Don't You Dare

Two Months Earlier

Aubrey stared blankly at the maze of cardboard boxes stacked throughout her hotel room. With a sigh, she ran her fingers through her straight dark brown hair. She was in way over her head. She didn't know where to begin and she sure as hell didn't know where to end.

"Okay," Brian began as he emerged from behind a stack of boxes, carrying another box. "You need to come up with a system for keeping track of sold and remaining inventory. Something that's accurate and easy for you to keep up with throughout the night."

Aubrey nodded, thinking. She felt guilty to be honest. She had been working for Brian's band, Avenged Sevenfold, for a total of two days and she was already ready to quit. She joined the tour 48 hours prior in order to help their usual merch guy, Matt Berry, sell t-shirts, but he had a family emergency and had to leave the tour immediately, along with his brother Jason, who was the band's drum and guitar technician. She couldn't fault them for it, but Matt's absence left her as the sole merchandise manager. After two days of experience. And in those two days, she hadn't paid very close attention at all to how he managed and kept track of everything. All of his papers and records were so confusing, so she decided to start from scratch, but she was stumped as to how to even begin.

Thankfully the band was staying in a hotel that night so she could spread out all the merchandise and organize it to her liking. Brian, the band's lead guitarist, gave up partying with his bandmates for the night and offered to help her. Before the band was big enough to have their very own merch person, he handled those records himself, so he figured he was best suited to help her out. Not to mention, he wanted to make sure the newbie did things correctly and efficiently.

"Do I just make a list and keep up with totals or do I need an excel spreadsheet or something?" Aubrey wondered sheepishly as she laid some t-shirts out in piles on one of the two full-sized beds.

Brian laughed. "Whichever is most efficient and easy for you to follow through with."

"Okay," she muttered as she scanned the few items laid out in front of her. "Maybe I'll try to keep my laptop open with an excel spreadsheet and keep up with the math throughout the night."

"Well what if twenty kids bum-rush our table for shirts and start shouting at you to hurry because you're trying to do math on your laptop instead of selling them merch?" He responded, playing devil's advocate so she would really think everything through. "Then what?"

"Then I'd tell those little shits to hold the fuck up," she retorted, opening another box.
He raised a brow at her. "Great, so we'll lose some paying fans because our new merch girl is a bitch?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, sending him a silent warning about calling her a bitch. He held up his hands in defense.

"Can I just keep running totals in my head and write it down at the end of the night then?" She wondered.

"Are you crazy? We have five different shirt designs, a hoodie, and a jacket; each comes in five different sizes. We have four CDs, a hat, a beanie, two stickers, and a button set. You think you can keep up with all those numbers?"

"For fuck's sake," she groaned. "This is a two-person job. I did not go to college. I cannot do this shit on my own."

Brian eased up and laughed. "Hey, you're gonna do fine. We just gotta figure out what works best for you and do it. I have an idea but it depends on how organized you like to be, cause it's a bit much, but I think it'll help."

She felt bad, like she had deceived his band into thinking she knew what the hell she was doing. She had agreed to the job of helping Matt; selling t-shirts to teenagers was her only responsibility when she signed up for the role. She was excited about a new and very different job - she could get the fuck away from Phoenix for a while, tour the country, and maybe meet some cool people in the process. But now she was responsible for keeping up with the band's merchandise and money; how the hell did that turn around so quickly in just 48 hours?

"I am open to all ideas," she welcomed.

"What if you put each shirt design in its own box then make a size chart for each one and attach it to the lid? Then just keep a pencil in your hand and mark each size that you sell as you grab them from the box. Same with the CDs and smaller accessories. That way you will already have individual inventory totals and won't have to do a huge inventory check at the end of the night. Way less overwhelming and hopefully easy to keep up with throughout the night," he suggested.

She cocked her head to the side, thinking. "That sounds...perfect actually. Much better than anything I would've come up with."

"Yeah?" He wondered, moving some of the boxes around.

"Yeah," she agreed. "What if within each box, we make dividers somehow and separate the shirts by size? That way I won't have to dig for the sizes either."

"You're a genius," he agreed with a smile. "I knew Matt Berry brought you around for a reason."

She smiled back graciously, thankful that he wasn't worried that she would colossally fuck everything up. Because she wasn't totally confident that she wouldn't.

"Let's get started then," he said. "I'll work on making dividers for each box. You fold the shirts and organize them by design then by size."

"Bossy," she teased.

