Runaway

******

Once I got home, though….that’s when, as usual, I had such a hard time not thinking of Zack. If only I had my drum set. It would distract me--without costing me money. I loved driving my car, it definitely helped clear my head, but it drank gas for breakfast.

He had recorded Runaway? For me?

It hit hard. Really hard. We were in way too deep.

Part of me had still been afraid that I’d meant nothing to him, that I was one of countless others to share his bed, that he was stringing me along in case he needed a good fuck again. But this….it proved beyond any reasonable doubt that he was seriously into me and I had no idea what to think about it. I mean, we didn’t even really know each other….and I knew him way better than he knew me….

But why did it matter? We couldn’t be together. That’s what ate at me, though I guess. That we’d never know.

Then there was Meaghan. She was adorably upbeat and personable, and apparently liked me. No matter how much Zack and I had agreed not to feel guilty, it wasn’t something I could really help. When I meant live in the moment, I guess I should’ve crossed “side piece” off the list. Every time she smiled at me, all I could think about was how much I wanted her husband back in my bed, in my life and not hers. I was pretty sure that made me not a good person.

******Zacky’s POV*****

I sleepily came downstairs a week later to find my wife running around the house happily doing a million things at once. Reaching out, I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her to me, smiling down at her.
“Shouldn’t you be resting, missy?”

She giggled up at me, “I can’t! Too many things to do! I told you Matt and Val’s thing is today. I told them I’d make stuff.”
“Any chance that stuff is your famous cupcakes?” I smiled wide. She made the best chocolate cupcakes ever.

“Maybe,” Megs teased and weaseled out from my arms, “Can you watch Ness?”
“Sure…” I popped into the kitchen to grab some breakfast, trying not to make the question on my mind too obvious, “So, who’s going to this thing? Just the family or what?” I referred to the band.
“You know Val likes to invite lots of people. So I invited Erin and her friends.”

I raised a brow, “By her friends, you mean Violet?” I tried to keep the tone out of my voice, but failed.
“What’s wrong with Violet?” She laughed at me.
“Nothing, but she seems to be fucking our photographer. Are we okay with that?” I poured some OJ, not looking at her.

“Until it starts affecting their work, I’d say it’s none of our business.” Meaghan brushed it off.
Once again, I tried not to think about her fucking him.

“Besides, I don’t think Violet is one right now to let things get too complicated.”

I tried not to choke on my orange juice at the irony of that statement. Playing dumb, I recovered, “Whadaya mean?”

“She just got a divorce and is clearly pretty dedicated to fun right now,” She giggled lightly again, “Apparently mostly with girls, so I guess Ben’s the lucky one.”

So glad we weren’t facing each other right now. I had to get away from this conversation and fast, “To each their own. You better save me some cupcakes.” I grinned before going to the living room to hang out with our son.

******

I sat in a lounge chair near the pool, surrounded by the guys. We all had shades on, and we were all checking out the woman I was trying so hard to stay away from.

“Does she….know what she’s doing to you? To every man here?” Brian whispered.
“And woman.” Christ snickered.

I shook my head. It was so not fair. She always looked great, but she had obviously done herself up for the occasion. Despite the fact she was in a glorious purple bikini, she hadn’t gone in the pool--most likely because she’d spent so much time on her hair and makeup. I hadn’t seen her up close yet--I didn’t dare--but she’d taken off her sunglasses to talk to some people and I’d seen how gorgeous her makeup looked, to compliment the perfectly curled locks that were partly down her back and partly pinned up. No doubt Erin had helped her. Great, now I had images of them together....again.

Syn gave me that sly Gates look just over his shades, “Those real?”



I slapped my hand to my face as he scoffed a laugh, “Dude. How the fuck would I know…” I shook my head, pretending I didn’t know.

She’d shown up fashionably late with Erin. Ben showed up even later and they’d talked a couple of times, but not for long. I knew I should say hi to her, but here we were a couple of hours later and I was still a complete chicken. I’d caught her looking lots of times, especially when Ness would run up to me or I’d play with him.

I knew she liked me shirtless, and that the daylight hours were waning, so I stripped off my shirt, captured my son in my arms, and waded into the water. Looking up, I found my wife’s fond gaze and nodded her over. She grinned wide and joined me, planting a kiss on my lips. Just as I was about to try and make Violet jealous with more PDA, an unhappy look crossed Megs’ face.

“You alright, babe?”
“Yeah, just more morning sickness probably...it’s getting towards time to take him home, though...I’ll just take Ness home, you stay and have fun.” She sighed.

“You sure, Megs? We can stay up and watch a movie or something.” I pressed a palm to her cheek.
“Yeah, I’m sure. Don’t think I’d be too much fun, I’m probably just gonna go to bed. Like I said, you have a good time.” She kissed me and grabbed a for-now-happy Ness out of my arms and got out.

I followed, grabbing a towel and heading in to grab another beer. Before I came back outside, I caught Violet giving Meaghan a hug goodbye--and completely caught the guilty, sad look on her face as she watched my wife walk away.

That’s why you can’t do this anymore, just one more reason.

Not only should I never do this to my wife, I shouldn’t shove that guilt on Violet, either. I guess I’d never really thought about her side of it like that.

Turning back towards the kitchen, I put the beer back in the fridge and poured myself a Jack and Coke. And may have left out the Coke.

The second I sat back down, it’s like all my bandmates noticed and were once again sitting next to me again. Sometimes they were just the worst. Shadz had that stupid little kid grin all over his face.



