After All That We've Been Through

Kady's POV

"So you idiots thought it would be a good idea to leave Gates and Cal alone to come find me?" I asked as I climbed into Matt's Tahoe next to Jimmy. He was a true space cadet but he entertained me to no ends. Between Jimmy and Marley, I had two of the best friends girl could ask for. Whether we were going on a late night Taco Bell run or coming up with a prank to pull on the guys, we had a great time. Sometimes I thought Brian got jealous of how much time I spent with them. "You do realize that they both have tempers and could potential kill each other, right?"

"Eh, I'm not too concerned," Matt said as he started the beast. Was it just me or was he trying to hide that dimpled smile from me? I swear to god if they pulled me off the beach for some kind of prank I would kill them all. I wasn't even kidding either. All the members of Avenged Sevenfold would be dead, even short shit who wasn't even here. "Gates has a mean right hook and can stand up for himself. He doesn't take Jujitsu for nothing."

"Yeah he's like a fucking ninja!" Jimmy was practically bouncing up and down next to me like an excited puppy. "You should see him take a bitch out!" Out of the corner of my eye I could see him karate chopping the air. I had to fight the urge to laugh. He did realize that Jujitsu, karate, and ninjas were separate things, right? Who are we kidding? This is Jimmy we're talking about.

"Or a Dragon Ball Z character," Zacky chuckled.

"Oh shit, do you remember that one interview where a fan asked that question? I swear I almost pissed my pants," Matt laughed, hitting the steering wheel.

I chuckled and leaned into Jimmy's side. "Well his new hairdo isn't exactly helping his case. I mean who decided that it all needed to be spiked up in the air, not that I'm complaining. It's much better then that long mop and fedora thing he was doing a couple of weeks ago."

"Wait a minute, how did we get on the topic of Gates hair?" Zacky lit up a cigarette and opened the window so that the car didn't fill up with smoke. To smell that sweet smell was like torture. I had been trying to quit my deadly little addiction with coffin nails, mainly because I was sick of my vocal coach riding my ass about it.

Jimmy flunked his arm around my shoulders before he leaned forward slightly. "What's the matter, Vengy, you upset we're not talking about your hair like the fan girls?" He said, causing Matt and I to burst into laughter.

"Fuck you, Jimmy," Zacky huffed, smoke coming out his nose. He was always such a touchy bastard. I didn't know how Ryn dealt with him on a daily basis. Speaking of which, where was she? I hadn't seen or heard from her once since we got back, which was odd since she took over as our manager when we fired Mason.

"Have you heard from Ryn lately?" I pulled out of Jimmy's embrace and leaned on the back of Zacky's seat so I could see him.

"Yeah, why?"

"Just haven't heard from her since we got home. Hell I don't even know where she lives," I thought aloud, looking back to see Jimmy deep in thought. I wonder what he's thinking...actual you know what? I'm not even going to ask. I've learned it's better not to.

"She lives in Long Beach," Zacky chuckled. "And she's fine, just working on your tour promotions. You're welcome for helping her by the way."

I rolled my eyes. "Thank you oh masterful Zacky Vengeance for helping promote our tour. " I said in a monotone and bored voice as I inspected my nail beds. I really needed a new coat of paint on these bad boys. Maybe something more...sinister? Black with purple sculls? That would be fucking sweet! I took Jimmy’s phone and began to search for a nail salon. God I don't think I'd gotten my nails done since high school. So sue me for feeling girly today. I might cancel it when it got here, but today I was going with it.

"Red what the hell are you doing?" Jimmy asked, looking over my shoulder as I booked and appointment for tomorrow afternoon. I looked up at Jimmy just in time to see us go past the same ice cream parlor for the second time now. What the hell were they doing? I knew it was taking too long to get home.

“Hold up, why the fuck are we driving around in circles?” I raged, pulling myself between Matt and Zacky’s seats, looking between them.

