JIMMY

I could barely contain myself as I flew around the dressing room area, anxiety flooding my system. My heart was racing rapidly in my chest and I didn’t know whether I wanted to lay down, throw up, or run for the fucking hills. I mean, what the hell did Shads mean there was no exceptions to the new rule? Was he fucking kidding me?! It was ridiculous! How could expect me to abide by that rule! I was the Rev for Christ sakes!

Hell, it wasn’t any secret that Nancy had invaded my thoughts and had taken my brain prisoner! It was those dark eyes and that beautiful smile… Or was it her long legs and musical laugh? I didn’t know but I couldn’t stay away from her. The little dark-haired beauty intrigued me and made my heart stop in my chest whenever I saw her. I wanted to know her… to be with her… something just told me it was my destiny.

No rules could stop me from achieving my destiny! Not to mention that no one told Jimmy ‘the Rev’ Sullivan what to do. Rules were for mere mortals and as far as I was concerned, I was above the law. That’s right you damn shadow ninjas! Try and mess with my woman and me and you’ll face my wrath! I punched and kicked my away across the room, trying to eliminate the threat and get rid of the anxious feeling in my chest. Nancy would be mine one way or another… I just had to convince her of it first.

“Jimmy will you calm the fuck down?” Brian hissed somewhere behind me. He had been in quite the mood ever since our meeting an hour ago, but I wasn’t going to respond to him—best friend or not. This was all his fault! “We haven’t even gone to sound check yet and the fucking show is in six hours.”

I froze and turned around to face him with narrow eyes. How dare he tell me to calm down! He was the reason I was freaking out in the first place. Fuck! If it weren’t for him then there wouldn’t be any fucking rules for me to break! Oh, he was on my shit list, that was for damn sure!

“Zack will you please tell Mr. Haner that he can suck my dick?” I asked, turning my back on him. Not only was he the cause of these new stupid rules, but he also upset Nancy with his actions and that wasn’t okay in my book.

And speaking of Nancy, I had to find a way to calm her down. I hated seeing her all worked up and stressed out! It was like cruel and unusual punishment watching her parade around in a bad mood. Hell, I would do anything to make that woman smile, but what? The guys had already made it clear that I wasn’t allowed to help out in the booth, so where was I going to find another merch girl on such short notice?

“Rev said—” Zacky started looking up from his phone, only to be cut off by Brian.

“I fucking heard him,” he snapped, rolling his eye before taking a sip of his scotch. “Come on, Jimmy don’t start this childish shit! It’s not my fault Shads is being irrational with this new rule.”

“Zack will you tell Brian that it is his fault. It wasn’t like the girl fucking slipped and fell on his dick unless they were on a slip-n-slide, but that would fucking hurt,” I mused, thinking of the scenario in my head as Zack rolled with laughter. I cringed seeing the bad ending in my imagination before shaking my head. “Now none us can have any fun…”

“Oh please, like you really want to hook up with that uptight bitch? She’s nothing but a sassy workaholic with a stick up her ass. You don’t want anything to do with a girl whose poon is probably knotted and tided up because beyond uptight and stuck up,” Brain scoffed as Zack let out a low whistle. Oh, no he fucking didn’t!

I quickly turned around to face him with deadly narrow eyes. I literally felt like he slapped me in the face and I wasn’t about to stand here and take it. I was no man’s bitch! I would wipe that smirk off his face, just wait and see. I would show them all!

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. She may be a workaholic but there is nothing wrong with that!” I snapped back, glaring at him. “Besides you don’t even know her!”

“Either do you! You’ve only ever said like three words to the girl!” Okay, so maybe he had a point, but I really wanted to! I had admired her since she started working for us two years ago and I was just waiting for the right opportunity. I quickly turned my back on Brian and looked at Zack, not liking Brian’s attitude today. If he wanted to talk to me he needed to fucking man up and stop being a pouting pussy.

“Zacky will you please tell Mr. Haner that he—”

“Ugh will you stop with the bullshit! I’m fucking sorry okay!” Brian snapped, running his hands over his face before he stood up. “What do you want me to do? Apologize because I like to fuck women because that’s not going to fucking happen!”

“It’s not me who you need to apologize to,” I said firmly, turning back to face my best friend with crossed arms. “It’s Nancy.”

