The Aviators

Matt closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. He was having a hard time trying to get his head around what he had just been told. Valary was now at the Guild. JD had no idea what was going to happen, and Robert was not willing to let anything slip while in the presence of the other Guild officials. This left only one option open to them. And it was not one that either he, JD or Brian relished. Matt had to go to the Guild, with JD and confront them himself.

That fact in and of itself wasn’t an issue. No, the problem was that it was now midnight and there was no way they could get into the Guild until at least eight in the morning. And Matthew did not want to have to wait that long. There was no knowing what state of mind Valary would be in and he didn’t want to leave her there any longer that she could cope.

The not knowing was killing Matt. He hated it. And his frustration was wearing the others down as well. Michelle had gone to bed earlier, not that she needed to sleep, but because of Matt’s increasing agitation. JD was seated at the kitchen table, Brian next to him half asleep in his chair. Matt paced the room, a caged animal ready to explode.

“Matt, honestly. Go to bed,” JD finally said in a weary tone. The singer shot a hard glare at the bigger male. JD frowned back at him. “There’s nothing any of us can do, right now. You might as well sleep.”

Matthew groaned as he finally quit his stalking and slumped on the chair opposite Brian. “I can’t sleep, man. Can’t stop thinking about Val…” He pressed the heel of his palm against his forehead. “Dammit…”

Squeezing his eyes shut tight, he slid his hand down to rub against his eyelids. He was tired. But, he couldn’t even think about sleep without worrying about where Valary was. Images of her curled up in a cell somewhere, scared shitless, filled his mind and he couldn’t stop the pained moan that escaped him.

“You really love her,” JD observed quietly as if the notion had only just dawned on him.

Matt lifted his eyes to the other man, and scowled. “No shit.”

“You know he does,” Brian mumbled, being roused from his semi-asleep state by their voices. “You tore him a new one for saying as much on the radio.”

JD sighed, “True that.”

Matt rubbed at his eyes some more then braced his elbows against the table-top. Brian looked at him. He met his friend’s worried gaze. Then he dragged his fingers over his head, shaking it slowly.

“I never thought I’d fall in love with her.” He gave a soft laugh. “Y’know, she was always asking me why I bought her.”

“Yeah?” Brian tilted his head to the side. “Why did you?”

JD was also interested to hear what Matt had to say regarding that. It wasn’t often he learned why a man would buy a slave. So, it was a new thing for him to hear. Matt glanced at the two men before looking down at the table top. He traced a finger along the surface gathering his thoughts before he responded.

Matt licked his lips as he started slowly, “The slave trade has been on my mind for a long time. It’s been common place for almost the whole history of our country, yeah?” He raised his eyebrows in question at the two men.

Brian nodded slowly, wondering where his friend was leading with this. JD indicated in the affirmative with a soft grunt.

“Right, so…yeah…it’s been on my mind. Long before I even…met Val.” Matt frowned, as he avoided the words. He scratched at his cheek feeling the beginnings of some stubble before he continued. “I’d always thought something had to be done about it. Y’know? Because people shouldn’t own people.” He laughed roughly. “I didn’t really think I could do anything about it, though…not until that Giovanni character showed up at our gig.”

“Giovanni?” JD asked, surprise in his voice.

Matt looked at him. “You know him?”

“He’s a disgusting fat cunt. ‘Scuse my French,” JD snapped, venom dripping from his voice. “Worst there is. The Guild employs him.”

Brian shivered. Matt scowled. “That’s interesting. He said Val was damaged goods.”

“He would,” JD sneered. “Never has anything nice to say about anyone.” He shook his head angrily. “Especially not slaves.”

Matt rolled his eyes, “That was pretty obvious.” He sat back on his chair, crossing one knee over the other. “Anyway, I have no clue why he was at the gig. No clue why he had Val with him, but as soon as I set eyes on her I knew I had to get her away from him. No matter what it took.”

JD coughed a little before he said, “So, you bought her off him.”

Matt nodded and muttered sharply, “She looked so sad. Beaten down.” He cleared his throat. “It was in her eyes.” He smirked faintly. “Though there was a spark of life there, too.”

“I bet,” JD smiled. “It’s only the slaves who are practically dead that don’t share that same thirst for a real life.”

