Brian woke up to the sound of seagulls crying in his backyard, and Pinkly was probably barking at them. He opened one eye and immediately realized that something was missing. Addie. She was no longer there, spooning with him. Last night was incredible; he was actually making love to her and not just fucking her casually. He wondered why, since they both agreed on letting it become just a one night stand.

His head was much clearer now that he woke up from a drug prescription and one hell of an orgasm. He got up to his feet and stretched his body while gazing at the beach view from his back yard. From afar, he saw a few surfers already riding the waves on the other side of the beach, the side where he didn’t own. He smirked at them and went downstairs.

“Addie, baby. I know last night was amazing but you really need to leave. I don’t keep any girls in…my…house…”

He was expecting to find Addie still lingering around in his house and he was about to tell her off but there was no one there. His heart dropped in disappointment. He didn’t even know why.

“Looks like you got the message then.” He mumbled to himself and spread to the kitchen. He started the coffeemaker but his eyes caught something on the stove with a piece of note on it. He opened the pot. It was chicken soup and it smelled heavenly. His stomach let out a loud growl all of a sudden. He closed the pot and read the note.

Eat this and you’ll feel better. You have nothing in your fucking fridge. I have to use my own stuff. You owe me for this one, Brian! – Addie.

Brian didn’t realize he was smiling in glee from reading that simple note. He decided not to throw it away, instead he pasted it on the fridge and read it over and over again while drinking his coffee. He started to heat the soup up and pour himself a bowl when he heard Pinkly barked at the back door.

“What is it, Pink?”

She barked again. Brian crouched down and ruffled her fur, looking at her direction. There was an unfamiliar black car parked on the beach track, under a tree. Though quite far but Brian can see that the man in the car looked fucking suspicious. Plus, he crossed a private property of his.

“Who the fuck is that?” he mumbled while scratching Pinkly’s ear.

Remembering his bowl of soup that was getting cold, he chose to ignore it.

DING DONG!

After he finished the whole pot of soup while playing Battlefield on his XBOX, the doorbell rang. He wondered who came to his house at 9 in the morning. When he opened the door, it was Matt. And his wife, Valary. And her twin, Michelle.

“Yo, you’re okay dude?”

Brian licked his lips containing traces of the soup earlier and creased his forehead.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You said you have a fever. So we came to visit you.”

“Oh. It’s gone now. I’m okay.” He went inside, leaving the door open for them to come in. He actually mind that Michelle coming in too since this place was sacred from her footsteps.

“Wow, what a house!” Valary commented while looking around his interior.

“Yeah, look at here Val. You remember Alan? He did this painting few years back. Damn I was this close to buy it. Brian was faster than me.”

Matthew and Valary approached the painting and drum set, while making a few comments on them. Brian stood nearby, hands in his pockets and just casually watching them conversed. Michelle walked a few steps nearer to him.

“Hey, Brian.” She greeted gently.
“Hey.”
“How are you doing?”
“Good. You?”
“I’m fine too. Can’t believe you cared.”
“I don’t. Just common courtesy.”
Michelle closed her eyes and tried not be so emotional with his provocative cocky words today.
“How’s your fever?”
“Gone.”

She nodded. Lately Brian had been nothing but a cold bastard towards her. She missed his old self – the one who would behave crazily around her, pulling pranks with his best friend Jimmy and being the most romantic guy ever. He changed ever since Jimmy passed. Their relationship shattered just like that, and now he talked only using one or two words with her.

“I smell chicken soup. You’ve been cooking?”

Brian blinked at her and scratched his chin. “Naah.”

Michelle wanted to say more to this aimless conversation but then suddenly Matt barged in.

“Dude, if you feel better, get dressed then. We have photo shoots today.”

Brian stared at Matt for a moment. “Will there be security crews?”

Matt frowned at him. “I don’t know. Big T told me that they have a karate lesson this morning. Why do you ask?”

