Fallen

We sat tucked into a burger joint in downtown LA after sitting at the record studio all day with the boys of Avenged Sevenfold. They had me listen to their album and give my opinions on their chosen songs, which all sounded great to me. It was hard to choose which ones I thought needed to be nixed, and which ones should stay on the album. They were all really open to my opinion and honesty when it came out, though.

Matt had the boys for three weeks so that Val and Jason could go on their honeymoon and spend time together as a married couple without children around. It had been a week since their wedding, and I had requested a few days off after the chaos that was hyena pups. Meaghan took it upon herself to house the boys, Cash and Carson, with Ten today while I went to LA. River was at a friends house seeing as it was Saturday and he was off from school.

“Are you going to eat those?” I looked down at my plate, seeing a hand pointing a finger at my fries. A finger that had a B tattooed on it.

I turned to my right and narrowed my eyes at Brian, “Touch my fries and I will end you, Haner.”

He crinkled his nose up, “You’re not that intimidating.” He grabbed a fry and I stomped on his foot under the table, causing him to drop it onto his lap, “Never mind what I said.”

“No touching,” I smiled and scooted my plate closer to my lefthand side, by Matt.

I wasn’t sure if Matt had a conversation with Brian after the hotel-incident, and that was why Brian stopped with the flirtatious comments toward me… or if maybe he realized that there was more to Matt and I than just sex if I was giving my opinion on their upcoming album. I was grateful that he stopped his stupidity, and hoped that maybe it would make things easier for getting to know his wife. Matt seemed pleased with Brian’s friend-level with me, so I was comfortable.

I grabbed the last bit of my burger, pulling it up to my lips and taking a bite. Matt rested his right hand on my thigh, giving it a light squeeze. I looked up at him, knowing I had food dribbling down my lips, but gave him a small smile. He grinned at me, his dimples creasing into his cheeks, and wiped the excess food off my mouth, “You’re so graceful.”

“You should be used to me making a mess while eating,” I laughed and wiped my mouth with my napkin, then quickly dove into the leftover fries on my plate.

I felt eyes on me from across the table and looked up to see Zack and Brooks with amused looks on their faces. Johnny wasn’t with us today, he had to stay home since Lacey wasn’t feeling too well. I raised an eyebrow and Zack laughed, “You guys are cute.”

My cheeks burned with embarrassment as I looked back down at my plate, not really knowing how I was supposed to respond. I just grabbed another fry, smothering it in ketchup and placing it in my mouth. Matt spoke up from beside me, “Correction. I’m cute, she’s messy.”

My jaw fell and I smacked Matt’s arm playfully, “Hey! Last I checked, messy or not, I’m the hot, young girl on the old guys arm.”

“Got him there!” Brooks laughed from across the table, nearly knocking over his water while throwing his arms in the air.

Water had splashed out of the glass and pooled toward Brian across from him at the table, who shrieked like a girl when a drop of it fell onto his lap. I bursted into laughter, along with Zack, Matt and Brooks. “You are not bothered by two drops of water on your jeans!”

Brian glared at me, “These are expensive jeans.”

“It’s water, you female,” I shot back at him with another laugh, hearing all the guys egging me on at the table. “How are you even married?”

“Big dick,” he retorted.

“Gross,” I muttered and turned my back to him, focusing my attention back to Zack across the table, who was smirking. “Stop smirking, vampire boy.”

“She’s full of them today,” Brooks chuckled, along with Matt on my side. “I’m just waiting for what she’ll throw at me.”

I gave him a sweet smile, “You’re nothing but sweet to me, Brooks. You don’t deserve the shit storm.”

“Neither do I,” Zack looked offended. “I complimented your relationship.”

I felt myself shrinking into the seat again, but actually I was shrinking into Matt’s side as he tossed his arm around me. I felt him lean his chin on the top of my head, which made me a little more comfortable with Zack’s comment. I still didn’t know where we stood on the topic of our relationship because we had yet to make it official. We needed to sit down and actually talk about things, but with him having the boys around it was hard to have just adult time unless it was in bed.

I cleared my throat and straightened out my back, letting Matt’s arm fall from me. I looked over to him and pushed his side a bit, “Move it. I need to pee.”

He rolled his eyes and stood up from the booth, letting me out past him. “Well, that’s better than what you said yesterday.”

“What did she say yesterday?” Zack’s green eyes poked up from the table.

I eyed Matt, telling him subliminally not to say what he was about to say. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and smirked, turning toward the table. I grabbed his wrist, pleading for him to not say it. “We’re walking out of the movies, people all around us, and I quote this exactly as it came from Liv’s mouth…” He chuckled and then got into a high pitch voice, well, higher than his usual deep voice, “I swear to god my stomach hurts so bad if I don’t get home in ten minutes I will shit my pants.”

The table erupted with laughter as my face turned beet red. I could have punched him right then and there. As a zoo keeper, I was comfortable talking about poop… animal poop… bug poop… human poop… poop is just well, poop. But Matt bringing it up to his friends that I was comfortable with telling him that I needed to poop, that was cringe-worthy. “I hate you, Sanders,” I groaned and shoved him lightly before heading in the direction of the bathroom.