“Not something I want to think on,” Matt pointed out. “Anyway, I guess I just wanted to save her.” He allowed his chin to drop against his chest as he pressed his hands over his eyes again. His breaths were heavy as he paused and just thought for a moment. Brian and JD remained silent, giving him some mental space.

He pinched at the bridge of his nose as he remembered everything that had gone on in their lives in the last few months. The rules he had made, the way he had treated her. Granted it had still been a Master-slave relationship, early on, but his intent had never been anything more than to make her comfortable with him. He had saved her from someone, something, he thought she needed to be free from. Though it hadn’t ended the way he’d wanted it to.

Matt snorted in derision, breaking the quiet. “Guess I gotta go save her again, now.” He slapped his palm on the table. The sharp sound made the other two men jump a little. “I’m going to call Jimmy.” Matt stood abruptly and walked over to the bench where his cell phone was laying on top of the closed guidelines. He paused glowering at the cover before picking up his phone and hitting up the drummer’s number.

While he waited for Jimmy to pick up, JD leaned over to Brian and murmured, “Jimmy obviously isn’t bothered about being woken at this time of night?”

Brian shook his head with an amused chuckle, “Rev hardly sleeps. He can run on two hours a night.”

“Why would he call him?” was JD’s next question.

“He’s our best friend. He’ll probably be over at Zack’s which will mean they’ll both come over…if that’s why he’s calling him.” Brian frowned then added, “But, Jimmy’s been pretty close to Val in his way. We all have. He’ll most definitely want to be in on this.” He fell silent as Matt’s voice rose, strained and filled with anger.

“I know, Jimmy! It’s not my fucking fault. I didn’t want to be an ass to her.” He was leaning against the bench, phone clutched hard in his left hand. “Listen. I didn’t call to have you accuse me of not watching her.” He groaned and slid down to the floor and began to speak rapidly, his words tumbling over one another. They were barely intelligible and then all present, in the room and on the other end of the line, heard the hitching of his breath. Matt dropped his hand, the phone falling to the floor next to him as he finally allowed his guard to fall. “Shit…”

Jimmy’s voice could be heard, yelling from the speaker, but Matt didn’t move to pick it up, just stared down at it as his vision blurred. “Shit,” he repeated harshly. “I fucking love her, man…”

Brian got up and retrieved the phone pressing a couple of buttons to put it on speaker. The end of Jimmy’s sentence filled the otherwise quiet space, loud and unusually angry.

“-an idiot! For once maybe you should’ve made her go with you, what the fuck’s up with that?”

Matt just shook his head without responding.

Brian answered for him voice sharp, “He wasn’t to know something like this would happen.”

“Hah, maybe he should’ve. Seriously, I oughta hit him for that,” Jimmy snorted. “In fact, I might just do that. Give me a few.” He hung up before anyone could respond. Brian blinked then looked over at Matt.

Matt sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “He can come with…” He looked over at JD, who shrugged in response.

“Sure, but I’d suggest only him, ‘kay? Can’t have too many hangers-on. No offence to you or your girl,” JD nodded to Brian. The guitarist just smiled tiredly and waved a dismissive hand.

Quiet settled over the three men, broken only by the sound of their breathing. The heaviness in the air hadn’t dissipated, though. They each knew it was unlikely to get better as the night drew on. Especially due to Matt’s growing anxiety.

He leaned his head back against the front of the kitchen counter, eyes closed. He breathed out roughly. Brian slumped back on his chair, smearing a hand through his hair. JD slouched opposite him, sinking into thought.

This was how Jimmy found them when he arrived. In a grim silence, none of them moved to acknowledge him as he let himself in. The front door was unlocked because Brian never bothered to secure it if he was at home. It wasn’t like anyone would risk tangling with him or his friends.

Jimmy raised his eyebrows at them then cleared his throat loudly.

Brian slowly turned his head to him. “Hey…”

Jimmy cocked his head to the side at him then allowed his gaze to travel across the room to where Matt was sitting. “Shads?”

Matt lifted his head but said nothing, just looked wearily at his friend. Jimmy frowned, all the harsh words he’d wanted to say to the singer draining away at the pain in his eyes. He walked over to join him, crouching down beside him.

“So, we gonna go get Val back?” he asked softly.