Gates pulled his beanie down over his head and let out a loud groan. “I’m not going to apologize to her for something that didn’t even concern her. It was been me and-and merch girl, not her! Hell I don’t even remember hooking up with her so I don’t see what big deal is. Nancy needs to fucking suck it up and stop whining!”

“But it does affect her!” I screeched, throwing my hands up in the air as I paced the room. I could just imagine her wrinkling her forehead as she sat in the merch booth, frantically trying to figure everything out. She was probably beside herself with stress and I couldn’t let her go through that. “She’s the only one working a job that should be done by at least two people! It would be like you playing lead and rhythm guitar at the same fucking time!” I yelled, unable to control the volume of my voice in my state of unrest.

“He has a point, Haner,” Zack chuckled, only to make him groan again.

“Well what do you want me to? Find a new merch girl? It’s not like I can go call in a family member for or pull one off the fucking street. We need a professional that can deal with the beast we know as Nancy!” Brian sighed and I froze my brain suddenly exploding with white noise. I swear I was packed to capacity today but there was something good coming, I could feel it! Family members…why did that ring a bell? There was a family member we could call but who the hell was it?!

Zack frowned and pulled out a cigarette, placing it between his lips just as Matt Berry walked in the door, talking to someone on his headset. “There has to be someone we could call in…” he mused as I locked eyes with our stage manager.

Yes there had to be someone we could call in, someone who could do the job with little training. Someone that looked just like—“Jimmy did you hear me? Jason is ready for you on stage? He’s got your kit all set up and ready to go. The rest of you will be ready to go,” Matt Berry said, looking at me like I had lost my mind. He needed to stop looking at me because I had lost it many years ago, but that was beside the point.

I blinked a few times and shook my head, thinking about a gorgeous pair of big brown eyes as a huge smile coming over my face. DJ! That was it! We could call in little Dani Berry! Why didn’t I think of it before?! She’d be a perfect little helper for Nancy!

“Gates you are a fucking genius!” I screamed before placing a sloppy kiss on his cheek. “I know just the family member we can call!” I yelled before bolting out the door with Matt Berry hot on my heels.

“Will you slow down? I need to give you your ear piece!” he yelled after me, but I couldn’t slow down. Well, not until I had both Berry brothers together! This was all up to them and I knew I had to convince them to let their sister come! They just had to!

Seconds later I screeched to a halt in front of Jason as Matt rammed into my back, not prepared for me to put the breaks on so soon. Oops, I guess I should have warned him that I was stopping… or he should have paid closer attention. Eh, not my fault, he should be used to my behaviors by now.

“I have a brilliant idea!” I bellowed, putting an arm around each brother and pulling them into my sides.

“As good as aTaco Bell run sounds right now, Jimbo, we don’t have time, sorry,” Jason said and I just shook my head. Though I had to admit that at beef burrito sounded pretty awesome right now! “We’ve still got a lot of set up to do before the show in six hours.”

“No, no, it’s not that!” I frantically waved my hands in front of myself as my eyes lit up. Oh, this was the best idea I’d ever had. I was almost positive… the only exception being ordering a pizza last night. God, I fucking loved pizza. Oh, and did I mention I was starving? I would really need to eat something before the show.

“Then what is it? I’ve still go to finish tuning your toms,” Jason sighed, though he couldn’t hide the smile pulling at his lips. Yeah, JB Diz! He knew I had a good idea—he could fucking sense it!

“I’ve got the perfect solution to our merch girl problem,” I gushed as I excitedly hopped back and forth from foot-to-foot. “All you have to do is agree and make the call!”

Jason and Matt looked at each other with a raised brow, seeming to have one of those weird nonverbal twin conversations. I squinted my eyes as I looked between them, trying to tune into their wavelength. It was fucking rude to leave me out of their conversation, if do say so myself. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to have telepathic powers! I could imagine reading everyone’s mind and knowing their inner most thoughts. I could be the fucking matchmaker, El Revero… I could fucking see it now!

“You’re not talking about what we think you are, right, Rev?” MB asked, looking a little apprehensive. Oh, don’t look so shocked evil twin, you know Daniella would be a perfect member of our little dysfunctional family. “Because after what happened with the last merch girl, I don’t want her anywhere around you fools.”

I opened and closed my mouth as I put my hand over my heart, feeling crushed by this words. “But-but… she would be perfect for the job!” I cried, falling to my knees and grabbing hold of the brothers’ legs. I wasn’t going to let this go until they agreed to invite their kick ass little sister to join our team. Hell, she was already part of the family! “Please! Please let her come!” I begged as they both tried to wiggle free, but my iron grasp was too much for them to handle.