He winked at her. She smirked but felt an odd fluttering sensation in the pit of her stomach. Damn. She tried to ignore the feeling as they got to work, but she couldn't deny that he was attractive. Hell, all the guys in the band were attractive - in a weird biker gang sort of way. They were all rugged and manly and covered in tattoos and piercings and black clothing and leather jackets. They were hot. But she was working for them. Or alongside them or something. So any sort of attraction to them would be so irresponsible and, quite frankly, stupid on her part.

"So where are you from?" Brian asked. "I have a feeling you're a Southern girl."

"Kind of," Aubrey smiled. "I grew up on a farm in northern Texas. But I live in Phoenix now."

"A farm," he repeated. "That explains why you're able to rough it on tour so well. It takes most people a few days to adjust, but you seemed to jibe pretty well with it already."

She shrugged, folding a shirt into fourths. "I suppose. I'm more of a girly-girl than I seem honestly. But when in Rome..."

He chuckled. "So you're just roughing it on tour because everyone else is?"

"Basically," she confirmed. "I'm not going to make Merle pull the bus over and find me a bathroom in a five-star hotel when I can piss in the woods on the side of the interstate like everyone else."

Brian laughed. "I can respect that."

"So you're all from Huntington Beach, right?" Aubrey questioned, continuing the conversation from her end.

"Yep. California, born and raised," he answered proudly.

"I bet it was fun growing up on the beach," she commented.

"It was," he replied. "We had it good. Which is why all of this is so weird to me. To us."

"All of what? The fame?" She wondered.

He nodded. "Not that we're famous or anything, but the amount of kids coming to each show is growing exponentially each day, which is incredible and we're so thankful. But we're seriously just a bunch of pricks who love playing music together and having fun and partying and drinking. I don't know how we got to this point cause we sure as hell don't deserve it."

She glanced over at him. He was focused on making the cardboard box dividers, serious as a heart attack, opening up to her like that.

When he noticed her silence, he glanced at her and saw she was watching him with her dark brown eyes. "Sorry, didn't mean to get all personal like that." He laughed off his vulnerability. He didn't know why the hell he was spewing word vomit to a girl he didn't even know.

"No, it's okay," she quickly reassured. "I really value that open honesty from you. And for what it's worth, I know that I've only known y'all for like a day, but I can tell that y'all work your asses off. You clearly have worked for everything you have. And I'd say that makes you deserving of it all. Hard work pays off."

He smiled at her. She was cute. Really cute. And he was starting to realize that it was probably not a good idea to be alone with her all night.

"You said y'all," he pointed out with a smirk to shift the conversation away from him and his candidness. "That's adorable."

"Yeah, so?" She retorted, feeling defensive from the call-out. "Everyone says y'all."

"Not with that Texas twang they don't," he teased.

"I do not have a twang," she defended. "I live in Phoenix!"

"Sorry to inform you, babe, but you definitely have a twang," he continued.

She pursed her lips together, glaring at him.

"Y'all," he mimicked with an overdramatic southern drawl.

She gasped with faux offense and tossed a t-shirt at him, which he caught with one hand.

"Haven't you ever heard the saying, Don't Mess With Texas?" She threatened.

"Nope, but I have heard the saying, Everything is Bigger in Texas," he added raising his eyebrows suggestively.

She smirked sarcastically at him. "They're right about that one. Too bad you're from California," she said with a wink.

His dick twitched in his pants. Shit.

"From the waist up, I am," he returned, feeling brave, egging her on.

"Oh yeah?" She raised an eyebrow. A suggestive question was lingering on her lips... Was she really about to blurt it out? Yep... She was. "What's happening below the waist then?"

Brian swallowed hard but tried his best to play it off coolly. "Wouldn't you like to know."

She stared into his darkened eyes. At that moment, she would - she would like to know. Badly. He held her gaze, challenging her to keep going. But she took a deep breath and looked back at the t-shirts, knowing it would be such a bad idea to accept his challenge. Especially that type of a challenge; especially at the start of a tour.

"So um," Aubrey cleared her throat. "I can probably handle things from here if you want to go join everyone at the bar."

He knew it was for the best that she changed the subject like that, but it did slightly disappoint him that she practically told him to fuck off when he was trying to flirt with her.

"I'm fine," he replied, getting back to his own chore.

"You didn't want to party with everyone tonight?" She asked.

He shrugged his shoulders. "There will be plenty of other nights to party. It's our first big headlining tour and it just started," he explained. "Yeah I want to party but I also want to play well. I don't want to overdo it in the first week. I can guarantee the guys are going to feel like shit tomorrow."

She nodded, understanding.

