My luck continued, or so it seemed from my vantage point at the time. Days later I was still looking for other work to make up for only having a part time job when Candice called me in. It just happened to be on Monday when the salon was closed, so they asked if I could come in that afternoon. I tried to give a cool “yeah, sure thing” and immediately called Erin after.

“The bar just called me for my first promo! Any chance you have any free time to do my hair?? I’m useless.”
Erin chuckled, “Sure, hon. Come over whenever and we can just do it here. I can do your makeup if you want, too.”“Whatcha tryin’ to say?” I joked, “I’ll be right over.”

*******

I wasn’t used to having girls as friends, so the girl time was odd--but really nice. Somehow, a couple of hours later (it wouldn’t normally take this long, but we were chatting and laughing etc etc like I dunno, girls do??) I was gorgeous and couldn’t stop thanking Erin.

The boost of confidence carried me like I was walking on air into Johnny’s. As I talked to Candice casually, I noticed out of the corner of my eye someone sat in a booth nearby, beer on the table and seemingly alone. It wasn’t totally weird, it wasn’t like it was 10 in the morning or something, but they were the only patron in at the moment. As Candice finished stocking the bar, I got a closer look at the tatts on the arm, which is all I could see from where I was. And I’d know that Jesus Christ idol tatt anywhere.

My temperature skyrocketed along with my heartbeat as I swallowed hard.
Stay cool, Vi. Cucumber.
Candice must’ve seen me notice and the way my cheeks probably blushed, and leaned over to me so he wouldn’t hear, although--he wasn’t close so he probably wouldn’t have anyway.

“I wouldn’t go over there if I were you. He didn’t seem happy.”
I answered in an embarrassing high squeak, “I so wasn’t going to.” I couldn’t. What would I say?
I love you and your music? Your adorable family? Why are your cheeks the cutest thing I’ve ever seen? Why do I want to scream your name when...okay, stop it, Violet, seriously.

“Don’t worry, they come in sometimes. If you hang around long enough, you’ll meet ‘em all one day.”

One could only hope.

I only smiled politely and followed her into the other room. She grabbed an expensive looking camera and handed me a pair of St. Owen’s Galts. I tried to put them on like wearing sunglasses that were almost $300 wasn’t a big deal.

She directed me around and it eventually got a little easier. Candice was great at making it seem natural and it wasn’t long before it was actually fun. We were joking and laughing and Candice was acting like she was Austin Powers as I giggled. Just as I was getting comfortable, though, the star from before walked through the doorway at the other end of the room.

His green eyes flitted over our way, he very clearly checked me out for a second as he pulled a cigarette out of a pack with his teeth, and went out the door for a smoke.

I tried not to freeze. Zacky fucking Vengeance just gave me the once over. Candice didn’t seem to notice as she paused and looked at what she had taken so far on the digital camera's screen.

“This is great for today. We might do something else in a couple of weeks. You on Instagram?”
“Yeah. Just search for my name.”
“‘Kay. Will I see you this weekend around?”
I chuckled, “Might be before then. Who knows.” I shrugged. I kind of wished she wasn’t done. What if I went out there and he was there?
But the silence was bordering on weird, but so I gave a smile and thanks and said goodbye.





Sure enough, there he was, smoking and checking out my car. Looking up as I walked towards my most prized possession, he blew out the smoke in his mouth, “This yours?”
I knew his voice well and it sounded...lower? Thicker--like he was upset about something.

Stay. Cool.

“Yeah. This is my baby, Monte.”
“‘71?”
I grinned, “‘72. They only made the GT’s for ‘72 and ‘73.”
“Right...What’s this got in it?” His voice still held that tone, almost like he was bored, resigned.
“460 bored thirty over in front of a C6.”

He continued smoking and I could see the slight change in his face despite the fact that his eyes were covered with sunglasses as he nodded in approval and gave a whisper of a ‘nice.’