“We’re not,” Matt said casually, trying to avoid eye contact. That fucking liar, he always looked at me when he spoke to me, unless he was lying. “I just missed the turn the first time. I forgot where we were going.”

“Bullshit, you’re a bad liar, Sanders,” I narrowed my eyes on him and turned to Zacky who was conveniently looking out the window. Oh, they were definitely up to something and I was getting pissed. “You’ve lived in this town your whole fucking life and you don’t just magically forget shit…unless we’re talking about your song lyrics, then you fuck those up all the time.”

“Ouch, that hurt a little bit, Red,” Matt put his hand on his heart and shook his head. Hey, they knew what they were getting themselves into when they started to lie to me. Or did they forget I would tell them exactly how it was, plus I had a temper? If you thought Caleb’s temper was bad, then you must not have seen the full redheaded monster make an ugly appearance.

“Someone better start fucking talking and either take me to Brian’s or drop me back off at the beach!” I was fucking pissed now, turning to look at Jimmy who looked at me with a furred brow. “What is going on, Rev?”

He took a deep breath, telling me everything with just that motion alone. “This is a fucking rouse isn’t it?! Caleb isn’t even at Brian’s is he, you fucking assholes? Is this you’re idea of a sick joke because I’m not fucking laughing.”

“Oh, he’s at Gates’ house,” Zacky chuckled and I whipped around the seat so fast he jumped.

“What the fuck is going on, Baker?”

Matt sighed and ran a hand over his face, knowing that whatever plan they had was failing. “Cant you just sit back and relax for once in your life, Kady?”

My eyes met Matt’s in the rearview mirror and I gave him a pointed look. He had met me before this moment, right? He knew that I hated surprises and not being in the loop of things. Hell, all the Avenged boy scouts had seen me go off on Mason first hand when he surprised me with an appearance one day. I needed time to mentally prepare for shit and you couldn’t just spring it on me. I blame it on my type A personality.

“Spill. Now.” I hissed though clenched teeth. I looked between the three of them, seconds from literally killing one of them.

“No can do, Keddy Reddy,” Jimmy sighed, pulling me back into the seat and anchoring me by sitting on my lap. “We’ve been sent on a mission.”

“Get the fuck off me, Jimmy!” I raged, flailing my body but he didn’t seem to mind. What was this, some kind of game for him? Fucking figures. He dodged each hit and eventually caught my arms and pinned them to my sides, now fully on top of me as I lay across the back seat. “What the actual fuck! This is fucking kidnap!”

“Well, it didn’t have to be if you would just mind your own damn business!” Matt chuckled from the front seat.

“You want the duct tape, Jim?” Zacky you better not fucking dare.

“Nah, this is too much fun,” Jimmy practically screamed in my face, his own inches from mine. Hell, what did he eat today? A ton of garlic? Ugh. Nope I think that’s pizza. Jesus. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this close to Keddy Reddy before!” Oh, and he looked just as fucking excited as he sounded. Fucking shoot me now.

“You’re supposed to be my best friend, Jimmy! How could you fucking do this to me?” I hissed as he ran his fingers over the shaved part of my head. Just when I thought I had forgotten he was a toddler in a grown-man’s body.

“Bros before hoes, darlin’,” he looked genuinely sad when he said it too.

“So Brian put you up to this? I’ll fucking kill him first oh and because you’re going along with it we’re done, Jimmy. You hear me? Done!” I glared at him.

“Noo!” he screamed. “Come on, Kad don’t be like this. I promise I’m just a minion!”

“You made your choice, Sullivan. No more movie dates, Taco Bell runs, or scheming with the mastermind!” Oh, this would get him if nothing else would. That was our favorite thing to do, make masterminded plans and never actually follow threw with them. But to my surprise, Jimmy just sighed and took something from Zacky. “No!” I yelled when the duct tape came out and suddenly I was blind, couldn’t talk, and my hands and feet were also taped. What the hell was this?