“Wifey went home, huh?”

I pushed my shades up with my middle finger, but this only encouraged the singer, “You could take her upstairs, I won’t tell anyone.”
My head snapped towards him when I barely heard the edge to his voice that said he wasn’t completely joking, “Fuck. You.”

“How do you think she likes it?” Christ turned to Brooks and the drummer came back with, “Oh, she’s gotta be screamer, I know that much.”

I chuckled as I hit the chair with a frustrated fist, shaking my head again as they all cackled. I had to bend a knee up to hide the erection I was getting when I couldn’t help but think of exactly how vocal she was in bed.

“Zack’s got those girly lips, I bet she’d like that,” Brian smiled wide and I threw him a sideways look that he met over his shades. That fucker.

“What about her lips, I bet they--” Johnny started and I was up and out of my chair, taking my whiskey for a walk.

“That’s it. I’m fuckin’ outta here.” I mumbled angrily under my breath as I got my smokes out. The guys all gave ‘oh c’mon’s and ‘we were just kidding’s as the broke down into giggle fits behind me as I stalked off.

*******Vi’s POV*****

I watched him stomp off and couldn’t help but wonder if it had anything to do with me. Megs had already left, so he wasn’t running off to leave with her. The rest of the guys sure seemed to think something was funny.

Walking back inside to get some water, I soon felt a huge presence next to me. I looked up to find Matt standing there, grinning down at me.

“Having fun?” He walked past me to grab a beer from the fridge. Lucky bastard, he could get as trashed as he wanted right now, it was his place. But I didn’t want to wind up staying here, so I made sure to keep my drinking to a minimum.

“Of course, who could ask for more than hanging out with you guys?”

His hazel eyes glinted with mirth as he sipped his beer with a smirk on his face. Matt shook his head as if he was trying not to say something and instead asked, “Dan helping you with those arms? They look great. I’m not trying to come onto you, just letting you know your hard work is paying off.”
“Um, thanks. And yes, he’s been a big help.”

I blushed deeply when his eyes wandered from my arms to my chest, “Eyes up, Shads.”
Holy fuck, I just flirted with M. Shadows.

He only smirked confidently, his eyes meeting mine, “It’s not like you don’t want people to look, sweetie. Wearing that.”

I put a hand on my hip indignantly, “That’s like saying you want everyone to look at your cock just because you wear jeans.”



He scoffed and blushed a little at my remark, but then pointed a long finger at me, “No, that would be like me getting upset about people looking at my cock if I was wearing speedos. Very different.”

I blushed hard. He had me there.

All flirting disappeared from his face as he leaned over the counter on his elbows so he’d be eye to eye with me. My eyes went wide as his narrowed slightly, boring into my soul.

“D’you fuck my rhythm guitarist?”

Probably due to having a slight buzz, I held onto my cool somehow. His tone had been light, but with a tinge of the very serious question that suggested he absolutely knew what was up.

“No…” I thanked all the gods that the sigh of the word that came out sounded the way it did instead of the lie that it was. It just sounded disappointed, so I continued to try and hammer in the idea that it was the truth, “I...I just want to.”

Matt chuckled and straightened back up, accepting my answer, “Can’t blame you there. We all saw it. But you know what’s up, right?” The baritone was edged with sympathy.
I nodded, “He’s married. They have a kid, and one on the way. Trust me, I get it. Meaghan’s a wonderful person, she wouldn’t deserve that.”

Shadows smiled and winked, walking off. I knew he was just looking out for his friend, which was nice of him.

I made small talk for awhile until I felt my buzz was gone and thanked Val for inviting me. I tried to have fun, but I was getting a little mopey and just wanted to go home. I kissed Erin goodbye and told her I’d see her later.

As I unlocked my car, I heard footsteps behind me. When I turned, I was suddenly being trapped up against the Montego as bright green eyes flashed at me.

“So how’s my photographer in bed, huh?” His voice was deep and laced with jealousy, his breath stinking of Jack.

“Excuse me?! Where the fuck do you get off!!?” I tried to keep my voice down, my emotions teetering between anger and sadness. But after the emotions of the day, I couldn’t deal with it any longer.
I stabbed a finger into his chest, further frustrated at how hard it was, “I have to watch you with her all the time, Zacky!! And now you two are all happy again, I know you must be fucking all the time! How do you think that makes me feel, huh??” A few tears escaped down my face and I angrily wiped at them as I scowled at the ground. When I finally raised my eyes again, the anger in his was gone, replaced by soft green that searched over my face.



“I-I’m sorry, Violet...I’m pretty drunk, probably...we’re not together and you know how much that kills...I just...hated seeing you with him…” He whispered as he backed away, hands shoving in his pockets, “I’m sorry you have to see...ya know, us…” Zack was about to go on, but his phone started ringing.

Part of me felt disappointed that he answered it, but then his face went ghost white and I perked up, “I’ll be right there.” He looked up at me with alarm written all over his perfect features, “Meaghan’s in the hospital. Fuck, and I’m drunk--” He started heading inside, when I grabbed him.
“I’ll drive you, c’mon. Where’s the hospital here?”
“Beach Blvd…” He hopped in the car, “Thank you, Violet. This means a lot to me….fuck…” Zack rubbed his hands over his face.

I handed him the mostly full water bottle I had with me, “Here. Drink. She’ll be okay, Zack…”

*******

Notes

No, what's not fair, Zacky, is YOU!!! *cries he is so beautiful*

Pretty sure you guys know what's going on with Meaghan, but what does that mean!?!?