Brian raised his eyebrows. Karate? Will Addie be able to handle it? Or will she injure herself? Worry injected to his brain as he imagined how Dan would tackle her feet and make her fall. Or worse, Dan will fall on top of her and they will lock eyes together –

“Okay, I’ll go get dressed now.”

---

I already have a black belt in karate. Why the hell am I here? Oh right, I was being undercover as Brian’s security crew and they had this karate lesson every Friday morning.

Man, I can’t take my mind off from what happened last night.

He wanted to fuck me so badly, so I gave it to him. But then suddenly he turned into this lover boy, who moved so tenderly and appreciating every part of my body and said that he’s making love to me. What the hell was that? I thought it was gonna be just fucking and then be done with it. What’s up with the spooning and cuddling after?

I can’t even begin how heavy my heart was when I watched him having nightmares and calling Jimmy’s name in his sleep. It was a heartbreaking moment for me. I can’t sleep a wink last night.

I hope that it won’t happen again, which I’m pretty sure it won’t because from what I observed, Brian was the type to fuck and never get in touch again. The way he treated his ‘babes’ and how many times his number changed I can tell that he was one with a poor commitment in a relationship.

I’ll try not to get attached to him, since I only had to watch over his safety and not interfering with his love life whatsoever. I’ll behave myself around him, whenever he stared down at me and trying to make a move on me again. I promised myself not to let this feeling go deeper than it already was.

“Addie! Hey, Addie!”

I snapped back to reality and saw that all of them had their eyes on me, with Dan already in the match ring, smirking his douche-y grin at me.

“Your turn, baby.” He called and I gagged.

“Don’t call me that.” I got up, straighten my karate suit.

“You ask for it.” he said eyeing me up and down. I rolled my eyes and went to my ready position. I cracked my neck watching him jumped in excitement like he was mimicking my favorite action star, Bruce Lee.

“I will go easy on you, baby. Don’t worry.”

“Oh I’d rather you not.”

He then sprung towards me in full speed, ready to strike me. I held out my arm, reaching for his shoulder first, while my other arm ready to scoop him at his groin and slammed him down the rubber mat, emerging a loud thunk from it. He groaned in pain while the rest of the team applauded for me.
I bowed and got back to my ready position.

“Damn, Addie. I weigh 200 pounds! How can you-”

“A lot of concentration and a lot of hatred, Dan. Come on, get up!”

Dan gestured up his index finger, indicating that he needed one more minute to recoil from his pain. I eased back, watching him taking his time to get up. Suddenly I heard a loud demonic laughter coming from the front door and I quickly looked at it. It was Matt coming in with a short guy whom I recognized as Johnny their bassist and followed behind them, the face I’ve been thinking about all morning, Brian. His eyes searched around but stopped when he saw me. He gave me a small smile, but just when I was about to return it I heard a loud yell from ahead of me.

“YAAAAAAAARRRGGHHHHH!!”

Oh shit!! Dan sprinted towards me and tackled me by the feet, succeeded in throwing me across the mattress. Damn, damn, damn! Just when I was about to look cool in front of Brian!

“Finally I got you right where I want you, Addie.” He breathed onto my face. I rolled my eyes and pushed him away roughly but he was too muscular and buffed, I can’t seem to lift him up.

“Dan, get the fuck out of my way.”

“Not until you say yes.”

“Yes to what?”

“A date with me.”

I raised my eyebrows and diverted my gaze to Brian who was looking down upon us with his eyebrows scrunched.

“I have a boyfriend, Dan. Now move.”

“If you really do have a boyfriend, then bring him out! I’ll challenge him!”

I laughed in surprise. Andy was 10 times better than me in karate. Not that he’s my boyfriend or anything, but he was the one that crossed my mind when I said that I have one.

“Dream on, Dan. Now get off me!”

I pushed him as hard as I could and he finally gave in. The other crews were immersed in greeting Matt and the guys; they were basically here to watch us practice. I wonder why. Didn’t they have photo shoot or something?


After the practice which I ended up looking really weak in front of Brian, I changed my karate gear to an Avenged Sevenfold Nightmare tour tee, which I got it for free. I went out of the locker room to find the guys playfully having a match over at the matching ring and I just rolled my eyes at them.