Silence fell over them briefly. Though the comment hurt his ego a bit, Brian felt guilty about crossing that line with her. He should've been more professional. She didn't seem like the type of girl to whore herself out on tour or act like a groupie - he shouldn't have made comments like that and he didn't want her to think that he thought of her that way.

"Is this your first time doing merch on a tour?" He asked, although the answer was obvious.

"Is it that obvious?" Aubrey wondered with a laugh.

"A little," he chuckled. "What were you doing before this?"

"I oversaw domestic adoptions at an animal shelter," she answered simply.

"Please tell me you did not leave that job to come on tour with us," he jokingly pleaded.

"I didn't," she laughed, thankful they were able to keep conversing without awkwardness.

"Why'd you leave then?" He wondered.

"Are we playing 20 Questions?" She replied with attitude. "Cause if so, this game is totally one sided."

"Sorry," he apologized a little sheepishly. "Just figured if we're gonna be living in close quarters for the next few months, I should probably get to know you better."
She exhaled then eased up. "Actually, I'm sorry. I was deflecting. Don't apologize for being nice to me. I'm just embarrassed about my answer to your question - I left that job because my dog died and I kind of lost my shit."

Brian raised his eyebrows at her silently to prompt her to explain a little further.

"As pathetic as it sounds, my dog was my best friend, my entire world, for years, and I couldn't stand being around abandoned animals all day anymore. I wanted to take all of them home but I also didn't want to because I couldn't suffer that loss again. So I quit. Then I wanted to get far away from my small, cramped, dog-less apartment and my shitty stuck-up friends for a while. A four-month tour seemed like a pretty good way to do that."

"Oh, damn, Aubrey," Brian huffed. "I'm sorry. About your dog and for making you talk about it."

She smiled. "Thank you. Now it's my turn to ask questions."

Brian laughed. "Go for it."

She spent the next couple hours asking about the band, their past tours, and the friendships between them all, learning a lot about him in the process.

Around 2AM, they heard lots of loud talking and giggling coming from the hallway of the hotel. The hotel walls were paper-thin to begin with, but it was exceptionally loud considering the hour.

"It's so late, who the hell is being that loud?" She asked as she turned her head toward the door.

"How much money do you want to bet that it's someone with us?" Brian joked.

"Let's spy and find out," she smirked as she jumped up and crept to the door. Brian followed close behind. She fastened the chain lock on the door just as a precaution and gently and quietly opened the door and peeked through the crack. Brian pressed up against her back, peeking through the crack over her head.

They watched as Johnny, the band's bassist, stumbled down the hallway with a tall leggy blonde, who was giggling up a storm.

"Told you," Brian whispered in Aubrey's ear.

"It's technically not someone with us," she corrected quietly.

"It's someone who's with someone with us," he pressed.

"Fair enough."

"Johnny," the girl squealed. "If you sign my boobies, I'll get it tattooed on me. Isn't that hot?"

Aubrey tried to contain her laughter but it came out as a harsh snort and chortle.

"Shh," Brian encouraged, chuckling as well. "He'd throw the biggest bitch fit if he knew we were watching them."

"Sorry!" She peeped softly.

"Wouldn't that be so hot, Johnny?" The blonde asked again, not accepting Johnny's silence as an answer.

"Yeah, yeah. Look, my bandmate might already be asleep so you may have to be quiet, okay?" Johnny replied quickly as he pulled her toward his room – the room he was supposed to be sharing with Brian.

"Shit," Brian spat. "He's taking her to our room. That little asshole."

"We could wake him up and have a threesome," the blonde suggested with another giggle.

Aubrey raised her eyebrows and nudged Brian who was still pressed up against her back. "Hey, you may wanna hurry back to your room."

Brian snorted. "Bandmates are not allowed to be Eskimo Brothers anymore – we all learned our lesson the hard way with that one. I will also never put myself in a situation where I may end up touching dicks with Johnny."

She laughed. A little too loud. Again.

"Did you hear that?" The blonde asked as she turned her head toward Aubrey and Brian spying through the door. "I think someone's watching us."

"Oh shit, busted," Brian interjected playfully as he pulled her away from the door and quickly shut it. She turned around to move away from the door at the same time he leaned forward to glance through the peephole to see if Johnny had figured out who was watching them, therefore he was pressed up against her body again. But this time, she was facing him. And he was inadvertently pinning her to the door. And she immediately knew it was a dangerous place to be.

She was trapped between his firm body and the door and was overcome with heat when she smelled his cologne. Whatever it was, it smelled amazing and strong and manly but also mature. She could tell it was an expensive cologne. And it mixed with a hint of cigarette smoke.
It was too much for her. The night they had spent together, casual but teasing one another. His subtle flirtatious comments and winks. Their current close proximity. His cologne. She felt lightheaded in the most enjoyable way. She rested her hand on his chest in a pitiful attempt to keep distance between them before she passed out. Her touch snapped him back to reality.