My car was one of the few things I could talk for days about (one of the others being the man standing there right in front of me), and I couldn’t help but lean into the car via the window and pop the hood, shamelessly showing off my ass. Walking closer to where he stood in front of the car, I was almost shaking as I reached into the crevice the pop had lifted. The latch sometimes needed encouragement, so I deftly moved it and lifted the hood.



Zacky gave a low whistle and moved his glasses to rest on top of his head, revealing those beautiful green eyes. He could see how proud of it I was, so his eyes went between the engine bay back to mine and I fought to keep my breathing normal. I don’t know how on earth it was possible, but they were even more amazing in person.

“Did you build this?” He asked as he eyed the engine again, a smile tugging at his plush lips as his voice finally returned to his normal tone.
“Mostly.” It wasn’t completely not true. I’d been there through every single step and helped with each one, and done several by myself, “I didn’t have anything to do with the transmission. I knew an old Ford tranny guy at the time, so I just had him do that part.”

He didn’t seem to really care now, as he was eyeing my tattoo. His eyes got ever so slightly wider as that world-ending, heartmelting, panty-dropping smile creased over his face, “Nice ink. I guess you know who I am then.”



If I didn’t know better, I swear he blushed, light green eyes flicking down and back up at me, “You have me at a disadvantage.”

How was I supposed to speak after a line like that?

I put out my hand, forcing a faked confident: “I’m Violet.”
Zacky shook my hand slowly, stick in between his lips and the smile now a small, almost smirk, “Looks new.” He studied my arm more closely and I turned it so he could read the lyrics on the other side.



This made him grin wide again as he stamped out the cigarette on the ground. I could literally see the light change in his eyes with the reference to the Rev that went along with the forever, “That’s really cool.”

I smiled warmly, “It reminds me every day to live with no regrets like he did, something I’m just now learning how to do, I guess. I’ve wanted to get a deathbat for a long time, but ya know, money and whatever. Finally just said fuck it, and did it anyway.” That was I guess the most Vengeance thing I could come up with at the moment, and he seemed to appreciate it, laughing lightly--the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard.

But a slight frown flashed through his eyes and over his perfect face, even though the smile stayed, “I’m fortunate enough to have a million reminders of that.”

Oh shit! This couldn’t descend into “I miss Jimmy” territory--I hardly knew him at all! Not to mention, he had to be tired of talking about it...I let him have his pause in case he wanted to go on, and when he didn’t I asked the question that popped in my head.

“Aren’t you guys on tour right now?” It’s not like I had the dates memorized, but I knew they were out.

“Uh, basically. We’re on a short break, we go back in a couple weeks.” For whatever reason, it didn’t seem like he wanted to talk about tour. His voice went back to the thick, bored tone it had before. I looked up to find him looking back at me, his eyes searching for something, “I gotta know more about this car. Have a drink with me?”

There's no way on god's green earth he just said those words.

My hand tightened at the bumper. Zacky just asked me question and I had no idea how to answer. Not that I didn’t know the answer, but how was I going to say words after a question like that? So I did the only thing I could do, and let him lead the way back inside.

“You drink beer?” He casually asked as we paused at the bar.
“I drink Scotch, but since it’s five in the afternoon, I’ll have an old fashioned.” I tried to say it as smoothly as possible, forcing myself to hold his gaze as he raised both eyebrows.
“Two old fashioneds.”

I nervously tucked my hair behind my ear, completely ignoring Candice as she judged me nine ways to Sunday. What? It was just a drink--I kept saying over and over in my head.

“So. What’s the story with the car?”
We both sat at a booth, mostly shielded from the rest of the bar.
“I bought it when I went off to college, drove it for awhile, it sat for a long time until I could get it running again.” I was trying to keep my soon-to-be-exhusband out of the conversation if at all possible, even though I knew that was unlikely.

“College, hm? How’d that work out for ya?” That eyebrow went up with sarcasm and I just about came in my panties. I inwardly cursed at myself that he so easily had such an effect on me. Could he see how heated my cheeks were??

