Chapter 9

Joe missed his wives. Both Essie and Liang stayed behind for much of the tour, needing to work. Though Essie’s job had a lot more flexibility, being a consultant, she ended up quite busy. When she could, she joined Joe. But Joe insisted she spend at least some of her time with Stuart. Maybe a third of the time she did. She loved the slightly autistic genius, but she loved Joe much more. And Joe needed her. So a third of the time worked.

Joanne also stayed at home, as did Cheryl. Though having her second ex around at the law firm was less than comfortable, and Nick seemed to make it as uncomfortable as possible, Cheryl wouldn’t be forced out. And eventually, it was Nick who left. The PI Cheryl hired, a good friend of Bill’s, stayed on, and finally caught Nick with his pants down. Literally. In uncompromising positions. With a paralegal who worked for him. Inappropriate and against the rules, since he was her boss. And maybe worse, with one of the partners. For the same reason. They nudged him out without revealing the reason. The partner had enough leverage not to be shoved out as well. Nick would become someone else’s problem. Cheryl silently hoped they’d be harder on him the next time.

Joanne stayed for a couple reasons. She was the mother of the house. And her work for Morpheus and other arts companies had taken more and more of her time. She thought she’d retire, but Joe knew better.

Joanne and Cheryl tended to sleep together. Liang joined them fairly often, and that’s when sex would happen. The petite cute Chinese woman inevitably playing the male.

Though alone more nights than he had in decades, Joe still managed to have company. His wives visited, Essie much more often, but Liang managed a couple weekends. When the tour passed through New Orleans, Moe and Chandi visited. They ended up spending a week with him, because Chandi didn’t want it to be just a couple days. And he still had lovers at different ports. Maria in LA. Caroline in Chicago (Constance had been ill, and Max tended to her). Freddy in Minneapolis.

By and large, Ginny was his most consistent companion. They shared a bed, just the two of them, but mostly Joe would visit her in Eddie’s bed.

One of the earlier visits, Ginny, Eddie and Rachel confronted Joe. “You have no reason to sleep alone,” Rachel said.

“I don’t mind,” said Joe.

“Of course you mind,” Eddie insisted. “This isn’t like you.”

“It’s different not having my wives around,” said Joe.

“I’m not your wife,” said Ginny. “But I still love you.”

“I love you, too Ginny. And it’s definitely nothing against you. In fact I love it that you were with me some nights.”

“And what about me?” Rachel asked.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I know you don’t. Why not?”

“You think she’ll end up with you?” Eddie asked.

“You make the point just asking that.”

“But you know she wouldn’t.”

“Yeah. I suppose I do. Let’s just say I’m more comfortable sharing Rachel with you then having her to myself.”

“Old feelings never quite leave, do they?” Eddie said.

“I guess not.”

“And me?” Ginny asked.

“Like I said, you’re welcome to share my bed. I just think you rather enjoy this particular bed. You do enjoy having Jacque here with you.”

“He is kind of fun.”

“And you notice his absence. I’m not comfortable with him.”

“Because he’s my lover,” said Eddie.

“Yes.”

“And he looks an awful lot like you,” Ginny giggled.

“That too,” Joe chuckled.

He started to get up. “Going?” Ginny asked.

“Yes.”

“Can I come?”

“Of course.”

They dressed and she followed him to his hotel room down the hall.

The desk in his room held his laptop and a pile of manila folders. He sat there. “Mind if I work?” he asked.

“Of course not,” she smiled, stripping to her t shirt and panties and climbing under the blanket. “Is that why?”

“Why what?” he asked, finding a folder. He had his editor’s secretary transcribe his several interview recordings.

“You don’t mind sleeping alone?”

“Yeah. I really am on a roll.”

“Why didn’t you just say that?”

“Because I really do miss my wives. It’s rare not being with them for such an extended period. At least one of them. It’s honestly nothing against you. I really do enjoy you being in my life. But...”

“You can have your time writing.”

“And I want you to enjoy yourself.”

“I love just being with you. But I get it.”

“Get what?”

“That I shouldn’t feel some sort of obligation if you’re sleeping alone.”

Joe smiled at her. “Join me whenever you want.”

“I will,” she smiled back.

He switched on a lamp over the desk and turned off the rest of the lights. Settling back on his chair, he glanced at her. Marveling at her beauty as her eyes fluttered closed and she slept.

And so it went. Joe working as much as possible on his writing. Day and night. Making love when he had company and returning to it while his lover or lovers slept. The novel called to him like none had before.

It was an intensely creative time. Eddie had never been better, and everyone else seemed to reach his excellence. The almost marathon concert garnered enthusiastic responses from the audience. Standing ovations even between the three sets. The third one, beginning with the new acoustic song and ending with the new rocker, released when the tour began as a single with both sides getting substantial airplay, really built things to a crescendo despite a lot of the audience less familiar with Eddie’s more recent material. Joe thought those songs were better than their moderate sales, and the audience seemed to agree.