"Okay, I think the coast is clear. I think they went inside," he said as he moved back from the peephole. It wasn't until that moment that he truly realized how they were positioned and how their bodies were touching. He wondered if he had done that subconsciously; how else would they have ended up in such a position?

Their eyes met. He immediately noticed that her eyes had darkened and her breath had shallowed. It sent a heated feeling straight to his groin and he twitched in his pants. His jaw clenched; he was trying so hard to remember to think straight - with the correct head.

Aubrey, on the other hand, couldn't think straight at all.

"You know, if you don't want to go back to your room," she whispered huskily, "you can stay in here tonight."

"Yeah?" He exhaled.

She nodded. "If you want to."

"I want to," he breathed without hesitation.

They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, both reeling with anticipation and warnings, waiting for the other to make the first move.

With a sudden burst of desire, courage, and carelessness, she balled her hand and fisted his shirt then tugged it toward her, pulling him to her face and pressing her lips against his. He took her forwardness as a big fat green light and immediately brought a hand to her neck, holding her close to his face. He flattened the palm of his other hand on the door beside her head and straightened his arm, as if to maintain some type of restraint, but he pressed his pelvis against hers, proving that he truly had no control at that point.

His tongue swiped her bottom lip and she immediately opened her mouth, moaning into his as his tongue found hers.

She snaked her hands up his chest and around his neck, tangling her fingers in his hair. He moved his hands to her hips and slowly inched up until he was under her shirt and touching her bare skin. She tugged on the hair at the back of his head. He dug his fingertips into her skin.

He pulled her shirt over her head, baring her chest. She wasn't wearing a bra and he hadn't even noticed before because she had the perkiest tits he had ever seen and they didn't even look fake. His hips involuntary thrusted forward at just the sight of her shirtless. She began working on the button and zipper of his pants as he reached behind his neck and pulled his shirt over his head with one quick movement.

Before she could fully remove his pants, he picked her up and carried her over to the bed then tossed her onto it playfully. She propped herself up by her elbows and watched as he quickly tugged her pants down, leaving her in just her underwear.

As soon as their eyes met, the realization of what they were doing became very apparent. They weren't looking at each other's bodies. No, they were staring into each other's eyes, looking for a reason to continue, looking for a reason to stop.

"It's too late to turn back now," Brian said gently, as if he could tangibly see the apprehension on her face.

"I know," she agreed softly. "But I don't want to be that girl on a tour. This can only happen once."

"Only this once," he approved with a nod.

"And we never speak of it again," she continued.

"Deal."

"So we better make it worth our while."

"You got it," he agreed.

He quickly crawled back on top of her and kissed her again before either one of them could protest this irrational thing they were doing together. She moaned in his mouth as he pushed his clothed hips into hers. She could feel his erection straining against her thigh through his jeans.

She reached between them and began working on his button and zipper again until she finally had enough leeway to push his pants and underwear down far enough to free him. She quickly took him in her hand and stroked him firmly, immediately intimidated by his growing size.

"Fuck," he groaned as he looked between their bodies and watched her stroke him slowly. He had slept with many girls but something about this taboo thing, sleeping with their merch girl, had him bursting with excitement and hesitation unlike ever before.

He moved out of her grasp, afraid of things ending before they began, and started kissing his way down her body. He flicked his tongue along her collarbone and down one breast, lightly trailing his tongue over her nipple then blowing on it softly. Her back arched in pleasure as the pink bud raised. He imitated his actions with her other breast then continued kissing down her stomach until he reached the edge of her lacy thong.

With the intention of this only happening once, he wanted to tease her, to watch her squirm, then watch her come undone beneath him.

He slowly pulled her underwear down her lower half then kissed the sensitive skin around her lower lips. With two fingers, he spread her open and blew lightly on the glistening heat. She shivered and bucked her hips. She wanted more. Again he kissed around her lips, drawing dangerously close to her sensitive bud but never close enough to relieve any of the built up pleasure.

"Seriously, if you don't fuck me soon, I might die," she groaned.

He chuckled and kissed his way back up to her mouth then grabbed a condom from the wallet in his back pocket and kicked his pants fully off.

She watched as he rolled the condom on and settled between her legs.

Holding her gaze, he pushed into her slowly, barely fitting into her tight core. She felt herself stretching to the limit to take him, which she would've expected to hurt, but it felt incredible. A small whimper escaped her lips.

