No One Can Touch Us

“You know, for such a huge and scary guy you’d think you’d be more into manlier dogs,” Elizabeth told Matt truthfully as she held Bella, “I mean, just look at it!”

“Hey, Bella is like a child to me,” Matt defended himself, “I mean, just look at it!”

Elizabeth laughed, setting Bella down on the bed and watching as the little ball of fur ran towards Matt and jumped on his lap. It made Elizabeth laugh even more, shaking her head as she gave Matt a teasing smile. So far she was having a good time, even if it was past midnight. Matt, Val, and herself were all sitting with their legs crossed like Indians on the California King bed that resided in the middle of the master bedroom. Val had lent Elizabeth a pair of basketball shorts and a tank top, and all talked for the most part as they evaded sleep.

“So, where is Jimmy right now?” Val asked curiously, breaking the silence.

Elizabeth looked around the room, seeing no sign of him. She felt him, thus she knew he was close by, though he wasn’t in sight. This confused her, yet she assumed he was walking around the house, giving himself a tour while the three of them talked comfortably in the bedroom.

“I think he’s downstairs,” Elizabeth informed, “I can feel him, which means he’s close by, but he’s not in this room.”

Val nodded, looking over at Matt and then back to Elizabeth. “Can I ask you something?”

“Go for it.”

“When Jimmy was inside of you-“

“That sounds wrong,” Matt blurted out, cutting off his wife which earned himself a glare.

“As I was saying before Matt rudely interrupted me,” Val exclaimed with a dark smile, “Jimmy mentioned a pair of drumsticks that you have, that are actually his.”

“Oh yeah, those,” Elizabeth chuckled, “I was at this music store down by the beach and I just saw these worn pair of sticks that automatically caught my eye for some reason. The sales clerk told me that some girl had been donating a lot of stuff to that store which were mostly all drum related.”

Val nodded, confirming her suspicions. After Jimmy’s death Leana had given everything away, and when Val meant everything, she meant everything. Matt, Zacky, Johnny, and Brian had miraculously managed to salvage a few of the drum kits to have them around the studio or their houses for personal reasons, yet everything else had been donated to "charity" which pissed Val off.

“Don’t tell Jimmy but-“

“No, don’t even say it,” Elizabeth cut Val off quickly, holding up her hand, “Zacky already told me something to not tell Jimmy and I don’t feel right keeping things behind his back. He’s too good for that and he doesn’t deserve it.”

Val nodded, looking over at Matt to give him a small smile. Elizabeth cared a lot about Jimmy; Val could just see it in her russet eyes. Why couldn’t Jimmy have waited for Elizabeth rather than Leana? Maybe if that had happened, Jimmy would have still been alive, though Val quickly dismissed that thought.

“I’m getting hungry,” Matt informed, breaking the slightly awkward silence that had built up, “the kitchen, anyone?”

Both Val and Elizabeth hopped out of bed at the same time, sharing a chuckle as they followed behind Matt who had Bella up in his arms. The Sanders residence wasn’t huge or something that you’d compare to a mansion, yet it wasn’t small either. There were 4 rooms on the upper level of the house, then on the lower level was the kitchen, living room, basement, den, and their backyard was partially on the beach. It was a beautiful house furnished modernly yet with a gothic twist. It was love at first sight, yet Elizabeth liked Zacky’s house more because of his paintings and quirky decorations, yet she was never going to say that out loud.

“Dude, is that cheesecake I see,” Elizabeth blurted out as Matt stood in front of an opened refrigerator. “Let me have some of that.”

“Val made it,” Matt said proudly, taking out the cheesecake that had been doused with cherries, “she makes a mean cheesecake.”

“I bet my cinnamon cookies are better,” Elizabeth mumbled, earning herself a playful glare from both Sanders which only made her smile.

“Dude!!!”

Elizabeth frowned, looking from Matt to Val as they were in the process of taking out plates. Neither one was looking in her direction, let alone talked, so Elizabeth concluded that Jimmy was up to his old antics.

“What?” Elizabeth thought, sitting up on the barstool as she waited for Val to hand her a plate.

“Your cell phone, where is it?”

Elizabeth brought bother her hands to rest on her thighs, feeling a slight bulge on the side of her leg which was her cell phone tucked in the pocket of the basketball shorts. She pulled out her cell phone, cringing once she saw that she had various missed calls from the same number and a few voice mails to boot. She’d put her phone on silent, which had turned out to be a very bad idea.

“What’s going on?” Elizabeth thought, slightly panicked as she looked down at her phone.

“No fucking clue, though my senses tell me that it’s bad. You better call William before that dude explodes!”

Not knowing what else to do, Elizabeth looked up to see both Matt and Val giving her weird looks. They were curious since Elizabeth’s naturally rosy complexion had suddenly turned green. Fear was evident in her russet eyes, and suddenly the cheesecake had been pushed aside and Matt stood protectively by her side, Val on the other side.

“What’s wrong?” Val asked, looking down at Elizabeth and giving her a genuine smile.

“N-nothing,” Elizabeth waved off with a nervous laugh. “I just gotta make a phone call.”

“The backyard is all yours,” Matt offered, stepping aside and walking over towards the glass doors, pushing them to the side to open. “We’ll be here if you need anything.”

Elizabeth nodded, quickly walking out to be met with the sound of the ocean that was just half a mile away. The cool sea breeze didn’t really calm her down, yet Jimmy suddenly appearing at her side made her feel a whole lot better. With a nod of the head, Jimmy urged her to follow him. He wanted to take her on a walk on the beach; he just needed her to be away from the house.

“How did you know?” Elizabeth asked softly as she walked alongside Jimmy, exiting the Sanders’ backyard through a door in the back-fence.

“Whenever it’s about William, this alarm just goes off in my head,” Jimmy announced, leading Elizabeth down a stone path which lead to the beach.

“You’re making it seem as if you’re here to protect me from him,” Elizabeth joked.

Jimmy stopped walking, turning to Elizabeth to say, “How do you know that’s not what I’m here to do?”

Elizabeth gave him a scared look, swallowing hard as she placed a hand in her pocket to feel her cell phone.

“Y-You’re here because of him?” Elizabeth stuttered, looking up at Jimmy with glazed eyes.

“Just call him Liz, before shit hits the fan.”