Brian’s POV

“There you are! Where the fuck have you been, Gates?” MB asked, quickly putting in my earpiece as I nursed the bottle of Laphroaig in my hand. I had drank about a quarter of the bottle on the way back from the restaurant, trying to forget about Ave and Cassells’ little rendezvous.

I mean, how the hell could Ave do this me?! To us? We were supposed to get fucking married in three weeks and she was going to throw it all way for that British prick? She had to be fucking kidding, right? It was all some kind of sick and twisted prank that was going to end any minute. It had to because the Avery Jacobson I knew would never do this to me, not after everything we talked about…everything we had planned… Fucking hell, maybe I didn’t know what Avery wanted anymore… maybe I didn’t really know her at all.

“You’re fucking lucky you have a midi track to start this song,” MB continued to lecture as Za hooked me up with my guitar. I didn’t see what the big deal was when my whole fucking life seemed to be crumbling before my eyes. This show was the least of my worries right now. “You guys are up! Go!”

MB gave me a firm shove towards the stage, my fingers automatically picking up the playing the opening riff to Critical Acclaim on cue. As I moved onto the stage, I took a long swig from the bottle of scotch and raised it up to the crowd. They erupted with applause but I didn’t care. The only thing I wanted right now was for the burn of the alcohol in my throat to take away the ache in my chest. It felt like someone had broken a wine bottle and stabbed me in the heart with it, twisting and turning to dig into just the right place. And that someone was the last person I expected… the person I loved the most.

Fuck, I didn’t know what the hell to think! Ave kept saying that she and Cassells met at the restaurant by chance, but it didn’t look that way to me. From my vantage point, it looked like I was interrupting a private romantic dinner for the two of them. Just seeing Ave sitting there with fucking Cassells of all people set me off and I couldn’t fucking think straight! I mean, is that what was so important to tell me; that she wanted to get back together with him? Fuck! Had she been turning to him when I was working?

I groaned and sat down on one of the risers in front of the drum set, my fingers working to play the songs on autopilot. I had no idea what song we were on but I just kept playing, trying to sooth the uneasy feeling that had settled over me. The scotch was supposed to get rid of this feeling but it only seemed to make me think more. Maybe I just hadn’t drank enough of it?!

I leaned back on the riser and took another long sip, closing my eyes as the burning liquid moved down my throat. In the darkness of my eyelids I could see Ave’s face as my car pulled away, leaving her standing on the sidewalk. She looked so confused and heartbroken. Maybe she was telling the truth about the whole thing? Fuck, I didn’t know what to believe!

Deep down I regretted leaving Ave at La Lune but I was so pissed over the whole situation that I couldn’t stand to look at her. I mean, how could she stand there and blatantly lie to my face, telling me that I was the one who asked her to meet me there? We both knew I did no such thing! Didn’t our relationship mean anything to her? I just didn’t understand how they could have met there by accident and then started to enjoy a romantic dinner. It didn’t make any fucking sense; none of this did!

By the time we finished the show, I had nearly finished the entire bottle of Laphroaig. My head was spinning and I just wanted to pass out and forget about everything that happened today. Maybe in the morning I could talk to Avery, but I knew it was best to cool down and not have this discussion while I was smashed. But maybe it would be better if she really wanted to leave me for Cassells, then it would save me the trouble of having to get drunk again tomorrow.

“What the hell was that?” Zack basically yelled over the crowd as we headed off the stage. Somewhere behind me I could hear Jimmy yelling at Jason and then throwing up. Must be he hit the alcohol pretty hard too. “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,” I snapped, wanting to get away from all of them as fast as possible. I didn’t want to talk to anyone and I certainly didn’t want to discuss the shit show that just happened on stage. Like I said, I just wanted to pass out and forget it—all of it.

With that thought, I downed the rest of the bottle of scotch in one swig. Hopefully that would put me over the edge and the darkness would take me when I reached my bunk. But as soon as I looked forward again, I saw the smug face that I was forget.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I spat, the glass bottle falling from my hand and shattering on the floor. Oh, I swear if Cassells came here to brag in my face I would stick my foot so far up his ass that he didn’t remember his own name. She was my fucking fiancé and he had some nerve to steal her away from me like that. Didn’t he know we were fucking happy? “You’ve got some fucking nerve showing up here.”

