The Aviators

He sat watching her as she nestled into the singer’s side. Matt had one arm wrapped firm around her shoulders, chin resting against the top of her head. His other hand was resting against the top of the drum kit, fingers tapping an impatient rhythm. But, Jason wasn’t really interested in him. No, he was focusing upon the young woman. When she and Matt had come back into the studio, he had kept half his concentration on her, the other on what the guys were doing.

Valary was not your typical slave. That much he was certain of. But, then he had had little contact with them, slaves that is, in the first place. Ever since he and his friend had started their business things had been disconcertingly quiet. The Guild was very tight on where slaves were sent and were reluctant to let loose cannon officers know the ins and outs of the association. This didn’t help matters, frustrating Jason’s efforts to track down any particular slave or sub within California.

His buddy wasn’t so unlucky in that department, but then he worked directly within the Guild. And he was a bit of an asshole about it. But then, being hard was the order of the day when one had to enforce rules and regulations. Enjoying it was another thing entirely, though, and neither man was willing to show any commitment either way.

Still, somebody had to do the dirty work. And being a mean bastard was more up his buddy’s alley. Even if there was no ‘umph’ behind it. Jason gave a wry smirk, shifting on his seat.

“Whatcha smirking at?”

Jason turned his head to meet the suspicious gaze of the rhythm guitarist, Zacky. Bright green eyes stared at him with an astute expression. He leaned back, crossing his arms.

“Nothing, Zachary. Just thinkin’ that my buddy’ll be jealous when he hears who I’ve been working with.”

“Really?” Zacky’s tone suggested he didn’t believe Jason.

He smirked some more. “Yeah, he’s bit of a bastard like that.”

Zacky shook his head. “I got a question.”

Jason lifted an eyebrow, tilting his head to the side, hair falling into his eyes. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Zacky drawled, “I know we already kind of asked you this, but. What’s your other job?”

It became tense all of a sudden; Jason felt the atmosphere shift between them. He also noticed Matt and Val looking across at him, an expectant air gathering. Rubbing his palms against his jeans, Jason worked through the choices that he had. He could lie, make something up, but then wasn’t that what he was doing anyway? He could be honest and tell the whole truth, but then that would open up a can of worms he didn’t think he was quite ready to reveal, just yet. He would have to settle for the middle ground.

“Working for the government. Nothing too exciting.”

“Is that right?” Matt had shifted his focus completely, now, frowning at him.

Jason nodded. “Yep.”

The singer narrowed his eyes. “That’s funny. The other day you said it was depressing.”

Jason snorted, his response somewhat bitter, “Oh, and what? When a job’s depressing, it’s exciting?”

Matt rolled his eyes. “Touché. But, what exactly is it you did for the government?” He was running his palm up and down Val’s spine, as she leaned her head against his shoulder, also listening to the conversation.

Jason went quiet again, rubbing at his knees, glancing at the singer and the guitarist, expression a little strained. Then he finally asked, “Why do you want to know?”

Zacky tugged at a lip ring, voice low when he answered, “Curious, I guess.”

Jason leaned back on his chair, tucking his hands into the pockets of his jeans. His eyes were shrouded, hiding his thoughts. The corners of his lips twitched at the guitarist’s statement, but shaking his head, he sighed a little.

“Curiosity killed the cat, y’know.” He watched Zacky for his response, but it was Matt who spoke next.

“Never seen a dead cat yet.” He squeezed Val’s shoulders gently; she nuzzled against his shoulder, still watching. Jason shot a small smile her way, before meeting Matt’s sceptical gaze. They stared at each other for a long moment; Jason could sense the singer’s unease. He had felt it from the first day of joining the guys at Brian’s place days earlier. Matt was suspicious of him, and he couldn’t really blame him.

It wasn’t as if he had given the man any reason to trust him. However, on the other hand he hadn’t done anything worthy of suspicion either. At least he didn’t believe he had.

Smirking, he said, “It’s not something I talk about, much. I prefer to do this shit, y’know? Being a guitar tech.”

“Really.” Matt leaned back on his chair, removing his arm from around Val’s shoulders, and crossing both over his chest. Jason noted the tensing of the other man’s muscles, the sleeves of his tee straining at his tattooed biceps.

He folded his own arms, conscience of how defensive he must look. “Really.”

Matt stared hard at him, attempting to read him, but Jason knew he was good with his poker face, because the singer finally grunted and swung away.

“Right, well...perhaps we should get back to work.”

“I’m still curious about Jason’s other job,” Zacky said, frowning at the big man.

Jason shook his head. “It’s nothing worth being curious about.”

“Oh, really?” The guitarist stood up and leaned his hands against the back of his chair. “I think I’ll be the judge of that.”

Jason kept shaking his head. “It’s not even important. I’d much rather be a guitar tech full time, at any rate.” He felt as if he were a broken record, repeating himself, continuously defending his position.

Brian, who was sitting at the drums with Jimmy, going over several drumbeats, looked over toward them, frowning. “Why don’t you guys give it a rest? He obviously doesn’t want to talk about it.” He rubbed at his forehead. “By the way, Matt, you have any idea when Johnny’s coming around? He’s been kind of AWOL the past few days.”

Jason leaned back on his chair again, observing the singer as he shook his head without answering. Instead he pulled Valary closer to his side and focused his attention on the screen in front of him.

Jason then turned his attention to Brian who rolled his eyes before glancing at him in return. “Johnny’s our bassist. Pretty damn good too. But, he hasn’t been over for awhile...guess he’s making up for all the vacation time he missed.”

Jason snorted. “Some people don’t realise that touring in a band isn’t a permanent holiday, right?”

“Exactly. It’s our fucking job,” Brian said. “I mean, it can be a party sometimes, but other times, it’s just hard work. So, I can understand why he hasn’t shown. But, still...” He shook his head.

“And, out of all of us, he doesn’t really write much,” Jimmy added as he flipped his sticks in the air.

Jason lifted his eyebrows, casting his eyes toward each one of them. “Right. So, who out of you actually...?”

Brian pointed toward Matt and then at Jimmy. “These two write most of the lyrics, or at least the rough ideas. On the last album we all collaborated on lyrics, though. Adding verses and choruses where necessary.” He shrugged a little. “But, Matt and Jimmy come up with a lot of the musical lines before we get together.”

Jason chewed on his bottom lip, leaning back more into his chair. “Your last album was pretty sweet. Lyric wise.” Rubbing his jaw, he added, “The whole record was awesome...but the lyrics...there was just something about them. Kinda gives me hope...y’know? What with all the lack lustre music coming out these days.”

Matt glanced over again, face drawn, eyes narrowed. “What would you know?”

Jason, shrugging his shoulders, gave the singer a disarming smile. “Just stating an opinion, Matt.”

He stood, stretching his arms over his head, and wandered over to lean against the wall next to the computer desk. His gaze settled on Val again, where she was by Matt’s side, resting against his shoulder once more. Her dark hair, hid her expression from him, but he could read her body language well enough without it.

As he observed Val, she happened to catch him looking, and she cocked her head slightly, a questioning look appearing in her eyes. He just gave her a soft smile before finally turning toward Brian again. The guitarist held a couple of beers, one of which he offered to Jason.

“Here. Get that into you. Got more work to do.”

Jason took the cold one from him and moved to sit, preparing his mind for another long session of work. It was time to put aside thoughts of his other occupation, no matter how important it was, and get down to what he really wanted to be doing. Because, as much as his other work was a challenge and was never boring, he much preferred enjoying what he was doing than not. And having fun at work never killed anyone.

Notes