Chapter 5

When "Rock and Roll All Nite" started, Calen knew she had to start doing something fast. She was determined to get backstage, but she had no idea how she was going to pull it off. Calen and Sheri decided to leave the platform and head for the backstage area to avoid the rush that would form after the show. They started down, pushing through the concertgoers, some drunk, some just being idiots. With the exception of stopping every couple of minutes to sign an autograph, they made it down to the backstage area within 5 minutes. When they got there, there were already a lot of other people there. It was so blocked they couldn’t see inside. They made their way toward the front of the crowd, but were distressed to find it was blocked by security. That’s it! she said to herself, there is no way in now. When the concert ended, KISS headed down the steps toward the dressing rooms. Calen saw them walking down the hall, but so did everyone else. She tried in vain to yell out Paul's name, but he didn’t hear her over all the other fans screaming. At one point Paul stopped in the hall and turned around. Calen thought for a second that he had heard her but she was wrong. A woman came walking over to Paul and put her arms around him and gave him a kiss.

"Oh God," Calen told Sheri, "That must be Paul's girlfriend.”

Calen was right; it was his girlfriend of 2 yeahrs, Nicole, a part-time model from England. She was beautiful, slender and young, in her early 20's or so. Even though Calen was about to turn 28, looking at Nicole made her feel much older. She watched in despair as they disappeared into the dressing room, arm-in-arm.

********************

Paul was exhausted. He had played his heart out on stage for over 2 hours. Paul and the guys were satisfied with the way the show went. Usually L.A. was the try-out show, the show where they get all the kinks out before going on tour. All in all, they agreed that it went pretty well.

When Nicole and Paul got back to his house, he excused himself to remove his make-up and shower. When he came back out of the bathroom, Nicole was sitting on his bed talking long distance on his telephone. She was griping to someone about something to do with a fashion show she was supposed to do in Paris next week. Nicole by all accounts was spoiled when they started dating, and she has only gotten worse. He really didn’t see that until just that moment. She loved being the girlfriend of Paul Stanley, even though she hadn’t heard of him before they started dating. She got to go to fancy parties and be seen by everyone in Hollywood. She was convinced she was going to be a big star even though; she couldn’t act her way out of a paper bag. Paul hadn’t seemed to mind too much at the time, he was accustomed to having beautiful women on his arm, but standing there looking at Nicole, he couldn’t believe that he had put up with her for as long as he did. Though he really couldn’t admit it to himself at that moment, he wanted more out of a woman than just a piece of ass, which was exactly what Nicole was, a piece of ass. And a bony one at that, Paul chuckled to himself.

When Nicole noticed Paul standing there, she quickly got off the phone.

"Hey baby," Nicole cooed, "Come here and let’s get comfortable." Paul came over to the bed and sat down.

"Why don’t you lose the towel honey?" she said, "I am really horny."

She doesn’t waste any time, Paul thought to himself.

Nicole reached up and grabbed Paul by the hair and pulled him to her mouth, which she kissed passionately. Paul tried to be passionate also, but he could only think of Calen. Nicole took off Paul's towel and was amazed by his erection.

"Wow baby", she said, "You are really glad to see me aren’t you?"

If you only knew.

"Well, I’m not going to let this go to waste," Nicole said as she started taking off her clothes.

Nicole laid down on her back and Paul climbed on top of her. Paul closed his eyes and thought of Calen, he pictured kissing her softly, feeling her legs wrapped around his waist and he moved in and out of her. He imagined how good she felt inside, as his rhythm increased more and more. He panted and panted with each thrust, moaning louder and louder until he just couldn’t hold out any longer. He exploded with such force he thought he was going to go through the ceiling.

"Paul! Oh Paul!" Nicole screamed as she reached her climax.

Exhausted, they laid on the bed together, too tired to even move. Nicole couldn’t believe how great that was. She definitely got the fuck of her life. What she didn’t know was that it wasn’t her that Paul was really fucking.

They fell asleep and Paul dreamed of Calen again, like he had a thousand times before.

