Shattered By Broken Dreams

With all of the sobbing that she had done throughout the afternoon and into the night, Stormy had indeed exhausted herself. By the time that Brian had come to his senses or should we say was smacked senseless, Stormy had already started to drift off into sleep.

He’d gone into the guest room without even bothering to knock. He messed up enough as it was. What difference would it have made if he had knocked or not?

She slept soundly lying on the her beck with her head turned to the side and one arm draped across her stomach while the other arm lay at her side. It was dark in the room, but there was just enough moonlight coming through the window to cast some light upon her weary face.

Brian sat down on the bed and watched her sleep for a little while. It bothered him to have to wake her while she was sleeping so peacefully. He didn’t want to be the one to disturb her peace.

“Angel” he whispered, but she didn’t stir.

He laid his hand over her hand as rested on her stomach. “Stormy” he called out her name, but this time he didn’t whisper.

“mmm tired” she mumbled and turned onto her side so that her back was facing him and went right back to sleep. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t wake her, the guilt starting to eat at him. So, he got up off the bed and walked over to the chair in the corner where he would sit until the morning and wait for her to wake up.

When the morning did finally come, Stormy turned on to her back half awake and half asleep. She yawned and stretched, but had already decided she wasn’t going to wake up yet. So, she turned onto her other side and snuggled under the covers. She fully intended to go back to sleep for another hour until she caught sight of Brian sitting in the chair over in the corner looking right at her.

He smiled warmly, but she didn’t respond and when he got up and started walking over to her, she turned so that her back was facing him again.

“Stormy, please just hear me out” He was practically begging

“Yeah, because you heard me out?” she hugged her pillow and stared at the wall with her back still to him.

“I know I didn’t and I’m sorry.”

“Go away” she cried.

“You aren’t going to make this easy” he noted.

“Easy? You don’t deserve easy, you deserve a slap in the face.” She spat.

“Yeah well, Sydney all ready took care of that” he sat on the bed and thought about how Sydney slapped him so hard his lips almost flew off his face.

“Just come downstairs with me, we can talk ok?”

“No, I’m not going down there” she started to cry again and he knew it had nothing to do with him being there.

“Melody will behave I promise you that. She is so grounded it isn’t even funny”

“She hates me and she’s making you hate me,” she was crying harder by the time she got the last word out of her mouth.

He climbed on the bed and over her so that he was on the other side, facing her. “I could never hate you. I don’t know what’s wrong with Melody, but I do think something is wrong and maybe she’s acting like this so she doesn’t have to deal with it.”

Stormy wiped her eyes and sighed before looking back at him.

“I think she needs to see a therapist, Stormy, I really do.” He said.

“That’s going to make her hate me more.”

He took her hand in his and kissed the top. “No, she may at first, but once she starts to deal with what happened to her, she is going to need her mother. I promise.”

She nodded and let out a yawn. “Still tired?” he asked.

“Yeah”

“Come downstairs and take a nap with me?” his eyes were bloodshot and she could tell that he hadn’t yet been to sleep.

She nodded in response, which got her a smile back from him. He climbed over her and got off the bed. When she sat up he lifted her in his arms and carried her downstairs.

--

Meet the President…get ready the shock of your life, baby.

Seven and Jonnie walked into the restaurant and were seated immediately. They were given the best table of course and as soon as they sat the waiter came over to take their drink order.

After her second iced tea, Jonnie looked down at her watch and noticed it was now 12:15.

“Maybe he changed his mind?” she looked over at Seven a little worried.

“No, I think he’s probably just running late.”

“I don’t know how much longer I can sit here, this is making me really nervous”

“Well, you wont have to wait a moment longer, he’s coming” Seven smiled.

“Sorry, I’m late. Traffic was a bitch.” Matt said standing behind Jonnie.

“Uncle Matt? What are you doing here?” She asked very confused and glanced back at Seven who was grinning from ear to ear.

“Who did you expect? It is my label” he leaned over and kissed his daughter on the cheek before taking a seat.

“Excuse me?” she said looking like she was ready to rip Seven’s head off.

“Jonnie, DeathBat Records is my label and we want you to be one of our artists. I know you are a little shocked right now and I know that there is a lot for you to consider here, but I think you could be very happy with us.”

She folded her arms across her chest. “Why are you so interested in me? Did my dad put you up to this?”

“Whoa one question at a time” he laughed as he held up his hand. “I picked you because Lyric showed me a video of you singing one of Avenged’s songs and after watching it, I wanted more. You’ve got real talent. Now, as for your dad, here is where it gets a little sticky. He has no idea about this and he’s probably going to take a baseball bat to my head when he finds out, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take. You could be huge Jonnie”

Seven nodded in agreement with her father “Remember what my brother said about saying yes to every opportunity? Say yes and I promise you won’t be sorry.”

She played with the straw in her glass before looking back at Matt. “I’m not sure I want to commit to anything yet.”

He nodded. “I understand, but answer me this. If it wasn’t me sitting here would you say yes?”

She knew she would have said yes in a heartbeat if it was anyone else but him and she also knew that he could tell when she was lying so there was no point in trying to.

“Probably”

“So, what difference does it make if it’s me or some total stranger? At least with me, you know I have been there and you know I know what it’s like, so you can trust me.”

He had her there. “Fine, I’ll give you six months, but I’m not signing anything until then. If I’m happy with what you have to offer, then we’ll talk again, but right now I want to keep my options open”

He lowered his face trying not to laugh, he knew he was her only option, but it was cute how she tried to make herself look like she was already a rock star.

They continued their conversation over lunch and discussed everything from possible tours to even recording a demo. He’d even offered to sing with her. After eating, they said their goodbyes and Matt had told her that he would be in touch.

The two girls left the restaurant together and went back to the boy’s house. When Jonnie got out of the car she raced up the driveway like she was on a mission.

“Hey, where are you going in such a hurry?” Seven yelled out

“To kill your brother” she smiled.

When she walked into the house she headed straight into the living room, but Lyric wasn’t alone and when she saw his guest, she stopped dead in her tracks.

“Daddy” she said surprised to see him sitting there.