Avery’s POV

“James?” I asked, stepping out into the lobby. The familiar face turned to greet me and I couldn’t help but smile. It had been so long since I had seen him and I had to admit I missed my friend.

“Ave?!” James said, looking surprised.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, shaking my head as he pulled me into a big hug, lifting me off the floor. “Set me down, James!” I giggled, hugging him back tightly. James was the last person I ever expected to see here, especially at a restaurant in America. Wasn’t Asking supposed to be touring Europe right now?

“I’m supposed to pick up food for Danny,” James started and I frowned. For Danny? Why would they be here to begin with? Was Asking playing Rock on the Range? I hadn’t seen their name on the lineup; hell I hadn’t even seen the lineup because Brain took it away from me. Wait a minute, is that way he wanted to meet me here, so I couldn’t see James and the guys?

“Sir, Madame, could you please give the reception free. You may continue your talk in the back room, we will be there within a second and the three course meal will start,” the waiter said, ushering James and I back into the private room and forcing us into our seats. I looked at him with a questioning look but it appeared James didn’t know what was going on either.

“What is going on? Why are—” James started again only for the most delicious smelling food and wine to be set down in front of us. I blinked and looked back at James over the candles on the table more than a little confused. What was going on? Wasn’t I supposed to meet Brian? Was the wait staff confused, thinking that James was my fiancé? No… that couldn’t be.

“Wow… I mean… I didn’t expect seeing you here, but it’s so good to see you” James said, looking over the table at me with a confused expression.

"I didn’t expect you either, I was just about to ask someone to call Maya or Brian... and then I heard your voice..." I explained, still not feeling sure about this whole situation.

"Yeah, it was weird they knew my name and told me to go back here, but I didn’t even do any reservation, I was send here by some guy picking up food for Danny..." James explained with a frown. Wait, so he was supposed to pick up food for Danny but they pulled him in here? That didn’t make any sense, hell none of this did!

"Why are you here?" James continued, looking down at his plate. The food did smell amazing and my stomach was growling from looking at it. Though somehow it didn’t feel right for me to eat it, not when I was supposed to be meeting Brain, not James.

"I was given a note from Brian... that he was supposed to meet me here after sound check, but that was long gone... I don’t know, he is not showing up, and I didn’t have my phone with me..." I patted my pocket and looked down at my plate, longing to take a bite. "It seems great," I practically moaned, my stomach clawing inside my abdomen. Damn I was hungry!

"He didn’t show... are you guys.. you know, in trouble or something?" I quickly shook my head at James’ words. No we were quite the opposite actually. I honestly couldn’t wait to be his wife in three weeks!

"No, no everything is fine really... I don’t know why he isn’t coming..." I sighed. He must have got hung up with sound check or meeting fans. They were going to be performing soon and I knew I should head back so I didn’t miss the show… oh but the food looked so good. Maybe I could take it to go?

"Is everything okay here? I mean, doesn’t you like the food? Something wrong?" The waitress from earlier approached the table.

"No no, the food smells delicious… the thing just is, we didn’t order this, and I am completely wrong here, I was supposed to-" James tried to explain but again he was cut off. What was with these people?

"Excuse me, Sir. But this is right, don’t worry. Please enjoy your food." She interrupted again and James threw his hands up in the air. I seemed he was just as frustrated with the situation as I was. It wasn’t that I wasn’t happy to see him, it was just that I was hopping to spend my afternoon with Brian… the man I was supposed to marry and not my ex…

"Sorry, Ms. could you do a call for me? I don’t have my phone with me, that would be great." James stood up and handed the waitress a piece of paper and I chewed my bottom lip as I looked at my plate. Would it hurt if I just took a bite?

"Would you please call and tell him to be here as soon as possible, because I have a show to play, I cannot be late," he begged and she nodded. "Of course.”

"You want a ride?!" James asked, looking back at me once the waitress had left the room. “I mean, I assume Avenged is playing Rock on the Range too, right?”

“Yeah, that would be great. They are supposed to go on here soon so maybe we could ask for to-go boxes too,” I suggested, giving James a small smile. I couldn’t believe he was here after all this time.

“Of course,” James nodded leaning back in his chair. “So how have you been? How is the shop and Maya?” He asked with his charming smile.

