Kappie and her sister got out of the car from a very long and very much needed shopping trip, lugging their many bags behind them as they walked into Laura’s small home.

“I need to take a nap,” Laura cried before ducking into her room.

Kappie headed down the hall to the back of the house to the guest room. Laura had a great point and now all she wanted to do was lay down and sleep. She put down her bags to open her door, then turned to pick them back up. Turning around and entering the room and dropped her bags all over the floor, stunned.

Someone had been in her room.

Her room was an absolute wreck. Her clothes were all over the floor, drawers were pulled out, her closet door was wide open and everything that had been on a hanger was on the floor.

Kappie calmly slipped out of the room and walked all over the house, checking to see if whoever had broken in had gone to any other part of the house. After a thorough search, she concluded that whoever had broken in’s sole purpose had been to get into her room. But why?

Walking back in, she shut the door so Laura wouldn’t see. As she cleaned up, she looked for anything that the intruder may have left. After organizing her closet and dresser, she couldn’t find anything. Turning towards her nightstand she noticed something that seemed like a piece of paper on the floor. She walked over to it. As she got closer, she noticed that it looked like the back of a piece of photo paper. She bent over and flipped it over. Her heart stopped.

It was a photo of the Avenged family, all seven of them. This picture was on the mantel of the fireplace in the mansion. The person who had broken into the mansion had broken into her room!

Staring at the picture, she felt her blood run cold. The faces of Brian, Zacky, Johnny and Jimmy were intact. The faces of Reagan and Matt were circled and her face was crossed out.

Sitting on the bed, she quickly grabbed her phone to call Brian.

“Hello Beautiful,” he answered on the first ring. “It really brightens my day when you call me.”

“Unfortunately I don’t think what I have to say will brighten it,” she said nervously.

Brian sat forward in his chair as he listen to Kappie’s story. The room, the mess, the picture, her face, Matt and Reagan’s faces and the picture in her room in the mansion before she had left. He called Johnny into his office to bring him the picture after she had told him it was under her bed.

When it was brought to him, he felt a chill run through his body as he stared at it. He had been threatened numerous times, his friends had been threatened numerous times. Now his family was threatened, and not only did that make him mad as hell, it scared the shit out of him.

Brian took a deep breath and thought about everything. On the other end of the phone, Kappie waited anxiously for what he was going to say.

“Here’s what I’m going to do,” he said. “I’m going to call someone to pick you up to take you to the airport in Seattle. There will be a ticket to somewhere on the east coast. I will pick you up at that airport. Dress business casual, look like nothing is wrong. Get packing, and wait for your driver.”

“Ok, and Brian?”

“Yeah?”

“I-,” she took a deep breath, “I love you.”

Brian felt his heart stop at her words. He could feel the truth and the fear of his response behind them. Then, he smiled. For the first time in his life since his ex wife, he knew he had found someone he wanted to be with.

“I love you too, and I can’t wait to see you soon.”

Kappie smiled with joy as she hung up and rushed to get packing.

Reagan woke up like she had been waking up the past two weeks she had been in the house in Oro Valley, naked and tangled in a mess of sheets and Matt. She stared at the ceiling and listened to Matt’s deep breathing, completely content with her life. Of course she missed her dad, Kappie and her uncles, but she had grown to love Arizona and this house. The company hadn’t been too bad either.

Suddenly, the first few bars of her ringtone interrupted the silence. She untangled herself from her boyfriend, who grunted at the sudden loss of body heat, and rolled over to the other side of the giant bed, where her phone lay on her nightstand.

She grinned when she saw her dad’s name flashing on the screen.

“Hi Daddy!” she cried

“Hello angel, how’s my girl today?” Brian asked, smiling at the sound of his daughter’s voice.

“Good just enjoying another beautiful day.”

“I’m sorry to spoil your day princess, but you need to get packing. Is Matt up? I need to speak with him…”

Reagan jumped into the shower as soon as Matt had told her what the plan was. They had to be at the Tucson airport in two hours for a flight to the east coast. Her hands shook as she thought about the picture Kappie had found in her room at her sister’s house. She knew which picture it was, it was taken at Christmas about two years ago. Now Kappie’s face was crossed out and Reagan and Matt’s faces were circled.

What did that mean? Was Kappie in danger? And Matt? Overwhelmed by the sudden news, she couldn’t control herself as she burst into tears.

“Hey, hey, hey” Matt cried, opening the shower door and jumping in. “Why are you crying Reags?”

“This whole thing is scaring me,” she cried. “I mean it was creepy that someone broke into our house, but now Kappie might be in danger and you and I might be next for something? Why are our faces circled?” Matt wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

“If anything happened to you because of me, I don’t know what I’d do.” She said.
Matt tucked his finger under her chin to make her look at him.

“You listen to me,” he said. “I love you, your dad loves you, Kappie loves you, Zack, Johnny and Jimmy love you. We’re in this together. We’re a family. You know your dad and the other guys will keep us safe. You know Kappie will be kept safe. You know that I will keep you safe. And you also know that I will do anything for you, even if I have to risk my life.”

Reagan stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. “I love you so much,” she whispered.

Forty-five minutes later, Reagan was showered, her hair was curled, and her makeup was done. She slipped into a business casual looking outfit like her father had requested. Matt put the bags in the Mustang and yelled that he was ready to go.

“Damn,” he said as she walked down the stairs. “Too bad I can’t do anything dirty to you in public.”

Reagan laughed and slapped his arm. She put the code in the alarm and locked the door behind her. Matt floored the gas as soon as her door was closed and the two headed for the airport.

Reagan slipped her large sunglasses on as they entered the airport. She walked with her head held high, as if she was only going on vacation just like her father had told her.

“Hi,” she said to the girl behind the ticket booth. “Reagan Haner and Matt Sanders?”

The girl typed on her computer, “I have two first-class tickets to Baltimore for both of you.”

Reagan nodded and Matt handed their suitcases to the attendant. After getting their tickets, they headed towards security. Her eyes covered by her dark glasses, Reagan was able to glance around at the people milling about in the airport. Had anyone followed them?

The line moved conveniently fast and in no time she and Matt were waiting outside their gate. Their flight wasn’t boarding for another twenty minutes, so the two sat patiently waiting.

“I’m going to run and get some candy over there.” Matt pointed to a small store across from where they sat. “Want anything?”

Reagan shook her head and Matt pecked her on the lips quickly and stood up. As he left she could feel the other people staring at the two of them. They were probably wondering what such a young looking girl was doing with a huge scary looking guy like him. Reagan knew the stares and had gotten used to them. Now, she sat back and admired her boyfriend’s ass as he walked away.

First class was finally called to boarding soon after Matt returned with a huge bag of gummy worms and Reese’s cups. Reagan settled into the comfortable leather seat next to Matt and leaned her head on his shoulder. Soon enough, the plane was headed down the runway for take off and she felt like she could breathe again as the plane rose leaving the West Coast behind.

The black car glided gracefully to the guard house at the front of the gated community in Oro Valley.

The entry card was accepted and the driver turned onto the street, looking for the house at the very end.

The first thing the driver saw was that Matt’s Mustang was missing.

Upon closer inspection, the house was deserted. Everything was clean, as if no one had stayed here.

The driver climbed back into the car and punched the steering wheel as hard as humanly possible.

Reagan