“No, no! There is no way she would want to be around all this,” MB continued, looking at Jason who just shrugged. That’s right JB Diz, come to the dark side, we have cookies! Or at least I was going to fucking get some before the show because there goes my stomach again. I swear if I didn’t feed it ever few hours, it would start taking hostages!

“But she’s perfect for the job! Right, JB?” I cried, pulling harder. “Please?! Please just ask her! She will love it! I know it!”

“Well, he’s got a point. DJ did just graduate with her business management degree last month. She’s probably just sitting around on her ass or partying,” Jason chuckled. Yes! That was it talk your evil twin into my perfect plan! “It wouldn’t hurt to ask her consider it would get Nancy off our backs.”

Matt sighed and ran his hands over his face, “fine we can ask her but we are going to set some ground rules,” he agreed as I let out a piercing scream. “She is off limits to you assholes, you hear me?”

“Crystal fucking clear!” I sang, wrapping my arms around both brothers and squeezing them in a tight hug. I was so fucking excited to have little Dani Berry on tour with us that I could hardly contain myself. I fucking loved that girl and I knew Nancy was too! I could just see it now, the two of them would be thick as thieves! “Fucking call her now!”

“I will call her if you go to your sound check,” Jason chuckled, watching me fly around the disheveled stage. There were lights, set pieces, and wires all over the place but I didn’t give a damn.

“Watch out for that—fucking hell Jimmy just go up to your kit and stop fucking around!” Matt scolded just as my band mates walked on stage.

“You didn’t fucking give him fruity pebbles did you?” Johnny laughed, taking his bass from Pete the guitar tech. “You know what that does to him!”

“I didn’t give him shit,” MB huffed as I darted around him, drumming every thing and everyone with my drum sticks. “He’s just flipped his lid because he thinks our sister is going to join tour.”

“I don’t think, evil twin,” I said with delight. “I know!”

DJ

“Hey now, you’re an all-star, get your game on, go play. Hey now you’re a rock star, get the show, get paid!”

“What the fuck?” I groaned and pulled my nice warm comforter up over my head, hoping to block out the sound of my brother’s ring tone. Oh, god and why the hell was it so loud? And what was that other noise screaming across the room? Was that my alarm clock? I didn’t know but the combination of the alarm and blaring music was making my head throb. Just make it stop!

“All that glitter is gold, now DJ answer your fucking pho-o-one!” Jason’s voice sang on the ringtone and I cringed. Whoever told him he had a good singing voice was very sadly mistaken.

Fucking hell, there was no way it was time to get up yet! I swore I just closed my eyes five minutes ago. I wasn’t anywhere near ready to get up and start looking for a job. But sadly I knew I couldn’t bum at my brothers’ apartment for the rest of my life. I had a college degree and it was time to put on my big girl panties and find a fucking job.

“I’ll call you back later…just stop …” I groaned, pinching my eyelids shut to block out the orange glow of the sun as the ringtone started again. The light felt like someone was stabbing me in the forehead with a knife, telling me that I definitely had a wicked hangover. Fuck, I didn’t drink that much last night, did I? Well, I guess it wasn’t a good sign that I didn’t remember how I got home last night either. Good thing Johnny’s was just a few blocks away.

“All that glitter is gold, now DJ answer your fucking pho-o-one!” my cell screamed again and I couldn’t take it anymore. Apparently Jason was a persistent bastard this morning and I knew I would never hear the end of it if I didn’t answer the phone.

I blindly reached onto the nightstand as I groped around for my phone. Come on, I knew I put that bastard over here somewhere last night. Oh right, I didn’t remember anything after that round of shots with Ashley, though I bet the joint we smoked before that didn’t help either. And of course, as soon as I found my phone it stopped ringing. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I groaned, dropping my head back into the pillow. “All that for nothing…”

I closed my eyes and just as I was about to fall back into a peaceful sleep, my phone started screaming again. Only this time it was my brother Matt’s ring tone.

“No,” I whined, rolling over and losing the comforter on the floor, exposing me to the bright California sunshine. “Please give me just ten more minutes!” I reached for my phone again and pulled it to my ear, “This better be good,” I grumbled. They knew I hated being awake before noon.

