Forever More
Part 2 - Faith
Chapter Twenty Eight
By the third week in September there were only a few concert dates remaining. The band was in Toledo, Ohio for a show. Scott had called home to ask Becky to come and meet him for the show. It was not an unreasonable request. She was even able to drive there in about three hours. She probably wouldn’t be able to make the performance but he had already left word at the desk of the hotel to let her have a key to his room.
His fairly good mood was short lived as Rebecca flatly refused to join him. She had been upset about something that Kyle had done and they had words and she was in no mood to go traipsing off that night to meet him. Why didn’t he come home after the show? If it was only a three hour drive he could make the effort.
The conversation went as badly as most had lately, maybe worse. He had called her selfish and rude and a string of other well-chosen words to which she replied by slamming the phone down in his ear.
She had thought that he might call back but when he didn’t she began to feel that maybe she had overstepped the line. He had asked her nicely to meet him. He was making an effort and she was refusing. She was wrong and she knew it. After much thought she tried to call his hotel room but got no answer.
It was already late but she had made up her mind. She was going to drive to Toledo and surprise him. She got Kyle to come home and watch his brother and sister. He was not happy but it was a week night and he should be home. He would also have to get them ready for school in the morning. For the first time all summer she was going to put Scott first. It was nearly ten p.m. when she finally got on the road. It took her longer than she had thought and she was a little apprehensive about being out alone at night but she felt that she would be safe. She had her cell phone and could call help if she needed it. She knew that the concert had already ended but he did say that he had left a key for her at the desk.
Scott was so angry when Rebecca hung up on him. As far as he was concerned he didn’t care whether he ever talked to her again. It was almost time to leave for the concert and he didn’t have a whole lot of time to worry about it anymore. When next she heard from him he would have a few more things to say to her.
They finished the show and the usual back stage get together. Then finally back at the hotel his friends gathered at his room. His fight with Rebecca loomed heavy on his mind but the people that were with him tonight were only there for a good time.
After midnight the party had dwindled to six. There were two guys from the road crew and women that they had picked up after the show and then there was Scott and another woman who he had found also especially receptive.
The three couples partied together drinking, and getting high on the cocaine that Scott had in the room. Soon they had gotten down to other more important matters.
When Rebecca arrived at the hotel it was a little after one a.m. She went to the desk and requested the key that Scott had left in her name. Either he was back at the room or still out with the guys. If he wasn’t there she would just wait and surprise him when he got back.
When Rebecca opened the door the aroma of marijuana drifted out to meet her. The room was dark but the bright light from the hallway shed a path of light across the room. She could make out forms. At first she was sure that she had the wrong room. She was almost ready to shut the door when a man on the floor on the far side of the bed stood up. It was her husband.
There Scott stood bare chested with his jeans unzipped, open and nearly down past his hips. The body of a woman emerged as she brought her head up from beside him on the floor. She was naked except for the panties that barely covered her.
Rebecca was aware that there were others in the room in the same stages of undress. It was almost as if it took forever for the image to register in her mind. What Rebecca saw sickened her.
Scott was high but when he realized that the door was open he stood up and the light from the hallway had blinded him. Then suddenly his mind began to recognize the person standing in the doorway.
As he realized that the figure was Rebecca there was nothing he could do. She had seen everything for herself. He was standing with a woman who was as good as naked and it was very clear what they had been doing before they were interrupted.
"Oh, God!" he uttered as he made out Rebecca’s face in the light.
Rebecca felt that she would vomit. She took off running down the hallway wanting only to get outside and as far away from Scott as she possibly could. Scott pulled up his pants and ran out of the room after her yelling her name.
Rebecca heard him but kept running trying to get outside as fast as she could. She reached the parking lot and kept running. She knew that he was right behind her. Her intention had been to run to her car but at that point she didn’t even know where it was. She just kept running.
Scott was yelling for her to stop but she wouldn’t. Finally reaching the end of the parking lot and a small patch of grass she could hold it no longer and began to vomit. Scott caught up to her trying to hold onto her, "Becky, wait! Stop! Please listen! Don’t do this!"
Rebecca was crying and fighting him all the way, screaming for him to get away from her. Finally breaking free and running again she fell onto the grass and continued to be sick.
Their confrontation was noticed right away from rooms overhead. Someone had called the hotel security who were told that a man was in the parking lot trying to hurt or rape a woman. The police were called even before the security guards reached the pair.