Though the better question was why did I let him take Ave away from me? She was my fucking soul mate and I refused to let her go. We were meant to be together and no one was going to get in our way, especially not this prick. So if I had to beat his ass to get him out of Ave’s life for good, that’s what I was going to do. Fuck! Why didn’t I think this before! I guess drunken minds have the best thoughts!

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

“Just hear us out for a second,” Bruce said, looking between us with a cautious expression.

“Hear what? How you cant seem to let the girls go? They don’t fucking belong to you!” Matt snapped and I nodded in agreement. I would be damned if I was going to let Ave go so easily.

“You’ve got this all wrong. We didn’t plan anythin’ that happened today and you’ve got to believe that,” James continued, stepping closer to me. I narrowed my eyes and stood up to my full height. I wasn’t fucking backing down, not until these British pricks were back on a flight to the UK. Ave was mine and that was final—I would just have to make her see that again.

“Bullshit, like you just happened to appear at the same restaurant as Ave with a romantic dinner waiting?” I scoffed, my voice slurring as I shook my head. This was un-fucking-believable.

“Or get locked in the only fucking private store room on the whole campus?” Matt growled, explaining where Maya had been in one disturbing sentence. I guess his afternoon didn’t go too well either.

By the clenched fists, pulsing veins in his neck, and the look on his face he was close to the edge. Though if I was being perfectly honest, I was right behind him. “Right… like it was a fucking coincidence! You and I both know you asshats don’t know when to give up! Well let me fucking tell you something, Bruce. Maya. Will. Never. Be. Yours,” Matt said, roughly poking Bruce in the chest with each word.

“And Ave will never be yours,” I hissed, stepping right up into James’ face. He was only a few inches taller than me, but I wasn’t intimidated.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Bruce clenched his fists and take a deep breath before he and James looked at each other again. “We both know that,” James said, running his hands over his face. “But just let us explain. We didn’t even know you guy were going to be at this festival!”

“Yeah, and if we wanted to make secret plans with your girls, we wouldn’t have done it while you were running around the same venue,” Bruce added quickly with a cocky smile. Both Matt and I clenched our jaws and stepped forward only for James to put his hands up in defense.

“Not that we would!” He said, giving his band mate a dirty look.

“And who the hell know why, but both Maya and blondie seem to be happy with you pricks, and we accept that,” Bruce continued and I raised a brow in disbelief. Was it the alcohol in my system or did Ben Bruce actually say he accepted losing Maya to Matt? Not that she was actually his to begin with, but that’s beside the point.

“Besides, I am happily in a relationship,” James added, a dreamy expression coming over his face. I grinded my teeth together, hoping he wasn’t talking about Avery. Oh if those words left his mouth, they would be the last things he ever said.

“And I am in many relationships,” Bruce chimed cockily with a wink. “It’s much better this way because I was just way too much for Maya to handle, and I see that now. Not every woman can handle little Bruce,” he said and Matt stepped forward, now only an inch away from the guitarist.

“You better not be saying what I think you’re saying, Bruce,” He growled before one of the other band members, Sam or something, stepped between him and Bruce, gently moving them apart.

“Anyway,” James continued, looking me straight in the eye. In my drunken state he looked like he was swaying back and forth and I just wished he’d hold still. “I want you to know that I would never make a move on Ave, not when I see the way she looks at you, Gates,” James sighed, looking sincere. “I have stuck to our agreement and Ave and I are just friends.”

“As are Maya and I,” Bruce agreed and I looked over at Matt. His expression looked just as confused as I felt. Were we really supposed to believe this? Were they telling the truth?

“Then why the hell were you locked in that storeroom with my girlfriend half dressed?” Matt finally asked and I nodded in agreement. I wanted to hear this too because the stories still didn’t make sense yet. If they didn’t plan to meet, then how did both of our girls end up with these two schmucks, especially if they didn’t know we were here?

“Well, at first we thought it was one of Worsnop’s pranks,” James started, glaring over his shoulder. “He’s had a real bad tendency of sending us on wild goose chases to get shit lately.” Speaking of Danny, where was he anyway? He was the only member of Asking Alexandria that wasn’t standing before us. “Food orders, liquor, you name it.”

