g-string which exposed most of her ass cheeks as Dane felt himself heat up. Her long pale blond hair cascaded down to the middle of her back and her legs were long and creamy ending in high heeled mules. He thought to himself that Jimmy Angelo was not only an asshole but a total loser letting something like that go.

Bon watching his friend couldn't feel more satisfied that he was showing an interest in a woman and suddenly grabbing the binoculars away from him said, "Would you like to talk to her bro'?"

"Who?" Dane asked innocently.

"Ronnie, the beautiful blond that you've been staring at for the last five minutes, that's who! Yeah I think it's time that I put an end to my own misery anyway. C'mon," he said as he put the binoculars down and stepped through the trees heading for Alexis' terrace.

Dane not needing to be told twice, followed.

******

Alexis had just rejoined Ronnie out on the terrace again and noticed that she had put another Bon Vincent CD in. There were four CDs contained in this one and she'd put the very first one in the player.

The first song was playing which was the Arms of An Angel. It was a mid tempo rocker and Alexis started dancing doing stripper moves as Ronnie laughed again. Alexis was wearing nothing but a red thong bikini bottom and a leopard print midriff halter top. She had red strappy medium high mules on. Part of her hair she had pulled up into a large bun on the top of her head while the rest cascaded down in wild waves.

Ronnie watched her as she spread her legs open, slightly squatting she stuck out her ass and started gyrating it around and Ronnie had to admit she was good. If she had been a man watching this she thought, she'd be ready to jump her about now. She started to say, "Jeesh Lexie, you're really good.. you should"..... and stopped as she heard the sound of hands clapping. She turned her head and then quickly stood up as she saw Bon standing on the edge of the terrace. There was someone with him. Her jaw dropped open, for that someone was none other than Dane Bliss.

Alexis hearing Ronnie break off in mid sentence turned around and stared, suddenly feeling her face grow warm.

Bon and Dane stood there clapping with a combination of lust and admiration on their faces. Dane's lustful expression Alexis noticed however, seemed to be directed more towards Ronnie as he stood there with his eyes glued to her face.

Ronnie stared at Dane, thinking how handsome he looked. She looked him up and down noticing how tight his pants were and also noticed the chain that hung from his belt. He looked like the rock star he was.

She put her hand on her hip trying to be casual and hoping her face was poised, as she continued to gaze at him

As the clapping trickled away, Bon and Alexis looked at each other and both said hi.

The guys walked over closer to the women then and Bon said, "We heard music, our music, so we thought we'd come join the party." He looked at the half empty brandy bottle sitting on the table.

Except for the brief glance at the brandy bottle, he had not taken his eyes off of Alexis' eyes for a second.

Alexis tearing her eyes from Bon's, looked at Dane with a smile and said "Hi Dane. I thought you went home a few days ago."

"Yeah I did Alexis, and I took care of some business but then Bon invited me back to stay with him for a few days."

He turned his head and looked at Ronnie holding out his hand, "Hi, you're Ronnie right? We met at Bon's party."

She smiled and started to walk the three feet to him and the toe of her shoe caught on a raised piece of flagstone, and she tripped and fell forward as Dane deftly caught her in his arms. Their faces were inches apart as they both stared and she said almost whispering, "That's right. Nice to see you again Dane."

Finding her feet again, she stood and he released her but continued to smile at her. He was wearing a thin summer shirt with three quarter length sleeves and black levis. The shirt was open to his chest and she could see part of his famous Pennywise the clown, tattoo.

"I like your tattoo," she said wishing she could see more.

Dane loved her voice, soft and sweet, her eyes were so blue. As the two of them chatted, Bon walked over to Alexis until he was only a few inches away and then said, "I'd like to talk to you Alex if you're not busy."

"Okay," she said her voice husky and low. Bon shivered at the sound of her voice.

Seeing her dancing like that, had given him an instant erection and as her eyes dropped down they paused on his package as she noticed the bulge and quickly she looked back up at him.

"I loved your dance and as you just saw, parts of me are still applauding," Bon said with that smirk on his face.

She laughed softly and he thought Jesus I love her laughter, how I've missed it.

She turned her head and said to Ronnie and Dane, "We're gonna head inside for a bit okay? We'll be back later."

Ronnie and Dane still looking at one another and not turning their heads, said almost in unison, "Okay."

Alexis and Bon entered the house then and headed to the library.