Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Halle had a restless nights sleep. Everytime she glanced at her clock, minutes were all that had passed. Finally at six am she gave in and got out of bed. She pulled on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, pulled her hair back in a pony tail and sat on the bed to pull on her joggers. She needed a run, it was an invigorating way to start the dayand she knew she needed all she could get considering her house guest. Going downstairs she flicked the switch for the coffee machine and snuck a peek at Richie before she left.

Halle was confident Richie wouldn't wake up anytime soon, so she took advantage of her longer route, passing other joggers as she headed towards the beach. Sunrise was in Halles opinion the best time of the day, breathing deeply the air was refreshing from the inside out. Rounding the bend she picked up her pace, pushing herself 'til her calves burned. Her thoughts consumed by the man in her house. Halle had different variations of conversations spooling around her mind. 'What do you say to such a man?'

Entering the house she took the stairs two at a time then jumped into a relaxing shower.

Jon returned to his room from the hotel gym. A workout was the perfect way to begin a show day. After ordering breakfast and showering he thought he should probably check how Richie was doing. He worried about his brother and the downward spiral could easily fall into again. After a tough couple of years he could surely do with some light in his life.

Freshly showered with just his jeans pulled on, upper body and hair still wet, Jon sat on the couch coffee in one hand, his phone in the other. Richie's phone rang out and went to messages. Hanging up he redialled "wake up man" he said as Richie's phone once again went to messages. "Fuck." Getting up, he slipped on a shirt and went to find his brother.

After pounding on Richie's door for the better part of five minutes, Jon went to Dave's door.

"Where's the fire?" Dave chuckled as Jon stormed through the door.

"Is Rich here?" Jon asked as he looked around the room.

"Nah man, I havn't seen him" Dave put a hand to Jon's chest to slow him down. "What's wrong?"

"It's my fault, I should've gone with him" he stepped around Dave and continued "I'll check with Teek".

"Woah, what's going on?" Dave asked, following Jon out the door.

"Fucking Heather has stuffed him around again. He took off last night to cool down and now I can't get a hold of him.

Tico hadn't seen him either."Fuck" Jon spat, pacing the room, running his hands through his hair in frustration.

"Look, try his phone again. He may have just gotten lucky and is in some woman's bed somewhere" reasoned Tico.

Pulling his phone out he dialed Richie again.

"Um...hello" came the soft uneasy voice of a woman.

Jon snapped his head up and gave Tico and Dave a nod.