I smiled and picked up my glass of wine and took a sip. “Good, everything is good. Maya is great and our shop is actually quite a big hit in California, and we’ve got a manager running it while we are on tour. We’ve only got one more week until we are back home and then it’s almost time for the wedding,” I said letting my sentence run off. I hopped that it wasn’t too awkward to talk about with him because I wanted more than anything to be friends again.

“That sounds exciting,” he replied, taking a big gulp of his wine. “So that really happening? Everything is all set? No second thoughts?”

“No, we are good. I made the right choice…” I replied with a small smile thinking about the whole thing. I honestly couldn’t wait to be Mrs. Brian Haner Jr. Just thinking about it made me feel giddy. “But enough about me. How are you? Anything new?”

James smiled the biggest smile I had seen from him in a long time and let out a light sigh. “I’m great. I met a girl, her name is Jessica and honestly she is the best thing that ever happened to me… well besides you of course,” he added with a wink and I playfully swatted his shoulder.

“Oh stop it,” I laughed just as the door opened.

“What the fuck is this? Are you fucking kidding me?!” I turned to see Brian standing in the doorway looking beyond pissed and my heart dropped in my stomach.

“Brian,” I said, standing up with a smile on my face. “I was beginning to think you weren’t going to make it,” I continued, moving across the room towards him.

“Not going to make it to what? See you fucking sneaking around with Cassells? Is that what was important that you had to talk to me about?” He snapped and I looked at him with a hurt and confused expression.

“What are you talking about? You left me a note to meet you here,” I retorted, not understanding why he was so upset right now. “James is just here to pick up a food order for Danny.”

“It’s true. I didn’t even know Ave was here until I walked in the door and the waitress ushered me in,” James said and I nodded in agreement.

Brian scoffed and threw his hands up in the air. “And you expect me to believe that while you two are obviously having a romantic dinner?!” he hissed, his eyes narrow and hurt. “Please, I’m not fucking stupid, Avery. If you didn’t want to marry me you should have fucking said so weeks ago!”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, more than confused. “It’s not what it looks like, Brian! I’m not having a romantic dinner with anyone except you! I’ve been waiting for you!” I tried to explain but he wasn’t hearing it. His eyes were locked on James with a death glare.

“Cut the crap,” He hissed, looking more hurt and mad than I had ever seen him. “You want her, you can fucking have her, Cassells! She doesn’t do anything besides sneak around anyway!”

My jaw dropped at Brian turned on his heel and stormed towards the door, my heart breaking with every step he took away from me. He couldn’t be serious could he? He couldn’t just leave me here! I was so confused and I had no idea what was happening. He couldn’t really think I was secretly meeting James here behind his back, could he? That was absurd!

“Brian, wait!” I said, racing after him. “Please listen to me!” I begged, turning him around and shaking my head. “I don’t know what you think you saw but I promise I was only waiting here for you. I didn’t have anything to do with James turning up.”

“Save it, Avery,” Brian scoffed, brushing me and heading out onto the street towards a waiting town car. “Go back to your British fuck… I have a show to play.”

I opened and closed my mouth as he climbed into the car and drove away, shaking my head. This wasn’t happening… it couldn’t be. How could all of this have gone so wrong? I was supposed to me him for dinner and he was the one blowing it all out of proportion? Well, what about him being more than an hour late for our date?

I scoffed and took in a shaky breath, trying to stop the tear from coming. How could he leave me here and throw everything we had away so easily! He didn’t even listen to word I said… he only believe what he wanted to. I licked my dry lips as my chest heaved up and down, the tears spilling from my eyes.

“Ave?” James’ voice called softly from behind, his hand resting gently on my shoulder. “I’m sorry… I-I didn’t mean to cause any problems.”

“Just take me back to the venue…” I said, angrily whipping away tears. I couldn’t believe this… I just couldn’t. None of this made any sense! What just happened?!

Matt’s POV

“Where the hell is she?” I groaned, slamming the back door of the bus. I was really fucking tired of this cat and mouse game. Why couldn’t Maya be where she was supposed to be for once? Where could she be anyway? If this was some kind of joke, it wasn’t fucking funny anymore!