“What it’s two o’clock?” Matt laughed as if reading my mind. Fuck, it was really two in the afternoon? “Shouldn’t you be up and looking for a job by now?”

The sound of his deep laughter made my head throb painfully and I pinched my eyes shut. “This is cruel and unusual punishment, you know?” I grumbled, covering my face with my arms as I lay on my back. The room really needed to stop spinning if anyone expected me to get out of this bed today.

“Well we wouldn’t be the best big brothers on the face of the earth if we didn’t torture you every now and then, right, DJ?” Was that Jason? Oh fuck, these bastards had me on speakerphone. It was way to early for this shit!

“Yeah, yeah…” I groaned, knowing I couldn’t escape into dreamland again, I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. Surprisingly, the room stopped spinning when I sat up. Okay, so maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad after all. “But I doubt that’s the reason you called. What’s up?”

“We actually have a job proposition for you,” Matt said hesitantly and I raised an eyebrow. A job? He had my attention. “What are we talking here? Does it involve money?” I asked, picking my nail polish off my fingers.

My brothers snorted with laughter on the other end of the line and I rolled my eyes. Okay, so sue me for being poor and fresh out of college. I had a list of priorities to abide by and the first one was money. Though that didn’t stop me from partying it up with my friends…

“Of course it involves money,” Jason said. “And free drinks, laughs, and dancing when you’re done.”

“Really and what kind of fictitious job did you two smoke up? Because having fun, drinking, and dancing isn’t a job for anyone in the world unless you are a fucking rock star,” I replied, knowing full well that my brothers were lackeys to said rock stars. “And I don’t think Matt and the boys want to let me near any of their fancy musical toys,” I joked, my brothers knowing full well that I was tone deaf.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, DJ,” they both laughed in unison. “We aren’t looking for any more talent, we’ve got enough of that to go around,” Jason teased and I rolled my eyes. Sure, brag about your drumming skills again, Jason. See how far that got you as a fucking drum tech.

“But we are in a bit of a pickle,” Matt continued without missing a beat. “We lost an employee this morning and we need someone to fill the spot until we can find someone else. Are you interested?” he asked and I slowly sat up, looking around my messy room.

“Would I be working with you assholes?” I chuckled, loving my brothers more than anything else in the world. We had always been close and working with them would be a wild ride, that was for damn sure.

“Actually,” Jason said as I heard Jimmy’s unmistakable screaming in the background. Oh I fucking loved that guy too! He was always a hoot and half when he was over hanging out with my brothers. “You’d be co-heading the merchandise booth and business side of the tour. It pays well and you get to party with the Avenged guys and the crew every night. What do you think, little sis? You ready for a big girl job?” Jason teased and I couldn’t help but smile.

“Hmm… get paid to do basically nothing and drink all day while using my new degree? Count me fucking in,” I said without hesitation. I had heard enough stories from them to know that they had dream jobs. I couldn’t fucking wait to head out on tour and see what this was all about.

“YES! SHE SAID YES!” I heard Jimmy scream before there was a loud crash in the background. “Fuck Jimmy, what the hell are you doing?” Matt’s voice called before drifting away into the distance. Well, I guess that left me talking to Jason, who apparently thought whatever just happened was hilarious.

“So when do I start?” I asked I blinked a few times as I scanned the room for my suitcase.

“Well we are playing a show in Las Vegas tonight, so we can’t pick you up from the airport,” Jason mused, his voice sounded a little distant. I could just imagine him working and talking at the same time. He was always good at multitasking. “So how about we pick you up tomorrow night when we get to Huston? That way we can show you around and introduce you to your new co-workers.”

Ugh, he was really going to make me wait a whole twenty-four hours after he got me all fucking excited about the job. That sounded about right for him. “Fine, I’ll schedule a flight and I’ll send you the time to pick me up,” I sighed.

“Okay perfect. See you soon, DJ! Can’t wait to have you on the road with us!” He said before hanging up the phone.

“Yeah, you’ll be seeing me sooner than you think,” I mused as I rolled out of bed and started pilling clothes in my suitcase. There was no way I was going to sit around twiddling my thumbs until tomorrow and miss one of the epic Avenged parties. My brothers always raved about them and it was time for me to experience one first hand.

“Hello Las Vegas, here I come!”

Notes

So now we know about Jimmy's little obsession with Nancy and we've met DJ. How do you think she will mesh with the guys and Nancy on the road?

Tell us your thoughts! We love to hear from you! :)