“What does Worsnop have to do with any of this?” I interrupted, feeling impatient. I crossed my arms over my chest, my eyes narrowed at the tall drummer. I still didn’t fucking like him.

Cassells sighed and ran his hand over my face. “I got a note for one of the Rock on the Range employee’s telling me I had to go pick up food for Danny,” he explained, pulling out a small piece of paper and handing it too me. On the paper was the hand written address for La Lune restaurant and the handwriting looked almost identical to the note I got from Ave. She wouldn’t have set this up would she?!

“And we’ve learned recently that if we didn’t oblige, then Worsnop refused to perform, and we didn’t need that shit at this festival. So I went to go pick up the bloody food for that asshat and as soon as I arrived, the waitress ushered me into a room where Ave was sitting at a table,” he explained. “But no matter how many times we tried to tell the waitress that there was a mistake, she brushed us off. The woman had my bloody name and everything, saying that dinner was arranged just the way I wanted. I sure as hell didn’t set that up. Like I said, I didn’t even know you our Ave was here.”

My head was spinning as James told his side of the story. Was this true? Were Cassells and Ave really set up like that? Who would do that to them? I looked over at Matt and he shrugged, obviously thinking the same thing.

“What did Ave say when she saw you?” Zack asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

“She said she was waiting for Gates,” James shrugged and pursed my lips. “She said something about getting a note to meet him there for lunch—”

“I didn’t send her a note,” I mused, now very confused. “I told her to meet me in the dressing room. And Trevor handed me a note from Ave too, telling me to meet her there…”

“Well, who would set all three of you up like that?” Zack asked, and I just shrugged. I didn’t know but when I found out, that person was going to pay for messing with us.

“And speaking of dressing rooms,” Bruce piped up, his gaze directed at Matt. “I was only looking for our dressing room when I got trapped,” he said, motioning to his band behind him. “And one of the employees directed me into that storeroom where Maya was, saying that was our dressing room. It even had our bloody logo on it for Christ sakes,” he said, looking pissed off. “Fucking tosh pot.”

“So a staff member sent you into the room too?” I asked only for Matt to continue to press for information.

“Fine, you got sent to the wrong damn room. Why didn’t you leave and why were your clothes off?” Matt growled, his knuckles cracking from squeezing them so hard.

“The bloody door was locked from the inside and some asshole cranked the heat in there! It was like a fucking sauna,” he snapped. “Besides when I walked in Maya had this crazy notion that the storeroom was your dressing room,” Bruce replied, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “She said she was supposed to me Shadows there and when we went to leave, we were both trapped.”

I furred my brows together looking at my band mates. Nothing about these stories made sense. Why the hell would an employee send them on a wild goose chase? Now it may have been the alcohol in my system, but it felt like someone was trying to fuck with us.

“If you guys saw these employees again, would you be able to point them out?” Matt asked and I nodded in agreement, our minds seeming to be working at the same pace. I wanted to know exactly who was trying to sabotage our relationships, especially after we were both in a good place after the last misunderstand!

“Of course,” Bruce and Cassells replied in unison.

“Actually…” Bruce tilted his head to the side, looking out toward the stage where our stagehands and roadies were quickly tearing down our equipment. “That’s him right there, the one with the dark hair.”

Both Matt and I quickly turned around to see the one person we distrusted the most.

“Fucking Trevor…”

Matt’s POV

As soon as Bruce identified Trevor as instigator for all of the shit that happened today, I felt my blood start to boil. “That good for nothing piece of shit,” I hissed under my breath, clenching my fists as I took a step towards him.

“Hold on now, Shads,” Zack said, putting and hand on my arm to stop my. “Are you sure that’s him?”

“Of course I’m sure,” Bruce snapped. “I wouldn’t forget the face that I’ve been envisioning punching out all damn day!”

“Wait a minute,” James’ voice sounded, moving to get a closer look. “That’s the same bloke who handed me Danny’s order,” he admitted and Gates and I both looked at each other.

“You’ve got to fucking kidding,” I hissed, my temper boiling over. I didn’t trust that guy from day one and this was the tip of the fucking iceberg! Who the hell did he think he was meddling in our private lives, trying to ruin our relationships?! What kind of brother did shit like that? Unless it was one who really didn’t have his sister’s best interest at heart.