Matt nodded a tight motion that was barely perceptible. It was almost as if he dared not respond for fear that it would make matters worse. Jimmy could tell his friend was not confident, which was a surprise. The singer was one of the most fearless people he knew and for him to be all edgy like he was, was not normal. Which only highlighted the seriousness of the situation.

Matt looked up at his friend and answered his voice a growl, “I’m not going home until I have her with me.” He curled the fingers of his right hand into a hard fist and pounded it into the palm of his left. “Even if it takes all night…uh…all day.”

Jimmy snorted. “Gonna be a beat down, yeah?”

Matt shook his head. “I want to hit someone. Preferably Robert.” He blinked at his friend. “Fuck it, I’ll kill him.”

“Understand the sentiment,” Jimmy sighed. He looked at JD. “We really gotta wait?”

The big male nodded. “Yeah, been trying to tell your friend to get some shut eye.”

“He won’t sleep,” Jimmy countered softly, as he cast his eyes back to his friend. Matt had his eyes closed again one hand pressed over his face. “If something’s bothering him. He doesn’t sleep.” He smirked faintly, as he included Brian in the discussion. “Remember when we were starting out? Before we released Sounding?”

Brian chuckled, a sad sound. “Yeah, he refused to rest until we knew how it had been received.” His brow darkened. “Can’t imagine how much worse this is for him.”

“I’m right here, y’know,” Matt said, without opening his eyes. Jimmy placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. Matt brushed at his hand and groaned. “Don’t…” The drummer grimaced, recognising the exhaustion written all over his friend’s features. Maybe he wouldn’t sleep, but he figured he had to try and get Matt to relax at least.

“Come on, dude.” Jimmy nudged him. “I’ll get you to bed. Guest room’s tidy, Bri?” This last he said to the guitarist who appeared to be close to nodding off. Brian inclined his head in acknowledgement. Jimmy hooked a hand under Matt’s arm and tugged at it. “C’mon, Shads. Just to lie down, ‘kay?” Matt groaned but allowed his friend to pull him up and lead him from the kitchen.

Jimmy poked his head into several rooms while Matt followed, dragging his feet. He finally got to the guest room and shoved the door open and went in moving aside to give his friend room to enter as well. Matt shuffled in and sat on the edge of the bed.

He glowered up at his friend. “I’m not sleeping.”

Jimmy leaned in the doorway arms crossed over his chest. “Don’t sleep then.”

Matt let out a moan and lay back, sprawled out over the mattress. “Fuck. What time is it?”

“Not even one yet.”

“Ugh. I can’t…” Matt pressed his forearm over his eyes as his breath hitched again, and he shivered a little. His thoughts were crowded in his mind and he didn’t know whether he could handle them. “Val…” he muttered. “God, I hope she’s okay…” His words were turned inward. Jimmy knew he wasn’t talking to him.

He shifted against the door frame, brow creased. As Brian had stated, he couldn’t imagine how hard this really was for his friend. He’d never seen him so hung up over a woman before. Matt could have any pick of the women in Huntington Beach, or LA, or wherever; however, he obviously had fallen hard for the slave that had come into his life. For that matter, Valary held a special place in all their lives. Jimmy definitely felt some sense of closeness to her. He cared that was for sure, and he would definitely do whatever he could to assist his friend.

“Jimmy,” Matt’s voice rumbled, tiredly. Jimmy blinked and brought his attention to his friend.

“Yeah, Matt?”

“She’ll be okay, right?” There was a weary undertone laced through his question. “Val will be okay…” He wanted reassurance; Jimmy couldn’t answer his friend’s query and he shook his head.

“Matt, I can’t tell you that.”

Matt closed his eyes and turned his head away as he mumbled, “I know. I’m sorry, Rev.” His chest rose and fell steadily, as he went still, and Jimmy realised that his friend, regardless that he said he wouldn’t, was just about falling asleep.

He leaned more against the frame and didn’t respond as he observed his friend. He could see the shift from alertness to slumber come over Matt as his breaths slowed and his bottom lip went slack. A tiny trickle of drool pooled at the corner of his mouth and he gave a soft snort. Jimmy smiled sadly at the sight before he moved away from the door and backed out, carefully closing the door over.

Notes