I dug for my phone in my pocket and dialed Andy’s number.

“Hey, Teddy Addie!”

“Ugh, how many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?”

“Relax, I’m just kidding. What’s up?”

“Just wanna check in. How’s the uh-” I looked around. They were far from me, so it was safe to have this conversation. “- the guy?”

“Hmm…still no signs of him. We suspected that he will attack again next time, you know maybe at the same kind of event or venue. Usually criminals with that motive and weapon will go for crowded places to work their plan.”

“Concerts? But they won’t have any concerts for the time being. Just interviews and photo shoots and stuff.”

“What about the concert you went to last time?”

“Oh, that was his sister’s – oh my God. Don’t tell me he aimed for Brian’s sister too?”

“Uh..I’m not sure Addie. But I will find out for you when’s the next concert’s going to be. Will get back to you later.”

“Okay, and hey Andy.”

“Yeah?”

“I miss you.”

Andy laughed out loud. “I miss you too Teddy.”

Damn I missed my best friend so much. Even though we didn’t have anything going on but I feel like I’m cheating on him, for sleeping with Brian. God, can I just take a break and not falling for anybody?

“So, you didn’t tell him yet?”

I jumped around and my heart leapt seeing Brian stood behind me, with both hands in his pockets.

“Fuck, you scared me.”

He didn’t respond, but his eyes followed my every moves. I shoved my phone away and tied my hair back to a messy bun. He watched all of it with his expression unreadable.

“Answer me, Addie.” He urged, after seeing me not replying and just casually putting on my Nike sneakers.

“Tell him what?”

He cursed and looked around before leaning over to me.

“That we – slept together.”

I saw a flame of jealousy in his eyes. Some crazy possessive spark lit up in it. “No I didn’t. And I won’t. It happened once and we should just really forget about it.”

I bent over to tie my shoes, but then I heard him groaned.

“How can I forget that ass…”

I quickly stood up straight. “Brian, we agreed. You wanted to get in my pants so badly, and now that you have, just move on already. I’m sure you have other girls waiting in line for you.”

He shot a piercing glare at me and folded his arms across his chest. We stood in awkward silence for a moment but I can tell that his mind was working. He was carefully thinking about something but I couldn’t figure out what. So I decided to just break the silence and be his friend.

“How’s your fever? Getting better now?”

He looked up to me, and finally drew a smile. Oh how I easily melted at that smile. Wait, I promised myself didn’t I?!

“Yes. Thanks for the soup. It’s fucking delicious.”

“You’re welcome. I figured you’re not one to usually work around the kitchen, are you?”

He chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, I’m not. Glad you can tell that.”

“But please, Brian. Eat up. You’re getting skinnier.”

He cocked one eyebrow at me. “And have you been observing my growth lately?”

I was caught. Well, I know he’s getting skinny from his dad. Not from stalking him or anything.

“Err…I saw some pictures from way back in your early albums. You were a lot…bigger.”

He laughed shortly and ran a hand through his slicked hair. He drew a few steps closer to me until, as usual, he towered over me – showing off his advantage in height – and just stared down into my eyes.

“But that didn’t change the way you look at me last night. Skinny or not, I’m still huge.”

Damn it, he started again with his dirty and flirty talk. Trying to get me into bed again? No, I gotta resist this!

“Oh don’t flatter yourself. I’ve seen some even bigger than yours.” I lied. I’ve never seen a dick bigger than his. Or to be exact, I’ve never seen any dick except for his, and my ex boyfriend who took my virginity when I was 16.

“Wow, your boyfriend’s bigger than me?”

I ran my gaze away from him. “That’s right.”

“I see.” He leaned back his body and stood a little bit farther from me.

I glanced up to him. He looked like his pride had been hurt. I wanted to tell him that I lied so much but that would just turn his ego on and I couldn’t handle that.

“I have to meet him, at least once.”

“Why? You wanna compare your size to him?”

