‹ Prequel: Bound to You

Blanket of Fear

Chapter Thirty

“So, do we trust him or don’t we?” Benji asked Joel softly, pushing his hand back through his hair before he looked at his brother. The second Madden brother had just told him what Matthew had confided to him, and he didn’t know what he was supposed to do with the information. He didn’t know much about Zack’s older brother, but he did know for a fact that they had to take everything the elder Baker said with a grain of salt. No one was completely sure whether or not he was still working with Sean, and if he was, they wanted to keep him at a distance. They didn’t give him much information, so this could be just a ploy to earn trust he didn’t fully deserve.

“I think we should, man,” Joel muttered under his breath before he pushed his hand back through his hair. “He had no reason to lie about something this big. He knows that she’s someone we’ve all been close to for awhile. Why would he make something up like this? And why bother with someone like her?”

“I don’t know,” Benji grumbled before shaking his head. “You haven’t said anything about this to anyone else, have you?” He asked suddenly, looking up at his brother. When Joel shook his head, he sighed in relief and then nodded. “Good, don’t. The last thing we need right now is more controversy and drama.”

“Well, we have to figure out something,” Joel told his brother. “What if it’s true? If it is, we’re putting the two of them in danger, along with anyone that gets in the way. We can’t let something happen to Zack and Eliza if we can do something to prevent it from happening in the first place.”

“You’re right,” Benji sighed. “Just…Let’s keep this between the two of us for now, alright? I’m not going to say anything until I can sort through all of this shit in my head. Don’t open your mouth, either. Go back to Matthew and tell him we’ll try to figure out what we’re supposed to do with the information he gave us.

“Yeah, alright, man,” Joel said, though he was obviously not happy with what his brother had told him to do. He didn’t feel like just sitting on his ass about this information. It was something he felt strongly about. For some reason, he trusted Matthew on this. He knew something was fishy, and when he really thought about it, he had definitely seen something different about the woman he’d been warned to look out from.

He knew that Benji didn’t believe him, and he was going to have to talk with Matthew again about what to do. Joel was a man who followed his gut, and his gut was telling him that something was off about this whole thing. The air had an electrically-charged feel to it, and he knew something was going to happen soon if he and Matthew didn’t do something to stop it.

He needed to find another ally, though. Another person who knew what it was like to be left out of the group like Matthew did. He needed someone he knew the others wouldn’t trust information from; someone who would want nothing more than be trusted again. And the only person he could think of other than Matthew that fit that description was Johnny. He knew that Johnny had not been a threat. He’d followed his heart—which was something that Joel could completely understand. He himself had followed his heart before, and it had gotten him exactly where he belonged in life. He just needed to talk things through with the youngest member of Avenged Sevenfold and get his opinion. He knew that Johnny could be trusted, but only if he talked to him.

He waited until Benji left the room before he found his way to the small bedroom that Johnny was staying in with Leigh and Matthew. The elder Baker wasn’t in there, which was all the better for Joel. He didn’t feel like explaining to the man why he had brought something up to someone else.

“What are you here for?” Johnny asked as he looked up, pushing his hand back through his hair before he laid back down on the bed, closing his eyes. Joel could tell that the younger man obviously thought he was here to mock him or something like that, though that wasn’t the case at all. He was here to gain Johnny’s trust so that he could do something to protect Zack and Eliza.

“I need your help,” he muttered quietly before sitting down on the end of the bed. “And I don’t really know what to do. You’re the only person I can trust right now, John.”

As if on cue, Johnny looked up and gave Joel a wary look before he sat completely up. “What do you need my help with?” He asked, wondering if the older man was being completely honest with him. He knew that now, most of his friends had some kind of ulterior motive for coming to him. He knew that they all wanted a way to get Leigh out of their lives and hopefully dead, even though it had been proven that she couldn’t die.

Joel shrugged before pushing his hand back through his hair again. “Matthew came to me with some interesting information, that’s all,” he told Johnny before looking up, gauging his reaction. “I trust him this time, and I want to do something to help him. But I need someone else; we both do. What needs to be done will need more than just the two of us.”

This definitely had Johnny’s attention, and he arched his eyebrow before looking over at Joel again. “Alright, man. What’s going on? First, you barge in here looking suspicious like you’re finally going to kill me. And then you tell me you trust Matthew—a fucking known supporter of Sean—and yet the other guys can’t bring themselves to trust me or Leigh? What the fuck is going on?”

Joel could tell the smaller man was obviously not happy, and he knew he needed to say something that would make him feel better and put him at ease. He held his hands up defensively before shaking his head. “I never told them to hurt Leigh or you, and I never thought you couldn’t be trusted. They’re just trying to watch out and keep everyone safe. Can you blame them for that?”

“Eliza shouldn’t be trusted either, then,” Johnny snapped, obviously bitter about the whole deal that was going on with Leigh and the rest of Avenged Sevenfold and their allies. “I mean, she was his fucking girlfriend. How do we know she’s not just deep under cover or some fucking shit like that?”

“Because you know better than that,” Joel rolled his eyes before looking up at Johnny again. “Look, the bottom line is I need to know whether or not I can trust you. If I can’t, just fucking forget it.”

“Just tell me. Obviously you came here for a reason, you might as well tell me,” he muttered before leaning back against the pillow again. Joel gave him a small smile, and then nodded before he looked towards the door to make sure that no one had opened it or was otherwise eavesdropping. What he was about to say was not a conversation he felt like explaining to anyone.

“Val can’t be trusted,” he hissed under his breath, shaking his head even as he said the words. “Matthew thinks she’s working covertly with Sean, and he has reason to believe it. She’s going to try and get at Eliza and Zack. She’s going to try and take them down.”

“What?” Johnny scoffed before shaking his head. “That’s fucking ridiculous. We’ve known Val for as long as we’ve known Matt and the others, man. You know that. Why would she turn her back on us now?”

Joel just gave Johnny a dark glare, and stood up. “Because her sister was fucking killed by Avenged Sevenfold, maybe?” He asked, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Or maybe it’s because she’s pregnant, and he threatened her child? I don’t know. All I know is that she can’t be trusted. We have to do something to stop her before something happens, alright? Are you with us?”

Johnny didn’t know what he was supposed to do. He knew that doing this would only make him less trustworthy if everyone else found out. But he also knew that Joel wasn’t stupid, and that if he believed something to be true, chances were, it was. He knew that this was a potentially dangerous situation, and he needed to do his part to make sure everyone stayed safe. And if that meant following someone he didn’t particularly trust, he’d have to do it.

“I’m with you,” he muttered, shaking his head before laying down again. He didn’t feel good about this, but it was what his gut was telling him. And Johnny was a man who followed his gut. “Can you leave me alone, now? I need to sleep.”