Eddie even enjoyed the inherent nostalgia of his early, hit filled music. Maybe because it wasn’t about a rocker milking his past. More an autobiographical survey. And it was the same for Rhonda, playing her childhood hits and through her maturing to her newest ones, which had also gotten released and had become hits.

The concerts had been well received from the beginning, but midway through the US tour, when the two collections, Eddie’s and Rhonda’s, including the singles, were released, the second and third sets stirred even more enthusiasm. A lot more songs had the audience singing along. No longer just the first set with the familiar Monsters hits.

Towards the end of the US tour, after Joe shared his bed with visitors from his past, Ginny began joining him nearly every night. “Groupies,” she explained. Rachel hadn’t abandoned her old ways of finding a bisexual woman to share with Eddie. Only one night with a groupie made Ginny avoid any other night. She’d sleep alone if Joe had a lover, or if he was with one or both of his wives, she’d sometimes join them. But there was more of a continuum from one groupie to the next at the tail end of the tour. Joe didn’t mind Ginny there more often. And he made sure she knew he didn’t mind. Hard or soft, relentless or more an exhausted quickie, he gave her what she wanted. And what she wanted was exactly what he wanted.

They were in Philadelphia. The penultimate US show. One of the relentless nights of fucking. Ginny purring as she lay atop him, along his side. “You going to call Raven?” she asked.

“You mean Consuela?” he chuckled.

“I mean Raven.”

“You know I’m looking forward to being with my wives when we get home.”

“And Cheryl.”

“And Cheryl.”

“And Joanne.”

“Yes.”

“We have two weeks, Joe. My group will be at BAM first. You don’t need to be there.”

“But I love your shows.” Joe found them wonderfully calming after the noisiness of rock. And Ginniy was a genius, both in arranging harmonies and composition.

“You haven’t been to enough of them?”

“I suppose I could miss one.”

“A couple days of reunion sex before Irving Plaza.”

“You’re interested in Raven?”

“Aren’t you?”

“She’s pretty hot.”

“And sweet. And smart.”

“True. But not with Ginger?”

“I’m not thinking after the concert. She’ll be Consuela.”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe meet her after.”

“Set up a date.”

“Yeah.”

“With you as Ginger.”

“Yeah.” She reached down and grabbed his hardening cock and giggled. “You like that idea.”

“What about Eddie?”

She sighed. “I don’t know Joe.”

“Tell me.”

“I miss just the three of us. Rachel ... It’s like she controls him. Jacque’s okay, but he’s definitely not you, even if he sort of looks like you. But it’s like Rachel is ... I don’t know. I’m like one of her groupies. Like she wants Eddie to think of me as just another groupie. Even when you join us, she’s always in between. Like she controls things. Like she has to have a piece of you, despite me. I sort of hate her. And Eddie ... I think I’m losing him, Joe.”

Joe sighed. “I thought it would be different. Because it had been with the MIRE shows. But this has been more like the old Monsters tour. Without the drugs and alcohol. I thought that in itself would change things. Obviously I was wrong.

“Rachel is in control of Eddie, Ginny. He has always tended towards submissiveness with his women. I guess the success in the bigger venues has been enough to bring back old patterns. At your expense. I’d say be patient, but we’re just halfway through the tour. Maybe...”

“What?”

“He needs to know how you feel. We three should talk. I love having you here. But I miss the threesomes. Eddie and I together sharing you. It’s intense.”

“To say the least. But I think it needs to be ongoing. Setting aside time for just the three of us.”

“And not just in bed. I miss having us hang out together.”

“Me too. But Joe, I know you hoped this would be a unique relationship, you and Eddie and me. But if things don’t work out...”

“You’re always welcome in my bed. And my wives agree.”

“That’s the thing that’s different between you two. With you, no matter who is with us, I feel welcomed and loved and appreciated. With Eddie, I feel like a third wheel, or more a fourth I guess. Behind Rachel and Jacques.”

“I know. We just have to make sure he understands.”

“Will he?”

“Yes. He’s playing out old tapes of being a rock star. Caught up in it. Familiar patterns. With Rachel orchestrating.”

“So it would be like getting away from her shadow.”

“It was always like that. Though it tended to be after the tour, or at least at the tail end, when he wanted or even needed the escape. I think that might have delayed their relationship into the loving partnership it became. Like delayed maturity.”

“Deeply embedded patterns reemerging.”

“Exactly. But less extreme. Less self-destructive. And he’s a lot more mature. Rachel too, for that matter.”

“So you think just a nudge would get us back to where we were.”

“Yeah.”

“Still, I’d like to wait. I’d like to play things out with Raven with just you. Because I think you’d like each other’s company, and because you will attend to her needs more than Eddie would.”

“We could always invite Layla,” Joe smirked.

“He doesn’t deserve that much punishment,” Ginny laughed.

“So I get to see you transform solo?”

“You’ve seen it. How about we plan things meeting at the roof bar?”