“That fucking prick,” Brian grunted, taking a step in Trevor’s direction. “He is going to pay for causing all this fucking shit to happen.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Zack said, stopping both Brian and I from storming over and beating the living piss out of Maya’s brother. “You both know you can’t just go over there and start shit. If he is being a sneaky manipulative bastard, don’t you think he twist this for the girls too?”

Oh, shit I completely forgot about the girls in all this. I needed to apologize and make everything right again, or else I would lose the one person who meant the most to me.

“That fucking snake…” Gates growled, pinching the bridge of his nose. We both knew Zack was right. “We should have never let him come on tour with him. No wonder everything has been going to hell. He’s been sabotaging us all along!” And fuck Gates was right. There was no other way to explain all the bad luck we’d been having with the girls lately. It was Trevor—fucking all of it!

“Wait, you know that prick?” Bruce asked with a raised brow.

“Unfortunately that prick is Maya’s brother,” I enlightened with a frown. Bruce and Cassells mouths both formed an ‘o’ shape before shook their heads.

“I didn’t even know Maya had a brother,” Bruce mused, his brow furred. “But why would he try and ruin shit between you and the girls? You’ve got it fucking made with them by the way, you lucky bastards.”

I couldn’t help the small victorious smirk that spread over my face, knowing that I knew more about Maya than Bruce did. That just proved that she trust me more and damn I was a fucking idiot for not realizing that before. I should have just stopped and listened to her instead of flying off the handle because Bruce was in the room. Fuck! I hope she would forgive me…

“Yeah, they are two of the greatest girls on the bloody planet,” James agreed. “And I still stand by my warning Gates. You treat Ave well or I will step in, and that situation at the restaurant was not cool man. She was pretty hurt.”

Gates hung his head and nodded, obviously going through the same reel of emotions that I was. We had to go make this right.

“We will make it right again, don’t you worry,” I promised, giving the Asking crew a nod. I still didn’t like them, but I did respect them a little bit more. Hell, without them we would have never found out about Trevor and possibly even ruined our relationships. “Thanks for… your help.”

“No problem, just make sure that punk gets what’s comin’ to him,” Bruce said, meeting my eye and we nodded. We seemed to have come to an understanding.

“We will talk to the girls about it first,” Gates said, meeting my eye. “Then we can take him down and make him pay for this shit.”

“And mark my words, he will fucking pay,” I added before turning toward the backstage area. I needed to get to Maya, needed to find her and apologize for everything that happened today. None of it was her or Bruce’s fault and I knew that now. I felt like the biggest ass on the face of the earth.

As I reached the parking lot, I heard footsteps echoing behind me. I knew they had to belong to Gates so I slowed down, waiting for him to catch up. “This is so fucked up,” he snapped, stumbling to catch up with me. “How could Trevor go through all that trouble?”

“I don’t know but hopefully we can make the girls see what has been going on,” I sighed, running my hand over my face. “But first we have to get them to talk to us. Maya was pretty upset when I left her earlier… and that she wasn’t even on the side of the stage tells me she’s pissed too.”

“I left Ave at the restaurant…” Gates said in a guilty tone. I turned and looked at him with a raised brow, shaking my head. That was a little harsh, especially for Gates. “I know I fucked up… I was just so pissed over seeing Cassells.”

“I know what you mean,” I scoffed, still trying to let the Asking guys’ words sink in. So it was Trevor that caused all this shit to happen… that manipulating piece of shit! Why would he do that? What had we ever done to him except for welcome into our little dysfunctional family? Well that was fucking it, he was gone! I wouldn’t tolerate this bullshit any more.

By the time Gates and I reached the buses, we had some flowers in our hands from the side of the venue. Both of us had the plan to apologize, we just hoped that the girls were on the bus and hadn’t headed back to California. Though with the way we treated them, we probably deserved. Fucking hell, I could kill Trevor for all this.

“Do you think they are still here?” Gates asked solemnly as he typed the code in.

“I fucking hope so,” I sighed, quickly moving up the stairs of the bus to find the girls cuddled together under a blanket, watching a live stream of the concert. Usually when they watched, they were dancing and laughing but tonight they were quiet and mostly hidden from view. My heart dropped into my stomach as I looked at their tear-stained faced. Fuck… I was an ass.