********************

Calen woke the next morning late because she didn’t set her alarm. She felt totally hung over even though she didn’t drink anything the night before. “Must be an ice cream hangover, the ice cream I drowned my sorrows in after the concert last night,” she said out loud. She made her way to the bathroom. She had a promotional photo shoot for the new movie, but thank goodness she didn’t have to be there until 1pm. She checked the clock on the wall in the bathroom, 11:30am. 11:30am!?! “Oh my God!” she shouted, “I’m running late.” She quickly got a shower and waited patiently for Sheri who was going to ride with her over to the photo shoot and do her make up.

The photo shoot went well, but Calen was concerned because Beverly wasn’t there. She was always at the photo shoots because she manages all the actors involved. It was certainly odd that she didn’t show, but maybe she got caught in traffic or something, L.A. interstates were known for the lockups.

Calen finally had a couple of days off where she didn’t have anything on her schedule and she was thankful. She wanted to go to her favorite nightspot, Evolution, and get stinking drunk. Evolution was a club, but it was different, on one end were pool tables and the other end was a karaoke bar and in the middle was a dance floor like you would find in any club in L.A. Evolution was different because you didn’t find the quacks and freaks you would find in other clubs. Plus, the music wasn’t so loud it would bust your eardrums either. That is why Calen liked it. Because of her schedule, she hadn’t had the chance to be there in quite some time. Now, she was really looking forward to getting her mind off Paul for a while. It wasn’t like she was giving up on finding Paul, but she needed to clear her head, at least for tonight.

********************

After Paul took Nicole to the airport and endured another hour’s worth of bitching about the fashion shoot, he was already tired. Doc had called earlier and asked him to meet him at the rehearsal hall to discuss some new ideas for the tour. It seemed odd of Doc to want to discuss something new considering they were leaving for Boston in two days, but he didn’t argue. He started getting hungry and looked at his watch, 2:30pm. No wonder, he thought to himself. Doc always brought something extra to eat to rehearsals so he knew he could get something there. When Paul pulled up to the rehearsal hall, something struck him odd-there wasn’t anyone there. He saw Doc's car, but where was Gene, and Ace and Peter? Gene was always early, so something must be up, he surmised, scratching his chin. When Paul walked in, sure enough, the only one there was Doc, and sitting next to Doc was a woman Paul didn’t recognize.

"Thanks for coming all the way out here on such short notice Paul," said Doc.

"Where is everyone else?"

"They aren’t here Paul, I just wanted to meet with you."

"Why, what’s wrong Doc?" said Paul nervously.

"I would like you to meet someone, Paul, this is Beverly Ryan."

"Nice to meet you Mr. Stanley" said Beverly, extending her hand.

"I can’t believe it!" Paul exclaimed, shaking Beverly's hand, "But, I don’t understand how...how did you know Doc?"

"I called to check in with my secretary", Doc started, "and she gave me an urgent message from Mrs. Ryan wanting to get in touch with you, so I called her and she explained what happened, so I told her I would get in touch with you."

"I just wanted to tell you Mr. Stanley that I am so terribly sorry about what happened with my temp secretary," said Beverly, "see, my regular secretary was on maternity leave and the temp didn’t give me any messages, including yours, I didn’t learn of this until Thursday when my regular secretary came back to work and found the messages."

"Does....well, does she....uhhh, does she know?" Paul asked nervously.

"Yes Mr. Stanley, she knows, she is very upset about what has happened, she went to the show last night, but I haven’t talked to her today yet, she is at a promotional photo shoot, I was supposed to be there too, but I thought I needed to be here instead..to get this mess straightened out."

"No apologies necessary Mrs. Ryan, you couldn’t have known." said Paul with a sigh of relief.

"Well, what do we do now?" Doc said enthusiastically.

"Well, the first thing I need to do," said Beverly "is go to the photo shoot and see if I can find Calen, if she is still there that is. Mr. Stanley, give me a number where you can be reached and I will find Calen and give it to her."

"That will be just great, here" Paul said, handing Beverly his cell phone number, "and please, call me Paul."

"And I’m Beverly, no one ever calls me Mrs. Ryan unless they expect a tip."