“Hurry up before you shit your pants!” Brian called out from the table, cackling amongst the guys as Matt sat back down with his head thrown back in laughter, dimples out in full force. I threw my middle finger in the air, toward the table and made my way through the crowded restaurant.

I used the bathroom then looked at myself in the mirror, pulling my short hair up into a messy bun and running my fingers under my eyes to take off some smudged mascara. Hanging out with the guys had me laughing so hard I was nearly crying, so my makeup had some wear to it. Luckily, it didn’t bother me because all of them had seen me without makeup, and most importantly, Matt was so used to me being a slob, a little bit of mascara was fancy-Liv. I smiled at my reflection, realizing how enjoyable today was. Whether we were officially a couple or not, it felt good to be around his friends and to notice the energy that they gave off. They all seemed happy that Matt was happy. I rummaged through my purse, grabbing my chapstick and applying a thin coat over my lips before walking out of the bathroom.

I nearly collided with a chest as I made my way back to my table, and when my eyes looked up at the person I felt my breath catch in the back of my throat. Honey eyes stared into mine as I froze in place, not even knowing what to say, or having courage to walk away from the situation.

“What the hell are you doing in LA?” His voice was cold, irritated. His eyes were burning into mine as he waited for his answer.

I pursed my lips, “None of your business, Brandon. Nothing I do is any of your business.”

“Is Carson with you?” He questioned, still seeming irritated by my presence.

“No. He’s at a friend’s house. Which is also none of your business; seeing as you didn’t even for custody, nor have you reached out to see how your own flesh and blood is doing. He turned four last month… if you even remember his birthday,” I spat, now having the courage to face the asshole that was my ex-fiance. My cheating, cocaine addicted, ex-fiance.

“Of course I remember my own son’s birthday, you selfish bitch,” he hissed at me, quietly enough that others in the restaurant didn’t hear our conversation. “You would ditch him off at a friends house so you could prance around LA. What are you doing here? Fucking around with some old flames?”

I was about ready to slap him, but I couldn’t. I had to be a bigger person, and I also had to remember that about twelve feet away stood Matt and his bandmates. I took a deep breath, “You have absolutely no right to talk to me that way, or to judge my mothering capabilities. I am more of a parent than you’ll ever fucking be. Shouldn’t you be with your nineteen-year-old skank, anyway?”

Brandon let out a laugh, “I knew you were jealous that I found someone younger and prettier than you. Go home, Aidan. You’re not wanted around here anymore, and you know that. Go home and actually be a mother.”

I raised my hand to smack Brandon across the face, but my wrist was grabbed by someone else’s hand. “What the fuck is going on here?” Matt’s deep voice boomed from beside me. I noticed Brandon’s honey-colored eyes widen, and I looked over to see a very annoyed look on Matt’s face. He raised an eyebrow and cocked his head to the left, “Care to tell me why my girlfriend was about to slap the shit out of you?”

With a shaky breath I spoke, pulling my wrist down with Matt’s hand still wrapped tightly around it, “Matt, this is Brandon. Carson’s biological father.”

I could feel the negative energy radiating off of Matt as his body tensed next to mine. He let go of my wrist and balled his own into a fist, his jaw slightly tightening as he took in what I just said. His hazel eyes fixated on Brandon, “Nice to finally meet the man himself in person. I’m Matt.”

Matt held his hand out to Brandon, for him to shake. It honestly surprised me that Matt was being somewhat friendly in this process. Brandon looked down at Matt’s hand and grimaced, placing his own in it, obviously wincing at the pressure Matt was squeezing with, “I didn’t know you were dating someone.”

I was about to talk, but Matt cut me off. “Now you know. And now you know to stay the fuck away from her unless you want your teeth down your throat.”

“Matt,” I said quietly, grabbing his forearm and trying to pull him back toward me. I didn’t want to make a scene, especially seeing as all of the Avenged guys were looking over at us now. “Can we go?”

“No,” Matt responded quickly and forcefully. “I want to know that my message went through this fuckers head clearly enough. You don’t look at, speak to, contact her, whatsoever. I don’t care if she’s the last person on earth and you have to talk to her to save your life. One word is spoken to her and it’ll be your last. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes,” Brandon said, still wincing with his hand in Matt’s.

“Good,” Matt responded and let go of Brandon’s hand, picking mine up gently and kissing it. “How long till M. Shadows threatens secret girlfriend’s ex fiancé pops up online?” He laughed while we walked back toward the table.

I stayed silent and he pulled me into his arms, forcing me to look up at him. I sighed, feeling myself melt in the presence of his hazel eyes and dimples, “I expected you to threaten him at some point, but not to kill him.”

“Yeah, well. I don’t like him and I don’t want him talking to my girlfriend,” Matt leaned down and kissed my forehead. I could feel everyone at the table’s eyes on us, and I knew they were probably just as shocked to hear him use the G word as much as I was. He tossed a fifty on the table, “We’re heading home. See ya'll later."

Notes

So, Matt met Liv's asshole ex.
Who is obviously a huge asshole.
Matt called her his girlfriend; but does he mean it?
And her and Brian are kind of friendly?!?!

Brian's ruining all of my stories... flirty in here... making out with my main character in Confessions.
If you guys like when Brian ruins things; check out my new story all about him!