He laughed and rubbed his forehead.

“I’m throwing a party this weekend. You should bring him.”

My mouth dropped open in shock. I can’t believe this guy. How dare he ask me to bring my ‘boyfriend’ to a party of someone I just ‘cheated on him with’? How sick was he actually?

“Are you sure about that, Brian? You want my boyfriend to attend a party of someone I just slept with?”

“Yes.”

“Why? You wanna start a fight or something?”

“Maybe.”

Woah. What had gotten into him? Did I accidentally put drug in that soup or what?

“I..don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Oh relax, I just wanna meet him. I won’t say anything about us.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, feeling a little bit suspicious. Did he feel provoked about his size? Do men always feel that way?

Thank God this conversation can’t continue any further when the guys came over to us, getting ready to leave. The short guy walked towards me and held out his arm.

“Hey, I believe we haven’t met before. I’m Johnny, the bassist in A7X.”

I took his hand and shook it. “Hey Johnny. Call me Addie.”

“Addie huh? Well, Addie, this guy right here,” he pointed to Brian. “Is a chick magnet. Don’t believe anything he said, okay?”

I glanced at Brian who was now immersed in a conversation with Matt and Big T.

“Don’t worry, I won’t.” I smiled at Johnny and he went over to them. I rummaged through my sling bag for their schedule and I saw that after this they had a radio interview at KROQ FM.

“Addie!”

I yelped and quickly shoved away the schedule in my bag. “Yes?”

“Come here for a sec.”

I went over to Big T and saw that Brian was eyeing me with his lazy but piercing stare.

“You’ve been assigned a member.”

Okay, heads up. These security crews, although we are formed in a 13 members group but only five of us got to be assigned to a member. So that when each member traveled separately, at least one security crew will accompany him. Big T had already been assigned to Matt, Dan was assigned to Zacky, their rhythm guitarist. Greg will be guarding Arin, and from what I know it was either Chris or Jerry who’d been assigned for Brian and Johnny. Either one. I’m just a new girl. I won’t be assigned to anyone just yet. Right?

“Excuse me?”

“You will take care of Syn. He asked for you.”

My mouth ajar in shock. I threw a glance at him, who smirked leisurely, then to Matt who was smiling his dimple and Johnny who made an X mark using his hands, telling me to refuse the job.

“Oh..kay.”

I have no choice but to agree, since I needed to be near him anyway. Being assigned to a member means I have to follow his schedule individually since they will also have some individual event to attend and not all five of them will be there at the same time. Except when they are, then all securities are on duty.

“It’s settled then. After this Syn will have a short TRL interview with Arin, you and Greg will follow them. The rest will head to KROQ for the radio interview.”

With that brief pep talk, the team dispersed and head out to our van, which Brian caught me in the hand and pulled me towards his BMW.

“I’d rather you not getting in that van with them. Especially that asshole, Dan. God knows he will grind against you or something -”

“Brian, stop.” I stopped walking and he did too. His hand still clasped in mine but he looked baffled.

“What is it?”

“Why are you doing this Brian? We’re not – together, are we?”

He immediately let my hand go. I felt a little hurt by it. It showed how much of a person with commitment issue he was.

“No, no. What makes you think that?”

“Well, first, you asked for me to be your personal guard. Then you don’t want me to travel with them, and then you don’t want Dan to feel me up in that van. What’s the deal Brian?”

He looked taken aback. I was confused by his action. He wanted last night to be just a one night stand right? He didn’t want anything to do with me right? Because if he did, then I’m screwed.

“I’m – I was just -”

“Look, I can be your guard. But don’t lead me up to something that you don’t even want to happen. Don’t fucking mess with head. We had a one night stand and it was fucking amazing but that was it, okay. It won’t happen again.”

I got carried away with my emotion as I stomped away from him and get on the security van. Why didn’t I stick with him? I needed to be by his side anyways! Addie, Addie, stupid Addie.

But I can’t stand being near him. He would just make his flirty move on me and I would give in! Oh dear God help me.

Notes