“Maya? Maya!?” I yelled, running my hands over my face. I was starting to panic. What if something happened to her? I mean, Gates already said that Ave was waiting at some restaurant for him. Could Maya be there with her too? Fuck! I hated this shit!

“Sir can I help you?” A voice called behind me as paced between the buses, kicking each tire in irritation as I passed. I didn’t know if the knots that were forming in my stomach were from worry or because I was getting pissed off. I swear if I found her with Bruce I would blow a fucking gasket. Though, I had no idea where the Asking bus was or if they were even here yet. Fuck!

I stopped and ran my hands over my face, the frustration getting the better of me. She had to be here somewhere and I had to trust that she wasn’t with Bruce. Calm down and think about what you talked about last night. She loves you and wouldn’t go running off with someone else, I told myself, taking a deep breath. Hell, maybe she was back at the dressing room with the rest of the guys by now. Yeah, that had to be it. I just wished she would answer her fucking phone so I could stop worrying!

“Yeah, I can’t find my girlfriend,” I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Have you seen a brunette with an Avenged Sevenfold pass and a Vengeance University tank top anywhere?”

The man with a Rock on the Range staff shirt looked at me with a thoughtful expression. “I don’t think so but I can help you find her, if you’d like. Where was the last place you saw her?’’

I took a deep breath and tried to relax. I was going to find her because she had to be in the backstage area somewhere. She just had to be. “She was supposed to meet me in our dressing room. Is there any chance you can help me check the others, just in case she went into the wrong one by mistake?” Yeah, that had to be it. Maybe she was in the wrong room? Maya was never good at following directions, it was just part of her being a free spirit, and I love that about her. Hell, I loved all of her so much that it fucking hurt to not know where she was right now.

“Of course, Sir. We will find her,” the man said and I let out a sigh of relief. “Follow me.”

Within a couple of minutes, we had checked at least three dressing rooms, including my own, with no sign of Maya. My palms were starting to sweat and my heart felt like it was in my throat from worry. I was worried sick and I shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. Maya wouldn’t just disappear without telling me. Hell, she learned that after the Rev’s secret mission bullshit. But at least when she was with Jimmy, I knew she was mostly safe. Now, fucking hell, I had no idea where she was and it was driving me mad!

“What about this room?” I asked, pointing to a door at the end of the hallway. The door didn’t have a sign on it but maybe Maya had walked in there by mistake?

“That’s a utility room, Sir,” the staff member said and clenched my fists.

“I don’t care, open it up!” I ordered, my temper rising with each passing second. I was running out of options and I didn’t know what to do. Fuck, where was she?!

“As you wish,” and within a few seconds the door was open and I was staring at my worst nightmare.

As soon as I saw him with Maya in that storeroom, something snapped within me. I lost all control and all I could see was red. All I could concentrate on was making this bastard pay for touching my girl and locking her in this storeroom with him. This was all his fucking fault! How could she fucking do this?! After all that we talked about last night!

To make matters even worse, he was half dressed and Maya shirt was twisted halfway up. What the fucking was going on in here? Only I couldn’t think about it because my mind was focused on one thing and one thing only: beating the living hell out of Ben Bruce!

I narrowed my eyes and charged into the room, pointing my finger at that little asshat. “I’ll fucking kill you, you goddamn bastard!” I raged, my voice echoing in the small room. I was beyond pissed and I could feel the anger coursing through my veins like hot lava. Oh, I was ready to fucking kill this guy!

“You dared to try this shit again, you-” I seethed, only for Maya to put her hands on my chest, trying to stop me from getting my hands on Bruce.

“Hey! Big guy! Hey stop it! It’s not what you think!” Maya said, looking up at me with her stunning brown eyes, but my level of reasoning and tolerance was nonexistent at the moment. How fucking dare he touch something that he knew damn was didn’t belong to him? I thought I made that perfectly clear the last time we met.

“I’ll talk to you later,” I hissed at Maya as I gently but still pushed her to the side. I wasn’t going to let her stand in the way of ending this once and for all.

In one swift motion, I grabbed Bruce and slammed him up against the wall, knocking the wind out of him. Oh, he picked the wrong fucking day and the wrong fucking guy to mess with and now it was time for him to learn a real lesson!