To them it certainly looked like Scott was trying to hurt her. She kept screaming for him to get away from her and he kept trying to pull her to him.
He was yelling and trying to tell the security guards that she was his wife but it was making no difference to them. They wanted him to calm down and he wasn’t. Rebecca was now laying on the ground very ill. They called for an ambulance. By the time the actual police arrived Scott was no more calmed down than before and even more angry. He knew that his wife was ill and only wanted to help her. They were restraining him all the while he continued to scream out her name. Rebecca was also still sobbing and begging them to keep him away from her.
By the time the ambulance arrived they had Scott handcuffed and in the back of police car where he watched helplessly as his wife was administered to and carried into the back of the ambulance. He was still trying to get the police to realize that he was not hurting her and only wanted to help her, but it was too late. The ambulance was leaving with his wife and the police where now aware that not only was he drunk but he was high. As they took him away in the police car other officers were already making their way up to his room.
Rebecca lay in the small examining room in the emergency room of one of the local hospitals. She was now very quiet and felt completely drained of any emotion. The events of the passed few hours had left her confused and incoherent.
While they had found that there was nothing physically wrong with her they were going to watch her overnight. She was alone in a strange city with no one to call. She had not thought about anyone from the band. She could not even bring herself to think about what had happened. The hospital had given her something to calm her and it had relaxed her. She lay silently in the room not knowing what she was waiting for.
She was able to drift off to sleep with what they had given to relax her. When morning did arrive she was told that there was a man there who said that he knew her and would take her home. It was Rick.
He helped her out to a rented car in the parking lot. She got into the passenger seat and reclined it and lay there the whole ride back to her own home. She didn’t ask about her husband. She didn’t care.
It was several hours before Scott was allowed to call anyone. He had suffered all the humiliation and indignities associated with his arrest. He was not even told why they were holding him. He could only surmise. He knew that the police were going up to the room. He was sure that possession charges where inevitable.
At that point he didn’t care. His only thoughts were for his wife. He had no idea where she had been taken or if she was all right. No one would tell him anything. All the fight had gone out of him and he was drained of all energy.
He had agonized over who to call. Home was a possibility but even if Rebecca wasn’t there he didn’t know what to say to Kyle.
He felt he should try Rick or David at the hotel. He knew that he needed to call Rich, his lawyer, but his own problems were not foremost in his mind. He had given up. He deserved to be right where he was.
When finally he was able to use the phone it was nearly four-thirty in the morning. He called Jon.
Scott related as best he could in the few short minutes that he was given the events of the previous evening. He told Jon to call Rich for him but his concern was mostly for Rebecca and begged Jon to find out where they had taken her and if she needed help.
Jon jumped into service for his friend. He contacted Scott’s lawyer in Chicago and relayed what he knew. That ball was rolling. Then he called Scott’s house. Kyle answered and Jon calmly tried to give him a few details of what had happened. Kyle had not heard from his mother. Jon assured him that he would find out where she was and get back to him.
Jon then called Scott’s manager and finally the hotel to talk to Rick. They were all aware by that time what had happened. Rick said that he would find out what he could about Becky and call him back.
Paula called the airlines and arranged for the next available flight east for Jon. She then made arrangements for her own children and followed him a few hours later. She knew that Becky was going to need her more than ever.
The many hours that Scott had to bear without knowing at all what was happening were insufferable. He could only take some consolation in that he knew Jon would not let him down.
It was after nine the following morning when Rich finally arrived at the jail to meet Scott. He had already found out much about what had happened. Now he wanted Scott’s version.
It was then that Scott first learned with what he was being charged.
Drunk and under the influence of narcotics where the least of his problems. Resisting arrest was worse. Rich was dealing with the much larger issue of possession that Scott was now telling him about.
His arraignment was set for a few hours from that time and Rich had to work fast to uncover some facts.
When they finally did appear before the judge it was found that in fact no narcotics were found. The urine and blood tests had come back positive but he had nothing on him. Even the room was clean.
It was. As soon as the two other couples had become aware of what was going on they somehow managed to get rid of everything. They had a good half hour before the police finally made it up to the room.
Rich, breathed a slight sigh of relief. He was able to secure bail and have Scott released. Rich had been in contact with Jon and he knew that he was on his way. Jon would take Scott home and Rich would fly back to Chicago.
By the time Jon finally saw his friend, Scott was reduced to a shell of the man that he knew. It was almost as if he wasn’t aware of what was happening around him. He was in the depths of despair.