Paul, Beverly and Doc all had a good laugh as they headed for the parking lot.

********************

Chapter 6

Calen arrived home from the photo shoot around 4:45pm. She put her take out Chinese dinner on the table and immediately picked up the phone to call Beverly. She tried her home number since it was Sunday and she knew she wouldn’t be in the office. There wasn’t an answer. She opted not to leave a message, Calen hated voice mail, and she hated trying to come up with something to say without sounding like a doofus. After finishing her sesame shrimp, she decided to take a bath to wash off the heavy make-up from the shoot earlier. After washing her hair and wrapping it in a towel and washing her face, she settled down and turned on the jets to the tub. The sounds of the jets were so soothing that it lulled Calen into dreamland.

"Come here my darling," came a voice out of the darkness.

A man walked toward her with his hand reaching for hers. She didn’t know who he was because he was wearing a black mask. The mystery man took Calen's hand and walked her into a room full of roses. The man guided her to the bed where he gently laid her down on the bed. Calen reached up to remove the mask from him, but he took her hand away. Gently, the man started kissing her neck, right around her ear. The feel of his lips on her neck made chills go down her spine. His lips met hers and they fell into a passionate embrace. She wanted this man in the worst way, but she just couldn’t seem to express it. Slowly, the man began to unbutton her blouse, she melted under his touch and he began to trace along the fabric of her bra with his fingers.

"Oh God, that feels so good," she said softly, shuttering with each breath.

"Please let me see your face," she begged.

The man gave a sly smile and reached up and slowly began to remove his mask. When he finally removed the mask, Calen was amazed to see it was.........

R--I--N--G--!!!!!! Calen woke up from her dream. I can’t believe I fell asleep in the tub, she said out loud, I could have drowned!

R--I--N--G--!!!!!! Went the phone again.

"Oh HELL, that always happens!" Calen shouted as she jumped out of the tub to get the phone. It was Sheri.

"Hey, what time were you going to meet me at Evolution?"

"I don’t know, I guess about 7:30, did you ever get a hold of Beverly?"

"No, I tried, but I couldn’t get an answer,” said Calen, "Let me finish getting ready and I will see you later, OK?"

"Ok, see you then, bye!"

Beverly was having a tough time getting in touch with Calen. She arrived too late at the photo shoot and called Calen from her cell phone but Calen didn’t answer so Beverly left a message on her voice mail. Beverly tried calling again when she got home around 7:45, but still got no answer.

She knew Paul would be getting impatient so she decided to call Sheri. No answer there too. They must be out together, Beverly thought. But where? She decided to take a chance and call her son, Jamie, maybe he would know something. She caught Jamie just as he was walking out the door.

"Hey sweetie," said Beverly, "I don’t suppose you know where Calen and Sheri were going tonight do you?"

"Well, Mom, you know when Calen has some time off, she usually goes to Evolution, if I were you, that would be the first place to start."

That made since, Beverly knew how much Calen and Sheri loved to hang out there, and so she put in a call to the club.

BINGO!!! Frank, the bartender said they were both there.

"Did you need to speak with them Beverly?"

"Yes, I need to give her a phone.....no, I have a better idea, never mind, don’t tell her I called, but you have my number and if they leave, call me OK?"

"Sure thing," Frank said getting confused, but he decided not to question it.

Beverly had a great idea on how to get Paul and Calen in the same place.

"Damn, I am good!" said Beverly laughing.

Chapter 7

Paul was getting impatient. It was 8:15 and even though it hadn’t been that long since he met with Beverly, he was getting anxious, he wanted Calen to call...and now.

Gene, Shannon and the kids came by to see if Paul wanted to go back with them to their home and swim and have a cook-out, something which Paul really loved doing. He politely declined, explaining to Gene that he probably wouldn’t be very good company tonight anyway.

"Man, I hope she calls soon," Gene growled jokingly as he headed out the door.

"Don’t worry Paul, she will call," Shannon said with a smile as she closed the door behind her.

Finally about 8:30, his cell phone rang. Paul was a little disappointed when it wasn’t Calen, but Beverly.