“Dude, nothing happened!” Bruce said, holding his hands up as I slammed him into the wall. Though all I could really hear was the blood pulsing in my ears as rage coursed through my veins. I tightened my grip on his shirt and squeezed, the veins in my arms and hands bulging.

Suddenly Maya’s soft little hands were wrapped around my left bicep, trying to pull me away and I pulled away from her. “Maya, I told you to step aside,” I growled before another force actually pulled me away from Bruce, my chest heaving up and down with anger.

“No fighting… and you are up for the show. Your roadie is here, they are waiting for you…” someone said and narrowed my eyes at Bruce. He was going to fucking pay for this, that was for damn sure!

“It’s not as it seems like, Matt. We were shut in here together, I was told to wait here for you, and someone else shut Ben in. A crew member gave him the wrong room,” Maya rushed out but I didn’t hear her. I was too busy plotting Bruce’s death as I was restrained from carrying out my plan. Fuck, I mean how could they do this? After every fucking thing we talked about and went through! Did I really mean that little to her?

“I’ll get you, Bruce. And god be with you, you will suffer… and you-” I pointed at Bruce before turning to Maya and shaking my head in disbelief. “I thought we talked this all through, I thought… fuck! Fuck this!” I said, feeling someone pulling me towards the door. I shook them off and punched the wall out of frustration. “Fuck!” I hissed, my hand throbbing. This was the last fucking thing I wanted—hell I tried to prevent it and look what fucking happened?!

All night long, Maya and I talked about fucking trust and making sure we talked to each other whenever we had a problem. And what did she fucking do? She went and locked herself in a secret room with Ben Bruce? Was she fucking kidding me? I was so pissed that I could barely see as I made my way backstage.

“Shads? Shads? Is everything okay?” Dan the Body asked, looking me up and down with a concerned expression.

I scoffed and yanked my earpiece out of hand, roughly forcing it in my ear. “Everything is fucking peachy,” I snapped, trying to calm myself down. I ran my tongue over my teeth as I looked around, trying to distract myself from the disturbing thoughts of Maya and Bruce that were running through my mind.

“You guys go on in ten,” MB said, stopping to look at me with a raised brow. I shot him a warning look and he walked away, knowing better than to talk to me right now. I didn’t want to snap his head off too, especially when I still owed him apology from the other day. I just hoped I could push my anger away and pull through this show.

“Where the fuck are Jimmy and Gates?” I raged, pacing the backstage area, not seeing them anywhere. Wasn’t Gates back from his date? I fucking hoped so because today wasn’t the day to pull this shit, especially when it was our chance to prove ourselves at the Rock on the Range festival. Could they really be this fucking stupid to show up late?

“Relax, Shads, Jimmy is in the dressing room and Gates is on his way,” Zack said patting my shoulder and looking me up and down with a raised brow. “What’s up? You want to kill someone.”

“Fuck off, Baker, I just want to get this over show over with,” I lied. In truth, I was fucking pissed about Maya. How could she do this to me? I mean, I was about to fucking propose next week and she goes and pulls this shit?! Did that mean she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life with me? Fuck! Why was this happening?!

“Never fear, the party is here!” Jimmy slurred, making his way to the stage and looking more than a little drunk.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I hissed, running my hands over my face. Could this day get any fucking worse?

“Whoa, what the fuck did you drink?” Johnny coughed, waving his hand in front of his face as he walked by. And he wasn’t kidding the Rev reeked of alcohol. The funny thing was, he looked normal, but as pale as a sheet of paper.

“Oh, you know, a little of this, a case of that….Never felt better and those guys from Killswitch Engage are very generous,” Jimmy chuckled, slinging his arm around Christ’s shoulder and dragging him to the edge of the stage. Wait a minute, were they even playing today? How would Jimmy get alcohol from them?

I shook my head and watched him stumble across the backstage area. “Look at all those screaming fans ready to eat us alive…. it’s going to be a great fucking day and no one,” he shot a dangerous look to Jason who was holding his sticks, “is going to stand in our way. I hope you assholes are ready to fucking party!”

“Hell, yeah we are!” Johnny cheered, clapping him on the back and causing him to stumble forward. But that was the least of my worries because at that moment, Jason handed Jimmy his sticks and he looked like he was holding a foreign object. What the fuck?