What felt like hours later, the car came to a stop and who I assumed to be Jimmy scooped me up into their arms and carried me somewhere. For being a string bean, he sure was stronger than he looked.

“Do you think Gates will be pissed about this?” Jimmy asked, confirming my previous thoughts. I could feel his chest vibrate when he spoke.

That’s when both Matt and Zacky laughed. “Are you kidding me? This is probably an erotic fantasy of his.” Oh, if I could talk, I would surely give them all a piece of my mind. I still couldn’t believe Jimmy did this to me, of all people, and I thought we were friends.

“Well, at least she’s quiet,” Zacky said. Yeah, ‘cause I didn’t have a choice. After a few more steps, I head a door open and my feet placed on a hard surface.

“What the fuck is this?” Brian? Oh thank god. Now I can officially punch you in the balls!

“Told you!”

“Shut up, Jimmy. She wouldn’t cooperate so we took necessary measures,” Matt said as I felt someone work on removing the tape from my body.

“I didn’t say to strap her up with tape, for Christ sakes!” Seconds later I was face to face with those brown eyes. “Are you okay?” He looked me over from head to foot as I smiled lightly at him. That is before I hauled off and kneed him right in the groin.

“What the fuck were you thinking? I told you where I was going and you sent these idiots to find me? No, no, no, no, kidnap me?! And with some fucking lame ass story that you and Cal were fighting? Are you fucking insane?” I screamed as he doubled over in pain, my eyes watching him.

“I-I…”Brian gasped, trying to stand back up but failing miserably.

“We were just trying to—“ I looked up to meet my brother’s blue eyes and I glared him down. So he was in on this too.

“I don’t care what the fuck you were doing!” I raged just as I caught sight of a room full of people behind me. They looked shocked at the scene in front of them but I wasn’t sorry. No one kidnaped me and lied to me in the same day. Hell, I was seeing red right now. “What the fuck is this?!”

“Erm…Happy Birthday?” Jimmy said sheepishly, running his head over the back of his head as I looked between him and the other guys standing in front of me.

“Happy Birthday,” the crowd said weakly behind him and my jaw dropped. What the hell was this? It wasn’t my birthday. At least I didn’t think it was. Fuck, what day was it? I walked over to the small table by the door and grabbed my phone from the basket. Shit it was September 24th. Well, tickle me surprised. I guess I'm 23 now...

“Oh, shit,” I hissed, putting my head in my hands. I peeked up again only to see Brian watching me with a slightly amused face. I felt slightly bad for kneeing him in the groin now that I knew what he had been up to. He and Cal must have organized this whole thing and I just came off as a totally ungrateful little bitch.

“Sorry…” I whispered, letting him pull me into his arms. “I-I—“ I was embarrassed and now all my friends must think that I was the worlds biggest bitch. Well, I probably was, so why did I care so much? Maybe it was because I hurt Brian, I don’t know.

“You forgot it was your birthday? I noticed,” he chuckled, motioning to someone behind my back. “Well, luckily Caleb didn’t so we set up an evening of all your favorite things.”

I picked my head up from his shoulder looking at him with a smile spreading over my face. “You mean jello shots, pool, poker, and people bashing?!” I asked, a little too excited for my own good.

“Yep, we even made an insult booth where you can write down your insults towards the people pictured on the damn board,” Brian chuckled. “Oh, I wrote down the best one about short shit, wait ‘till you see it.”

“It’s a dream come true!” I gushed, hugging him tightly before turning away. What was with me? I was acting like a fool today. “Well, what are we waiting for?! Let’s get this fucking party started!” I yelled, getting a victorious cry from the crowd of my closest friends.

“Come on, Birthday Girl, let's get you a drink,” Brian said, taking my head and leading me towards the bar. As soon as we reached the bar, a scream erupted causing the place to go deadly silent. The next thing I knew I was laying on the floor with pain in my chest and something very heavy on top of me.

Notes

Thank you so much for sticking with me on this journey! I hope you are liking what you're reading! :)