"Have you gotten a hold of Calen yet?" asked Paul.

"No, I wasn’t able to talk with her, I left a message on her voice mail, but she hasn’t called me back, but don’t worry Paul, I know where she is. Do you know of a club called Evolution?"

"Yeah, I have heard of it, but I have no idea where it is."

"Neither do I," Beverly laughed, "but I have the phone number, ask for Frank, tell him you are a friend of mine and he will take care of everything."

"Thank you so much Beverly, for everything!"

"You are so welcome Paul, and best of luck".

********************

Calen decided to try out the karaoke machine. She had already played 3 rounds of pool with Sheri and whipped her butt, had drunk one Long Island iced tea and had danced until her feet hurt. She was having a good time despite missing Paul. There were a lot of her friends there tonight that she hadn’t seen in quite some time. Jenny, a make-up assistant to Sheri, and her boyfriend Jon had just come in. Calen was thrilled to see them. She hadn’t seen Jenny since the taping of the last episode she had done on "Deep Space Nine. Neither one of them could believe it had been nearly a year. Jenny was fun, she loved karaoke almost as much as Calen did, but was so much better at it. Calen decided to go first to give Jenny a chance to get a drink and visit with Sheri. Calen looked on the machine trying to choose a song but she couldn’t come up with anything. There were some KISS songs, but she didn’t want to sing any of them because they would make her think of Paul. She selected "Constant Craving" by K.D. Lang. She loved that song, but only sang it when she was really depressed. Calen started singing her heart out. It all came out at once, the anger she had felt at Deandra for her incompetence, her frustration at not being able to get backstage, the jealousy she felt when she saw Paul kissing his girlfriend in the hallway of the arena. She lost herself in the song and when it was over, she got a standing ovation from the few on-lookers sitting around the bar. She started laughing at the applause, and at herself for getting so emotional. She was leaving the stage when Jenny ran up and grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back.

"Let’s do one together!" she shouted.

They were standing at the machine trying to find a song they could agree on, when Frank, the bartender, came over to Sheri, leaned down and whispered something in her ear.

"There is a man over at the other end of the bar that wants to speak with you,” said Frank as he pointed to the end of the bar.

Sheri looked at the man. He was wearing leather pants, snakeskin boots, a black silk button down shirt and a matching leather jacket. It took her a couple of seconds to realize who it was.... it was Paul.

"Do you want to speak with him?" Frank asked, "or should I tell him to leave?"

"NO!! Don’t tell him to leave, I will be right there." said Sheri.

She glanced at Calen who had begun singing "Hungry Like The Wolf" with Jenny, then back at Paul. Why does he want to talk to ME? She asked herself. Nervously she got up and headed toward the bar. When she got over to Paul, she smiled.

"Hello Paul," she said extending her hand, "I’m so honored to meet you, I am such a HUGE fan!"

"Thanks, thank you very much," Paul said shaking her hand.

They stood looking at each other for a couple of seconds, not sure what to say.

"Uhh, why did you want to speak with me?" Sheri asked.

"Well, I understand that you are best friends with Calen McGregor."

"Yes, that is right, why?"

"I met with Beverly Ryan today and she explained the whole mix-up with the messages, and I was just wondering how Calen was doing."

"Oh, that was where Beverly was today, she sure is slick. Calen is doing ok, we tried to get backstage last night after the show, but there was too much security, then she saw you and your girlfriend and that really upset her."

"Uumm, Nicole," Paul said, "I wish she hadn’t seen that, I don’t want Calen to get the wrong impression. Nicole spends most of her time doing runway shows in Europe now and we hardly see each other, we have had a strained relationship for several months now. I just wanted to meet Calen and tell her that I loved the photo and article in Fan Club magazine, and to tell her that I’m a fan of hers as well."

"Wow!" exclaimed Sheri, "she will love hearing that."

Paul and Sheri looked over at Calen and Jenny as they were finishing their song. Paul started over there to talk to her, but Sheri stopped him.

"I have a great idea to get Calen's attention,” said Sheri.

She grabbed Paul and whispered her plan in his ear.