Jon drove back to the hotel where he met with the band and was able to get Scott’s belongings from the room. Scott remained behind in the car not wanting to see anyone. Jon was going to take him back home and was relieved to know that Rick had already taken Rebecca there and was on his way back. He knew that Paula would probably arrive before they did.
It was going on seven in the evening when Jon pulled the rented car up along side one that his wife had driven up from Lansing earlier that day. Scott had not spoken very much at all on the way home. He knew that Paula was there with Becky. He also knew that he could not face his wife.
Once in the kitchen Paula met them. Scott had not wanted to see or talk to anyone. He heard Paula tell her husband that Rebecca was up in her bed. His intention was to slip down the back steps to one of the bedrooms in the lower level, but as he started toward the stairs he met Kyle face to face.
Kyle, just a few months shy of his eighteen birthday, stood a head taller that Scott with the height and build of his birth father. Though normally a very caring and compassionate person he also possessed the quick temper that Rebecca attributed to his grandfather and one with which he was now attacking his father.
Scott stepped back into the kitchen as Kyle flew at him in a rage. Obscenities spit forth form his mouth as he told his father exactly what he thought of him. Scott had been taken completely off guard by the whole confrontation. Jon ran back into the kitchen but before he could reach the two Kyle had brought up his fist and planted it securely against his father’s jaw, the force of which threw him backwards to the floor.
Jon managed to get between them as Kyle stood over Scott still spouting graphic descriptions of what he would like to do to him.
Scott lay there for a moment as the full force of the blow sunk in. Then reaching for his face felt the sting and tasted the blood as it formed in his mouth. By the time he tried to stand up Jon had Kyle moved a few feet away.
Kyle was pleased. He had done what he had set out to do. Scott had no intention of lashing out in his own defense or honor. He felt he had no honor left.
Kyle took off out the back door and Jon followed him. Scott stood at the kitchen sink sticking his face under the running water, sloshing it around in his mouth and spitting the blood out. Jon came back into the kitchen angrily swearing that Kyle would lash out that way.
Scott spit another mouthful of red water into the drain, "Just leave him alone Jon."
Paula got him some ice and wrapped it in a towel and Scott made his way down the steps.
Jon was back on the phone. The concert that night in Wisconsin had been cancelled. The band was scheduled to perform in Chicago the following night and that was to be their last date of the tour. They could reschedule the Madison concert for the night after that.
Jon did not know if Scott was up to it at all. In fact he was sure that he wasn’t but there were obligations. The press had already picked up on this and even though the possession charges were never filed, he was charged with being under the influence of a controlled substance, and the damage was already done. It was in Scott’s and the band’s best interest to finish the tour. To not would be to give the press more fodder. Jon had his hands full also.
Getting Scott back to Chicago was not going to be easy. He also was aware of one other thing. Scott had a drug problem. He was not sure as to how serious. He could not even believe that he had not seen the signs for this. Sure he knew that Scott had been drinking more and the milder stimulants were there but when had he gotten sucked back into this? He knew it was easy. Jon had been there.
Having finally hung up the phone with David he sought out Scott in the darkness of Treage’s bedroom. He told him how he had to make the dates. Scott was unresponsive but he knew that he had to trust his friend. Whatever Jon thought was best was what he would do. He felt that the outcome of his life no longer was his anyway.
Rebecca was sleeping again having taken something that the hospital had prescribed. They let her rest.
The next morning Jon came in to see her. Sitting down on the side of the bed he touched her shoulder, "Becky, its Jon. I need to talk to you."
Rebecca rolled over to see Jon’s solemn expression.
He took in a deep breath. He wasn’t sure where to begin. He knew that Paula had let her know what had been going on up to that point. That made his job a bit easier.
"You know that Scott is home right now?"
Rebecca just looked into his face.
"But were gonna have to leave. He has to do those last two shows. I know right now that you might not understand that."
Rebecca rolled back over.
"But I know what I’m talking about. Let’s just get the tour over with and we can figure out where to go from there. I’ve talked to Rich and Scott doesn’t have to appear back in court till next week."
Standing up Jon looked down at Rebecca’s limp form on the bed. Another breath. "There’s something more." He wasn’t sure how to form the words. "It’s the coke. He’s got a problem right now, but I’m gonna help him and he’s gonna be OK?" His words tried to sound so comforting but Rebecca lay there and trembled as he spoke.