“What do I do with these?” Jimmy asked, looking slightly panicked as he looked down at his sticks and then back at Jason. “I don’t know how to fucking use these!”

“Stop fucking around, Jimbo, it’s time to go on stage in a minute,” Jason said, moving over toward him and adjusting his earpiece. When his eyes met mine, I froze, realizing that he was being dead serious. His eyes were completely glazed over, telling me that he was drunk off his ass? What the fuck?! Rev knew how important this show was.

“I don’t know how to play the drums…” Jimmy said, looking over toward his set and then back to JB. “Here, you play,” he insisted but he just shook his head.

“No way, Jimbo. Just go up there and do your thing, it will come back to you in a minute I’m sure. Nothing to worry about,” Jason said, looking between Zack and I with a worried expression. We’d never seen Jimmy like this.

“It’s going to be fine, he’ll remember when we walk out on stage,” I snapped, trying to convince myself that this wasn’t about to be a complete and total shit show. Fuck, now I had this shit to deal with when I still had gained control of my temper? Where they fucking kidding me?! This wasn’t happening… it was a nightmare we were going to wake up from any minute.

“Avenged you’re up!” the festival stage manager said and I felt a wave of panic come over me.

“Where the fuck is Gates?” I shouted over the midi track starting, looking at Za, his guitar teck that just shrugged. “Fucking hell,” I cursed as we all moved to take our places on stage as all the lights went dark.

“Hope you can play lead and rhythm,” I hissed at Zack as he looked around with wide eyes.

“Gates isn’t here yet?” he asked incredulously, starting to play his own part.

“I’m going to fucking murder him… or Bruce,” I muttered, grabbing my bottle of water and making my way to the center of the stage. “How the fuck you doin’ Rock on the Range?!” I screamed into the microphone, trying to take out my anger with the music. “Are you ready to fucking scream?!”

The crowd erupted with cheers and turned around to face Jimmy who was still looking wide-eyed at the drum set. Fuck, please don’t let this show be a complete disaster. I just kept telling myself that everything was going to be okay, and I had to believe that not only for myself but also for my friends.

The second midi track started and I held my breath, praying someone would play lead guitar or else we would all be fucked. Thankfully at the moment, Gates walked on stage, playing his guitar with one hand and a bottle of Laphroaig in the other. You had to be fucking kidding me! Maybe it would be okay, maybe everything would even out now that we were all on stage.

Only, it wasn’t. The show was fucking awful. Not only did Jimmy play the wrong drums in the wrong order in the wrong song, but Gates also played half of the show laying down on the riser and looking miserable. Luckily his fingers still fucking worked and he only stumbled a few times. And to add to the madness, I couldn’t remember the fucking lyrics to save my life. Did the fans notice how terrible the show was? Thank fucking god they still screamed and cheered after every song because I was embarrassed to be on stage right now. This was our worst show to date, even worse then when we had to turn off Johnny’s sound completely. Not to mention that it was fucking hotter then hell today.

“Good night Rock on the Range, you’ve been a great motherfucking crowd! We hope to see you again soon!” I yelled into the microphone before leaving the stage, not meeting any of my friend’s faces.

“What the hell was that?” Zack basically yelled over the crowd as we headed off the stage. “The biggest show of our fucking life and you all decide to play like complete shit? What the hell is wrong with you!?”

“Fuck off, Zack, I don’t need your shit right now,” Gates snapped pushing past us to hand his guitar to Za. He took the last swig of Laphroaig before dropping the bottle and let out a loud curse. “You’ve got some fucking nerve showing up here,” he drunkenly snapped, the bottle shattering on the ground.

I looked up to see Bruce, Cassells, and the rest of the Asking Alexandria crew standing on the side of the stage waiting for us. My blood instantly began to boil as I stepped up next to Gates. If they wanted their asses beat collectively, I had no problem accommodating them. I still had a score to settle with Bruce.

“What the fuck are you doing here? Come to get your ass beat?” I hissed as both Ben and James stepped forward. They exchanged and look and held their hands up.

“Just hear us out for a second.”

Notes

I know, this update was long overdue! Sorry for the wait but thank you so much for sticking with us! We hope to have another chapter for you soon! Please tell us what you think! We love hearing from you! :)