“Maya… Ave… listen,” I started, Gates and I quickly moving over to stand in front of them. “Gates and I wanted to apologize for what happened earlier today… we flew off the handle and we know that you didn’t plan any of that to happen,” I sighed, looking right into those stunning brown eyes. I seemed to get lost in them and thankfully Gates took over.

“We were dicks and we should have listened to you from the beginning,” Gates continued, kneeling down in front of Ave. “We talked everything over with Asking and we are sorry. We should have trusted what you were telling us…hell it shouldn’t have even been a question.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him handing Avery the small bouquet of fresh picked flowers and I didn’t the same thing, kneeling down in front of Maya. I carefully took her face in my hand, staring into those eyes. She had to see that I was being sincere and that I was actually sorry for earlier.

“I need to listen to you more… I know that. Just seeing Bruce makes me fly off the handle,” I told Maya, my eyes pleading. “So I had a talk with him and we settled everything. There will be no more fighting… today was an accident set in motion by someone else. It wasn’t either of you and I should have listened. I’m sorry, M. Will you forgive me?” I let my thumb gently caress her cheek and she melted into me.

Maya closed her eyes, “But how could you think I would do something like that, especially after what we talked about last night?” she whispered, looking a little hurt.

“You have to understand how it all looked walking in, Babe. You and Bruce on the floor, half dressed? It drove me made and I just snapped. You know how I get when I see you with other men, especially Bruce,” I sighed, shaking my head. “But once I calmed down and talk to Bruce, I realized I made a mistake and I’m sorry. I should have trusted you. None of this was yours or his fault.”

“You really talked to Ben?” Maya asked, leaned forward, her lips inches from me.

“Yes… and we didn’t even fight,” I chuckled, earning a small kiss from Maya. God her lips tasted so good. I greedily wanted more but I knew I had to wait, but that didn’t seem to stop Gates and the little gnome next to us. They were having a heated discussion between kisses and I just had to look away. “I’m sorry, M… please, I promise this wont happen again…”

Maya moved over to sit on my lap, her hands moving up and down my chest. “You better hope so, Big Guy… because I only have eyes for you,” she purred into my ear, sending goose bumps down my spin. Damn this woman had some kind of effect on me. “I promise I would never go off with someone else, not what I have everything I need right here…”

I closed my eyes as my dick sprang to life in my pants. Fuck, she knew just what to do to turn me on, but there was still one more piece of this we had to talk about before we could officially ‘make up’ in the back room.

“You are my everything too, M. That’s why I fly off the handle… You drive me crazy in the best way…” I growled, shifting Maya on my lap. “But there is one more thing Gates and I need to talk to you girls about. Gates—” I elbowed him in the side, hoping he could surface from having his tongue down Avery’s throat for just a moment.

“Yeah?” he replied in a husky tone. Damn, good thing I stopped him them or there would be no turning back.

“We need to tell the girls about the new…situation we have,” I sighed, looking down at Maya with a smile. I wasn’t sure how she was going to take this news, but we had to make her see what her brother was doing.

Gates nodded in agreement and pulled Ave onto his lap, waiting for me to continue. “Well…” I started, looking between the girls. “After talking to the Asking guys, it was brought to our attention that today’s mix-ups weren’t an accident… but rather antagonized and set up by someone…”

Maya and Ave turned to look at each other with a confused expression. “You mean to say that someone set us up with Asking guys?” Maya asked, her brows shooting up. “Like had Ben and I locked in that sauna of a closet for hours on purpose?”

“Yes,” I nodded, meeting her eyes.

“Who would set us up like that? We didn’t even know that Asking was going to be here today,” Ave continued and Gates nodded. “We know, and we also know that this person gave you, James, and I all notes to meet at that restaurant to set us up,” he said and Ave’s jaw dropped.

“So you didn’t write me that note to meet for lunch?” she asked, her blue eyes pleading with Brian.

“No love… I was going to take you out from the dressing room. I didn’t leave you any note…” Gates sighed, pulling the little blonde closer.

“Wait? So you’re saying someone locked Ben and I in the room and set up Ave, James, and Brian?” Maya gapped, looking incredulously around the room as both Gates and I nodded.

“Who would do something like that?” Ave asked, looking hurt.

“Trevor.”

Notes

So the guys have figure out the truth about Trevor, eh? Will the girls believe the guys? Tell us what you think! :)