I took a deep breath and chuckled ironically, “As you obviously guessed already, I have a completely useless degree that cost way too much money.” I boldly met his gaze and went for it, “Not all of us get to start a band with our best friends and become millionaires doing what we love.”

The brow only arched further. His formerly empty green eyes suddenly sparked as that adorable grin came back to his lips, “Touche, dear.” Zacky took a drink as he laughed to himself, “So what’s your degree in?”
I had never been so happy that someone asked me a question in my entire life.

“I have a BA in Greco-Roman history and Music.” I tried not to make it sound like I was bragging. It wasn’t something to be particularly proud of in itself--unless one is having a conversation with Zacky fucking Vengeance.

“What? No you don’t.”
I giggled, “Yep.”
“I have so many questions,” He joked, “Why those together? What instruments do you play? And why the fuck are you single?” He clearly hadn’t meant the last question to fall out of his mouth, but there it was. Immediately blushing, he cast his eyes down and glanced away from me at the room--clearly a little embarrassed.

I almost choked on a breath, my own face flushing as well, “The degree is a very long story. The music is sort of less so. I’m a percussionist, so I play a lot of things.”



His eyes raised to mine again, that wide look of surprise in them that I’d seen so many times in photographs, “You drum?” All former awkwardness was dropped as he perked up again.
I nodded, smiling a little, “I wasn’t a set player until a few years ago. I do okay, I guess.”
Zacky shook his head, a reaction I often got from guys who couldn’t believe I was a drummer, “So what about the degree? If you don’t mind my asking?”

How could I word this to exclude my ex? “I, uh, moved around a lot, so when I landed at the school I wound up graduating from, I had all these credits and didn’t need very many music classes to finish, but they make you take a set amount of hours at their college before they give you a degree, so I had to pick a second major. It had the fewest hours, but it also wound up being the most fascinating. The history, the literature, the architecture, the art. Language...what those societies taught us is that we are in that endless cycle that your latest music video is about. No matter how evolved we seem to be, we aren’t.”

I stuck to my guns, trying to stay the ever-confident Violet as he looked over at me in awe, before grinning again. He cleared his throat and took another drink.

“It’s nice to know someone appreciates that video for what it is. I was beginning to think it went over everyone’s heads, but apparently not over yours.” Vengeance had been sitting slightly turned, so we weren’t directly facing each other--but now he boldly turned to face me and looked right at me--his eyes sparkling a little more, most likely because of the alcohol, “What about the last question?”

My breath caught again as I got lost in his light green eyes. I swallowed hard. The formerly slightly awkward Zacky was gone and he was just….looking at me.
I shrugged and my eyes fell, “Ya know...hard to meet people, I guess…”

He waited until I looked up and then his eyes moved to my left hand, “I can see the faded line on your ring finger, Violet. What’s your story? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but…I have ears that are ready to listen.”

I suddenly had the distinct impression I was prey and being hunted.

He’s married, Violet.

I ignored my inner voice and tucked some hair behind my ear again--a nervous tick that I suddenly realized Violet would never use. So I took a deep breath, took a drink, and flicked my long hair over a shoulder--just casually enough to almost be flirty but not too obvious. I sat up straight and looked right into Zack’s beautiful eyes, “That asshole never deserved me. So I left. Moved here. Starting over. Leaving my past behind for good. No demons, no baggage, just freedom.” I smiled after I said it because I believed it 100% and he could see it, I knew he could.

“Do I get to ask any questions?” I continued my bold streak, lightening the mood with a little sass.
He chuckled, a wonderful noise, “Sure.”

I cocked my head to the side, not sure why I thought the following was a good idea, “Why the sad face, Vengeance?”

His smile faded and time seemed to slow down. We both took sips of our drinks. I patiently gave him time to come up with an answer. When his eyes raised to mine again, though, all color drained from my face. The look in his eyes was very different. Dark, alluring, predatory.

“I’m bored, Violet.”

******

Notes

Chills, right?!

Sorry, I promised smut but the following chapter is WAY to long to also include this.
Tidbits about me: yeah that's my tattoo and my degree.