"Jesus, Aubrey," Brian groaned in disbelief at how mind-blowing it felt to enter her for the first time. Was it because this would forever be their dirty little secret or was it because he knew he shouldn't be banging their fucking merch girl who he has to encounter constantly for the next few months? Or did she really just feel that fucking good?

When he pulled out and pushed back in a little rougher, she rolled her hips forward to meet his with force. He nearly saw stars, and he got his answer: She really did just feel that fucking good.

Almost immediately their thrusts were in-sync. Her hips bucking to meet his as he pounded into her. He had never had sex with a woman who did anything other than lay there when he was on top. It almost took his breath away. He pushed up on his palms to put some space between them so he could watch her body work. Sweat glistened her stomach and her breasts bounced along with the movement of their hips.

"Fuck, that's the hottest thing I've ever seen," he groaned as his balls drew up tight. He really didn't want to come yet but he also didn't want to let go of what he was feeling at the moment.

Knowing damn well that if this was going to be the only time they had sex, he wanted it to last and he wanted her to enjoy it too, so he quickly pulled out with a sigh of relief just as he hovered over the edge of his orgasm.

Aubrey groaned. "What's wrong?"

"Not a god damn thing, I'm just trying not to come prematurely like a fucking fifteen-year-old," he hissed, frustrated with himself. He was never like this. He knew why this was happening - usually these one-night stands were with faceless, nameless groupies, and he felt like he actually knew Aubrey. Not well, but he knew some of her story, they teased each other, there was a connection beyond just sex - at least a friendly one. And it was proving to be too much for him to handle. Which was a very clear reminder of why he didn't do relationships and stuck to casual sex, especially on tour.

She smirked. "Is it wrong that the fact that you're already about to come feels like a pat on my back?"

He appreciated her light-heartedness about the situation.

"You would like that, you maniac," he teased as he thrusted back into her.

She let out a loud moan.

"Mmm, I like that too," she stated throatily.

"Oh yeah?" He asked, pulling out and slamming back into her again.

"Mmhmm," she purred, her eyes nearly rolling in the back of her head.

He continued those movements, pulling out and ramming back into her over and over again until her eyes fluttered shut and her mouth dropped into an O. She threw her head back and clutched the sheets, screaming out in ecstasy as her orgasm crashed into her so quickly that she felt dizzy.

"Oh, God!" She cried as she rolled her waist and bucked her hips.

Unable to prolong his own climax while watching Aubrey come and feeling her pulsate around his dick, Brian grunted, jerking his hips. The bliss continued to roll through her body in waves as they came together. The expression on his face looked almost painful, like it felt so good that it hurt. And it just added to her pleasure.

He collapsed on top of her and her body went limp. Although he really wanted their time together to be much longer, coming together like that brought them to such a sensual euphoric high that he couldn't regret a single second of it. He knew she felt the same. There was no way she didn't feel the same.

They laid like that for a while, dizzy and reeling, trying to catch their breath and come back down to Earth. Once he finally felt human again, Brian tried to speak.

"That was..." He couldn't put it into words.

"...so worth our while," she finished with a sigh.

He nodded in agreement then peeled his sweaty body off of hers and stood up.

"Is it still cool if I crash in here?" He asked, not sure how awkward it would be for her.

"Well, yeah," she chuckled as she sat upright.

"Thanks," he smiled sweetly. "I'm gonna go clean up."

She nodded and watched as he walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

Inside the bathroom, Brian disposed of the condom and splashed some cold water on his face, trying to shake the feeling that was sinking to the pit of his stomach. When he exited the bathroom, Aubrey was already asleep under the covers. He glanced at the other bed, it was still covered in their merch as they hadn't finished their task. He debated on whether it would be worth moving everything to sleep in the other bed or if he should just join Aubrey in hers. However, if he did sleep next to Aubrey, he could no longer promise that their one-night stand wouldn't turn into a next-morning-stand too. But would it seem douchey if he slept in the other bed after they-

"Stop thinking so loud," Aubrey mumbled with her eyes still closed, interrupting his thoughts. "You can sleep with me. I'll behave."

He smirked. He wasn't worried about her not behaving. Well...now he was.

He pulled on his boxer briefs to at least create some form of a barrier between him and Aubrey and climbed into bed beside her. Typically, he could fall asleep in an instant after sex, but he was wired, staring at the ceiling in the dark, still feeding off of her intensity. It felt like a jolt of adrenaline, like he had just snorted a long line of coke and was speeding hard.

What the hell had he gotten himself into?

Notes